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The Fourth Star: Dispatches from Inside Daniel Boulud's Celebrated New York Restaurant
Within every fine restaurant there exist two the elegant, hushed environment of the dining room and the chaotic, explosive, high-
tension scene behind the swinging kitchen doors. The ability to create dishes that are utterly sublime and turn them out at breakneck pace while simultaneously juggling kitchen crises, coddling demanding patrons, and managing overworked staff is what defines a four-star chef.
In The Fourth Star , award-winning author Leslie Brenner goes inside those swinging doors to explore the realities behind Daniel, capturing the dramas that arise in the insular, high-pressure milieu of a world-class kitchen. New York’s food establishment had been stunned when Daniel Boulud’s newly opened flagship restaurant was awarded only three stars from the New York Times. From that moment on, it became Boulud’s unspoken mission to regain the four-star rating that he’d previously garnered during his tenure at Le Cirque and then at his own first restaurant. That he was striving to do all this on an unprecedented scale, turning out nearly four hundred meals in a few short hours of service—meals that had to be absolutely perfect every time—made this goal all the more ambitious.
Brenner paints a portrait of a remarkable French chef at a pivotal moment of his career, as Boulud relentlessly drives his staff to the peak of excellence.
The Fourth Star provides full access to every aspect of Daniel, investigating everything from the maître d’s table assignment policies to the internecine politics of advancing up the culinary ladder.
Filled with delectable, undercover details and moving personal drama, Brenner’s chronicle is an addictive read about the inner workings of a super-lative restaurant. The Fourth Star is destined to satisfy restaurant lovers, professional cooks, and armchair chefs alike.
tension scene behind the swinging kitchen doors. The ability to create dishes that are utterly sublime and turn them out at breakneck pace while simultaneously juggling kitchen crises, coddling demanding patrons, and managing overworked staff is what defines a four-star chef.
In The Fourth Star , award-winning author Leslie Brenner goes inside those swinging doors to explore the realities behind Daniel, capturing the dramas that arise in the insular, high-pressure milieu of a world-class kitchen. New York’s food establishment had been stunned when Daniel Boulud’s newly opened flagship restaurant was awarded only three stars from the New York Times. From that moment on, it became Boulud’s unspoken mission to regain the four-star rating that he’d previously garnered during his tenure at Le Cirque and then at his own first restaurant. That he was striving to do all this on an unprecedented scale, turning out nearly four hundred meals in a few short hours of service—meals that had to be absolutely perfect every time—made this goal all the more ambitious.
Brenner paints a portrait of a remarkable French chef at a pivotal moment of his career, as Boulud relentlessly drives his staff to the peak of excellence.
The Fourth Star provides full access to every aspect of Daniel, investigating everything from the maître d’s table assignment policies to the internecine politics of advancing up the culinary ladder.
Filled with delectable, undercover details and moving personal drama, Brenner’s chronicle is an addictive read about the inner workings of a super-lative restaurant. The Fourth Star is destined to satisfy restaurant lovers, professional cooks, and armchair chefs alike.
314 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
May 6, 2015
Repetitive, sycophantic, but still interesting, to a point, hence two stars (a low two stars). You might think from this review that I have a green and envious soul. And so I might have!
How many times you can describe a 'typical' lunchtime in the same restaurant kitchen without sounding repetitive? It was interesting the first few times but this book drags on and on. There don't seem to be any interesting characters - everyone except for the evil maitre d' is 'just wonderful'. Daniel Boulud himself is a genius who travels a lot and. And? I was waiting for a bit more than that. Characterisation is limited to this cook is tall, this one is French, that one is a woman with permanent pms (ok, the author didn't say that, exactly). Some people go to market to buy provisions, others peel or chop them. Some staff like the place and stay, some get pissed off and leave after a year or even less. New people come. Yawn.
VIPS (which means anyone with a recognisable name or from the press) get free courses, free meals, the best tables and very special treatment. The (rich) unknowns pay their hundreds of dollars per meal to subsidise the restaurant being able to suck up to VIPS. That's it. Nothing else is said at all.
You know I hate it when the author is getting so much unpaid-benefit from the subject of the book, not just this book - any book, that they put all their critical faculties to one side. They feel so beholden and grateful and desperate for the fawningly-given attention and freebies that make them feel so important to continue.
There is a newspaper on the island where the social columnist is friends with all the expat upscale bar owners and eats and drinks in those places for free. Each one of them gets a mention every week and written up at least once a month, rarely is there even a mention of anywhere else. And its no good any other little cafe or bar no matter how excellent offering the reporter anything, no, he only likes upscale expat, if you aren't that, then you aren't even in his field of vision. This book is exactly the same.
One thing I did learn: if you are going to dine in an expensive restaurant it wouldn't hurt if when you booked you let it be known that you are From The Press. At the very least they wouldn't sit you near the bathrooms!
How many times you can describe a 'typical' lunchtime in the same restaurant kitchen without sounding repetitive? It was interesting the first few times but this book drags on and on. There don't seem to be any interesting characters - everyone except for the evil maitre d' is 'just wonderful'. Daniel Boulud himself is a genius who travels a lot and. And? I was waiting for a bit more than that. Characterisation is limited to this cook is tall, this one is French, that one is a woman with permanent pms (ok, the author didn't say that, exactly). Some people go to market to buy provisions, others peel or chop them. Some staff like the place and stay, some get pissed off and leave after a year or even less. New people come. Yawn.
VIPS (which means anyone with a recognisable name or from the press) get free courses, free meals, the best tables and very special treatment. The (rich) unknowns pay their hundreds of dollars per meal to subsidise the restaurant being able to suck up to VIPS. That's it. Nothing else is said at all.
You know I hate it when the author is getting so much unpaid-benefit from the subject of the book, not just this book - any book, that they put all their critical faculties to one side. They feel so beholden and grateful and desperate for the fawningly-given attention and freebies that make them feel so important to continue.
There is a newspaper on the island where the social columnist is friends with all the expat upscale bar owners and eats and drinks in those places for free. Each one of them gets a mention every week and written up at least once a month, rarely is there even a mention of anywhere else. And its no good any other little cafe or bar no matter how excellent offering the reporter anything, no, he only likes upscale expat, if you aren't that, then you aren't even in his field of vision. This book is exactly the same.
One thing I did learn: if you are going to dine in an expensive restaurant it wouldn't hurt if when you booked you let it be known that you are From The Press. At the very least they wouldn't sit you near the bathrooms!
April 26, 2009
This book was the book that started my husband's restaurant book craze. We both loved this book, and it was one of the few books we actually read right after each other and discussed! The book documents the quest of Daniel Boulud's Manhattan restaurant (Daniel) to regain its coveted fourth star--the highest rank by the prestigious New York Times. The restaurant had enjoyed four stars for years but was demoted to three stars in 1999. This book documents the staff's efforts (both front of house and back of house) to win back that fourth star. The book offers you an inside view of what it takes to make a top-notch restaurant with world-class food. You'll never view a restaurant table as a table for two again (it is a "two top).
September 17, 2010
Ay.
What did we learn in this book? That Daniel Boulud is a world-class chef and businessman, that life in the kitchen is hectic, unpredictable, that the characters surrounding Daniel's restaurant take their job very seriously, that there are a whole bunch of dishes that sound great but that I probably will never taste.
I learned all of this probably within the first 100 pages.
What does this book need? Editing, primarily trimming. While the author tries to recreate this atmosphere of intensity in her transcriptions of dialogue amongst the various chefs, runners, maitre d's, various executive chefs below Boulud, the result is overkill. It's great to read about all the various preparation techniques that go into developing "foie gras terrine wrapped in black truffle" (p. 47) or prepping sea urchins (p. 250), or the transcripts of the arguments that take place amongst kitchen staff members, but the food itself would have benefited from less writing.
What also would have been more effective is more research on the personal lives of the various players. The various employees at Daniel clearly work very hard, and much discussion is devoted to how good the service is at all levels of the production, but perhaps more time could have been spent interviewing them and hearing their thoughts, rather than mere kitchen observation.
The best parts of the book I consider to be the periphery of the kitchen: how a restaurant is run from the business perspective, how President Clinton's visit was prepped, how vegetables are procured, how employees get promoted to other restaurants after working at Daniel.
The end result of reading the text .... was that I really didn't feel like eating. That is not what a food book should do!
The food discussed may be worth four stars, but reading about it is a less exciting experience.
What did we learn in this book? That Daniel Boulud is a world-class chef and businessman, that life in the kitchen is hectic, unpredictable, that the characters surrounding Daniel's restaurant take their job very seriously, that there are a whole bunch of dishes that sound great but that I probably will never taste.
I learned all of this probably within the first 100 pages.
What does this book need? Editing, primarily trimming. While the author tries to recreate this atmosphere of intensity in her transcriptions of dialogue amongst the various chefs, runners, maitre d's, various executive chefs below Boulud, the result is overkill. It's great to read about all the various preparation techniques that go into developing "foie gras terrine wrapped in black truffle" (p. 47) or prepping sea urchins (p. 250), or the transcripts of the arguments that take place amongst kitchen staff members, but the food itself would have benefited from less writing.
What also would have been more effective is more research on the personal lives of the various players. The various employees at Daniel clearly work very hard, and much discussion is devoted to how good the service is at all levels of the production, but perhaps more time could have been spent interviewing them and hearing their thoughts, rather than mere kitchen observation.
The best parts of the book I consider to be the periphery of the kitchen: how a restaurant is run from the business perspective, how President Clinton's visit was prepped, how vegetables are procured, how employees get promoted to other restaurants after working at Daniel.
The end result of reading the text .... was that I really didn't feel like eating. That is not what a food book should do!
The food discussed may be worth four stars, but reading about it is a less exciting experience.
August 2, 2011
There is a surfeit of books about restaurants on the market. These tend to be uniformly repetitive and uniformly badly written, especially when penned by the chef-owner of the eatery. A delightful exception is Leslie Brenner's book about Daniel Boulud's flagship restaurant in New York City. The author spent a year on the premises, dressed unobtrusively in cook's whites, and demonstrates a keen ear for the interactions in both the front and the back of the house. This was made more challenging by the polyglot nature of those interactions, in English, Spanish, and French, and sometimes a mixture of at least two. The book's premise is to follow the restaurant from 4 January 2000, just seven months after it had received a three-star review in the New York Times, to 12 March 2001 when Times food critic William Grimes corrected his earlier error and added the fourth star. She introduces the real-life characters in this drama, from sous chefs to plongeurs, in a way that draws one to care about them all. The inclusion of recipes would have been beyond the scope of this book, but the omission has left me experimenting to make candied citrus zest dust and refining what I think Chef Boulud does to produce curried cream of cauliflower soup with green apple.
April 19, 2007
The book starts slow. Her sketches of kitchens are too generalized and it is often clear, the author doesn't understand how kitchens work. Her descriptions of front of house staff are a bit better. The books lacks narrative. In keeping with life, the turn-over and lack of explanation in the Industry, the author loses the story, or fails to tell it, allowing characters and discussions to barely begin and then stop abruptly. But, in spending a year with Daniel Boulud, she does compile some interesting stuff.
March 15, 2012
This look inside a well-known restaurant is a fun read, albeit repetitive, as writer Leslie Brenner observes, no holds barred, what goes on at Daniel, Daniel Boulud’s well-known French restaurant in New York City. Front of the house, back of the house, managers meetings, lunch service, dinner service, banquet service (with then-President Clinton, to boot).
“The seviche tonight involves sea scallops, oysters, and sea urchins, with osetra caviar, pink raddish, and celery leaves in a horseradish-lime oyster water. It’s Daniel all over: clear, pure flavours that sound as though they’ll make sense, though they’re unusual in combination. Synergistic, the flavours vibrate together, creating a dish in which the whole is a thousand times greater than the sum of its parts.”
I read this on the iPhone while walking wee reader in the mornings after breakfast and I read this before bedtime, that is, after dinner. Because this book should only be read on a full stomach, although the food it describes is not food that you can stomach every day. Visions of food – the fancy type, with truffles and foie gras – dance before your eyes in every chapter. There’s also the less fancy ‘family dinner’ or what the staff themselves eat, simpler fare like tacos carnitas or pasta and salad. While the front of house strives to create a serene and a pleasant environment for the diner (really, for the super rich or famous diner, since a meal for two runs in the hundreds), it is a tense, stressful environment in the kitchen. And how can it not be, with several hundred covers at dinners, special requests, tastings, daily specials, a la carte orders, demanding VIPs (celebrities, press – even a regular who disdains all of the amazing desserts and gets a special off-menu order of tarte tatin everytime) who get all sorts of complimentary things, everyday. And that elusive ‘fourth star’, that is, the New York Times food critic’s rating of the restaurant (not long after Daniel first opened in January 1999, the New York Times gave it 3 stars. Daniel gets its four-star rating in 2001).
The Fourth Star is an entertaining read. Especially for anyone who’s interested in what goes on behind the scenes of a restaurant.
“The seviche tonight involves sea scallops, oysters, and sea urchins, with osetra caviar, pink raddish, and celery leaves in a horseradish-lime oyster water. It’s Daniel all over: clear, pure flavours that sound as though they’ll make sense, though they’re unusual in combination. Synergistic, the flavours vibrate together, creating a dish in which the whole is a thousand times greater than the sum of its parts.”
I read this on the iPhone while walking wee reader in the mornings after breakfast and I read this before bedtime, that is, after dinner. Because this book should only be read on a full stomach, although the food it describes is not food that you can stomach every day. Visions of food – the fancy type, with truffles and foie gras – dance before your eyes in every chapter. There’s also the less fancy ‘family dinner’ or what the staff themselves eat, simpler fare like tacos carnitas or pasta and salad. While the front of house strives to create a serene and a pleasant environment for the diner (really, for the super rich or famous diner, since a meal for two runs in the hundreds), it is a tense, stressful environment in the kitchen. And how can it not be, with several hundred covers at dinners, special requests, tastings, daily specials, a la carte orders, demanding VIPs (celebrities, press – even a regular who disdains all of the amazing desserts and gets a special off-menu order of tarte tatin everytime) who get all sorts of complimentary things, everyday. And that elusive ‘fourth star’, that is, the New York Times food critic’s rating of the restaurant (not long after Daniel first opened in January 1999, the New York Times gave it 3 stars. Daniel gets its four-star rating in 2001).
The Fourth Star is an entertaining read. Especially for anyone who’s interested in what goes on behind the scenes of a restaurant.
October 6, 2008
I liked some aspects of this book; had a hard time with others. I enjoyed learning about each aspect of the restaurant business. She spends time individually with many of the chefs and employees - the host, bartender, sauciers, sommelier, etc. etc. and of course the owner. So, I learned a great deal about what it takes to make a restaurant run. But much of the dialogue was in French, since many of the chefs and the owner are French. And her decision to record conversations as they happened gave it a more journalistic feel but made it incredibly difficult to read at points, paritcularly at the height of service during dinner when things are moving quickly. I found myself jumping over whole paragraphs. But an interesting book for the foodies out there.
February 13, 2008
I'm pretty tired of almost all food writing now. I feel like I've read all the really important stuff, and everything now is just rehash-after-rehash. But this is good. Leslie Brenner hangs out at Daniel for an entire year, while Boulud tries to win back his fourth star after a not-so-great NYT review. Verbatim kitchen conversations and a really intimate view on how one of the best restaurants anywhere runs on a day-to-day basis. I used to recommend this to anyone who was looking for food writing, and was surprised at how few have read it.
March 6, 2017
Although I'm not a "foodie" by a long shot, I enjoyed this thorough behind-the-scenes look at a top-notch NYC restaurant. I was overwhelmed by the amount of detail the author provided, particularly in regards to the dialogue in the kitchen during service. How was she able to jot all of that down?! Although I admit that I started to gloss over all of that detail in the second half of the book; I just thought it was a bit too much. Otherwise, I thought it was very well written and engaging. A book any legit foodie would eat up!
January 18, 2010
This was interesting if you like books about chefs and kitchens. Since I find the restaurant kitchen fascinating, I thought this was a cool book. That being said, you can only read so much of this, and the book went on a little too long. The author is now the food critic for the Dallas Morning News (my hometown paper), and it's interesting to learn that (1) she has not been a food critic for very long, and (2) she clearly has chef-worship, which explains some of her reviews here in Dallas.
July 8, 2008
I liked this book a lot more in theory than I enjoyed actually reading it. The idea of "behind the scenes at Daniel" was nice, and the descriptions of the dishes were somewhat inspiring, but the author chose a kind of day-to-day journal approach that quickly got same-y and tedious. So I didn't actually finish it, but I've decided I'm done. Onward!
April 13, 2009
The author was a fly in the wall at Daniel Boulud's restaurant Daniel for an entire year, and she faithfully reports what she saw and heard. She actually took notes in shorthand of the crazed conversations in the kitchen, word for word, which is an amazing feat in such a rapid-fire environment. Absolutely fascinating for anyone interested in restaurants or food!
January 7, 2013
I picked up this book after reading about Gail Simmons' experiences in Daniel Boulud's kitchen in her book.
I found the book to be a fascinating read. Leslie Brenner does a great job of being an (almost) impartial narrator - sharing the good and the ugly about working long hard hours in a fine dining restaurant.
I found the book to be a fascinating read. Leslie Brenner does a great job of being an (almost) impartial narrator - sharing the good and the ugly about working long hard hours in a fine dining restaurant.
June 12, 2017
Daniel Boulud's NYC restaurant - both back of the house and front - in a splendid and detailed narrative. I love the exacting nature of all aspects of his restaurant, but can't imagine eating at any of them. Stops just short of 9/11, but now there are 11 Boulud restaurants in New York alone, with more all over the world. I imagine that he's not in the kitchen very often now. Maureen
July 29, 2007
I'm a foodie, enjoyed eating at restaurant Daniel, but yet this book was so boring I couldn't get myself to like it. An inside look at the restaurant and chef, which should have by all accounts been fascinating material, but came out totally flat to me. Don't bother with this book.
August 9, 2007
Interesting look behind-the-scenes at a great restaurant. Narrative suffers from lack of direction, and the kitchen scenes, though they do a good job of capturing the intensity and organized chaos, are a little difficult to follow.
April 5, 2007
The writting isn't the best, but if you like reading about New York restaurants and Daniel Bouloud, you would enjoy this.
November 14, 2007
A fun read on what goes on behind the scenes at a four star restaurant. To be read alongside the Making of a Chef and the Soul of a Chef.
January 24, 2008
What a wonder perspective of the inner workings of a restuarant from the back of the house stand point...
July 22, 2008
An honest and informative story about one year in the life of one of NYC's best restaurants.
May 26, 2010
This was an entertaining romp through the kitchen of a "celebrated New York Restaurant". Foodies and culinary arts folks would enjoy!
June 1, 2010
Fascinating (if repetitive) look inside one of the finest restaurant kitchens in the world. I wish she didn't assume you know every food term and lots of French, but still a good read.
January 6, 2011
Makes me want to eat at Daniel's in NYC!
March 17, 2011
A little repeptitive, but fascinating just the same.
May 17, 2013
This book was like like a 300 page advertisement for the Daniel Boulud empire. It lacks any analysis of the author's observations. And the writing kinda sux.
June 27, 2018
It's as if a stenographer recorded every single pot stir in the kitchen, so it became a bit tedious at times.
February 10, 2020
The gist of what's going on in Boulud's restaurant can be understood in less than a third of the way through the book. While I appreciate the work and the dedication of the staff it was difficult to read the entire story. Hats off to the author for spending as much time as she did in chronicling life at Daniel.
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January 20, 2022This gave me PTSD from being on a busy line during service, but I enjoyed re-living that part of my life through a book. I'm not sure why anyone who hasn't cooked/served would read this. It's not Tolstoy (or even Bourdain), but it's not trying to be. It's an accurate representation of the insanity that is restaurant cooking, especially at that high level.
August 27, 2019
If you're ever interested in the pressure of what it takes to be at height of the culinary world this is a good read. It probably is a bit dated at this point, but just seeing what a restaurant like Daniel spent on flowers in a year is somewhat mind-blowing.
June 8, 2020
Brenner's documentary narrative style got tedious pretty quickly, and I skimmed through most of the kitchen crises. (Yes, we get it, people being rude under stress.) The rest was pretty informative though.
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