Bakers & Makers 2026

Ellie Estrada-Londo is the Executive Pastry Chef of Nisei where she showcases the culmination of years of training in San Francisco's fine dining scene. Hello Stranger however, is her alter ego in the kitchen where she explores the fun of California style savory pastries. Hello Stranger started in Chef Ellie's hometown of Manila, Philippines as a way to enter a somewhat new market, and ended up growing into a cult favorite over pandemic. Her pop ups here in California, while rare, have proven to be very successful with queues stretching around the block before open. Chef Ellie describes the treats at Hello Stranger to be original, technique-driven, and cravable.

Michelle is the Japanese-American founder of Kazumi Wines. With her background in both fashion design and the wine industry, Michelle crafts wines that are a seamless fusion of timeless elegance and artful innovation.

Michelle was born in California, raised in Tokyo, and worked as a fashion designer in Milan and New York before coming full-circle back to California. Living and working in Napa, Michelle found herself dreaming of making her own wine, as an outlet for the creative expression she once channeled through fashion design. In 2015, her good friends the Perrets offered her a half-ton of Sauvignon Blanc grapes from their Rutherford vineyard. Michelle jumped at the opportunity and created Kazumi Wines, named after her middle name and signifying harmony and beauty. She painted the watercolor label herself, inspired by a photograph she took while visiting her sister in Honolulu. In 2016, Michelle added a single-vineyard Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon to the Kazumi portfolio.

Jessica Fu is a pastry chef, consultant, and baking instructor born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She started her career at the Michelin-starred restaurants The Progress and State Bird Provisions. In 2018, she moved to Oahu and became Pastry Chef at The Pig and the Lady. Upon returning to the Bay Area, she joined her former boss at Stonemill Matcha, where she eventually became Pastry Chef until 2021. For the past five years, alongside consulting and baking projects, Jessica has been running a pop-up under the name "Jessica Little Fu." Her pastries showcase the flavors and Chinese desserts she grew up with, while celebrating the bounty of California produce.

My name is Andrew and I'm the co-owner of Van's Bakery in San Jose.

Droo The Baker was formed to be my creative outlet. Through this, I hope to showcase my products to the best of my ability, learn, improve and make progress. Also, just as Van's Bakery has been a huge part of people's lives (countless birthdays, weddings, graduations, etc.), I want my own products to do the same. To create new core memories and nostalgia.

I've always love to explore different design and food creations ever since I was a kid. Inspired by my journey to Japan, I want to combine my creativity as a graphic designer and Japanese inspiration with Milk Cloud Bakery.

My mission is to use fresh and quality ingredients for the people. I want everyone to experience bold and delicious baked goods. Hope you enjoy your culinary experience with my milk bread!

Shared Cultures is a small batch fermentation company in San Francisco specializing in using koji to ferment newly imagined, farm-to-ferment miso, shoyu, and umami seasonings. Inspired by traditional fermentation methods, wild foraged ingredients, the bounty of Northern California, and our families' pasts, we honor our cultural food traditions with a modern fermentation approach.

Hey there! I'm Mark Lieuw, a proud San Francisco native—born and raised in this incredible city by the Bay. My love for food and creativity runs deep here, and it's what fuels everything I do.

My pastry journey began in 2012 at the California Culinary Academy, but it was my externship at Eleven Madison Park in NYC that truly opened my eyes to the world of fine dining. From there, I had the honor of working at some of the most prestigious Michelin-starred restaurants, including Le Bernardin, The Restaurant at Meadowood, Atelier Crenn, and Saison. Each experience shaped my palate and refined my skills, but my love for chocolate has always been at the heart of it all.

We believe that because sake is delicious, it must constantly evolve and change. It is not a matter of making sake with the same recipe and continuing to make the same taste. Our goal is to always question our own DASSAI and make better sake.

Dassai Blue made in the USA does not aim to be the same sake as in Japan.

We will pursue the best that can be made in the U.S. environment, including water and climate, and we will also encounter the diverse food cultures that gather in the USA, and we will feed on the many conflicts we encounter to create Dassai Blue that tastes better than Japanese Dassai.

Jee is the ceramicist behind Seoul Sister Studio, based in Healdsburg, CA. After a career in engineering and design, she chose clay as her artistic medium, drawn to its grounding power. As a material of the earth, Jee's goal is to share the joy of this visceral connection through her pieces.

As a home chef, with deep appreciation for the culinary arts, much of Jee's recent work focuses on bespoke tableware for award-winning fine dining restaurants, including Nisei. Drawing on her design on and engineering background, she integrates multi-functionality into her pieces, allowing them to serve various purposes while maintaining a small storage footprint. Her modular designs offer flexibility to create larger, cohesive arrangements from smaller pieces, adding unexpected layers to her table art.

(Formerly Nu Baking)

Cuivre means copper in French — a tribute to timeless baking tools and the stories they carry. Like copper, our pastries are warm, beautiful, and made to last in memory. Welcome to Cuivre.

Founded by Panupong "Nu" Sinarporn — a Tartine-trained pastry chef — Cuivre was born at La Cocina and inspired by the warmth of community, tradition, and care. We blend classic French techniques with bold unique flavors, using California's seasonal bounty to craft pastries that are soulful, intentional, and made to be shared.

Lorena found her way to the sourdough bread world through curiosity, a love for spontaneous fermentation, and dedication to crafting food with integrity. Her baking is inspired by the Bay Area's beautiful landscape and bountiful agriculture, community health and nutrition, as well as nostalgic food memories and her Korean and Mexican heritage.

Ho's path to a solo venture covers a lot of territory. She grew up in Guam, started out at UC Davis as a biochemistry major, then pivoted to culinary school at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa. She first staged at Rich Table in 2014, spent time cooking in Hong Kong and came back to San Francisco in 2017, eventually rising to chef de cuisine, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Born and raised in San Francisco, Justine Pon (she/her) is a Chinese American artist, crafter and DIY professional. Before the pandemic, Justine was on a quest to purchase a pair of boba milk tea-shaped earrings, but they were all too heavy for her sensitive ears. Armed with a few skeins of yarn, a pair of scissors and a conceptual idea, her pom pom accessory business, The Ponnery, was born!

Today, Justine creates adorable pom pom jewelry and accessories that celebrate Asian American food and culture. Her collection includes mochi donut ornaments, sesame ball keychains, joong earrings, and more.

The pottery making process is a magic. The things exist just as our imagination become tangible objects which add value to people's everyday life. Almost at all stages of the pottery making process are measured by human senses. The handmade process measured by the human senses reflects our emotion and passion in the tangible result. It affirms my Japanese and Kathy's Korean heritage and the American influence to us.

We aspire to make unique functional pottery that reflect ourselves, fit American life style, and enrich customers everyday life. As we are making pottery, We think about how individual customers use our pieces and how it affects their life. This gives us a unique connection with the people who use our pots.

We achieve our goal by making functional pottery as an collaborative work between me and customers. Most of our