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CELLAR RAT: MY LIFE IN THE RESTAURANT UNDERBELLY
In this vulnerable, smart, and riveting memoir, Hannah Selinger pulls back the curtain on the restaurant world. Read what The New York Times is calling a "mix of Joris-Karl Huysmans, M.F.K. Fisher, and Regina George ... a howling account ... a fundamentally kind and generous book." Readers in the United States can order it here. Canadian readers can order it here. And readers in the UK and the rest of the world can order it here. "Hannah Selinger chronicles a time when chefs were thought to be rock stars and dining out was a show—but she tells the truth of living strange hours, dealing with misogyny, and encountering rage in an industry that never loves its workers back. Yet beauty is woven throughout, in prose that mimics the propulsive energy of a busy shift." —ALICIA KENNEDY, author of No Meat Required "I loved your book. You're fucking fearless and I'm slightly terrified of you." —SOMEONE AT THE NEW YORKER "“If you're going to write about the reality of working in restaurants in a way that's anywhere near accurate, you need two things: The courage to burn bridges and keen social observation skills and the ability to translate those into engaging prose. Hannah Selinger has both, as she demonstrates with finesse, humor, and sensitivity in Cellar Rat. I admire her commitment to truth-telling as much as I do her appreciation for the seemingly trivial but ultimately revealing details that are necessary for capturing the glamor, decadence, volatility, and abusiveness that define the dining industry.” —CHARLOTTE DRUCKMAN, author of Women on Food "The [sexual assault] incident doesn’t occur until halfway through the book." —AVANT-GARDE BALLOON EXPERT, and author of "Balloon Art You Won't Find at a Children's Party" “With unflinching candor and clear-eyed wisdom, Hannah Selinger compresses the thrill, toxicity, and terror of working in restaurants into a remarkably open-hearted memoir. Cellar Rat should be essential reading for anyone who cares about this industry." —MAYUKH SEN, James Beard Award-winning author of Taste Makers and Love, Queenie "The author is ... angry." —KIM ALBERTA, Assistant Town Clerk, Town of Boxford “A brutally honest, courageous, and powerful personal look into the dark side of the restaurant world. Hannah shows us how the imbalance of power rests on a manipulative system that willfully neglects the people it employs and makes you question if the industry truly can and wants to change for the better.” —NIK SHARMA, Author of Veg-Table and The Flavor Equation "Very cool!" —MY BOOMER MOM "A survivor of top-end restaurant work tells all. Call it trauma therapy mixed with a few recipes: Selinger plainly states at the start that the kitchens where she's logged time, not least of them the vaunted Momofuku, did great psychic damage to her, "and moreover, how pervasive trauma can be when it is not taken seriously." It's not Bourdain, but sensitive readers pondering a kitchen career might rethink it after reading this memoir." —KIRKUS REVIEWS "I did like ... some of the restaurant industry insights." —MELISSA CAFIERO, Goodreads "In 2020, chef-turned-mogul David Chang released his book Eat a Peach, which was part memoir, part apology for his notoriously explosive temper both in and outside the kitchen. It was received as one more revelation of bad behavior in a year of endless public reckoning, but more interesting was a viral response essay from Hannah Selinger, a former sommelier at Chang’s Michelin-starred Momofuku Ko. Now, the James Beard-nominated writer has expanded that story into a memoir of her own, recalling her tenure in the volatile but often rewarding restaurant industry and what it took for her to finally leave it." —W MAGAZINE "This provides a vivid glimpse behind the scenes of America’s most glamorous dining rooms" —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY "Cellar Rat, which recounts Hannah Selinger’s years as a server and sommelier in the seedy world of high-end New York restaurants, is a damn good read. Selinger’s writing about the restaurant industry is sharp, unsparing, and at times very funny, and her insights about her own life and experiences display admirable levels of candor and understanding. A thoroughly absorbing book." —LITHUB "The author felt the need to acknowledge everything negative--and apologize for it." —WENDI MANNING, Goodreads "The world of fine dining seems glamorous from the outside, full of celebrity chefs, exotic ingredients, and elegant wines. But behind the scenes, even the most seemingly flawless restaurants are full of bad behavior from both customers and staff. Hannah Selinger spent a decade moving up the service industry ranks, from her humble hometown pub to working as a sommelier at a legendary restaurant in the Hamptons. In her dishy tell-all memoir Cellar Rat, Selinger reveals the highs and lows of her restaurant career, from meeting world-famous food influencers to facing crushing sexism and abuses of power. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s really like working at elite restaurants, Cellar Rat is a must-read insider account." —BOOK RIOT "You're right that the 'buy' button linked only to the [other reviewed] book... which we have fixed by removing the button entirely." —GREGORY COWLES, Senior Editor, The New York Times Book Review "Selinger’s vivid prose makes each chapter compulsively readable as she tells her story of life in restaurants." —BOOKLIST "Hannah Selinger’s remembrance of working as both a server and a sommelier offers sharp, revealing, and darkly humorous insight into the world of fine dining and the people who keep it running. From superstar chefs and billionaire clients to over-the-top events and once-in-a-lifetime meals, the exploits she charts can be entertaining but also offer a thoughtful look at how and why this world runs at the breakneck pace it does, and what that can mean for the people who work inside of it." —TOWN & COUNTRY "A… a mix of Joris-Karl Huysmans, M.F.K. Fisher and Regina George ... A howling account ... A fundamentally kind and generous book." —THE NEW YORK TIMES "In our current return-to-office era, Selinger writes thoughtfully about the nature of labor, especially the unseen variety behind a charismatic figurehead, and the dire personal sacrifices that too many jobs require of their workers." —THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE |