Restaurant Man - Tapa dura

"Joe Bastianich tells it like it is...."Restaurant Man" is a brutally honest account of his rise from self-proclaimed Queens "punk" to a James Beard-winning restaurateur....["Restaurant Man"] serves as an education--and a warning--to anyone who is thinking of entering the restaurant business."
-- "The New York Daily News"

"In "Restaurant Man"...Joe Bastianich has served up a very smart insider's take on the New York City culinary scene as only and erudite and successful member of the secret society can do. The subtext of this love letter to the memory of his father is in itself a magnificent stand-alone dissertation. Joe pulls no punches and tells it exactly like it is in a way that punctuates the many oddities with brilliant black humor and scene-of-the-crime, matter-of-fact perspective. "Restaurant Man "will resonate with anyone who has come in contact with the world of food, entertainment, and wine or the cottage industry of scripted reality television it has spawned."
--Mario Batali

"[A] darkly humorous and gossipy memoir...[Joe Bastianich's writing style] is reminiscent of Anthony Bourdain ("Kitchen Confidential; Medium Raw") and covers some of the same territory."
-- "Library Journal"

"[Joe Bastianich's] easygoing voice and substantial knowledge of real Italian food (not the spaghetti-and-meatballs kind) will lure booklovers and food lovers alike.... Engrossing details of being the front man in a variety of thriving restaurants."
-- "Kirkus"

"["Restaurant Man "is] a wild ride that ends with a richer, happier, healthier man amazed at his survival, emotionally reconciled with his past and committed to nurturing his family and his culinary legacy."
-- "Wine Spectator"

"["Restaurant Man" is a] salty, rollicking memoir....[Joe Bastianich's] forthrightness about the business nitty-gritty and his own failures and mistakes are bonus takeaways along the utterly readable way."
-- "Publishers Weekly"

"["Restaurant Man"] is a raw, throbbing nerve of a biography: if [Joe] Bastianich has any intellectual filters, he checks them at the door here, and "Restaurant Man" is the beter for it....This is the "Some Girls" of restaurant memoirs."
-- "WashingtonPost.com"

"Compulsory reading for anyone who dreams of someday opening an eatery....The lessons [Joe] Bastianich has to offer are important and fundamental."
--Russ Parsons, "LATimes.com"

"["Restaurant Man"] is a combination of homage to food and wine, and tutelage on owning and managing restaurants...."Restaurant Man "serves as an education to anyone wanting to enter the restaurant business"
-- "PortlandFoodandDrink.com"

"["Restaurant Man"] is full of frank, personal revelations...but it's also an eye-popping industry expose."
-- "LoHud.com"