• Back of the House

  • The Secret Life of a Restaurant
  • By: Scott Haas
  • Narrated by: Johnny Heller
  • Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (79 ratings)

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Back of the House  By  cover art

Back of the House

By: Scott Haas
Narrated by: Johnny Heller
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Publisher's summary

Food writer and clinical psychologist Scott Haas wanted to know what went on inside the mind of a top chef - and what kind of emotional dynamics drove the fast-paced, intense interactions inside a great restaurant. To capture all the heat and hunger, he spent 18 months immersed in the kitchen of James Beard Award-winner Tony Maws's restaurant, Craigie on Main, in Boston. He became part of the family, experiencing the drama first-hand. Here, Haas exposes the inner life of a chef, what it takes to make food people crave, and how to achieve greatness in a world that demands more than passion and a sharp set of knives.

A lens into what motivates and inspires all chefs - including Thomas Keller and Andrew Carmellini, whose stories are also shared here - Back of the House will change the way you think about food - and about the complicated people who cook it and serve it.

©2013 Scott Haas (P)2013 Tantor

What listeners say about Back of the House

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Truly horrible narration

The narration ruined this for me, and after suffering through a couple of chapters I had to turn it off.
The pacing is bad, many of the French terms (it IS a book about cooking after all) are incorrectly pronounced, and the entire read is annoying.
Too bad. I just wasted a credit.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Interesting but repetitive

Were the concepts of this book easy to follow, or were they too technical?

It was fascinating to follow the processes of running a high end restaurant . However by the end of the book the author drifts away from his narrative and gets bogged down in long conversations of cooking philosophy.

Which scene was your favorite?

The first section or the book that is focused on the day to day operations of the restaurant.

Any additional comments?

Read Kitchen Confidential instead.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Almost Gets There

As a chef I was hoping that the author would be able to convey that chefs, cooks, and dishwashers are all just damaged people trying to please others. He touched on it a little, but anger isn't the only way our trauma shows it self. We sweat it out night after night aiming for perfection that we will never obtain. We set ourselves up for displeasure. The book itself was well written and an easy read.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Chef is a nitwit

Obnoxious, arrogant & annoying. Reading was fine, writing was fine, but the subject matter was mediocre.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I could really relate....I'm a chef.

being in the industry I could really relate. The story line actually depicts what happens in almost successful kitchen. I f@#$ing loved the book. Us chefs don't have much time to read. listening to the Audible book sure did allow time to fly by in the kitchen.

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