74 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {food coloring} Spend some time with restaurateur Steve Ugur and one thing becomes abundantly clear: he was destined to run a restaurant. Or in his case, two. Aside from his award-winning eatery Pausa in San Mateo, Steve is also the founder and co-owner of Palo Alto’s latest culinary topic of conversation: Sekoya (a play on the word “sequoia”). Located on California Avenue, it’s a stylish contemporary lounge, bar and restaurant with a full menu for lunch and dinner. Steve grew up in the culinary world, watching his father, Hamdi Ugur, own and operate four different restaurants in the Bay Area. As he helped out in the kitchen as well as the front of the house, Steve witnessed first-hand his dad’s dedication and hard work. “You observe a lot of things you like and don’t like while working in restaurants. You see good and bad habits and then you analyze them,” Steve recalls. “I understood the restaurant business and realized I was good at it.” Later, traveling to France as a young adult, Steve studied the art of wine as well as butchering and curing meats, further developing his passion for the culinary arts. By the time he was in his early twenties, he skipped college (against his mother’s ABOVE (right): Half Moon Bay restaurateur Betsy del Fierro (center) with her daughters Camille (general manager) and Maile (head chef).
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