Tim Archuleta, Executive Chef and Partner
Tim Archuleta co-owns the award-winning company, ICHI Dozo Restaurant Group (ICHI Sushi + NI Bar, ICHI Kakiya, and ICHI To Go) with his wife Erin Archuleta.
Tim has twenty years of experience as a sushi chef and over ten years of experience managing restaurant kitchens. Tim is civically and culinary engaged. Tim has co-hosted a fish market tour for the International Association of Culinary Professionals annual conference, and participated in the San Francisco debut of the Asian culinary LUCKYRICE festival, featuring Chef Morimoto. Tim has participated as a Celebrity Chef offering up demonstration tips at San Francisco magazine’s FallFest and the Asian American Heritage Street Festival. Tim is a member of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association. Tim participates as a volunteer chef in The Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA)’s Sunday Supper and Summer Celebrations which support the Ferry Building Farmers Market and education programs; a volunteer educator for the food and community nonprofit 18 Reasons; and is a supporter of local, sustainable agriculture and fisheries.
ICHI Sushi, has been named one of America’s Top Restaurants (Zagat National 2013), one of San Francisco’s Top Twenty (Zagat San Francisco 2013), has won Best of the Bay in five outlets; Best Japanese 2012—2015 by 7×7 magazine readers; a Small Business Week Award, 2014 from San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee, and scored high praise from The San Francisco Chronicle, as offering one of Restaurant Critic Michael Bauer’s Favorite Dishes; and The San Francisco Chronicle Top 100 Restaurants 2014. Tim’s cooking has been featured in The New York Times; USA Today Travel; AAA’s VIA magazine; The Hollywood Reporter; Louis Vuitton’s San Francisco City Guide; Lonely Planet’s San Francisco and Encounter guides; The San Francisco Chronicle; The San Francisco Examiner; San Francisco magazine; 7×7 magazine; Edible: San Francisco; Meatpaper magazine; Specialty Food Magazine; Athlete’s Quarterly; KQED’s Bay Area Bites; and on NBC KRON 4, and Tokyo TV, as well as in numerous blogs.
Tim is a native of Sacramento, California, and formerly apprenticed under the tutelage of Sensei Chef Kiyoshi Hayakawa at Tokyo GoGo and Ace Wasabi in San Francisco.
Instagram: @ichichef
Twitter: @ichichef
Mark Dommen, Executive Chef at One Market Restaurant
Mark Dommen is a unique talent who has spent more than 20 years in the kitchen. After years of classical training with some of the world’s most eminent culinary masters, Dommen transitioned to the helm of One Market® Restaurant in 2004, and his penchant for utilizing seasonal ingredients in inventive, unexpected ways continues to influence the San Francisco culinary scene. His modern take on American cuisine earned the restaurant a Michelin star in 2008-2012 and a 3 ½ star review from San Francisco Chronicle critic Michael Bauer. Dommen was also named a 2007 StarChefs.com “Rising Star” and the restaurant has held a consistent presence on the Chronicle’s “Top 100” restaurant list.
Dommen’s contemporary, seasonal American fare developed through his work in some of the world’s most distinguished restaurants. His career began at Fleur de Lys in San Francisco, where Chef Hubert Keller became Dommen’s mentor in the art of contemporary French cuisine. Dommen later spent four years in New York, honing his craft with one of his largest influences, Gray Kunz at Lespinasse and also with David Burke at Park Avenue Café. By the time he opened Palladin as Sous Chef for the legendary Chef Jean-Louis Palladin, his immersion in the art of French cuisine was well advanced. Dommen was next invited to join Julia’s Kitchen in Napa Valley as the opening Executive Chef. While he was at the helm, the restaurant was named one of Esquire magazine’s “Best New Restaurants.”
Dommen describes his approach to cooking as “blending the freshest, seasonal ingredients from California, while using the classic French techniques I have honed from my previous experiences.” His seasonally changing menu includes inventive farm-fresh dishes such as Lightly Smoked Tasmanian Trout Mi Cuit with potato rösti, organic chicken egg and pancetta vinaigrette; Dungeness Crab with green apple water and jalapeño sorbet; and Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin with dandelion “persillade,” salsify and natural jus.
“I truly enjoy experimenting with the freshest of produce, seafood and meats to create entirely new and unexpected dishes,” says Dommen. “I make a point each day to ensure that the menu is a reflection of the finest raw materials prepared in a unique, delicious and artistic way.”
Some of Dommen’s favorite dishes to make when not in the kitchen at One Market Restaurant include pizza and barbequed beer-can chicken cooked over apple wood chips. He lives in Napa with his wife and two daughters and enjoys skiing, golf and fishing in his spare time.
Instagram: @mdommen
Twitter: @mdommen
Gordon Drysdale, Chef/Restaurateur
Gordon Drysdale is a seasoned restaurant pro who has been working in the industry for more than 40 years. He started his career in his youth, washing dishes to make money to buy musical instruments, while focusing on his education to build a career in the visual arts. Very early on, he came to the realization that cooking, too, was art, and never looked back.
A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Gordon is currently a partner in Sweetwater Music Hall, a music club and café in Mill Valley, CA, and was recently brought on as Culinary Director at Scoma’s Inc., overseeing the growth, in both locations, of the iconic Bay Area brand. He is very excited to be a part of the Scoma’s team, which prides itself on its commitment to the environment and 100% compliance with the Monterey Seafood Watch Program.
Over the past 25 years Gordon has been in two notable partnerships, with which he has built dozens of projects. These have ranged from supper-clubs (Bix, SF), to ski lodges (Bumps, Aspen CO) to bakeries (Pan-O-Rama, SF; Mayfield Bakery and Café, Palo Alto). He has also opened and operated classic American restaurants (Buckeye Roadhouse, Mill Valley), Modern Californian restaurants (Gordon’s House of Fine Eats, SF), a full-service catering company (Modern Catering, SF) and fast-casual Italian cafes (Caffe Museo at SFMOMA). There were also spinoffs of original concepts (Buckhead Roadhouse, Chattanooga, TN), opening team lead roles (Ajax Tavern, Aspen CO), and simple menu revamp projects (Perry’s, SF; Sam’s, Tiburon) along the way. He is currently in the process of negotiating on a large triple-A location in San Francisco, with the intent of opening a modern-day, market-driven café/bar/brewery/bakery and wood-fired rotisserie.
While Gordon’s prime focus has always been the kitchen, he prides himself on running an enterprise and creating a work culture and that creates a happy, positive and motivated workforce both in the kitchen and in the front-of-the-house. He is also well-versed in the business side of running a restaurant, and while his true passion is cooking, has been active in the day-to-day operations of all of the establishments in which he has been involved.
Gordon followed his CIA education with an apprenticeship in the kitchen of a stern and talented Frenchman, Jean-Louis Jalouneix, and the combination of the two have provided him a firm grounding in Western cooking, with a love of the flavors of the East. A devotee of farmer’s markets and the joys of seasonal cooking, he invariably applies the best products to whatever style of restaurant he is creating.
Gordon lives in Mill Valley with his wife Susie and two teen-aged sons, Miles and Monroe.
URL: http://www.sweetwatermusichall.com/cafe/
Instagram: @drysdalegordo
Twitter: @drysdalegordo
Nate Keller, Executive Chef
Nate is a former Google Executive Chef, Culinary Institute of America graduate, and lover of all things food. He began cooking at a very young age, using only the finest ingredients. He grew up in Sacramento, the heart of California’s central valley growing region, which gave him access to the local ingredients that shape the way he creates each dish. Nate is a proponent of local cooking and eating, as well as sustainable farming. He helped cultivate a culture of local food values as he opened and became the first Executive Chef of Google’s Cafe 150, which sourced all of its ingredients from within 150 miles of campus. While opening several other restaurants for Google in Mountain View, New York and San Francisco, Nate developed relationships with farmers and artisan food producers throughout the Bay Area and the Hudson Valley. Opportunities to cook around the world over the last 13 years helped Nate expand his cultural food knowledge to encompass a wide variety of fares and gastronomic techniques. He loves snowboarding, cooking at home, playing with his dog, and kiteboarding.
URL: Zesty.Com
Instagram: @n8keller
Twitter: @n8keller
Chef Frank Otte
His strong focus on substance rooted in history and tradition combined with the beauty of nature makes Chef Frank’s cuisine not just a delicious dining experience, but more like poetry. With his extensive experience working in top U.S. restaurants and in Europe with Michelin starred restaurants. Chef Frank has traveled the globe observing countless cultures and flavors enriching his palate and pursuing the knowledge of the world’s most passionate chefs. In a culture where many care about speed and quantity vs. quality, Chef Frank’s goal is to slow things down and let guests take the time to appreciate what they’re eating. It’s an enriching experience of aromas, flavors, textures, fine quality ingredients and presentation.
With a strong focus on fresh, perfect seasonal ingredients Frank’s style is a fusion of all of his diverse experiences. He considers himself a very creative California chef with an open mind as well as a strong understanding of all cuisines. Frank’s approach to cooking has a very strong classic French foundation which has provided him exceptional skills and technique. A well-balanced meal will always be the focus regardless of the style of food being prepared. Using technique and a keen knowledge of food science, Frank focuses on honest food that is not weighed down with cream, butter or unnecessary clutter on the plate. Frank has a strong pedigree in French, Spa, Low Carb, diabetic, California, Italian, German, Pacific Rim and all Mediterranean cuisines. Frank also has a strong understanding of food and wine pairing. Attention to details, an extreme level of urgency, upholding traditions of pride taught to him by many great chefs are all represented on every plate served by Chef Frank no matter how simple or complex. “There is one way…… the correct way!”
Bon Cuisine
Chef Frank Otte
URL: http://www.calafiapaloalto.com/
Instagram: @cheffrankotte
Twitter: @cheffrankotte
Sean Thomas, Chef de cuisine, Blue Plate – Chef/Owner, Parts and Labor
Sean Thomas’s career is the culmination of over twenty years of eating heavily, cooking professionally, and traveling with an open mouth. For the better part of his life, he’s thrived in some of the finest kitchens between the west coast and New York City, including the Lower East Side’s famed wd~50, San Francisco’s beloved Rubicon, Sacramento’s The Kitchen and the Mission District’s neighborhood stalwart Blue Plate. He was also one of the seminal chefs at Google in their now modeled-after worldwide corporate culinary program.
His style of cooking is an amalgamation of respect for the classics, a love of re-invention, and an awareness of the constant evolution within the culinary world. He believes that supporting your immediate environments and artisans is also one of the many keys to advancing and sustaining this art form.
URL: http://www.calafiapaloalto.com/
Instagram: @cheffrankotte
Twitter: @cheffrankotte
Sophina Uong, Executive Chef
Sophina Uong has worked in the finest of restaurants — from the front of the house to behind the kitchen doors — in the Bay Area over the past 15 years. You name the job, she’s done it. Installed flowers at Scala’s Bistro? Check. Worked as a server at Restaurant LuLu? Check. Tended bar at Absinthe Brasserie & Bar? Check. Helped open 900 Grayson as chef owner — oh! the burger! — in West Berkeley? Check. Hired as executive chef for Betty Zlatchin Catering in San Francisco and Pican Southern restaurant in Oakland? Check. Sophina is currently the Executive Chef for Revival Bar + Kitchen in Berkeley.
URL: http://www.revivalbarandkitchen.com/#rbk
Instagram: @girlslantee
Twitter: @sophina_uong