Chef Bios

for the 15th Annual
Fall Organic Harvest Benefit Reception & Dinner
One Market Restaurant, San Francisco

Jan Birnbaum began his career in New Orleans with the legendary Paul Prudhomme and went on to work in top restaurants across the country, including as Executive Chef at Campton Place Hotel in San Francisco. His celebrated Catahoula Restaurant and Saloon in Calistoga was known as a serious food and wine lovers’ destination from 1994 to 2003, and Sazerac has been a leader in the restaurant community in Seattle since he opened it in 1998. Later this year, Jan will return to the San Francisco culinary scene with the opening of Epic Roasthouse in Rincon Park, a much anticipated collaboration with Pat Kuleto.

Patti Dellamonica-Bauler began her pastry career at with Lark Creek Restaurant Group in 1996, then launched PattiCakes, a Hollywood pastry catering business. She went on to become Pastry Chef at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago, then at Bistro Don Giovanni in Napa. In 2002 she returned to One Market Restaurant as its Pastry Chef. Patti features seasonal desserts made with the freshest of ingredients from the farmers’ market across the street at the Ferry Plaza.

Mark Dommen has upheld One Market’s traditions of excellence and innovation in American cuisine since becoming Executive Chef in 2004. Mark’s mentors include Hubert Keller of San Francisco’s Fleur de Lys, Gray Kunz at Lespinasse in New York, David Burke at Park Avenue Café and legendary Chef Jean-Louis Palladin of Palladin. From New York, he was invited to join Julia’s Kitchen in Napa Valley as the opening Executive Chef. He describes his approach to cooking as “blending the freshest, seasonal ingredients from California, while using the classic French techniques I have honed from my previous experiences.”

Rebecca King recently left the kitchen of Gabriella Cafe in Santa Cruz, where she was head chef for over two years, earning acclaim for outstanding seasonal fare based on regular visits to local farmers markets. Her new venture, Garden Variety Cheese, is an organic sheep dairy based on the Central Coast, which will begin commercial cheese production next spring. Rebecca’s experience includes work at Cowgirl Creamery, San Francisco's Foreign Cinema, Chez Panisse, and farms in Pennsylvania, Connecticut and California – in addition to three years as an indispensable member of the OFRF staff in the 1990s.

John Mitchell is the coordinating chef for this event, bringing together top culinary artists annually since 1993. John has been a Culinary Advisor and Research Development Consultant for the natural foods industry, following nine years as the Director of Operations/Food Service for Whole Foods Market. John spent seven years as a Chef for several restaurants within the Lark Creek Restaurant Group before that, including The Lark Creek Inn, One Market Restaurant and Lark Creek Walnut Creek. He has recently returned to Whole Foods Market as Executive Coordinator of the Food Services Project.

Charles Phan opened The Slanted Door in 1995, highlighting fresh, seasonal ingredients from small local farms in a small rotating menu of authentic home-style Vietnamese dishes. It was an immediate success, and Charles won the coveted James Beard Award for Best Chef: California in 2004. He believes that it is the duty of those in the food business to preserve cultural traditions. "Food is history—you can tell a lot about a culture by looking at how and what they cook and eat."

Adam Smith's passion for food began in Germany cooking fresh foods from farm to table. He apprenticed under Marcel Desaulniers, trained at the Culinary Institute of America and went on to become Chef de Cuisine at the Four Seasons Biltmore Hotel in Santa Barbara, Fama in Santa Monica, and Mirabelle in West Hollywood. Following a turn as Executive Chef at The Grill on the Park in Aspen, Colorado, Adam returned to California as Chef and Partner at Lark Creek Walnut Creek. He joined Whole Foods Market in 1999 and is currently its Northern California Senior Design Coordinator.