Synopses & Reviews
Like so many others, David Lebovitz dreamed about living in Paris ever since he first visited the city in the 1980s. Finally, after a nearly two-decade career as a pastry chef and cookbook author, he moved to Paris to start a new life. Having crammed all his worldly belongings into three suitcases, he arrived, hopes high, at his new apartment in the lively Bastille neighborhood.
But he soon discovered it's a different world en France.
From learning the ironclad rules of social conduct to the mysteries of men's footwear, from shopkeepers who work so hard not to sell you anything to the etiquette of working the right way around the cheese plate, here is David's story of how he came to fall in love with—and even understand—this glorious, yet sometimes maddening, city.
When did he realize he had morphed into un vrai parisien? It might have been when he found himself considering a purchase of men's dress socks with cartoon characters on them. Or perhaps the time he went to a bank with 135 euros in hand to make a 134-euro payment, was told the bank had no change that day, and thought it was completely normal. Or when he found himself dressing up to take out the garbage because he had come to accept that in Paris appearances and image mean everything.
The more than fifty original recipes, for dishes both savory and sweet, such as Pork Loin with Brown Sugar-Bourbon Glaze, Braised Turkey in Beaujolais Nouveau with Prunes, Bacon and Bleu Cheese Cake, Chocolate-Coconut Marshmallows, Chocolate Spice Bread, Lemon-Glazed Madeleines, and Mocha-Crème Fraîche Cake, will have readers running to the kitchen once they stop laughing.
The Sweet Life in Paris is a deliciously funny, offbeat, and irreverent look at the city of lights, cheese, chocolate, and other confections.
Review
andldquo;A big, fat, juicy slice of what makes New York City the greatest city in the worldandmdash;by the dean of food critics, the ONE guy whoandrsquo;s bothered to hunt down the very best wherever it might be. Sietsema KNOWS whatandrsquo;s good. When you visit a city, you should always ask yourself, andlsquo;What do they do thatandrsquo;s better than everywhere else? Whatandrsquo;s special? Iconic? Unmissable?andrsquo; If youandrsquo;re talking New York, the answers are here.andrdquo;
andmdash;Anthony Bourdain
and#160;
andldquo;Nobody knowsandmdash;or appreciatesandmdash;New York restaurants better than Robert Sietsema. But this wonderful book is not really about food; itandrsquo;s an entirely new way to see this city. If you live in New York, or ever plan to visit, you need this book.andrdquo;
andmdash;Ruth Reichl
and#160;
andldquo;Robert Sietsema knows New York restaurants on an almost molecular level. In New York in a Dozen Dishes, we get to see him sequence the DNA.andrdquo;
andmdash;Jonathan Gold
and#160;
andldquo;New York in a Dozen Dishes is the culmination of a lifetime of culinary discovery. Thereandrsquo;s a valuable history represented in every stand-alone chapter, each one worth the cover price. If you donandrsquo;t live in New York, youandrsquo;ll be planning a trip to discover the cityandrsquo;s food through Sietsemaandrsquo;s eyes. Youandrsquo;ll get hooked by the pastrami chapter, but stick around f or the barbecue brisket.andrdquo;
andmdash;Daniel Vaughn, author of The Prophets of Smoked Meat: A Journey Through Texas Barbecue and Barbecue Editor of Texas Monthly
and#160;
andldquo;Sure, New York in a Dozen Dishes is a tour de force that shows Sietsemaandrsquo;s unrivaled knowledge of the city from tip to tail and back and forth through time. But thatandrsquo;s not the reason to buy it. Youandrsquo;ll do that because Robert has written the book in a style that puts you in a seat across the table from him in some out-of-the way restaurant while he holds court. The rhythm of his writing is hypnotic; he makes Senegalese geography seem approachable and he blazes through Chinese-American history as breezily as most guys talk about last nightandrsquo;s game. Thereandrsquo;s an intimacy, an honest humor, andandmdash;what I feel is Robertandrsquo;s true superpowerandmdash;a contagious enthusiasm that makes this book a pleasure craft ripping a wide wake through a turgid sea of food history books.andrdquo;
andmdash;Peter Meehan, editor of Lucky Peach
Synopsis
Lebovitz, a pastry chef and cookbook author, always dreamed about living in Paris. This collection of recipes and observations is a deliciously funny, offbeat, and irreverent look at the city of lights, cheese, chocolate, and other confections.
Synopsis
In thirteen essays (a bakerand#39;s dozen) covering distinctive dishes from a cross-section of New York Cityand#39;s cultural makeup, veteran food journalist Robert Sietsema explores how foods from around the world arrived, commingled, and became part of the cityandrsquo;s culinary identity. Sietsema writes from personal experience as a restaurant critic eating in thousands of restaurants across five boroughs (and New Jersey) over the span of multiple decades; each chapter ends with a recipe.
Synopsis
A New York food criticandrsquo;s foray through the iconic dishes that define the city, with a recipe for each Fried chicken in Harlem. Pizza in Coney Island. Venturing to out-of-the-way neighborhoods in search of great food has blossomed into a cultural phenomenon, drawing thousands of New York locals and tourists alike. But Robert Sietsema was the original outer-borough food explorer,and#160;and heand#160;inspired a generation of food lovers to sample ethnic dishes and other cheap eats across the cityandrsquo;s five boroughs over his 20 years as restaurant critic at The Village Voice.
New York in a Dozen Dishes distills Sietsemaandrsquo;s 40 years of eating across the city into a set of essays on dishes from a cross-section of the cityandrsquo;s international culinary landscape: a portrait of modern New York through its food. Written with Sietsemaandrsquo;s characteristic charm, chapters cover the evolution of fried chicken from women-run cafes in Harlem to hipster joints in Williamsburg, the history of New Yorkandndash;style pizza, and egg fu yung and the endangered andldquo;American Chineseandrdquo; cuisine. Each chapter ends with a recipe.
Synopsis
Join New York Cityandrsquo;s most intrepid eaterandmdash;Robert Sietsema, pioneer of outer-boroughs diningandmdash;in an urban adventure like none other. Through essays on the cityandrsquo;s defining dishes, some familiar, others obscure, Robert paints a portrait of New Yorkandrsquo;s food landscape past and present, and shares a life spent uncovering the delicious foods of the five boroughs.
and#160;
Gobble up a century of New York pizza, from the coal-fired pies of a thriving Little Italy to the slice joints of a burgeoning rock andrsquo;nandrsquo; roll East Village. Discover Katzandrsquo;s Delicatessen as Robert did, on a foray into the hardscrabble Lower East Side of the 1970s. Take Robertandrsquo;s hand and heandrsquo;ll bring you through the Mexican taquerias of Bushwickandmdash;with their papalo leaves and piled-high sandwichesandmdash;then visit the underground Senegalese dining scene hidden in plain sight in 1990s Times Square. See the evolution of New York fried chicken from Harlemandrsquo;s spare, ancient style to the battered-and-brined birds of hipster Brooklyn. Hunt with Robert for Hangtown fry and a vanishing Chinese-American cuisine, and follow him as he ferrets out the cityandrsquo;s most elusive foods, including the Ecuadorian guinea pig.and#160;
About the Author
Perhaps no one has contributed more to creating the culture of gastronomic exploration than ROBERT SIESTEMA, andldquo;New Yorkandrsquo;s flavor barometerandrdquo; according to the Jewish Daily Forward, who for two decades was the restaurant critic at The Village Voice, his beat the other 99% of restaurantsandmdash;the ethnic and cheap eatsandmdash;not covered in other review columns. His writing for the Voice and Gourmet has won numerous awards and several James Beard and IACP/Bert Greene nominations; he speaks widely about food (everywhere from colleges to the South by Southwest festival) and has written on the ethics of food writingandmdash;about which he is considered an expertandmdash;for the Columbia Journalism Review. He currently writes from a wide vantage point as a restaurant critic for Eater.com, and a contributor to the New York Times, Lucky Peach, and elsewhere.