Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter
by Phoebe Damrosch
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Read in April, 2008
Yet another book by a New York author. What is it about New York that makes people write? Someone should bottle New York water and market as a cure for writer’s block! Service Included is a memoir, primarily centered around life working as wait staff at Per Se, Chef Thomas Keller’s New York restaurant. There is some about how she got there, other bits of life … boy friends and New York apartments, but the interesting part to me was how the very highest end restaurants work. It’s a go...more
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Read in March, 2008
What job requires you to memorize nine kinds of salt, know the breeds of cows, AND perfect the art of an 18th-century minuet? Why, being a waiter at a four-star restaurant, of course!
Damrosch's funny memoir chronicles her years spent as a backserver and then captain at Per Se, one of the big-time fancy restaurants in New York City. (Really big-time: it wasn't uncommon for a party to blow through $20,000 at one meal, egads.) She chronicles everything: from dealing with eccentric patrons (s...more
Damrosch's funny memoir chronicles her years spent as a backserver and then captain at Per Se, one of the big-time fancy restaurants in New York City. (Really big-time: it wasn't uncommon for a party to blow through $20,000 at one meal, egads.) She chronicles everything: from dealing with eccentric patrons (s...more
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Read in October, 2007
I *wanted* to like this book. I did. As someone who's worked in various customer service/retail positions, I thought that I would find common ground with the author as she related her experiences working with the most finicky of finicky people ever...those who spend the thousands of dollars necessary to eat at gourmet restaurants like Per Se in the Time Warner center (the same center I work in, though not at Per Se).
Some of the parts of this book were very amusing (my personal favorites were...more
Some of the parts of this book were very amusing (my personal favorites were...more
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Read in November, 2007
Delicious! This is exactly the light, frothy, tidbit-laden nonfiction I enjoy most. I love reading about food, and I love bits and pieces of information. Meanwhile, the greater message found in the narrator's insistence that we CARE about our food, that we eat well, and in full awareness of it's value, reminded me forcefully of Kingsolver's Animal Vegetable Miracle. Of course many of the ingredients she lavishes with attention are not at all local, but she also expounds on the locavore messa...more
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Read in April, 2008
Every time I read from this book, I had to put it down and make something to eat.
The memoirs of a waiter at Thomas Keller's Per Se in New York, Phoebe Damrosch does an admirable job of letting us see into a world that we may experience as a customer, but rarely experience from the other side. I certainly never understood the full extent of preparation that goes into the high end dining experience. I have a greater respect for the professional server and for the cost of the meal since rea...more
The memoirs of a waiter at Thomas Keller's Per Se in New York, Phoebe Damrosch does an admirable job of letting us see into a world that we may experience as a customer, but rarely experience from the other side. I certainly never understood the full extent of preparation that goes into the high end dining experience. I have a greater respect for the professional server and for the cost of the meal since rea...more
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Read in January, 2008
now replacing "addiction memoirs" as my favorite genre: food memoirs. this is a quick read by a foodie who works her way into a career as a waiter per se -- which is eventually named a four-star restaurant. the story follows preparing for per se's opening, to the central conflict -- impressing nyt's recognizable food critic during frank bruni on his six visits. in the meantime, damrosch is negotiating a tricky relationship with a somelier named andre who is still living with his exish ...more
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Read in February, 2008
recommends it for:
anyone who has waited tables or been curious about those who choose to do the waiting
If you have ever waited tables, especially in a fine dining restaurant, you may want to read this book. Phoebe Damrosch was part of the opening crew for Per Se, Thomas Keller's (of The French Laundry) New York city restaurant. The book is populated by her family, who want to know why she is using her extremely expensive education to wait tables for a living, and he co-workers who just want to survive the next shift.
Each chapter ends in a tip. I particularly enjoyed this part. I think I s...more
Each chapter ends in a tip. I particularly enjoyed this part. I think I s...more
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Usually I eat up this sort of foodie porn: fires in the kitchen, romances among the staff, restaurant reviewers disguised in wigs. "Service Included" has all the right ingredients, but in the end--actually, less than half way through--it falls flat. Can't say that I care to know whether Andre the manager finally dumps his on-again-off-again girlfriend for Phoebe (our hero, the table captain at a chic New York restaurant). Whether Phoebe also succeeds at properly placing each and every ...more
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
foodies
More an amuse bouche than an entree..(I picked this up on the heels of having watched three seasons of Bravo's Top Chef in one fell swoop, so my review may be a bit tainted).. It's a quick read and not particularly heavy, but still entertaining. For someone who never worked in the restaurant service industry, it was also an inside look at all of the items necessary to provide a fine dining experience, and how many of these do not directly concern food.
Also of interest are the methodologies...more
Also of interest are the methodologies...more
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Read in April, 2008
I really enjoyed this book. It was fun to enter into the behind the scenes world of the 4-star restaurant. It was even more unique that Phoebe was a waiter when the restaurant opened for the first time, so you really get a start to finish look at what goes into this type of restaurant and what they expect from its waitstaff. Its a completely different world than I'll ever experience and I had fun reading about all the strange food (bone marrow?) and the outrageous lifestyle (someone spent $20...more
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Read in January, 2008
About: Damrosch gets a job as a waiter in the fancy New York City restaurant Per Se. This is her story.
Pros: Gives a nice glimpse into all that wait staff (those in a high-end place, at least) have to think about, deal with and do. A later chapter where Damrosch describes some of her more memorable diners is very amusing. The ongoing thread of the New York Times food critics' visits is just wonderful and the best aspect of the book. The "tips" (i.e. "don't touch your waiter&qu...more
Pros: Gives a nice glimpse into all that wait staff (those in a high-end place, at least) have to think about, deal with and do. A later chapter where Damrosch describes some of her more memorable diners is very amusing. The ongoing thread of the New York Times food critics' visits is just wonderful and the best aspect of the book. The "tips" (i.e. "don't touch your waiter&qu...more
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Read in January, 2008
I was a little embarrassed that I bought this book, thinking it was going to be the food/resaurant equivalent of a Danielle Steel novel. Then I was afraid that the author would be one of those arrogant gourmand weirdos who pepper the New York resaurant landscape, writing with foodier-than-thou largesse. To my great relief, Damrosch turns out to be just a really good waitress who loved her job at Per Se, was totally interested in good food and it's sources, and the psychology of the customer-serv...more
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Read in April, 2008
I believe that this is what women mean when they talk about the relationship "going somewhere." Because if it is not going somewhere, they will be going somewhere -- taking their roast chicken with them, lest they wind up with cankles and National Geographic breasts, the single parents of cats.
way to make the alma mater proud, phoebe damrosch. i suppose barnard gave me the casual misogyny too. i find her voice equally entertaining and irritating, and i guess the fact that i ...more
way to make the alma mater proud, phoebe damrosch. i suppose barnard gave me the casual misogyny too. i find her voice equally entertaining and irritating, and i guess the fact that i ...more
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Read in April, 2007
"This is a story about commitment: to food, service, love perfection, and to being the bacon" - Phoebe Damrosch.
This book was a quick fun read. A nice light read after working in food service/retail and moving. I especially loved the tips for guests that come to the restaurant at the end of each chapter:
“A TIP: If you want to change the majority of the components in a dish, you might consider choosing something else” (182).
Anyone who has every worked as a cook or server...more
This book was a quick fun read. A nice light read after working in food service/retail and moving. I especially loved the tips for guests that come to the restaurant at the end of each chapter:
“A TIP: If you want to change the majority of the components in a dish, you might consider choosing something else” (182).
Anyone who has every worked as a cook or server...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
foodies, people who enjoy reading about celebrity chefs or restaurants
I read this book quickly while I had a cold. I found it fascinating the level of detail and knowledge and training that go into 4 star restaurants. The author is fluctuating between restaurant waiting and beginning a writing career. In a sequence of events that seems almost unbelievable to me, she lands a job as a backserver at an elite restaurant to be opened in NYC. She undergoes about 2 months of training before the restaurant opens, immersing herself in the world, and becoming involved with ...more
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Read in January, 2008
This was painful. And I had such high hopes -- I love waiter blogs and hearing details about restaurants and diners and what not. And this was about Thomas Keller's Per Se in New York! Well, it was supposed to be. But unfortunately, this was about Phoebe Damrosch's love affair with herself - detailing her encounters with the NYT restaurant critic Frank Bruni, in which we come away with the fact that she is in her own words "a diva" and stares too much at him -- not to mention her encou...more
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Read in January, 2008
This book satisfies my diehard foodie side and my interest in what goes on behind the scenes in the restaurant biz. The author details her worklife and experiences at the VERY posh NYC restaurant Per Se. The reader learns lots about the biz from the crabby patrons to the cranky chefs to how the servers are to carry plates to just how a high profile restaurant like Per Se ticks. Several of the restaurant expose books I have read seem to go for the sensational with truly awful stories of what go...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
Foodies and restaurant enthusiasts
A interesting picture of all the effort required to make a highly acclaimed New York restaurant run properly from a waiter's point of view. It certainly makes you look at the dining out experience in a whole new light. I like the commentaries on some of the dining regulars. I also enjoyed the author's thoughts on the value of fine ingredients and food. Who is to say that a pair of cashmere socks, designer handbag, exorbitant concert tickets or a ritzy dining experience are necessary? Then ag...more
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Read in December, 2007
I understand the dynamics of the restaurant business a bit better now and although I probably won't be dining in too many 4 star restaurants, I now know why they charge what they charge for their meals. Service is a very important part of dining out and just like everything else, you get what you pay for. I was distressed to learn that in many restaurants the cooks and chefs make less than the waitstaff because of tips. When I dine out, my food is almost always great--the service not so much. So...more
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Read in June, 2007
recommends it for:
waiters
Phoebe Damrosch has a perfectly pleasant prose style and a fairly charming way with a story. Unfortunately, this book will probably appeal mainly to those (like myself) who have actually waited tables.
Rather than being a front-of-the-house Kitchen Confidential, it comes across more as the usual self-pitying waiters' after-work bitch session, down to the snarky tips for diners that end each chapter. Sure, all of us in the profe...more
Rather than being a front-of-the-house Kitchen Confidential, it comes across more as the usual self-pitying waiters' after-work bitch session, down to the snarky tips for diners that end each chapter. Sure, all of us in the profe...more
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