291 pages
For anyone who has ever worked in the restaurant business, sometimes reading or watching shows about people who work in kitchens can feel a little too close to home. It can be like working an extra shift for the week. Normally, I shy away from these types of memoirs because of this, (most definitely away from Hell's Kitchen or the like) but Gabrielle Hamilton does a fantastic job here. The road for Hamilton begins in her childhood, in the kitchen of her mother- and then moves towards owning her own restaurant in New York many years later. Her descriptions of the often soul sucking environment of kitchens both near and far are honest, as well as the joy one can also find in these places. I found myself both rooting for her, laughing, and even disliking her in some parts- especially when she talks about cooks who burn themselves just not being careful enough. Her descriptions of the food are by far some of my favorite parts as the flavors shift with the rhythms of her life. Riveting, in a take no prisoners kind of way, which is how you have to be if you want to survive as a chef.
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