Back of the House: The Secret Life of a Restaurant

by Scott Haas

Food writer and clinical psychologist Scott Haas wanted to know what went on inside the mind of a top chef—and what kind of emotional dynamics drove the fast-paced, intense interactions inside a great restaurant. To capture all the heat and hunger, he spent eighteen months immersed in the kitchen of James Beard Award-winner Tony Maws’ restaurant, Craigie on Main, in Boston. He became part of the family, experiencing the drama first-hand. Here, Haas exposes the inner life of a chef, what it takes to make food people crave, and how to achieve greatness in a world that demands more than passion and a sharp set of knives.

A lens into what motivates and inspires all chefs—including Thomas Keller, Andrew Carmellini, whose stories are also shared here—Back of the House will change the way you think about food—and about the complicated people who cook it and serve it.

Genres: Nonfiction, Food, Audiobook, Cooking, Memoir, Biography, Food Writing

320 pages, Paperback

First published February 5, 2013

Reviews

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is Nonfiction. The author spent a year and half inside a restaurant and wrote this book about his experience. He was just there as an observer and sometimes as a helper, and sometimes as a psychologist, and sometimes as a patron.

I found the restaurant world interesting, but there were so many tangents to this. While that kept the pace moving, it wasn't pulling me in. So many people came and went throughout this book. While that may be indicative to the "biz", it was hard to connect. So 2 stars.

[Fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

My appetite for non fiction has increased over the last few years. I’ve never read a book quite like this one - fascinating because of its insight into a world most will only see from the front of the house. Written by a psychologist, it offers a unique spin on food writing, cooking and culture. Come for the food, stay for the people.

[Mme Forte · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author is both a clinical psychologist and a food writer, so maybe I shouldn't be surprised at the lack of focus in this book.

I would have been happy if the book had been a detailed psychological study of what makes a good chef, or what drives a person to become a chef, or how a person's psychological makeup affects his/her ability to helm a restaurant, run a kitchen, create a culinary ethos, whatever.

I would have been happy with a real backstage look at how a restaurant runs, or at the ups and downs of life in the kitchen, or at how the chef arrived at this place, including how s/he developed a palate and what traditions the food honors (or mocks).

What I got was both and neither. Maybe with tighter editing this could have had a more definite shape, but as it stands this is kind of a mess. I got the sense that the author wanted to talk about how Tony Maws' background shaped who he is and thus how he runs a restaurant and directs his staff; or to compare/contrast Maws and his style with other well-known chefs; or show how the staff lives together day in and day out and gets all the work done...but there's no real focus on any of these aspects. There are starting points for each, but none gets much in-depth coverage. It's a shame, because there's potential for a really interesting study of the food business and those who staff it.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

First Reads Review - Back of the House: The Secret Life of a Restaurant by Scott Haas

So when I won this book through the First Reads program at GoodReads, I wasn't sure exactly what I was getting into, what sort of a book it would be. I have read books on cooking, and cookbooks in the past, but never really a book dealing with life inside an elite kitchen. My knowledge of cooking begins and ends as the time I spent as a cook in a small restaurant during two summers during college, and it was nowhere near the sort of intensity and craziness that are described in this book. The prose, though, is very good, and it is obvious that the author, Scott Haas, approaches the dynamics inside the kitchen as a psychologist, as someone looking at what works and doesn't work when it comes to motivating chefs and cooks and trying to provide an environment in which they can be successful.

It is an illuminating read, then, to see the potential and skill and greatness of Chef Maws, and see also the problems, the anger, the lack of focus and identity that make him unique and also frustrated, unable to fully realize his vision. The general premise seems to be that because the great chef doesn't have a firm understanding of what he wants, because he is ruled so much by his driving passions that do not lead him in any one direction, that he cannot fully realize his full potential, that he ends up becoming frustrating, angry, and that the people that he works with, that work under him, suffer for it. It's an interesting study, showing the intensity that earns him awards and praise but that also fuels his anger when those around him fail to live up to standards that they can never fully grasp.

So really this is something that is very interesting for me, because I like cooking in the vague sense and because the author does such a good job fleshing out the character of Chef Maws. And yes, this is technically a nonfiction book, but that's hardly important, as he is still a character, the main character of the story that the author tells. And ultimately, Chef Maws is something of a tragic figure, striving for something that he can't articulate and so doomed in many ways to always be disappointed by his results, which causes frustration, which causes anger, which he takes out on the people around him when these problems need to be addressed not with his cooks but with himself.

The writing itself flows well, hampered only in a few places because the chronology is a little tricky at times, mostly in the early sections of the book. But it all does work together nicely, the cooks and secondary characters are interesting and not just one dimensional, and Chef Maws himself is an incredibly complex character worthy of some careful consideration. The ending that the author reaches, that the anger present in the kitchen is something that is symptomatic of a problem that the chef has to face before he can move forward, is rewarding enough for the reader that the book as a whole is satisfying and complete. With all that said, I give it four stars out of five.

[Amanda Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer - I won this book in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway. My copy was an ARC, and the book may have been edited before publication.

I really don't know what to think of this one. While it was fast paced, and at times very interesting - I'm not quite sure what the point was. Was this a psychological study of chefs or a biography of Tony Maws? Is this an expose of the back of a restaurant or an attempt to berate chefs for their consistent yelling?

Haas has a really great writing style, with chapters that read almost like short looks into the restaurant rather than building blocks for further chapters. However, the book lacks a linear roadmap, weaving in and out of Haas' memories of his time spent shadowing Maws. For some books, this works quite well, but this really wasn't one of those books. Instead, it feels choppy, as if there is more cohesive editing needed.

Overall, an interesting read that I would possibly pass on to friends who are into cooking/restaurants/Hell's Kitchen, but not something I can see making waves.

3.25 stars.

[Lynda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it.

[Karen Rush · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very, very interesting with some horrifying aspects to it. I don't think I'll ever be able to walk into a restaurant again without thinking about this book. Huh, atta boy, Scott Haas, atta boy!

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, especially since I worked in a restaurant so it was entirely relatable. I think some people go out to restaurants and believe that a kitchen is a calm place where an order comes through, the kitchen focuses on the one order making sure it's complete, then passes it out the window and goes on to the next order. Little do they realize it's a LOT of shouting, running, dropping, slicing/dicing and swearing. Those double swinging doors protect a regular "Guest" from the world that is the kitchen and this book props them open for everyone to see. I think everyone should read this just to get more of an appreciation for what it's like at the back of the house. I think Scott Haas did a great job intertwining his Psychologist perspective, which added a little twist but also sometimes I felt made things to be a little deeper than they needed to be. Sometimes a restaurant is just a restaurant and a chef cooks the way he does because that's what he knows and what he likes. Well done, I'll definitely recommend it to not only people in the industry - but to anyone who has even the slightly inclination to know what happens behind those swinging doors.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why would a clinical psychologist write food articles for publications such as Saveur and Gastronomica while still seeing patients in psychiatric hospitals? And what sort of perspective on cooking does a PhD in psychology have that could make a book-length piece interesting? He talked his way into the back of Tony Maws' fine-dining restaurant, Craigie on Main, in Boston. After eighteen months of observing the kitchen and talking to the staff and pulling the pin bones out of fish, he has some insights on what drives people to cook, what drives people to become chefs and a bit about what makes the great ones great. It is unclear to me whether "The Back of the House" is more about psychology or more about cooking; that is the sort of thing that drives library cataloguers insane. Haas wrote a piece for Gastronimica entitled “Hashiri, Sakari, Nagori: Towards Understanding the Psychology, Ideology, and Branding of Seasonality in Japanese Gastronomy.” It leaves one with the same question. The book is modest. The book is light. The book is easy to read. It invites a reading by those who think about what makes cooks and chefs work.

[Katherine P · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this very detailed broad look into the makings of Craigie on Main and its Chef/creator Tony Maws. Haas gives a detailed look into the workings of Craigie and why Maws has designed it that way. He takes its shortcomings and brilliance all into account and looks at the restaurant and Maws through many different eyes - staff, family and other chefs. Having absolutely no restaurant experience but loving food and cooking I found this look into true food genius fascinating. The book feels a little lacking in focus but that allowed for the inclusion of sidetracks such as the evolution of celebrity chefs and the difference between how Maws runs a kitchen and other chefs run kitchens. My only real complaint is that Haas' analysis of Maws' anger issues seems a bit random and ineffective. Overall a fascinating book.

* Received in a Goodreads Giveaway

[Rogue Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

A psychologist spends a year in the kitchen of a well known Boston restaurant, shadowing the chef owner and staff of the place. The insight is somewhat unnerving. The spontaneity and inventiveness of award-winning chef Tony Maws brings fresh new menus to the restaurant but leave the staff always on edge, never knowing what's coming next. Food prep assignments are considered "projects", making me wonder whether anyone other than Maws knows the whole. On the whole, a good read on chef-owned restaurants and the pressure to succeed in an increasingly competitive industry.

[Marcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Boy was this an entertaining book! A detailed peak into the restaurant world, through the lens of Tony Maws the chef at Craigie on Main in Cambridge. I have never worked in a restaurant (high school fast food gigs don't count) and never "fine dine" so this really felt like the unveiling of a secret society. The creativity in creating the recipes, the hierarchy of the kitchen, the VIP treatment! Boy, do these folks work hard, for instance hours, for very little pay. The author is a psychologist, so there is a lot of fun delving into psyches. Really interesting.

[Hazel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The subculture of the restaurant industry is fascinating. The majority of the people in this industry work long hours usually under extreme stress, often for poor pay. The top-end food industry has dramatically changed over the last decade or two with the dawn of superstar chefs- egotistical maniacs that terrorise their underlings and creative geniuses that push the boundaries of what defines food. This has led to increased interest from the public about what goes on behind the scenes in these places, and psychologist Scott Haas took the opportunity to capitalise on that with this book portraying Tony Maws at Craigie on Main.

Although I had previously enjoyed other behind-the-scenes books such as Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, often they were coloured by the inherent bias of the author. This was the first time I had seen an account from an outsider, a psychologist that has no real experience in the industry. It's fascinating to see Scott transition from a curious bystander to an accepted part of the subculture in Craigie. Scott has a real talent for capturing the urgency and stress that from lowly waiter to head chef feels as part of the business. Having worked as a waitress for a few years through college (albeit in lesser establishments), I was able to identify with many of the themes and issues presented which made it even more interesting. Scott, as an outsider, allows readers to gradually immerse themselves in the environment unlike many other offerings in this area where the reader often feels like they're getting a glimpse of a club they can never be part of.

The successes and problems of Craigie on Main are attributed to the culinary imagination and larger than life personality of chef Tony Maws. Tony is presented as a man with anger and control issues with a soft, caring streak. Haas manages to present him as both dream employer and nightmare to work for. Tony has a lot to teach his employees, but his focus on iteration and innovation causes difficulties. The book is fast-paced and enjoyable, but it's hard to categorise if the focus is more on the psychology or the cooking. As a reader I enjoyed it, and as a foodie I have now put Craigie on Main on my list should I ever visit Boston!

[Debbie Vignovic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second book in this category that features a writer who wanted to get a look at the "back of the house" and this book is in its own separate way also reading time well spent. The author is a clinical psychologist and a well regarded food writer who wanted to get a look into the minds of some top American chefs. The book features some of the conversations that he had with several such chefs but it mostly features the James Beard Award winning, Boston chef, Tony Maws. Scott spent 18 months immersed into Tony's kitchen life at his restaurant Craigie on Main, and he became a part of the restaurant family.

This book is less about what makes the food so amazing, the author captures the excitement and drama of the kitchen but not the food and the artistry of cooking. Instead his focus is on the actions of chefs and the employees, looking at the back of the house through the eyes of a clinical psychologist. He examines the flaws, the staff turnovers, relationship troubles and does a good job of showing the reality of life as lived in the kitchen behind a famous restaurant. Truthfully though I found the "head shrinking" elements a little tiresome and overreaching at times but still really liked the book.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love books about the restaurant industry. This is a good, behind the scenes view of a successful restaurant industry Boston. I enjoyed the audiobook version, the narrator had good pronunciations and pace - he was engaging. The book is a 3-Star because Haas is more of a tell than a show author. Basic sentences and dumbed down ideas.

A main point of the book: The chef is a singular great talent but not a good leader. The author shows this throughout the book and does provide some contrasts with other successful chefs, who are good leaders. I wish Haas has spent more time on this.

[Margaret Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haas gives a very perceptive insight into the life of a four-star chef and his staff. He reveals the heart and soul of what a chef goes through when achieving perfection for a legendary, James Beard award-winning restaurant. As Haas works his way through the back of the house, the reader can really feel the pain and angst of Chef Tony Maws' kitchen staff and the inner workings of the front of the house.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this book because I flirted with culinary school before I decided what I wanted to be when I grow up, and because my husband is in the business. I'm not sure what the author was after with his book, I think maybe to eat expensive meals and be able to write them off as a business expense. my only take away from this book was that Tony Maws is an asshole and I wouldn't want to work for him.

[Maya Inglis]

I don’t really rate nonfiction anymore but if I did this would get a bad rating.

There are many better and more interesting books about the restaurant industry. The author comments at one point early on that he thinks they should call patrons “customers” rather than “guests” as is the norm in the restaurant, he then proceeds to write “guest, or customer” for the entire rest of the book as if the reader couldn’t have absorbed that matter of opinion.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite part of the Haas book was that he takes such an in depth look at the head chef - he is unapologetic in explaining the good, the bad, and the ugly, but still invites the reader to see past the outside. Less the story of food, as some restaurant books are, and more the story of the people who make it. The book was a quick and enjoyable read.

[Korbi Hyde-Murphey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one. It’s interesting to hear about experiences in a professional kitchens. We know what we see on TV or experience when eating out, but I liked hearing about Scott’a experience. Dating someone who worked in the industry, and this restaurant for a period, made having conversation about this book even more fun.

[Yolanda | yolandaannmarie.reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75

Thankfully, I’ve never had to work for a chef quite like Tony Maws — someone who, after years in the industry, still had no clear vision or ability to relinquish control to the rest of his kitchen brigade.
It’s not a surprise to me that he had such a large turnaround rate of new employees considering how he ran his business.

[Domisty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read. I do not work in a restaurant and never have but it was interesting to read about the industry.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Listened to audiobook.

[Sarah Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! I listened to this audio book on a long drive and it was a fascinating look at how much running a restaurant (and working in one) is a labor of love.

[Chris Risley · Rating 4 out of 5]

For some reason I love learning about restaurants :)

[Mary Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story about a year in an award-winning restaurant.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting behind the scenes of an upscale restaurant! I love that the chef just let a writer have full access to everything. It’s a window into another world.

[Tara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring.

[Sofie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I breezed right through this book, but i felt it was mostly because of the lack of 'depth'.
There's a lot of text, but to me its mainly a description of a restaurant with a chef who yells at his staff. Im a little disappointed that there were no more in depth comparisions to the other chefs the writer knew and wrote about.

The first 30 to 40 pages give you an exact preview of what will come (descriptions of restaurants). Dont expect anything else.

[Darren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do you really know what goes on behind the scenes of a restaurant and, if you've heard some of the various rumours or urban myths, do you really want to know?

Here is an interesting take on a behind-the-scenes type of report. A food writer and trained psychologist spent 18 months shadowing staff in a top Boston (USA) restaurant. Working alongside head and sous chefs, cooks and staff on all levels, the author presents what he believes to be a warts and all look at the tight-knit community that is formed in a tinder box of a stressful working environment.

The concept is a great one. The execution of that concept, hmm… The book is itself written in a sort of novel/storybook style that requires a lot more concentration and sequential reading compared to a more fact-based book. There is no delving in just to read the experiences and role of the pot washer, for example. This reviewer is not so sure that this style works and it seems to dilute the overall power and impact that the experience gave the author. The style, or lack thereof, of the book also made it feel like one was reading a lengthy law book or an undergraduate report: lots of long, black textual lines and not a lot else. Was it impossible for the author in his 18 month sojourn to take some photographs to illustrate matters? Even some candid camera phone pictures would have made a difference.

After a while one started to get bored and tired of this book due to the sheer hassle of combing through it. That is a shame, a crying shame. The interest and novelty started to wear thin, all due to the poor design and storybook style. You don't need to make style win over the content, but you have to work with the reader. After all, this is not a small paperback book selling for a couple of dollars.

It is distressing to say that, had this reviewer paid for this book, he would have felt cheated. Let down by its execution, let down by its style and let down by its wasted potential. With a little thought and work it would have been so much better.

Back of the House: The Secret Life of a Restaurant, written by Scott Haas and published by Berkley Trade/Penguin. ISBN 9780425256107, 320 pages. Typical price: USD16. YYY.




// This review appeared in YUM.fi and is reproduced here in full with permission of YUM.fi. YUM.fi celebrates the worldwide diversity of food and drink, as presented through the humble book. Whether you call it a cookery book, cook book, recipe book or something else (in the language of your choice) YUM will provide you with news and reviews of the latest books on the marketplace. //