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Lutece: A Day in the Life of America's Greatest Restaurant
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About Lutece: A Day In The Life Of America's Greatest
Product description For more than three decades, food lovers have flocked to a modest brownstone on Manhattan's East Side to dine at what is arguably the finest French restaurant in America - Lutece. For this revealing and often delicious book, Irene Daria, a columnist for Glamour, was granted extraordinary access to Lutece's kitchens, to its legendary owner, Andre Soltner, and to its forty-two employees - from sous-chefs to dishwashers - to discover what it takes to maintain this unique four-star establishment. Daria takes us behind the serene world a diner sees from her coveted table. We meet the loyal, polished staff and are witness to the complex web of decisions, from menu planning to recipe testing to balancing reservations, that spell the difference between Lutece and any other restaurant. We attend the negotiating sessions with wine importers - Lutece maintains a cellar of forty thousand bottles - and pay on-site visits to suppliers of restaurant specialties such as free-range ducks, Angus beef, and Guatemalan leeks. We see how Soltner's singular, uncompromising vision makes Lutece both a labor of love and a financially successful enterprise. How Lutece survives, competes, and finally surpasses all comers is a story for anyone who has dined there - or longs to. It's the next best thing to a confirmed reservation. From Publishers Weekly The slight exaggeration of the subtitle is virtually the only hyperbole to be found in this involving, personalized, instructive multi-starred review of the famed Manhattan restaurant. The book is no mere promo piece (although Lutece owner-chef Andre Soltner couldn't ask for more), since Daria also takes readers through the commercial food chain, from distributor to restaurant kitchen to the diner's plate. The day at Lutece we read about starts at 5:30 a.m., and on this particular morning there's a certain tension as the staff awaits a New York Times review which they hope will counter negative comments in New York Newsday . It's crucial that food critic Bryan Miller affirm Lutece's four-star status (he does); as Soltner explains, "the fear of failure" keeps a chef great. Daria ( The Fashion Cycle ) introduces us to the workers, most specifically to Soltner and to his wife of 30 years, Simone, and shows us the exacting professionalism of them all. We spend a lot of time in the kitchens--the book includes a few Lutece recipes--witnessing the complicated logistics of food preparation. Readers learn that serving and feeding diners well is a considerable accomplishment--and deserving of a generous tip. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal The behind-the-scenes activities that occur daily at Lutece make this Manhattan restaurant the best respected in America. After months of working closely with owner Andre Soltner and his staff, award-winning magazine writer Daria offers an intimate look at and pays tribute to the operation of a four-star landmark that for more than 30 years has served movie stars, moguls, and presidents. She details those laborious tasks--from ordering supplies to the creation of the complicated French cuisine--to report on how this business functions during a typical 5:30 a.m.-midnight day. Daria also examines the meat/fish/produce markets that serve the plethora of metropolitan eateries. Unlike David Blum's Flash in the Pan ( LJ 11/1/92), which recounted the goings-on during the short life span of a "downtown hotspot," this book is a more serious case study on the nuts and bolts of running an established restaurant. A dozen prized recipes are scattered throughout the book, adding to an already enjoyable read for those who are interested in restaurants or, for that matter, eating. - David Nudo, "Library Journal" Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist A charming, yet objective chronicle of 24 hours in the life of a four-star restaurant, Andr{}e Soltner's Lut{}ece. Daria tells all about it without fawning or mincing words, beginning at 5:30 a.m., when the chef-owner starts his day on East 50th Street. Celebrity customers--including Frank Sinatra, Woody Allen, and Richard Nixon--mean little to Soltner; what matters most is that customers return and return and return. His philosophy of classical French cuisine is supported by 15 recipes, from split pea soup to breast of muscovy duckling. Throughout the day, we meet the primary players in his restaurant's life--bartender, bookkeeper, waiters, sous-chefs, and suppliers--who factor so heavily in the restaurant's success. Relationships and personalities are probed especially with regard to the uneasy truce between food critics and chefs. Appropriate asides include tales of terrible service at a Sag Harbor restaurant and government corruption. In the end, though, there's only one reason for a restaurant's success, according to Soltner--"being there." Barbara Jacobs From Kirkus Reviews Is Lutce slipping? The steadfastly classic French restaurant, long considered to be Manhattan's top eatery, has been branded ``old hat'' by some upstart critics. Now--as detailed here by Daria (The Fashion Cycle, 1990)--restaurant critic Bryan Miller is revisiting for The New York Times and owner-chef Andr Soltner has to wonder: Will Lutce retain the Times' four-star rating? With this question posed at the book's opening to create some semblance of suspense, and answered at the end to close the bracket, Daria takes readers through a typical day at 249 East 50th St., from the 5:30 a.m. arrival of the three sous-chefs...through the ``dizzying'' and ``high-adrenaline'' hours of getting dinner cooked and served...to Soltner's 11:00 p.m. telephone orders for the next day's meat and fish. Lutce's suppliers, waiters, pot washer, admirers, difficult customers, and professional critics are all given attention, and Daria goes on at fairly vacuous length about everything from the noon bartender's--or this or that sous- chef's or critic's--work history to how waiters keep track of who ordered what. But overall, the focus is on the dedicated Soltner, unfazed by fads, devoted to making his guests happy (favoring or scorning none), exacting about ingredients and preparations--and, yes, beaming with joy when the Times review comes out with all four stars intact. Daria approaches Soltner and Lutce with less style or wit--or demonstrated background in food or hospitality--than sheer dogged reporting and gratitude at being admitted to the inner operations behind the venerable glamour. No doubt there are others who will appreciate the opportunity to go along. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
