GREENS GUEST CHEF SERIES:
A GLOBAL CELEBRATION OF VEGETABLES

In celebration of San Francisco’s diverse culinary scene and vegetarian cuisine, Executive Chef Katie Reicher will host various Bay Area chefs in the Greens kitchen for one-night only collaborative dinners throughout 2024.  Chef Katie and each guest chef will collaborate on a four-course menu that showcases the guest chef’s unique cuisine through a vegetarian lens while highlighting seasonal vegetables and unique preparations.  Each dinner will be held one month apart between April and October and feature a different chef for each dinner.  This year’s incredible line up features six of the Bay Area’s top chefs, each representing a unique cuisine, from the Philippines to California Soul.  A portion of the proceeds from each dinner will benefit a charity of the guest chef’s choosing.  


The Greens Guest Chef Series: A Global Celebration of Vegetables will kick off on April 3rd with Chef Azalina Eusope of Azalina’s.  More detailed information for each dinner is listed below.

A BRIEF HISTORY

In 2019, for Greens’ 40th anniversary, we welcomed some of the Bay Area’s most beloved chefs to our kitchen to showcase their unique cuisines through a seasonal, vegetarian lens.  The series was intended to celebrate vegetables and connect deeply with our community – both of which have been pillars to our success for over 40 years.  The dinners had immeasurable successes, connecting guests and chefs together in the Greens dining room for the first time.

Following our pandemic closure, Executive Chef Katie Reicher revived the Guest Chef Series in 2022 as a way to reconnect with our community after a period of uncertainty and isolation.  This new series, still centralized around celebrating vegetables and community, also has another mission.  “There is no limit to the potential of cooking vegetables seasonally.  No matter what the cuisine or the season, there are a ton of vegetable dishes out there that can work with what you have available.  The Guest Chef Series is intended to showcase that potential,” says Chef Katie.  Since reviving the series in 2022, Greens has since welcomed over a dozen local chefs and makers for special, one-night-only dinners that feature unique cuisines, perfectly paired beverages, and of course, community connection.

TICKET DETAILS

Tickets are made available one calendar month ahead of the event dates. 
For example, tickets will become available for our April 3rd dinner on March 3rd.

A link to purchase tickets will be added to each dinner description below as they become available.
*Note that our Guest Chef Series dinners have limited seating and often sell out quickly.

Menus will be shared two weeks before each dinner and are subject to change based on what our farmers have available.
All Chef Series dinners are designed to accommodate both vegan and gluten free diets.
For other dietary restrictions, please email us: info@greensrestaurant.com

For media inquiries, please email us: media@greensrestaurant.com 

AZALINA EUSOPE
Wednesday, April 3rd, 2024

  • Azalina Eusope is the executive chef of Azalina’s, a reservation only, 4-course, Malaysian tasting menu restaurant in the Tenderloin, San Francisco that opened in May 2023. Azalina is an active participant in improving the neighborhood and is actively working with the SF Government and other groups to improve the living experience for everyone in the nighborhood.

    Chef Azalina is a fifth-generation street food vendor who moved to San Francisco a decade ago. The only thing that could comfort her in the early days of settling in and learning English was the food she grew up eating; so, the pastry-trained chef cooked for herself, family and friends often. Over time, word got out about her home-cooked meals, and her hobby eventually turned into a business in 2010.

    Azalina’s has been lauded by various publications, including the San Francisco Chronicle, calling it a “one-of-a-kind” restaurant. The dynamic, ever-changing menu blends Indian and Chinese influences while emphasizing food of the Mamak (Indian Muslim) people. Chef Azalina was named Chef of the Year in 2023 by Eater San Francisco.

TANYA HOLLAND
Thursday, May 2nd, 2024

  • Holland is the founder of the famed Brown Sugar Kitchen restaurant and author of Tanya Hollands’ Califlornia Soul, Brown Sugar Kitchen, and New Soul Cooking cookbooks. She curently sits on the Board of Trustees of The James Beard Foundation and is the Chef/Chair of the Awards Committee. She is the host of Tanya’s Kitchen Table cooking show on The Oprah Winfrey Network and the host of Tanya’s Table Podcast. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Russian Language and Literature from the University of Virginia, and a Grande Diplome from La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine in Burgundy, France.

    Her Oakland based restaurant received multiple Michelin Bib Gourmand awards. She is an in-demand public speaker who frequently leads the conversation on inclusion and equity in the hospitality industry. Holland competed on the 15th season of Top Chef on Bravo; was the host/soul food expert on Food Network’s Melting Pot and has made numerous television appearances including The Today Show, The Talk, CBS This Morning, Iron Chef, Master Chef, and Selena + Chef. Holland is a member of the prestigious Les Dames d’Escoffier Bay Area chapter and was honored by the City of Oakland when June 5, 2012 was declared “Tanya Holland Day.” A year later, she was awarded the Key to the City. Internationally, she serves as a Culinary Diplomat for the US State Department with tours in Kazakhstan and Mexico and has taught classes in Brandome, France for gastronomic travelers.

STEVE JOO
Sunday, June 2nd, 2024

  • Steve Joo is the chef and owner of Joodooboo, a California BanChan shop for freshly made DooBoo (the Korean word for tofu), and hyper-seasonal vegetable preparations that are inspired by Korean flavors and ingredients. Joo’s creations are informed by a year spent in Korea learning cooking techniques and his experience in restaurants such as Chez Panisse in Berkeley and Terra in St. Helena. He often consults the spirit of his grandmother when cooking, balancing tradition with his spirit for expressiveness.

    Per Eater San Francisco, “Chef Steve Joo is redefining Korean banchan through the lens of Northern California produce and grandmotherly guidance.”

FRANCIS ANG
Thursday, July 18th, 2024

  • Chef Francis Ang was born in San Francisco, but spent his formative years in the Philippines. Ang returned to the States, moving from Manila to San Francisco when he was 19 and enrolling in the City College of San Francisco’s culinary arts and hospitality studies program. After graduation, Ang secured a position at one-Michelin-star restaurant Gary Danko, honing his skills among San Francisco’s best. After which, Ang joined the line at Fifth Floor (now Dirty Habit). It was here that Ang’s prowess really began to shine. While there, under the guidance of Executive Chef David Bazirgan, Ang earned Food & Wine’s “People’s Best Pastry Chef” and Zagat’s 30 under 30.

    By 2016, Ang and his wife Dian decided to take a deep dive back into their culinary roots. The couple traveled to the Philippine Islands for six months, studying the local cuisine from origin to evolution. As a result, Pinoy Heritage was born, a Filipino pop-up. In 2018, Pinoy Heritage won Eater SF’s Pop-Up of the Year award as well as San Francisco Chronicle’s Rising Star Chef. In 2019, Ang also won StarChefs’ Rising Star Chef award. Ang also worked with two-Michelin-star Taj Campton Place Hotel, where he created their dessert program.

    During the summer of 2021, Chef Ang’s dream of opening a brick and mortar restaurant came to fruition with Restaurant Abaca, located inside the Hotel Alton of the Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. Since opening, Restaurant Abaca has earned local and national acclaim including being named one of Esquire’s America’s Best New Restaurants in 2021 and one of the 2022 New York Times 50 Best Restaurants in America, Eater SF’s Most Innovative Menu award, and a 2022 James Beard semifinalist for Best New Restaurant.

SPENCER HOROVITZ
Thursday, August 22nd, 2024

  • “Hadeem,” meaning “the echoes” in Hebrew, draws a parallel between the diverse culinary traditions of the Jewish diaspora and fond memories of Chef Spencer’s multicultural Los Angeles upbringing. After working at acclaimed restaurants like Itria, Al’s Place, The Progress, The Restaurant at Meadowood, and others, Chef Spencer embarked on his own project to explore California-Jewish food. In 2023, Hadeem was awarded “Pop-Up of the Year” by Eater San Francisco.

BRANDON JEW
Thursday, September 19th, 2024

  • Brandon Jew is the executive chef and owner of Mister Jiu’s, a contemporary Chinese American restaurant in the heart of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Mister Jiu’s combines the local, seasonal, and organic bounty of the Bay Area together with classic Chinese techniques and flavors. The restaurant celebrates its place in the historic neighborhood, working to evolve and define Chinese American cuisine in the Bay Area. Brandon’s training spans from Bologna, Italy to Shanghai, China, and many restaurants within the Bay Area. He considers Judy Rodgers (Zuni Cafe), Michael Tusk (Quince), and his grandma, Ying Ying, to be his most influential mentors.

    Chef Brandon has appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Mind of a Chef, Ugly Delicious, and Vice Munchies. His honors at Mister Jiu’s include one Michelin star, Bon Appetit #3 Restaurant on Hot 10, 2017, SF Magazine Chef of the Year, and James Beard nominations for Best Chef West in 2018 and 2020.