Fans of Tender at the Bone and Comfort Me with Apples know that Ruth Reichl is a wonderful memoirist--a funny, poignant, and candid storyteller whose books contain a happy mix of memories, recipes, and personal revelations.

Amazon.com Interview We chewed the fat with Ruth. Read our interview.

What they might not fully appreciate is that Reichl is an absolute marvel when it comes to writing about food--she can describe a dish in such satisfying detail that it becomes unnecessary for readers to eat. In her third memoir, Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise, Reichl focuses on her life as a food critic, dishing up a feast of fabulous meals enjoyed during her tenure at The New York Times. As a critic, Reichl was determined to review the "true" nature of each restaurant she visited, so she often dined incognito--each chapter of her book highlights a new disguise, a different restaurant (including the original reviews from the Times), and a fresh culinary adventure. Garlic and Sapphires is another delicious and delightful book, sure to satisfy Reichl's foodie fans and leave admirerers looking forward to her next book, hopefully about her life with Gourmet. --Daphne Durham

More from Ruth Reichl

Tender at the Bone	Comfort Me with Apples	The Gourmet Cookbook
Remembrance of Things Paris	Endless Feasts	Gourmet magazine

Amazon.com's The Significant Seven
Ruth Reichl answers the seven questions we ask every author.


Q: What book has had the most significant impact on your life?
A: Kate Simon’s New York Places and Pleasures. I read it as a little girl and then went out and wandered the city. She was a wonderful writer, and she taught me not only to see New York in a whole new way, but to look, and taste, beneath the surface.

Q: You are stranded on a desert island with only one book, one CD, and one DVD--what are they?
A: Ulysses by James Joyce. What better place to finally get through it?

Keith Jarrett's The Köln Concert. If you’re going to listen to one piece over and over, this is one that doesn’t get tiresome.

How to Build a Boat in Five Easy Steps. Since I’m going to be watching one movie over and over, it might as well be useful.

Q: What is the worst lie you've ever told?
A: I’m such a good liar, I wouldn’t know where to begin.

Q: Describe the perfect writing environment.
A: I can write pretty much anywhere. But I prefer small, cozy spaces, with a good view over a lake or a forest, and room for the cats to curl up.

Q: If you could write your own epitaph, what would it say?
A: "She’ll be right back."

Q: Who is the one person living or dead that you would like to have dinner with?
A: Elizabeth I. She fascinates me. She had a great mind, enormous appetites--and she was a survivor. The most interesting woman of an interesting time, and I have a million questions I’d like to ask her.

Q: If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
A: You mean after creating world peace? This is a hard one. But I’ve always wanted to be able to fly.

wonderful prose

If you've already read and enjoyed her first two books, then this is going to be again a pleasure for you. The book covers the period of her tenure as food critic at the New York Times. She recounts the trips (with her in disguise) to various restaurants with friends immediately followed by the actual NYT article that she wrote of those experiences. Interspersed in the book are various recipes similar to dishes that she had tried in those restaurants. What strikes me immediately from page one is her wonderful prose. She is continuously surprised and delighted by new culinary experiences and her prose beautifully captures the almost indescribable sensations of tasting new and wonderful dishes. I love the pineapple juice part. Like her first two books, this is not only on food but on life and on people. It's not a grand critic giving judgements from on high - it's the pleasure in dining (and eating) and culinary ingenuity shared by Reichl and her fellow diners. Now what I really want is a compedium of her food articles.

More than food

I first heard about Ruth Reichl's book after hearing her interviewed on CBC Radio. She was talking about the vast difference in the way restaurants would treat her when they recognised her as the New York Times restaurant critic compared to when she went in disguise - and she was encouraging people to stand up for their rights and insist on being well treated when they went out, something that most people don't do.

The book is about food and restaurants - but much more than that. It's about the different aspects of your personality that come out when you're someone else, and how life-alterning those experiences can be. From a nondescript, middle aged woman, to a seductive redhead, to an acerbic shrew, Ruth Reichl describes her transformations, how they exposed different parts of herself that she never knew about, and for better or worse, how they changed her.

Reichl isn't afraid to say what she thinks of people. At one moment she can be sublimely sensitive and loving towards someone in a way that reminds me of June Callwood at her best, and the next, describing in detail the dinner companion from hell at the top of the World Trade Center. She is also frank about herself - how idealistically she started out, how the job changed her, and what she thought of herself for it.

One of the marks of a really good dish is that you discover something fresh about it every time you try it. In the same way, Ruth Reichl tells the same story in each chapter, but each time she reveals a little more about herself.

This is one of just a few books I've read recently that made me feel disappointed to find there weren't any pages left at the end.

Behind the scenes in the restaurant biz

Ruth Reichl's "Garlic and Sapphires," takes readers behind the scenes of the five star restaurant scene in New York, where she was the food critic for the New York Times. This was an entertaining read, with lots of great detailed description of the sometimes far out food she samples at some of Manhattan's top (snooty) restaurants. A quick read and you come out hungry for more!