About us

I have loved desserts my whole life. I started baking as soon as my parents let me. Because I was brought up in a European household, only fresh ingredients were available. If you wanted something to eat you had to make it. My summers were filled with trips to the store and afternoons of baking, and then devouring, by me and my 4 siblings.

During my high school years, our family moved to Paris. We traveled to my father’s home in Liege and had many amazing meals with his family. My fondest memories are of his mother Anne-Marie’s Belgian waffles and fruit pies. My mother Arlene attended a French cooking school and taught me all the pastry-making skills she was learning. We spent many an hour taking turns whipping ingredients by hand in our Paris apartment. I realized how good desserts could be. She started talking about opening a dessert shop when we returned to San Diego. One day my Dad said, “Why don’t we just open a restaurant?!” That is how the Belgian Lion Restaurant started. I was attending school to be a computer scientist but also started making desserts for our new restaurant. I did work in the computer field running back and forth to the restaurant every day often baking in high heels and office attire. I finally quit my computer job, working at the restaurant as a hostess, waitress, sous-chef, etc until I had enough dessert business to pay the bills.