After 11 years with Delfina Restaurant Group, Anthony Strong is moving on. Photo: The Chronicle 2012
In 2005, the chef was newly arrived to San Francisco, when he spent his last $50 on a meal at Craig and Annie Stoll’s 18th Street flagship. It was love at first bite. Since snagging that first job in Delfina’s kitchen, he’s evolved into the role of the restaurant group’s executive chef, helping open Roman-inspired Locanda on Valencia Street, as well as pizza-focused offshoot, Pizzeria Delfina, which now has four locations around San Francisco and the Peninsula. However, at the end of September, the onetime Chronicle Rising Star Chef will be moving on. According to Strong it’s a plan that he and the Stolls have been discussing since the beginning of the year.
“I know it’s time,” says Strong.
As far as what Strong will be doing next, well, that’s still up in the air. While Strong will be focusing on opening a restaurant of his own, the exact shape of what that project will take is TBD.
The chef recently spent a month in Japan getting inspiration and also says that he will be heading to Italy in November in time for truffle season. Though he’s keeping mum on whether either of those styles of cuisine will play a role in his future project, he does assuage any fears that he might be opening a sushi-pizza joint. (Bullet dodged.)
“Whatever I’m going to do, I’m going to have a lot of fun,” says Strong.
Another thing that’s certain: Strong will be staying in the Bay Area.
While he is looking forward to having time to focus on helping build and shape a restaurant of his very own, his departure is bittersweet. “The hardest part is leaving all these amazing people,” says Strong. “Annie and Craig mean the absolute world to me, and this company, too.”