Rudolph Chelminski

Another volume in the by now vintage Time-Life Great Cities series, beautifully printed and bound, in a large size with lots of visuals and a nice map of the important landmarks. A bit differently, the author has treated here substantially of the life and psychology of the common citizens of this fabulous world capital, and he makes no bones about their less than ideal characteristics: somewhat cantankerous, not very forthcoming, and somewhat suspicious of strangers. But this also gives the show more visitor or immigrant a handle on what to expect and how to get behind the forbidding shell the Parisians put on. The author seems to be a great food buff, and his descriptions show that this is a meat-eaters' paradise, but somewhat gross for a vegetarian like us in the sub-continent. An added point of interest to me is that the photographer is Raghubir Singh, a fellow- Indian, and the photographs bring out the mood of the urban environment nicely. show less

Bernanrd Loiseau was a great chef and a functioning bipolar. After years of workaholism through which he succeeded in making his restaurant, the Cote d'Or, the talk of the food world, he killed himself, leaving behind three young children - and a three star restaurant.

The Perfectionist tells, through the life of Loiseau, the history of French cooking in the transition from Escoffier cuisine to the development of nouvelle cuisine. In doing so it details the bitterness, the competition, and show more the infighting between great chefs, most of whom worked together as apprehentnices in their youth. The Perfectionist also chronicles everything it takes - as a person, a chef, and a buisnessman - to create and maintain a three star Michelin place. While not the most organized book in the world, and surprisingly full of editorial errors (spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, including over usage of strange words), the fascinating details of the story in itself make this book a worthy read. show less

The biography of the tragic Chef Bernard Loiseau - an intriguing insight into the inner workings of the Michelin guide, of restaurant life and the harrowing routines professional chefs striving for the best have to go through for the highest prize.

Informative, dramatic, scary and insightful, for me it was a page turner. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in the world of professional cooks and its trappings.

It’s better than I initially gave it credit for, being somewhat a man of theory.

It’s a literary entertainment: foreign words and France, that kind of thing. A linguistic entertainment, you might say.

It's not big on reflection. There are no public health resources in the back. But I suppose that is what some people want.

You might learn about chefs, guys on the line of working-class culture and privilege. You might observe that he never bonded with his feminine mystique (#1) wife, that show more even a good relationship with his (#2) wife was not enough to save him, and that he worked too much. Yes, even though the book doesn’t always make an issue out of it, you might observe that he worked too much. [He took one day off a year, Christmas, like a wealthy version of an American slave, and one year when he had to close the restaurant for a month for remodeling, instead of taking a vacation he spent the whole time looking over the shoulder of the construction crews, giving advice.]

But it’s not going to beat you over the head with the meaningful stuff.

But that’s why you have me.

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It’s hard to feel sympathy for the somewhat superficial business-y picture they give of him; although it’s not entirely impersonal, it risks losing that layer of sympathy.

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But I don’t mind the specificity.

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You know what, it’s fine. show less