Following his highly acclaimed ten-year corporate career and just on the heels of a critically acclaimed cookbook, Dam Good Sweet, Desserts to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth New Orleans Style [Taunton Press, 2009,] Louisiana native David Guas launched his first retail outlet for his down-home goodness in November 2010: Bayou Bakery, Coffee Bar & Eatery. It is a rustic ‘funkified’ southern-style hangout in Arlington, Virginia, featuring southern comfort fare and his signature desserts.

Guas’ Cuban heritage [through his Havana-born father] is ensuring barista-quality coffee service and tasty pressed sandwiches. His Louisiana country cooking shines in house-made boudin and andouille sausages, savory breakfast biscuits, and pimento cheese. Hot beignets and chicory-coffee pralines are good-to-go, along with Guas’ more elaborate pies, puddings, and his gourmet New Orleans sno-balls: as The Washington Post’s restaurant critic wrote of Guas’ work, “I have yet to find a single dessert I can say no to.”

Dam Good Sweet was a finalist from both the James Beard Foundation and the Institute of Culinary Professionals (IACP;) Food & Wine magazine named it one of three Best Dessert Cookbooks of the year. O Magazine [Oprah Winfrey] honored Guas for her ten year celebration as one of the ten best pastry chefs in the country to present a cake in her honor. Guas himself was named The Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington’s Pastry Chef of the Year in 2004. Bon Appétit hailed him as one of eight “Dessert Stars” in the country. He has also been featured in Cooking Light, Food Arts, Chocolatier, Pastry Arts & Design, Esquire, Nation’s Restaurant News, The Washington Post, New York Times, Garden&Gun Magazine, Food Service Monthly, and Washingtonian.

The hunting, fishing, Harley-riding pastry chef has made regular appearances on NBC’s Today Show, de-mystifying everything from pastry dough to Mardi Gras king cakes for the nationwide viewing audience. Guas is the former Corporate Pastry Chef of Passion Food Hospitality, the popular Washington restaurant group.