Excerpt
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BRIDGE
The primary requisite for writing well about food is a good appetite.
— A.J. Liebling
Easy for him to say: He was independently wealthy. Personally, I found the
primary requisite for writing about food to be a credit card.
And that was a problem. I pictured myself sweeping into fabulous restaurants to
dine upon caviar and champagne. Maître d’s would cower before the
great Restaurant Critic. Chefs would stand behind the kitchen door, trembling.
“What is she saying?” they would whisper to my waiter. “Does
she like it?” I would not betray, by word or gesture, my opinion of the
meal. And when it was all over, I would throw down my card and cry “Charge
it please!,” then gather my retinue and float regally out the door.
Unfortunately, the first time I tried this I hit a few snags.
In 1978, San Francisco’s fanciest French restaurant belonged to a chef who
had cooked for the Kennedys. The valet stared at my beat-up Volvo and shook his
head. He could not, he insisted, ... read full excerpt from: Comfort Me with Apples ebook
