Review by Booklist Review
In The Dish, the subtitle is the story. Centered around a single night's meal at Chicago's Wherewithall restaurant, one dish--dry-aged strip loin with tomato and sorrel--is the window through which Friedman (Chefs, Drugs, and Rock & Roll, 2018) takes readers on a pleasing, journalistic exploration of the chefs, line cooks, farmers, vintners, and dishwashers who get food onto the plates of diners willing to pay for high-end meals. While all share a common thread of hard work and determination, unique personalities shine through. Blanca is from Ecuador and doesn't speak English, which keeps her fairly isolated at work while washing dishes. Wherewithall gets its wine from shotgun-wielding winery owner James. Server Nooshâ's journey reveals that her current employer provides a respite from a life of harassment and sexism that is otherwise--and unfortunately--the norm in the kitchen industry. Readers intrigued by the fine-dining industry will not only enjoy this work, but will be reminded to think more deeply about those serving them and working behind the kitchen door the next time they go out to eat.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
What does it take to get a gourmet meal onto a diner's plate? Food writer Friedman (Chefs, Drugs and Rock & Roll) takes readers onto the kill floors of livestock farms and into pressure-cooker kitchens to answer that question in this masterful account. Zooming in on "one dish, in one restaurant"--Chicago eatery Wherewithall's dry-aged strip loin, tomato, sorrel--Friedman documents "the farmers, rancher, and vintner whose wares comprise the dish" at work; traces the origins of each of the dish's components; and interviews the restaurant's staff, including dishwasher Blanca Vasquez, "one of the unseen heroes of Wherewithall's operation"; chef de cuisine Tayler Ploshehanski, who spends most of her time as a "human conduit between kitchen and dining room teams"; and server Nooshâ Elami, who has learned to intuit "what a table needs.... It's their body language, how they're looking at me, how interested they seem." Friedman excels at bringing the dining room to boisterous life, and sprinkles his profiles of Wherewithall's staff with vivid, telling details--when dishwasher Blanca, a chef in Ecuador whose immigration to the U.S. "brought a demotion," describes meals she likes to make, her hands "dance over and around each other... a telltale habit of professional cooks, mimicking the repetitive movement grooved into muscle memory." This will sate gastronomes and casual foodies alike. (Oct.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Using a single entrée from Chicago's upscale Wherewithall restaurant as an example, food writer Friedman (Chefs, Drugs and Rock & Roll) describes in detail all the moving parts that make fine dining possible. Chef, restaurateur, and television host Michael Lomonaco narrates Friedman's account with aplomb, beginning with his interviews with the restaurant's dining room and kitchen staff, who share how they got started in the business. Friedman dissects fine dining in its entirety, from the intricacies of seating patrons and making their experience pleasant to the work of each position in the kitchen. He visits the farms that provide the ingredients and follows the preparation of meat from slaughter to table. Friedman rides with the food supplier, marveling at the flexible decision-making required to move goods from farm to restaurant. He captures the tension and teamwork of the working restaurant on a busy night and highlights the crucial positions of the dishwashers and polishers in presenting the final product. Lomonaco's well-paced and engaging narration sobers as he notes the transient nature of restaurants and their staff, especially in the face of disasters, including pandemics and failing infrastructure. VERDICT A captivating listen for foodies, restaurant professionals, and restaurant hopefuls.--Joanna M. Burkhardt
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Behind the scenes of the creation of a single dish at a fine dining restaurant. Friedman, producer and host of the podcast Andrew Talks to Chefs and author of Chefs, Drugs and Rock & Roll and Knives at Dawn, offers a lively look into what goes into the production of one meal, on one day, in one restaurant. He chose Chicago's Wherewithall, a sleek 50-seat venue noted for its weekly seven-course tasting menu, focusing on the meat course, which, during his visit in July 2021, was a dry-aged strip loin with tomato and sorrel. At Wherewithall, he observes, "the food, like the food at most restaurants, is the creative, technical, and physical work product" not only of the owners and chef de cuisine, "but also of their sous chef and cooks, dishwashing team, and servers. From beyond the restaurant, it contains the labor of farmers, farmhands, producers, delivery people, packers, and too many others to list in full." Besides spending a week on site, examining every facet of menu planning, cooking, and serving, Friedman scoured the Midwest, visiting the area farms whose products shape each week's menu. Wherewithall serves only seasonal produce from suppliers such as Nichols Farm & Orchard, which grew the tomatoes; the Slagel Family Farm, which furnished the beef; Butternut Sustainable Farm, which supplied the sorrel; and the 29-acre Smits Farm, a purveyor of fresh herbs and other items. The author rode along with the delivery company that transported produce from farm to restaurant kitchen, and he spoke to the documented workers at the vineyard from which the restaurant buys its wines. Friedman profiles many of the hardworking staff who make the restaurant's success possible, including owners Beverly Kim and Johnny Clark, who came from vastly different restaurant experiences; chef de cuisine Tayler Ploshehanski, who deftly manages the complexities of the kitchen; server Nooshâ Elami, who has developed an intuitive sense of what patrons know about food; and dishwasher Blanca Vasquez, "one of the unseen heroes" of the restaurant. An entertaining, eye-opening investigation. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
