Meet the San Francisco Chef Cooking for Kamala Harris and Other Big Wig Politicos

Nick Cobarruvias first heard Kamala Harris speak while plating tostadas in the kitchen just a room away. It was 2019 and the presidential candidate spoke about triumph and perseverance; before he knew it, the chef-owner of Otra had stopped plating food. Once the speech ended he returned to his body in time to finish the service. She makes eye contact with him, came to the kitchen and introduced herself. He prepared himself to say something profound, intelligent, political. “Instead I said ‘Oh girl I know who you are. You just kicked the shit out of all those people in the debate,’” Cobarruvias says. “She laughed and slapped me on the shoulder.”

That fateful night on Harris’s first presidential run was just one in a string of high profile dinners for Cobarruvias, and now thanks to Harris’s ultra-dramatic entry into the 2024 election cycle, the most topical. It makes a lot of sense: Cobarruvias and his wife Anna Sager Cobarruvias run one of the city’s most excellent upscale Mexican restaurants, opening Otra after opening Son’s Addition in the Mission. 

Chef and would-be president. (Otra)

Otra’s portion of the Lower Haight became one of the city’s hottest eating and drinking destinations in 2024, too, whirling to life like a culinary Bermuda Triangle as craft cocktail haven Stoa and restaurant Bar Jabroni joined the block. The latter comes from the team behind west side icon Palm City with the menu coming from a Top Chef alum. So while politicos and even celebrities including Rosario Dawson stop in at the restaurant, many love Otra as simply a dynamite destination for “chingona” salsa macha, horchata cold brew, and roasted sweet potato tacos.

His history as a cook for politicos began back in 2017. That’s when he and his wife Cobarruvias opened Son’s Addition on 24th and Harrison streets, a swanky wine bar and restaurant. The food put Cobarruvias’s Mexican heritage on full display alongside regular live music; think pozole and burnt corn tres leches with folksy guitar in the corner. The newcomer got on Miguel Busto’s radar. Busto is a big player in the city’s political landscape, tying local players to donors and participating in historic San Francisco moments like enshrining 24th Street as a Latino Cultural District. “He was suspect of us,” Cobarruvias says with a laugh. 

Horchata cold brew at Otra. (Paolo Bicchieri)

Busto happened to work in the White House under the Clinton administration, to boot. Slowly he went from casting a side eye to asking Cobarruvias to cook for his various events. Big dinners might include Gavin Newsom or London Breed, well before their respective French Laundry COVID-era snafus at Busto’s bright purple house. Other nights they might be supporting Olga Talamante, a key activist behind the Chicana Latina Foundation. (Both Cobarruviases went on to cook for the opening night of Talamante’s one woman show ¡Chicanísima! and even were listed as producers on the play.) Cobarruvias says preparing meals for all these big wigs in politics both scratched his political itch — he has a bachelor’s degree in political science — but made him feel a part of the country’s inner workings.

Then came the Harris event. This was when she ran for president for the first time; Busto called up Cobarruvias to cater a fundraising dinner in 2019. He even went through security with his knives and apron — this was not like the other nights he cooked for top brass. Once she introduced herself after the speech, Cobarruvias thought he’d say something impressive and intelligent. She introduced herself as Kamala and told him the food was delicious. 

(Paolo Bicchieri)

When he signed a lease for Otra in January 2020, he wasn’t sure it’d be a slam dunk like that night turned out to be. The onset of the pandemic made success look even more dubious. And though the restaurant’s debut took a masked-up pummeling, Cobarruvias living a block from the new space made a big difference in keeping the business afloat. “We had amazing landlords,” Cobarruvias says. “We lost investors immediately, of course, but they gave us rent free for a year. Then they brought us new investors. You don’t hear those stories a ton.”

Whether or not he’ll be cooking for Harris, an Oakland born-and-raised politician, upon her future returns to the Bay remains to be seen. He’s certainly not the only cook in the city who demands this kind of attention — cough cough North Beach Restaurant’s secret deal rooms. Thankfully, Cobarruvias has a sense of humor about the whole politico-chef situation. “It’s our baby,” Cobarruvias says of Otra. “When they call to have me as the White House chef, I’ll accept. Not a big deal.”