The line-drawn illustrations complement the prose in a book that will help diners appreciate the whole restaurant experience.
An incisively written and elegantly designed volume that presents a corrective, or at least a counterargument, to the ascent of the celebrity chef.
As a former restaurateur and now as the well-respected dining critic for Britain’s Financial Times, Lander is uniquely qualified to illuminate the business of running a world-class restaurant. He offers a perspective on the relationship between successful restaurateurs and the chefs they employ that challenges the supremacy of the latter. In what he calls “a golden era for restaurants,” he maintains that chefs “have been elevated to an overly lofty position” and that “while chefs may use plates for their art, restaurateurs’ imaginations work on much bigger canvases.” Yet the relationship is symbiotic, even with occasional creative tension, and the book doesn’t devalue the former so much as elevate the latter. Where the chef rules the kitchen, the owner must attend to every last detail of the experience, from the location, setting and design to the atmosphere, hospitality and staff morale, to the dealings with suppliers and landlords, and, ultimately, the bottom line. Lander includes 20 profiles of leading restaurateurs around the globe, including Danny Meyer, “New York’s—and possibly the world’s—most respected restaurateur," and they read more like inspirational vignettes than bios or how-to pieces. Each is accompanied by a sidebar, a shorter piece illuminating some facet of the restaurant life. Most readers won’t have eaten in most of these restaurants, or perhaps even heard of many, but the writing reinforces the restorative value of the fine dining experience as being more than a meal. As for the occasionally prickly relationship between the owners and chefs they employ, one of the former describes his role as mentoring, while another explains, “If we do our job well, when a chef comes along and says…it’s time to move on, then we’re delighted. It means that there’ll be another good place to have lunch in.”
The line-drawn illustrations complement the prose in a book that will help diners appreciate the whole restaurant experience.Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7148-6469-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Phaidon
Review Posted Online: April 10, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2013
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.
“Quality of life means more than just consumption”: Two MIT economists urge that a smarter, more politically aware economics be brought to bear on social issues.
It’s no secret, write Banerjee and Duflo (co-authors: Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way To Fight Global Poverty, 2011), that “we seem to have fallen on hard times.” Immigration, trade, inequality, and taxation problems present themselves daily, and they seem to be intractable. Economics can be put to use in figuring out these big-issue questions. Data can be adduced, for example, to answer the question of whether immigration tends to suppress wages. The answer: “There is no evidence low-skilled migration to rich countries drives wage and employment down for the natives.” In fact, it opens up opportunities for those natives by freeing them to look for better work. The problem becomes thornier when it comes to the matter of free trade; as the authors observe, “left-behind people live in left-behind places,” which explains why regional poverty descended on Appalachia when so many manufacturing jobs left for China in the age of globalism, leaving behind not just left-behind people but also people ripe for exploitation by nationalist politicians. The authors add, interestingly, that the same thing occurred in parts of Germany, Spain, and Norway that fell victim to the “China shock.” In what they call a “slightly technical aside,” they build a case for addressing trade issues not with trade wars but with consumption taxes: “It makes no sense to ask agricultural workers to lose their jobs just so steelworkers can keep theirs, which is what tariffs accomplish.” Policymakers might want to consider such counsel, especially when it is coupled with the observation that free trade benefits workers in poor countries but punishes workers in rich ones.
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-61039-950-0
Page Count: 432
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
Career and business advice for the hashtag generation. For all its self-absorption, this book doesn’t offer much reflection...
A Dumpster diver–turned-CEO details her rise to success and her business philosophy.
In this memoir/business book, Amoruso, CEO of the Internet clothing store Nasty Gal, offers advice to young women entrepreneurs who seek an alternative path to fame and fortune. Beginning with a lengthy discussion of her suburban childhood and rebellious teen years, the author describes her experiences living hand to mouth, hitchhiking, shoplifting and dropping out of school. Her life turned around when, bored at work one night, she decided to sell a few pieces of vintage clothing on eBay. Fast-forward seven years, and Amoruso was running a $100 million company with 350 employees. While her success is admirable, most of her advice is based on her own limited experiences and includes such hackneyed lines as, “When you accept yourself, it’s surprising how much other people will accept you, too.” At more than 200 pages, the book is overlong, and much of what the author discusses could be summarized in a few tweets. In fact, much of it probably has been: One of the most interesting sections in the book is her description of how she uses social media. Amoruso has a spiritual side, as well, and she describes her belief in “chaos magic” and “sigils,” a kind of wishful-thinking exercise involving abstract words. The book also includes sidebars featuring guest “girlbosses” (bloggers, Internet entrepreneurs) who share equally clichéd suggestions for business success. Some of the guidance Amoruso offers for interviews (don’t dress like you’re going to a nightclub), getting fired (don’t call anyone names) and finding your fashion style (be careful which trends you follow) will be helpful to her readers, including the sage advice, “You’re not special.”
Career and business advice for the hashtag generation. For all its self-absorption, this book doesn’t offer much reflection or insight.Pub Date: May 6, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-16927-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Portfolio
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
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