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Your Table Is Ready
Your Table Is Ready: Tales of a New York City Matre D' | Michael Cecchi-Azzolina
10 posts | 13 read | 13 to read
A front-of-the-house Kitchen Confidential from a career matre dhotel who manned the front of the room in New York City's hottest and most in-demand restaurants. From the glamorous to the entitled, from royalty to the financially ruined, everyone who wanted to be seenor just to gawkat the hottest restaurants in New York City came to places Michael Cecchi-Azzolina helped run. His phone number was passed around among those who wanted to curry favor, during the decades when restaurants replaced clubs and theater as, well, theater in the most visible, vibrant city in the world. Besides dropping us back into a vanished time, Your Table Is Ready takes us places wed never be able to get into on our own: Raoul's in Soho with its louche club vibe; Buzzy OKeefes casually elegant River Caf (the only outer-borough establishment desirable enough to be included in this roster), from Keith McNallys Minetta Tavern to Nolitas Le Coucou, possibly the most beautiful room in New York City in 2018, with its French Country Auberge-meets-winery look and the most exquisite and enormous stands of flowers, changed every three days. From his early career serving theater stars like Tennessee Williams and Dustin Hoffman at La Rousse right through to the last pre-pandemic-shutdown full houses at Le Coucou, Cecchi-Azzolina has seen it all. In Your Table Is Ready, he breaks down how restaurants really run (and dont), and how the economics work for owners and overworked staff alike. The professionals who gravitate to the business are a special, tougher breed, practiced in dealing with the demanding patrons and with each other, in a very distinctive ecosystem thats somewhere between a George Orwell down and out in.... dungeon and a sleek showmans smoke-and-mirrors palace. Your Table Is Ready is a rollicking, raunchy, revelatory memoir.
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Kappadeemom
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I've never been to NYC, but I love gossipy memoirs with all the dirt on things that happen "behind the curtain". The author has been in the restaurant business for over 30 years and talks about the things he has experienced as a server, manager, maître d'hotel, and observer of the folks that dine in these type of places. There is a lot of crazy stories from the 80's (I mean, it's NYC, so you can imagine that these aren't for the faint of heart)

dabbe A card is coming your way! 🖤🩶🖤 2mo
Kappadeemom @dabbe 🥰🥰 2mo
32 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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sarahgreatlove
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Pickpick

Honestly I can‘t really say if this book is more entertaining or disturbing. 😬 a fascinating window into the nyc culinary world of the 80s and 90s and therefore: debauchery 😆 oh my gosh. Some stories! If you would like to be shocked, go for it 🤣 some appalling behavior too that I won‘t forget in a hurry. narrated by the author and you‘ve got to give him credit for telling it like it is.

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RebL
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I describe my years in food service as sex, sarcasm & stress. Plenty of alcohol & drugs too (I didn‘t partake). That is captured here. Although C-A acknowledges the sexual antics would constitute harassment today, he also says no one was bothered back then. I hated having to sidestep sticky fingers. I said nothing because I needed the job. Doesn‘t mean I wasn‘t bothered! Also, Woody Allen deserves a table nowhere.

Tamra Oh god yes - Woody Allen disgusts me. 2y
RebL @Tamra No quarter for that guy. 2y
13 likes1 stack add2 comments
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kbuggle
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Pickpick

A very real memoir of a career in restaurants. Loud and fun in the best of ways on audio.

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JenReadsAlot
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Pickpick

Decent but didn't love it like I thought I might.

44 likes2 stack adds
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JenReadsAlot
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1. Yoga type pants and a t-shirt. Maybe long sleeve if it's really cold!
2. Four- listening to tagged book and reading three others which is a bit much for me!
Thanks @Kshakal @TheSpineView #two4tuesday

TheSpineView Thanks for playing along! 2y
21 likes1 comment
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Cinfhen
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Mehso-so

This was entertaining and lighthearted but I came away with a bad taste in my mouth😉I really did not care for the author - hotheaded, egotistical and raunchy. Lots of name dropping and overly salacious but a quick listen with some great tidbits about NYC eateries. Listened to audio on a long bus ride from Marrakech to Essaouira, where we saw the famous goats in the Aragon trees!!!

Cinfhen Thanks for gifting me this audio @Megabooks #Booked2023 2y
See All 25 Comments
BarbaraBB Fab pick again! I remember those goats and I loved both cities ❤️ 2y
Cinfhen LOVED both of those cities too and Rabat @BarbaraBB but those poor goats!!! Terrible animal cruelty- we took the photo from our bus window 2y
Cinfhen So the legend goes the local Berber people used the goats as part of the argan oil producing process. Waiting for the animals to eat the fruit and then excrete the nut, effectively performing part of the oil-extraction process for them. But this has, thankfully, been overtaken by more modern argan oil-producing methods today. So the goats in trees is all about photo ops & a way to make $$ off of the tourists. 2y
LeeRHarry Great photo- I spent a birthday in Essaouira many years ago, had a brilliant time 😊 2y
Cinfhen I would have liked to spend more time in Essaouira @LeeRHarry reminded me of Santorini - wouldn‘t mind celebrating a bday there😁 2y
BarbaraBB @Cinfhen I haven‘t visited Rabat. Maybe in March. I just drove by those goats too, I didn‘t know they are treated cruelly 2y
LeahBergen What a fantastic photo! 2y
TrishB Trip looks fantastic. 2y
squirrelbrain Hmmm, may let this slip further down the TBR list…. 2y
Librarybelle The goats! I have this on my tbr, but I‘m thinking the same thing as @squirrelbrain 2y
Cinfhen It may have been the timing was off for me @Librarybelle @squirrelbrain but it‘s hard to listen to a guy describing meals with $1200 bottles of wine and im currently in the Atlas Mountains with a family of 14 who don‘t have running water & are literally living in a cement cave 2y
Cinfhen I have so many awesome photos @TrishB @LeahBergen it‘s hard to choose which to share 2y
DivineDiana How fantastic! I have seen pictures online of the goats in the trees, but never where they resided. And your photo assures me they are real! Had not heard of the animal cruelty. 🐐 🌳😔 (edited) 2y
Cinfhen Unfortunately the locals put the goats up in the tree and keep them there all day on slim branches or wooden planks just to get tourists to stop and take pictures @DivineDiana - the goats seem utterly terrified and if they move they will fall out the tree and risk breaking bones or even dying. It‘s really sad 😞 2y
Megabooks That‘s terrible about the goats! It‘s so frustrating when they‘re forced to perform, in whatever way, for tourists. Sorry this didn‘t totally work for you! We are just feeling differently about most books these days. 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️ 2y
Megabooks And yeah, I see your point about income inequality and poverty. 😔 (edited) 2y
Cinfhen We are definitely out of sync but I still love reading all your reviews and appreciate all your recommendations @Megabooks 😄 (edited) 2y
Centique Your photos are amazing! 2y
Centique I‘m so sad to hear that the goats are forced up there 😨 2y
Megabooks 😘😘 2y
Cinfhen Thanks @Centique xx 2y
DivineDiana That is so sad. 😢 2y
89 likes25 comments
review
Julsmarshall
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Pickpick

A great debut! This is a must read for all current and recovering restaurant workers. Especially those of us of a ‘certain‘ age. Funny, sometimes shocking, this peek behind the curtain filled with stories of foodies and the famous is a whole lot of fun. #BookspinBingo #Doublespin @TheAromaofBooks #Nonfiction2023 #IWillSurvive #2023ReadySetRead @Clwojick @Riveted_Reader_Melissa

SamAnne There was a recent Fresh Air interview with the author. It was good. 2y
Julsmarshall Ooh, @SamAnne I‘ll have to look that up! Thanks! 2y
Clwojick This looks so good! Can‘t wait to read it! 2y
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 2y
62 likes2 stack adds4 comments
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Cinfhen
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Thanks for this awesome gift @Megabooks I really appreciate your abundance of kindness 💜

Megabooks Yay!! I hope you enjoy it (and don‘t own it)!! Happy Hanukkah!! 2y
Cinfhen Nope! It was on my TBR thanks to your review but now I own it @Megabooks 💜💜💜 I‘m gonna save this for #DeweyDecimalChallenge 2y
Megabooks @Cinfhen great! I haven‘t started planning for that at all! 😂 2y
KarenUK Oh this looks awesome! 2y
66 likes1 stack add4 comments
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Megabooks
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Pickpick

Michael does for maître d‘s what Tony did for chefs. He shares front-of-house secrets and stories from his career working in fine dining in NYC from the rollicking pre-crash 80s to the post-Covid era. He does concede some of the stories contain what would likely be considered harassment and labor violations now, but he shares the times as he lived them as well as tips for scoring a hard-to-get table for your special occasion.

JenReadsAlot Oh I was looking at this one so great to see your review! 2y
squirrelbrain Ooh, this sounds good! And I went looking for it, fully expecting it not to be available here, and it‘s on Scribd audio! 👏 2y
Cinfhen This sounds FUN!! #stacked 2y
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Megabooks @JenReadsAlot I jumped on it first from my library new releases! 2y
Megabooks @squirrelbrain yay!! Enjoy!! 2y
Megabooks @Cinfhen it was very fun! Maybe it‘s on scribd here?? 2y
86 likes3 stack adds6 comments