“Hot grease, sharp knives, infidelity, and white truffles….The Hunger has all the right ingredients….The best memoir by a chef since Kitchen Confidential.”—Jay McInerney
The Hunger is the page-turning memoir from John DeLucie, chef of THE celebrity hot spot restaurant in New York City, The Waverly Inn. With an introduction by Graydon Carter, legendary Editor of Vanity Fair, The Hunger is an unabashed celebration of hard work and the good life that Anthony Bourdain fans will simply eat up—a feast for foodies that author Salman Rushdie calls, “A delightful book….I recommend it to anyone interested in good food—and good stories.”
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The Hunger: A Memoir of an Accidental Chef
“Hot grease, sharp knives, infidelity, and white truffles….The Hunger has all the right ingredients….The best memoir by a chef since Kitchen Confidential.”—Jay McInerney
The Hunger is the page-turning memoir from John DeLucie, chef of THE celebrity hot spot restaurant in New York City, The Waverly Inn. With an introduction by Graydon Carter, legendary Editor of Vanity Fair, The Hunger is an unabashed celebration of hard work and the good life that Anthony Bourdain fans will simply eat up—a feast for foodies that author Salman Rushdie calls, “A delightful book….I recommend it to anyone interested in good food—and good stories.”
“Hot grease, sharp knives, infidelity, and white truffles….The Hunger has all the right ingredients….The best memoir by a chef since Kitchen Confidential.”—Jay McInerney
The Hunger is the page-turning memoir from John DeLucie, chef of THE celebrity hot spot restaurant in New York City, The Waverly Inn. With an introduction by Graydon Carter, legendary Editor of Vanity Fair, The Hunger is an unabashed celebration of hard work and the good life that Anthony Bourdain fans will simply eat up—a feast for foodies that author Salman Rushdie calls, “A delightful book….I recommend it to anyone interested in good food—and good stories.”
John DeLucie is the Executive Chef/Partner of The Waverly Inn, which he opened to great critical acclaim in 2007 in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. DeLucie has been featured in New York magazine, Town & Country, the New York Times, and on television on the The Martha Stewart Show and CBS's The Early Show Saturday Edition. He lives in New York.
Table of Contents
Author's Note xiii
Introduction Graydon Carter xv
Prologue 1
Office Space 7
Happy All the Time 12
Ingredients 19
Was It Him? 25
Trial by Salad 30
Crossing Bloomingdale's 37
South by Southwest 46
Benediction 53
Twelve Smoking Ducks 58
Blue Chili 66
Gold Leaf and Turbot 71
The Waverly Juice 78
The Brothers Calamari 86
Waltz for PJ 92
Reluctant Patty 100
Running from Stilettos 107
Angst Hampton 112
Food and Marriage 120
The Conversation 126
Park Babylon South 131
French Roast 140
Odd Pairing 147
Under New Management 154
More Butter 161
Reduction 169
Piatti Secondi 178
The Man 185
Mac & Jeez! 195
Unhinged 202
Adrenaline Junkie 207
Coda 217
Epilogue 223
What People are Saying About This
Bobby Flay
“In a bowl, stir gently, one part Hard Work, two cups True Grit, and a dash of Restaurant Glamour, and you get the perfect recipe for Chef John Delucie’s everyday life... I couldn’t put it down.”
Jay McInerney
“Hot grease, sharp knives, infidelity, and white truffles. . . . The Hunger has all the right ingredients. John DeLucie has lived the life and now he tells the tale. The Hunger is the best memoir by a chef since Kitchen Confidential.”
Anthony Bourdain
“THE HUNGER entertainingly describes one of those wonderfully unlikely bizarro career arcs that can only happen in the restaurant business...A terrific first person tour of the best and worst of the back-of-the-house New York restaurant world with an all-too rare happy ending.”
Salman Rushdie
John DeLucie has given me so much pleasure at The Waverly Inn, and now he has written this delightful book, as well! I recommend it to anyone interested in good food—and good stories.”
