Appleman:  The Rest of the Story

The year was 2007, and a round-faced Nate Appleman was looking like a happily well-fed chef. The San Francisco Chronicle had just chosen him as a Rising Star Chef.

“I’ll never leave San Francisco. I want to raise my son here. It’s a big city with a small-town feel, and the food scene is great,” said Appleman.

Photo courtesy of Amazon

In much of his press (and he has had beaucoup press) Appleman has been photographed with his toddler, Oliver.

Photo courtesy of Facebook

When I first met him, years ago, Oliver was in a carrier glued to his chest while Appleman perused cookbooks at Green Apple. 

What’s fascinating about the whole Nate Appleman buying a one-way ticket to the Big Apple is no one seems to be asking “Hey what about that cute kid, Oliver, and his wife, Clarrisse?”

Well, the good news is that Oliver and Clarisse are in the Philippines with her parents. Appleman, meanwhile has a love interest in Manhattan and it’s not New York pizza.

Ironically, when my Yummy partner, Susan Dyer Reynolds, and I dined at Keste, the new Neapolitan pizza place in the Village, in early May, owner Roberto Caporuscio told us that Appleman had been in to dine.

Appleman was in New York City to pick up his James Beard Award for Rising Star of 2009.

Hearing about him in the brand new Keste, I remember at the time thinking, “Mmmmm, maybe? Nah, he’s happy in San Francisco.”

And who wouldn’t be?

A16, located in the Marina district of San Francisco is busy every night with Liza Shaw, co-executive chef, since January, at the helm. By the way, Shaw has been writing the menu for two years.

Owners Victoria Libin and Shelly Lindgren are planning to open an A16 on September 3 in Tokyo with sous chef Beth Ann Simkins who is moving to Japan for six months to get it up to speed.

The project for Dogpatch (20th and Minnesota) that delightful slice of San Francisco over the hill from Potrero Hill, is stalled because the developer hasn’t finished the building yet.

But Libin and Lindgren have funded Urbino to the tune of $2 million.  That restaurant will be their biggest, with 100 seats inside and 40 at the bar.

Their Roman-kissed SPQR in San Francisco’s Fillmore is perking along with chef de cuisine Chris Behr. The partners asked him to step up to the executive chef job, a position that brings with it a piece of the action as it does at all their restaurants. But Behr thinks he needs a little more seasoning, so the search is on.

“We are getting some amazing resumes – we’re very excited for the future,” says Lindgren. 

All Lindgren says about Appleman’s departure is that it was “amicable.”

Appleman at Beard Awards
Photo Courtesy of the Beard House

Lost in all the gnashing of teeth about a slimmed-down Appleman taking meetings in New York (one assumes to make a restaurant deal) is the founding chef of A16, Christophe Hille, whose recipes (think pizza, meatballs, tripe) put it on the map.      

Hille was a Chronicle Rising Star in 2005.

The shy Hille is happily in New York studying nutrition at NYU and is the private chef for photographer Annie Leibovitz’s studio.

Stay tuned.

For more information about GraceAnn’s tours of North Beach, Chinatown & The New Mission, visit www.graceannwalden.net or contact her at gaw@sbcglobal.net.

To read GraceAnn’s monthly column in Northside San Francisco, “Chef’s Chat”.