LOBSTER SANDWICH

"Food and Wine Magazine August 2024, Author and Assistant Food Editor for Food and Wine Magazine, Andee Gosnell"

Jeremiah Tower revisits a classic dish from the menu of Stars, his legendary California restaurant.

IT’S NOT EVERY DAY you get to meet a chef like Jeremiah Tower. So, I remember October 2, 2021, like it was yesterday. My former culinary school classmate and her husband had hired Tower to prepare some of his classic recipes for their food startup and invited me to take photographs. The soft light that morning in Emeryville, California, reinforced my first impressions of Tower—gentle, warm, and present. Throughout the weekend, as he topped blini with caviar and infused crème anglaise with rose petals, we chatted and shared laughs, and I was moved to find that as much as I was interested in his story, he was interested in mine. After we wrapped, we returned to San Francisco for a Champagne toast. Clinking glasses, I knew I had not only met a mentor—I had made a friend for life.

These days, Tower lives in Mérida, Mexico, with his husband, Curtis, where he writes a lively newsletter called Out of the Oven (jeremiahtower.substack.com). While his restaurant days are behind him, his mark on American cuisine is everywhere. In fact, a few decades ago at his game-changing restaurant Stars, just half a mile from where he and I sat sipping bubbly, Tower was once the most famous chef in America.

Tower opened Stars 40 years ago, shortly after leaving his six-year tenure as executive chef of Chez Panisse, where he’d helped to define the menu. Stars took San Francisco by storm. Today, it’s recognized as one of the major influencers of California and New American cuisine. Its menu had the charms of a French brasserie expressed through seasonal California ingredients, offering dishes like oven-roasted rabbit legs served with baked radicchio, and a vibrant red and yellow tomato salad with French lentils. Tower also embraced global flavors in dishes like spring rolls with marinated crab and ginger cream, and black bean cakes with smoked pork. That exuberant menu, combined with Tower’s charisma—he existed somewhere between socialite and showman, floating among the patrons as if they were guests in his living room—helped Stars transcend what it meant to be a restaurant and helped Tower redefine what it meant to be a chef.

In 1986, two years after Stars opened its doors, Food & Wine ran a story by Stanley Dry titled “Who is Jeremiah Tower ... And Why is Everybody Talking About This San Francisco Chef?” The story included a photo of an airplane shaped sandwich composed of a whole lobster head flanked by two brioche wings, captioned “Toasted Lobster Sandwiches and a glass of Champagne on the marble oyster bar at Stars.”

I recently asked Tower about that lobster sandwich; he responded that for him, a lobster sandwich represents the pinnacle of bar food. “I wanted something luxurious that’s simple and fast. The lobster sandwich never goes out of style, and it’s easy to do it up,” he said. He still makes that sandwich today but opts for simpler plating and techniques. We chuckled about how his original 1986 recipe called for a single tomato concassé, a French technique of peeling, seeding, and slicing a tomato. These days, he simply slices tomatoes and serves them with their seeds and skins included.

Each element of the sandwich is still chosen with care, however. For bread, Tower prefers brioche slices for their rich, delicate, and buttery flavor that’s amplified when toasted. Tower is very particular about the mayonnaise: Hellmann’s is his go-to (it also made our best mayonnaise list; see p. 24), and he believes that you can never have too much of it. (In the 1986 story, Tower is quoted as saying, “I live to eat mayonnaise and ice cream.”) The mayo coats the plump lobster meat, yielding a silky sandwich filling. And he still includes chervil, a nod to his love of French cooking. “Chervil and lobster should always be married. Nothing has the mystery chervil has,” Tower says.

On the topic of his lobster sandwich, Tower left me with a quote from Oscar Wilde. “Simple pleasures are the last refuge of the complex,” he said. “The brioche is fresh; the lobster is wonderful; the mayonnaise is plentiful. It’s going to be delicious.” And just like our first meeting, it would only be complete with a glass of bubbly.

Poached lobster is bound with creamy mayonnaise and delicate chervil for this brioche sandwich. The lemon and tomato add a nice acidity that cuts through the richness of the lobster filling.

Jeremiah Tower’s Lobster Sandwich

ACTIVE 45 MIN; TOTAL 1 HR 35 MIN

SERVES 4

Ingredients

2 (11/2- to 2-lb.) fresh lobsters

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 1/2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

2 Tbsp. mayonnaise (preferably Hellmann’s)

1 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh chervil (see Note), plus leaves for topping

3/4 tsp. kosher salt, plus more to taste

1/4 tsp. black pepper, plus more to taste

 8 brioche bread slices

 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

 Roma tomato slices

 Lemon wedges, for serving

Directions

Fill a large bowl with ice and water; set aside. Place 1 lobster on a work surface lined with a clean kitchen towel. Plunge a sharp chef’s knife into the lobster’s back, at the first joint on the body just behind the eyes, to dispatch; set aside. Repeat with remaining lobster. Place lobsters in a large pot; cover with cold water. Heat to a gentle simmer over high, about 25 minutes. Turn off heat; let stand, uncovered, for 12 minutes. Transfer lobsters to prepared ice bath; cool for 10 minutes. Drain well.

Twist off knuckles and claws from lobsters. Crack claws and knuckles using shellfish crackers or the back of a knife; remove meat, and place in a medium bowl. Separate tail from body. Cut down the center of tail shell, from top to fins, using kitchen shears or a sharp knife; remove meat. Remove and discard intestinal vein. Cut meat into 11/2- to 2-inch pieces; add to bowl. (Discard shells, or save for stock.)

Stir oil, lemon juice, and lobster meat together. Add mayonnaise, chervil, salt, and pepper; gently toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper; set aside.

Preheat oven to broil with rack 6 inches from heat. Brush bread on both sides with butter; place on a baking sheet. Broil, flipping once, until lightly golden, about 3 minutes. 

Top 4 bread slices each with 1/2 cup lobster salad, tomato, chervil leaves, and pepper; top with remaining bread. Serve with lemon wedges. —JEREMIAH TOWER

MAKE AHEAD: Cooked picked lobster can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. WINE A zesty, brioche-scented sparkling wine: 2019 Domaine Carneros Estate Brut

NOTE: Chervil can be substituted with a mix of fresh parsley and tarragon.

Accredited: Food and Wine Magazine August 2024

Author and Assistant Food Editor for Food and Wine Magazine, ANDEE GOSNELL

Produced by LUCY SIMON

Photography by CHRISTOPHER TESTANI

Photography FAIRFAX MEDIA ARCHIVES / GETTY IMAGES

Food Styling CHELSEA ZIMMER

Prop Styling CLAIRE SPOLLEN

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