Breaking Bread Vol. 3 - Familiar Heart, Delicious Heritage

*Benny’s reimagined Ca Phe Viet Tiramisu is layered with salted egg yolks, mascarpone mousse, and a dark chocolate sable, then presented tableside with a pour over of Vietnamese Coffee.*

Meet Benny - Pastry Chef at Chu Mai

***Benny first caught my attention through his founding role in a Sacramento based pop-up called “**The Immigrant’s Table***,” billed as ‘an intimate, chef-led dinner rooted in culture and flavor.’ I scrolled through videos and stories of their past offerings with a slight chagrin that I’d missed out on a dazzling feast of Vietnamese and Filipino flavors. This upcoming menu (you can access through the link above) is already sold out, so if dreaming about crab toast, dry aged duck breast, lumpiang sariwa, branzino, oyster shooters, beignets, and more is getting you hungry, keep your eyes peeled for their next pop-up, and get your immediate fix at ***Chu Mai**, where Benny is heading up the pastry program.***
***In the meantime, I wanted to get to know Benny a little better since his work intersected with so many friends of mine in the Sacramento Hospitality scene.***
Setting up my lights in the small prep kitchen at Chu Mai, I was grateful for his willingness to entertain my camera and inquisitiveness during a bustling prep day. Sifting flour, rolling out milk bread, piping fillings for the featured Tiramisu Cake, and keeping his ears peeled for the timer to pull the Po Taat egg tarts out of the oven, he smiled and answered my questions with an ease and multi-tasking dexterity that can only come from years of experience in a kitchen. As he reminded me during our sit-down interview, patience when it comes to pastry, is everything.
So I’ll be patiently waiting for the next Immigrant’s Table Pop-Up dinner. In the meanwhile, I hope you enjoy getting to know this kind-hearted, creative, and funny human being as much as I did, and make sure to check out his various Sacramento recommendations.

Dive In

Anna: Hello! Just hitting record now — let’s start with the easiest question: What is your name?

BennyJann Peneyra.

Anna: And what is your current position?

Benny: Pastry chef at Chu Mai.

Anna: Love that. This is a really delicious slice of tiramisu, by the way. *Takes another bite*

Benny: Thank you, I’m really happy with that.

*Piping mascarpone mousse in between the layers of the Tiramisu on menu at Chu Mai.*

Anna: Benny, how did you get into pastry? What was the thought process or pull toward it?

Benny: As a kid, my parents and my grandpa were always doing stuff in the kitchen. Pastry was really fun, and I think it’s more of a waiting game, which made it enjoyable. It was a way to spend time with my family.

Anna: What are some key memories of pastries your grandpa made?

Benny: A lot of Filipino breads. I wasn’t a fan as a kid—they were dry and dense. But now I get it, because you eat them with coffee. That’s why they’re so good.

Anna: Kind of like biscotti, you dunk them in coffee, right?

Benny: Yeah, exactly. Like conchas too. You have to have them with coffee. As a kid, you’re like, “What is this?” because they’re not super sweet. But now it makes sense.

*Cake layers of the Tiramisu getting brushed with Vietnamese coffee.*

Anna: Would you ever want to do your own take on a Filipino bread or pastry?

Benny: There’s this bread called ensaymada. It’s sweet, creamy, and topped with cheese. You heat it up— and it’s buttery and cheesy. I’d love to do my own version someday. It’s on my list.

Anna: So it’s a type of stuffed bread?

Benny: Absolutely. Sweet or savory. I love a custard-filled bun. I had this pastry once that was like an everything bagel donut, stuffed with herb cream cheese.

Anna: That sounds insanely good.

*Piping hot Po Taat pulled out of the oven. This dessert is a house made macanese egg tarts, made with puff pastry, and filled with caramelized egg custard.*

Benny: I love taking familiar flavors and breaking outside the norm. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, but when you get creative with something familiar, it makes a bigger impact. People have seen the traditional version already. It’ll taste good no matter what, but I really do believe you eat with your eyes first.

Anna: That’s why we photographed the desserts—you want people salivating before they even taste them.

You’re running the dessert program here at Chu Mai, but you’re also supporting Kodaiko, right?

Benny: Yes, I do both the dessert and bread programs over there. We have a really fun ube and pandan ice cream sandwich on for Dine Downtown right now.

Anna: That’s a lot of work! I’ll have to go try that ice cream sandwich soon.

*Benny rolling out one of the many loaves of Japanese Milk Bread that’s featured on the Kodaiko Ramen Bar menu.*

Benny: We have fun with it—ice cream sandwiches, stuff for Dine Downtown. There are two sandwiches on the menu right now, plus the bread.

Anna: I love that. And on top of your regular work schedule, you’re also doing regular dinners called The Immigrants’ Table?

Yes. We try to do one a month. The next one is in February—our last was in December.

Anna: It’s you, Felix, and who else?

Benny: Usually. We are including a rotation of guest chefs as well. Chef Felix is always involved; he’s the sous chef at Allora and Aiona. Lately, it’s been so busy between our jobs that we’ve had guest chefs rotating in.

Anna: This February one sounds special, where’s it going to be at?

Benny: Yeah, it will be incredible. It’s going to be here at Chu Mai in February. It’s with another Hell’s Kitchen contestant, Chef Anthony, the winner from last year. It’s a big reunion for Hell’s Kitchen brothers at this pop-up. We’re celebrating Lunar New Year on February 9th, and it’s sold out already.

Anna: That’s amazing! And Chef Felix is also Filipino, yeah?

Benny: Yes, he is. We want it to be fun and meaningful, not overwhelming. We’re sharing our cuisine and our stories.

*Stacks of loaves destined for Chu Mai’s sister restaurant in downtown Sacramento - Kodaiko Ramen Bar.*

Anna: So, you’e been in the hospitality industry for about 15 years?

Benny: Yeah, around there!

Anna: Where did you go to culinary school?

Benny: Johnson & Wales in Denver, in 2006. I did both pastry and savory.

Anna: Are you originally from Colorado?

Bennu: No, I’m from San Jose - my family is spread out over the Bay Area and Central California.

Anna: You’ve likely seen a lot change in the hospitality industry throughout the last decade and a half. What’s something that’s stayed cool?

Benny: Classic plating. Like a quenelle of whipped cream on tiramisu—it’s clean and timeless and I feel that style is never going to die.

*Custardy egg filling getting poured into the puff pastry tart shells.*

Anna: Any trends in the restaurant scene you’d love to see phased out?

Benny: Those tiny sauce dots like confettie on a plate. It’s not for me. I love a good sauce spoon schmear, though—you actually get enough sauce. The dots are just too much movement.

Anna: What’s changed for the better in hospitality that you’d like to keep promoting?

Benny: Guest interaction. When I was in culinary school, we had a front of the house class, and it taught us to be very surface-level—get in, get out. Now we value if it’s a real conversation. “How was your day?” And actually mean it. That makes a huge difference.

*Salted egg yolk getting micro-planed onto the layers of the Tiramisu.*

Anna: I’m sure some aspects of that play into why you chose to start The Immigrant’s Table dinners, and wanting to have interactions centered around food you wouldn’t normally see on menus around a California Cuisine focused restaurant industry.

Benny: That’s true. We do want to tell a story with our food, especially centered around all of our backgrounds as immigrants or children of immigrants. Not only do we explain each course as it’s dropped, we also help you understand the reason it’s rooted in traditions you, as a diner, may not be familiar with.

Anna: Just like Chu Mai pays homage to Billy’s Vietnamese roots, and respect to his mother Mai, who is captured in a beautiful painting on the wall in the main dining room..

Benny: Right. I think that how we showcase The Immigrant’s Table is taking food that we grew up eating prepared by our elders and showcasing it in unique ways for others to enjoy.

Anna: Can you give us a little peek into the dishes you might put out for this upcoming dinner?

Benny: Sure! One of my favorites is this oyster shooter that I’ve been dying to do for a long time; it’s an oyster shooter with Hennessy Granita with some fresh calamansi juice and chimichurri - that’s what I’m really excited to serve and enjoy!

*Small but mighty prep kitchen spaces are where the magic happens in Benny’s hands.*

Anna: You still chose back of house, though.

Benny: I did. I enjoy conversation, but only so much. Pastry is so nice—it’s quiet. I come in early, it’s just me and our prep guy, then the cooks arrive, and I get to leave!

Anna: What are some negative aspects you’ve seen in the industry that you’d like to wave goodbye to?

Benny: I think the mentality that burnout is cool. We got used to older chefs running the show and making 70 hour work weeks, screaming, and partying too hard look cool. We have to stop doing that and embrace easy to access mental health resources, and encourage cooks to prioritize taking care of yourself. We all like to work hard and party hard, but getting yelled at or yelling at an employee is no longer couture. I’m not saying we have to be completely soft about the aspects of this job, because it is one of the hardest you’ll ever work. It just takes a lot of patience. I guess that’s one of the aspects of my calling as a pastry chef, is learning to embrace the time and patience needed to create these menu offerings.

Anna: When you’re enjoying days off, where can we find you?

Benny: Coffee first—I like to support Camellia Coffee or Anchor & Tree. Then TK Noodle House off 65, I could eat there every day. I get the number three; it has flat rice noodles, chicharrones, bean sprouts, and wontons. After that, maybe a banh mi and home to chill.

Anna: That sounds so delicious - I’ve never been to TK Noodle house, but you’re inspiring me to drop in. You’re also getting another dog soon, yeah?

Benny: Yes, February 1st. A Dalmatian puppy. We can’t wait to pick him up.

Anna: You’ve got a wedding coming up, too?

Benny: Yes, six months away. I’m not baking my own cake, my fiancée drew the line at that— but J from Brown Rice Bakery is doing it, so we are in good hands.

Anna: Looking ahead, what would be next for you in a perfect world?

Benny: Eventually, I’d love to own something small—a little bakery or coffee shop. Eight barstools would be ideal, nothing huge. I love the Marie’s Donuts concept, with a walk-up window, and busy all the time. I’ll do recipes and quality control, but I don’t want to run the whole thing day to day, just do check-ins when I’m retired and make sure everyone has their paycheck.

Anna: You’ve mentioned wishing Filipino baking wasn’t always represented by Ube.

Benny: *Laughs* What can I say and not get cancelled? Ube is great, but there’s so much more. Every cuisine gets reduced to one thing: banh mi, sushi, spring rolls. For instance, I really love pandan, which is gaining popularity to ube. It’s getting more mainstream, like matcha has, but it’s not representative of the whole of our cuisine. These popular phases help people learn what some of the ingredients we embrace are, and then hopefully they ask, “What else?”

Anna: I think that goes for so many cuisines - people need to learn that Japanese food is more than sushi or ramen, or Vietnamese food is more than pho or a bahn mi (thanks to Billy for working hard here at Chu Mai to open folks' culinary palates up to all kinds of Vietnamese and Southeast Asian flavors)

Any other Filipino flavors you love?

Benny: Bibingka. Its a Cassava cake steamed in banana leaf, topped with cheese and salted egg. Sweet and savory together—it’s underrated.