Lutece: A Day in the Life of America's Greatest Restaurant - Hardcover

Daria, Irene

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0394589645 ISBN 13: 9780394589640

Publisher: Random House, 1993

Synopsis

For more than three decades, food lovers have flocked to a modest brownstone on Manhattan's East Side to dine at what is arguably the finest French restaurant in America - Lutece.
For this revealing and often delicious book, Irene Daria, a columnist for Glamour, was granted extraordinary access to Lutece's kitchens, to its legendary owner, Andre Soltner, and to its forty-two employees - from sous-chefs to dishwashers - to discover what it takes to maintain this unique four-star establishment.
Daria takes us behind the serene world a diner sees from her coveted table. We meet the loyal, polished staff and are witness to the complex web of decisions, from menu planning to recipe testing to balancing reservations, that spell the difference between Lutece and any other restaurant. We attend the negotiating sessions with wine importers - Lutece maintains a cellar of forty thousand bottles - and pay on-site visits to suppliers of restaurant specialties such as free-range ducks, Angus beef, and Guatemalan leeks. We see how Soltner's singular, uncompromising vision makes Lutece both a labor of love and a financially successful enterprise.
How Lutece survives, competes, and finally surpasses all comers is a story for anyone who has dined there - or longs to. It's the next best thing to a confirmed reservation.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

Is LutŠce slipping? The steadfastly classic French restaurant, long considered to be Manhattan's top eatery, has been branded ``old hat'' by some upstart critics. Now--as detailed here by Daria (The Fashion Cycle, 1990)--restaurant critic Bryan Miller is revisiting for The New York Times and owner-chef Andr‚ Soltner has to wonder: Will LutŠce retain the Times' four-star rating? With this question posed at the book's opening to create some semblance of suspense, and answered at the end to close the bracket, Daria takes readers through a typical day at 249 East 50th St., from the 5:30 a.m. arrival of the three sous-chefs...through the ``dizzying'' and ``high-adrenaline'' hours of getting dinner cooked and served...to Soltner's 11:00 p.m. telephone orders for the next day's meat and fish. LutŠce's suppliers, waiters, pot washer, admirers, difficult customers, and professional critics are all given attention, and Daria goes on at fairly vacuous length about everything from the noon bartender's--or this or that sous- chef's or critic's--work history to how waiters keep track of who ordered what. But overall, the focus is on the dedicated Soltner, unfazed by fads, devoted to making his guests happy (favoring or scorning none), exacting about ingredients and preparations--and, yes, beaming with joy when the Times review comes out with all four stars intact. Daria approaches Soltner and LutŠce with less style or wit--or demonstrated background in food or hospitality--than sheer dogged reporting and gratitude at being admitted to the inner operations behind the venerable glamour. No doubt there are others who will appreciate the opportunity to go along. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly

The slight exaggeration of the subtitle is virtually the only hyperbole to be found in this involving, personalized, instructive multi-starred review of the famed Manhattan restaurant. The book is no mere promo piece (although Lutece owner-chef Andre Soltner couldn't ask for more), since Daria also takes readers through the commercial food chain, from distributor to restaurant kitchen to the diner's plate. The day at Lutece we read about starts at 5:30 a.m., and on this particular morning there's a certain tension as the staff awaits a New York Times review which they hope will counter negative comments in New York Newsday . It's crucial that food critic Bryan Miller affirm Lutece's four-star status (he does); as Soltner explains, "the fear of failure" keeps a chef great. Daria ( The Fashion Cycle ) introduces us to the workers, most specifically to Soltner and to his wife of 30 years, Simone, and shows us the exacting professionalism of them all. We spend a lot of time in the kitchens--the book includes a few Lutece recipes--witnessing the complicated logistics of food preparation. Readers learn that serving and feeding diners well is a considerable accomplishment--and deserving of a generous tip.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Random House
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0394589645
• ISBN 13: 9780394589640
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 230