Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I picked up a bargain copy of this at a bookstore and was glad I hadn't paid full price for it. The topic is interesting to me as I love eating at fine-dining restaurants, but this book was not a worthwhile exploration of that topic. I was hoping for the kind of insider scoop on restaurant operations you get from, say, Anthony Bourdain's books. Instead, this is all about how you, the lowly restaurant-going peasant, should suck up to hosts, waiters and chefs because what they do is soooo cool and you are soooo not worthy of their time and effort. I kept thinking of the term "scenester" when I read this - someone who is so interested in getting into the "hot" place du jour that they'll do anything short of humiliating themselves to get inside. The whole tone of the book is fawning towards chefs and restaurant owners/personnel and there's not really a lot of "insider" information here that you couldn't figure out for yourself. And the book is overcomplimentary towards restaurant people in the extreme. Shaw's book makes it seem like if a restaurant treats a customer poorly, it's obviously the customer's fault because fine restaurants run by celebrated chefs are pinnacles of perfection and couldn't possibly do anything wrong. It seemed to me like Shaw mainly wrote this book to give props to his chef friends and get accolades from people in the business for writing a book that made them look so good, and therefore get nsider access to even more chefs/restaurateurs (and free gourmet meals, of course). I don't think there was an honest intention here to give any kind of real "inside" story.
I agree with the reviewer who said this book is a lot like the discourse you'll find on eGullet, pretentious and self-righteously obsessed with details the average person could care less about. I couldn't even finish reading this. Another book for the charity pile, although frankly I feel bad about inflicting this on anyone else.
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