incredibly well done, a great read

In choosing to read this work, which has been on the TBR list ever since it was published, I mostly wanted to learn something about the legendary Delmonico's. What you basically get is an examination of the conflicting axis of American commercial cooking, between the rise and fall of French cuisine (a world-wide phenomena), the contrasting American desire for both reliability and variety (which tends to blunt an emphasis on excellence), and, not emphasized enough in a lot of the comments I've seen, restauranteering as a business. I found this very enlightening, though there is a bit of unevenness from case study to case study. Also, even though this book is less than 10 years old, it's already feeling a little dated, in that the chef-centric trend in American cooking dealt with in the epilog appears to have taken a hard hit, even before the impact of the COVID pandemic. ( )

Interesting tale of restaurants through the lens of US social and cultural history. Also very well written. Recommend. ( )

A well-researched but conversational history of the author's choice for which restaurants are most influential in America. He does admit that most of his list is either in New York City or the San Francisco Bay Area, and that the rest of the nation might not be represented by one ubiquitous chain and one entrant in New Orleans. Still, the selective choices each brought some highlight of American culinary history to the table (see what I did there?). And at least it doesn't go for the Chowhound-style "I discovered this" boasting that we see more of in the present day. ( )

/4/21 Ten Restaurants that Changed America, Paul Freedman , 2016

Paul Freedman outlines the evolution of America’s culinary tastes with the histories of ten iconic American restaurants from Delmonico’s to Chez Panisse. In the telling he also covers the five major food trends of the last 100 years:

• The decline of French authority in American restaurants
• The rise of the celebrity chef
• The farm-to-table movement and the importance of fresh, locally sourced food.
• The rising influence of Asia in American cuisine
• The new informality in America’s dining experience

Along the way the reader gets a nostalgic glimpse of Howard Johnson’s with their fried clams and 28 flavors of ice cream, Schraft’s the ultimate “ladies who lunch” restaurant, the singing waiters at Mama Leone’s, the austere elegance of The Four Seasons, and many, many more.

If you like to eat out, you’ll love this book. ( )