Ubuntu

One Michelin Star 2010

One Michelin Star 2011

I stumbled upon Ubuntu in Napa, California, two years before they were awarded their star. I don’t remember where I first heard about the place, but I knew I had to try it sometime. Ubuntu is a vegetarian restaurant like no other. When I took my son there and told him it was strictly vegetarian, he grew wide eyed. But after our dinner, he said it was one of the best meals he’d ever had. Their young chef Aaron London, is truly gifted and his story is quite interesting.

After getting in trouble with the law at age 14 (he’s vague on the actual incident), London began cooking to kill time while under house arrest. Then something clicked. His food was so good that his probation officers, whose visits were supposed to be a surprise, would call ahead to give London a heads-up so he could fix them a snack.

“I’ve always been super high-energy,” he says, “but before cooking I didn’t know how to express myself. By the time I got out of my room, I was hooked.”

The loquacious London, born in the Sonoma County town of Graton, routinely bicycles 60 miles before work and enjoys his weekly hamburger. At first, his personality seems at odds with the painstakingly plated dishes he serves at Napa’s Ubuntu, a vegetable restaurant whose menu is riddled with unusual ingredients such as “sunchoke dirt” and “kohlrabi noodles.”

2011 Rising Star Chef: Aaron London
March 13, 2011|By Sophie Brickman, Chronicle Staff Writer of SF Gate.com

Ubuntu
1140 Main Street
Napa, Ca.
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Greens

Since 1979 Greens has been serving up fine vegetarian fare in it’s waterfront location at Fort Mason in San Francisco. They were pioneers in establishing vegetarian dining and elevating it to a fine dining status.