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Feb 08, 2008

Denise rated it:

Reichl served as the New York Times food critic from 1993 to 1999, and this book is about her years as "The New York Times Food Critic" -- but it's also about her struggle to evade the identity of The New York Times Food Critic (tm) and get people an honest, egalitarian review of what, exactly, they're going to get out of their meal.

I vaguely remember bits and pieces of the controversy when Reichl took over the reins, but this book really blew the whole thing open. The proble More...

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Jun 21, 2007

Sierra rated it:

We're all nosy gossips at heart. This snappy account of Ruth Reichl's six years as The New York Times restaurant critic won't disappoint those looking for an insider's view of reviewing. Most of the book takes place in various swanky restaurants, but Reichl selects her most creative reviews and rarely wanders into Snobdom. After Reichl was pegged as the new critic for the Times on her flight to New York by the woman sitting next to her, she decided she would be needing some disguises. She create More...

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Jul 23, 2008

Amy rated it:

My favorite of Ruth Reichl's food memoirs. In this one she takes the job as restaurant critic for the New York Times. To avoid being recognized she creates disguises to use when she dines out. It is interesting to hear how people react to her as an old homely looking lady and then as herself when she visits the same restaurant again. I loved it and hope that she writes a new book in the future.

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Dec 17, 2009

Heather rated it:

I'd never read her Times reviews, so this was my first time experiencing any of her writing. I looked forward to my subway rides while I was reading this, and I found myself almost blushing while reading some of her more Porn-ish reviews of food. I loved every bit of the food critic/ dressing up in disguise/ new york times culture stuff, but could have done without much of the personal crap about discovering herself through her characters and what a good mom she is. I'm sure she is a good mom More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 27, 2010

Kid rated it:

Perhaps in the stultifying context of NYT, food critics and privilege Reichl comes as a breath of fresh air . . .what she lacks is class. By class I mean the good grace to have actual humility - not the self-satisfied aww-shucks persona that feigns humility and self-doubt, but the real thing wherein you realize that you don't know shit and you're lucky to be celebrated in any context. Reichl takes pot shots at everyone and everything. . .people (editors, chefs, other diners, etc) emerge as caric More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Aug 15, 2011

Judy rated it:

Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise whetted my appetite to read more food memoirs. This book charmed me from the get-go. Whether Ruth Reichl donned the costume of aggressive Emily, beatnik Brenda, sexy Chloe, her mother or invisible Betty Jones, her accounting of her stint as food critic of the New York Times sizzled. Lest anyone think this is a cream puff of a book, it isn't. Reichl candidly discussed how she deceived herself about her reasons for becoming a food criti More...

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

May 08, 2008

Tony rated it:

Ruth Reichl is a good writer. She's a good critic. She's apparently a good chameleon, as well. GARLIC AND SAPPHIRES, Reichl's memoir of her time as the restaurant critic at the NY Times, is an enjoyable read, for the most part, that tells more than just the travails of a food critic. Reichl delivers some interesting "inner monologues" on the nature of self, and the several potential personalities that dwell within all of us. She also serves up a smattering of recipes, and several More...

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Feb 12, 2008

Sarah rated it:

Living in Manhattan is incredibly expensive, but eating well in Manhattan isn't. That's the one thing I learned when I lived there in 1998.

When Reichl came to the New York Times as restaurant critic in the nineties, however, the paper was not known for reviewing the incredibly delicious (and incredibly affordable) ethnic restaurants that are thick upon the ground. For the Times, a four star restaurant was inevitably French, inevitably required reservations, and inevitably granted you More...

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Dec 21, 2007

Katie rated it:

This is the third installment that Ruth Reichl shares about her life. This book follows her as she becomes the NY Times restaurant critic.

While flying to NY to start the job she realizes that she's going to be recognized and must come up with a plan to eat out and not be treated as the NY Times restaurant critic. So she comes up with the fabulous idea of transforming herself into different people. She enlists help from her mother's friend and "becomes" her characters. She fin More...

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Sep 30, 2007

Gabe rated it:

Some books can be measured by how much emotion they draw out of you. They draw you into the world of the main character and you are enthralled to learn that people can live in such interesting ways. On this emotion-rendering scale, Garlic and Sapphires is as successful as a Yankees and Red Sox game, but creating a completely different ambiance and mood more akin to that of a deeply personal meditation.

The book is a memoir of Ruth Reichl's time as the restaurant critic at the New Yo More...

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Sep 08, 2008

Kristin rated it:

I've been working my way through an HP Lovecraft book and needed something a bit different. I finished this in a day.

Premice of the book is Ruth accepts a job with the NY Times as a restaurant critic. Her and her family leave LA and head back to her hometown. However, unlike LA, the restaurant scene in NY is on the watch for her and she discovers she must go out in disguse when reviewing and rating a restaurant. We follow Ruth as she invents Chloe, Brenda, Molly and others. I More...

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Jan 14, 2008

Joanne rated it:

I've enjoyed Reichl's other two memoirs, too. She writes smoothly and entertainingly about the food scene, this time about her stint as the _New York Times_ restaurant critic. While I do not care about food as much as she does -- she can rhapsodize about the texture of a mushroom for whole sentences -- it was interesting to read about the disguises she used to avoid being recognized, and about how those disguises revealed or changed her own personality. Plus it allows a peek at a world I kno More...

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Sep 07, 2008

Summer rated it:

I really went back and forth on the rating for this. I like Ruth Reichl, I like what she's done with Gourmet, I like her non-elitist attitude, I like her food writing, and by all accounts, she's a genuinely nice person. But while she has a golden tongue for tasting, she has a wooden ear for dialogue. While her adventures in disguise have been confirmed by outside sources, they seem impossible to believe because her characterization is so wooden and awful. Heck, I almost questioned whether she ac More...

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Dec 16, 2009

Jessica rated it:

Ruth reflects on her experience as the food critic for the New York Times. She has to disguise herself in order to get the "true" experience of the restaraunt, because as herself, she gets defferential treatment. As she takes on various personas, she learns more about herself than she would ever care to know! Whether it be her own mother, Brenda the hippie, or Emily the snivling accountant who only sees the worst in everyone, this memoir is as much a discovery of Ruth as it is of the More...

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Jul 25, 2008

Katie rated it:

I really liked this book. Reichl's style is clever. I started my career in NYC around the same time she became the Times critic, so I couldn't help chuckling at her early descriptions of the city, its people and neighborhoods.

I really loved the lessons she learned as she became the different characters who visited the restaurants.

Clever and witty. I don't usually love memoirs, but this one is a winner in my book.

Recommend for foodies for sure, since her desc More...

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Feb 13, 2009

Kathryn rated it:

it's an entertaining read for sure - i really enjoyed her descriptions of food, and her observations of restaurants and surroundings - she has a definite gift for writing. and the whole concept of her book is interesting and thoughtful, and prescient.

however, i couldn't shake the feeling as i read the book that she is overall annoying and a big debbie downer. although her premise coming in as a food critic at the NYT is that taste is subjective, she comes across as strongly opinio More...

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Jan 26, 2009

Jeremy rated it:

Ruth Reichl is the editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine and the former restaurant critic of the New York Times. In this book she covers the period of her life that she was hired at the New York Times and eventually quit to work for Gourmet.

I'm fascinated by the restaurant industry. Of course I'm living in Syracuse Utah, so I'm not actually experiencing fine dining on a daily basis, but still I'm amazed by the dishes a good chef can create. The process of coming up with these dishes More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 29, 2008

Lightreads rated it:

A book I shouldn't have liked, but actually did. The deeply, deeply, I cannot stress this enough deeply fake fictionalized memoir of the former New York Times food critic, who found it necessary to dress up as various people in order to visit fancy restaurants unrecognized. I should have been put off by the whole story. I mean, I'm sure the encounters have some vague linkage with reality somewhere back there, right? And I should have been put off by the rather shallow treatment of the interestin More...

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Jan 10, 2012

Carly rated it:

The plot: Former NYT food critic Ruth Reichl's personal narrative about assuming the coveted position and her struggle to remain anonymous, fair, and true to herself. In her attempts to do so, Reichl begins taking acting lessons and purchasing elaborate disguises to portray the role of different diners at various restaurants to see how her treatment differs. While the differing treatment is hardly surprising, Reichl begins to lose herself in each character in hopes of understanding the various r More...

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Jan 01, 2012

Betsy rated it:

http://betsyda.com/randomdewey/2011/12/02/garlic-and-sapphires/.
Ruth Reichl was the New York Times restaurant critic for the New York Times from 1993 to 1999. To keep from getting preferential treatment from the restaurants she reviewed, she wore elaborate disguises and created personas to match. The experience was enlightening. This is the story of those years.

Her first persona, “Molly Hollis,” former high school English teacher, ended up neglected and treated rudely at a smal More...

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Nov 19, 2011

Christine rated it:

I don't know why I was so hesitant to read this. Her " Tender at the Bone" is one of my favorite books ever. I just thought " hmm a book about her restaurant critic days just doesn't sound that interesting." I was so wrong. Here's the thing, "Tender at the Bone" was the first book I read that had personal stories mixed with recipes. I loved her honesty, I loved her humor and I loved her recipes. I read that book before I started writing personal essays and I th More...

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Oct 07, 2011

Lu rated it:

I had high hopes for this book. How wonderful to escape into a novel and peek inside the life of the NYT restaurant critic! And it was wonderful for about the first hundres pages. After that, the story got repetative. Dress up in costume, review a restaurant. Repeat. I was thinking about it and what the book is missing is a problem or crisis that has to be overcome. Ruth tried to portray the problem of 'oh! I just realized that what I do for a living is shallow'...and then she'd go on to keep re More...

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Aug 09, 2011

Lisa rated it:

Follows Reichl's transition from main food critic at the LA Times to the equivalent post at the NY Times - although in NYC, the NYT food critic is a much bigger deal, which she discovers on a flight to New York, when she is sandbagged by her seatmate, a server at a major NY restaurant. The "Reichl watch" by restaurant staff across the city means she has to develop elaborate disguises in order to be able to try a dining establishment without immediately being identified and given the s More...

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Jun 18, 2011

Britni rated it:

Have you ever wanted to get into the mind of a restaurant critic? Or a spy? I don't think it would be on the top of my priority list, but my DC book club picked this book for January's book. The book is written by Ruth Riechl, a New York Times' restaurant critic for six years. The book is about her experience as an undercover restaurant critic.

When Ruth got on a plane to move to New York she was immediately recognized by a woman that worked in the restaurant industry. Every restaurant More...

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Jun 10, 2011

Calvin rated it:

I believe this book actually contributed to my leadership qualities rather than just filling my reading appetite. (See what I did there?! Appetite? Book about food critic?!) As Ruth Reichl stated in the book in page 192, "Pandas at play is pleasant. But don't you ever do anything original?" I took this as go beyond the limit and expectations of others. Serving pandas is already outrageous and "out of the box". It's not normal to find pandas and peacocks being served at a tabl More...

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Jun 06, 2011

Jennifer rated it:

Brief Description: Ruth Reichl became the restaurant critic for the New York Times in 1993, and this book is an account of her tenure there. Combining her personal account of the job (including the elaborate disguises she created to avoid detection), reprints of some of her reviews, and several of her own recipes for the various dishes and foods discussed in the book, this memoir is a must-have for foodies as well as an interesting read for non-foodies (like myself).

My Thoughts: The on More...

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Jan 05, 2011

Kerstin rated it:

A comic tour through the epicurean world of New York CIty. It makes me hungry just thinking about it. I suddenly want to tour big cities and do nothing but eat in fancy restaurants all day long (except for the nasty ones Ruth describes.) Ruth Reichl's writing is witty and charismatic. The book is a fun, quick read. It kept me entertained. I enjoyed it much more than "Not Becoming My Mother." I'm looking forward to reading "Tender At The Bone" at some point in the future.
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Sep 28, 2010

Jane rated it:

This is nonfiction that is fun, entertaining, educational and enlightening. It shows people judging a book by its cover.

During the 1990s, Ruth Reichel was the restaurant critic for the New York Times. When she began the job, she realized that a majority of the restaurants she would be reviewing knew what she looked like and were on the lookout for her. Therefore, she created a number of disguises for herself using clothing, wigs, and makeup. I highly recommend this book for an en More...

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Aug 12, 2010

Jennifer rated it:

This is not a book I would EVER have picked myself. But when the bookstore employee who helped me find the books I had come in for recommended it, I said "What the heck." I had no idea who Reichel was before he recommended the book. I have never read a restaurant critique -- NY Times or otherwise. I am not a "foodie." I don't know what chefs have which restaurants, nor do I care. I think the value of a restaurant is inversely proportional to its price and hype. But I really More...

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Aug 02, 2010

Melissa rated it:

I liked this book more than I thought I would. I am not a memoir person at all, but it did keep me interested. However, the problem I had with the book was the main character/author herself. For some reason, she drove me nuts! Maybe it was within the first couple pages as she complained about only making $82,000 (in 1990's dollars) to write about free fancy meals. In those same pages she talks about the all the reasons she does not want the job at the NY Times. Even though she sabotages her in More...

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