Meet Isabel Coss, executive chef at Pascual on Capitol Hill and pastry chef at Lutece in Georgetown, whose sold-out master class happens on Feb. 23. The Hill Center impressed chef Isabel Coss the very first time she visited, and long before she knew she’d be teaching there. Washington City Paper named her one of its Change Makers for the 2024 People Issue and had brought the group in for a photo shoot. “I fell in love with the place,” she says. “I thought it would be the perfect spot for building a sense of community—and then I saw all the activities listed!” It echoes how the ebullient, 33-year-old Mexico City native feels about opening Pascual on Capitol Hill, which is celebrating its 1-year anniversary in February.

A Call for Recipes!
Dear Friends of Hill Center,
We want your recipes!
Do you have a family dish that’s everyone’s favorite? Would Thanksgiving be disappointing without Aunt Betty’s sweet potatoes? Do you always cook black-eyed peas for good luck in the New Year?
We are putting together a Hill Center cookbook and want to include you, your recipes and the stories behind them. Contribute one or as many as you like. Don’t worry about the format, but do tell us a little about where you got the recipe. And tell us something about yourself. Have you been to Hill Center programs? Taken a Hill Center class? Just hope to get to Hill Center some day?
Whether you’re a Hill Center regular or are just interested in what goes on here, we’d like to have you in our cookbook. Your recipes will appear alongside those of master chefs who have taught in our kitchen, our wonderful regular cooking teachers, staff, volunteers and members of the Board of Directors.
Please send recipes or questions to Bonny Wolf at bonny@hillcenterdc.org. If you have a photo of your dish, we’d love to have that too.
Why are we doing this, you might ask? The cookbook will help raise funds to support our operations as we wait for a time when we can safely reopen and welcome you all in person. We look forward to that day.
Happy New Year,
Bonny Wolf
Member, Board of Directors