Once more, thanks are due first to the Chez Panisse cooks I asked to help me set recipes down on paper for this volume, especially Kelsie Sue Kerr, now a chef in the restaurant downstairs, and Samantha Greenwood Wood, a former anchor of the dessert kitchen; both of them helped shape the book’s contents from the beginning. Recipes also came to us from Tracy Bates, Mary Canales, Patricia Curtan, Sarah Egri, Carly Meyer, Jean-Pierre Moullé, Charlene Nicholson, Gilbert Pilgram, Tasha Prysi, Jehnee Rains, Charlene Reis, Alan Tangren, David Tanis, and Anthony Tassinello—all present or former Chez Panisse cooks without whose dedication Chez Panisse could not survive. Our gratitude extends to four great contributors from outside the restaurant: Marion Cunningham, Carol Field, Niloufer Ichaporia, and Shirley Sarvis.
The essays about individual fruits are largely the work of my collaborator, Alan Tangren, the pastry chef at Chez Panisse, whose career at the restaurant has taken him from an early beginning in our kitchens to many years as our “forager—our procurement officer, so to speak, and as such, the person responsible for forging our relationships with the scores of mostly local growers and suppliers who bring us the beautiful ingredients that, as we boast on our menu, are almost without exception organically grown and sustainably produced. My other collaborator, Fritz Streiff, has once again served as my editorial mouthpiece and mastermind, testing, correcting, writing, and rewriting at every stage of the project.
For their generosity with their expertise, our hearty thanks to Ernie and Chris Bierwagen, Ray Copeland, Darrell Corti, Al Courchesne, Bill Fujimoto, David Karp, C. Todd Kennedy, Andy Sarhanis, Didar Singh, Jonathan and Lucy Tolmach, and Sue at the Racha Café.
As always, my partner, Lindsey Shere, has been a particular inspiration to me. Pastry chef for twenty-six years, she tested recipes and made suggestions that were especially welcome; and the immense influence of her esthetics and perfectionism on her successors is reflected everywhere in this book. Warm thanks are also owed to the other recipe testers and tasters, among them Thérèse Shere, Yoon Ki Chai, Tomas Salis, Nancy Satoda, and numerous other friends and relatives. And I would especially like to thank Cristina Salas-Porras for her invaluable help in coordinating the logistics of the entire project.
Probably most important of all, Chez Panisse Fruit owes the extraordinary beauty and serenity of its illustrations and the clarity and just proportions of its design to Patricia Curtan, who also helped conceive the book almost eight years ago.
Lastly, this book could never have been brought to fruition without the understanding of our editor, Susan Friedland; we thank her again for her enthusiasm, her acumen, and her patience.