A16: Food + Wine

At San Francisco's acclaimed A16 restaurant (named for the highway that cuts across southern Italy), diners pack the house for chef Nate Appleman's house-cured salumi, textbook Naples-style pizzas, and gutsy slow-cooked meat dishes. Wine director Shelley Lindgren is renowned in the business for her expeditionary commitment to handcrafted southern Italian wines. In A16: Food & Wine, Appleman and Lindgren share the source of their inspiration-the bold flavours of Campania. From chile-spiked seafood stews and savoury roasts to delicate antipasti and vegetable sides, the recipes are beguilingly rustic and approachable. Lindgren's vivid profiles of the key grapes and producers of southern Italy provide vital context for appreciating and pairing the wines. Stunning photography captures the wood-fired ambiance of the restaurant and the Campania countryside it celebrates.

NATE APPLEMAN is executive chef of A16 and SPQR, both in San Francisco, California. In 2007, he was named a rising star chef by the San Francisco Chronicle and was nominated for a James Beard award.

SHELLEY LINDGREN, wine director of A16 and SPQR, teaches wine classes at the Culinary Institute of America and is the wine instructor at Tante Marie's Cooking School in San Francisco, California.

KATE LEAHY is an editor at Restaurants & Institutions magazine. She lives in Chicago, Illinois.