Skip to content
About

Cairo-born. Fine-dining trained. Cooking for your table.

Phil smiling with arms crossed in front of the bar at Bar Bibi
Photo: Alexander Zeren for StarChefs

I’m Philip Sanad, Phil to most people. I was born and raised in Cairo, and I came to cooking the long way around.

After studying business marketing and consumer behavior at UC Riverside, I spent time working in higher education, consulting, marketing and commercial real estate, until I realized I wasn’t doing the one thing I thought about almost all of the damn time… cooking.

So I started over. I cooked at night in small Los Angeles kitchens while working days as an executive assistant to a hospitality entrepreneur in West Hollywood. Then came two years at République, where I learned the discipline of a great kitchen under Chef Walter Manzke.

In 2023 I moved to San Francisco to join Lazy Bear. I rose to Executive Sous Chef and today serve as Director of Culinary Operations for the team behind Lazy Bear, JouJou and True Laurel.

It didn’t take long to realize that what I love most about cooking isn’t only the craft. It’s creating exciting, memorable and meaningful experiences for people. So I started cooking intimate dinners for friends. One thing led to another and, well, here we are.

How I cook

Fine-dining technique. Egyptian soul.

My food starts with the flavors I grew up with: tahini and warm bread, slow-cooked beans, stuffed vegetables, spice and smoke. It’s cooked with fine-dining technique and Northern California produce, often over live fire.

That’s the heart of my Bar Bibi dinners, a ticketed Egyptian dinner series on Nob Hill with wines poured from around the world. Every one has sold out in under a day. As I told StarChefs, “Egyptian food is highly undiscovered and highly underrepresented in the United States.”

At a private dinner, I take the same approach and write the menu for your table: your season, your guests, your occasion.

  1. Now
    Director of Culinary OperationsLazy Bear, JouJou & True Laurel, San Francisco
  2. 2026
    Featured by StarChefsFor the Bar Bibi Egyptian dinners
  3. 2025 –
    Pop-ups & Bar Bibi dinnersEgyptian menus with global wine pairings
  4. 2024 –
    Private dinnersHomes and events across the Bay Area
  5. 2023 –
    Lazy BearExecutive Sous Chef, then Director of Culinary Operations
  6. Before
    République, Los AngelesTwo years under Chef Walter Manzke
  7. Origins
    Cairo → UC Riverside → the kitchenBusiness marketing, then a career change
Phil working a wood-fired grill at République
On the grill at République
Private dining

Let’s cook something for your people.

Dinner parties, celebrations and collaborations across San Francisco and the Bay Area.

Plan a dinnerHow it works