Soul Kitchen: A Novel [Paperback]

Poppy Z. Brite (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 25, 2006

If you can't stand the heat...Get the hell out of New Orleans!

Liquor has become one of the hottest restaurants in town, thanks in part to chefs Rickey and G-man’s wildly creative, booze-laced food. At the tail end of a busy Mardi Gras, Milford Goodman walks into their kitchen—he’s spent the last ten years in Angola Prison for murdering his boss, a wealthy New Orleans restaurateur, but has recently been exonerated on new evidence and released. Rickey remembers him as an ingenious chef and hires him on the spot.

When a pill-pushing doctor and a Carnival scion talk Rickey into consulting at the restaurant they’re opening in one of the city’s “floating casinos,” Rickey recommends Milford for the head chef position and stays on to supervise. But soon Rickey finds himself medicating a kitchen injury with the doctor’s wares, and G-man grows tired of holding down the fort at Liquor alone. As the new restaurant moves toward its opening, Rickey learns that Milford’s past is inextricably linked with one of the project’s backers, a man whose intentions begin to seem more and more sinister.

Full of the flavor of one of America’s greatest cities, Soul Kitchen is a sharp commentary on race relations in pre-Katrina New Orleans and a fast ride through the dark side of haute cuisine.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Chefs (and lovers) John Rickey and Gary "G-man" Stubbs (first appearing in Liquor and Prime) are once again involved in drama and suspense at their trendy eatery, Liquor. Chef Milford Goodman, an old friend of Rickey's, shows up after a 10-year prison stint for murder (of a restaurant owner) ends, thanks to a retrial acquittal. Just then, as it turns out, the current chef, Tanker, quits in a huff. Milford takes over, and through him, Rickey meets a manipulative, pill-pushing doctor named Lamotte, who pressures Rickey to join a restaurant venture, Soul Kitchen, involving a shady local businessman-investor, Clancy Fairbairn. Rickey, hooked on Lamotte-supplied Vicodin and wanting to give Milford the break he needs to become a top chef, agrees, various complications ensue, and the deal ends in tragedy. Throughout, Brite demonstrates a deep passion for and knowledge of New Orleans' food scene, and winningly sends up the city's wealthy elite, who "were like great dark sea creatures circling below the water's surface." The novel is brisk and entertaining, and manages to deal sharply with homophobia and racism amid a frothy plot. The novel was completed, Brite notes, the night before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the city where she was born and now lives with her chef husband. An open-ended conclusion hints at another installment to come. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

John Rickey and G-Man Stubbs have beaten the odds and are into their third year running the highly successful restaurant Liquor, a New Orleans eatery where everything on the menu is prepared with booze. Following Prime (2004) and Liquor (2005), this latest in Brite's innovative comic crime series continues to expand her vision of life on the foodie fast track. After spending 10 years in Angola for a crime he didn't commit, Milford Goodman, who was once one of the hottest chefs in the business, gets a new start with the help of Rickey and G-Man. What initially looks like a sweetheart deal helping Milford set up a state-of-the-art kitchen in a casino quickly starts to go south, as treachery and Old World evils are added to the menu. As with the earlier two novels, the key character in the book remains the city itself, with high times, hardball politics, and plenty of mayhem added to the menu as daily specials. The novel was completed on the night before Hurricane Katrina hit; fans will be waiting to see how Rickey and G-Man cope with post-Katrina New Orleans. Elliott Swanson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press (July 25, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307237656
• ISBN-13: 978-0307237651
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #418,790 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm the author of eight novels, three short story collections, two nonfiction books, and some miscellanea. My earlier books -- LOST SOULS, DRAWING BLOOD, WORMWOOD, EXQUISITE CORPSE, THE LAZARUS HEART, ARE YOU LOATHSOME TONIGHT? (a.k.a. SELF-MADE MAN) -- tend toward the twisted, horrific, and frequently erotic. I still have a definite interest in this sort of thing, but my writing doesn't reflect it as much these days. My recent books -- THE VALUE OF X, THE DEVIL YOU KNOW, LIQUOR, PRIME, and the forthcoming SOUL KITCHEN -- all have to do (in varying degrees) with a couple of young New Orleans chefs named Rickey and G-man, their families, and their restaurant, Liquor. I've been married to a chef for 16 years now and he's still bringing me new stories. We lost our home in Hurricane Katrina, but we are back in New Orleans and doing our best to help rebuild the city. I'll note new books, anthology appearances and such here, but to read my day-to-day blog, please visit http://docbrite.livejournal.com/

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Yummy third course to the Liquor series meal! (TVOX was an appetizer), July 25, 2006

By 

Stacey Scott (Angels Camp, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Soul Kitchen: A Novel (Paperback)

Well, I'm a longtime fan of all of Brite's work have been eagerly awaiting Soul Kitchen since I first saw the preorder page here on Amazon. By a fortunate accident, I managed to get my copy of Soul Kitchen several days early (not that I'm complaining), so yay I get to be one of the first to review it here.

First of all, the protagonists Rickey and G-man and are as lovable as ever and it's their sweet, subtle relationship that keeps me going back for more. Brite never fails to deliver with wonderful interaction between them that can go from making me cry to going all warm and fuzzy (multiples times with the same book, in some cases) with these two. Soul Kitchen delivers on that mark.

I also liked the aspect of racism and homophobia and the way that they are viewed from both sides. All of her characters offer diverse insights and the book makes you think about your own stance on certain issues from time to time, or at least it made me think. But don't worry, it's not preachy by any means. The "have gays suffered the same way black have" issue is still one I'm not 100% sure how I feel about. It's new territory for a Brite novel, so congrats on pushing forward rather than backtracking old ground PBZ. =)

The plot was good, the new crooked villain was not quite as interesting as Prime's but not as annoying as Liquor's. I've read before that people think her villains often lack luster, and being a big villain fan I should probably care, but overly intruiging bad guys would most likely take away from the heart of the series, so I'm not complaining.

There was the obligatory "is there going to be any cheating going down" factor that appears throughout the series (when I speak of the series, FYI, I'm including TVOX and the stories in TDYK), which always makes me uneasy. It's good that she can write so convincingly that I actually deeply care whether or not fictional men practice fidelity or not, but still it gets a little tired. I hate it when characters cheat and even the slightest possiblity of it occuring puts me on edge. ><

Though I loved this book and I love the entire Liquor continuity, the reason that I knocked the rating down to a 4 was largely in part to all of the recapping. I understand that a lot of people may be new to the series and reading it out of sequence, but it seems like there's recapping of something that happened in one of the other books (and at least once that I counted that happened in TDYK) at least once per chapter. For the avid Liquor reader, it gets repetitive kinda quickly.

As per the food aspect of the book, I must confess I'm completely ignorant of 90% of ANYTHING having to do with the food mentioned in the series. I kind of feel like a kid watching a grown up movie. I can really love it and enjoy it, but a lot of stuff goes right over my head and I don't "appreciate" it the way that a knowledgable person would. In Soul Kitchen though it talked about a lot of new concepty food and stuff that was really fascinating, and I'm sure anyone would get a kick out of it regardless of prior cuisine experience.

Anyways, on the whole, this book is an excellent addition to the series and I eagerly await D.U.C.K and Dead Shrimp Blues. . . Just with a little less summarizing next time.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rickey abnd G-man, as fine as ever., August 24, 2006

By 

Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Soul Kitchen: A Novel (Paperback)

Poppy Z. Brite, Soul Kitchen (Three Rivers Press, 2006)

The Rickey and G-Man series, now in its third or fourth book (depending on to whom one talks; there has been debate for what seems like ages about whether The Value of X can be soncidered the first book in the series or not), continues on apace, and as fine as it's ever been. Liquor has now been a going concern for three years, and is still on top of the world, despite what seem to be neverending problems, both personal and professional, for the pair (Rickey more so than G-Man, natch). This time, the problems start when Milford Goodman, an ex-con framed for the murder of his last employer, comes in looking for a job. Rickey remembers him as a brilliant chef, and hires him-- much to the chagrin of a number of prominent townsfolk. When one of Rickey's regulars approaches him with the idea of consulting for a restaurant the regular is planning on opening on a floating casino, Rickey nominates Milford as the head chef. All well and good, until they find out one of the place's silent partners is connected to Milford's last employer's death.

None of the above is a spoiler, by the way, though it takes you about halfway through the novel; it's no more than you'll find out reading the back cover copy. Brite has once again given us a fun plot, some wonderful new characters, subplots to complicate things, and a smash-bang climax that will have you alternately laughing and cowering, but what she really has offered us in this series, what really makes it worth reading, is a stable of complex, well-drawn characters going about their daily business (what Maureen Corrigan calls a "work novel," at least in part). And that daily business is very, very interesting. If you like food-- and who doesn't?-- you're going to get a kick out of these books. Brite's descriptions of the food itself are little short of orgasmic, and you may even find yourself wanting to try stuff you never thought you'd like. (With me, it was the foie gras-stuffed burger from Prime.) When you combine food writing this good with characters this real, you can't not have a winner on your hands. ****

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heart, Soul and a Whole Lot More, July 25, 2006

By 

B. Vanderwel "Vaj" (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Soul Kitchen: A Novel (Paperback)

The LIQUOR books continue and SOUL KITCHEN is a truly fine edition to the series. I completely admit to being hooked on the lives of Rickey and G-man due to the hard-won way their author, Poppy Z. Brite, brings them to life. There is a low-country, unhurried and vernacular-perfect yet completely contemporary elegance to her prose that only comes from intense hard work and much agonizing over each sentence. While many authors are content to distractedly bang out serial novels once an acceptable groove has been found, Brite is one of the rare ones that really believes her creations deserve no less than the best. The attention to detail and the fact her characters live on in my head long after I close the cover means, at least to this reader, that she's one of the rare ones who truly can write about anything she darn well pleases and that will certainly please anyone that appreciates a good read.

In SOUL KITCHEN, I was pleased and proud to find that Rickey and G-man have not only had further adventures in the delightfully well-told restaurant world but also have grown emotionally. They've changed in that way many real people wish they could, by facing personal and professional challenges head-on and rising to them, if not rising over them. There are recaps of some of the events in earlier books and I find them to be like looking at favorite pictures again. They help to tie the lives of the characters together in a way that some other authors burden the reader with doing. By including relevant reminders of which chef's knives are on the mantelpieces (so to speak,) it helps to know where things might go in SOUL KITCHEN.

And as wonderfully usual in this series, the details of the restaurant world and the food in and around it are very well done, especially since they describe one of the most unusually diverse eating cities known to exist.

Brite likely wrote most of this book before the devastation of Hurricane Katrina hit her hometown of New Orleans. It is tempting to link the strength of her characters to her own internal strength and note, in one particular way, that the rest of this series is likely to be even better than the current installment. Especially as it will most likely force Rickey and G-man to deal with a major natural and national disaster, one of the most emotionally demanding things anyone can face on or off the page.