Gayitri Ramesh’s Reviews > Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly > Status Update

“His frustration with the difficulty of trying to get his guests to even try something he found so wonderful made an endearing impression on me.”

“All the food was simple. And I don’t mean easy, or dumb. I mean that for the first time, I saw how three or four ingredients, as long as they are of the highest and freshest quality, can be combined in a straightforward way to make a truly excellent and occasionally wondrous product.”

-no mussels (how they’re stored)
-no hollandaise sauce (love bacteria)
-brunch is “a dumping ground for the odd bits left over from Friday and Saturday nights or for the scraps generated in the normal course of business.”
-seafood vinaigrette/seafood frittata = preserved/disguised
-chickens are grosser than pigs “chefs see it as a menu item for people who don’t know what they want to eat.”

“For me( the cooking life has been a long love affair, with moments both sublime and ridiculous. But like a love affair, looking back you remember the happy times best - the things that drew you in, attracted you in the first place, the things that kept you coming back for more.”

“I’d like civilians who read this to get a sense, at least, that this life, in spite of everything, can be fun.”