Meet the Tastemakers
CC = Christian Caiazzo started
his career at age 14 as a grill
cook at a local country club
in Connecticut and is now
living on the other side of the
continent in West Marin as
owner and executive chef of
Osteria Stellina, a one-room
dining place showcasing locally
sourced Marin produce and
meats in Point Reyes Station.
MC = Massimo Covello loved
working with the Petroni family at Piazza D’Angelo in his
first head chef position. In his
relatively new and much-cele-brated role as executive chef at
Servino Ristorante in Tiburon,
he’s made that popular waterfront spot a new destination
for foodies.
= Justin Everett, an award-winning chef from Napa Valley,
was handpicked by the man he
succeeded, Joseph Humphries,
to be executive chef of the
Michelin star–awarded Murray
Circle at Cavallo Point in
Sausalito in 2011.
SaH = Sammy Hagar, part
owner with chef Tyler Florence
of El Paseo in Mill Valley,
boasts a successful restaurateur track record that includes
Sammy’s Beach Bar and Grill
and his still-very-popular
eatery Cabo Wabo Cantina in
Cabo San Lucas.
ScH = Scott Howard is the
cofounder and partner of Brick
& Bottle (on the Michelin Bib
Gourmand list) and has made
his way around the Bay Area
starting with the very successful
Fork in San Anselmo, moving on
to the now-closed Scott Howard
restaurant in San Francisco and
recently serving as a consulting
chef at Five in Berkeley.
SH = Sol Hernandez, owner
of Sol Food in San Rafael, is
a great cook, but she tips her
hat (as do throngs of Bay Area
customers) to the cooks in her
kitchen. Where else is there a
line out the door any time of
day or night without the
promise of an alcoholic
beverage?
HK = Heidi Krahling,
executive chef and owner
of Insalata’s and partner at
Marinitas, both recipients
of the Michelin 2013 Bib
Gourmand award, has been
serving Marin-sourced cuisine
in San Anselmo since 1996.
RP = Roland Passot, owner
of the Left Bank Brasseries
(whose flagship is in Larkspur),
has been executive chef of
the highly acclaimed La Folie
in San Francisco since 1988.
He’s garnered many kudos for
his culinary talent, including
being dubbed one of “the eight
wonders of Bay Area dining”
by Michael Bauer.
JR = Jared Rogers is in his
fourth year as chef of the
highly acclaimed Picco restaurant in Larkspur. Rogers met
owner and chef/restaurateur
Bruce Hill as a student at the
California Culinary Academy
and worked for him at Bix in San
Francisco before becoming a
member of the opening staff at
Picco and eventually chef.
TS = Todd Shoberg, a former
mountain-bike racer and now
a fixture at the Marin farmers’ markets, is executive chef
at Piatti in Mill Valley and
culinary director for the entire
Piatti Restaurant group.
PS = Peter Schumacher,
who worked for more than 10
years in kitchens in New York
and Europe, is the face of the
Mill Valley haunts Buckeye
Roadhouse and Bungalow 44,
where he is owner and general
manager. For this story, San
Francisco–based executive chef
Robert Price let Schumacher
handle the Marin questions.
OS = Olivier Souvestre
opened the überpopular Le
Garage as its executive chef
in 2008 with business partner and fellow Frenchman
Bruno Denis. The Sausalito
waterfront bistro has earned
many awards, including a nod
for a Michelin Bib Gourmand
in 2013.
JW = Joanne Weir, cookbook
author extraordinaire, can
be seen on her PBS TV show
Joanne Weir’s Cooking Class and
in the kitchen as maestra de
cocina of the popular Sausalito
restaurant Copita, which she
co-owns with restaurateur
Larry Mindel.
SW = Scott Whitman is executive chef of longtime Michelin
darling Sushi Ran in Sausalito.
Prior to creating unique
Japanese fare, Whitman
worked at a few recognizable
spots in San Francisco such as
Masa’s, Stars, Campton Place,
Casa Madrona, Kuleto’s, Bix
and Tra Vigne.
AW = Aaron Wright is executive chef of the popular The
Tavern at Lark Creek (formerly
Lark Creek Inn). His resume
reflects highlights of his experience in Pacific Rim culinary
establishments in Seattle
and Hawaii, and he has been
featured on radio and on TV’s
Food Network.
✽ See picks from these culinary tastemakers on the following pages in each of the eight categories (identified by initials shown here).
