Restaurant History

Uncover the captivating culinary history behind everyday rituals, transforming how you experience your next meal out. Whether you are grabbing a quick coffee on your morning commute or navigating the butterflies of a first date, these shared public spaces shape our lives. Step into a warm...

Journeying 2,000 years into the past, food critic and writer William Sitwell artfully traces the earliest origins of the widespread cultural practice of eating out, from its most basic to most sophisticated forms. Whether he’s traversing the inns and taverns of Pompeii before its destruction in AD 79, witnessing the tumultuous emergence of fine dining during the French Revolution, or recounting the mid-20th-century invention of the taco machine in New York City, Sitwell’s engaging prose gives listeners a front-row seat to the restaurant experience across cultures and millennia.

Journey through the captivating culinary history of public dining, where every meal reveals hidden social power dynamics. Whether you are prepping dinner in your kitchen or settling in for a long commute, this curious and appetizing exploration satisfies a deep hunger for knowledge. From ancient...

AS READ ON BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK. The fascinating story of how we have gone out to eat, from the ancient Romans in Pompeii to the luxurious Michelin-starred restaurants of today. Tracing its earliest incarnations in the city of Pompeii, where Sitwell is stunned by the sophistication of...

My husband booked our anniversary table for another woman. He just didn’t know the restaurant was mine. Drew Cahill told his girlfriend he was divorced. She thinks the lavish life they’ve been posting online belongs to him. He lied. For five months, I’ve watched my husband build a second life using property owned by my family, wine paid for with my money, and a restaurant he thinks “owes him one.” Now he’s brought her to table four.

"This is a slim and modest book, a volume of oral histories in the vein of Studs Terkel’s Working (1974), but everyone who eats out regularly should know about it...Voices From the Kitchen is an optimistic book — it reminds you that if many restaurant careers begin that way, they don’t...

A story about the trials and triumphs of a Black chef from Queens, New York, and a White media entrepreneur from Staten Island who built a relationship and a restaurant in the Deep South, hoping to bridge biases and get people talking about race, gender, class, and culture. “Black, White, and...

“Abigail Savitch-Lew opens up doors to a Brooklyn world that most of us will never see. She reveals the convergence of cultures that is the real New York to life with flair and grace that make this an utterly enjoyable read.” —James McBride, New York Times bestselling author of The Heaven...

The classic guide to America's greatest hamburger eateries, from burger scholar and restauranteur George Motz, returns in a completely updated fourth edition—featuring 220 establishments where you can find the perfect regional burger and reclaim a precious slice of Americana. America's...

Drew Nieporent has been a staple of the New York dining scene for decades, establishing a host of iconic restaurants like Nobu, Tribeca Grill, and Montrachet. But his career started from much more humble beginnings—the grill at the local McDonald’s. A middle class kid from New York’s East...

The oral history of the golden age of London's most fashionable restaurants. In October 1976, the London restaurant world was turned upside down when Michael Caine, celebrated chef Richard Shepherd and Irish entrepreneur Peter Langan opened Langan's, a celebrity hangout that would revolutionise...

Why are there restaurants? Why would anybody consider eating alongside perfect strangers in a loud and crowded room to be an enjoyable pastime? To find the answer, Rebecca Spang takes us back to France in the eighteenth century, when a restaurant was not a place to eat but a quasi-medicinal bouillon not unlike the bone broths of today.

Uncover the hidden culinary history of how cheap calories and ruthless industrial efficiency conquered the modern diet. Whether you are navigating a busy morning commute or grabbing a quick bite on a lunch break, this thought-provoking journey will permanently alter how you view the global food...

Two brothers. Six hundred borrowed dollars. A sign that could only hold eight letters. In the spring of 1958, Dan and Frank Carney — two Wichita State students with no restaurant experience and no particular plan — borrowed six hundred dollars from their mother and converted a small beer tavern on the corner of Bluff and Kellogg into a pizzeria. The sign on the building could only hold eight letters. A family member said the place looked like a hut. The name stuck. What grew out of that small brick box would become, over the next sixty-eight years, one of the most familiar institutions ...

Chez Panisse opened its doors in 1971. Founded by Alice Waters, the restaurant is rooted in her conviction that the best-tasting food is organic, locally grown, and harvested in ecologically sound ways by people who are taking care of the land for future generations. The quest for such ingredients has always determined the restaurant’s cuisine, and over the course of 40 years, Chez Panisse has helped create a community of local farmers and ranchers.

Discover the French Quarter's Hidden Treasures Most Tourists Never Find Have you ever wondered where serious antique collectors shop in New Orleans? Or where locals eat when they want the best charbroiled oysters in Louisiana? This isn't another party guide—this is your insider's key to experiencing the French Quarter like a connoisseur. What Makes This Guide Different: Written by a Former Antique Gallery Owner – Learn how to spot genuine antiques from reproductions, negotiate prices like a pro, and discover which galleries house multi-million dollar masterpieces Unbiased Restaurant ...

From a New York Times journalist, a culinary tour of gay restaurants—their history, and how they evolved as a space of safety and celebration for the LGBTQ+ community—full of joy, sex, sorrow, activism, and nostalgia. Dining Out explores how gay people came of age, came out, and fought for...

Combining an insider's passion with down-to-earth humor, chef and food writer Patric Kuh traces the evolution of American high-style restaurants from the 1941 opening of Le Pavillon to the recent rise of less traditional restaurants, such as Le Cirque, Spago, and Danny Meyer's Union Square group. Kuh takes readers inside this high-stakes business, sharing little-known anecdotes, describing legendary cooks and bright new star chefs, and relating his own reminiscences.

On September 8, 1960, six men took refuge in a small, land-based lighthouse during Hurricane Donna in the burgeoning Florida Keys community of Islamorada. When I first read about this, I was curious as to how they passed the time, with the storm raging all around them for hours on end. Searching old newspaper archives about their story, I found just two articles addressing how they tried to entertain themselves. One simply stated that they told a few jokes. The other said they sung a few songs and prayed. However, knowing they spent numerous hours hunkering down within the lighthouse walls,...

This is a one-of-a-kind, foodie's guide to New York City's dining history. This book contains a complete list of the 127 oldest dining establishments in New York City's five boroughs still open to the public today. This book is a must have for any dining/history enthusiast visiting or living in New York City.