The culinary career of Nancy Oakes began under Pat O'Shea at the Mad Hatter restaurant in the Richmond District of San Francisco.

[1] It is located in one of two buildings on the waterfront that survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

[2][3] Oakes has continued to work in the kitchen there ever since, although she takes an interest in her third restaurant, Prospect.

[5] Likewise, Boulevard was nominated on eight consecutive occasions for the Best Restaurant Award,[2][5] before finally winning in 2012.

[4] With Anna Weinberg and Ken Fulk, she opened Tosca Cafe in 2021.