SF Chefs Debuting an All-Female Special Dinner

Prospect, where the dinner will be held. [Photo: Jennifer Yin]

Michael Bauer has taken some criticism for his Rising Star Chef list this year, which, for the fourth year in a row, didn't have any women on it. Though it's true that women are underrepresented in the culinary field for a variety of reasons, we can also think of at least one that he missed. That said, he's doing a mitzvah to make up for it: this year's Chronicle partnership dinner at SF Chefs will be a ladies' night, with a killer lineup of female chefs, sommeliers, and pastry chefs serving a decadent meal. And as if the best of SF's culinary ladies wasn't enough, we're also getting a bonus one from New York: soon-to-be Tosca chef April Bloomfield of Spotted Pig fame.

The dinner will be held on Sunday, July 28 at female-owned Prospect, and chaired by owner/chef Nancy Oakes, chef Pamela Mazzola, and GM Kathy King. A crack sommelier team led by Shelley Lindgren of A16 and SPQR will pour wines by female winemakers, and the evening will conclude with a dessert buffet featuring a passel of leading pastry chefs. Tickets are an appropriately steep $450, with 40% of each ticket benefiting the Chron's Season of Sharing fund. Here's the full team behind the dinner:

Chefs

Nancy Oakes, Boulevard and Prospect
Pamela Mazzola, Prospect
April Bloomfield, Tosca
Dominique Crenn, Atelier Crenn
Loretta Keller, Coco500/Seaglass
Gayle Pirie, Foreign Cinema
Melissa Perello, Frances
Jennifer Puccio, Marlowe/Park Tavern
Dana Younkin, Boulevard

Pastry Chefs

Emily Luchetti, Farallon/Waterbar
Maya Erickson, AQ
Melissa Chou, Aziza
Lori Baker, Baker & Banker
Sarah Rich, Rich Table
Nicole Krasinski, State Bird Provisions
Belinda Leong, B. Patisserie
Lisa Lu, Boulevard

Sommeliers

Shelley Lindgren, A16/SPQR
Dominique Henderson Clay and Jennifer Warren, A16
Nissa Suteja, Acquerello
Petra Polakovicova, Epic Roasthouse
Stevie Stacionis, Guild of Sommeliers and 'A Drink with Friends'
Emily Horenian, Spruce
Haley Guild Moore, Stock & Bones
Bianca Jimenez Rivera, SPQR
Nicole Kosta, The Mandarin Oriental
Tonya Pitts, One Market

· A celebration of San Francisco's top women chefs and sommeliers [Inside Scoop]
· SF Chefs: Masters of Their Craft [Official website]