VENUE:
One Market
1 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
415-777-2233
DATE:
June 9, 2011
Time:
7:00 PM
PRICE: $150 per person inclusive
Visa Signature Price:
$140 per person inclusive
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HOST VENUE - One Market
In 1993, One Market Restaurant’s debut was one of the most eagerly anticipated events in San Francisco. Since then, One Market has become the standard for sophisticated dining in the city. The current incarnation features the Michelin Star winning farm-to-table food of Chef Mark Dommen, who ably follows in the footsteps of One Market’s celebrated founding chef and principal, Bradley Ogden. The restaurant features an open exhibition kitchen with a special "Chef's Table," private dining rooms, and a luxurious bar. Add a top-notch staff and there's little wonder why One Market has been a preferred destination for dining from the opening day.
GUEST CELEBRITY CHEF - Tony Maws
RESTAURANT - Craigie on Main, Cambridge MA
Tony Maws is a non-traditional chef – an “idealist with a kitchen” might be a more appropriate job description. His ideology: that local, seasonal and sustainably sourced ingredients are intrinsically better, and that these ingredients form the most significant part of what makes great food great.
His resolute commitment to these tenets may have made Tony something of a pioneer in the “locavore” movement and in “Nose to Tail” cooking, but he admits that these ideas are not particularly novel. “Basically,” says Tony, “these are ideas that are shared by about 90% of the world’s grandmothers.”
Much as he honors his Grandmother and culinary muse Hannah, Tony’s international acclaim is surely the result of other factors as well: his relentlessly innovative culinary techniques are precise enough to baffle any grandma and his ability to match just the right food combinations to create the perfect dish has been called “uncanny.”
Despite his modest ambitions and major space limitations at Craigie Street Bistrot, word got out, and before long Tony’s combination of a Parisian “slow-food” philosophy with ingredients from New England began to earn widespread attention, including being named as one of America’s top 10 new chefs by Food & Wine magazine and Boston’s best chef by Boston magazine. He has also been featured in Travel & Leisure magazine, Gourmet magazine, the Boston Globe and numerous others. From the humble little-bistrot-that-could, Maws found himself being invited to appear on NBC’s Today Show and Fox News, and cooking at culinary events in locations as diverse as Singapore and Aspen, Colorado.
At Craigie On Main, Tony’s earthy side and his mad-scientist side combine to create a menu best described as “refined rusticity.” This restaurant, opened in November 2008, is a newer, more spacious incarnation of Craigie Street Bistrot, Tony’s first labor-of-love located a couple miles down Mass Ave., which opened in 2002. Tony takes pride in the fact that the spirit of his tiny bistrot remains alive and well in his new space.
The new location and international recognition have not changed Tony’s hands-on approach at Craigie On Main. Far from being an “executive chef,” he works practically every night as a line cook. Additionally, he is one of the few chefs who is also his own wine director.
Since he was a teenager, Tony always worked in restaurants —17 in all — and has performed every restaurant job. His real culinary training, though, was earned through what might be called “The Long and Winding Road Cooking School” (apologies to Sir Paul McCartney). After earning a BA in Psychology from the University of Michigan (which, surprisingly, does occasionally come in handy in the restaurant business), Tony embarked on an eight-year journey that included stints under local chefs Kenneth Oringer at Restaurant Clio and Steve Johnson at the Blue Room; Bernard Constantin at Larivore in Lyon, France; Roland Passot at La Folie and Wolfgang Puck at Postrio in San Francisco; and Mark Miller at the Coyote Café in Santa Fe. Tony is particularly grateful to Chef Chris Schlesinger, for giving Tony his first big break: a chance to chop vegetables at the East Coast Grill.
Tony grew up just across the river in Newton, and now lives in Cambridge with his wife Karolyn and their baby son Charlie. His career highlight to date was last year when he got to cook for his favorite band, Wilco. His interests include the Red Sox, reading cookbooks for pleasure (he has a collection of more than 200), skiing, eating Chinese food, and traveling — particularly to France.
HOST CELEBRITY CHEF - Mark Dommen
RESTAURANT - One Market, San Francisco CA
Chef/Partner Mark Dommen is a unique talent who has spent more than 20 years in the kitchen. After years of classical training with some of the world’s most eminent culinary masters, Dommen’s move to head One Market® Restaurant in 2004 marked his exciting return to the San Francisco dining scene. His modern take on American cuisine earned the restaurant a Michelin star for the fourth year in a row in the 2011 Guide and a 3 ½ star review from San Francisco Chronicle critic Michael Bauer. Dommen was also named a 2007 StarChefs.com “Rising Star” and the restaurant has held a consistent presence on the Chronicle’s “Top 100” restaurant list.
Dommen’s contemporary, seasonal American fare developed through his work in some of the world’s most distinguished restaurants. His career began at Fleur de Lys in San Francisco, where Chef Hubert Keller became Dommen’s mentor in the art of contemporary French cuisine. Dommen later spent four years in New York, honing his craft with one of his largest influences, Gray Kunz at Lespinasse and also with David Burke at Park Avenue Café. By the time he opened Palladin as Sous Chef for the legendary Chef Jean-Louis Palladin, his immersion in the art of French cuisine was well advanced. Dommen was next invited to join Julia’s Kitchen in Napa Valley as the opening Executive Chef. While he was at the helm, the restaurant was named one of Esquire magazine’s “Best New Restaurants.”
Dommen describes his approach to cooking as “blending the freshest, seasonal ingredients from California, while using the classic French techniques I have honed from my previous experiences.” His seasonally changing menu includes inventive farm-fresh dishes such as Lightly Smoked Tasmanian Trout Mi Cuit with potato rösti, organic chicken egg and pancetta vinaigrette; Dungeness Crab with green apple water and jalapeño sorbet; and Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin with dandelion “persillade,” salsify and natural jus.
“I truly enjoy experimenting with the freshest of produce, seafood and meats to create entirely new and unexpected dishes,” says Dommen. “I make a point each day to ensure that the menu is a reflection of the finest raw materials prepared in a unique, delicious and artistic way.”
Some of Dommen’s favorite dishes to make when not in the kitchen at One Market Restaurant include pizza and barbequed beer-can chicken cooked over apple wood chips. He lives in Napa with his wife and two daughters and enjoys skiing, golf and fishing in his spare time.
