Appetite City: A Culinary History of New York

by William Grimes

New York is the greatest restaurant city the world has ever seen. In Appetite City , the former New York Times restaurant critic William Grimes leads us on a grand historical tour of New York's dining culture. Beginning with the era when simple chophouses and oyster bars dominated the culinary scene, he charts the city's transformation into the world restaurant capital it is today. Appetite City takes us on a unique and delectable journey, from the days when oysters and turtle were the most popular ingredients in New York cuisine, through the era of the fifty-cent French and Italian table d'hôtes beloved of American "Bohemians," to the birth of Times Square―where food and entertainment formed a partnership that has survived to this day. Enhancing his tale with more than one hundred photographs, rare menus, menu cards, and other curios and illustrations (many never before seen), Grimes vividly describes the dining styles, dishes, and restaurants succeeding one another in an unfolding historical the deluxe ice cream parlors of the 1850s, the boisterous beef-and-beans joints along Newspaper Row in the 1890s, the assembly-line experiment of the Automat, the daring international restaurants of the 1939 World's Fair, and the surging multicultural city of today. By encompassing renowned establishments such as Delmonico's and Le Pavillon as well as the Bowery restaurants where a meal cost a penny, he reveals the ways in which the restaurant scene mirrored the larger forces shaping New York, giving us a deliciously original account of the history of America's greatest city. Rich with incident, anecdote, and unforgettable personalities, Appetite City offers the dedicated food lover or the casual diner an irresistible menu of the city's most savory moments.

Genres: Food, History, New York, Nonfiction, Food Writing, Reference, Food History

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating, densely detailed, history of restaurant culture in New York. It necessarily tells a great deal about changing tastes in the food itself, the experience of various immigrant groups and a lot of neighborhood history, e.g how Longacre Square, locus of Manhattan's horse and carriage trade, became Times Square.

It overlaps a bit with Mark Kurlansky's The Big Oyster and certainly no one telling New York food history can resist including the anecdote on Thackeray and oysters (in its longest variant here http://www.foodreference.com/html/qoy... ).

The tone changes quite a bit in the last chapter which covers the decade up to 2009, much of which the author spent as the NY Times restaurant critic. He transforms from relatively dispassionate historian to significant player in a fairly high stakes scene, one who restaurateurs regard as able to make or break their enterprises.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a freebie. If you are a foodie and love NY this might be of interest to you. I didn't take notes, which I should have since I left my book at work and it's now gone... :(

Anyway...quite an interesting history of the beginning restaurants and lunch places. I did find it fascinating, having never thought of how these places began.

From the days of oysters...lunchrooms, sanitation, fancy and plain type restaurants, how they dealt with liquour and prohibition, waiters and strikes, tea rooms...

I do hope my book shows up so I can finish it!!

[Jen Unsell · Rating 3 out of 5]

“New York is a present-tense city. It lives in the moment, perhaps because the city’s full-blast immediacy engages all the sense simultaneously, squeezing the faculties that allows for reflection on the past and speculation about the future. Like riders on a roller coaster, New Yorkers simply hold on tight. This manic focus afflicts restaurants……” ~ page 309

This is an incredibly detailed account of the history of food in New York. Covering over a century of time and more chefs and restaurants than I will ever be able to remember, it was a slow read for me but one that kept my interest enough to keep the pages turning. In the process of learning about the history of food in the city, I also learned much about New York’s past. While the book is definitely a commitment, I think it is one that serious foodies and lovers of NY will find fascinating.

[Lex]

I could only borrow this from the library for 2 weeks because it was a new book and I couldn't finish it... so I asked for it for Christmas. Definitely put it on your list if you are into a) NYC, b) history, and c) food.

[Carmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Incredibly well researched but a slow read. I always found something interesting but rarely felt compelled to continue reading. Ironic.

[Valerio Pastore · Rating 4 out of 5]

The historical part was better cured. I liked it better, when the author would speak about the NYC of the past, the dining evolution, back when he was not there and had to keep a distance from the scene. But when he arrives at contemporary times, at his own experiences, he becomes partial, he refers mostly to his own experiences -and when he does not, there it comes, the dreaded shopping list of names, new places, new tastes. From smooth narrative to data deluge. Yeah, it doesn't help that we are living in the time of superstar chefs and constant innovation, but it becomes tough to follow any sense of evolution...

[JEFF D EVANS · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delicious look at NYC

This book provides a history of NYC as entertaining as anything I've read. The details and descriptions pique all five senses and Grimes skillfully energizes the larger than life figures that make up this food tour. The final chapter is a bit self indulgent - but that opinion doesn't stop this.review from rating five stars all the way. Dig in!

[Naomi Youngstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well researched but ultimately it felt like a chronological recitation of history with no underlying themes.

[Ellen · Rating 2 out of 5]

What I thought would be an interesting read turned out to be quite dry and easy to put down without picking it back up again

[Evan Suggs]

Wonderful history, but becomes boring when it turns into a guided tour of expensive restaurants and chef hagiography

[alie m · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Very detailed history on the come up of restaurants in New York City. From chophouses to parlors to speakeasies and more

[Ben G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice culinary history containing many social and influential antidotes, but sometimes the story feels choppy. He's better writing about food in the present tense than the past.

[Martin Doudoroff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential read for those interested in the history of dining or the history of NYC

[Daphna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Caveat: I read only to the end of Chapter 8, which goes through the turn of the 20th century.

As the former restaurant critic for the Times, Grimes certainly knows food. He’s at his best when he allows himself to discuss it in detail—as in the paragraph where he explains how turtle soup was made in the 1850s. Yet those moments are relatively few. The book reads like the survey its footnotes reveal it to be: Grimes distills most of his information from other, more specific, books or from newspaper accounts that are, in themselves, distillations, and what he gains in scope he often loses in texture. How, for instance, can Grimes quote only a single line from “Hot Corn,” a mid-nineteenth century “moralizing novel about the miseries and temptations of the city’s most visible street vendors”? While there are some wonderful moments here—I can never grow tired of comparisons of old New York to today's city, such as takeout in 1813 and the lunch rush in the 1850s—the book is, most often, neither comprehensive enough to satiate nor incisive enough to be its own reward. New York history, on the other hand, remains endlessly fascinating, and I am eager to dive deeper into many of the events, trends, and topics Grimes glosses here.

[May Ling]

A really fantastic book about the history of the restaurant business in New York. Aside from making me really hungry, it makes me look at the city's food business in a very different way. The history provided as the reasons for diner and cart culture in NYC was really fantastic. It was an absolute pleasure to learn about how little tea houses came into being. Some of the older names and newer celebrity names are featured throughout making for an interesting tale of the growing landscape of how one "makes it" as a restaurateur.

I particularly loved the description of the German automatic machines. I think I saw a random place on the LES or East Village that still uses this type of vending system. Didn't have time to explore and stop in, but this book has truly inspired me to take a look.

Fascinating for NYer and Non-NYr alike.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

William Grimes is not only an excellent writer, he is a former restaurant/food critic for the New York Times.

This history of restaurants, chefs and dining out in New York City is fascinating. From boarding houses to oyster bars to soup stand to pie stalls, food to buy was certainly available but in no way could it be considered a dining experience. Then came Delmonico's....

From the less than sanitary lunchrooms and stalls to the grand lobster palaces to the French dining invasion, New American and the fresh/local source advocates, Grimes gives it all its place in the eating history of New York City.

There's so much to learn here and it's told in a very engaging, enjoyable way. Every couple of pages I found myself saying, "I didn't know that!"

You don't have to be a New Yorker or New York-o-phile to like this book, but it helps!

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The subject matter was extremely interesting, which got me through the whole book. It was really scattered and seemed to jump randomly. Also, I really didn't trust the scholarship. There was one story about a young woman brought to court by her mother for fear she would become depraved, and the author ended by saying the woman gave in and promised to change her ways. A quick google found that months after "giving in" she reverted. The details of the particular story weren't super important to the arc of the book, but it seemed emblematic of the author not chasing down stories to the end or diving sufficiently deeply into the history to make it a better book.

Alas. Can't recommend it.

[Lauren orso · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hot dog, this book was interesting.

It covers the rise of restaurant culture in New York City from its days as a Dutch colony to present, and leaves nothing out along the way. Each successive decade changed food culture dramatically, from NYC's roots as an oyster shack town, to bizarre turn of the century eating clubs, to the splendor brought by World's Fairs, to destruction of prohibition, to how boring the 70s were...its all there, it's all well researched, and it's all fantastic.

And the best part? Anthony Bourdain is never mentioned.

[Ericka · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a true history (lots of details and little editorializing). I was a bit bored (though I loved learning about the oyster houses and the weirdness of the Russian Tea Room) until the last couple chapters dealing with modern NY restaurants. Only then did my tastebuds, and the corresponding part of the brain, start to tingle.

[Joan Keating · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic history of food in NYC. I learned that I had the good fortunate to eat weekly at Thomas Keller's first restaurant!!!! Rakel on Varick St. where I knew I was in heaven once or twice a week, with my personal waiter Michael bringing me one heavenly dish after another, but had no idea who was in the kitchen. I will read this again and again. What a joy.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meticulous, perceptive and elegantly written. Better, in fact, than many of the establishments Grimes describes deserve and worthy of the best of them.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a fine read but I have no idea why I read it or why it exists

[Elise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting, but not well written.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read for foodies and those interested in the history of NYC.

[Marlies · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love books about NYC history, and food, so it's mostly interesting, but maybe a little too much detail....lots and lots of oysters!

[Gabrielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Light and rather superficial. Interesting trivia, but I didn't finish it.

[Mskarla · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating history of restaurants in NYC.

[Timothy York · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Deeeeeeeelicious read!

[Brian Newman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great look at the history of NY and its restaurants.

[Robert Garcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very brief overview of culinary history, more a collation of sources.