KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly

Scott. Tucking into that daube of beef, or Scott's sweetbreads, was fun for me and my appreciative crew. Wh ...

"Does Scott think about food? When he's not working?" I asked Gino, out of Scott's hearing. He smiled ...

Three waiters appeared, each expertly wiping, garnishing and finishing a different plate, squeezing drops of ...

circumstances). No worries, just smooth, practiced motions, moves you see in twenty-year veterans: no pot grab ...

like something else. (Metal rings, remember? You might want to reconsider what I said about them t ...

Is everybody getting their food on time, I wondered. Everyone was so damned calm and collected in here ...

product these days. But I couldn't tell you grape variety with any more assurance than I could talk ...

better than me. Maybe I could get him sloshed, he'd start venting, make injudicious comments about som ...

"Beef bourguignon", he said right away. I've found common ground. Red wine, beef, some button mushrooms ...

That was never my problem. When they're yanking a fender out of my chest cavity, I will decidedly not b ...

Now, Brasserie Les Halles is a much-loved New York institution, serving authentic French workingman's fare ...

waiting for him on the Tokyo end, advised me to have another beer—at least. "Or three, mate. Nothing to do but ...

crowds of people—row after row after row of them, surging through intersections in orderly fashion. This was ...

a good pace down Roppongi's very crowded streets. You're supposed to ride on the sidewalks, I later ...

which I found, to my surprise, that I could still speak and understand. I had been worried about this ...

At first, I didn't have the nerve. I wandered Roppongi's early-morning streets, tortured by the delicious ...

steaming bowl of noodles, pork, rice and pickles. This method of ordering would become my modus o ...

The chef of La Rivière, Suzuki-san, must have been thrilled to have me show up in his kitchen. B ...

occasion of having a whole room of people bowing to me in near unison; I got to meet the elegant, ...

Japanese potatoes have an unusual starch/sugar content and require blanching in water. I suggested peanut ...