Nico Pryor Alcantar was born and raised in San Francisco, but lives in New York now — he’s executive chef of Superiority Burger, a buzzy vegetarian diner that often appears on “Best Of” lists. This weekend, a few days before his 30th birthday, he’ll come back to pay tribute to the dishes that raised him.
Those dishes spanned a wide swath of the city, and beyond. Alcantar was born into a family that took food very seriously. His mother, who is Mexican American and grew up in the Mission District, cooked most meals, while his father, who is from Kentucky, handled the meats. Growing up in the Richmond District, Alcantar ate everything from the burritos at Gordo’s to pad see ew from the now-closed Thai Noodle Jump on Balboa, to the traditional Mexican breakfasts at Gallardo’s on South Van Ness.
Alcantar started working at restaurants in high school, as a student at the Drew School — first as a busboy at Choquet’s on Fillmore. From there he worked his way through a string of San Francisco kitchens — Heartbaker on Clement and Angelina’s in the outer Richmond — picking up dishwashing, prep, and sandwich-making shifts, as he attended college.
In 2021, Alcantar moved to New York to finish college and took a part-time dishwashing job at Superiority Burger — mostly to make some extra cash. In 2023, Alcantar began working there as a line cook — until this year, when he was named executive chef.
One night, Alcantar and Superiority Burger’s owner, Brooks Headley, were talking through the possibility of doing a pop-up in San Francisco. Joined by one of Headley’s friends, told them he knew of a restaurant that he was pretty confident they could use. That friend: Mission Chinese Food founder Danny Bowien.
“It just felt so perfect just because of Mission Chinese’s history with pop-ups and our history with pop-ups,” Alcantar said. “It all came together with ease.”
Alcantar’s goal in planning the pop-up menu was always to spotlight San Francisco businesses and products. A breakfast burrito wrapped in La Palma tortillas “had to be on the menu,” Alcantar said. The rest of the menu follows the same logic: cereal served with Hodo Soy milk, hot coffee from Grand Coffee, and market salads built from whatever’s fresh at the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market that morning. There’s even orange and carrot juice freshly squeezed, a staple from Alcantar’s childhood.
The pop-up, which sold out quickly, is “bigger than any one meal,” said Alcantar. “San Francisco food is so diverse, and it tells so many different stories of the people living in this city. The menu is a reflection of everything I love about the city.”
“Life is about experiences, and I want everyone to have a very beautiful and fruitful life,” Alcantar said. “On your deathbed, you’re going to cycle through all of these great moments in your life. If I’m able to create one of those moments for people, that’s such an incredible thing.”
