Mary Bogacki has done it all. After getting her start schlepping buffet trays as a teen server, she found her way into the sweet world of pastry. She’s crafted delicate delights at the Four Seasons, baked comforting classics at Winslow’s Home and got downright weird at Strange Donuts. Now she’s cracking eggs at her popular Crestwood lunch spot, Yolklore. Here, the local sweets star on getting started, keeping it in the family and the future of Yolklore.
“My first restaurant job was at Russo’s Catering. I was a banquet server. I think I was 16. It was the absolute worst. But they were shorthanded one day, and asked me to help plate up for this huge banquet for 300. So I jumped on it and started plating and thought, ‘This is awesome.’ That’s probably what sucked me in at first.”
“I honestly never thought I’d end up with someone who was in the industry. But I think that that’s the only way it works out – either you have an extremely understanding partner, or someone who’s also in the industry and gets it. My dream was always to open a restaurant with my husband and have that be our family. John [Bogacki]’s dad is an executive chef, so he grew up in the culture of the kitchen. By working together, we’ve elevated each other. I couldn’t be happier. I definitely wouldn’t have done it with anyone else.”
“If I wasn’t in the restaurant industry? I don’t know. I think I might have been a tattoo artist. I thought about doing that for a while, but I never had the guts. John’s always like, ‘It’s not too late!'”
“We try to go out and try new stuff. We just moved to South County, so we’re trying to discover what’s there. We found a cool little Thai place by us, Thai Orchid, that has a beef noodle soup, like their version of a pho. We love going to Soulard – Tucker’s Place is our place to go there. They have the best burgers, and they’re only like $5.95. I don’t know what they do to them, but they’re great, and different from the South County location.”
“I play hockey with my dad when I can, usually late at night. There’s a group called the Wednesday Night Eagles at the ice rink in Affton. It’s just a pickup game with whoever shows up. My sister says, ‘You’re the son Dad never had.'”
“We play around with so many ideas. We love the idea of doing another concept, or doing something similar to Yolklore. There’s no solid plan as of yet. We just like to dream, and don’t sit still for too long. But as of right now we’re pretty content just trying to train a solid crew and getting everything where it needs to be.”
This article appears in July 2017.