Chef Jeremiah Tower
Owner and Exective Chef of Stars Restaurant in San Francisco and its international offshoot, Stars Singapore.

Brad: Hello everyone. Welcome to the Chef Chat. Please welcome Chef Jeremiah Tower. Chef, any opening comments?

Chef Tower: Hello. I'm here at the Metropolitan Grill in Seattle right now. I just came in from the wine country in Washington, and it's an exciting time because Washington wines in particular are really coming into their own. In fact, Washington is the newest emerging wine region in the US. With me is Greg Lille from Delille Cellars, located in the Washington wine country. My host tonight promotes Washington wines across the world, and all my wine buyers are here tonight to taste these wines.

Bean: How long have you been cooking professionally and otherwise?

Chef Tower: I have been cooking professionally for 25 years, but before that, I cooked just for my friends. At that time, I was trying to be an architect, but I was a lousy architect, so I kept on cooking. I was not formally trained as a chef. I taught myself.

Bean: Where does most of your inspiration for your dishes come from?

Chef Tower: My inspiration comes from traveling the markets of the world - places like a fish market in Tangier - a vegetable market in Nice - I am inspired by the quality of the product. When you see a great fresh fish or wonderful artichokes or great tomatoes, you get inspired to buy them and cook with them.

Bean: How do you make garbanzo bean flour?

Chef Tower: It's much easier to buy it!

Courtb: Do you ever experiment with different oils? What is your favorite for general uses?

Chef Tower: Peanut oil is my favorite for general use - it has a good neutral flavor. Olive oil and walnut oil are good too, but a good quality peanut oil is the best for general use.

Bean: Do you use garbanzos in many of your recipes?

Chef Tower: I love garbanzo beans. Canned garbanzo beans are not bad, but dry garbanzos cooked in chicken stock are great. Fried pappadum is very good, especially if you add olive oil, garlic and mint to the ground up garbanzos. Add chopped up prawns too, and you're really sailing.

Bean: Are you the inventor of Nouvelle cuisine?

Chef Tower: No, I'm not. I used to be called the father of California cuisine, but now I'm more like the grandfather! Jean Troisgrof was the inventor of Nouvelle cuisine. He did it in France, and I did it in the US, with American food, not French food. Troisgrof sent his nephew to work with me in the US to learn what we were doing here. That had to be the first time a Frenchman came to the US to be inspired!

Bean: Where is your restaurant located in San Francisco?

Chef Tower: Stars is in the Civic Center right next to City Hall, the ballet, the opera, the symphony and all of the city government buildings.

Bean: Do you get many celebrities?

Chef Tower: Stars in SF - that's why I called it Stars - it's packed with celebs.

Brad: Names!

Chef Tower: Stars in Seattle, which opens soon, has started booking reservations. Barbara Streisand, Don Johnson, some other celebrities who don't want to be mentioned. It's a very private place for them. But the walls are full of photographs of stars.

Brad: Seattle?

Chef Tower: Stars Seattle will open October 31, 1998.

Brad: Ahh.

Courtb: What is the single most important thing for a cook to remember when coming up with a new recipe?

Chef Tower: To know that you can do it without reading the recipe more than once. You read it, you dream about it, then close the cookbook and cook... A glass of white wine is good, too. Trust in yourself is what's most important.

Chipcastle: Hey chef! where's your favorite place to eat?

Brad: Anywhere in the world...

Chef Tower: I'd have to say Tuscany - Northern Italy because the product is perfect and the cooking is direct without any fuss. I try to cook this way, but with a great deal of personal flair.

Bean: Do you recommend any Washington wines, reds in particular?

Chef Tower: Tonight I'm tasting Delille - Harrison Hill - it's a Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot from the Yakima Valley. This one we want to serve at Stars.

Brad: Another wine question...

Claireb: I may be repeating a question, but what is your favorite white wine? And why?

Chef Tower: I have two favorites - a simple one to drink while you're cooking, as an aperitif would be any Sauvignon Blanc. Montrachet - a white wine from Burgundy - is my favorite dry white wine.

Bean: Do you know of a restaurant in New Orleans called Straya? I think they may have used Stars as an inspiration...

Chef Tower: If they have, then my hat is off to them. I have heard of it, but haven't been there.

Brad: More wine...

Bean: Do you think that Washington wines rival California wines in quality and value?

Chef Tower: Yes, most definitely they do. Particularly Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon wines are beginning to rival the best of California, and the value is the same.

Guest18: What type of music goes best with cuisine served in one of your restaurants?

Chef Tower: It depends on the time of day. In the afternoon at about 6pm, we love to play Cuban music. I wish San Francisco had the same warm climate as Havana...the music is lively and outrageous, but not too outrageous.

Courtb: What is most distinctive about food on the west coast?

Chef Tower: It's all about the product. You find the best possible quality product, and that tells you how to cook it. Chefs can only ruin the product, unless they're good. I think people want food that starts with the product being the best possible product available. They want real food, not silly food.

Bean: Being a great self-trained chef is like being a great musician, most great musicians are self trained.

Chef Tower: That is very flattering to great cooks. It takes a great deal more formal training and work to be a great musician.

Bean: Have you trained any other chefs?

Chef Tower: A lot of young chefs in American have either worked with me, or have been inspired by my recipes.

Bean: Which red wine would you serve on your most special occasion?

Chef Tower: Let's see, you're putting me on the spot. Well, every Christmas, I have a hamburger with black truffles, and the red wine I have with it is La Tache.

Brad: Where did the hamburger tradition start?

Bheftower: As a restaurateur, I'm so exhausted by Christmas, the most I can do is find black truffles and make a hamburger. By Christmas, I've already worked 30 days in a row. The hamburger is little work to make, but provides maximum satisfaction...

Bean: There is a great recipe for a garbanzo stew with chorizo, it's from Northern Spain, have you ever had it?

Chef Tower: Yes, I've had it. The problem is finding a great chorizo, but you should be able to find it in a Mexican neighborhood.

Food: Chef, what are the latest food fads?

Chef Tower: In 1990, somebody asked me what would be the future of food. I said real food will always be the future, but Indian flavors will be the next trend.

Brad: I'm sold!

Chef Tower: Color, flavor, and aroma will always capture the world's attention, and as of 6 months ago, it happened with Indian food. I recently replaced the pizza oven in my restaurant with a tandoor oven so that we can make naan bread, instead of pizza. It has a clear powerful flavor.

Bean: How far in advance should one make reservations for the weekend?

Chef Tower: A couple of weeks in advance. I hate restaurants that make you wait a month or more, so we make sure to keep 20% of tables open every night. Because it's important to leave room for your locals.

Brad: Thank you!

Food: Do you have any crazy kitchen catastrophe stories?

Chef Tower: Sometimes I wake up in the morning and come up with an idea for a dish, and I am sure I can do it. Once or twice, we've put in on the menu without testing it. And then we ended up having to pull it.

Jerry1: I am a mushroom fanatic. Do you know of any good spicy mushroom recipes?

Chef Tower: Yes. Spices and mushrooms don't go that well together, but garlic and fresh thyme were made for them, along with some fish or chicken stock.

Chef Tower: Cook them till they give up all the liquids, then add a little butter, serve them on grilled country bread with a glass of chilled white wine, and you're as close to health and happiness as you can possibly be.

Claireb: How important is presentation and how would you suggest a novice go about it?

Chef Tower: Presentation is very important, because you want the food to look as beautiful as possible when it comes out. Keep it simple, and let whatever you're serving look as close as possible to what it looks like naturally. For example, think of a perfect lobster on a plate with melted butter. What a presentation that makes. Simple is best.

Bean: Will the staff wear costumes on opening night in seattle?

Chef Tower: There will be topless mermaids sitting on our oyster bar, handing out oysters. Does that answer your question : )

Brad: Woa.

Courtb: Do you use TABASCO often? If so, do you prefer using it to cook with, or after the meal has already been prepared?

Brad: Great question!

Chef Tower: I love TABASCO. The red sauce can be added to dishes a few minutes before they're finished cooking. But the green sauce is definitely an add-on sauce - I always add it at the end. Red sauce, add it 5 or 10 minutes before it's finished cooking.

Claireb: Do you ever want to cook up one of your patrons?

Brad: Any closing comments?

Bean laughs hysterically.

Brad: The Chef has to go.

Bean: Chef, thank you so much for chatting, next time I'm in the bay area I'll be sure to visit Stars, it sounds great!

Jerry1: Thanks for the mushroom tips!

Courtb: Thanks!

Brad: Thanks Chef!

Chef Tower: I wish I was in New Orleans - it's a sinful town. San Francisco and New Orleans are my favorite towns.

Brad: Thanks for participating everyone. Stay tuned for next month's chef. We will post the transcript of this chat in a few days.

Chipcastle: Goodbye!

Brad: The next live Chef Chat will be with Frank Randol of Randol's in Lafayette, Louisiana, Thursday, November 19th,1998 at 10: 00 PM Eastern. Thanks for coming.