The library will be closed Sunday, March 31st, for Easter

Memorial Hall Library

Restaurants and Chefs

Whether you enjoy eating out or are more of a home cook, we hope you'll enjoy some of these books--a mix of fiction and non-fiction--about restaurants and chefs. And if you're wondering about big food questions, like Is A Taco A Sandwich?, don't miss this Zoom panel discussion on March 23rd at 7pm!

Ramon and Julieta
Ramon and Julieta
by Alana Quintana Albertson

When she discovers the mariachi she kissed on the Day of the Dead is her new landlord—and the son of the man who stole her mother’s taco recipe decades ago—celebrity chef Julieta Campos is forced to work with this man who destroyed her life’s work.

Borrow the e-book or e-audiobook via partner network CW MARS using Libby/Overdrive.
Made from scratch : the legendary success story of Texas Roadhouse
Made from scratch : the legendary success story of Texas Roadhouse
by Wayne Kent Taylor

Revealing his crazy, unorthodox business practices, the founder and CEO of Texas Roadhouse restaurants shows how this company survived a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic by taking a trip back in time to offer the lessons learned along the way.
The delicacy
The delicacy
by James Albon

Tulip and his brother Rowan have left the simple comforts of their small Scottish island with a plan: to grow organic vegetables in a market garden, and to open a restaurant to bring these wholesome culinary delights to London. The world of fine dining seems an impossibly competitive place... until they discover a mysterious, scrumptious new mushroom that brings diners in droves, catapulting their small restaurant to success beyond their wildest dreams. Now, pressured by the demands of a hungry city, Tulip is desperate to crack the secret of the mushroom's growth. But must he sacrifice his ideals, his integrity, and even his own brother to feed his own ambition?

Borrow the e-book using Hoopla.
Black, white, and The Grey : the story of an unexpected friendship and a beloved restaurant
Black, white, and The Grey : the story of an unexpected friendship and a beloved restaurant
by John O. Morisano

The business partners and friends behind the At The Grey restaurant in Savannah, Georgia, provide recipes and discuss how they came to understand their differences, challenge themselves to be better, and generate conversations about race, gender, class, and culture.

Borrow the e-book or e-audiobook via Boston Public Library using Libby/Overdrive.
Recipe for persuasion : a novel
Recipe for persuasion : a novel
by Sonali Dev

When chef Ashna Raje is asked to join a hit reality show teaming chefs with celebrities, she thinks, what's the worst that could happen? Being paired with her first love, Rico Silva, that's what. But as every minute they spend together rekindles feelings that pull them toward their disastrous past, will letting go again be another recipe for heartbreak, or a recipe for persuasion?

Borrow the e-book or e-audiobook using Hoopla.
Wine girl : the obstacles, humiliations, and triumphs of America's youngest sommelier
Wine girl : the obstacles, humiliations, and triumphs of America's youngest sommelier
by Victoria James

The country’s youngest sommelier describes her experiences recommending and selling thousands of dollars of wine at a Michelin-starred restaurant where she still contended with groping patrons and abusive bosses in the fast-paced but toxic restaurant world. 

Borrow the e-book or e-audiobook using Hoopla.
In our midst : a novel
In our midst : a novel
by Nancy Jensen

A family of German immigrants who own a popular restaurant must make awful choices to stay together after their mother is seized by FBI agents and interned in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Borrow the  e-book using Hoopla.
My American dream : a life of love, family, and food
My American dream : a life of love, family, and food
by Lidia Bastianich

The host of Lidia's Kitchen shares a memoir that traces her impoverished but loving upbringing under Tito's communist regime in Yugoslavia, her years as a refugee while trying to enter the United States, and her early start as a restaurant worker.

Borrow the e-book using Libby/Overdrive or borrow the e-audiobook via partner network Minuteman using Libby/Overdrive.
The islanders : a novel
The islanders : a novel
by Meg Mitchell Moore

A writer struggling with a second book, the divorced owner of a café threatened by a food truck, and an unfulfilled stay-at-home mom share a season of unexpected romance and secrets on scenic Block Island. 

Borrow the e-book or e-audiobook using Hoopla.
I hear she's a real bitch
I hear she's a real bitch
by Jen Agg

From the moment she opened her first bar, Jen Agg knew she could only be her own boss from then on. In this memoir, she tells the story of how she fought her way through the patriarchal service industry and made it happen, from getting her first job pouring drinks all the way to starting Toronto's culinary revival and running some of Canada's most famous restaurants. And she shares what she learned through years of hard work and learning from her mistakes: how to run a great restaurant that's also a great business.

Borrow the e-book via Boston Public Library using Libby/Overdrive. 
A perfect shot : a novel
A perfect shot : a novel
by Robin Yocum

A local basketball star in a small Ohio town tries to remake his life in middle age by opening a successful restaurant, but instead he must confront a murderer and the prospect of leaving his hometown and giving up everything that once gave his life meaning. 

Borrow the e-book or e-audiobook using Hoopla.
Coming to my senses : the making of a counterculture cook
Coming to my senses : the making of a counterculture cook
by Alice Waters

The award-winning executive chef of Chez Panisse in California presents the story of her tumultuous culinary journey, describing her efforts to promote distinctive flavors in a time of uniform convenience foods, her achievements within the bohemian 1960s cultural circuit, and her ongoing reflections as the head of one of the world's most influential restaurants.

Borrow the e-book or e-audiobook using Libby/Overdrive.
Aunty Lee's chilled revenge
Aunty Lee's chilled revenge
by Ovidia Yu

After an injured ankle forces her to turn her cafe's operations over to her friend and business partner, Aunty Lee must still figure out what happened to a British expatriate who turns up murdered in her hotel room.

Borrow the e-book or e-audiobook using Hoopla.
Food and the city : New York's professional chefs, restaurateurs, line cooks, street vendors, and purveyors talk about what they do and why they do it
Food and the city : New York's professional chefs, restaurateurs, line cooks, street vendors, and purveyors talk about what they do and why they do it
by Ina L. Yalof

Yalof presents an unprecedented behind-the-scenes tour of New York City's dynamic food culture, as told through the voices of the chefs, line cooks, restaurateurs, waiters, and street vendors who have made this industry their lives.
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