It was clear very early on that Meg Galus was destined for a restaurant career. TRU’s talented, up-and-coming pastry chef opened her first “restaurant” at the tender age of nine, in her family’s DeKalb, Illinois home. There, Galus served her parents meals selected from handmade menus and featuring whimsical pastry experiments with box cakes and animal crackers – charging her family full restaurant prices for her creations, of course. Her ingredients may have changed, not to mention her kitchen and her clientele, but Meg Galus still displays the same creativity and innovation at one of Chicago’s most venerable restaurants – TRU – as she did in the kitchen of her rural Illinois home.

While earning her certificate in L’Art de la Patisserie from the French Pastry School in Chicago (June 2005), Galus built up quite a reputation as a strong pastry student. She interned at Patisserie Vanille creating elaborate wedding and specialty cakes and immediately upon graduation, assisted En Ming Hsu at the World Pastry Forum. Upon graduation, it was this reputation that landed Galus an opportunity highly-coveted among aspiring pastry chefs, the chance for externship at TRU under world-renowned pastry chef Gale Gand.

Galus seized the chance, pouring her boundless energy and creativity into her work at TRU, and within weeks was offered a permanent position as pastry assistant. She quickly worked her way up through TRU’s various pastry stations (petit fours, plating, production, and chocolate) and in 2007, Galus was named Pastry Chef at the highly-acclaimed, four-star restaurant as Executive Pastry Chef Gale Gand pursued her varied interests.

Galus blends her rural Midwestern upbringing with her formal French training to craft pastries that are regionally-specific, highly progressive, and utterly unique. She describes her approach to cooking as one of “constant evolution” as she continually seeks out fresh ideas, interesting flavor profiles, and novel techniques. Meg Galus lives in Lincoln Park with her husband, Jeff, and their two cats, Franklin and Jovie.