Garlic and Sapphires

I grew up in New York City, home to thousands of wonderful, and not-so-wonderful restaurants, food stores, diners, coffee shops, fast food joints, hot dog stands, and just about any other kind of eatery you can imagine. Luckily, my parents took us with them to eat out starting from an early age, and this continued until I left for college. When I got to college, I learned that we ate out much more often than did others – particularly those growing up in the suburbs. This was back in the 80′s, and even 70′s, so things were a little different then today. I think kids generally eat out much more than they do. But city living seems especially conducive to this, especially in New York, where there are so many wonderful choices.Garlic and Sapphires is Ruth Reichl’s fourth and latest book and it describes her six or so years as the restaurant critic for the New York Times in 1990′s. She had previously worked at the LA Times and as she writes, was more interested in reviewing a wider range of cuisines and price ranges. Up until then, she contends, the reviewers concentrated mainly on the very high-end restaurants like Le Cirque or La Caravel. While this may be the case, I found it a bit odd, since 90% of the places she talks about in the book seem to be expensive to super-expensive.

Reading Garlic and Sapphires wasn’t quite like a trip down memory lane, since so many of the restaurants were the very high-priced ones that we never ate at growing up, or they were simply restaurants that were established after I left the city or that I’d never happen to patronize. The one exception to this was Windows on the World, the restaurant atop the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers. I went a few times back in the 80′s for special occasions, but only for brunch, which I believe was much cheaper than their dinner menu. Also, as Reichl explains, Windows On the World was renovated and received a new chef and emphasis after the first World Trade Center bombing in the early 90′s. So for all practical purposes I ate at a different restaurant.

Despite the fact that I have little chance of eating in most of the establishments described in the book, it was wonderful, as a foodie, to listen to Reichl describe in poetic detail how various foods would melt in her mouth, revealing layers upon layers of different, sometimes subtle, sometimes very blatant flavors. Reichl also gives us many of her own recipes (she was a chef and co-owned a restaurant in Berkeley in the 70′s), some of which sound great. The book is also nice for those simply interested in New York City, as Reichl describes a good deal of it – not just the restaurants – in this book.

But this isn’t just a book about food or restaurants. It’s also one about human nature. Reichl describes at the beginning of the book how she’s spotted by someone who works for a restaurant on one of her first flights to New York when she is preparing to move. She’s told that every restaurant in New York probably has her picture taped inside the kitchen with a reward for spotting her. Because of this, she decides she will enlist the help of an old acting-teacher friend of her mother’s to create new identities. She is given wigs and makeup and different clothing to transform herself into everything from a sexy blond divorcee to a meek, impoverished older lady, to even a replica of her own brash and demanding mother. She uses these disguises to try to understand how others may experience the same meal. And she discovers that, as we expect, that restaurants (especially the high-end ones) do play favorites and discriminate quite liberally in how they provide service to different people, and even whether they will permit someone to patronize their establishment.

Along with exploring how waiters and other diners react to her in her various disguises, she also has revelations about herself. She admits to being able to assume particular personas very easily. It’s almost as if she is channeling different aspects of her personality, some of which may be well hidden and seldom seen. Through this she has some self-discoveries and eventually decides to leave her post at the Times.

We also get to read about various political maneuverings within the Times, stories about her husband and son, and about coworkers and friends who accompany her to restaurants. There are also memorable parts where she is both fooling the restaurant, but also fooling her guests, who are unaware of whom she really is.

In general, I found it a very enjoyable read. There were times where I thought she might be exaggerating some things for effect, or even making some stuff up (they just seemed too “perfect” or “predictable” in a kind of theatrical way), but for the most part these were few and far between.

I actually listened to an unabridged audio version of this book via Audible.com which has various plans allowing you to purchase full, unabridged versions of a huge-selection of books (many best-sellers) for as little as $6 each, and download them for immediate listening either on your computer or onto a large selection of compatible players (including iPods). Bernadette Dunne does a good job of narrating the book and I don’t recall any pronunciation errors in all the descriptions of food, restaurants, or place names in New York. Although I will admit I didn’t care for her rendition of Reichl’s young son. Reichl also narrates an abridged version of the book if you’d like to hear the author read her own book, New York accent and all. The book is available in print as well, of course.

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