2024 the best restaurants in austin review

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(as of Dec 07, 2024 19:37:08 UTC - Details)

During a year on sabbatical from his university position, Matthew Batt realized he needed money—fast—and it just so happened that one of the biggest breweries in the Midwest was launching a restaurant and looking to hire. So it was that the forty-something tenured professor found himself waiting tables at a high-end restaurant situated in a Minneapolis brewery. And loving it.

Telling the story of Batt's early work in restaurants, The Last Supper Club then details his experiences at the fine dining restaurant, a job that continued well past his sabbatical.

The Last Supper Club reveals the ups and downs of a waiter's workday and offers an insightful perspective on what makes a job good, bad, or great. For Batt, this job turns out to be considerably more fun, and possibly more rewarding, than his academic career, and his insider's view of waiting tables extols the significance of our food and the places where we gather to enjoy it-or serve it.

Told with sharp humor, humility, and a keen sense of what matters, The Last Supper Club is an ode to life in a high-pressure restaurant, the relationships that get you to the night's close, and finding yourself through the chaos of it all.

Reviewer: Sophie
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Perfect to read over dinner, a snack or even some nachos
Review: The Last Supper Club: a Waiter’s Requiem is a delightful read over dinner, a snack, or even breakfast because every time you read it you cannot help but get hungry. If you love watching the Food Network, are self-proclaimed foodies, or have worked a customer service job in your life then this book will be a fun read. Matt Batt writes about his experience as a fine dining waiter and he opens the reader’s eyes to what it takes to put the food on your plate and all the anxiety that comes with it. As a reader, you connect with the narrator because he does not hide anything from you and you feel like you are the one handling four tables at once and getting all the food pop quizzes wrong. Batt is also excellent at describing mouth-watering scenes. I often wanted to try what Batt was describing even if I did not know what half the words meant because of his exceptional attention to detail and the reaction of others in the book. That is another thing. We get this beautiful picture of the narrator’s past with food and his family. You would not think that those two could be related but in the book How to Read Literature Like a Professor, food in any scene becomes a connection point between the characters of the scene. And because you feel like you are the narrator, you are connecting with each of the characters in the story over each plate of food we are introduced to. Because of this connection, the ending comes with a lot of emotion that made me close the book and wish for more.

Reviewer: Kindle Customer
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A great read.. would give it a 4.6 if the little star ratings allowed
Review: Give this book a try! I am not a “foodie”, usually read contemporary fiction, and chose this book because of a review I read. It is full of heart, well-written, and moving. I sometimes had to slow myself down and make myself go back to re-read passages. Some of his images and comparisons made me laugh out loud (not usual for me). His food/beverage descriptions were so detailed and spot on, you could practically taste them. I found this book totally enjoyable, engrossing, believable and heart warming. An unexpected joy. Thank you, Matt Batt.

Reviewer: Mary Koss
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A must for restaurant managers.
Review: I enjoyed reading about restaurants in the Milwaukee area and the midwest where this author lived and worked. As a college English professor on sabbatical to write a book, he takes jobs at 2 different restaurants to supplement his income, and I believe to also give him material to write this book. I especially enjoyed his interactions with Peter Jr at Miss Katie's Diner.

Reviewer: Morelli Bass Girl
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Hysterical, Touching Memoir of a Bicycle-Roding College Prof’s Back-up Career in Restaurants
Review: At both times hysterical and moving, The Last Supper Club offers stunning insight into the restaurant world written by a bicycle riding college prof and married dad. Perfect for binge reading, Matthew’s fast-based memoir delivers tantalizing insights into the restaurant industry that will leave you clamoring for more. Bravo!

Reviewer: Genevieve Fox
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A Writer In Love With Waiting Tables
Review: Matthew Batt’s “The Last Supper Club” holds the unique perspective of a creative nonfiction author in love with serving tables. Batt does a good job of explaining most restaurant jargon in layman’s terms, and he often goes on to give detailed, verging on lyrical, descriptions of the food, setting, and culture of a given restaurant, often Surly’s, the main restaurant focused on in the book. Although sometimes the detail sometimes becomes a bit much, it allows for gems to peek through. A memorable metaphor I enjoyed was at Surly’s orientation when Batt drily remarked that, “they were serving their own Kool-Aid by the gallon, but I was thirsty and just drank it up.” What I liked most was that Batt does a commendable job of praising the oft-looked down upon service industry, often having to defend his desire to work waiting tables to others, especially those who know he teaches at a graduate school. He has several thought-provoking lines about how difficult and rewarding such a job is, especially for one genuinely attempting to excel and improve at it, as well as lines about the community that such jobs form. After all, he argues, all are accepted: "if you can do the job, they don’t care who you are”, where you come from, or what you’ve done before. There is a sort of beauty in the all-accepting picture that Batt paints. His message made me realize that his title of “The Last Supper Club” went beyond just a food pun. While religious imagery was not shoved into the readers’ faces, Batt gently drew on Christian ideals such as communion and family to put his book together. Overall, it was an enjoyable read that left me pondering on the questions and themes that Batt gives us to reflect on.

Reviewer: KT
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: The chef, the staff, the food
Review: I regret not making it to the The Brewers Table although I have been to Surly. What an amazing concept and such a well written book. Matt made me want to be a server at such a restaurant. Set in my hometown made this book a delight. If you love great restaurants and are curious how a professional kitchen is run, read this. And head to Petit Leon…..