I got a copy of "Restaurant Man" for my birthday. I was interested in the book because I like Joe Bastianich. I first became aware of Bastianich when I accidentally found Master Chef on Hulu (can I get paid for that ad?) Bastianich is not a chef. He is restaurateur in a world full of celebrity chefs and he is competing for attention- or money. He is surrounded by people who celebrate food and this book is his chance to show us that he is not just food savvy, but business savvy.
I liked Bastianich, but I wanted to get to know him. On his show he has moments of great humanity and tenderness...those moments are rare, but I wanted a better understanding of who this new reality TV show guy was. His book is not an autobiography. It is a curse laden advertisement for how smart he is and how much he has given to America's diners. There is no editing going on inside the covers. What you read is exactly as Bastianich would tell it if you were across the dinner table from him. His voice resonates on each page.
The book is all over the place. It is not a guide on how to open a restaurant, but it gives advice in every chapter. It is not another Bastianich Wine Bible, but he spends chapter after chapter walking the reader through good Italian wine, wine prices; wine glasses. I am not a drinker so a book that should have taken 2 days to read took me about a week. I was familiar with most foodie terms, but the names of wine and the Italian references took me time to paddle through.
So why did I stick this out when it wasn't the book I wanted? Bastianich is a character. He likes to talk about the sickness that rests inside most restaurants and I found that really interesting. He has a sense of business that is pretty incomparable. I also love New York. Bastianich claims to have changed the face of New York eateries. I have not been back to the city since he opened Eataly and it is the one thing I am seriously looking forward to on my next visit.
Bastianich is a natural competitor, and I respect that. It becomes clear in this book that he is trying to sell the reader on a higher minded way of not just eating, but living. I would have liked to see the 4 books that were crammed into this one actually written. I would have liked to see the inside of his restaurant mind, the inside of his travels to Italy. I wanted to see the dirty side of the business. I got a taste of all of that. I got Bastianich talking at me, getting sidetracked, telling stories: I got the Bastianich that I see on TV. All that is good but I wanted it in a little more thoughtful package.
The book is good if you love wine. The book may even be great if you love wine. The book is good if you love New York dining. This is not a quiet book that makes you feel as though you are the only one hearing Joe's secrets. This is loud, full throttle Joe letting the whole town know that he's here and he is the reason that America eats the way it does...with a little help from Lydia. He does love his mother.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Genius Jerk
If you watch The Big Bang Theory on CBS you have heard Dr. Richard Feynman's name mentioned a few times. In fact if you watch closely you can see a little Feynman in Dr. Sheldon Cooper's personality. Over the holidays I finally sat down and read Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman. It is a book that compiles some of Feynman's interviews and speeches. I was promised a "fun" book. Oh, geez.
Feynman explains his youthful curiosity so we do get a glimpse of how intelligent he was as a child. This intellect wasn't taught or instilled in him, he simply was born to learn. Feynman's need to control things and use people as social experiments made me uncomfortable, even angry. At one point I was so aghast at his stalking skills that I declared to my cousin, whom knew I was reading this book, that Feynman was a sociopath. If Dr. Feynman had not entered into the University and been protected by his professors and peers is there any way he could have stayed out of jail? Even he admits that he spent many nights wandering the streets talking to himself. He made outlandish contracts with people and while working in Los Alamos on the bomb he became obsessed with safecracking.
Yes, he was a genius but there was something in Feynman that wanted the ultimate human experience but he still came across as detached. He studied things but never submerged himself in them because he wanted the knowledge, but I, as a reader, didn't see the passion. His whole life was made up of, "Tell me.", "Show me". I respect that. My problem with Feynman comes from his not actually seeming to have an emotional attachment to what he was doing.
The real example came on page 74 when Dr. Feynman is working with Hildegarde Lamfrom on RNA protein production and she needs ribosomes. He gives her ribosomes from E. coli to use. He basically ruined her experiment and set the work back, by how many months or years I don't know. Dr. Lamfrom was working in the same lab as Watson and Crick and I believe it was Watson that went on to mention her in his Nobel Prize speech. This was a woman on the cusp of something huge, and then comes Feynman. In the end he makes this comment, "That's the trouble with not being in your own field: You don't take it seriously." Throughout the whole experience of reading I just kept throwing the book down screaming, "Surely you're a jerk Mr. Feynman!!"
The book talks a little about physics, but most of the book is just Feynman talking about ants, bars, women, Los Alamos, and Carnival. I loved the name dropping that he does. He mentions Oppenheimer. He names names in Los Alamos. It's like eavesdropping on a pivotal time in history. Feynman had his hands in some of the most bizarre and crazy events in American history. He also makes great revelations about the human condition ...I just can't get past the jerk part. I will continue to read Dr. Feynman's work. I am just too curious. I will have my aspirin handy and only throw the books at inanimate objects. Feynman will always be a key player, maybe even the star, of American science and I will never be bored.
Feynman explains his youthful curiosity so we do get a glimpse of how intelligent he was as a child. This intellect wasn't taught or instilled in him, he simply was born to learn. Feynman's need to control things and use people as social experiments made me uncomfortable, even angry. At one point I was so aghast at his stalking skills that I declared to my cousin, whom knew I was reading this book, that Feynman was a sociopath. If Dr. Feynman had not entered into the University and been protected by his professors and peers is there any way he could have stayed out of jail? Even he admits that he spent many nights wandering the streets talking to himself. He made outlandish contracts with people and while working in Los Alamos on the bomb he became obsessed with safecracking.
Yes, he was a genius but there was something in Feynman that wanted the ultimate human experience but he still came across as detached. He studied things but never submerged himself in them because he wanted the knowledge, but I, as a reader, didn't see the passion. His whole life was made up of, "Tell me.", "Show me". I respect that. My problem with Feynman comes from his not actually seeming to have an emotional attachment to what he was doing.
The real example came on page 74 when Dr. Feynman is working with Hildegarde Lamfrom on RNA protein production and she needs ribosomes. He gives her ribosomes from E. coli to use. He basically ruined her experiment and set the work back, by how many months or years I don't know. Dr. Lamfrom was working in the same lab as Watson and Crick and I believe it was Watson that went on to mention her in his Nobel Prize speech. This was a woman on the cusp of something huge, and then comes Feynman. In the end he makes this comment, "That's the trouble with not being in your own field: You don't take it seriously." Throughout the whole experience of reading I just kept throwing the book down screaming, "Surely you're a jerk Mr. Feynman!!"
The book talks a little about physics, but most of the book is just Feynman talking about ants, bars, women, Los Alamos, and Carnival. I loved the name dropping that he does. He mentions Oppenheimer. He names names in Los Alamos. It's like eavesdropping on a pivotal time in history. Feynman had his hands in some of the most bizarre and crazy events in American history. He also makes great revelations about the human condition ...I just can't get past the jerk part. I will continue to read Dr. Feynman's work. I am just too curious. I will have my aspirin handy and only throw the books at inanimate objects. Feynman will always be a key player, maybe even the star, of American science and I will never be bored.
Monday, January 7, 2013
I just turned 406 and still weigh the same as a duck
There is a line from the movie A Knight's Tale. William is in the stocks and his friends are around him holding various weapons trying to protect him from the mob. Lord Colville comes to release William and before knighting him says, "Your men love you." It is my favorite line from any movie.
I grew up an only child. I was awkward and backward and weird; still am. The only thing I ever really longed for was people to come over- just show up. I was lonely.On birthdays I really wanted people to show up. The presents were nice but I never knew how to thank them appropriately for the gifts. I just wanted them to be there for me.
I have worked very hard to try and create grown up friendships. It is difficult work. You never really know someone until you know them. As Jennifer once said (I am paraphrasing) We weren't instant friends. Friendship takes time and patience and work, and we don't ever know when the moment was that we decided we were friends...it just happens. It grows. And you have to care for it. Jennifer is so thoughtful.
I also have many friends that push me. They ask hard questions, they give me tasks that I hate, they explain things to me, but mostly they just show up. In fire, in birth, in sickness, in celebration they show up. In the past 5 years I have certainly done my share of time in the stocks. I have been weighed, measured and found wanting. I have been worthless and useless. They still show up. They bring laughter, reason, wisdom, blankets, sarcasm, and weapons. They are my people.
I so want to repay them for what they have done for me. I have no idea how so let me say this: When the world comes for you and you are placed in the stocks, I hope that you will look down and see me. I hope that you will say, "There is Shey. She is one of my men and she loves me." Because I do. I love you.
I grew up an only child. I was awkward and backward and weird; still am. The only thing I ever really longed for was people to come over- just show up. I was lonely.On birthdays I really wanted people to show up. The presents were nice but I never knew how to thank them appropriately for the gifts. I just wanted them to be there for me.
I have worked very hard to try and create grown up friendships. It is difficult work. You never really know someone until you know them. As Jennifer once said (I am paraphrasing) We weren't instant friends. Friendship takes time and patience and work, and we don't ever know when the moment was that we decided we were friends...it just happens. It grows. And you have to care for it. Jennifer is so thoughtful.
I also have many friends that push me. They ask hard questions, they give me tasks that I hate, they explain things to me, but mostly they just show up. In fire, in birth, in sickness, in celebration they show up. In the past 5 years I have certainly done my share of time in the stocks. I have been weighed, measured and found wanting. I have been worthless and useless. They still show up. They bring laughter, reason, wisdom, blankets, sarcasm, and weapons. They are my people.
I so want to repay them for what they have done for me. I have no idea how so let me say this: When the world comes for you and you are placed in the stocks, I hope that you will look down and see me. I hope that you will say, "There is Shey. She is one of my men and she loves me." Because I do. I love you.
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