Garlic and Sapphires
I finished the book Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl last night. There were two selections for this month's book club and the other one looked much more interesting. I only checked this one out in case the other didn't become available in time. But then I ended up really enjoying it. Ruth Reichl, then food critic for the New York Times, is very good at describing food. She gets into food the way that Steve Almond, author of Candy Freak, gets into candy.
In order to learn how restaurants treat regular customers, she liked to disguise herself, which she did very well. In New York, the NY Times critic is all powerful and is treated, literally, in one case, better than royalty. That is unless she isn't recognized, in which case she might have to huddle next to a cold window and be all but ignored. One of the best parts of the book is seeing snooty restaurants get their comeuppance.
I highly recommend the book. It was a quick and easy read that took me into a world I couldn't afford to visit myself.