A native San Diegan, David Madrid came to baking after having earned a B.A. in Economics and Chinese Literature at the University of California at Santa Barbara, spending a year in Taiwan doing post-baccalaureate studies, then teaching and counseling in San Francisco, while being enrolled in culinary school at City College of San Francisco. He’d thought the savory side was his passion, but once enrolled in an advanced pastry course in his second semester, he fell in love. Upon graduation, he worked under Pascal Rigo at La Boulange and Philippe de la Rue at Pâtisserie Philippe before being accepted into the renowned San Francisco Baking Institute. Through SFBI, he worked at Thorough Bread and Pastry and b. Pâtisserie, and then became an instructor at SFBI. In 2015 Madrid moved to Dallas, where he founded his own lauded bakery, Wheat & Sour. In addition to being head baker and pastry chef for Meridian, Madrid is in charge of bread and pastry for The Village’s entire food & beverage program.