Grace Mulicka began thinking about becoming a chef when she was in high school. “I was always comfortable being in a kitchen at home as a child, so maybe pursuing a career as a chef was natural,” she says. As the youngest of seven siblings, Mulicka spent a lot of time at home with her mother and her grandmother, which she recalls as being fun for her. “I remember baking blueberry muffins and Irish soda bread with my grandmom and cooking stuffed peppers, getting my hands in the filling for manicotti, with my mom,” she says.
Mulicka would go on to attend culinary school at Northampton Community College. She names Chef Scott Kalamar and Chef Sue Roth as her biggest culinary inspirations to this day. “Both were very inspirational and influential in my culinary program,” she shares. “At the time, Chef Scott Kalamar was the head of the program and instructed on soups, mother sauces, knife skills, etc. Chef Sue Roth taught baking, meat cutting skills among other techniques.” Mulicka also credits her degree as a pastry chef to her time spent baking with her grandmother as a child.
Mulicka has been at the PA House restaurant in Hellertown since the day it opened in April 2022. “We recently celebrated our one-year anniversary and it has been so rewarding hearing all of the wonderful feedback from our amazing guests,” she says. “We have a terrific team with a general feeling of a work family in ‘the house.'”
Here, Mulicka is sharing a permanent fixture on PA House's dessert menu: Limoncello Cheesecake. “It is wonderfully smooth and creamy, yet light and airy and a perfect finish to your meal,” she says, noting it's a guest favorite that started out as a special. “Here at PA House, we have a very collaborative environment, so ideas come through conversation and ideation, but are also driven by the seasonal ingredients.”
Mulicka encourages readers to stop by the restaurant and visit PA House's open kitchen to say hello.
662 Front St., Hellertown | 484.851.6662 | thepahouse.com
Ingredients
Filling
16 oz. cream cheese
® cup sugar
1 vanilla bean
3 eggs
1 yolk
3 Tbsp. sour cream
2 oz. limoncello
Zest of 1 lemon
Graham Cracker Crumb Crust
1–1 ½ cup graham cracker crumb
– cup sugar
6 Tbsp. melted butter
Instructions
In a stand mixer bowl, add cream cheese and sugar and whip until combined. Scrape your bowl and add one vanilla bean, eggs and the yolk. Stir until just combined. Add remaining filling ingredients.
Combine graham cracker crumb crust ingredients and press them into the bottom of your dish.
Pour filling over prepared graham cracker crumb and bake at 300° for 30 minutes. Let set in the fridge until completely cool.
The dish can be made individually or the pie size of your choice with preferred topping.
Published as “Beyond the Menu” in the August 2023 edition of Lehigh Valley Style magazine.
