about us
Pizza fans and wine aficionados alike visit A16 in San Francisco’s Marina neighborhood with similar intensions: to enjoy the flavors of Italy’s soulful south.
Our restaurant shares a name with the highway that runs from Naples to Canosa, Puglia. True to our namesake, we gather our inspiration from southern Italy, particularly Campania, the region surrounding Naples. Chef/owner Liza Shaw oversees the menu, which features fresh pasta, house-butchered and house-cured meats and authentic Neapolitan pizza. Complementing the rustic menu, Wine Director/owner Shelley Lindgren selects wines that highlight the indigenous grapes from Campania and nearby regions.
Since we opened A16 in February, 2004, we’ve had the honor of welcoming several renowned Italian winemakers for wine dinners and special events. We also celebrate local farmers and purveyors by partnering with organizations such as Outstanding in the Field, Roots of Change and Slow Food.
Shelley Lindgren
A16 and SPQR wine director/owner Shelley Lindgren’s reputation for seeking out Italian wines made with little-known grapes has earned her recognition as a wine pioneer. She has been named Best Wine Director in San Francisco magazine, Best New Sommelier from Wine & Spirits, and a Top Ten Sommeliers,by Bloomberg Markets magazine. Yet Lindgren, who has worked in restaurants since high school, feels that her job is less about creating high-profile wine lists and more about sharing her passion for wine and hospitality with guests.
Lindgren didn’t concentrate on Italian wines initially. After graduating from the University of San Francisco, she spent six years at the fine-dining restaurant Fleur de Lys while earning her sommelier certificate. Between her tenure at Fleur de Lys and Bacar, Lindgren earned a culinary certificate at the Tante Marie Cooking School in 2001, where she has been a wine educator ever since. But it wasn’t until her first trip to Italy in 1999 with her husband, Greg, which she began to recognize the variety – and potential – of Italian wines from emerging regions.
After their trip, the couple contemplated opening a modest wine bar serving regional Italian wines and pizza. Their plans evolved when they met Victoria Libin, an attorney and passionate advocate of authentic Italian cuisine. Together, they put together the team that opened A16 in 2004 and SPQR in 2007.
Lindgren continues to search for evocative wines to serve at A16 and SPQR. To stay current, she embarks on rigorous tasting trips to Italy twice a year. In the restaurants, she mentors employees by encouraging them to earn sommelier’s certificates.
As a member of Les Dames d’ Escoffier, Lindgren stays involved with San Francisco’s food community. She has taught classes at the Culinary Institute of America, and is a regular instructor at Tante Marie. In Lindgren’s first book, A16 Food + Wine (Ten Speed Press, 2008), which earned two prestigious 2009 IACP Cookbook Awards: Cookbook of the Year and First Book/The Julia Child Award, she shares her passion for Southern Italy and its wines. In August 2009, she was honored with Gourmet magazine’s Sommelier Award, presented to the next generation of wine stars, in the category of Educator and in November 2009 she was awarded the Golden Goblet Award by the Association of Women Chefs and Restaurateurs.
Liza Shaw
Liza Shaw’s rustic and soulful menu at A16 reflects a deep appreciation of Southern Italian culinary traditions combined with Northern California sensibilities. With roots in la cucina povera, Liza distills robust and complex flavors from simple ingredients—from Bay Area produce and sustainable sardines to imported fragrant capers (cucunci), Sicilian almonds and diavolicchio peperoncini—and classic preparations, including hand-made pastas and wood-fired pizzas.
Liza acquired an early appreciation for Italian cooking through a Sicilian family friend while growing up in Glyndon, Maryland. It was not until years later, when Liza moved to San Francisco to work for a short-lived Internet start-up that she turned a lifelong love for cooking into a career. When the dot-com bubble burst, Liza enrolled in the California Culinary Academy (CCA), but it was an externship and subsequent job with Suzette Gresham-Tognetti at San Francisco’s famed Acquerello restaurant that would prove to be the most impactful part of her culinary education. It was there that Liza developed a profound passion for making pasta, learned the economy of movement in the kitchen and recognized the importance of minimizing waste and extracting the most flavor from the simplest of ingredients.
After two years at Acquerello, Liza was recruited to open A16 in 2004, where she worked her way up through every kitchen station before being promoted to executive chef and partner of A16 San Francisco in January 2009. During this time, she established deep relationships with local farmers and purveyors and contributed to the writing, recipe development and food styling of the award-winning A16 Food + Wine cookbook. Liza also played a pivotal role in the September 2009 opening of A16 Tokyo by working with the staff and developing the menu, which reflects that of the San Francisco restaurant with an emphasis on seasonality and use of local Japanese ingredients.”
In addition to fostering a “learning kitchen,” where A16 cooks break down whole animals, learn and share ideas and new cooking techniques, and contribute to menu items, Liza travels annually to Italy to continue her own culinary education, including a recent stage at Quattro Passi, in Marina del Cantone on the Amalfi coast, to experience first-hand the bright flavors and rich history of Campania’s coastal cuisine. Similarly, Liza has discovered new ingredients and techniques during her regular trips to Tokyo, which have impacted her menu in San Francisco.
At A16, Liza collaborates with wine director/owner Shelley Lindgren to offer Campanian-inspired cuisine that pairs beautifully with a predominantly Italian wine list celebrating lesser-known selections from the Mezzogiorno. Illustrated with a few ingredients that are bright in flavor, Liza’s signature style is evident in her delicate ricotta gnocchi; hand-made pastas with squid ink; involtini (meat or fish rolled and stuffed with fresh herbs, fruits, vegetables and/or cheeses); acqua pazza, local seafood cooked in tomato brodo; and wood-fired pizzas.
Liza was recognized as Restaurant Hospitality’s December 2009 Rising Star and is a member of Women Chefs and Restaurateurs and an active supporter of Chefs Collaborative.
Lori Rich
Growing up in the Bay Area, Lori Rich fondly remembers the countless hours she spent in the family kitchen learning how to bake bread alongside her mother. Lori’s interest in baking quickly evolved to include making pies, cookies and more complex desserts to help satiate her dad and brother’s sweet tooth. Their rave reviews combined with her ease in the kitchen and love for the exacting science of baking helped inform her decision to pursue a career as a pastry chef. In 2003, Lori enrolled in the baking and pastry program at California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, where an enthusiastic professor encouraged her use of sweet and savory ingredients and contrasting textures, which are still a hallmark of her seasonal menus at A16.
After graduating in 2003, Lori moved to New Orleans, where she further developed her baking skills while simultaneously executing the extensive bread and pastry programs for Whole Foods and working at various mom-and-pop restaurants in the city. During this time, Lori developed an appreciation for Cajun-style cooking that has helped influence her culinary style, and fell in love with classic New Orleans desserts, such as bread pudding, beignets, and pecan pies. The two years spent living and working in New Orleans reinforced Lori’s innate sense of hospitality and her philosophy that baking is, at its core, about sharing and making people happy.
In 2006, Lori moved back to San Francisco and began her most educational tenure to-date at Jardinière. For nearly three years, Lori developed technical skills that enabled her to rise through the ranks of the acclaimed restaurant’s pastry program from plating to menu development. In 2009, she was recruited to be A16 pastry chef.
At A16, Lori works with executive chef/partner Liza Shaw to create desserts that are inspired by Southern Italian culinary traditions. Her rustic menu showcases some of the best products available in the Bay Area and includes Amarena Cherry Crostata with Sicilian Almonds and Meyer Lemon Gelato; Walnut Cake with Crema Fresca Panna Cotta and Rosemary Caramel; and Farro Custard with Bitter Chocolate and Orange Yogurt Sorbet.
