David Landis, The Gay Gourmet at the San Francisco Bay Times, met Chef Jeremiah Tower on November 9 for a one-night-only Stars dinner. Stars was Tower’s landmark San Francisco restaurant that was open from 1984 to 1999. Its legacy lives on, however, given its memorable dishes and the many other notable chefs who worked at the restaurant, such as Dominique Crenn (Atelier Crenn, which received three Michelin stars in 2018), Mario Batali (Food Network personality), Steve Ells (the founder of Chipotle Mexican Grill), and Emily Luchetti, who was the lauded pastry chef at Farallon.
Landis said, “Meeting Chef Jeremiah Tower at San Francisco’s Foreign Cinema restaurant may have been one of the highlights of my life. His restaurant, Stars, was the epitome of class in the 80s. I had many unforgettable evenings there—including hosting choreographers Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino—since I worked for years at the San Francisco Symphony. Jeremiah brought back some of the best dishes from that iconic restaurant for one night only at Foreign Cinema. And pianist Billy Philadelphia tinkled the ivories that evening, recalling many an elegant soirée at the former Stars.”
The extensive menu for the evening included dishes such as a twice baked
soufflé with golden chanterelles, Gruyère, and persillade; a floating island
soup with king leek, gold potato, celery root, and black truffle; and Tower’s
elegant steamed Alaskan halibut in a fig leaf. To this day, Chez Panisse,
where Tower first gained local fame, often serves its fish in this manner.
The charismatic and talented Chef Tower writes a weekly series called Out of the Oven with anecdotes, recipes, and much more. Subscribe here:
https://jeremiahtower.substack.com/
Published on November 16, 2023
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