Customer Reviews

The Fourth Star: Dispatches from Inside Daniel Boulud's Celebrated New York Restaurant

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a book by and for foodies. As such it is filled with a lingo that may require some translation for the uninitiated. Even so, it is both an intriguing tale (how he got the fourth star) even as it contains some of the best behind-the-scenes restaurant action ever written.

One grasps the passion, the obsession, the degree to which the performers immerse themselves in every aspect of food from both the "business" end (running a restaurant) and the "artistic" end (selecting, preparing, cooking). Just reading through one of those hectic nights is exhausting but the author seems to have been in the pits with the major players. The outtake vignettes such as the episode on making reservations or on the quirky but faithful customers are sheer joy.

And who has not imagined such a dinner as the one that finally concluded the book. Bravo for such an effort as this one!

The premise of this book is a year in the life of a great restaurant at a time when the pressure is on to get a fourth star from the NYT food critic. Sounds pretty good, huh? Well, it really isn't.

Good things can be found here; for example culinary nuggets scattered through the book about how to cook bacon, prepare citrus zest etc are interesting and useful. A glimpse at the business side of the restaurant is novel but underdeveloped.

My major criticisms are three...I didn't get to know Daniel Boulud at all. Many opportunities to flesh him out were missed...there are a zillion frequently seen people in the kitchen, but most are so undeveloped that I couldn't keep 'em straight....There is far too much random kitchen chatter reproduced. It is mostly a distraction and is thoroughly boring. "Fire 35...merde! zut alors! putain!"

I loved this book--and I'm not even a "foodie!" The Fourth Star reads like a well-crafted novel, with great characters, intricate relationships, and delicious tidbits about who gets what table, about the frenzied goings-on behind the kitchen door, and about what it's like when the President of the United States shows up at your restaurant for a meal. It's full of information I never realized I wantd to know, such as where the staff buys their stylish but extra-comfortable shoes, what the restaurant mark-up is on a bottle of water, how the timing works so that all the entrees arrive at the table at the same time, and just what goes into making a sublime dish. It's a fascinating read. I'd recommend this book to anyone.

I love everything about food so was really looking forward to reading this book. Unfortunately, I found it to be a huge disappointment. While there are certainly some very interesting anecdotes on how elite restaurants operate as well as some great cooking tips and ideas, the vast majority of the book is dull and repetitive. The books is effectively a journal of daily life in the restaurant and the author is probably the only person not to realize that most days in a kitchen (just like at any job) are pretty much the same. Nonetheless, she doesn't hesitate to point out each time a customer order a soup or if (brace yourselves) a table of four decides to order five appetizers.

In this delightfully readable book, Leslie Brenner invites the reader into one of New York's finest restaurants, Daniel, then serves up a tale of spice, staples and sauce. As with the nuts beside the martini, I had to have more. Characters and events compelled me to turn the page almost before I'd finished it, and not a single word left a sour taste. Many passages are memorable, none moreso than the incident mentioned on page 134.

'It was April 14, 2001, and Julia Roberts was having a clandestine supper with Ozzie Osbourne. Daniel Boulud came to their table and suggested to Ozzie that he have the 'Seinfeld Special'. Feigning intelligence, Ozzie opened his eyes momentarily and said, "No thanks. I'm a vegetable."
Boulud was bemused. "Don't you mean vegetarian?"
"No he doesn't," Julia said, adjusting his tie and oxygen mask. "But I'll try it. If it's anything like the show, then I'll love it."
"Honey," Ozzie said, drifting in and out of insensibility, "if it's anything like the show, it'll repeat on you at least three times a day for the next fifteen years and in every town and city you visit."
Julia laughed so much that she almost knocked her Oscar off the table. Ozzie slid under it. As lasting friendships go, this one did.'

If you enjoy good food, interesting people and wonderful literature, 'The Fourth Star' is an essential experience.

Brenner scopes out one of the world's finest eateries as it pursues the missing star--the fourth from food reviewer Wm. Grimes.

In this we see the top of the culinary world in action, amazingly from an unencumbered inside view. Boulud allows the author pretty much free access to the internal workings of Daniel.

What is reported is a calculated mad dash at service time to prepare amazing dishes on time to serve them so that it appears to the customer as seamless and enchanting how this marvelous food appears.

The controlled chaos that is observed among the army of cooks, the pass and wait team is of a world and language even many of us home gourmets are unaccustomed to. Fire this and where's this and too much of this, etc. Having cooked for hundreds on an evening, this appears to be nothing compared to this monumental complex of intricate, complex gourmet construction.

It was most useful to hear from the reviewer Grimes at the end why he initially gave three stars and then changed it to four. Further, his explanation as to what each star meant was enlightening.

For us gourmands and those in or interested in entering this field, this is captivating reading. For even those who just enjoy superior dining, this is revelation of the highest from one of the world's best.

This book is a year-long, behind-the-scenes look at a New York restaurant, DANIEL, whose chef/owner, Daniel Boulud, was attempting to re-gain his four-star rating from the New York Times. I read this after watching the series "Restaurant" and it was a good follow-up to the show. They are entirely different restaurants, but had many things in common and it was easy for me to picture the goings on at DANIEL.

Brenner covered both the "front of the house" and the area behind the kitchen doors. We met reservationists, the maitre de, Daniel, waiters and bus boys, chefs and line cooks. We learn about VIP seating, wine buying, and much about the backbreaking and stressful jobs involved in running a fine restaurant.

The best parts were what I would call the gossipy stuff and the food descriptions.

Unfortunately, this book should have been a long article. It was incredibly repetitive and the author's bias toward (adoration of?) Boulud was very distracting.

Lots of interesting details about running a high quality restaurant in New York, but overall the content is a bit thin. The book is very padded with many blow by blow accounts of a typical dinner or lunch service at Daniel. It's interesting the first few times or when the author recounts a dinner for President Clinton, but by the tenth dinner you begin to flip the pages. I was disappointed that there was almost no insight into Daniel Boulud, how he and his staff create new dishes, what actions he took to elevate the restaurant to 4 stars or what really sets his restaurant apart from other top quality restaurants in the US. The nugget for a good book is here, but I think the author skimped on her research and simply transcribed her tape recordings from a year of standing in the kitchen.

The Fourth Star is a great book for gourmets, gourmands, and anyone else who loves to eat and cook wonderful food. If you've ever eaten at Daniel in Manhattan or at any other world-class restaurant, you know what a sublime experience it can be. The service is flawless, the food transports you to a level you never thought possible, the atmosphere is at once soothing and thrilling. Perfection, of course, does not come easily as Brenner so capably reveals. She spent a year observing and deconstructing the workings of this famed restaurant, from the front desk to the back pantry, from the wine cellar to the skybox from where Daniel commands the troops when he's not personally preparing a special dish for a VIP. With her keen eye (and remarkable ability to take shorthand!) Brenner has produced a detailed chronicle of modern-day high-stakes cuisine. She logged countless hours in the kitchen and much of the book is dedicated to capturing the rapid-fire precision with which Daniel Boulud and crew turn out one delectable dish after another, night after night. One warning though: Eat before you read-her lush descriptions of the food will make you ravenous after just a few pages.

If you are addicted to the Food Channel, Restaurant reviews, and great, creative food you will relish this book. It gives you an insider's view and a deeper understanding to exactly what is involved in operating one of the world's first rate restaurants. This is a BIBLE for anyone running a hospitality related business because it epitomizes the meaning of Customer Service and satisfaction.
Daniel Bolud is a facinating study and his passion for the business is inspiring. This was a fast read, some of the content about expediting the food became a bit repitious, but I think she is a wonderful writer and would read her again.
Let's make reservations, cannot wait to go back to Daniel's.