Irreverent Chicken Fryer and Pastry Chef Erica Waksmunski IN at Parkside Projects

Former Congress executive pastry chef Erica Waksmunski struck out on her own to sling fried chicken in her Southern comfort trailer Red Star Southern, and now she's bringing high-end pastry back into the mix. Waksmunski accepted an offer from chef Shawn Cirkiel to join his Parkside projects restaurant group as their pastry chef. Her trailer will remain open outside the Grackle, presumably staffed by non-idiots. Waksmunski says in a press release that Cirkiel is extremely supportive: 

That was one of my real selling points on taking the position. In manager meetings, he speaks about the trailer as if it's part of the group. ‘Red Star needs a prep guy, who can we move from Backspace?' My start date was to be determined so I could get my shit together first. I felt like in taking this position, Shawn gets what he wants, I am enabled to create more jobs for the community, and I get to have my cake and chicken too! Everyone wins!

Waksmunski's trailer recently nabbed a rave from The Chronicle, and her tongue-in-cheek humor gives the project a signature identity. She provided an additional comment from trailer Life Coach / Spirit Gude Ol' Shitter Jim:

Well, I couldn't be certain for sure without having a look at it myself, but what it sounds like, is that your car battery is dying. No worries, you just need a jump to get it going again. Sometimes hittin' the darn thing on the side of the box will work too, but then the channels don't come in as well. The key is aluminum foil. Hope that helps!