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jess_mango's review against another edition
4.0
Entertaining foodie read...but I still favor her memoir [b:Tender at the Bone Growing Up at the Table|53645|Tender at the Bone Growing Up at the Table|Ruth Reichl|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170428156s/53645.jpg|52320].
irishhopps's review against another edition
Some was interesting but just couldn’t get into it
danib11's review against another edition
4.0
This book will make you want to eat!!! Wonderfully written, Ruth Reichl is my kind of lady - she loves to eat and talk about it!
goodem9199's review against another edition
3.0
Wowzer...this Reichl chick REALLY digs food. It's like an intense romantic experience for her, which was a bit beyond my own love for such dishes as chicken fingers and fries. However, she writes very well, and kept me entertained. I was surprised by how much goes into being a food critic. You have to know your stuff like nobody's business. My favorite part was when she was having dinner with a colleague who guessed a mystery ingredient as balsamic vinegar. Ruthie set him straight, though...informing him it was squid ink. 'Nuff said.
suvata's review against another edition
2.0
ModernMrsDarcy.com Summer 2019 Reading List
#MMD ModernMrsDarcy.com Book Club pick for July 2019
I am basically a meat and potatoes kind of girl. I like a common selection of vegetables. I like a small amount of foreign food which could be classified as: American Chinese, American Japanese, American Greek, Some Mediterranean cuisine and some Middle Eastern cuisine, oh, and pizza which I really don’t think comes from Italy. This book was clearly not written for people like me. I am not a “food warrior“ or restaurant critic. In fact, I spend very little time thinking about food on a daily basis. Still I enjoyed the stories that she had to tell some made me laugh out loud and others thoroughly touched my soul. So even though this book was not written for me it was worth the read. I never even thought what a food critic’s job would entail. This book has helped me understand it perfectly clearly. That is a job I would not want but ... to each his own.
#MMD ModernMrsDarcy.com Book Club pick for July 2019
I am basically a meat and potatoes kind of girl. I like a common selection of vegetables. I like a small amount of foreign food which could be classified as: American Chinese, American Japanese, American Greek, Some Mediterranean cuisine and some Middle Eastern cuisine, oh, and pizza which I really don’t think comes from Italy. This book was clearly not written for people like me. I am not a “food warrior“ or restaurant critic. In fact, I spend very little time thinking about food on a daily basis. Still I enjoyed the stories that she had to tell some made me laugh out loud and others thoroughly touched my soul. So even though this book was not written for me it was worth the read. I never even thought what a food critic’s job would entail. This book has helped me understand it perfectly clearly. That is a job I would not want but ... to each his own.
book_concierge's review against another edition
4.0
Audio Book performed by Bernadette Dunne
Subtitle: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise
Well, that’s a pretty good synopsis of this memoir of Reichl’s tenure as the restaurant critic for The New York Times in the 1990s.
I loved her stories of the various restaurants, from tiny noodle shops to elegant restaurants, where even the King of Spain is kept waiting at the bar. What I really appreciated about the book, however, was the “secret life” part – her own growth as a person. As Reichl tried on various disguises she found that she was also revealing different personalities – timid or demanding, happy or dour, compassionate or selfish. She learned much about herself, what she liked and what she didn’t like. And she was fearless in revealing these various facets of herself to the reader.
Her writing really shines, not surprisingly, when she is describing food. I am in awe of her palate, her ability to tease out and identify the subtle flavorings in a complex dish:
(Describing the risotto) It tasted as if a chef had stood at the stove, stirring diligently as he coaxed each grain of rice into soaking up stock. As a finale he had strewn plump little morsels of lobster through the rice, giving it the taste of the ocean.
(Gougeres) And then I didn’t say anything else because I had taken a bite of one of the little puffs and I was concentrating on the way they simply evaporated into hot, cheesy air when my mouth closed over them.
(Quenelles de brochet) Very few restaurants still make these ethereal dumplings, a marriage of air and ocean, and even fewer do them right. … I take a bite and the softness surrounds my mouth with the taste of lobster, of fish, of butter and then it just dissolves, disappears, leaving nothing but the memory in my mouth. And I take another bite, and another, and suddenly I’m floating on the flavor, and the world has vanished.
(Venison) Surrounded by chestnuts, apples, a fruity puree of squash, the meat is so delicious that I find myself eating as if it is the first course. When I look down, I realize that I have eaten everything, even the single aromatic grape that decorated the plate.
A delicious memoir, and I devoured every word. I think I’ll make lamb for dinner tonight….
Bernadette Dunne does a marvelous job performing the audio version of this book. She has reasonably good skill as a voice artist to give the various characters unique and believable voices, though her 4-year-old Nicky sound like an adult imitating a little boy. Her pacing is good, and she even makes the recipes sound interesting.
Subtitle: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise
Well, that’s a pretty good synopsis of this memoir of Reichl’s tenure as the restaurant critic for The New York Times in the 1990s.
I loved her stories of the various restaurants, from tiny noodle shops to elegant restaurants, where even the King of Spain is kept waiting at the bar. What I really appreciated about the book, however, was the “secret life” part – her own growth as a person. As Reichl tried on various disguises she found that she was also revealing different personalities – timid or demanding, happy or dour, compassionate or selfish. She learned much about herself, what she liked and what she didn’t like. And she was fearless in revealing these various facets of herself to the reader.
Her writing really shines, not surprisingly, when she is describing food. I am in awe of her palate, her ability to tease out and identify the subtle flavorings in a complex dish:
(Describing the risotto) It tasted as if a chef had stood at the stove, stirring diligently as he coaxed each grain of rice into soaking up stock. As a finale he had strewn plump little morsels of lobster through the rice, giving it the taste of the ocean.
(Gougeres) And then I didn’t say anything else because I had taken a bite of one of the little puffs and I was concentrating on the way they simply evaporated into hot, cheesy air when my mouth closed over them.
(Quenelles de brochet) Very few restaurants still make these ethereal dumplings, a marriage of air and ocean, and even fewer do them right. … I take a bite and the softness surrounds my mouth with the taste of lobster, of fish, of butter and then it just dissolves, disappears, leaving nothing but the memory in my mouth. And I take another bite, and another, and suddenly I’m floating on the flavor, and the world has vanished.
(Venison) Surrounded by chestnuts, apples, a fruity puree of squash, the meat is so delicious that I find myself eating as if it is the first course. When I look down, I realize that I have eaten everything, even the single aromatic grape that decorated the plate.
A delicious memoir, and I devoured every word. I think I’ll make lamb for dinner tonight….
Bernadette Dunne does a marvelous job performing the audio version of this book. She has reasonably good skill as a voice artist to give the various characters unique and believable voices, though her 4-year-old Nicky sound like an adult imitating a little boy. Her pacing is good, and she even makes the recipes sound interesting.