about chef sharon
Sharon Anderson grew up learning about fine cooking from scratch from her father, who was a chef for the Santa Fe Railroad in the 1940’s. His skill with a range of delicious dishes and a variety of technical skills led the extended family to always choose their Los Angeles home for family functions – and inspired Sharon to pursue a career in the culinary arts.
In 1986, Sharon attended culinary school in New York City, and began working in a small Italian restaurant; she has been working in restaurants and the food & event business ever since. Returning to Los Angeles, she began a culinary stint with Restaurant International, and later with Ruben’s as line and banquet cook. Given this experience, Sharon was hired as Special Events and Catering Chef for UCLA, and later as Catering Manager for USC, where her duties included elegant dining programming events for Presidents and celebrities.
Sharon’s passion for fine cooking eventually led her to move to the Bay Area to attend the prestigious California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, where she completed an externship at Alice Waters’ famous Chez Panisse. Sharon graduated from the CCA Culinary Arts program in 1999.
Together with Sherrie Sparks, a classmate at CCA, Sharon conceived and opened a restaurant called The Purple Plum, in Oakland’s Glenview Village in 2001. Sharon and her business partner built the enterprise “from the ground up.” This entailed scouting for locations, market research, securing financing, licensure and permits, construction and decor, menu planning, costing, staffing, training, compliance with sanitation and employment regulations, advertising and promotion, and the establishment of a theme. The restaurant’s specialty was “California Soul Kitchen”, and featured updates on traditional dishes with the freshest ingredients and innovative preparations. The Purple Plum was both a critical and commercial success, and to this day Sharon’s peers in the industry continue to ask for her recipes. Interviewed by a local newspaper at the time, Sharon said: “I love having a neighborhood place where people can come, feel at home and get wholesome, consistently delicious food for body and soul.”
In more recent years, Sharon has worked in a variety of capacities — all in the culinary world. She has worked to plan, cost, and create gourmet prepared entrees for Whole Foods Market; as a Chef and Kitchen Manager at the Oakland Museum’s Blue Oak Café; as a chef, staff manager, quality control and menu designer for Karen Bevels Custom Catering; and, most recently, as a private chef for individual households. Her customers all regard her as innovative, perceptive, and engaging, as well as determined to evoke the best possible dining experience for clients.