Lulu's review
Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter by Phoebe Damrosch
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 used to review these restaurants, and some vignettes of quirky customers.
The subtext of the book concerns the author's relationship with one of the sommeliers. It appeared that she was trying to parallel the development of the relationship with the opening year of Per Se, the Chef Keller restaurant in NYC where she worked as a captain.
There just didn't seem to be enough book written to develop both stories sufficiently for me, but for a light read with some insider tips for fine dining...more
Also of interest are the methodologies used to review these restaurants, and some vignettes of quirky customers.
The subtext of the book concerns the author's relationship with one of the sommeliers. It appeared that she was trying to parallel the development of the relationship with the opening year of Per Se, the Chef Keller restaurant in NYC where she worked as a captain.
There just didn't seem to be enough book written to develop both stories sufficiently for me, but for a light read with some insider tips for fine dining...more
