The Most Spectacular Restaurant in the World: The Twin Towers, Windows on the World, and the Rebirth of New York

by Tom Roston

Baum liked to think of customers in the same way a chef might cook rabbit stew. When it came to making the dish, the recipe was fairly simple. But first you had to catch the rabbit.

The origins of Truite au bleu date back to the nineteenth century, in the Alsace region of France and the nearby mountain villages in Switzerland.

What scored well was pelmeni, a Russian meat dumpling simmering in broth, served with sour cream and dill; cioppino, an Italian, tomato-based seafood stew; striped bass grilled over fennel; Greek lamb ragout with sorrel; and a paillard of grilled veal.

He liked to say that when you worked in hospitality, you worked three jobs: the one you have, training the person who’d be replacing you, and learning the one you wanted to move up to.

When asked how many lives had been lost, he declined to speculate. “The number of casualties,” he said, “will be more than any of us can bear.”