"I don't know if people know how lucky they are in this area," enthuses the Philadelphia native who read John Kerouak's On the Road at age 12 and was getting his culinary degree in London at 26. His step after graduation was to open San Francisco's Azie restaurant, known for its Asian fusion fare. Eventually, contact with a former branch of Willow Street Pizza in San Rafael brought him to Los Gatos.

"There are farmers markets every week in Mountain View, Willow Glen, Saratoga, Los Gatos ... so many markets that provide an enormous opportunity," he says.

Cohen lives in town with his fiancée, Keiko Niccolini, whose 6-year-old son, Kana, he recently adopted. He relishes the time he can spend looking over fresh produce every Sunday at the local market. "There's not just one kind of cucumber," he says, marveling at the organic produce grown on a myriad of small local farms.

Cohen is capitalizing on the seasonal variety by changing the menu every month. July's special menu is full of the summer's vegetable crop. An appetizer of grilled prawns served over a compote of roasted corn, asparagus, red peppers and spinach is offered at $8.50; a grilled rib-eye steak comes with sautéed spinach and wild mushrooms for $12.99; and grilled eggplant parmesan is $9.99. Cohen is particularly partial to an appetizer of blue fin crab cakes ($8.50). Dusted in panko (Japanese bread crumbs) and quick fried, they're served over a bed of mixed greens. "Usually crab cakes are a cod mixture with lots of bread crumbs. Ours are quick and light," Cohen says, adding, "and it's a large portion—we're known for that here."

He says his menu is also geared to accommodate special diets. "We've spent time [on the menu] with the servers," Cohen points out. "People just need to mention their preferences and the servers will be able to suggest options."

Creating a new menu every month could conceivably require heavy brainstorming. So where does a chef responsible for what comes out of the kitchens at three restaurant locations go for ideas?

"It's a team effort," Cohen says, giving credit in part to the wait staff, whose members on occasion have created quick dishes of things they like to eat. "Our spicy Asian pasta resulted from what one of the crew threw together late one night." He threw in some tomato with the angel hair, it got refined with a little lime zest, and now it's on the menu.

But a constant reading of cookbooks, strolls through the markets, variations on classic dishes and a big history of menu items kept over the restaurant's many years in business also provide ideas. Take a semi-classic combination like pesto and mozzarella, add some roasted summer corn, and you have a good dish, he notes. But take it a step further and put it on pizza, and it's on the menu for July.

Another July item is a thin-sliced lamb sandwich on house-made flat bread. All of the breads served in the restaurant are made from scratch each day. So are the sauces. "One of the reasons I took this job," says Cohen, 29, "is because it involves lots of real cooking."

Willow Street Wood-Fired Pizza, located at 20 S. Santa Cruz Ave., Los Gatos, is open Sunday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m.­10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 11:30 a.m.­11 p.m. Call 408.354.5566 for reservations or for information on the pizza camp for kids.