1. One thing you don't know about me is that I am as good at the game of Scrabble as I am at cooking.

2. If I could trade places with one chef it would be Francis Mallmann, the Argentian chef and author of Seven Fires. He is a genius when it comes to cooking over wood-fire, and I would love to be able to cook as many whole cows as he does.

3. One of my most memorable meals was at Cibreo in Florence, Italy. The calamari inzimino changed my life.

4. If there were no bananas, I'd have no reason to live. It's my and my son's favorite food to share together.

5. My go-to drink is coffee or espresso — Blue Bottle or Illy, Starbucks or Folgers, I don't discriminate.

6. If I were on death row my last meal would be my grandmother's skillet-fried chicken with a plate of thin and crispy home baked chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

7. My worst culinary creation was the medium rare turkey I once tried to serve at Thanksgiving.

8. If I could change one thing about me it would be the ability to not get seasick so I could go out and fish for the day's catch.

9. My favorite junk food is Cheez-Its

10. If I weren't a restaurant operator, I'd love to be a stay-at-home dad to take care of my son, Oliver.

Nate Appleman is a 2007 Restaurant Hospitality Rising Star, a 2009 James Beard Foundation Rising Star Chef, a 2009 Food & Wine Best New Chef and a current contestant on The Next Iron Chef. A trained butcher and one of a few Americans certified as a pizzaiolo by the Verace Pizza Napoletana Association, Appleman is the co-owner of A16 and SPQR in San Francisco. Another unit of A16 recently opened in Tokyo. He recently became a chef/partner at Pulino's Bar and Pizzeria in New York City.