“I’m just the blowtorch lady,” Boo Eaker jokes as she levels her blue flame over a slice of banana, transforming its starchy yellow flesh into a nutty-brown coin. She doesn’t wait for it to cool, wrapping her fingers around its edges to tuck it delicately into a nest of pillowy cream.
Her eponymous restaurant is running behind today, but despite being short-staffed, Eaker remains cool and calm. In the symphony of her kitchen, she directs employees with simple hand gestures, ushering them between pans of kimchi fried rice and past refrigerators filled with her famous banana pudding. With just seconds to spare before opening, the main doors swing wide to reveal a line of customers curling around the restaurant’s Fredericksburg
