author
Victor Hirtzler
d. 1935
A pioneering hotel chef who helped turn fine dining into public spectacle, he brought Alsatian training and a flair for promotion to early 20th-century San Francisco. His cookbooks and signature dishes helped make him one of the era's best-known culinary personalities.
1 Audiobook
The Hotel St. Francis Cook Book
by Victor Hirtzler
About the author
Born in Strasbourg around 1875, Victor Hirtzler was a French chef who became head chef of San Francisco's St. Francis Hotel when it opened in 1904. He stayed in that role until 1926 and built a reputation not just for cooking, but for turning meals into memorable social events.
He is often described as one of America's earliest celebrity chefs. Alongside his work in the hotel dining rooms, he promoted himself and the St. Francis by creating dishes, hosting elaborate banquets, and publishing cookbooks, including The Hotel St. Francis Cook Book. His recipes continued to circulate long after their first publication, and his name is still remembered in discussions of classic hotel cuisine.
One detail in the record is a little muddy: some library cataloging associated with his books gives dates of about 1875–1935, but biographical sources such as Wikipedia report that he died on February 9, 1931, in Strasbourg. Because those sources do not fully agree, it's safest to say that he was active in the early decades of the 20th century and remained closely tied to both Strasbourg and San Francisco in the story of his career.