Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise (2005)

by Ruth Reichl

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2,059	90	2,934	(3.83)	94

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Thoroughly enjoyable if you enjoy food writing. (

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wester | May 18, 2013 |

wanted to like this but it was just too much about her job and not enough of anything else. sometimes in her disguise she was downright rude to wait staff. (

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mahallett | May 11, 2013 |

I loved this book. I would have loved to have visited the restaurants she reviewed whilst in disguise.
I salivated with every turn of the page. Good writing and good gastronomy descriptions. (

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SusannahPK_83 | Apr 23, 2013 |

I read all three of Ruth Reichl's books in one go, as if they were one big book. I really enjoyed all three, but this title is different from the first two. In Tender at the Bone and Comfort me with Apples, Reichl spends more time talking about her personal life and her struggle to figure out what she wants to do with her life. Her personal relationships are in flux and her feelings about California and her beloved Berkeley are up and down.
By Garlic and Sapphires, she has moved to NYC and taken the job as the restaurant critic at the Times. This book touches on her personal life, but focuses mostly on her reviews and her experience coming up with different disguises so she can review restaurants in anonymity. I liked it, but I liked the first two books much better. :)
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KristySP | Apr 21, 2013 |

This is a lovely, thoughtful exploration of the food critic's work, especially near the end, as Reichl loses her taste for it. Nick is a great Greek chorus character, and the idea of including recipes instead of illustrations is a lovely one. (also, probably cheaper.) It's not really a book to re-read, and it definitely doesn't qualify as a cookbook, but I swear it was worth it just for the reference to Amanda Hesser as "terrifying ambitious". That may just be me, but I laughed for about ten minutes after reading that paragraph.
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cricketbats | Apr 18, 2013 |

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Canonical title

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

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

2005

People/Characters

Ruth Reichl

Important places

New York, USA

New York, New York, USA

Important events

Related movies

Awards and honors

Audie Winner (2006.22|Biography/Memoir,2006)

New York Times bestseller (Nonfiction, 2005)

Epigraph

Dedication

For my family, all of you, with many thanks and much love.

First words

"You gonna eat that?" The woman is eyeing the tray the flight attendant has just set before me.

Quotations

The waiting room looked like a graveyard for rejected flower arrangements.

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

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Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0143036610, Paperback)

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.

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 04 Jan 2013 18:42:07 -0500)

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▾Library descriptions

The editor-in-chief of "Gourmet" recounts her visits to some of the world's most acclaimed restaurants, both as herself and as an anonymous diner in disguise, to offer insight into the differences in her dining experiences.

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