By the age of 27, Harrison Cheney had already cooked his way through top kitchens in London and Stockholm and was running the show at two-Michelin-starred Gastrologik, pushing out 20-course new Nordic tasting menus made with hyperseasonal, local produce. In short, he wouldn’t seem out of place as a character on “The Bear.”
San Francisco, CA
The coveted visa keeping SF’s elite restaurant kitchens running
There was just one problem: His girlfriend wanted to move back from Sweden to San Francisco.
“I’d always put my career first,” Cheney says. “But this time, I didn’t.”
Taking a chance on love, he sent his resume to a handful of San Francisco restaurants and eventually landed a role as head chef at Sons & Daughters, a 12-year-old fine dining destination. Though it had held its shining Michelin star for a decade, the restaurant had mostly fallen off the radars of the city’s food obsessives.
The girlfriend didn’t work out, but the job did. After Cheney joined the restaurant in 2022, Sons & Daughters shifted its menu to new Nordic cuisine, putting a California twist on the genre inspired by Noma, one of the most prestigious restaurants in the world. Gone were the quenelles of foie gras and filets of king salmon, replaced instead with elegant, technically meticulous dishes like black cod from Half Moon Bay, gently kissed with smoke and lacquered with lard, and roses made from rutabaga cooked in lactic fermented juice with smoked pork fat.
Under Cheney’s direction, Son & Daughters became one of the best fine dining restaurants in the Bay Area — earning a second Michelin star last year.
None of it would have been possible, however, without one thing: Cheney’s O-1 visa.
Immigration is the lifeblood of the country’s restaurant industry. But it’s not just counter-service joints and casual chains that depend on it for the essential work of washing dishes, prepping ingredients, and cooking on the line. Michelin-level restaurants also rely on immigrants to round out their ranks. Typically, these workers arrive through short-term visa programs that allow aspiring, early-career chefs to intern at top restaurants like Atelier Crenn, Eleven Madison Park, and The French Laundry.
But as the pool of high-level culinary talent in the U.S. has gotten shallower, these top-level restaurants are looking overseas for people to take leadership roles in San Francisco’s high-stakes fine dining scene. It’s not isolated to the city. An industrywide labor shortage started when scores of experienced cooks left restaurants after the pandemic, and it’s only set to worsen in the coming years. According to the Department of Labor Statistics, the need for chefs and head cooks is on pace to increase 8% between now and 2033, even as culinary school enrollment has steadily declined. The result? An international pipeline of culinary all-stars coming stateside via an O-1 visa, essentially a rare golden ticket designated for those “individuals with extraordinary ability.”
Although none would share specifics about how many chefs from outside the country are currently keeping the stoves hot in their kitchens, representatives from more than half a dozen Michelin-starred restaurants in the city confirmed they employ O-1 visa holders.
In the past five years, it’s become increasingly common, a spokesperson for one fine dining restaurant group says, though they declined to be interviewed on the record over concerns about attracting scrutiny on the company and its staff. It’s not an unfounded fear, considering the Trump administration’s continuing crackdown on immigrants, including visa holders. During his first term, the number of O-1 visas issued dipped below 10,000 in both 2020 and 2021 due to a mix of policies and the pandemic. A similar downturn could be devastating to the city’s high-end restaurants.
“They’re essential,” says one fine dining professional of these globetrotting chefs.
Most commonly, foreign chefs make their way to San Francisco restaurant kitchens through work-study exchange programs, which require a J-1 visa.
For ambitious young cooks, job opportunities for J-1 recipients are relatively abundant at places as casual as Australian-style coffee chain Bluestone Lane and as upscale as two-Michelin-starred Saison. But since the program is intended for students or recent graduates, restaurants are limited to only using it to fill entry-level positions with staff who can only stay up to a year.
That’s where the O-1 visa comes in. Minn Kim, founder and CEO of visa consultancy Lighthouse HQ, says that while this pathway has historically been associated with entertainment and sports superstars — think athletes like Lionel Messi and musicians like Justin Bieber — the O-1 program has increasingly been applied to people across a broad swath of fields. And while it’s not cheap (between fees for filing an application, expediting its processing, and hiring an attorney to help with it all, costs range from $5K to $15K), there’s no cap on how many can be issued.
“It is wildly underused,” Kim says, noting that while the number of O-1 visas issued annually has been steadily rising over the past two decades, the State Department still received just 20,669 applications in 2024, of which 19,457 were approved. Meanwhile, the department issued more than 300,000 J-1 visas last year.
That contrast is due in part to a lack of awareness, Kim says. While the highly competitive process of obtaining an H1-B visa, the largest visa program for skilled workers like software engineers, has been widely covered, conversations about the application process for O-1 visas have only just begun to gain momentum. In tech circles, O-1 visa holders have started sharing advice about how to glow up their application, which requires building a case that an individual is at the top of their field. For an academic, that might mean compiling a list of books and papers that have cited their research. For an actor, winning a BAFTA would help.
Outside of earning a Michelin star, it’s a bit trickier to show your work for someone who spends their days julienning vegetables and slow-roasting squab — essential kitchen duties, but not ones that usually attract accolades and outside attention. That means restaurant workers tend to rely on media coverage.
Articles about the award-winning restaurants where they’ve toiled can be useful, but applicants need to be specifically mentioned by name. Sometimes that means somewhat shamelessly pitching themselves to journalists. “I am trying to reach out to publishers and writers to get a small feature, mention, or anything of that sort,” wrote an O-1 visa applicant, who worked at a Michelin-starred SF restaurant for a year while on a J-1 visa that expired earlier this year. They’ve already lined up a job at a Michelin-starred restaurant in New York City — but need to secure a new visa to officially accept the job. Somewhat ironically, they declined to be interviewed for this story due to concerns it could jeopardize their application.
There are no hard and fast rules about soliciting coverage, according to Minn. One of the appealing features of the O-1 program is that applicants can essentially reverse-engineer an application that checks the boxes.
“You can build towards it, is how I describe it. Your candidacy is not static,” Minn says. “Everybody wants to go to Harvard, but not everybody’s eligible to go to Harvard. However, you can make yourself a better candidate.”
Thomas Etheve is in the middle of a concentrated attempt to improve his chances to continue to cook in San Francisco’s most elite kitchens.
On a recent Thursday afternoon, he stepped out of the kitchen at San Ho Won and slid into a wooden booth, wearing a hunter green apron over a plain white T-shirt with his long auburn hair twisted into a messy top-knot.
After being born and raised in a small port town on the French island of Réunion, Etheve moved to France at the age of 20 and started working in restaurant kitchens. It wasn’t long before he fell in love with the intense focus and artistry of fine dining, which led him to the United States in 2015.
Back then, he was on a J-1 visa, which helped him land a job working at three-Michelin-starred Benu, under chef Corey Lee. When his training year was up, he journeyed to Hong Kong, learning to work the charcoal grill at a lauded yakitori restaurant in Hong Kong.
Then in 2022, a manager from Lee’s restaurant group reached out to see if Etheve would be interested in coming to work at the company’s forthcoming upscale Korean barbecue restaurant San Ho Won, which has since won rave reviews and earned a Michelin star last year.
He had won the golden ticket as the sous chef de cuisine. Exemplifying San Francisco fine dining’s reliance on these highly skilled immigrants, he was able to work in the country under an O-2 visa, which is meant for support staff for O-1 visa holders. A musician on an O-1 visa might use an O-2 to bring along their producer, for example, or an athlete their trainer.
In Etheve’s case, his permit was tied to San Ho Wan executive chef Jeong-In Hwang, an immigrant from Korea. As his O-2 visa is set to expire in August, he’s hoping to get an O-1 of his own.
It’s his last, best effort to stay in the United States and continue honing his craft and creative voice as a chef. There are more opportunities here than if he were to return home to Réunion or mainland France. “If I go to France, I’m just a French guy doing French food,” he says. “Here, I’m learning different cooking techniques, different approaches.”
The denial of his visa application wouldn’t just be a setback for his culinary career. It’d be another small loss for the city’s already dwindling talent pool of top chefs.
One of San Francisco’s busiest freeways remained shut down Saturday, creating major traffic delays and dampening business for some local restaurants and shops.
All eastbound lanes of Interstate 80 just before the Bay Bridge are closed as crews work around the clock to rehabilitate the roadway. The 55-hour shutdown, which began on Friday night, is scheduled to last until Monday morning in time for the commute.
The closure has forced drivers onto detour routes, leading to heavy congestion for those trying to reach the East Bay, including Oakland and Berkeley.
The impact is being felt beyond the roadways.
At MoMo’s, a restaurant across from Oracle Park, staff found business noticeably slower.
“A little bit more mellow than usual. We usually see a little bit more foot traffic, a little bit more people on Saturdays,” said Daniel Bermudez, executive chef at MoMo’s.
Bermudez believes the freeway closure may be discouraging visitors from coming into the city this weekend, despite favorable weather.
“The weather is beautiful today. It’s nice and sunny. So we have plenty of tables outside,” he said.
With the San Francisco Giants playing an away game, the restaurant had hoped fans would still gather to watch, but turnout during game time remained light.
“This is kind of like our off-season Saturday. A lot slower than our baseball weekend,” said Casandra Alarcon, general manager at MoMo’s.
Other small businesses in the Mission Bay and South of Market neighborhoods reported similar trends, saying most of their customers are regulars who live nearby rather than visitors.
“A little bit slower for sure. Before, we had tourists come and walk to the baseball park,” said Ajaree Safron, manager at Brickhouse Cafe & Bar.
Caltrans has shut down eastbound lanes between 17th and 4th streets to repave the 71-year-old roadway. The goal is to extend the life of the Bayshore Freeway by another decade.
City and transportation officials said the timing of the closure was intentional, noting fewer major events scheduled in San Francisco this weekend, aside from the Cherry Blossom Festival.
Westbound lanes remain open, and officials said traffic heading into San Francisco from the East Bay has not been significantly affected.
“Getting into the city, it wasn’t too bad. Regular [traffic], what we expect on a Saturday morning,” said visitor Andrea Inouye.
While the closure has posed challenges for businesses, some workers said they are taking it in stride.
“Hopefully, it’s not for too long and we get past it, and get back to our normal routine,” Bermudez said.
Despite early concerns about widespread gridlock, transportation officials said the region has avoided the worst-case scenario. Traffic remains heavy in areas near detours, but the anticipated “carmageddon” has not materialized, in part because many drivers chose to avoid the area or take public transit.
Bay Area High School baseball fans are treated to a rare opportunity Saturday (April 18) with three games at Oracle Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, including the famed Bruce-Mahoney clash between West Catholic Athletic League rivals St. Ignatius and Sacred Heart Cathedral.
The first pitch of the 20th annual Dante Benedetti Baseball Classic starts at 11 a.m. and pits two more San Francisco private schools as University (9-7), winners of four straight, taking on Riordan (5-11).
That will be followed by the Bruce-Mahoney game at 2:30 between St. Ignatius (12-5, 4-2 WCAL) and the Irish (7-10, 1-5) and finished off with a North Coast Section clash between North Bay’s Marin Catholic (9-7) against Acalanes (7-6-1).
The Benedetti Classic, founded by Dante’s Boys Foundation board member Tom Lounibos and Giants president Larry Baer, benefits the DBF which honors the spirit of Benedetti who for nearly 40 years owned San Francisco’s Mr. Baseball nickname for his kindness and generosity to baseball-playing youth in the area.
Among their philanthropic efforts are glove and baseball equipment drives, field renovations and contributions to scholarships and sponsorships.
After starting the season 0-4 — three of those losses were by one run — University, under head coach Andrew Suvunnachuen, has found its way, winning the last four, all in Bay Counties League play, by a combined 51-6 count over Lick-Wilmerding (16-1 and 11-3) and San Domenico (13-2 and 11-0).
Senior catcher and pitcher Jett Messenger leads the way with a .447 average, while getting on base at a .638 rate. He also leads the team with 20 stolen bases. Junior third baseman Tate Gebhart is hitting .419, while Leo Felder and Behbart share the RBI lead with 15 each.
Junior Matthew Foley is 3-2 on the mound with a 2.38 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 17.2 innings.
Riordan, under second-year head coach Craig Sargent, was 5-5 in nonleague games but lost six straight in the rugged WCAL, losing two tough games this week to Mitty (3-2 and 7-4). Junior third baseman and pitcher Santiono Williams leads the team in batting average (.371), on-base percentage (.488) and stolen bases (nine). He’s also been the team’s top pitcher at 4-2 with a 2.84 ERA.
The teams have split two previous games in their history, with Riordan winning 2-0 in 2023 and University prevailing 5-0 in 2021.
St. Ignatius, led by ninth-year head coach Brian Pollzzie, has already secured the Bruce-Mahoney trophy with four straight wins — one each in football, girls volleyball, boys basketball and girls basketball — but this rivalry is always spirited.
The Wildcats, who are ranked fourth in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Chronicle, are coming off a tough 3-0 home loss to No. 2 St. Francis on Friday after beating the host Lancers 10-6 on Tuesday.
The team is led by Stanford-bound Archer Horn, who is hitting .486 with four home runs and a .604 on-base percentage. The shortstop and pitcher also has not allowed an earned run in three pitching appearances while registering one save.
Pitching is a team’s strength with a 2.59 ERA, led by a brigade of strong arms including Leo Rhein (2-0, 2.38), Tycco Giometti (2-1, 2.62), Charlie Stecher 1-1, 0.72) and Chase Gordon (1-0, 2.80). The team is missing standout Finn Demuth, out of the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Sacred Heart Cathedral, led by fourth-year head coach Gregg Franceschi, has scored 60 runs on the season and given up 61. The Irish are coming off two losses to eighth-ranked Valley Christian (5-2 and 10-1).
They are led offensively by junior outfielder Brody O’Sullivan (.381) and senior infielder Jacob Vines (.378). Johnny Nepomuceno and Max Nylander are other run-producers. Zach Stallworth (37 strikeouts, 29.2 innings) and Cooper Rogers Lewis (0.25 ERA) have been the team’s top pitchers.
The series has been remarkably close since 2005 with Sacred Heart Cathedral holding a 27-20 edge, though St. Ignatius won both games last season (5-0 and 6-3) after the Irish won 9-7 and 1-0 in 2024.
Marin Catholic hopes to get back to winning after starting the season 9-1, but have since lost six straight, four in Marin County Athletic League play, including 4-2 to Novato on Thursday. Senior outfield Luke Martin is the team’s leading hitter at .478 while senior infielder and pitcher Cooper Mitchell is at .455. Senior infielder Walker Untermann leads the team with 15 RBIs.
Acalanes is at the other end of the spectrum, winners of five of six after a 2-5-1 start. Junior infielder Tyler Winkles, also a highly recruited quarterback in football, leads the team with a .383 average and nine stolen bases. Riley Gates (2-3, 2.49 ERA, 30 strikeouts) is the team’s top pitcher.
The teams have played three times, all since 2022, with Marin Catholic owning a 2-1 lead. Acalanes won last year’s game 8-7.
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Chinatown fatal crash victim ID’d, safety measures proposed
The victim killed in Friday’s Chinatown crash was identified Monday by the medical examiner as Cutberto Zamora-Martinez, 49, of San Joaquin County. At a meeting on Monday, city officials said the cause of the crash is still under investigation.
SAN FRANCISCO – A 76-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and speeding following a crash in San Francisco’s Chinatown that killed a man working in the area.
Zhuo Ming Lu, 76, is accused in the March 27 crash that left 49-year-old Cutberto Zamora-Martinez, of San Joaquin County, dead.
Suspect was trying to park
What we know:
Authorities said Lu was attempting to park near Grant Avenue and Jackson Street when his vehicle jumped the sidewalk and crashed into the landmark New Lung Ting Café, also known as the Pork Chop House. The vehicle also struck two pedestrians, including Zamora-Martinez.
Zamora-Martinez died from his injuries.
He had been working in the area, according to a GoFundMe page. A San Francisco Police Department source close to the investigation told KTVU the victims were carpet installers arriving for work.
The fundraising page described Zamora-Martinez as a husband and father who was the sole provider for his family and “a humble man who wanted the best for his family.”
Before his arrest, Lu had been cooperating with investigators. Authorities have not confirmed what caused the crash.
Some residents questioned whether the driver’s age or a possible confusion between the brake and gas pedals may have been factors.
“Maybe if people hit a certain age, you got to get retested for your driver’s license is something I was thinking about,” said Keith Hong, who works next door to the crash site.
Another case involving an elderly driver
Big picture view:
In an unrelated case, Mary Fong Lau, 80, was sentenced to probation after killing a family of four, two parents and their young children. in March 2024. Authorities said Lau struck the victims as they waited at a Muni stop on their way to the zoo.
Lau pleaded no contest to four felony counts of vehicular manslaughter, and a judge accepted the plea. A Superior Court judge cited her age, remorse and lack of criminal history in the sentencing decision.
She was placed on probation for two years, banned from driving for three years and ordered to complete 200 hours of community service.
The Source: San Francisco Police Department, prior reporting
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