About this title: McNamee was selected by Waters to document her story and was given exclusive access to her and her closest friends, to the Chez Panisse archives, and to private collections and memorabilia in order to tell the inside story behind the restaurant that changed American cooking.
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Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Date Published: 2007-03-22
ISBN-13:9781594201158ISBN:1594201153
Description: New. New, unread hardcover; a Bargain Book: dustjacket may show light shelfwear. Inventory mark on bottom. In stock and ready for immediate shipment. read more
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Advanced uncorrected proofs in trade paperback format. Clean & unmarked. Advanced uncorrected proofs. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Date Published: 2007-03-22
ISBN-13:9781594201158ISBN:1594201153
Description: Very Good. Book has mulitple gift inscriptions including from author, clean unmarked dj, pgs like new, not ex lib, no remainder marks, track included. u82609. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Thomas McNamee, New York, N.Y.
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9781594201158ISBN:1594201153
Description: Very Good Plus in Very Good jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" Like new-crisp, tight, and unmarked. Excellent dust jacket with a short tear at the upper front corner in a new Mylar protective cover. read more
Description: Like New in Like New jacket. New first edition hardcover in new dustjacket, (not price-clipped), no marks, not a remainder, clean, bright, square, tight, very small crimp to DJ edge, in new mylar cover, very reliable shipper(shelf#1011) read more
"Food makes up most of the supporting cast in McNamee's biography of Alica Waters and Chez Panisse, and he writes about each mesculin leaf with sumptuous detail. You just can't wait to get your hands on some fresh fruit and whip up a galette or tart. Unfortunately the main character, Alice Waters, quickly goes stale as the book's menu of Chez Panisse tales are served. It took only a few chapters for me to grow tired of her baby boomer antics, and the author seems slightly uncomfortable with keeping her perched on the "Mother of California Cuisine" pedestal. Like fennel or arugula, a little of Alice Waters goes a long ways. All in all, though, the story of Chez Panisse's rise to fame is fascinating, and I still hope one day to make the pilgrimage to this Berkeley landmark."
"I am about the furthest thing from a "foodie" that there can be and I knew almost nothing about Alice Waters and Chez Panisse, but I really, really enjoyed this book! I went to Chez Panisse once (must have been the Cafe because it was upstairs and it was lunch), but I was definitely uninformed at the time.
McNamee gathered excellent research and wove the story together wonderfully, from the fateful study abroad trip to Paris of a young, college-aged woman through the 30-year anniversary of Chez Panisse and an age 60+ Alice Waters.
I particularly appreciated a story of Alice Waters and Julia Child at the California Culinary Academy in 1981 - such different ideas and approaches to food (McNamee's subtitle - "The romantic, impractical, often eccentric, ultimately brilliant making of a food revolution" highlights this difference), although Waters later credited Julia Child as one of the four women "who had informed her idea of what a great female cook might be." What struck me most in this book is how little, actual cooking Waters seemed to do. She seemed to be about the idea of cooking, supervising chefs, and then got swept up in the whole "food movement" world: organic, slow.
I read this book after reading Julie and Julia by Julie Powell, a book about a 29/30-year-old who, in one year, cooked her way through Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and I think it enhanced my enjoyment of this book. Not to take credit away from McNamee, whose writing style is very enjoyable.
An interesting read for anyone who eats. (This from a Kraft macaroni & cheese girl is high praise indeed, I would think!) ;^)"
"When we were in San Francisco last summer, we we were lucky enough to sneak (and I mean sneak as in no reservation and casual clothes) into the Cafe at Chez Panisse for dinner. It was a glorious experience--and it changed the whole way I have thought about zucchini since! I had seen part of a PBS program on Alice Waters, so when I found this book used for a song, I snatched it up. It was engrossing and inspiring to read about the early (very bohemian) days (and nights) of the restaurant that has now become such an installation and of Alice's 'radical' fight to bring local and organic foods to her tables. The title really sums it all up and reading this will inspire you to find the nearest Farmer's Market!"
"I'm not a big biography reader. Not yet, anyway. But every once in awhile, I come across a biography that examines its subject with such intelligence and style that I emerge from that book profoundly satisfied. Add this bio to that list. I started it not even a week ago and looked forward to every return. I'm done now, and I'm bummed. Appropriately, it was delicious -- at times critical, at times glowing, and always well written -- an account of the life and times of a woman and her restaurant.
Of course, I should come clean and say that I was already primed for the pump. I find Alice Waters to be a really compelling person -- and Chez Panisse to be a lovely, lovely place to eat (if costly). I applaud her love of French culture, good food, and fine living. And I admire and support her ability to frame eating within a political context. Long may she continue to write books, influence our elected leaders, spark the planting of organic gardens in our schools, promote the Slow Food movement and all it represents, and oversee each glorious, careful plate of food at her little restaurant on Shattuck Avenue."
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