Ruth ReichlGarlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise

`Garlic and Sapphires' is the third volume of memoirs by Ruth Reichl. After `Tender at the Bone' which deals with her childhood and teens and `Comfort Me with Apples' which deals with her early journalistic career in San Francisco, this latest volume deals with her five years as the lead restaurant critic for the New York Times.This volume proves that Ms. Reichl is truly the best culinary memoirist today, and easily the best since M.F.K. Fisher. And, as one who has read more than a few of Ms. Fisher's memoirs, I would easily choose Ms. Reichl's humor and great stories of the modern scene over Ms. Fisher's slightly musty, albeit exquisitely crafted tales of cities and towns in France.The primary point of this volume is to tell the stories behind Ms. Reichl's various disguises and personas she took on in order to dine at Daniel's and Lespanisse and Le Cirque without being identified as the restaurant critic for the Times. The book starts off with the amazing story of Reichl's flight from Los Angles to New York seated, by coincidence, along side a waitress of a major Manhattan restaurant. It turns out that posted in all restaurant kitchens in New York City was already a photograph of Ruth Reichl with a reward to any staff member who identifies Ms. Reichl in their restaurant.In spite of all the other things on which Ruth could dwell, she stays remarkably on message. There is only the slightest of references to the great New York Times culinary writer, Craig Claiborne, who was still alive while Reichl was at the Times. And, there was only a slightly more specific reference to R. W. Appel and Amanda Hesser. The only two writing talents cited to any extent are Marion Burros, a friendly colleague who mostly worked out of the Washington bureau and adversary Bryan Miller who left the critic's post and objected to Reichl's overturning a lot of his restaurant opinions. What Miller forgot was that the power of the restaurant critic's column was not based on the writer, but on the newspaper which published the column.The most important character in this story after Reichl may be `THE NEW YORK TIMES', commonly thought to be the best and most powerful newspaper in the world. This fact makes it almost unthinkable that Reichl would question whether or not she really wanted to work for the Times when she was literally offered the job on a silver platter. There may have been some foundation to her doubts when she saw the Times offices for the first time. In contrast to the light, airy, Los Angles Times offices, the New York offices were crowded and filled with lots of old desks and unmatched chairs. After a full day's interviews plus total willingness from her husband to relocate to New York, Reichl took the job and immediately changed the tone of the paper's reviews.Reichl's personal philosophy was that reviews were nothing more than informed opinion and taste. This may seem utterly subjective, but actually, it is not far from what you would see in a scholarly work on the nature of aesthetic judgment. One is much better off trusting the opinion of a literary critic who has read 10,000 novels, both good and bad, than of your dentist who may have read 10, all from the same author. The thing that endeared her to her Times editors and publishers was the idea that her columns were written to sell newspapers, not to promote restaurants.For someone who does not read reviews of major Manhattan restaurants, I was a bit surprised at the incredible difference between the quality of food and service given to a pair of `beautiful people' versus the quality of food and service given to a drab looking old woman. And, if the diner is known to be the critic from the Times, food and service quality goes off the charts. This was the reason for the many disguises. And, it is obvious that more than one was needed, as it was all too easy for an astute restaurateur to connect a person with the byline on a review which can change their gross by tens of thousands of dollars a week. The truly remarkable thing about many of the disguises is how the personality embodied by the wig and clothes became part of Reichl's persona in dealing with people who were not in on the ruse. By far the funniest was the incident when Reichl took on her mother's persona, using her mother's clothes and jewelry. The story is doubly amusing if you have read `Tender at the Bone' where Reichl describes her primary chore was to keep her mother from poisoning any guests by serving spoiled food.It should be no surprise that Reichl's job had a serious downside. In addition to all the nasty mail from offended restaurateurs and their advocates and the political backbiting at the newspaper, there were the really unpleasant situations where Reichl offered `a dinner with the New York Times restaurant critic' as a prize to be auctioned off for charity. Ruth recounts one especially distasteful episode where the situation went so far as to turn her well-trained chameleon personality into someone who was distasteful to her husband. This job is no picnic. From this encounter comes the name of the book from a line in T. S. Eliot's `Four Quartets', `garlic and pearls in the mud' which echoed the fact that the evening had nothing to do with Reichl's love of cooks, food, or writing.The book includes the Times reviews Reichl wrote as a result of the meals described in the book. These are fun and interesting, but are really just sidebars to the real action in the main text. My only regret is that Reichl did not find it useful to include photographs of her disguises.Very highly recommended reading for foodies and non-foodies alike.

Nothing profound, but it's an entertaining book to read. I almost certainly will never eat at any such restaurant as those described in the book, but it is fun is to read the smack downs of pretentious, over-rated eateries that are more about snooty clientele (said with a pretentious faux-French accent and pronunciation, like the AH that gets shot in the elevator in "Taken") and employees than the quality of the food. The disguises and get ups used to disguise herself are a hoot to read, and the terrible treatment of people seen as fringe is revealing. The tacit exposure of the co-dependency of such places is the best part of the schadenfreude. The snobs need to be seen at such places, and the restaurants need to cater to the snobs to keep them coming back. We mere mortals are just distractions, to be shuttled into noisy corners next to the kitchen door. I really liked how quality restaurants that treat everyone with respect and attention are lauded. Those are the places that deserve accolades. The lengthy descriptions of the food are not helpful, and in some cases kind of gross. Is there anything more disgusting than eating an organ out of an animal that has been force fed into a diseased state (hepatic macrosteatosis)? Besides, restaurants come and go so relatively quickly that the details about one are dated almost as soon as a book is published.

Ruth Reichl has always been passionate about food and writes about the sheer ecstasy of her discoveries. She is however at times mildly critical. “Garlic and Sapphires” is a memoir of her experience as a restaurant critic for the New York Times.Believing that controversy is good for a critic, she sometimes lets herself be brazenly frank. However, it is the sensuous detail about the foods she consumes that got my attention. Her descriptions of the tasting menu at one restaurant really reveals the beauty of her talent. It is almost as if her sophisticated analysis of cuisine is more of an art form. Ruth Reichl notices all the small details of each meal and recounts them with clarity from her photographic mind.I enjoyed so much about this book, but it was the train ride to Flushing that intrigued me most with all its sights and scents. You feel as if you've been drawn into a memorable and magical experience. The tour of Brooklyn with Ed Levine was also fun.Once you begin this book you are along for the ride. You will be entertained with the fantasy of being a food critic. While reading, you can live blissfully and vicariously. At times the situations or conversations are also delightfully funny. I especially enjoyed Ruth Reichl's son's comments as he seemed wise beyond his years.Ruth Reichl is an expert at reading people and describes them with such detail you will feel that you know these individuals intimately. What amused me the most however was all the characters Ruth becomes in order to disguise herself. As the most powerful restaurant critic in the world, she often tries to fly under the radar to experience restaurants as an ordinary person. This involves wearing various outfits and wigs.Throughout the book you will find the reviews that were published in the New York Times. There are also some delicious recipes. I tried the Spaghetti Carbonara and it was so good my husband asked for more. It is definitely a recipe I'm happy to add to my repertoire. I did however wish that she'd included a recipe for mushroom dumplings since they sounded so good.Once you have read a book by Ruth Reichl you will want to read more because her experiences with food are so exciting and memorable. I did however wonder why she only gave Union Pacific three stars when it sounded like a four-star experience.After reading this book and trying a recipe I am looking forward to trying more recipes in Ruth's cookbook.One word of warning however, drinking too much alcohol can lead to fatal diseases, especially of the liver. This is a book that describes wine in great detail.~The Rebecca Review

Ruth’s writing is both informative and engaging….her changes of identities throughout the books it a step way farther than most of us would go to do our jobs… she blends the personal with her work, her husband and child are delightful…and the NYTimes staff are full of surprises with its old timers and odd characters. They may be some of the most Accomplished people, but Ruth let’s us in on lots of their secrets. Ruth nails it with descriptions - of the foods, the details will be fascinating even to non Cooks, and she weaves her reviews with background, detail and fun characters…I bought another copy of the book for a friend , a young and talented chef, because it’s good to know that there are other Ruths out there….

It's a book that celebrates not only food but each and every ingredient that goes into it, the people who consume it, various restaurants and its chefs,waiters...the list goes on.. but this book is thought-provoking by pointing out the way how we judge people by their outer appearances, evokes nostalgia, filled with laugh out moments, a text book explaining how to write a review and so much more 😄

Este libro me encantó por muchas razones. Creo que la idea de ser múltiples personas y no solo disfrazarse de ellas es increíble y me dejo pensando en lo sanador que podría ser hacer ese mismo ejercicio. También me encantó la forma en la que describe los platillos, me dieron ganas de cocinar y de comer, pero sobre todo de compartir comida con personas que disfrutan la vida. Fue un excelente libro para iniciar el año.

Loved it from start to finish, I am in amazement of the level of dedication she went to and to see it through her eyes was a treat.

Ruth Reich ist als Restaurant Kritikerin tätig für „the New York Times“ der wohl wichtigste Zeitung der USA und mit Sicherheit für New York. Sie erzählt in dieses buch wie sie den Job Kriegt und was sie alles macht um den aus zu fuhren.Ihr Foto hat in Jede Küche gehangen also musste sie sich vermummen. Aber es bleibt nicht bei Vermummung, sie wird verschiedene Personen. Als Roman hatte es als unglaubhaft gewirkt, aber dies ist kein Prosa. Ihre Abenteuern sind sehr unterhaltsam.Es liest sich fast wie ein Agententhriller aus Kalter Kriegs Zeiten. Dabei geht es doch nur um Restaurantkritiken? Nein, Nicht für Ruth Reichel.Ruth Reichel ist nicht nur gut in Restaurants zu beschreiben, sie ist ein begnadeter Schriftstellerin. Ihr Roman Delicious ist auch sehr lesenswert.