"Waiting at Chez Panisse: Memoirs of an Exiled Maitre d': Volume 1," by Jerry Budrick

Regular readers of this blog will know that I savor reading about the world of restaurants, and I enjoy memoirs. I have written here about memoirs of various restaurateurs, chefs, servers, and critics, as well as about other food-related books; see my posts of, for example, 2/4/10 (which contains a list of such books), 4/26/11, and 5/12/12. Recently I read “Waiting at Chez Panisse: Memoirs of an Exiled Maitre d’: Volume 1,” (Service Non Compris Books, 2021) by Jerry Budrick. Budrick was one of the co-founders of the famed Berkeley, California restaurant, Chez Panisse, and was also, as the title suggests, the maître d’ there for many years. As one of the leaders of the restaurant, his duties were far more, and more diverse, than the (of course important) role of maître d’/server. He tells readers that he has been writing this book for many, many years, long after he left Chez Panisse, finally completing it last year, and with the subtitle of “Volume 1,” planning to write more about the Chez Panisse experience. Unfortunately, he died soon after this book was published – July 24, 2022, at age 78 – and so, sadly, there will be no Volume 2. The book is very frank, and full of many delicious details of great interest to anyone who loves the world of restaurants, including lots of good gossip. We definitely get the sense of being taken behind the scenes at this iconic restaurant. Since Chez Panisse is just across the Bay from where I live, and I have been fortunate enough to have several amazing meals there, I was even more interested. Of course Alice Waters is the face of the restaurant, and chef Jeremiah Tower, who was involved with the restaurant early on, is the other “big name” associated with the restaurant. But Budrick makes clear that it was a group, a community, that built and ran the restaurant, including himself. There is a streak in this book of the author’s occasional resentment against, if not Alice Waters herself (who was also at one point Budrick’s romantic partner) directly, then definitely against the idolization of and mystique around Waters at the expense of all the other people who contributed to – in fact allowed and ensured – the great success and fame of Chez Panisse, including surviving some precarious times. There is even a tincture of score-settling. But overall, the tone of the book is positive, in the sense of the author’s being proud of the restaurant and all it has achieved over the years. The restaurant also became a community, one that was important for, and treasured by, Budrick. The quality of the writing is competent but not striking, but it almost doesn’t matter, because the subject matter, and the author’s candor, are so appealing. Although I had already read several accounts of the beginnings and development of Chez Panisse, including accounts by and about Alice Waters and Jeremiah Tower, I very much enjoyed reading Budrick’s book and learning more about this amazing restaurant, as well as feeling I was getting an inside scoop about the happenings and intrigues there.