The Fourth Star: Dispatches from Inside Daniel Boulud's Celebrated New York Restaurant

In this delightfully readable book, Leslie Brenner invites the reader into one of New York's finest restaurants, Daniel, then serves up a tale of spice, staples and sauce. As with the nuts beside the martini, I had to have more. Characters and events compelled me to turn the page almost before I'd finished it, and not a single word left a sour taste. Many passages are memorable, none moreso than the incident mentioned on page 134. 'It was April 14, 2001, and Julia Roberts was having a clandestine supper with Ozzie Osbourne. Daniel Boulud came to their table and suggested to Ozzie that he have the 'Seinfeld Special'. Feigning intelligence, Ozzie opened his eyes momentarily and said, "No thanks. I'm a vegetable." Boulud was bemused. "Don't you mean vegetarian?""No he doesn't," Julia said, adjusting his tie and oxygen mask. "But I'll try it. If it's anything like the show, then I'll love it.""Honey," Ozzie said, drifting in and out of insensibility, "if it's anything like the show, it'll repeat on you at least three times a day for the next fifteen years and in every town and city you visit." Julia laughed so much that she almost knocked her Oscar off the table. Ozzie slid under it. As lasting friendships go, this one did.'If you enjoy good food, interesting people and wonderful literature, 'The Fourth Star' is an essential experience.

This is a book by and for foodies. As such it is filled with a lingo that may require some translation for the uninitiated. Even so, it is both an intriguing tale (how he got the fourth star) even as it contains some of the best behind-the-scenes restaurant action ever written. One grasps the passion, the obsession, the degree to which the performers immerse themselves in every aspect of food from both the "business" end (running a restaurant) and the "artistic" end (selecting, preparing, cooking). Just reading through one of those hectic nights is exhausting but the author seems to have been in the pits with the major players. The outtake vignettes such as the episode on making reservations or on the quirky but faithful customers are sheer joy.And who has not imagined such a dinner as the one that finally concluded the book. Bravo for such an effort as this one!

Brenner scopes out one of the world's finest eateries as it pursues the missing star--the fourth from food reviewer Wm. Grimes.In this we see the top of the culinary world in action, amazingly from an unencumbered inside view. Boulud allows the author pretty much free access to the internal workings of Daniel.What is reported is a calculated mad dash at service time to prepare amazing dishes on time to serve them so that it appears to the customer as seamless and enchanting how this marvelous food appears.The controlled chaos that is observed among the army of cooks, the pass and wait team is of a world and language even many of us home gourmets are unaccustomed to. Fire this and where's this and too much of this, etc. Having cooked for hundreds on an evening, this appears to be nothing compared to this monumental complex of intricate, complex gourmet construction.It was most useful to hear from the reviewer Grimes at the end why he initially gave three stars and then changed it to four. Further, his explanation as to what each star meant was enlightening. For us gourmands and those in or interested in entering this field, this is captivating reading. For even those who just enjoy superior dining, this is revelation of the highest from one of the world's best.

As one who abandoned a graduate degree in English in order to pursue a career as a chef, I can't recommend this book more highly: it provides an invaluable glimpse into a world most culinary students can only imagine, and usually romanticize. I would make it required reading at all culinary schools. Daniel Boulud is the best in his field, both as a chef and as a restaurateur, and The Fourth Star gives us an amazing opportunity to witness just how he does it. From a literary perspective, the characters are as fascinating as those in a good novel, and the relentless pursuit of excellence (and of course the attempt to gain a fourth star) that goes on in the restaurant makes for a compelling read. This was one of those books that I was sorry to see end.

I loved this book--and I'm not even a "foodie!" The Fourth Star reads like a well-crafted novel, with great characters, intricate relationships, and delicious tidbits about who gets what table, about the frenzied goings-on behind the kitchen door, and about what it's like when the President of the United States shows up at your restaurant for a meal. It's full of information I never realized I wantd to know, such as where the staff buys their stylish but extra-comfortable shoes, what the restaurant mark-up is on a bottle of water, how the timing works so that all the entrees arrive at the table at the same time, and just what goes into making a sublime dish. It's a fascinating read. I'd recommend this book to anyone.