Less than 100 years ago, it was considered inappropriate for women to dine in restaurants — let alone run them. But much has changed. This series is a tribute to the women who dedicate their time, energy and talents to making the food world a better – and more delicious – place.

“My story isn’t really all that romantic,” says Val Bartram, Co-Chef de Cuisine at EsterEv.  “When I was growing up I’d watch The Food Network with my mom. We loved to watch the competition shows where people would sculpt sugar or chocolate. I was always amazed that people could make a living doing those things and it made me intrigued.”

Although she didn’t really have a background in cooking, she decided to take the leap. After she graduated from high school, she enrolled in the culinary program at MATC.

“I was so intrigued by the idea of manipulating food and turning it into art,” she says. “It was mindblowing to me. By the time I completed the culinary program, I had gotten really into food and I was excited to get out into the restaurant world.”

Her first job was at the now defunct VIA on Downer. “When they closed in 2014, I moved on and worked at a lot of different places including Odd Duck and Goodkind. I also worked at Dandan on and off. More recently, I worked with Katie [Gabert] and Sam [Sandrin] at Strega. I spent some time at Sorella and I worked for about a month at Birch.” 

When it comes to negative experiences, Bartram says she’s had very few.

“I’ve gotten really lucky. I haven’t really worked anywhere where I hated it,” she says. “And if I wasn’t happy, my philosophy was always that life is too short. If it wasn’t a fit, I would just move on.”

Moving up

As she gained more and more experience, she was also able to move up in the ranks.

“My first chef de cuisine role was at Dandan,” she says. “And that was the point I realized that you have to be the chef that you want to work for.  So I took a hard look at what I was doing, how I was doing it and I really thought about how I fostered the people and impacted the environment around me.  

“You can yell at people or you can choose a different approach. At the end of the day, I’m not a very confrontational person, but I learned to deal with having to call people out. I also developed my own style of dealing with the good and bad that happens. I’ve learned to point out when things are going wrong, but I also make it a point to complement people when they’re doing something right.”

Bartram admits that there have been moments when she’s felt invisible in the kitchen. 

“It can be hard to be taken seriously as a little 5’ 1” woman in the kitchen,” she says. “There have been conversations that have happened that I should have been included in and times when I’ve been overlooked. But over time, I’ve learned to be more assertive and interject myself into situations where I feel like I need to be involved.” 

Bartram says that one thing that has helped is keeping in mind a piece of advice she once received:  “Trust yourself and be confident in who you are.  There’s not a room that you don’t belong in. Own your space and take up every inch that you can.” 

Nonetheless, she admits that working in a restaurant kitchen can be challenging.

“It’s a lot of pressure, stress. It can be really overwhelming, and I’ve found myself asking: is this really what I want to do?  I’ve contemplated the possibility of branching out and doing other things. I really love beer and I’d love to work at a brewery and learn about the brewing process. But overall, right now I’m really happy working in the kitchen here at EsterEv."

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In the shadow of "Top Chef"

Bartram took her current role at Ester Ev after opening The Wolf on Broadway with Chef Kristin Schwab. 

“Kristin and I have worked together on and off for most of our careers, so opening The Wolf was great. But when I had the opportunity to join the team at Esterev when they moved the restaurant to Bay View, I had to take advantage.  It was a leap for me. 

“This is fine dining, and working with food in that sort of higher stakes setting really required me to be brave. There was so much nuance that I didn’t understand – like the process of replacing flatware in the dining room and timing things in the kitchen so they go out at a specific time. There’s so much communication that needs to happen. We need to make sure that we’re all on the same page. Overall, I found out that I had to own it. There was a lot of self doubt to overcome and a lot of questioning.”

The pressure was even higher since Chef Dan Jacobs, co-owner of EsterEv, had just been featured as a contestant on Bravo’s “Top Chef”, so all eyes were on his restaurants in Milwaukee.

“We knew when we re-opened in Bay View that we were going to have to get it right,” says Bartram. “We were going to be under a microscope from day one, and we were going to be busy from day one, so we didn’t have the grace that some restaurants have when they open. But our team is really pretty badass. We all have the same goals and none of us want to put out bad food. So, it’s been challenging, but in a good way."

Bartram says that one of the things that has made working at EsterEv so gratifying is that she’s also had an opportunity to stretch her skill set. She’d always had an interest in pastry, but she didn’t choose to stay in school and complete the pastry program.

“I never really had an opportunity to really tackle desserts,” she says, “But when Syd [Zwieg] said that she wanted to transition out of her role making desserts, it felt like a great opportunity for me to add that element to my experience.

“I was lucky. I was able to work really closely with Matt Haase, and he really took me under his pastry wing. He’s been very patient and open to questions. And he’s so knowledgeable and great at communicating how things work. So it’s given me a lot of confidence to attempt things that I wouldn’t have done before.”

When it comes to looking ahead to her goals for the future, Batram says there are many things she’d like to do.

“I definitely want to spend more time here at EsterEv,” she says, “But I’m also at a place in my life where there’s a lot that’s open to me. So I’m putting faith in the universe and we’ll see where I end up.”