Underwhelming. Why do people think they should write memoirs when their lives aren't that interesting? ( )

Jurgensen gives a brief, clearly ghost-written story of her years as a pastry chef. The material itself is good, but hindered by the lackluster prose and lack of detail or emotional impact. ( )

This is a book I kept setting aside. True stories of a pastry chef? I love sweets, but how interesting could this be? But something about the author’s mischievous smile on the cover kept drawing me back to the book.

Dalia Jurgensen gave up an office job to work in restaurants in various cooking jobs and finally as a pastry chef. She explains “Kitchen law demands that cooks blindly obey their chef like unquestioning recruits, but as long as the food gets made the way the boss demands, there is enormous personal freedom.”

Jurgensen loves the freedom, and she loves the hard work that has garnered her kudos from top restaurant critics. The path to success was a struggle, however, and she doesn’t hesitate to dish the dirt: the sexism, the ego clashes, the burns and scars (complaining not allowed), the pranks, the co-worker hook-ups, and the after hours drinking and even violence (just letting off some steam, so to speak).

This book is more like a slice of Key Lime pie than a thick Russian babka, but now and then everyone needs something light and sweet with just a bit of a tartness. While the story won’t keep you up at night reading, it will give you a new appreciation for restaurant kitchen workers, and it may even give you a craving for a panne cotta with honey and raspberry sauce, or perhaps a caramel-laden banana tart Tatin.

Jurgensen has a website (largely promotional), and there is talk of turning her story into a movie or a television series. I recommend this book to anyone who eats in restaurants, loves to cook, or just wants to read a book about food that isn’t too weighty. ( )

This was one of the best cooking books I've read this year. Dalia's writing and her story is like a breath of fresh air. How she left the corporate world and started at Nobu while taking culinary classes. It truly amazed me how she kept going from one job to the next but with each job gained more experienced and learned more and more about cooking and pastry skills.

For the rest of the review, visit my book blog at: http://angelofmine1974.livejournal.com/62560.html ( )

I see people didn't like this book much. I really enjoyed it. Not only was it refreshing to see the tough-guy cook memoir done by a girl, but her writing is graceful - descriptive but terse, my favorite combination, and her descriptions of her coworkers and (most importantly) the food they create are vivid and well crafted. In addressing the sexism of the cooking world, she strikes just the right tone: acerbic but not bitter. Funny, captivating, unconventional - and I had to get up and make dessert in the middle of it, always a good sign with food writing. I hope she's planning a cookbook next. ( )