Best of Northside Food & Wine 2008
Best use of fame from a cable television cooking show: Ryan Scott
By Susan Dyer Reynolds


Northside resident and former Northside chef Ryan Scott is a local boy who is making good – or at least making something good out of his appearance on the Chicago-based fourth season of the hit Bravo TV series Top Chef.

Since being eliminated in the “Tailgating” challenge on episode six, Scott has put his newfound stardom to work for charitable organizations including Meals on Wheels, Common Threads, the American Heart Association, March of Dimes, The Guardsmen, Creativity Explored, Youth Speak, as well as for his hometown of Modesto’s Christian High School, and at some Fresno State sporting fundraisers – and that’s just in 2008. He already has events lined up for the months ahead, including a fashion show for tattoo artist-turned-fashion icon Ed Hardy.

Scott’s cooking skills, enthusiasm and self-deprecating sense of humor (not to mention those small-town-boy good looks and signature jeans) have helped him raise thousands of dollars for worthy causes. At most of the events, Scott auctions off a private dinner cooked by him for the winner, though he’s not above sweetening the pot to raise even more money.

“At a March of Dimes benefit, I threw Casey from Top Chef and Rock from Hell’s Kitchen, who are friends of mine, into the auction with me – we sold two dinner packages for about nine grand,” he says proudly. “And William Werner from the Ritz Half Moon Bay and I auctioned off two dinners for the American Heart Association for thirteen grand each.”
After discovering that his sous chef, Pedro Ramirez, had lymphoma, Scott reached out to the Leukemia Lymphoma Society (LLS). “Pedro followed me from Myth Cafe to the Mission Beach Cafe – he’s such a great guy; I am trying to help him pay his medical bills,” Scott says. Along with appearing at benefits for LLS, Scott donates all of his appearance fees from Top Chef tours and television shows to a fund he set up for Pedro at the Bank of America on Chestnut Street.

“The best part of being on Top Chef is the humanitarian part,” Scott says.
When he’s not touring, filming or auctioning himself off for charity, Scott can be found in the kitchen of the Mission Beach Cafe, where he is executive chef and a partner, turning out his style of creative, satisfying food.

Mission Beach Cafe: 198 Guerrero Street (at 14th), 415-861-0198, www.missionbeachcafesf.com

If you would like to donate to the Pedro Ramirez Assistance Fund, visit the Bank of America located at 2200 Chestnut Street (at Pierce); give the teller the name of the fund and the sponsor name “Michael Ryan Scott.”

– S. D. Reynolds