Having started his career out of high school working in a French bistro, Peter has a deep affinity for French cooking, fortified by several years spent cooking in France. In 2014, Peter adopted the Bay Area as his home, and was part of the leadership team that brought Quince its third Michelin star.

Peter's inspiration for Aphotic is the Ocean – the last frontier for truly wild foods. Hemsley maintains that respect for this resource is paramount to our common longevity, and this mentality has been the driver for his thinking in respect to traceable fish and preference for local resources.

After graduating with his Bachelor's Degree in Gastronomy from the Universidad de la Sabana in his home country of Colombia, Manny moved to the United States to pursue his culinary career. After some time at the Mina Group, he began working at Palette as their Junior Sous Chef. He steadily rose through the ranks and now enjoys leading our team during our nightly services.

French from Brittany but born and raised in the Netherlands, food and desserts have always been a central part of her upbringing. A graduate of l'École Lenôtre, the CIA and Cornell University, she has developed a true passion for fine dining through diverse experiences such as at Jean-Georges, Le Sirenuse Miami, the Palais de L’Élysée for the French President in Paris, Spruce and Gary Danko. At Aphotic, she blurs the boundary between pastry and seafood.

A Certified Sommelier hospitality veteran with over a decade of experience. He cut his teeth in fine dining at Commis Restaurant in Oakland as well as Angler in San Francisco.

Winner of Starchef’s 2015 Cocktail of the Year, Trevin leads one of the country's most cutting edge cocktail programs which focuses on house distilled botanical spirits, foraged ingredients from the Western Seaboard, and coastally-made spirits from near and far.

He began his career as the Bar Manager at Natalie’s, the renowned fine dining restaurant in the Relais & Chateaux Camden Harbour Inn. As the opening Bar Director of ONE65 in San Francisco he created four distinct cocktail programs, including for the one Michelin-starred O’.

Growing up in the Northeast, Mike was drawn behind the bar after falling head over heels for the craft after tasting his first Vieux Carré. After a two year stint at Chef Tiffani Faison’s Tiger Mama, he was asked to design and run the Italian-focused cocktail program at Chef Faison’s Orfano, nominated for a James Beard award within 6 months of opening. 

Hospitality for him is deeply rooted in story-telling and trust. By creating a sense of context around cocktails and communicating that in an approachable way, the unfamiliar becomes a source of excitement rather than intimidation.