Food has always been important in my family. We enjoyed a home cooked meal together nearly every night. We would eat game meat my dad hunted, abalone he dove for, or fish he caught. When we did go out to eat, we’d explore a variety of cuisines, my favorite being Sunday morning dim sum. My childhood helped me appreciate all types of food and led me to study cooking at the California Culinary Academy. 

After culinary school, I began working around the San Francisco Bay Area. Stops included Gregoire in Berkeley where I worked my way up to chef de cuisine; Branch Line in Emeryville where, as executive chef, I created the menu in its entirety; and Sons and Daughters in San Francisco where we maintained a One-Star Michelin rating. A staple of each job was working sustainably and seasonally, which is still a cornerstone value of my cooking. 

With such a varied background, the food I love most is sandwiches. They’re the perfect vessel for combining all kinds of ingredients, flavors, and textures. My inspiration comes from the different meals I’ve eaten over the years. I’ll have a remarkable dish somewhere and think, “How do I turn that into a sandwich?” Influence could come from a childhood meal, my favorite taco truck after a baseball game, or from my honeymoon in Vietnam. My years of inspiration and experience have been distilled down to fit between two pieces of bread and into your hands.