Customer Reviews

Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I picked up a bargain copy of this at a bookstore and was glad I hadn't paid full price for it. The topic is interesting to me as I love eating at fine-dining restaurants, but this book was not a worthwhile exploration of that topic. I was hoping for the kind of insider scoop on restaurant operations you get from, say, Anthony Bourdain's books. Instead, this is all about how you, the lowly restaurant-going peasant, should suck up to hosts, waiters and chefs because what they do is soooo cool and you are soooo not worthy of their time and effort. I kept thinking of the term "scenester" when I read this - someone who is so interested in getting into the "hot" place du jour that they'll do anything short of humiliating themselves to get inside. The whole tone of the book is fawning towards chefs and restaurant owners/personnel and there's not really a lot of "insider" information here that you couldn't figure out for yourself. And the book is overcomplimentary towards restaurant people in the extreme. Shaw's book makes it seem like if a restaurant treats a customer poorly, it's obviously the customer's fault because fine restaurants run by celebrated chefs are pinnacles of perfection and couldn't possibly do anything wrong. It seemed to me like Shaw mainly wrote this book to give props to his chef friends and get accolades from people in the business for writing a book that made them look so good, and therefore get nsider access to even more chefs/restaurateurs (and free gourmet meals, of course). I don't think there was an honest intention here to give any kind of real "inside" story.

I agree with the reviewer who said this book is a lot like the discourse you'll find on eGullet, pretentious and self-righteously obsessed with details the average person could care less about. I couldn't even finish reading this. Another book for the charity pile, although frankly I feel bad about inflicting this on anyone else.

There were aspects of the book that I enjoyed- the writer has a great knowledge of the food and restaurant industry. Some of his tales were interesting-

The reading was really bogged down for me by the writer's almost "groupie" sense of being impressed that he can hang with great chefs. It seemed almost jouvenile to me-

He definitely takes the side of the industry and looks at customers with a good amount of disdain. To me it was hard to get through the book because the guy kept referring to his own relationships with people in the industry-

Also, he thinks that critics should not be anonymous- that to me is ridiculous in its own- how can you write an honest review of a establishment, if you were out eating salami sandwiches with the chef earlier that afternoon-

In my opinion the writer really gets off on rubbing elbows with restaurant elite-

Because he kept getting bogged down with being impressedm with himself, getting reservations at tough restaurants, etc., a lot of the material was hard to get through.

He also seems jealous of real writers and has to take a lot of shots at them-

Next time I see his name on a book cover- I'll skip it.

What a huge disappointment. Shaw provides some brief insight into to evolution of fusion cuisine, the benefits of becoming a "regular" and the decline of the french restaurant in America. Beyond that - it's self aggrandizing drivel. Give me a break. In an ironic twist, this volume of meaningless blathering reinforces Shaw's own suggestion that the restaurant reviewer's role in the dining equation is overrated.

About: Shaw, the founder of eGullet, discuses various aspects of the restaurant industry. He Visits and works in restaurants, their kitchens, and even goes to help select ingredients as well as conducts interviews and shares meals with chefs and other staff members. He provides a behind-the-scenes look at how restaurants (from the best to the not-so-great) are created, run and the food prepared. Food sources, restaurant reviews and reviewers as well as how to eat and order at a sushi bar are also covered.

Pros: There are a few good tips here about food (ahi is not a type of tuna at all, but bluefun tuna is more desirable than yellowfin) and restaurants (want primo treatment? Become a regular). Additional resources section is nice. There is a bibiliography, but there are no citations.

Cons. The bulk of the book reads like a namedropping lovefest of folks only foodies will have heard of. Shaw seems to enjoy letting everyone know who he knows and where has has eaten. He is very opinionated and shamelessly promotes himself and eGullet. The section on the internet and food blogging attempts to be written in a "you must have never heard of these things before" tone, but ends up coming off as patronizing. Even though he is a restaurant reviewer, he appears to have disdain for them, and judging from his fawning over them, Shaw is really just a wannabe chef.

The author writes with a dissonant combination of pomposity and indiscriminate praise, like an overconfident, star-struck teenager. In lieu of the investigative, eye-opening look at resturants his book's title implies, Shaw offers self-promotion and uncritical opinion, which he presents as fact in regular, two- to five-page lectures worthy only of a soapbox on a deserted street. Turning the Tables is 200 pages of pure agony. Avoid it at all costs.

First up: I've never met Steven Shaw (except in egullet message threads), but I'm friends with his egullet co-founder. I don't think those two degrees of separation present a conflict of interest, but at least you know about it up front.

Actually, I began the book with some trepidation. Initially, it seemed that most of Shaw's discussion was about "fine dining," especially the sort of restaurants that absolutely require a reservation. And while I love those sort of places, I can't afford them very often. Certainly not often enough to wish for VIP status when I do go. So how useful could his advice be?

However, I like a lot of things about this book. One of them is that Shaw -- challenged to write better restaurant reviews *after* knowing what happens in the kitchen -- really spent a week at a time working for some well-known restaurants, and explains what the experience is like. (If you ever thought romantically about opening your own brasserie, that alone will probably talk you out of it. If that doesn't do it, his chapter about the finances of the restaurant business will teach you just how difficult it is.)

Even better, he follows the food chain to the sources -- going to the Fulton Fish Market at 2am to see how fish is purchased, to the Union Square green market with Modesto to learn how they choose herbs and vegetables, to the veal suppliers and the clam farmers(!). He writes very well about each excursion ("Mosner pulls a hunk of flesh out of the leg and hold it up like the triumphant father in _The Lion King_, while I marvel at his ability to be so upbeat at seven in the morning"), and discusses the challenges that each segment of the industry faces. He's opinionated, yes, but it's clear why he holds that, and he's equally clear about the reasons someone else may feel differently. I like that sort of stuff.

This isn't a great book in the way that Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential was; Bourdain succeeded because he told us about a lot of things we didn't know, and he did it with Attitude. Shaw does nearly as well because he folds the curtain back... just a little further back... while he shares his experiences with us vicariously. Shaw does love food, and he loves the people who love food; that enthusiasm shows.

VERY enjoyable book. I recommend it.

Many parts of the book were well written, but if you are interested in reading about securing "that ever-coveted reservation", skip this book. Shaw did not offer anything that I have not gathered from my own experience. There were pages and pages of Shaw lecturing the reader about the obvious importance of timely confirming a reservation & what a disadvantage it would be *for the restaurant. However lacking his stereotypical insights into people were, I would consider reading his future projects because of his writing style.

Early on and ever so earnestly Shaw likens the process of choosing a sushi chef to choosing a psychoanalyst. If you are convinced that finding the right person to slice your fish is every bit as important as selecting a specialist to help cut through your neuroses, then this book is for you -- and you must be fortunate to have nothing more dire to angst over than the shape and thickness of your morsel of toro. It is impossible to overstate the gravity that attaches to each piece of Shaw's advice to restaurant consumers; in his guide to how to how make friends and win influence with your carefully seleted sushi chef, he leads you by the hand through each step of the ordering process -- first "make eye contact"; then: "try to say with your eyes 'very serious sushi customer coming your way'"; next "order two pieces of sashimi...do not place the rest of your order, just get those pieces...reflect deeply as you chew...if you did like it, this is time for a knowing smile...[then onward] announce 'Now, sushi!" and on and on goes paragraph after paragraph as though writing the liturgy for the most solemn of occasions. There's a 37-page chapter on how to fawn all over the minion who answers the restaurant's phone-- "call every day and become the reservationist's best friend. Talk to the reservationist as if he or she was God."
You get the idea. To Shaw, fine dining is a religious experience, and this book gives nothing less than talmudic fealty in its devotion to prestigious eating establisments. It had me nauseous in no time.

The first half of this book is reasonably interesting and insightful if dining out is your thing - which I do regularly all over the US and internationally - but the last half is thin on subject matter and insight.

Decent book, but i was expecting something else. it is basically a food critics version out what goes on in a restaurant. He gives tips on how to get reservations and a little insight to the mentality of the employees. i thought it was going to be more about the industry from the inside from an insider, not one pretending to be. worth reading for entertainment. He writes well so it's a quick read.