Jeremiah Tower facts for kids
Tower in 2015
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| Born | 1942 (age 82–83) Stamford, Connecticut, U.S. |
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| Cooking style | California cuisine |
| Education | Harvard University Harvard Graduate School of Design |
| Spouse |
Curtis Cox (m. 2020)
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Previous restaurant(s)
* Chez Panisse, Berkeley
* Balboa Cafe, San Francisco * Santa Fe Bar and Grill, Berkeley * Stars Restaurant, various locations * J.T.'s Bistro, San Francisco * Speedo 690 Restaurant * Tavern on the Green, New York City * Peak Cafe, Hong Kong |
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Jeremiah Tower (born 1942) is a famous American chef. He is known for helping to create a cooking style called California cuisine. He did this alongside other well-known chefs like Alice Waters and Wolfgang Puck. Even though he loved food from a young age, Jeremiah Tower did not go to cooking school before he started his career as a chef.
Contents
Early Life and Learning
Jeremiah Tower was born in 1942 in Stamford, Connecticut. His father was a director for a company that made film sound equipment. Jeremiah went to school in different places, including Sydney, Australia, and Surrey, England. He also attended Loomis Chaffee in Connecticut.
Later, he went to Harvard University and earned a bachelor's degree. He then got a master's degree in Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
After finishing his master's degree, Tower planned to design buildings, especially underwater ones in Hawaii. He was very interested in finding the lost city of Atlantis. However, when his grandfather passed away, Tower needed to find a job to support himself.
Becoming a Chef
In 1972, Jeremiah Tower was inspired by a berry tart he ate at a new restaurant called Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. He decided to apply for a job there. He was very skilled at making traditional French food in new ways. Because of his talent, Alice Waters and her partners hired him.
Within a year, he became an equal partner with Waters and the others. He was in charge of the kitchen, creating the menus, and promoting the restaurant.
Tower left Chez Panisse in 1978. He had different ideas about how the restaurant should be run compared to Alice Waters and the other partners. For example, they did not agree with his idea to open a "Panisse Cafe."
After leaving Chez Panisse, he worked at the Ventana Inn in Big Sur. In 1980, he briefly taught at the California Culinary Academy.
Opening Famous Restaurants
In 1981, Tower helped to make the Balboa Cafe in San Francisco successful again. This restaurant was owned by Cathe and Doyle Moon. In 1982, he became the chef at Santa Fe Bar and Grill in Berkeley, California, which the Moons also owned.
In 1984, Tower partnered with Cathe and Doyle Moon to open Stars. This restaurant became one of the most popular and successful places to eat in the San Francisco Bay Area. Tower opened other Stars restaurants in places like Oakville (in Napa Valley), Palo Alto, Manila, and Singapore.
Many chefs who later became famous worked at Stars. These included Mario Batali, Dominique Crenn, and Emily Luchetti.
In the 1990s, Tower also owned a cafe in Hong Kong called the Peak Cafe. He also had other businesses in San Francisco. These included a more casual cafe, a fancy bistro, and a kitchenware shop. As he became more famous, he allowed companies to use his name for their products. For example, he had a deal with Dewar's Scotch.
In 1998, Tower sold some of his share in the Stars restaurants. The new owners closed Stars after two years.
After that, Tower lived in Manila for a year, then in New York City for four years. He also lived in Italy and Mexico. In 2014, Tower was hired as the main chef at Tavern on the Green in New York City. He left that job in April 2015 after six months.
Film and TV Appearances
In 2016, a documentary film about Jeremiah Tower was released. It was called Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent. The film was directed by Lydia Tenaglia and produced by Anthony Bourdain. It was shown at the Tribeca Film Festival. In 2017, the film was shown on CNN.
In 2017, Tower appeared on the TV show Top Chef. He was also on the BBC TV show Road to Mexico with Rick Stein. He was a special guest at the CRAVE wine and food festival in Spokane, Washington. He also helped judge an event at the Basque Culinary Center World Awards in Mexico City.
Awards and Recognitions
Jeremiah Tower has received several important awards for his cooking.
- In 1985, he was listed in "Who's Who in American Cooking" by Cook’s Magazine.
- His first cookbook, New American Classics, won a James Beard Foundation Award in 1986. It was named "Best American Regional Cookbook."
- He won the James Beard Foundation Award for "Best Chef in California" in 1993.
- In 1996, he won the "Outstanding Chef of the Year" award from the James Beard Foundation.
- In 2017, Jeremiah Tower became a Founding Patron of the Oxford Cultural Collective. This is a group that focuses on hospitality and food.
Images for kids
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Tower in 2015
