Tommaso's A North Beach Institution since 1935 We’re Hiring a Chef!

Tommaso's Ristorante Italiano is one of North Beach's most storied Italian eateries. It brought the West Coast its first wood-fired brick oven, and much of the menu still follows the original Neapolitan recipes.

The Crotti family ran it for 51 years before selling it in 2024 to Maureen "Mo" Donegan, a longtime San Francisco restaurateur. She reopened it in January 2025 with the original oven and recipes. Now she wants a partner to build on that foundation and bring new dishes to the menu.

The Role

Rooted in history. Ready for what's next.

The foundation is there, and Mo wants to build on it. She believes in fresh, great food and sees much more the kitchen can do with pizza and pasta. Nothing stays on the menu just because it always has.

The Chef will run the back of the house and work directly with Mo on the menu. This is not a traditional executive chef role. It is for a strong line cook or sous chef who is ready to run a kitchen, brings ideas, and can make them work every night. You will learn a 90-year-old menu, keep what earns its place, and help shape what comes next.

What you ll do

• You'll run this kitchen like it's yours: the menu, the team, the numbers, and the standard every plate has to meet. You'll have the freedom to try new ideas and the trust to see them through. The day to day looks like this...
  
• Own the menu. Develop new pizza and pasta dishes with Mo, run them as specials, and put the winners on the menu for good.
  
• Master a 90-year-old oven. Learn the wood-fired brick oven that built Tommaso's name, then find out what else it can do.
  
• Build your team. Hire, train and lead the cooks who will carry your standard when you're off.
  
• Run it like a business. Set food costs, choose your vendors and keep waste down, because good food also has to make money.
  
• Set the bar. Every night, from prep to close, the kitchen runs on your standard.
  

This is a chance to carry one of North Beach's oldest restaurants into its next era, with your ideas and your kitchen leading the way.

About you

You don t need to have held the title Chef. You do need to be hungry for your own kitchen the chance to lead a team, set the standard, shape the menu and be accountable for all of it. You ve learned your craft, you re full of ideas, and you re ready for someone to trust you with the opportunity. What this looks like:

• You have experience in a scratch kitchen, including time as a sous chef, kitchen lead or senior line cook.
  
• Italian food is where you want to make your mark. You understand pizza, pasta and wood fire, and you want to be somewhere they are the heart of the kitchen.
  
• You've led before. You've run a shift or a station, and cooks follow your lead.
  
• You have a business sense, or the drive to learn it. You know ordering, inventory and food cost, or you're eager to take them on.
  
• You hold a California Food Handler card and Food Manager certification.
  

Compensation

$75-$80k + Bonus potential

For confidential consideration please send your resume to Mo at . We will respond to every resume.

Tommaso s is an equal opportunity employer.