A vivid memoir and an โappealingโ love letter to great restaurants by a James Beard Award winner and founding editor of Saveur (Los Angeles Times).
For Colman Andrews, restaurants have been his playground, his theater, his university, his church, his refuge. The establishments he has loved have not only influenced culinary trends at home and abroad, but represent the changing history and culture of food in America and Western Europe. From his usual table, he has watched the growth of Nouvelle Cuisine and fusion cuisine; the organic and locavore movements; nose-to-tail eating; and so-called โmolecular gastronomy.โ
In My Usual Table, Andrews interweaves his own storyโfrom growing up in the sunset years of Hollywoodโs golden age and dining at Chasenโs and Trader Vicโs to traveling the world in pursuit of great foodโwith tales of the restaurants, chefs, and restaurateurs who are emblematic of the revolutions great and small that have forever changed the way we eat, cook, and think about food.
โIn the hands of a less adept writer, Andrewsโ narratives of movie stars cavorting in their favorite restaurant haunts or dining at his parentsโ house might seem mere name-dropping, but his respect and affection for these celebrities make for enjoyable storytelling.โ โBooklist
โA compelling writer . . . his descriptions of restaurants past will lead readers who chronicle their own days in Instagrammed meals on an adventure in armchair time travel.โ โSan Francisco Chronicle