Annette S. (annette-s) reviewed on 5/23/2013 + 49 more book reviews

Maybe youre a foodie who likens the exciting popping sensation of quinoa to a vegetarian caviar. Perhaps youre the couple who has to be the first to try every new restaurantthen pass your valuable critiques onto friends and family. Or do you prefer the all you can eat buffets where troughs of enigmatic food from every imaginable country are ready for sampling? Maybe youre none of those, just a regular Joe-Schmo (or Jolene-Schmolene) where dining out is a special occasion, befitting to dusting off your finest duds, ready to be schmoozed in a tablecloth and candle-lit atmosphere. Or perchance, youre one of the brave onesan aspiring chef. Whoever you are or how you prefer your intake of professionally-concocted sustenance, Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain may be a book for your consideration. This book is a memoir of Chef Anthony Bourdains humble beginnings as a dishwasher (sudsbuster, a.k.a. pearl diver), to his education in the Culinary Institute of America, to various restaurant venues, to a renown executive chef in the Brasserie Les Halls in Manhattan. And with the honest and sarcastic wit you may have come to know in his TV series, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, this book is an eye-opening, humorous tell-all. In it youll be served a behind the scenes look at the high-stress restaurant world, where tension and cocaine meet skill and timing. After reading this book, youll either appreciate your dining experience much more, or youll think twice before ordering the fish on Monday. Youll know what it takes to put it all together. Youll meet the dream-team of ruffians that make it all happen. Youll understand what an amazing feat it is to feed a 200+ seat restaurant, along with a 150+ seat grill, and top it off with an entire floor of banquet rooms from a kitchen as big as a hangar. You may even feel ashamed or at the very least present a nice little blush the next time you demand gluten-free bread or the vegetarian meat platter or what-have-you when its not on the menu. I truly enjoyed this irreverent look at the restaurant business. So did my husband and son. Read other reviews at http://readinginthegarden.blogspot.com

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