Stuart Brioza
Stuart Brioza
The Progress / State Bird Provisions / The Anchovy Bar
www.theprogress-sf.com
www.statebirdsf.com
www.theanchovybar.com
Cooking at:
San Francisco Gala Dinner
As a teenager, California Bay Area native Stuart Brioza began his cooking & restaurant career. He was immediately entranced by the kitchen’s sensory wonders and the skills and techniques of the professional chef. Even at a young age, Stuart recognized food’s powerful role in defining the cultures and identities of people, regions, and nations.
With his wife and collaborator, the celebrated Pastry Chef Nicole Krasinski, Stuart co-owns several modern-day icons of San Francisco’s vaunted culinary scene: State Bird Provisions, The Progress, and The Anchovy Bar. These restaurants are not simply beautiful dining rooms, but spaces meticulously designed to further the idea of food’s ‘locale’. They share the origin stories of the ingredients served, and capture & convey a genuine sense of place for San Francisco and the greater Bay Area.
Stuart characterizes his honest & bold cooking style as an evolution of California Cuisine, which is to seek out the best examples of organic ingredients in season and respecting their integrity through a cooking process defi ned by technique and creativity. His kitchens source Northern California's incomparable ingredients (such as quail, anchovies, oysters, seaweeds & wild mushrooms), producing a culinary repertoire that highlights seasonal abundance, preservation, smoking, fermentation & most notably lessening the gap in ‘zero waste’ cooking.
Mentorship, collaboration & management ‘idea workshops’ are examples of how Stuart & his restaurants continue to hone in on goals & continue to have a significant influence on the greater conversation around food and hospitality.
In order to fuel his work as a chef & restaurateur, Stuart spends much of his time with his family in the great outdoors—snowboarding, cycling, gardening, camping, and exploring the globe.
He attributes his national & international success to the delicate balance of focused, yet curious cooking & a lifetime of thrill seeking.
