are where the passion begins
Our Chef Partners
Chef Jeremiah Tower
featured guest chef
Jeremiah Tower began his culinary career in 1972 as co-owner and executive chef of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. That was followed by other restaurants, including the famous Stars in San Francisco, the Peak Café in Hong Kong, and more Stars in Singapore and Manila. Tower sold the Stars group in 1998.
Tower has written eight books, including as co-author with Richard Olney of the Time Life Books’ thirty volumes of The Good Cook, the 1986 James Beard Foundation winner Jeremiah Tower New American Classics, and California Dish, awarded in 2013 one of “ten best culinary memoirs.” Also, Table Manners: How to Behave in the Modern World and Why Bother (2016), Start the Fire (2017), a history of the American food revolution, and the 2018 e-book Flavors of Taste.
Some awards are the 1993 JBF “Regional Best Chef California;” JBF “Outstanding Chef in America” in 1996; Nation’s Restaurant News Fine Dining Hall of Fame 1991; honorary degree from the C.I.A.; and patron of the Oxford Cultural Collective. Tower is a Board member of the Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, and Hall of Fame for both Nation’s Restaurant News and the American Culinary Federation.
Recent activities include the 2017 release of the full-length documentary about
Tower called The Last Magnificent produced by Anthony Bourdain for CNN. As keynote speaker at MAD with chef René Redzepi; Guest of honor at Chef’s Roll in Miami; Keynote speaker at the 2019 ACF ChefConnect. Food & Wine Festivals include Pebble Beach, the Oxford University and Blenheim Palace Festivals, and the Hawaiian Wine and Food at the Kahala, and the Chef’s Roll San Diego Dinner Under the Stars.
Chef Donnie Masterton
host chef
Donnie Masterton, the chef who brought global comfort food to San Miguel de Allende, earned his stripes in professional kitchens at a very early age. Beginning at age 15, Masterton apprenticed under chef David Bouley at New York’s Montrachet and it was then and there that he knew he was to be a chef. Donnie’s mentor from the ages of 19 to 27 was the late, great Patrick Clark. He went on to become Chef de Cuisine at Bice in Beverly Hills, The Hay Adams Hotel in D.C., and finally the world-renowned Tavern on the Green in Manhattan.
Donnie then moved west to the Bay Area to open Azie, a highly publicized French Asian concept that garnered exceptional reviews. Masterton then went back to his roots in Los Angeles to work for Joachim Splichal’s Patina Group as Executive Chef, running the 18,000 seat Hollywood Bowl.
Moving to San Miguel de Allende in 2005 was the culmination of his dream to live a simpler life. It was in the charming, much-beloved artistic town of San Miguel de Allende that Donnie’s passion for food and wine evolved into The Restaurant. Donnie is extremely devoted to seeking out the highest quality ingredients, working with local farmers, ranchers, and artisanal cheesemakers, and preparing the ingredients with skill, respect, and simplicity. This is Donnie Masterton’s vision of world-class comfort food.