Steal the Menu: A Memoir of Forty Years in Food

by Raymond Sokolov

Four decades of memories from a gastronome who witnessed the food revolution from the (well-provisioned) trenches—a delicious tour through contemporary food history.

When Raymond Sokolov became food editor of The New York Times in 1971, he began a long, memorable career as restaurant critic, food historian, and author. Here he traces the food scene he reported on in America and abroad, from his pathbreaking dispatches on nouvelle cuisine chefs like Paul Bocuse and Michel Guérard in France to the rise of contemporary American food stars like Thomas Keller and Grant Achatz, and the fruitful collision of science and cooking in the kitchens of El Bulli in Spain, the Fat Duck outside London, and Copenhagen’s gnarly Noma.

Sokolov invites readers to join him as a privileged observer of the most transformative period in the history of cuisine with this personal narrative of the sensual education of an accidental gourmet. We dine out with him at temples of haute cuisine like New York’s Lutèce but also at a pioneering outpost of  Sichuan food in a gas station in New Jersey, at a raunchy Texas chili cookoff, and at a backwoods barbecue shack in Alabama, as well as at three-star restaurants from Paris to Las Vegas.

Steal the Menu is, above all, an entertaining and engaging account of a tumultuous period of globalizing food ideas and frontier-crossing ingredients that produced the unprecedentedly rich and diverse way of eating we enjoy today.

Genres: Food, Nonfiction, Memoir, Food Writing, Biography, Foodie, Food and Drink

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is billed as a memoir of forty years in food, some as a food writer. Much of the autobiography is, I fear of more interest to the writer than the reader. Although it encompasses various food experiences and movements, and at times offers tantalising bits of a wide knowledge, I found it uneven and as satisfying as watching someone else eat.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

So braggadocious! I wanted to finish it, but I couldn't bear any more of the author's sly compliments to himself.

[Sarah Schultz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring, pretentious, not engaging...skip it. Read Bourdain or Samuelson if you want to read a decent book about cooking/food critics in NYC.

[Joanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Conversational reflections on the life of the author with an emphasis on food history and newspaper reporting. I was deeply covetous of the many wonderful food experiences described, but I caught myself feeling somewhat bored and (gasp!) checking to see how many pages I had left to read several times. I am glad to be done with this one. (PS- love the title.)

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would give 2+ stars. The author was not able to make what he told about food interesting, the prose was pedestrian, and the author talked too much about his writing career and not enough about his adventures in the world of food

[Linda Smatzny · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not exactly what I was expecting. It covers Mr. Sokolov life concentrating on his professional life. He was a restaurant critic at a few locations plus writing free lance articles on food. Some of the writing was very teacher like.

[Kyla Brady · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some parts were interesting and had nice humor. The majority, though, seemed a bit pretentious. Also, if a book could be a run-on sentence with multiple sentences (if that makes sense), this book would be just that.

[Peter Flom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Raymond Sokolov loves food and loves to write about it. This is an enjoyable book, but it's a little self-congratulatory.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretentious blowhard.

[Kathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This guy was an editor at the NYT? He needs one of his own! Also, he seems more impressed about his own experiences than passionate about the food. Woof.

[Terrance Gelenter · Rating 3 out of 5]

A breezy, anecdote-filled tour of the extraordinary changes in cuisine culture beginning with the nouvelle cuisine of Troigros, Guèrard and Bocuse, Alice Waters and regional cooking in America-buy local and seasonally as in Europe and every other trend that affected an increasingly more food conscious America.

[Monica Morelli · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't even bring myself to finish this. The author comes off as pompous, and is not nearly as smart as he seems to think he is. Reading food lit shouldn't put you in a foul mood, but that's just what this book did for me.

[Blake Kanewischer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book felt more self-congratulatory than actually enlightening. Congratulations on your PhD, but I didn't read the book for that; I read it to learn more about the industry and its people...and I didn't get that.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

More pretentious that delicious, with surprising rancor for spelling bees lost as a child.

[Jennie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very surprised by how little I liked this book. I'd read Sokolov's Why We Eat What We Eat when it was new, and really enjoyed it, likewise his collection of essays Fading Feast. My interest is in food history, both ancient and modern. The subject popped up 2/3 of the way through the book, only to fade out again. Not that interested in classic and modern French food, nor in every name Sokolov could think to drop from his 40-year career. And, if you were looking for juicy gossip about the restaurant business like Ruth Reichl dishes up, you won't find much of that here either.

[Sarah Logan-Reynolds · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bourdain did it better

[Moira]

This book was unsatisfying-maybe too jumpy and not enough focused on actual foods.

[Tuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

sokolov goes through high spots of childhood to get the reader to his food writing gigs with nyt's, then natural history magazine, then wall st journal, also writing one novel and numerous nonfic, his most long lasting being an indepth look at french sauces, the mother sauces. Saucier's Apprentice, thus he bases most all his food knowledge and taste on classic french style. but then while moldering in nyc 1970's food desert he happens on bocuse and guerard and troisgors brothers doing something entirely different, nouvelle cuisine. then as that wave recedes from its wash of the world, globalization kicks in hi gear and and chefs are using ingredients and methods from all over, then too there is now a move for more fresh local ingredients, in season mostly. he ends book by a 4 hour meal at noma in copenhagen, where they harvest moss from the woods and fish from the coast and plate it up, fresh like.
a fast read, not that profound, but still interesting and informative (from his rather provincial nyc pov) and he is surly a good and factful writer, having been making a living doing it for over forty years.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of my introduction to the world of food came through the brilliantly researched and well written articles by Raymond Sokolov in my monthly subscription to Natural History magazine when I was growing up. Later, I would snag a friend's daily Wall Street Journal after she finished with it, purely to read his restaurant reviews and food writing. His Saucier's Apprentice and Cook's Canon were long ago staples of my bookshelf. This book just continues the saga, with an autobiographical look back at how it all happened, along with an insightful look at where food trends are headed in today's culinary world. For anyone interested in food history, this book is a must to pick up and enjoy.

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading Sokolov's memoir. Lots of interesting tidbits re the transformation of culinary culture over his 40 years "in food." And some insider stuff re some big names in food too. I especially liked the story about his angering the White House over Nixon's daughter's wedding cake recipe. He's a pretty interesting guy so, even if it's not the best food-related memoir/book I've ever read (& I read lots of 'em), it's still a good read for anyone interested in this kind of literature.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating book. Makes me want to read Good Appetite, My Companion again.

I will say that what he wrote made me think some of these chefs are doing weird things with food just for the sake of being different, but then, he turns around and says that's not the case at all. I dunno.

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. I considered skimming about halfway into it, but read most of it after all. It ranged from ok to interesting, but I wasn't all that engaged. I want to visit Lockhart in Texas for bbq now though.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoy hearing about the real person behind the persona and Mr. Sokolov delivers his essence.

[Turi Becker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting deep cut into the history of (mostly) American fine dining. The New York ego and overwrought vocabulary were a little much for me, though.

[Michal · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an entertaining memoir of Raymond Sokolov's career as a food writer. You probably do need to be a foodie to enjoy this book.

[Bill]

might try reading again someday most of the food type books I have read are by chefs and I think I prefer that.

[Heather Setzler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting reading, with a slow section about 2/3 of the way through...probably appreciated most by true foodies, particularly the intellectual sort.

[Mary Rizzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable romp through the last 40 years of American and French culinary culture. Less personal than Ruth Reichl, but more interested in food studies.

[Kristyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not that great. Better food memoir books out there.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

just ok