Hot stuff off the rumor wire today: We’re hearing that recently MIA chef Jeremy Fox, who we thought was fomenting a Bay Area project, has been down in Los Angeles and possibly looking to open his Smith concept (or similar) down there. Fox has been doing some consulting work recently, and hasn’t been seen around S.F. in a couple of months, since doing his last pop-up Smith dinner at Orson in August. Today we hear from an anonymous source that the acclaimed and iconoclastic chef may soon be teaming up with pal and fellow Manresa alum Charlie Parker in L.A., though we have not yet been able to reach Fox to confirm.
As we’ve discussed earlier, Fox has been hard at work becoming a master gardener and working on a cookbook and website over the past year, and only recently appeared interested in getting back in the restaurant game full time. We gathered that he’d been on the hunt for possible spaces and investors, but recently he’s been below the radar and reluctant to say too much, thus today’s rumor is likely to have some legs. Also, the announcement of Charlie Parker’s abrupt departure from his most recent gig — at Daniel Patterson’s Plum in Oakland — just arrived late last week.
Fox, who has been shortlisted twice for James Beard Awards for his work at Ubuntu in Napa, has been a free agent since leaving the employ of Tyler Florence this past winter. As fans of his food can attest, he specializes in refined, unusual, hyper-fresh flavors using unconventional vegetables, greens, and flora. Unlike his strictly vegetarian work at Ubuntu, Fox has recently been incorporating meat, in modest amounts, on his pop-up menus, and we’re told a section of his cookbook will be devoted to meat as well.
As always, file under DEVELOPING. We shall update you as soon as we know more.
Earlier: Charlie Parker is Out at Daniel Patterson’s Plum, Ron Boyd Back In
Jeremy Fox Launching Big, ‘Multi-Layered’ Side Project, Including a Pop-Up Dinner Series
What You Missed at the Jeremy Fox Meadowood Dinner the Other Night
