Alice Waters

Midnight and the bar is packed. Wolfgang Puck is drinking Champagne in his brand-new restaurant and looking around with a bemused smile. Isn't this the city that sleeps? Why aren't all these people in bed? Just then a man walks up, taps him on the shoulder and says: "I'm from L.A., but I've been living in San Francisco. I'm just so glad to finally see some L.A. style up here." But you don't have to be from L.A. to love Puck's new place. Postrio is the toast of the town. And everybody seems surprised.

Just recently, as I entered the elevator of a chic New York hotel, I stopped and sniffed. Rosemary? In central Manhattan? Yes, indeed. The occasion was a Provencal festival inspired by California chef Alice Waters for the American Institute of Food and Wine, headquartered in San Francisco. Waters is owner/chef of Chez Panisse in Berkeley. In the lobby stood Waters herself toasting branches of fresh rosemary on a grill as she chatted to the food enthusiasts who streamed past.

Now wait a second! Wolfgang Puck ("The Spagoization of Manhattan," by Ruth Reichl, Dec. 8) "invented the term California Cuisine?" Somebody better check with Alice Waters of Chez Panisse. I think she taught lucky Puck everything he knows. ROOS REED Van Nuys Check yourself. There's an interview with her on Page 5.

Eight people in white are chopping, slicing, peeling, pounding, stirring and grinding. There's garlic in the Cuisinart and squab stock in the huge pot on the floor. It's almost dinner time at Chez Panisse, the 14-year-old restaurant that has made chef Alice Waters the doyenne of American cooking and defined what became known as California Cuisine. The tiny, 41-year-old restaurateur has been mentor and former employer to such celebrity chefs as Jeremiah Tower, Mark Peel and Jonathan Waxman.