Basic HTML Version
Literarea by Kevin Kizer
42
thePeorian.com
From Cocktails to Dessert
Books of a culinary nature
By Kevin Kizer
This month in the Literarea,
we’re combining our love for all
things literary and all things cu-
linary and taking a look at books
of a culinary nature: one new,
one old and one classic (all of
which are in print and available).
“Restaurant Man”
By Joe Bastianich
The new book is “Restaurant
Man” by Joe Bastianich. There
are three ways you might know
Joe. First, by his last name: his
mother, Lidia, was one of the
first true star chefs in
America. Second, by the
string of successful Italian
restaurants he opened
with Mario Batali, a star
chef in his own right.
Third, by his role as Gor-
don Ramsey’s chef-kick
and judge on Fox TV’s
MasterChef
.
“Restaurant Man”
charts Bastianich’s rise
in the restaurant world,
starting as a kid working
in his parent’s “blue-
collar, red-sauce joint”
that his father, Felice, ran
pragmatically and with
an eye on the details –
from the cost of food to
how much liquor the staff
was inevitably siphoning
off for their own pur-
poses. In fact, one of Joe’s
important jobs as a youth
was to salt the wine so
the staff wouldn’t get too
drunk between lunch and
dinner services.
Initially, instead of becoming
a restaurant man like his father,
Joe tried his hand in the world of
high finance on Wall Street. But
after just one year, he understood
that his heart was in marinara
and not money. Well, that’s not
entirely true: He makes the point
that to be a successful restau-
rateur you have be about the
money and function as frugally
as possible (Batali is known for
routinely saving vegetable scraps
from the garbage bins and repur-
posing them) while appearing to
be giving and generous. It’s the
way to engender good will both
with customers and the staff.
“Restaurant Man” opens with
the line, “Here’s everything you
need to know to open a restau-
rant,” and Bastianich proceeds
to lay down the insights and the
hard truths he’s learned after
a life in the restaurant busi-
ness. There’s no regaling the
reader with glamorous stories of
culinary celebrity. His writing,
much like chef-author Anthony
Bourdain, is straight forward and
matter of fact no matter the sub-
ject, whether it be food pricing
and the money-sucking
linen costs to the use of
alcohol and drugs, drugs,
drugs.
There’s also the never-
ending battle with dodgy
vendors and landlords,
as well as vindictive food
critics. In fact, this book
stands right up next to
Bourdain’s sleeper hit
“Kitchen Confidential”,
which was published in
2000. Instead of blurbs
from chefs on the book
cover, there are recom-
mendations by some
of the great American
authors of the past 30
years: Jim Harrison,
Jay McInerney and Bret
Easton Ellis. With the
stamp of approval from
those writers, that should
answer any questions as
to whether this book is
worth reading.