I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The author's journey to France was not a straight line - and that was amazing. His vulnerability with his business and his love life was refreshing. ( )

The Publisher Says: Paris was practically perfect...

Craig Carlson was the last person anyone would expect to open an American diner in Paris. He came from humble beginnings in a working-class town in Connecticut, had never worked in a restaurant, and didn't know anything about starting a brand-new business. But from his first visit to Paris, Craig knew he had found the city of his dreams, although one thing was still missing—the good ol' American breakfast he loved so much.

Pancakes in Paris is the story of Craig tackling the impossible—from raising the money to fund his dream to tracking down international suppliers for "exotic" American ingredients... and even finding love along the way. His diner, Breakfast In America, is now a renowned tourist destination, and the story of how it came to be is just as delicious and satisfying as the classic breakfast that tops its menu.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: Do not even think of eating...that is, reading...this book on an empty stomach.

This is a memoir. It's not a happy-families, aren't-people-grand memoir. It's a people will help you...if you make it so it's either help you or admit they're letting you fail because reasons story. The working-class background Author Carlson comes from doesn't lead him to pursue academic excellence or anything other than box-ticking adequacy. His emotional life is, it's plain, neglected completely. He doesn't exactly tell us this but the stories he tells are tendentious. Lucky for him, he inspired others to help by being too good to just abandon.

What matters to most of us, in reading memoirs, is seeing either ourselves in the other make good, or ourselves as we wish we could be. In Author Carlson's case, I saw an American man making his way in a world that doesn't love Americans very much...Paris. And making that way against many kinds of social, political, and cultural odds. After all, how many working-class cooks (NOT a chef!) still less plain ol' restaurateurs do you know about? He's the guy with the idea that no one thinks is great but him. He sells the idea to enough money people that he gets to open his dream: American breakfast food in, of all places, the capital of world-wide food snobbery, Paris, France.

It works. It really, really works. Go look at the website linked in the description! So perfectly American...so popular in Paris. Despite EuroDisney.

Author Carlson does a lot of describing in this book. And he lards in a lot of French. (Well, it stands to reason, but be aware!) It's clear as day to me why he tried to make it as a screenwriter: he has a visual imagination. There's a minuscule recipe section containing recipes I can vouch for from having made them several times apiece, in my own weird variations and under Rob's very attentive eyes, over the years. (This book is six years old now and this is my first review of it! How gauche of me.) But most of all, Author Carlson's love of his creation, Breakfast in America, and his love of France, French food, a French guy who becomes his husband, and the world of making people happy (I contend that's the only reason people go into the food business) made me happy.

Should you read it? You bet your sweet bippy. And on Kindle, all the photos and the miscellaneous stuff shows up very well, which makes the regular price a bargain. (The sale price is incitement to riot.) Go get one now. It's a summer beach trip spent in good, fun company learning about how someone with real, honest-to-gawd stick-to-it-iveness makes it in this world.

By doing everything that scares him witless. ( )

Starting up an American diner in Paris has to be fun, right...well, maybe. As Craig Carlson tells his story of discovering France, realizing the only thing it's missing is a good American breakfast, and then working to correct that oversight, I wondered how this man kept going. His tale is likely familiar to anyone who's attempted to start a business: the struggle to find investors, navigating the rules and regulations, figuring out how to manage a staff. Yet, he attempted to do all of this in France, where cultural barriers worked against many of his efforts. As I read the descriptions of the challenges Craig came up against, which included a short stint in prison because of party thrown by one of his employees who turned out to be working illegally, I wondered how he made it as far as he did before collapsing from the stress of it all. Fortunately, he also fell in love with a Frenchman, which was my favorite part of this memoir (!), and figured out how to delegate, which perhaps we all need to learn. ( )

If I ever make it back to Paris, I’m going to eat at this restaurant. As of March 2020, there are two restaurants in Paris. I enjoy food memoirs, and this one about a restaurant started in a city known for its food by a person who’s never run a restaurant is great. He relates some funny stories as he dealt with the French bureaucracy. I cheered for this guy who had a miserable childhood and dealt with so many hurtles and yet got his diner started in Paris. ( )

From its very first page, I had a sense that this wasn't going to be your typical business memoir. Says Craig Carlson, "Notre Dame always reminds me of that mysterious interplay between heaven and earth, between the seen and the unseen."

Pancakes in Paris is equal parts business, travel, and human drama with a side of all-day breakfast and bottomless coffee.

Carlson comes from modest beginnings, yet he made it to college with virtually no parental support. He took a year abroad in France during college and fell in love with Paris. He then returned to the States, completed his journalism and film degrees, and ultimately became involved in the movie industry. Early in his film career, he returned to Paris and realized there was a potential need for American diner-style restaurants. He begins to percolate the idea, despite his complete lack of business and restaurant background!

Every step of the journey makes you root for the success of Breakfast in America (BIA), and Carlson himself. Not only do we learn about the challenges of getting investors on board, but Carlson details many, many amazing instances of French labor laws. He had no idea how employee-focused those laws are before opening BIA!

Craig (whose name is hilariously mangled by practically every Parisian), has a warm and gently funny writing style that's like you're talking about his life over a couple of burgers. He interjects French words throughout, which I thought might bother me as the book progressed. But he strikes the perfect note with their use just as a bilingual speaker might do -- not too much and often in humorous spots.

His writing does veer into the folksy sometimes, which could bother some readers. For example: "But despite our défense de fumer (no smoking) sign, there was no way of stopping the pesky second-hand smoke from moseying on over there."

Although at first I thought Carlson might be a leetle too full of himself with this sentence, "But thanks to such an eclectic mix of regulars found only in Paris, BIA was fast becoming a neighborhood hangout like no other in the world," I also came to believe in his humble and caring attitude as I read on.

This book isn't just about business and Paris. Craig shares many personal reflections, including his experiences with coming out and finding a life partner in Julien. He is self-deprecating and genuine.

To my surprise, there are four recipes at the end of the book as well. Two are from BIA and two from Julien's mother Elisabeth. The perfect blend of American and French styles, just the note this entire book hits!

Thanks to Craig Carlson, Sourcebooks and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
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