Customer Reviews

Dishing: Great Dish -- and Dishes -- from America's Most Beloved Gossip Columnist

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What's better than gossip with your gnocchi, tell-alls with your tea, or rumors with your rib roast? Everyone loves to eat and, whether we'll admit it or not, we all enjoy hearing the lascivious latest. Liz Smith, who well knows her way around a table and a tantalizing tale, has combined dish with recipes in her latest book. The title is "Dishing," and it's all gravy.

You gotta' love a gal who schmoozes with the rich and fabulous admitting that she once took a children's course in table manners after being flummoxed by a finger bowl during lunch with Mrs. Vincent Astor. It was during this class at the Plaza that she learned the appropriate way to leave a table: "......"we must never explain why we are leaving the table if we do. Simply get up and say `Excuse me," and fold the napkin across the back of the chair so the waiter will know you plan to return."

This came as news to the former resident of Fort Worth, Texas, whose constant childhood dish was milk toast, and where her mother insisted that she and her siblings eat watermelon in the bathtub because it was easier to hose them off afterwards. However, Texas is, as we know, where the stars are big and bright - there must have also been a lucky one for Miz Liz to be born under because one of the first to become her friend in New York City was Sirio, a waiter. Later, Sirio Maccioni would own a famous restaurant, Le Cirque.

Another famous restauranteur, Henri Soule, taught her the proper way to eat caviar, and she hilariously recalls the time he gifted her with an expensive case of wine. Having no idea of the value of this rare Chateau Petrus, she served it to her friends along with chili.

There's very little, whether it's food or the famous, that this author has missed. There's a memorable dinner in Paris with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, and she sat with Nicole Kidman as the svelte star polished off every roll and bread in the table basket.

Amongst all the glitterati with whom has she shared the most unusual meals? Malcolm Forbes. "My first meeting with Malcolm, she writes, "was at a private dinner given by Barbara Walters where Malcolm roared up on a motorcycle and came in wearing black tie, carrying his helmet. He offered me a ride home but I dislike flying through thin air at sixty miles an hours."

Theirs was a mutually beneficial friendship, as he enjoyed the publicity she offered his magazine while she enjoyed being a guest on his yacht and visiting the Forbes chateau in Normandy. (Who wouldn't?) Nonetheless, according to Miz Liz the most outstanding meal they shared was a breakfast at his office building which housed his museum quality collectibles. On this occasion Forbes had the table decorated with his Faberge eggs, scattered about among the napkins and silver.

"Dishing" is subtitled "Great Dish - and Dishes - from America's Most Beloved Gossip Columnist." And, dishes there are - recipes for everything from Elvis's favorite potato sandwich to "Chipped Beef a la Krupp Diamond" courtesy of Liz Taylor.

With her column now syndicated in more than 70 newspapers, Miz Liz knows how to write, and even though she's been thinking about "turning her apartment kitchen into a closet," she knows what to eat and where to eat it. "Dishing" is a fun feast - pull up a chair and enjoy it.

- Gail Cooke

This book is wonderful! Warm and witty, with awesome recipes describing why they're so special - and it is great fun to read about the celebs who loved them, served them, etc. A fun read and awesome resource. (There is more text than recipes, but more than enough recipes to make it well worthwhile for cooks.) My one and only quibble is that there isn't an index, so when you find a recipe you're dying to try (I found several while just flipping through the book when it arrived), affix a post-it note if you want to be able to find it again. But the book is wonderful!

I loved this book. Its a page turner. Liz writes with such down to earth humor that it feels like my favorite aunt passed down her favorite recipes. I also like the fact that Liz seems so warm, funny and kind. Filled with my two favorite subjects: food and celebrities. I read this book on a Saturday, finished it by Saturday night and was cooking her recipes Sunday. And regarding the past review, I did not find the part about Rao's offensive at all. I just bought an additional copy for a Mother's Day gift...It's is a great read.

As the subtitle of DISHING states, author Liz Smith is "America's most beloved gossip columnist." By now, she's probably also the longest working practicioner of this medium, which she helped to form into its modern incarnation.

If there is one problem with her columns, it's that she's so nice. Yet it is clear from reading her books that this must be her basic personality, a personality which is clearly formed.

Having read all of her books, I can say that her wit, her shrewdness and her kindness all shine through the pages. Her claim that she is much-loved seems accurate, and this love also seems to be well-deserved.

Though her pages (and her life) are peopled with names that most of us only can imagine knowing, she remains realistic about these friends and their foibles, even as she is compassionate.

So many names are mentioned here--not dropped, but described organically, as very much part of Ms. Smith's everyday existence--that the width and breadth are dizzying. What a life she has led!

The recipes may be best of all. Where once I cooked my way through the books of Julia Child, I am now considering cooking my way through DISHING.

DISHING is delicious.

I love the recipes! You'll enjoy the "dish" about famous folks but the reason you'll keep this book is the recipes. I grew up in Texas so I love Liz's recipes for Chicken Fried Steak and Frito Pie and red-eye gravy. I've never served a meal like Nora Ephron did but after reading Liz's book I'm hot on the trail of Chateau Suduiraut so I can duplicate that dinner party! From down-home food to extraordinary meals you'll grab a pencil and paper to make your shopping list and when you serve the food you can tell your guests, "This is Ann Richard's favorite" or
"Liz Taylor made this chili famous." Buy the book. It is a keeper!

WAS READY TO BUY THIS BOOK AS I HAVE ALWAYS ENJOYED READING HER COLUMN. BUT AS AN ITALIAN AMERICAN , I WAS SO DISAPPOINTED IN HER STEROTYPICAL COMMENTS ABOUT RAO'S RESTAURANT THAT I PUT THE BOOK BACK ON THE SHELF. WHY WOULD AN INTELLIGENT WOMEN NOT GET HER INFORMATION CORRECT BEFORE PUTTING IT IN PRINT. SHAME ON HER!