Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out

By Steven A. Shaw

Book Overview

Go behind the swinging doors of the restaurant world with eGullet's irreverent Fat Guy. Have you ever wondered how that flawless piece of fish or that rare farmstead cheese reached your plate? Or how to read between the lines of a restaurant review? Or why some restaurants succeed while others fail? Steven A. Shaw has the answers -- and he offers them up with style and humor. More than a how-to guide, Turning the Tables is an exploration and a celebration of the incredibly intricate workings of professional kitchens and dining rooms. No snooty critic, Shaw has crisscrossed North America in search of insider knowledge at every level, from temples of haute cuisine to barbecue joints and hot dog stands. He has gone undercover in kitchens and dining rooms, trailed top restaurateurs and suppliers, and has the burns, girth, and aching feet to prove it. In Turning the Tables, Shaw weaves an intriguing tapestry of journalism and opinion to deliver an unprecedented look at every aspect of the world of restaurants. His infectious enthusiasm and penetrating observations make Turning the Tables a joy to read. It is a paean to the cooks, servers, farmers, and restaurateurs who sustain us, and an unrivaled examination of a world that remains hidden to most.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060737808
• ISBN13: 9780060737801
• Release Date: August 2005
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.9" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A delicious read

Wonderfully written, witty and packed with practical information, this little book gave me a big dose of reading pleasure. Some of the negative reviews here seem irony-impaired to me. If you love restaurants--from smallest bistros to grandest gourmet temples-- I think you'll love Shaw's insights and advice.

Not only what goes on behind the scenes, but how consumers can make the most of it

Plenty of books discuss how to start a restaurant, or how to invest in one - but too few go behind the swinging doors to explore how famous restaurants run behind the scenes. Enter Turning The Tables: Restaurants From The Inside Out, which takes eaters behind the scenes into top restaurant kitchens. Author Steven Shaw is not a restaurant critic; he loves food and stands in awe of the restaurant industry: his survey reveals not only what goes on behind the scenes, but how consumers can make the most of it by getting the best treatment and understanding critic reviews.

A Five-Star Restaurant Book

Steven Shaw's Turning the Tables is superb--beautifully written, immensely informative, and often very funny. Particularly interesting to me are his profiles of people in the restaurant business. They are remarkable human beings, and Shaw's appreciations of them make his book all the more special. This is THE book to read for anyone who wants to know what's what about the restaurant business and how to make the most of fine dining, whether it is haute cuisine one wants or haute hot dogs.

A Guide to Eating in a Restaurant

This is the manual on being a restaurant customer. That is it includes: getting a reservation at an impossible place. (I did just exactly what he said at a place that was telling me no and it worked.) the rights and obligations of becoming a VIP at a restaurant absolutely positively convincing me that I never want to work in a restaurant - they work hard. Mr. Shaw is hooked on restaurants. He goes to them a lot. He writes about them. He has even worked at some to see how they do things. He has gone up-stream so to speak to talk with suppliers to restaurants including farmers and fish brokers. He has researched how the major restaurant ratings companies compile their research into the books they publish and how these ratings might be inaccurate because of their approach. This is not a cookbook. It is not a travelogue. It is instead a nice little story of visiting restaurants around the United States (but mostly around New York City). It's a good guide to eating out.

THE BEST GUIDE TO DINING OUT THERE IS!

This is the complete insider's guide to how to eat out, especially in big cities. Forget Zagat's, Citysearch and DailyCandy; they can tell you WHERE to go, but they can't tell you HOW TO GET IN, or all of the juicy details about what goes on behind the scenes. You'll feel like a pro after you've read this, and you'll have the confidence to stroll up to any hostess (even at Per Se or French Laundry) and ask very gently for a table, sans reservation. I tried it at Perry Street in the West Village as soon as I read this, and Shaw's tips WORK!