Leslie Brenner
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"Writing with a flair for on-the-street reportage...Brenner is also superb at context; her disquisition on the general decline in American fine arts and the concomitant rise in the 'living arts' is worth the price of admission....As riveting as a good mystery, and just as much fun."--Kirkus Reviews
 Leslie's son Wylie with chef Daniel Boulud during the writing of The Fourth Star Praise for THE FOURTH STAR"Now comes what may be the most thorough, behind-the-scenes examination ever written about a restaurant....Blessed with an encycloopedic knowledge of ingredients and cooking techniques, and able to record conversations in shorthand, Brenner probably could have written an entire book about a single meal."--Barry Glassner, Los Angeles Times Book Review
"Chefs need big egos; good journalists, on the other hand, need to have no ego at all. And Brenner is good: She blends in with the scenery, notices everything and gets people's confidence....We feel the heat, see the sizzle, look on as cooks burn themselves, wrench their backs and sometimes quit in the middle of service....Boulud himself emerges as a complicated character: driven, short-tempered, ambitious and a bit of a publicity hound..."--JoAnn C. Gutin, Newsday |
The Fourth Star: Dispatches From Inside Daniel Boulud's Celebrated New York RestaurantThe Fourth Star: Dispatches From Inside Daniel Boulud's Celebrated New York Restaurant Within every fine restaurant there exist two worlds: 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 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 superlative restaurant. "The Fourth Star" is destined to satisfy restaurant lovers, professional cooks, and armchair chefs alike. |
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