REVIEW: Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise

Nonfiction by Ruth Reichl

Ruth Reichl, a world-renowned food critic and former editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine, needed a plan to effectively critique high-profile establishments in the biggest restaurant town in the world.  If they knew she was coming, she would be treated as a queen with the best prepared entrees and service.  The only way to get the real picture was to dress in disguises so that she could evaluate presentation of the food and treatment by the staff as a regular person out for dinner.

Reichl uncovered the good and dark sides of the restaurant business, noting how staff would go out of their way for recognition with important clients.  Sometimes she went as a helpless elderly lady and found the best restaurants not to be as accommodating as she needed them to be. In one of her disguises, Reichl was humiliated by the wait staff and ignored in some great restaurants with fine dine ratings.

Garlic and Sapphires reveals the comic absurdity, artifice and excellence to be found on the sumptuously appointed stages of the epicurean world.  She blends humor with her recipes and reviews in a work sure to please foodies, and her remarkable reflections show how one’s outer appearance can influence everything from wait times to handicap accommodations to whether your coffee is hot when it makes it to your table.

— Reviewed by Connie Darling, Edgar Allan Poe Branch Library, Sullivan’s Island, S.C.

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