Local Legends

Looking Back on the Last Generation of Great S.F. Restaurants

Jeremiah Tower on his BMW motorcycle ca. 1988.
Jeremiah Tower on his BMW motorcycle ca. 1988. Photo: Brant Ward/Chron

Back in May, Michael Bauer wrote a series of blog posts waxing nostalgic for long-gone restaurants that were, in their heyday, the places to be in San Francisco. He started with Nancy Oakes’s L’Avenue (see a vintage menu here), and went on to write a series of eight pieces, touching on chef Jeremiah Tower and his oft-mentioned Stars restaurant, Cecilia Chiang’s Mandarin, and dot-com era hit Gordon’s House of Fine Eats. In Sunday’s paper he formalized the roundup, writing about each seminal eatery once more, recalling dishes, providing a few vintage recipes, and describing how each restaurant influenced those that have come after it. It’s an educational look back on the last 30+ years — and thankfully the article wasn’t embargoed until Tuesday by SFGate’s gatekeepers.

S.F. chefs who paved way for today’s restaurants [Chron]

Looking Back on the Last Generation of Great S.F. Restaurants