Food and Restaurant Literature

I enjoy going to good restaurants here in San Francisco and in other cities where I travel. I also savor books about restaurants and food, especially memoirs. Below are some examples that I have read and highly recommend. Enjoy! And please let me know of your "food lit" favorites as well.

1. Anthony Bourdain. Kitchen Confidential.
This chef's behind the scenes restaurant kitchen revelations are fascinating, funny, and a little scary!
2. Frank Bruni. Born Round: The Secret history of a Full-Time Eater.
In this memoir by the longtime New York Times restaurant critic, he writes about his life in food, including his struggles with dieting, as well as about his life as the most powerful food critic in the U.S. (He stepped down from that job last year when he published this memoir.)
3. Phoebe Damrosch. Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter.
Damrosch was a server at a top New York restaurant, Thomas Keller's Per Se.
4. Andrew Friedman. Knives at Dawn: America's Quest for Cuinary Glory at the Legendary Bocuse d/Or Competition.
A blow-by-blow account of the preparation of the United States' candidate for this premier French award competition in 2009. He came in 6th place.
5. Betty Fussell. My Kitchen Wars: A Memoir.
A delightful and sometimes mordant memoir from the years when gourmet cooking first became popularized.
6. Judith Jones. The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food.
Jones, a literary editor for almost 50 years, edited many of the greatest cookbooks and other food-related books by such eminences as Julia Child, Marcella Hazan, and Madhur Jaffrey.
7. David Kamp. The United States of Arugula: The Sun Dried, Cold Pressed, Dark Roasted, Extra Virgin Story of the American Food Revolution.
Kamp chronicles the rise of the foodie movement in the U.S.; a very informative and sometimes very funny book.
8. Thomas McNamee. Alice Waters and Chez Panisse. The story of the woman at the culinary forefront of the movement toward local, seasonal, organic, ingredient-driven food, and of the iconic Berkeley restaurant she still runs today (along with spreading the word on school gardens, and - reputedly - advising President and Mrs. Obama on food-related issues.)
9. Ruth Reichl. Tender at the Bone: Growing up at the Table.
A beautifully written memoir of the food critic's childhood initiation into the world of truly flavorful, fresh, properly-prepared, and delicious food, and of her early years in a life of restaurants and food. (This memoir was succeeded by two others: Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table; and Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise. Both are of interest, and enjoyable to read, but the first book - Tender at the Bone - remains the best.)
10. "The Waiter." Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip -- Confessions of a Cynical Waiter.
This longtime waiter and blogger shares inside information and opinions about restaurants. The author pulls no punches, sometimes praising but often skewering restaurant owners, workers, and patrons alike.