In the 1970s, several pioneering leaders in the restaurant industry, including chefs and restaurateurs, dedicated themselves to preparing and serving food created with fresh, seasonal, local, and sustainable ingredients. In partnership with farmers, ranchers, farmers markets and other small distributors, these chefs revolutionized California’s food scene and planted the culinary seeds of what has become known as “California cuisine.”
Photograph of chefs Cindy Pawlcyn, Alice Waters and Brad Ogden (Cindy Pawlcyn Papers, D-696)
Postcard, Fog City Diner, San Francisco, 1990 The Fog City Diner, founded in 1985, paved the way for new interpretations of common ingredients in everyday dining. (Cindy Pawlcyn Papers, D-696)
Postcard from Alice Waters to Margrit (Biever) Mondavi and Robert Mondavi, 2006 (Front)
Postcard from Alice Waters to Margrit (Biever) Mondavi and Robert Mondavi, 2006 (Back) Thank you note to the Mondavis from chef Alice Waters, who was honored at the annual Great Chefs Dinner at the Robert Mondavi Winery. (Robert G. Mondavi Papers, D-533)
Great Chefs for a Day, newspaper clipping, The Sacramento Bee, 1989 (Gary Jenanyan Papers, D-676)
Cover for booklet on The Great Chefs at the Robert Mondavi Winery, ca. 1987 (Gary Jenanyan Papers, D-676)
Menu, Yosemite Chefs’ Holiday, 1987 Menu created by banquet guest Chef, Cynthia “Cindy” Pawlcyn. The menu acknowledges that Pawlcyn “has revitalized traditional ‘American Diner Food’ to a level of fine cuisine.” (Cindy Pawlcyn Papers, D-696)
Recipe card for Warm Oysters with Watercress Sauce (Gary Jenanyan Papers, D-676)Letter from Margrit and Robert “Bob” Mondavi to Gary Jenanyan, 1995 Thank you note from the Mondavis to Chef Jenanyan, who prepared a celebratory dinner for Robert Mondavi’s 75th birthday. (Gary Jenanyan Papers, D-676)Inside the California Food Revolution by Joyce Goldstein with Dore Brown, 2013.
Chef and James Beard-award winning author Joyce Goldstein explores the development of California cuisine.
