Swoon Alert! S.F.'s Hottest Chefs Under 30
Ask anyone familiar with the San Francisco culinary scene and they will attest: Our fair city is handsomely peppered with some of the nation’s best and most burgeoning restos. And while we can't stop raving about the mouth-watering cuisine, there’s no arguing that the super-talented guys behind the scenes are responsible for all the Michelin magic. Among the top-rated cuisiniers is a crop of impressively young (all
30 and under!), swoon-worthy fellas who are heating things up way beyond kitchen. Ever wonder what the chefs from Ubuntu and Locanda make on a first date, or who their biggest chef crushes are? Well, you’re about to find out—we got the juicy deets (ahem, single statuses!) from the area’s coolest rising chefs. Just click through to see the dapper dudes who are whetting our appetites!
Photographed by Molly DeCoudreaux.
Name: Anthony Strong
Age: 29
Restaurant: Locanda
Single or taken?
“Taken. Pretty sure her name is Locanda, but I still see my girl Pizzeria Delfina on the side…please don’t tell.”
What local chefs are you digging right now?
“Nick, our next-door neighbor at Bar Tartine, is doing some really great stuff. His food is so unique, nobody is doing Eastern European right now, and he understands it well enough to fit it into a California aesthetic seamlessly. I find it really refreshing and inspiring to eat there, and I crrraaavvve the fried potato bread. Like, I think impure thoughts about it.”
Who is your all-time (non-local) chef crush? "Napa is just-barely non-local, right? So, Thomas Keller. Duh.”
What are your food-related deal breakers?
“Use of the word foodie.”
What are your food-related turn-ons?
“I’d have to say any girl that scrapes the meat off of her spareribs and discards it in my direction only so that she can have the pure satisfaction of chewing all of the cartilage off the bones. Uninhibited by pesky meat. Hot.”
What is your ideal first-date spot?
“Turtle Tower at 8 a.m. I know it’s kind of weird, but I like to decide if I like someone over pho.”
When you want to impress your date, what do you cook them?
“Spa food—light and delicate poached fish, pretty vegetables, and such. It lets her know you’ve got a sensitive touch and possibly a slight understanding of things feminine.”
Do you have any foodie-groupie horror stories?
“Yes. Thankfully, I blocked out specifics from my memory. Though, they probably called themselves foodies. Not hot. This chef thing is overly-fantasized. The reality is we get home at 2 a.m. and are complete stress balls, spring on our toes five hours later, then we do our thing again, and you might not see us in forever. That’s the harsh reality horror story of dating a chef.”
Photographed by Molly DeCoudreaux.
Name: Anthony Strong
Age: 29
Restaurant: Locanda
Single or taken?
“Taken. Pretty sure her name is Locanda, but I still see my girl Pizzeria Delfina on the side…please don’t tell.”
What local chefs are you digging right now?
“Nick, our next-door neighbor at Bar Tartine, is doing some really great stuff. His food is so unique, nobody is doing Eastern European right now, and he understands it well enough to fit it into a California aesthetic seamlessly. I find it really refreshing and inspiring to eat there, and I crrraaavvve the fried potato bread. Like, I think impure thoughts about it.”
Who is your all-time (non-local) chef crush? "Napa is just-barely non-local, right? So, Thomas Keller. Duh.”
What are your food-related deal breakers?
“Use of the word foodie.”
What are your food-related turn-ons?
“I’d have to say any girl that scrapes the meat off of her spareribs and discards it in my direction only so that she can have the pure satisfaction of chewing all of the cartilage off the bones. Uninhibited by pesky meat. Hot.”
What is your ideal first-date spot?
“Turtle Tower at 8 a.m. I know it’s kind of weird, but I like to decide if I like someone over pho.”
When you want to impress your date, what do you cook them?
“Spa food—light and delicate poached fish, pretty vegetables, and such. It lets her know you’ve got a sensitive touch and possibly a slight understanding of things feminine.”
Do you have any foodie-groupie horror stories?
“Yes. Thankfully, I blocked out specifics from my memory. Though, they probably called themselves foodies. Not hot. This chef thing is overly-fantasized. The reality is we get home at 2 a.m. and are complete stress balls, spring on our toes five hours later, then we do our thing again, and you might not see us in forever. That’s the harsh reality horror story of dating a chef.”
