Nightbird's chef/owner Kim Alter. (Patricia Chang)

8 San Francisco Chefs Prove a Woman's Place Is at the Head of the Kitchen

Apr 13, 2017

When the World's 50 Best Restaurants recently released its 2017 list, just three women-run businesses made the cut. And, as of 2016, it has been estimated that only 4.7 percent of American chefs and head cooks are female. The professional kitchen, it seems, is still a man's turf.

But Bay Area diners are quite accustomed to seeing talented women at the helm of their favorite restaurants, following in the footsteps of such culinary trailblazers as Alice Waters, Traci Des Jardins, and Dominique Crenn. This year, in fact, some of the city's most promising restaurants star lady toques in executive and ownership roles.

To sit down and talk with them about their challenges and goals is telling: There are tales of kitchens fraught with subtle and not-so-subtle discrimination, snubs from investors, and a lot of dudes telling dirty jokes. Nearly all of these women said they are driven by the hope of nurturing young chefs and restaurant talent, men as well as women, and of fostering community, whether through collaborations with nonprofits and school programs or among their own teams and customer base. Every last one of them has, as Barzotto's chef Michelle Minori put it, "developed plenty of grit" to get their jobs done to delicious effect.

Meet eight of the city's hottest chefs (who just happen to have xx chromosomes) who are leveling the playing field in San Francisco.

Cortney Burns, Chef/Partner, Motze

BONA FIDES: Formerly co-chef at Bar Tartine, and co-author of the James Beard Award–winning cookbook Bar Tartine: Techniques & Recipes (Chronicle Books).

PASSION DRIVER: "Cooking is the medium that I use to experience the world. It helps me understand what is going on from the inside out, and allows me to engage people in a certain way, to nourish them, to show them love."

PRIORITY (FE)MALE: "I am not my gender, I am a person and I want to be good one. I don't think I have ever felt attacked. I grew up with women in the kitchen....The challenge is not in the gender, but in my insecurity as a person. This is the real struggle. The bigger challenge is to be a better person."

FUTURE PERFECT: "In 2017, I'd like to find more ways to give back and teach kids cooking classes and work with school gardens. In the restaurant format, I'll be focusing on continuing to grow our larder for Motze, playing with more misos, soy sauces, and vinegars to round out the pantry."