Hail to the presidents' pastry chef

0 Comments | USA TODAY, February, 2007 | by Jayne Clark

BETHESDA, Md. -- Roland Mesnier, the French pastry chef who for a quarter of a century whipped up confections fit for presidents, is, at the moment, fixated on kings. Of the dessert variety, that is.

"Look at this galette. The glace!" he exclaims, jabbing a finger at the display case in a suburban Washington bakery. "This is French king cake. Not the New Orleans kind, which is awful -- dry bread with colored sugar. And those beads! I had a friend who sent some to the White House. The staff wouldn't even eat it."

Not that they needed to, what with Mesnier churning out desserts to die for from the Carter administration right into George W. Bush's second term.

"I'm one of the few chefs who has left the White House with a good taste in my mouth," he...