Piperade's chef Gerald Hirigoyen star of new Volkswagen commercial

Gerald Hirigoyen, owner and chef of the Basque restaurant Piperade and the tapas bar Bocadillos in San Francisco, has been chosen as the star of a new Volkswagen commercial.

Gerald Hirigoyen arrived in California in 1980 armed with nothing but a suitcase, no word of English, and his own American dream: to become a chef. Nowadays he is one of the most renowned chefs of San Francisco. He has also also authored three books, The Basque Kitchen, Bistro and Pintxos, a book that gathers together some of his small culinary masterpieces.

According to Inside Scoop SF, the commercial was shot and directed by The Selby's very own Todd Selby, a renowned US photographer, blogger and fashion celebrity.

Born in the Basque town of Bayonne, Gerald did his apprenticeship in a bakery in his hometown of Biarritz and then moved to Paris, where he worked in what was a renowned pastry shop at the time.

Once in California, he opened a French bistro called Fringale together with a partner. Although it was not a Basque restaurant such as Gerald had always wanted, he could establish himself and even got people''s attention by cooking some Basque dishes. "We started being recognized even if we did not have the full range of Basque cuisine," he says.

In 2002, Gerald, together with his wife Cameron, finally achieved his dream when he bought out his partner in Fringale and opened Basque restaurant Piperade. Less than two years later he also opened Bocadillos, a lively tapas and wine bar representing what he likes to call "San Sebastian meets Barcelona in San Francisco".

For both Piperade and Bocadillos, Chef Hirigoyen integrates the cuisine of the Bay area and his Basque homeland into what he coined as "West Coast Basque Cuisine". "I gave them an American twist and I also gave them my own twist as chef. As a chef you grow and you have to move forward".

Since then, as well as developing a loyal clientele and winning a reputation in San Francisco, Gerald Hirigoyen has won recognition on several occasions including being named one of Food & Wine Magazine''s "Best New Chefs in America" as well as twice "Best Chef of the Bay Area" by San Francisco Magazine.

Other privileges that Basque cuisine has afforded Gerald include cooking for former Basque premier Juan Jose Ibarretxe when he gave a lecture for Stanford University in 2008.