2024 the best restaurants boston review

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(as of Nov 15, 2024 05:33:09 UTC - Details)

How does a nice Italian boy from Queens turn his passion for food and wine into a nationwide empire? In his intrepid, irreverent, and terrifically entertaining memoir, Restaurant Man, Joe Bastianich charts his remarkable culinary journey from his parents’ neighborhood eatery to becoming one of the country’s most successful restaurateurs, along with his superstar chef partners - his mother, Lidia Bastianich, and Mario Batali.

Joe first learned the ropes of the restaurant business from his father, Felice Bastianich, the original Restaurant Man, the ultrapragmatic and sharp-eyed owner of a popular red-sauce joint. But years of cleaning chickens and other kitchen drudgery convinced Joe that his destiny lay elsewhere. After a year on Wall Street, however, he realized that his love of food was by now too deeply ingrained, and after buying a one-way ticket to Italy, he spent over a year working in restaurants and vineyards there, developing his own taste and learning everything he could about Italian cuisine.

Upon his return to New York, he partnered with his mother to open Becco and soon after joined forces with Mario Batali, an alliance that not only created a string of critically acclaimed and popular restaurants but redefined Italian food in America.

Restaurant Man is not only a compelling ragù-to-riches chronicle but a look behind the scenes at what it really takes to run a restaurant in New York City, the most demanding, fickle, and passionate market in America, from dealing with shady vendors, avaricious landlords, and vitriolic food critics, to day-to-day issues like the cost of linens (“the number-one evil”) and bread and butter.

Writing vividly in an authentic New York style that is equal parts rock ’n’ roll and hard-ass, bottom-line business reality, Joe shares lessons learned from a lifetime spent in restaurants (“Anything you give away for free is bad”), while recounting the stories of his own establishments - including how Del Posto managed to overcome a menu that was initially so ambitious that it could not be executed, to ultimately become the only four-star Italian restaurant in America.

Joe speaks frankly about friends and foes, but at the heart of the book is the mythical hero Restaurant Man, the old-school, blue-collar guy who stays true to the real secret of his success - watching costs but ferociously dedicating himself to exceeding his customers’ expectations and delivering the best dining experience in the world.

Reviewer: Geoff
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Mandatory Reading For Restaurant Biz
Review: I listened to the audiobook version of Restaurant Man, and I'd recommend that as the best way to consume this book. Part "how to" run a restaurant, part history of Italian food in NYC and part biography, Restaurant Man is an engaging look behind the scenes of restaurants and restaurant culture.Joe Bastianich is a great narrator and his depth of knowledge on the subject is clear. The book is best when it's breaking everything down on how a successful restaurant actually works. Joe's journey through his time in Italy and Croatia and his journey through wine and winemaking is especially engaging. The book falters a bit when it starts looking at more contemporary issues, like Joe Bastianich's hard learned lessons on who to go into business with and what things don't work. Perhaps that part was a little too fresh in the writer's mind to have the depth of perspective and eloquence in storytelling.Restaurant Man is still required reading for anyone even mildly interested in getting into the restaurant business, and is a smart, funny, and engaging story, well told by its author on the audiobook.

Reviewer: Larry
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A fascinating insight into the restaurant business
Review: Joe Bastianich has written a fascinating memoir of his life and how he became the restaurant tycoon that he is today. He tells how he started out a poor Italian boy in Brooklyn working long hours in his parent's restaurant. Interestingly, his family(including his mother Lidia, now an icon), slept in their car while traveling the Italian countryside visiting restaurants and wineries getting an education enough to eventually open the great restaurant Felidia in Manhattan. The book gets really interesting when Joe discusses how he opened each individual restaurant. Each one is unique for a different reason culminating in the eating emporium, Eataly.Also fascinating is Joe's take on wine which is an intricate part of his upbringing. He teaches the reader alot about the business of wine as well as the restaurants. Some things I will take away from this book besides how difficult it is to open a reastarant) is that the more a person drinks and learns about wine, the more they will move towards appreciating mostly burgundy and champaigne. Another thing I learned is that the reason I can't get a prime time reservation at Babbos is because Joe and Mario reserve it for the people they know. I can only eat at 5:30 and 10:30. Yet, if you eat at 10:30 and are one of the last three tables left, you will be treated special as those that eat that late are customers they can use. The negatives include the extreme use of the "f-bomb". I am not sensitive about language and have been known to use that word a bit myself but this is above and beyond that. I met Joe and he never uttered a profanity. Wierd! Also he is a bit too conceited. Yes, he changed some things in the restaurant industry but he could be a bit more humble about it. Overall, the book is quite educational, well written, fascinating and totally entertaining.

Reviewer: Amanda J
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: LOVE this book
Review: I ordered this book on a whim while waiting in the doctor's office. I loved Kitchen Confidential and thought that this seemed like the same kind of book but told from the front of the house perspective.Coming from the east coast originally, I was entertained by his colorful, in your face language and the fact that he was willing to be brutally honest. I live in San Francisco now and missed the headlines that his book generated in New York, but you have to respect someone who is willing to just say it ... New York style even if it's not flattering to someone or difficult to say.That said, I think that if you like food, eating out, have worked in a restaurant or know a restaurant person, you'll love this insider look into the business. He gives a straight forward analysis of restaurant math with how much it costs to run a restaurant (with specifics about how they lose money on various things like linens/bread), how the staffing works and how restauranteurs see their customers. I found how they got the inspiration for the restaurants (real estate first) kind of shocking. It is such a high risk, high return business and you really have to be ON/plugged in.The book goes into how he was raised, family trips to Italy and other passions that have fed his career in the restaurant business.This is a good read and hard to put down.

Reviewer: girlcook
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: The best book of its kind!
Review: Hated to see this book end. Bastianich takes you on a ride around the world wearing the eyes of a resturanteur. You’ll learn the workings of a restaurant from choosing linens to choosing the best wines available. His NYC restaurants are covered, including the struggles and the successes. Every page exudes his passion for good food and wine. This is an incredibly informative book, while also being quite comical in parts. Highly recommend.

Reviewer: Romualdo Petters Pietrovski
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Excelente título daquela categoria de livros que contam a história de um chefe de cozinha ou restauranteur, mesclada com dicas sobre a gestão do dia a dia de um restaurante. De especial valor é sua maneira de resumir os números de um restaurante.Vale a leitura.

Reviewer: harryfoster
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Everybody knows this book so there isn't much that I can say that hasn't been said a million yimes before. Its joe bastianich, its resteraunts, its cooking, its resteraunt man. A must own for a book reader

Reviewer: VIVEK SHIVDASANI
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I like the writing style of the author-very new age but interesting enough to grab your attention from the very first page.Anglo Saxon food has always been famous for it's blandness and lack of variety. This changed when there was a flood of immigrants from Europe after the Second World War to the English Speaking countries. Leading the culnery renaissance were the Italians.Having worked in Italian Restaurants for many years in the developed world I have learnt from experience that it is a brutal business.It is also a very labour intensive and physically exhausting line of work which is why most successful restaurant owners hail from the lower strata of society.Working for an Italian restaurant in like working in a circus. There is chaos, shouting and screaming all over the place when things get busy during the main course. Italians are very emotional people and the chefs curse in Italian and the family members of the owner also work as waiters and supervisors in the bistro. Everyone including the owner chips in when things get busy.But surprisingly the dining experience in a good Italian restaurant is simply outstanding. From the quality of the meat and vegetables and the way they are cut and cooked according to your preference and then desert with it's own sweet wine, followed by coffee and chocolates.What I really love about Italian restaurants is the aroma of coffee beans and the tall thin bottles of Sambuca that are displayed in the bar.And when it comes to wines then the Italians are a class apart. Their tradition goes way back to the days of the Old Testament.What is not mentioned in the book is that many of the better restaurants have water tanks with sea water and you can choose the lobster or crab (which are alive and swimming about) you want to eat.The crustacean is brought to you raw and after having a few nibbles of the raw flesh, the plate is whisked away and cooked to a brown and the second time you get to eat your lobster or crab fully cooked.The most interesting part of the book is not about the food and wine but the economics of running a restaurant. This is why I have awarded it 5 stars. It's a commodity business and you survive by keeping your costs as low as possible and working from morning till late at night like a slave. This book goes into the nitty gritty of running a restaurant. The price of the book was insignificant compared to the enjoyment and knowledge I reaped from reading it.

Reviewer: Lamonroe
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: AAt first I didn’t know what to expect but then I couldn’t stop reading his blunt honesty. Yes the swear words were a bit much but I soon realized this is how he transmitted his honesty. A very well written autobiography which engaged me to understand the generational gaps and the love of real food and good wine. PS just ignore the roughness of his story telling because that’s what gives his writing emotional and literary depth.

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Awesome read!! Funny and honest.