FOOD AND THE CITY

New York’s Professional Chefs, Restaurateurs, Line Cooks,Street Vendors, and Purveyors Talk About What They Do and Why They Do It

By Ina Yalof

When many of us think New York City, we think food—from the latest ethnic discovery to the culinary innovations of cutting-edge chefs to the comfort foods we grew up eating. In FOOD AND THE CITY: New York’s Professional Chefs, Restaurateurs, Line Cooks, Street Vendors, and Purveyors Talk About What They Do and Why They Do It (G. P. Putnam’s Sons: on sale May 31, 2016), journalist and bestselling author Ina Yalof’s pens a delectable journey inside the city’s pulsating food scene. From Zabar’s deli counter to the Pierre Hotel, from Harlem Shake to RedFarm, Yalof captures the stories of the people who have made this industry their lives.

The stories they tell, while each unique, nonetheless share common threads: hard work, creativity, and most of all a passion for food. Much like the folks in the food industry in your city!

Yalof takes readers into the kitchens, dining rooms, and even wine cellars of a cross section of the city’s eateries—from casual to posh, from diners to five-star hotels. She talks to chefs who have risen from dishwasher and line cook to the pinnacle of their profession. From their singular stories, readers glean essential truths about what it takes to operate a successful restaurant in one of the most demanding markets in the world—whether maintaining the legendary reputation of the “21” Club, making the catering run on time at the Pierre Hotel, or serving eggs and blue-plate specials on upper Broadway.

Yalof also takes us into a complex behind-the-scenes world as she visits butchers, cheesemongers, and bakers. She ventures far afield to food purveyors most New Yorkers rarely think about: a caterer tasked with feeding a large, hungry, transient film crew; a firefighter who cooks for the rest of his Rescue Company; and the executive director of Nutritional Services at Rikers Island, where the NYC Department of Correction prepares 47,000 meals a day. Whether Yalof’s destination is Zabar’s, Chinatown, or the kitchen of Brooklyn’s Sucre Mort Pralines, the stories she unearths create an unforgettable gallery of New Yorkers who embody its culinary heart and soul.

Praised by culinary geniuses Marcus Samuelsson, Daniel Boulud, and Eric Ripert, FOOD AND THE CITY is a fascinating oral history from an unforgettable gallery of New Yorkers who embody its culinary heart and soul. It is full of delicious insights, inspiring stories, and singular anecdotes that together paint a vibrant picture of metropolitan food culture. To name just a few:
•Dominique Ansel explains what great good fortune led him to make the first Cronut
•Ghaya Oliveira, who came to New York as a young Tunisian stockbroker, recounts her hardscrabble yet swift trajectory from dishwasher to executive pastry chef at Daniel
•Restaurateur Ed Schoenfeld describes his journey from nice Jewish boy from Brooklyn to New York’s indisputable Chinese food maven
•Old-schoolers like David Fox, third-generation owner of Fox’s U-bet syrup,
•and the outspoken Upper West Side butcher Schatzie,
•plus new kids on the block like Patrick Collins, sous chef at The Dutch,
•and Brooklyn artisan Lauren Clark of Sucre Mort Pralines

“Each story in this book inspires me with the turn of the page,” says Marcus Samuelsson, James Beard Award–winning chef and New York Times–bestselling author of Marcus Off Duty and Yes, Chef. “These are stories of passion, motivation, hardship, and resilience. Ina Yalof has captured the ingredients for success in the New York City restaurant scene while weaving tales that showcase the unwavering spirit of our fellow New Yorkers.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ina Yalof has been writing books and articles about such diverse subjects as medicine, science, religion, and happiness for more than thirty years. Her books include the widely acclaimed oral history Life and Death: The Story of a Hospital, What It Means to Be Jewish, How I Write (coauthored with Janet Evanovich), and What Happy Women Know. Yalof’s articles have appeared in numerous national publications, including GQ, Harper’s Bazaar, and New York magazine. She lives and eats in New York City.