New Tavern on the Green chef unruffled by rough reviews

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 14 Desember 2014 | 18.18

If Jeremiah Tower is worried, he's not showing it.

The 72-year-old chef projects an air of calm when asked if he's anxious about his new job at Tavern on the Green.

He mentions living in New York, the noise and weather — but not any fears about coming out of a two-decade retirement to helm the kitchen at one of the city's most visible, and visibly troubled, restaurants.

Tavern's issues, since reopening under new owners Jim Caiola and David Salama this past spring, have been well-documented. Reviews have been terrible, and chef Katy Sparks decamped in September.

The story took an unexpected turn in November, when it was announced that Tower — the chef who pioneered California cuisine with Alice Waters at Chez Panisse in the 1970s and his own San Francisco hot spot Stars in the '80s — would be stepping in.

"I was getting a little bit bored," says Tower of the decision to get back in the kitchen and move from Mexico, where he's been living for two decades, to New York City.

The chef himself reached out to Caiola and Salama when he heard of the opportunity, and flew to New York to whip up an impromptu dinner for them using what was available in the Tavern kitchen.

"It was very 'Top Chef,'" he says.

Jim Caiola and David SalamaPhoto: David McGlynn

A month later, Caiola and Salama visited Tower in Mexico. "We wanted to make sure Jeremiah really wanted to do it," says Salama.

Tower's new lunch menu, featuring dishes like a classic wedge salad and steak tartare with chili cream, debuted a few weeks ago; a new dinner menu, featuring some of the same dishes, will officially launch in the new year.

It's not exactly food that wows with innovation, but Tower says that's not the point.

"Tavern shouldn't be cooking the kind of food that is going to blow people away in two years in Europe or something…People aren't coming here for the latest cutting-edge food, with molecular cuisine and all those techniques," he says.

And he understands that it will take more than just well-prepared, impeccably sourced food to make Tavern a success. "It's a very beautiful restaurant, but it needs a little frivolity, don't you think?" he says looking around the quiet room.

Photo: Brian Zak

Tower is no stranger to frivolity. He recalls crazy times in his California cuisine heyday — canisters of nitrous oxide and plenty of white powder in the kitchen at Chez Panisse in the '70s.

Photo: Brian Zak

"It was cocaine that became the fuel for the energy that changed the way America dines, and for the high-profile and all-consuming peripatetic schedule that launched the superstar chefs," he writes in his memoir, "California Dish."

Photo: Brian Zak

These days, he doesn't hit anything harder than sparkling wine. "I believe that Champagne keeps you alive," he says. And while he was once a proponent of cooking with marijuana, he adds, " We don't do that at Tavern," with a chuckle.

He left Chez Panisse and Waters, with whom he was romantically involved, in 1977. The split left a bad taste that would linger for decades.

His next venture, Stars, was a great success. Mario Batali recalled going there and praised the "stylized food with attitude and energy — in short, much of the inspiration for everything I have done since."

"She never knew a little vegetable from a rotten vegetable," he sniped to the New York Times in 2001.

But asked whether he's been given his due, Tower says only, "Tony Bourdain believes I haven't."

In fact, Bourdain has been making a documentary about Tower, but his new gig has thrown a wrinkle into production.

"They were horrified when they found out…they were about to finish the documentary, and it was like, 'holy s–t,'" he says with a chuckle, looking around the restaurant's storied but recently renovated walls. "This is the new ending!"


Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

New Tavern on the Green chef unruffled by rough reviews

Dengan url

http://makananrasaenak.blogspot.com/2014/12/new-tavern-on-green-chef-unruffled-by.html

Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya

New Tavern on the Green chef unruffled by rough reviews

namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link

New Tavern on the Green chef unruffled by rough reviews

sebagai sumbernya

0 komentar:

Posting Komentar

techieblogger.com Techie Blogger Techie Blogger