Depending on whom you ask, Jeremiah Tower was either an immaculately dressed supporting player in those early goat-cheese-and-chioggia-beet salad days of seventies California Cuisine, or a visionary chef whose menus made Chez Panisse one of the most influential restaurants ever. Last seen writing books, playing This Old House, and eating tacos in Mexico, the chef is apparently now involved with a bid to open a restaurant and market complex at the Echo Bay Armory in New Rochelle, just a short trip away on the Metro-North. So, basically: Jeremiah Tower in New York!
Last week a group called Good Profit pitched its proposal for the former naval armory, which includes an aquaponic greenhouse and a “massive food market with restaurants, showcasing farmers and food artisans from the region,” Small Bites reports. Another group, who saved the 1931 complex from demolition, has a plan for the space, and the City Council will decide on an operator next month. Its unclear whether the culinary titan himself will actually cook at the restaurants, or just serve in an advisory capacity. “Welcome to the neighborhood, maybe?” the Small Bites writer tweeted at the chef yesterday. “The maybe is up to the city council,” Tower replied. “Anyway, hope there is a lot of drinking and eating in the garden.”
Will Jeremiah Tower Open a New Restaurant and Food Hall at the New Rochelle Armory [Small Bites]
Earlier: Jeremiah Tower on Decamping to Mexico, Champagne Fasting, and All the New Books He’s Writing
