For following her gut.
In New York, April Bloomfield has elevated pub grub (the Spotted Pig and the Breslin) and reimagined the oyster bar (John Dory). Last fall, with partner Ken Friedman, she revived a century-old institution in San Francisco, the Tosca Café. Her rustic dishes tend to have idiosyncratic origins. Sometimes she’ll pour a cup of tea, pile cookbooks on the bed, and let hunger guide her creativity. Next up: a revamp of the Lusty Lady, a onetime strip club near Tosca; a second cookbook; and, possibly, a return to her U.K. homeland. “We have eyeballs in London,” she says.