Synopses & Reviews
Ruth Reichls bestselling memoir of her time as an undercover restaurant critic for The New York Times
Ruth Reichl, world-renowned food critic and former editor in chief of Gourmet magazine, knows a thing or two about food. She also knows that as the most important food critic in the country, you need to be anonymous when reviewing some of the most high-profile establishments in the biggest restaurant town in the worlda charge she took very seriously, taking on the guise of a series of eccentric personalities. In Garlic and Sapphires, Reichl reveals the comic absurdity, artifice, and excellence to be found in the sumptuously appointed stages of the epicurean world and gives usalong with some of her favorite recipes and reviewsher remarkable reflections on how ones outer appearance can influence ones inner character, expectations, and appetites, not to mention the quality of service one receives.
As a memento of her time at the Times she gives us this wonderful book, which is funnyat times laugh-out-loud funnyand smart and wise.” Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post
Review
"This wonderful book is funny—at times laugh-out-loud funny—and smart and wise." —
The Washington Post
"Reichl is so gifted . . . the reader remains hungry for more." —USA Today
"Expansive and funny." —Entertainment Weekly
Synopsis
This delicious new volume of Reichl's acclaimed memoirs recounts her "adventures in deception," as she goes undercover in the world's finest restaurants. The editor-in-chief of Gourmet, she is the author of the bestsellers Tender at the Bone and Comfort Me with Apples.
About the Author
Ruth Reichl is the editor in chief of Gourmet and the author of the bestsellers Tender at the Bone and Comfort Me with Apples. She has been the restaurant critic at the New York Times and the food editor and restaurant critic at the Los Angeles Times. Reichl lives in New York City with her husband and son.
Table of Contents
Garlic and Sapphires The Daily Special
Backstory
Molly
The King of Spain
Looking for Umami
Miriam
Meat and Potatoes
Chloe
Brenda
Dinner with Chairman Punch
Betty
Food Warrior
The Missionary of the Delicious
Emily
Ghosts
Recipe Index
Acknowledgments