Stephen Simmons

Chef de Cuisine

Chef Stephen's love for food and cooking started with his grandmother, and continued to grow from his education at the City College of San Francisco and an internship with Chef Jeremiah Tower and Chef Marc Franz. He quickly rose as a Bay Area culinary celebrity working at The Stanford Court Hotel, Campton Place (under Bradley Ogden) as Executive Sous Chef, then at Casa Madrona Hotel and Restaurant in Sausalito as Executive Chef; he was also the Opening Chef for One Market Restaurant in San Francisco and he was nationally recognized as Rising Star Chef by the James Beard Foundation. Chef Stephen later partnered with Bradley Ogden as Opening Chef at the nationally recognized Lark Creek Inn. Afterwards, venturing out on his own, he purchased and revitalized a local Marin property creating a popular San Anselmo comfort food restaurant, called Bubba’s Diner. He also managed the food operations at Skywalker Ranch for 15 years, before joining us here at Birch & Rye.