Soul Kitchen

In the past few years, Poppy Z. Brite has taken her writing in a new direction. Previously known mostly for horror fiction of a particularly gory kind, Brite has turned to writing about a pair of restaurateurs in pre-Katrina New Orleans. While there is a mystery aspect to these stories, mostly they are tales of two young men in a committed relationship who work and play together, mostly with food. These are books for foodies to delight in, fiction for cooks, gourmets and gourmands.

Rickey and G-man make their debut in Liquor. Rickey and G-man are best friends and lovers of long standing, as well as cooks who began their careers washing dishes and are now at the top of the cooking game. Despite their skill, they find themselves living in show more near poverty, and have both recently been fired. Rickey comes up with a gimmick that seems made for New Orleans: liquor in every dish. They start serving up meals and snacks in a friend's bar, yummies like tequila chicken wings, artichoke dip with a touch of cognac and prosciutto-wrapped figs marinated in Calvados. The bar is overwhelmed with locals who love the gimmick.

Then Lenny Duveteaux, a celebrity chef who seems like an amalgam of every celebrity chef you've seen on The Food Network, steps into the picture, offering to bankroll Rickey and G-man if they'd like to open their own restaurant. And thus is Liquor born, an old-style Creole restaurant with a new taste, and alcohol in every dish. Rickey and G-man gather a staff of cooks from around the city, create their dishes, and move towards opening day.

There are problems at every step. It seems as if there's some force at work trying to destroy the restaurant before it even opens. Lenny's dollars help resolve most problems, but some seem intractable. Here's where the mystery comes in, though frankly it isn't much of one despite the dramatic denouement. And that's not the point, after all. The fun of this book is in reading about the food and the trials and tribulations of running a professional kitchen. Anyone who has read Anthony Bourdain's nonfiction, or Ruth Reichl's, or who subscribes to Gourmet or Bon Appetit is likely to love this book.

Fortunately, Liquor is only the beginning. The adventures of Rickey and G-man continue in Prime, in which Rickey is hired as a consultant for a Dallas restaurant that isn't pulling in customers despite its exquisite cuisine. The chef there is a man with whom Rickey had a run-in during his short time at the Culinary Institute of America in New York, Rickey's only time away from New Orleans until this Dallas trip. Rickey labors to come up with a new concept for the restaurant while ignoring the sexual attraction between him and the chef, and missing G-man with a depth of longing anyone truly in love knows well. Once again, however, trouble makes an appearance as a politician in New Orleans is out to get Lenny and wants to use Rickey and G-man as weapons. Again, the mystery isn't the point; it's the food and the restaurant life. And reading about them is great fun.

Soul Kitchen is the third and most recent entry in the series, and was finished literally the night before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. The book is dedicated to a group of restaurants and food providers who may or may not return to the city, which has still not come close to recovering. Readers who have paid attention to precisely where Liquor is located will have concluded that the restaurant has to have fallen on very hard times since Katrina, and I’m guessing that that's the tale that will be told in the next book.

This book, on the other hand, is about Rickey opening a second restaurant on a gambling boat. He is once again a consultant, but this time he has had the opportunity to appoint the chef de cuisine himself. He chooses Milford Goodman, a man who was an excellent chef until he was wrongfully convicted of murdering the owner of his restaurant and served a decade or so in prison. Now DNA evidence has cleared him of the crime, and Rickey wants to give him a chance.

But everything is going wrong. Rickey wrenches his back badly and develops a bad Vicodin habit to keep the pain to a low roar. The kitchen at Liquor is understaffed and the dishes have lost their creativity because Rickey's not paying them sufficient attention. The owners of the new restaurant, called Soul Kitchen, want Rickey on duty there as much as possible despite the fact that Milford is doing a fine job and doesn't need -- or want -- the help that Rickey is supposed to be giving him. And something is badly wrong between Milford and the Soul Food's owners.

Once again, the mystery takes a back seat to the food talk; it's almost as if Brite has to get the suspense out of the way so that she can tell her real story. It remains a delight to read about innovative food, restaurant gimmicks, and life in the kitchen. The relationship between Rickey and G-man continues to grow, and their devotion to one another, despite temptation, is a pleasure to watch.

The foodies in your life would jump with joy to receive a package of these three books under the Christmas tree this year. They are pure fun. I recommend them highly. show less

Another wonderful entry in the Liquor series. Ricky and G-Man are trying to survive when things get tough in their personal lives and their business. They do a good deed that turns out to have dire consequences and are dissed to boot.

Wonderful story, setting and characters. The behind the scenes of life and working in NO (pre-Katrina) are evocative. Poppy also takes on prejudice and hatred, with a deft touch, and she shows the seduction and destruction of drugs, all without hitting anyone over the head.

Ricky & G-Man aren't perfect, but they have grown and so has their relationship and its a joy to see.

The third of the "Liquor" series brings in more aspects of the stressful lives of chefs, adding in self-medication problems, ex-cons, and more of the darker side to the restaurant culture of New Orleans. Another strong addition to the stories about Rickey and G-man from Poppy Z. Brite.

Excellent. Fun, interesting, not mushy. We connect back with Rickey and G-Man and their lives running a successful restaurant, Liquor, while trying to have a life, enjoy it and be good to each other and others. The plot is mostly about Rickey helping out an old work friend to get back on his feet and getting the short end of the stick for doing something good. It's as good as the first two in the series with us getting to know the characters better (I especially liked how Lenny has grown since the last book or something looking like having matured a bit) I like the food stuff, the recipes, the behind the scenes kitchen drama. I paced myself reading this. I didn't want to finish it because then I would have to wait a whole year before show more getting the next chapter which Poppy is writing right now Dead Shrimp Blues. show less

This is worlds different from the Poppy Z. Brite I grew up with, but I still enjoyed it very much! I love food, and I was fascinated by the descriptions of food and the restaurant business. And of course, I was engaged by the interesting cast of characters and their escapades. I am so looking forward to reading the rest of the books in the Liquor series!

The third book in Brite's Rickey and G-Man series, this is a quick read, and more explicitly comedic than the two earlier works. I liked the broader comedy aspects of it, but wished it hadn't focused quite so tightly on Rickey.

It was okay. Nice characters, interesting premise, but it didn't jump out at me as a series I'd want to read more of.