Cellar Rat: My Life in the Restaurant Underbelly

by Hannah Selinger

What happens when a career you love doesn’t love you back?

As Hannah Selinger will tell you, to be a good restaurant employee is to be invisible. At the height of her career as a server and then sommelier at some of New York’s most famed dining institutions, Selinger was the hand that folded your napkin while you were in the bathroom, the employee silently slipping into the night through a side door after serving meals worth more than her rent. 

During her tenure, Selinger rubbed shoulders with David Chang, Bobby Flay, Johnny Iuzzini, and countless other food celebrities of the early 2000’s. Her position allowed her access to a life she never expected; the lavish parties, the tasting courses, the wildly expensive wines – the rare world we see romanticized in countless movies and television shows. But the thing about being invisible is that people forget you’re there, and most act differently when they think no one is looking. 

In Cellar Rat, Selinger chronicles her rise and fall in the restaurant business, beginning with the gritty hometown pub where she fell in love with the industry and ending with her final post serving celebrities at the Hampton’s classic Nick & Tony’s. In between, readers will join Selinger on her emotional journey as she learns the joys of fine fine dining, the allure and danger of power, and what it takes to walk away from a career you love when it no longer serves you.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Food, Audiobook, Biography, New York, Biography Memoir

294 pages, Hardcover

First published March 25, 2025

About the author

Hannah Selinger is a James Beard Award-nominated lifestyle writer and mother of two based in Boxford, MA. Her print and digital work has appeared in the New YorkTimes Magazine, the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, Eater, Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and elsewhere. Her 2021 Bon Appétit essay, "In My Childhood Kitchen, I Learned Both Fear and Love," is anthologized in the 2022 Best American Food Writing collection, published by HarperCollins and edited by Sohla El-Waylly.

Reviews

[Kelly (and the Book Boar) · Rating 4 out of 5]

How does an Ivy League graduate (complete with MFA, no less) somehow take a detour from even beginning a career in either the writing or publishing world and end up re-educating herself as a sommelier at the hoity toity-iest of fine dining establishments? Well, that’s not super clear, but the good news is I don’t want to know everyone’s entire life story (more often than not, I am only interested in name dropping and trash talking, including here when I was reminded how utterly heartless I am as my attention was waning with the story of her dying dad. Sorry, but I’m really only interested in confirmation Bobby Flay is a real twat (sadly, she claims he is not . . . but I still have a feeling he is - just sooooo smarmy!) and for the olive loaf, ma’am, not to feel things.)

I was real scared when I started this and it kicked off with talk of Momofuko and Lucky Peach that my fave famous chef David Chang (I REALLY have a thing for Davids, I’m starting to realize) was going to be some sort of sex pest at best and sex criminal at worst, but thankfully it was a business partner who was the most vile and Chang is simply the expected brand of psychopathic kitchen dictator I have come to realize is fairly the norm when it comes to successful restaurateurs.

If you are like me and a little gossip mongering goblin who can’t get enough of kitchen secrets, this one might be a winner. Boy do I appreciate a tea spiller who will drop alllllllllllllllllllllllllll the names . . . .



And if you have any recs for me, drop a comment! Despite only ever dining out at a divey sort of Mexican joint where I can get a smothered and covered burrito the size of a three month old baby or . . . .



I’m super into foodie memoirs (no need to drop the aforementioned David Chang or Anthony Bourdain – I snatched those as soon as I really started consuming audiobooks).

I actually received an ARC of this from NetGalley, but realized I wanted to listen so I waited for an audio copy from the library.

[*TUDOR^QUEEN* · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

I find the inside scoop of working in restaurants some of the most fascinating accounts to read. This author's life goal was to be a writer, but things moved sideways for about a decade as she found herself working in the restaurant industry while in her 20s. She worked in some high-end restaurants and became a wine expert. The work culture was addictive and a lifestyle unto itself with schedules the opposite of most people's 9-5 work existence. This alternate work universe lent itself to breeding intimate personal relationships with restaurant personnel- always a mistake. There was also the reality of being fired at any moment with little explanation, an utter lack of empathy for private life crises, crushing double shift schedules, and working on holidays. I enjoyed reading about the NYC locales and the celebrities she encountered while working. She included a recipe at the end of each chapter. This memoir was an interesting and enjoyable read.

Thank you to the publisher Little, Brown and Company for providing an advance reader copy via NetGalley.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC for review. To be published March 25, 2025.

4 stars.

Selinger was an employee at some of NYC’s hottest restaurants of the 1990s and experienced both the exquisite food and the terrible behavior one might expect. Now she’s telling her story and she’s naming names. Oh, boy. Gossip! Plus insider restaurant stuff. Sorry if I knocked you down getting my hands on this book.

Selinger worked under David Chang (oh, so hideous), Bobby Flay (kind to her, for the brief period she knew him), Johnny Iuzzimi and she also worked at Nick and Toni’s in the Hamptons as well as other places. It should come as a surprise to a big hunk of nobody that sexism abounds in the industry (tell me again why nearly all the “great” chefs are male when cooking is “women’s work? Such complete and utter bullshit. Wake me up when every single one of the James Beard award winners for a given year are women.)

I absolutely LOVE a memoir from a chef, a sommelier, a waiter from posh eateries and I try to read every single one I come across. The industry is endlessly fascinating to me. This book, with a large focus on what it means to be a woman in this male-driven world was readable and interesting. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Sheila · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free copy of, Cellar Rat, by Hannah Selinger, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Hannah Selinger has worked in restaurant in New York. This was an interesting read, I enjoyed the recipes in this book too.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and Little, Brown and Company for providing a free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

There was little that was new here, and what was new left a lot to be desired in the way of intrigue. Google the author and you'll get the salacious details in already published articles and vignettes.

What I did like were some of the restaurant industry insights but again, I could source those tidbits elsewhere, like a Reddit forum.

By the author's own admission, she had no particular passion for the restaurant industry and went on to complete culinary school just because some famous head chef told her she'd never amount to anything. And I got the sense she wrote a book simply because said chef also wrote a memoir; she simply wanted to match or one-up his achievements.

Look, I get being fueled by others' doubts of your competence and capability, but if all signs point to being in an unhealthy situation for your wellbeing and sanity, it's time to cut your losses.

This book left me feeling used, like I was part of some low-stakes high school comparison game drama. Do not recommend.

[Dona's Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finished Reading

Pre-Read notes

I myself have been a server and a maitre d in fine dining restaurants, and they are a different kinda world. I was drawn to this because I wanted to see if she had any new insights into that life.

Final Review

I did not recognize my restaurant trauma as trauma when I was going through it. It took listening to the experiences of others and understanding their stories to feel a light turn on in myself, and to recognize, in retrospect, how damaging the environments that surrounded me had been, and, moreover, how pervasive trauma can be when it is not taken seriously. p13

Review summary and recommendations

Nothing in this book surprised me much and I found myself often wishing the author would take her stories past the limitations of her own experiences and into something more universal. I wished she had done more with the theme of trauma. Offering us a glimpse of her research would have made the book a more valuable read. As it is, it's sort of a luke warm waitress's memoir. Definitely not Kitchen Confidential, though I think it strives to be.

If your trauma defines you— if it makes you capable of understanding the world differently, or if it gives you something to talk about and write about— is it worth the journey? p186

Reading Notes

Three (or more) things I loved:

1. All the softness of a woman—all the baked-in emotion of a women who is bound to break in and down in the aftermath of tragedy— can’t possibly be a fit for a restaurant. Send her away. Send her back out into the gaping, needy world. p169

Rating: 🍷🍷🍷 /5 sommeliers
Recommend? sure
Finished: Mar 9 '25
Format: accessible digital arc, NetGalley
Read this book if you like:
🗣 memoirs
🍽 restaurant behind-the-scenes
😟 work related trauma
🏭 stories about jobs and work

Thank you to the author Hannah Selinger, publishers Little, Brown, & Co., and NetGalley for an accessible advance digital copy of CELLAR RAT. All views are mine.
---------------

[Wendi Manning · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book annoyed me. First of all, the author felt the need to acknowledge everything negative and apologize for it. She apologizes for Columbia University, for being a straight white female, for being comfortable financially, and for telling her truth. She also then, consistently highlights her privilege while apologizing for it. It’s way too much.

She seems to enjoy being part of the conversation around David Chang. A quick Google of his name brings a lot of results directly naming her. I don’t know why this is so important to her that she needs to keep beating the dead horse. Her story is out there, there’s nothing new in rhos book.

The recipes were nice, but other than that, I can’t recommend this one.

I received an ARC from NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

[CatReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Writer Hannah Selinger's contribution to the growing genre of messy 20s memoirs is her 2025 work Cellar Rat, which focuses on her decade-long career in the food service industry working as a server, then sommelier, at a variety of mid- to high-end New York restaurants. Selinger came from a privileged background and graduated from an Ivy League college (Columbia '02) and later earned an MFA (Emerson), with the ultimate goal of becoming a working writer. Rather than giving writing her full-time effort, she spent her 20s adrift in a series of restaurant jobs, making surprisingly good money that she's careless with (she references a six-figure salaried income as a sommelier, and talks about throwing money around on frivolous purchases several times) while also making surprisingly poor romantic choices (particularly, an inexcusably long tenure in her late 20s carrying on an affair with an influential coworker, knowing the whole time he was in a committed relationship). While Selinger is no doubt a foodie, I didn't ever get the sense that she was actually passionate about building a sustainable career in the food industry, or why she kept trying so hard to fit into an industry at odds with her skills and goals -- like she identified early on, her goal was to become a writer. Her choice to go to culinary school near the end of the memoir was also baffling and didn't seem well thought-through, as this was near the end of her time working in restaurants anyway.

Much of Cellar Rat is intended to be an exposé of the dark underbelly (paraphrasing from the subtitle) of the food industry and its bad actors. Selinger talks about being objectified, demeaned, harassed, and fired at will because she was a woman, how she resented the long hours and difficulty getting time off both pre-planned and for emergencies, and how hard it was to make true connections and friends when those that succeeded were generally emotionally walled-off (and generally male). She also talks about having an unhealthy relationships with food, alcohol, and body image (though more obliquely). I think she intends these anecdotes to be salacious drags at certain people who in the post-#metoo era have faced public critique (though I don't follow the food industry, so I can't really comment in an informed way here). In my reading, I didn't react too favorably to these parts -- it seems like the 20-something Selinger who lived through these events as well as the 40-something Selinger who's now writing them still feels that these experiences were the epitome of being ravaged and cut down in a way that those with conventional 9-to-5s were humanely exempted. Seldom in the book does Selinger venture out of her own myopic bubble to realize that everyone's 20s are hard in some way, with the passing exception of feeling her own grief at a college friend's suicide in his late 20s (without really contemplating what this friend was struggling with). The mention toward the end of the book about how restaurant staff forgot her birthday one year in her late 20s (and how she's apparently perserverated on this incident for over a decade) was particularly off-base, in my opinion -- surely, by this age, most people realize that the world doesn't revolve around them and that adult birthdays are generally celebrated in private with family and/or close friends (and that if you want a big, splashy, public celebration, you should arrange and pay for it yourself, and also that coworkers aren't generally your friends).

Ultimately, what snapped Selinger out of her self-absorption and forced her to mature was her father's untimely terminal illness and passing. I think a lot of us have similar rude awakenings in our 20s - I know I did. I'm glad Selinger found her voice and her pen.

Further reading: messy 20s memoirs
Private Equity: A Memoir by Carrie Sun | my review
How to Murder Your Life by Cat Marnell
Wanted: Toddler's Personal Assistant by Stephanie Kiser | my review

Further reading: hospitality industry memoirs
True Hospitality: Lessons Learned from Behind the Concierge Desk by Jame Cooperstein | my review
Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality by Jacob Tomsky

My statistics:
Book 149 for 2025
Book 2075 cumulatively

[Vinny Bogan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book should be called An Immature Narcissistic look at the Restaurant Industry.

In my almost 50 years in the restaurant industry I’ve worked with disaffected rich kids like this. The worst people in the world.

I hated this book.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very disappointing. I'd hoped for something that was more Heads in Beds background/insider look at the restaurant industry, what she did at the French Culinary Institute and how she got into the Court of Master Sommeliers. There is some of that but honestly, not enough. When she's talking about her introduction to the world of wine, it's great. But more was needed! Selinger glosses over how she learns what wines to recommend, how to discover new ones for the restaurant cellar and how the pricing works (I've been in restaurants charging more than double the cost of the bottle I have in my personal cellar!). It was great learning about how service works, but more on the differences between a place like Sea Grill and Momofuku and Jean-Georges (and that chapter really didn't go into the food there or the incredibly expensive tasting menu).

My guess is that she didn't want to write a book about that but wanted to talk about the personal side, the way the staff were treated and the sexism. That would have been fine, but that's not quite how the book is being promoted. Trying to do a mix of both hasn't paid off.

eARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I forced myself to finish this, hoping against hope that it would get interesting and informative at some point. It didn’t. I was tired of all her hand wringing, bad decisions and proselytizing. Her political statements at the beginning and end, totally unnecessary. She seems to hate herself. Can not recommend this book at all.

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cellar Rat stopped me with the title. I had to read it. The service industry is cutthroat and demanding with hot headed chefs and catty personalities in positions of power. Hannah Selinger detailed her experience with fine dining and as a sommelier. She had associations with famous chefs, and she didn't hold back with how she was treated and called them out.

Her knowledge of wine is superior, and I was hoping for more details in that area. She stepped into an amazing opportunity to expand her career as a sommelier early in her restaurant employment. Life went off the rails with a series of bad choices, but introspection resulted with clarity for future endeavors as she will speak up for herself.

This memoir was what I was hoping for plus a little drama. Recipes at the end of each chapter was a nice touch.

Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for early access.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, I never worked in a right-of-passage job in the restaurant industry in my teens or 20s (unless you count one week working at McDonald's at age 16 -- I hated it so much, I switched to retail), but if you've read any celebrity chef memoirs, you've undoubtedly come across stories of abusive environments, especially against women. I think Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential was the first time I understood what really went on in famous and not-so-famous restaurants in New York City.

Hannah Selinger dealt with a strained childhood after her parents split up, including an abusive relationship with her step-father. Unfortunately, abuse continued later, when she worked as a server and then sommelier at some well-known NYC eateries. A Columbia University graduate with dreams of becoming a best-selling author, she kept working in the restaurant business because it was easy to get a job (but in her case, not so easy to keep a job), despite lecherous bosses, unhealthy working environments, and after-hours carousing that definitely was not for the faint of heart. As enthusiastic patrons of fine restaurants, excellent food and wine, my husband and I have never eaten at a fine dining establishment, wondering how the chef or managers were treating their staffs. I'm sure the despicable behavior that Selinger details in her absorbing memoir does not happen everywhere, but it sure happened at every NYC restaurant she worked at. Reading the book, I kept wondering why she continued to take the verbal abuse, predatory behavior and cutthroat working environments time and again. It's only when her beloved birth father developed ALS, that she found a reason to leave that path, and after her father passed away, finally get the courage to do what she originally wanted to do.

I appreciated that, in her prologue, Selinger points out that as a white woman from a privileged background, she ultimately could leave restaurant work behind, while so many others aren't able to make that choice. It can be a good-paying job, even if the work is harder -- or dangerous -- than most of us realize. Sadly, Selinger writes that the industry hasn't addressed these issues or found solutions. She doesn't hesitate to name-drop, and I was most appalled at how these high-powered chefs, owners and managers continue to get away with abusing employees. But my favorite tidbit was when she served a table that included mega-star Gwyneth Paltrow, who left only a paltry (pun intended) 10% tip on a huge tab.

Selinger doesn't say if she became a master sommelier, but I assume she did not, although she certainly had the love and knowledge of wine to have attained that. She went to culinary school (she says because an employer told her she was no good at anything), and I love that she included a recipe at the end of each chapter. She did put her wine knowledge to good use, writing copy for a wine merchant, and has had a successful career writing food and wine-related articles for national publications.

I really enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone interested in food, wine and restaurants. Thanks to NetGalley, Little Brown and Company, and the author for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this memoir.

[Jackie Sunday · Rating 4 out of 5]

Curiosity. That’s why most of us want to read this book. What can she tell us?

After graduating from Columbia, Hannah Selinger found jobs in restaurants and ended up becoming a sommelier. She was in her 20s with a photographic memory and could think and react quickly. However, she made mistakes along the way which meant moving on to other jobs which wasn’t easy. Some of it made me wonder why anyone would want to do this although at one point, she was making six figures at a high scale establishment and meeting celebrities.

She was on the fast track at work trying to keep up with busy evenings. It was hard to believe someone would criticize her at work for eating bread while she was on a break. He said she had to be careful with the extra calories. She ran every day and was a size 2! After each chapter, she presented a variety of special recipes which included bittersweet chocolate cream pie and carrot cake. It’s a good addition.

At the same time, Hannah talked about the relationships that didn’t work out. You know what they say: be careful or you might end up in a book like this. She was frustrated with her work and love life. She felt like it could have been related to some of her childhood issues that needed to be resolved.

Hannah's knowledge with wine and service is impressive. I didn’t find anything shocking from her stories in restaurants. Yet, it felt like I was sitting across from her in a cozy coffee shop wanting to find out more about her life. She said she’s now married with a husband and two children. Tell us more please.

My thanks to Little, Brown and Company, and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book with an expected release date of March 25, 2025.

[Amy L · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wouldn’t call this a memoir, it’s more of a very personal unburdening, a purge, of all of the author’s built-up resentment and frustration over the course of her various jobs in the restaurant industry. It’s no secret that working on the service end of fine dining establishments can be brutal, cutthroat, and precarious, but it was difficult for me to conjure up any sympathy for her. As a self-admitted child of privilege with degrees from prestigious universities and a parental safety net “just in case,” she could have chosen to leave the profession at any time instead of enduring the abuse, punishing work schedule, and the uncertainty that comes with the job. Excellent writing, loved the recipes at the end of each chapter.

[Joshua Carlucci · Rating 2 out of 5]

very woe-is-me, very “trauma,” very…low stakes. acknowledges privilege multiple times while also still being very privileged. fail to see how this is a championing of a better restaurant industry and not just a finger-pointing tell all with celebrity chefs name-dropped throughout.

[Kathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somehow pretentious even in moments that attempt self-deprecation? I’ve never heard so much back-handed bragging/putting people down in my life. The vibe was like, “I was the kind of stupid moron idiot who couldn’t tell (fancy french thing) from (uncommon rich people thing), I was SO ignorant”. And “I was used to aways being the smartest, most erudite, person in the room, everywhere I went” like ???? (These are obviously not real quotes but you get it). All while cOnStAnTlY talking about who later became famous, who was famous at the time, etc. It could just be me, idk, but I wanted to DNF the whole time & I wish I had.

[Caleb Fogler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cellar Rat is a memoir about working in the fine dining industry of New York City. The author worked in this industry in the 2000s where they experienced sexual assault and the toxicity of working in this industry, with each chapter ending in a thematic recipe that the Selinger found important to them.

I did not find this memoir enjoyable, but that doesn’t mean that it’s bad. It’s just a sad memoir that left me feeling frustrated about the experiences that Selinger endured and some of her own decisions along the way. Long story short, this book just confirmed that working in fine dining is not for me and made me see David Chang is a slightly different light. There is some tea spilling😉 in Cellar Rat, if that is your thing. Overall this book might be more interesting for fans of the tv show The Bear but was ultimately not for me.

[Kate Schreckenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 but rounded up.

If I had to elevator pitch this book, I would describe it as somewhere between Heartburn and Sweetbitter. The author provided a really insightful look into the resturant industry, the toxicity and abuse that can occur, and the big personalities that are drawn to that environment. There were things I didn’t love. I wish the author took more responsibility for her own bad choices and I wish there was a deeper look into some topics that were brought up, but ultimately, the charm of the writing and the authenticity of the author made up for any flaws. I also LOVED the use of recipes as storytelling and I can’t wait to try them.

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's entertaining enough to read about someone trying to make it in the NYC culinary world. I wish she'd do a little less name-dropping and mention a bit more of her soul-searching about why she had such a hard time staying at this restaurant that she was lucky enough to be employed at.

Good writing though, and I did enjoy the way she tied a recipe into each chapter based on a memory or dish served at the restaurant she was discussing in the preceding pages.

read pre-publication thanks to the folks at NetGallery

[Amy Borgstrom · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this unflinching, honest, and perceptive memoir of restaurant life in the 80s in NYC. Selinger is a strong and fearless writer who goes deeper than others in this category. She addresses the toxicity in the industry and how her own childhood trauma made the work so addictive. Highly recommended, best in class.

[Lilibet Bombshell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this. Loved it. I haven’t read a memoir I felt as compulsively readable as this in a long while.

Hannah Selinger wrote this book to invite us behind the curtain during the 2000s, when celebrity chefs were everything and the fine dining scene was exploding across the country. A Gen Xer like myself, Selinger thought she would work at night and write by day, because wouldn’t that be the dream? But being single, living in New York, working late nights at busy restaurants, and then going out for drinks with coworkers after shifts isn’t exactly conducive to any kind of morning wake-up call so you can spend some time at the laptop writing. It’s a cycle that sucks you in.

I didn’t need to read this book to know that you can love the restaurant industry all you like but it’ll never love you back; heck, the service industry at large is like that. Heck, being a wife and mother can feel like that. Service of any kind can feel like that. But the pressure of the restaurant industry is a whole different machine. Selinger writes about her experiences with the kind of candor that only comes from someone who either has nothing left to lose or the kind of confidence that only comes from someone who has zero effs to give. I’m betting on the latter.

The writing here is witty, honest, emotional, thought-provoking, and deliciously descriptive. I don’t like wine, but I could read Hannah Selinger writing about it for an entire book, I think. 5⭐️


I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: 5 Star Review/Autobiography/Memoir

[Jennifer Huberdeau · Rating 5 out of 5]

What happens when a career you love doesn’t love you back?

Hannah Selinger knows the answer all too well.

Before she was a James Beard-nominated food writer (and the lifestyles writer who made #Scandoval happen), Selinger worked as a server, sommelier and later beverage director with/for some of New York City’s top food celebrities — Bobby Flay, David Chang and Johnny Iuzzini — in the early 2000s.

Selinger hadn’t planned on a life in the restaurant industry. She was a Columbia University graduate when she began working at a pub in Newburyport in 2002 — a means to pay the bills while figuring out her next move. A year and a DUI later, she left that gritty scene for Emerson College and an MFA program.

But in 2005, fresh out of graduate school, she’d once again answer the industry’s siren song. She was back in New York City and the job at Flay’s Bar Americain was supposed to be temporary. It was the first restaurant job (it lasted six weeks) in a cascading line of positions that made up a one-sided love affair that didn’t favor Selinger.

New York is full of restaurants and Selinger quickly found a new job. When that one didn’t work out, she found another. Along the way, she became a certified sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers and became the beverage manager for Chang’s Momofuku Group.

All of this took place during the celebrated era of “bad boy” chefs — Gordon Ramsey, Anthony Bourdain, Chang, Emma Hearst, Charlie Trotter — whose bad behavior was celebrated and ignored because of their culinary prowess.

Selinger would eventually leave the culinary world behind, but then, in 2020, Chang would publish his memoir, in which he noted his past bad behavior. Selinger responded to this in an Eater.com review of his book, in which she said he downplayed the trauma inflicted on her and other employees.

“In all my years of restaurant work, I had never seen anything like the roiling, red-faced, screaming, pulsing, wrath-filled man that was David Chang,” she wrote in the review. She writes that she heard Chang tell a 22-year-old line cook that he’d “murder [his] whole f---ing family” for cooking a subpar family meal (dinner for the staff) and berated her for a wine order in front of her staff.
“‘Who the f--k told you that you could buy this?’ he screamed. ‘Who the f--k do you think you are?’” The act, she says, was a move to tear her down, discredit her in front of the staff, and make her “less than” despite her credentials — a hallmark of the misogynist atmosphere of the industry.

Selinger’s tell-all, “Cellar Rat: My Life in the Restaurant Underbelly,” which will be released March 25, is raw and vulnerable. It is a hard look at why, she, as an intelligent woman, was sucked into the cult of restaurants, where employees are rewarded for keeping their heads down and working 12-hour days for not enough pay.

What was it that made her stay in the industry? What fueled her choices? Her bad decisions? Was it the lure of the camaraderie, the late nights, after parties and the freedom of having daytime hours to herself? Was it the trauma experienced in childhood — a relationship with her stepfather that would erupt in violence and then find her seeking his approval — affecting her as an adult? Was she repeating the cycle?

Selinger isn’t looking for a single answer and is culpable for her decisions, good and bad. But, she is looking for answers to why we have tolerated and celebrated this behavior; why we let it continue and how we put an end to it.
“Cellar Rat” is a look at how the restaurant industry, not unlike others, can be toxic, can gaslight victims into doubting themselves, how it minimizes harassment and normalizes unacceptable behavior. It also offers hope for change and offers grace to those who have been a victim of a toxic workplace.

Selinger, also a graduate of the French Culinary School, now ICC, concludes each chapter with a recipe — a bourbon and Coke bundt cake, a white Burgundy-braised chicken, filet mignon Rossini, bittersweet chocolate cream pie — inspired by the chapter’s content. I recently made the white Burgundy-braised chicken thighs made with wine, shallots, garlic, chicken stock, herbs and lemons (unfortunately, because the book is yet to be published I can’t share the recipe). The chicken is as succulent as it is beautiful; a delicious way to end my time with this memoir.

https://www.berkshireeagle.com/arts_a...

[Mike · Rating 1 out of 5]

A slight and only sporadically believable book by a deeply unsympathetic character who alternately virtue signals about her privilege, while also whinging and backbiting in what feels like an interminable Pizza Hut salad bar in which the reader is the sneeze guard. Interspersed among the author's many tales of (generally self-imposed) woe are recipes, as though anyone would have an appetite after reading this book

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Received an advanced copy from NetGalley: Always fascinated with inside looks into other peoples lives , especially ones that differ from mine. I also enjoy reading about behind the scenes in the restaurant industry. Restaurant stars are known to be awful people behind the scenes and she definitely delivers the truth of this which makes for a page-turning read , but she also writes really well about the sad truth of sexism and the at-will lay-off firing and lay-off policies states have (that effect all fields unfortunately). The wisdom from hindsight is at play here as well. The writing is good , the recipes look delicious and I enjoyed this palate cleanser of a book.

[Lindsay Paulen · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Jim Beatty · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can make a lot of really bad decisions in New York after a night of service....

[Kimberly Alberta]

-

[Anne-Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Audible So boring!!

[Adamsfall · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who spent 10 years working in the service industry in St. Louis, this book dredged up a lot of feelings.

First off, to all of the people I worked with that were kind, selfless, knowledgeable, and always made a place for me in your circles and at your table — thank you.

Second, to the managers and owners that built empires on the backs of the disenfranchised, burnt out, and lied-to — fuck you. I’ve smiled at every restaurant closing and crumbled empire.

And lastly: hey Jordan, I hear you like ‘em young. I’ll never forget how spineless you were. I’ll never forgive you for destabilizing my career and attempting to blackball me from the entire St. Louis restaurant industry. Just know that I still use the story of you getting caught trying to meet up with a teenager and the subsequent failing of your short-lived marriage as a fun party story of why I’ll never go back to the industry. Rot in hell.