Back of the House

The Secret Life of a Restaurant

By: Scott Haas

Narrated by: Johnny Heller

Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins

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

Chef is a nitwit

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

A great look in to a fine dining upstart

As a chef/restaurateur this book is very relatable, if someone wants a peak behind the doors this is a pretty accurate glance without being so in depth that it risks losing the uninitiated.

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.

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.

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.

Enjoyed this but not a gamechanger

This definitely didn't change my mind about, or give me a better understanding of kitchen staff. Maybe that's because it's 2004 and we've had a lot of exposure by now. I will say though this was a fun light listen. I did enjoy getting to know the folks involved. I also enjoyed the author's (mostly?) unbiased observations of the good and the bad. Lastly, I appreciated the chats at the end with other chefs - basically trying to draw a parallel. I enjoyed this and I thought the narrator did a fine job.

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.