Book Review: Garlic and Sapphires

Ruth Reichl begins her book Garlic and Sapphires with the story of a flight to New York City just after she first gained the coveted position of restaurant critic at the New York Times. The woman seated next to her on the plane leaned over and intimated, "I know who you are." It seems that the mysterious woman next to her worked at a restaurant and that many of the finer dining establishments in New York had begun circulating pictures of Reichl as soon as it was known that she was to be working at the Times. This, of course, would present a problem. A critic who gets treated differently than every other patron can hardly be a critic of any use to the public. Not to be dissuaded from her duties, Reichl began visiting restaurants not only as herself, but also in disguise.

The book takes us on reviews with her and through the process of deciding what rating to assign. We see her visit as herself, as was the case when she was arrived 20 minutes early for her reservation and was told that the King of Spain was waiting in the bar, but that her table was ready. We see her visit in disguise, resulting in almost completely being ignored at the exact same restaurant that made royalty wait for her. We see her visit restaurants with her superiors who make sure that everyone knows who she is, so that they can receive the lavish treatment for once. After each section, and each new disguise, Reichl inserts one of her reviews for the place she described in the chapter. While it does break up the flow of the narrative somewhat, it also serves to give the reader an idea of what it was like to review the restaurants, not just eat there.

Whether telling the story of becoming jealous of how much her husband and son come to love one of her alter egos or of how one of her alter egos was picked up by a pretentious business man who was offended when she turned out to know more about food than he did, Reichl's book is a delightful read that leaves you hungering not only for the food she describes, but also for amusingly insightful writing she provides.

Until later...