Michael Bauer's Visionary List

Years ago in Berkeley, I was caught in a Secret Service swarm when then President Bill Clinton stopped by Chez Panisse for a bite. Such is the power of chef Alice Waters, that Presidents drop by and spontaneous notables might be turned away if the reservation list is full (which is always).

She is, of course, at the top of Michael Bauer's list of Bay Area food visionaries, having spawned more than a lineage of disciples. She also pioneered a culinary ethos that permeates San Francisco and the Bay Area -- the idea of ingredient over flourish, of locally cultivated over globally mass produced.

Bauer profiles ten of his intended twenty food innovators today, following up with subsequent picks in the next Food section.