Inevitiable any inside story on the restaurant business in new York will draw comparisons.Phoebe Damrosch doesn’t serve up the hard drugs and bad sex that Anthony Bourdain dragged us though. But the food is much, much better in Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter. It gives an insiders account of the opening of Per Se, a restaurant run by one of the world’s top chefs Thomas Keller of French laundry fame (who was rumoured to be opening at Crown in Melbourne for a while).Damrosch gives an insight into the detail that goes into the service in the restaurant from staff education through to handling food critics.
“It occured to me at the end of our first day training that if I were a skeptic, I might find this whole thing a little cultish. There were philosophies, laws, uniforms, elaborate rituals, an unspoken code of honour and integrity and, most important a powerful leader…” she says.
If you are interested in service and what it means. If you are interested in how it is anticipating the needs of the diner rather than being servile and what it really takes to offer proper fine dining – especially if you work in hospitality – then read this book (And click on one of the links to buy from Amazon).
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Ed,
Thanks for sharing that. It looks like a really interesting book! I haven’t read anything for over a month that isn’t a German cooking magazine or an Americanized version of a Nigella cookbook. So yes, I am definitely looking for something stimulating to read.
xox Sarah
Hope you enjoy it.
Ed,
Just ordered Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter I’m reading Never Order Chicken on a Monday which is quite entertaining. Read Like Water for Chocolate during the festive season I could not put it down. Love your blog you have a real talent with ‘words’ it is very powerful. Mustang
Mustang, thanks for the kind words. Hope you enjoy it. I haven’t read Like Water for Chocolate and I must put it on my list.