Honestly, I would read anything written by Ruth Reichl.
In fact, I have, and I highly recommend them all. But Garlic and Sapphires is my favorite.
Ruth Riechl is equal parts wonderful cook and enchanting food writer.
She was the food editor at the LA times before she came to The New York Times as their Restaurant Critic. This is where we meet her.
She relocates home to New York and the fun begins.
After an amusing encounter on a plane, Ruth realizes that everyone knows she’s coming. Every restaurant has a photo and a frightening amount of personal information about her posted in their kitchens. They want to see her coming and she wants them not to.
To properly critique a restaurant she has to be incognito. She has to be privy to the treatment and food that everyone receives, not just the esteemed New York Times. How could any review be authentic and reliable otherwise?
A whirling dervish of wigs, make-up and second hand outfits ensues. Ruth Reichl will dine as herself on many occasions, but on many more, she will be someone else.
She will be charcters older, younger, more fiery and … egads, her own mother.
While this makes for hilarity, it is also cleverly introspective. We meet all the parts of Ruth Reichl. These varied persona are terrific, but it is hard to compete with the food. I defy you to read any part of this and not want to rush into the City immediately.Can you imagine the fun of dining at Aquavit five or six times concurrently and with a corporate tab? Waiter!
Every restaurant is its own adventure, a stampede of gastronomical luxuries. She alternately slinks and parades into Daniel, Lespinasse, 21, Kurumazushi, Jean-Georges, The Box Tree, the Four Seasons, Smith and Wollensky and others …Oh, the decor! The waitstaff! The food! It is all described in mesmerizing detail. We know what Ruth wears, where she is seated, who is nearby, how the napkins are folded, the wines she uncorks and what she eats – course by course by course. She dictates the smells, the tastes, the feeling of every morsel.Truly, it is tantalizing. It is almost as good as being at the table with her. Ruth tells the story of the meal and then, if we’re really lucky, she prints her review, and we feel an insider’s glee at having been privy to her information gathering.
Her colleagues are well described and her family relationship is a good touchstone. I especially enjoyed her doorman and his reactions to her various disguises. Hint – he likes redheads.We have a very comforting base to work from and a solid foundation makes her forays exciting, rather than dangerous. She has ups and downs and takes the entire experience with a grain of salt. Pun intended.Ruth comments in one review how pompous and exclusionary she feels, but her devotees come to the same conclusion we have; that it is better to be there with her than not at all.