7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great read, November 6, 2006
This review is from: A Man and His Meatballs: The Hilarious but True Story of a Self-Taught Chef and Restaurateur (Hardcover)
A pleasure to read! The first half is a really funny, inspiring story of how John LaFemina made it in the restaurant world and the second half has some amazing recipes. I've made a few of them and they've been delicious - a taste of Apizz at home. This is a great book to own or give any aspiring restaurateur or a fan of LaFemina's restaurants in Manhattan.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Here's why New York is such a great city, April 26, 2008
This review is from: A Man and His Meatballs: The Hilarious but True Story of a Self-Taught Chef and Restaurateur (Hardcover)
If anyone needs to know why New York is a world class city, they won't find a better explanation than this brief but amusing and highly enlightening story about opening and running a restaurant.
Meatballs? Anyone can cook meatballs. But, a meatball of veal, beef and pork with some onion, parsley, basil, Parmiagiano-Reggiano cheese, oregano and basic tomato sauce is something else. LaFemina grew up believing meatballs were the most special treat in the world; when he decided to open a restaurant, he discovered how much he didn't know. Fortunately, he includes his recipe for meatballs baked in a wood-fired oven. They're served without pasta.
In addition, he needed to learn about creating a restaurant.
For example, he had to deal with a telephone booth that appeared outside his new restaurant at some time between 2 a.m. and 8 a.m. He removed it with a jackhammer, and was promptly visited by a tall forty-something guy in a dark suit who said he "obviously didn't know who he was 'with' or who the officers of his company were." LaFemina, a native of Canarsie, told the tall guy "to have his CEO call my CEO and while he was at it, ask around and find out who I'm with."
"Who are you with?" his wife asked him, having watched the encounter. LaFemina replied, "You."
It's the pure New York of legend. The phone booth didn't come back, neither did the tall guy in the dark suit. But, many of New York's elite do dine at 'Apizz' and recommend it to others of the rich and powerful. How does a guy with a high school degree become one of the top Italian chefs in the city? It takes hard work, some luck, determination, a sense of humour and sheer nerve.
Perhaps the key element is expressed in his reaction on opening night, which " . . . wasn't terrible. The whole thing felt fine to me, but not great. And I knew I wouldn't survive on 'fine'. Not in New York."
"Fine" isn't good in New York. It's why the city is great. To be great in New York, one must be great. In today's world, when so much is defined by the intensity and meanness of pure anger, LaFemina uses sparkling humour to explain how he created a truly great restaurant.
He's the ultimate "practical" hands-on common sense man, which in my experience reflects the pure heart of New York attitudes. LaFemina doesn't explain spread sheets and sales projections and pie charts, he counts the number of meatballs he must serve to cover expenses.
It's this common sense approach, told with relevant humour, that makes this book a delight. Anyone who's ever gone to a good restaurant will love knowing some of the inner thinking that makes it a success.
Plus, the 75 recipes are interesting.
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