To close out the year, we've asked contributors to choose their favorite stories of 2017.

Contributor Alisa Scerrato selected Trailblazing Chef Jeremiah Tower Returns To San Francisco For Documentary Premiere, which ran on April 28th.

Before the release of a film on the former chef and owner of Stars, a renowned Civic Center restaurant that served the city's upper crust in the 1980s and 1990s, Alisa interviewed Tower with director Lydia Tenaglia.

"They had just eaten lunch at Zuni Café," said Alisa. "Chef Tower told me that he used to be a regular there back in the 80s and 90s, and it's still one of his favorite restaurants in the city."

Alisa, who had just seen Tenaglia's documentary, said Tower was articulate, charming, and full of amusing anecdotes. From her story:

Before Stars, Tower worked with Alice Waters at Chez Panisse, where he revamped the menus to reflect what the industry now calls "California cuisine." After he and Waters had a falling out, he took his concept to Stars, where he continued to prepare seasonal offerings with fresh, local ingredients.

Tower said "there were so many" memorable evenings at Stars over the years, it's hard to choose just one. "The ones that spring to my mind are ones when famous stars came in, such as [opera great Luciano] Pavarotti trying to find a table that didn’t have a draft and then putting a napkin over his head.”

Once, people streaked through the restaurant, just for kicks. “They’d come in through Golden Gate and run through the bar and run down the stairs into Redwood Alley and be gone. They were homeless, but superstars for two minutes.”

Continue reading Alisa's favorite story of 2017, Trailblazing Chef Jeremiah Tower Returns To San Francisco For Documentary Premiere.