Alice Waters and Chez Panisse (a book)

For many of you, who don't reside in the U.S., the name Alice Waters may not hold much meaning. She's been an icon of the foodie world for about 40 years, emanating from her ubiquitous restaurant, Chez Panisse, in Berkeley, California.

Thomas McNamee has written a definitive biography of Alice Waters, and the history of the restaurant along with it, that gives interested readers a glimpse into the complete timeline and inner-workings of the famous restaurant and kitchen.

Alice Waters' claim to fame, is her absolute dedication to using farm fresh (Slow Food) produce and products. She's probably credited with bringing this movement to the U.S. long before anyone else was interested. After visiting France when she was newly graduated from college, and enjoying the fresh untainted bounty of the countryside, she and her then boyfriend, returned home to open a restaurant near her Alma Mater, University of California, Berkeley. Chez Panisse is literally about 10-15 blocks north of the campus, and has remained much the same as when it opened back in 1971. A 2-story stucco house, transformed into a very busy, very VERY busy restaurant. After reading the book, I'll just say that it has morphed over the years, and Alice remains in some kind of role, still seeking out the "stage," if you can call a restaurant as such.

Having eaten there twice, I'll say that I enjoyed the food tremendously both times. But I didn't realize the significant difference between eating upstairs vs. downstairs. Upstairs is the casual cafe, with a small, open kitchen, and an a la carte menu (where I've eaten both times). Downstairs is the more formal set menu dining room, where you eat what is placed in front of you. No choices except what wine you'd like to have (extra). The varied chefs (Jeremiah Towers Mark Miller, and the current chef, Jean-Pierre Moulle) over the years, have made and remade the reputation, but with Alice's touch, always. The notable chefs have ebbed and flowed. Some with fiery temperaments. Some who had to take a back seat to Alice's name as chef, when in fact, she rarely cooks. Over the years she's had to wield a frying pan many a night, but you learn that it's not her strength. She'd rather be adding a sprig of chervil on the green beans, or glad-handing the guests in the dining room. She also had the wizardry of Lindsey Shere, certainly a well-known name now in pastry stardom. Alice gave Lindsey her own tiny shack on the property, little more than a lean-to, and it's from there the famous Chez Panisse desserts emanated. Lindsey was given almost complete autonomy, as long as she abided by Alice's desire for local and seasonal products, the freshest, etc.

The first time my DH and I had dinner there, Alice was present in the upstairs dining room. We actually sat in the next booth to where she'd joined a small family (Chez Panisse purveyors) who had come to the restaurant for the first time. Alice was making certain they were appreciated. And now having read the book, I'm certain Alice was spreading "the word," her philosophy, about how the Slow Food movement was progressing and how important their contribution was.

What's interesting is that over the 35+ years of its existence, Chez Panisse has only been making money for about the last 10. Alice has a vision, always, about everything in her life, but particularly the restaurant. Nothing could sway her from her goal of providing the very best, the most expensive, but the freshest seasonal ingredients. But her management style? She virtually has none. She always left and still leaves the supervision, guidance, firing, to underlings. She didn't dirty her hands with the day to day management. She prides herself, however, on the feeling of "family" that exists to this day, amongst the staff. In the early years she accommodated everyone's needs - for vacations, days off mostly whenever they said they needed it, breast feeding in between shifts in a back room, or loans when someone was in financial difficulty. Rather amazing in a way.

But the staff, for probably 30 of those years, took gross advantage of their positions. The waiters and waitresses comped food to lots of guests (their friends, or?), delivered wine to tables that never paid for it, which naturally, affected the bottom line every single night. And, it was commonplace that after a shift was over with, the staff would get roaring drunk (on highly expensive bottles of wine in the wine cellar, for which they didn't pay), got high on drugs, and drinking on the job was almost encouraged. It took Alice's father's strong hand and arm some years ago to bring some kind of order to the chaos. And a modicum of profit to the books. There were many others who helped with this - not just her father - but for every step forward, she'd fall a half step back. However, she never faltered in her vision, and it would seem, she still maintains the vision.

It's one thing to have an idea in your head about what you dream or see for a business. And it's another to make it work and make it profitable. Alice has never seemed to have the guts to step up to the plate and make that happen. Making the restaurant profitable was not a goal for her. And part of that was laudable, actually, since she funded hefty profit sharing to the employees over the years, and always provided health care insurance for them when it was an unknown in the restaurant business.

According to the book, Alice is rarely in the restaurant anymore. She has finally left it (mostly) to the able hands of chefs and managers she's finally recognized as good and reliable. Instead, she flits around the world promoting her myriad of sustainable food projects (including one at Yale University). Alice has a loyal following of friends, and because of her notoriety is sought out by more celebrities. She's a particular fan of Bill Clinton. But Alice still lives in the tiny home near the restaurant (when she's home), and drops in the restaurant to say hello to old friends and to taste a sauce.

It was an interesting read. More so because I've been to the restaurant more than once, and because I've known of Alice Waters since the 1980's. Although I certainly gained an enormous respect for Alice Waters from reading the book, I'm left with a feeling of unfinished business somehow. How she managed to run a business all these years is beyond my ken. Really what happened is that it barely ran itself. It was close to bankruptcy several times. I guess I'm disappointed in Alice for that reason, that she couldn't learn how to manage. Fortunately she has strong, talented help who now do know how to run a restaurant.

Where do I go from here? (1) next time I go to Chez Panisse, I'm planning ahead and definitely going to the downstairs restaurant. That's where the haut food is, where innovation takes place; and (2) I'm going to do some research about Lindsey Shere. Next time I'm in a used bookstore I'm going to look for her 1994 Chez Panisse Desserts, which is still in print.

My In-Box of Books

These aren't all "new" books. Well, they're all new to me. Some were received as Christmas gifts (the top four, all from my Amazon wish list) and the remaining ones I bought myself at a used bookstore in Placerville, California. Every time we go to Placerville to visit our daughter and family, I try to pop in to this great little shop called The Bookery on the old Goldrush-era main street. I always pause to pet the gray-haired dog who curls up on the dog bed near the front door, sometimes talk to the resident cat who lives on a shelf behind the cash register, then I make a beeline for the cookbook section. I've always been amazed at the quality of the books in this store - the cookbooks that is. For a small used bookstore, it's always busy, and they have a convenient low stool in the cookbook area, which I use as I peruse the books.

Actually, my stack of books was higher than shown in the photo. Out in front of the store they had a table and a trolley heaped with Christmas books, all half off the marked price, which usually is 50% of the list price. It was the day before Christmas and they wanted to get rid of them! So I got those for 25% of the list price, the flyleaf price. There were some very cute books in that section, including some children's books I'll give to our newest grandson next year. They've been relegated to my Christmas stash way upstairs.

But, back to the bookstore. Sorry, I digress. This time I was there I was told, as I was checking out, that one of the owners (who wasn't there) has a huge, I mean HUGE, cookbook collection. Numbering in the thousands, they told me. No WONDER the bookstore has a large cookbook collection. I suppose she passes on her discards to the store shelves. I wish I knew her. Maybe more of her discards would grace my shelves.

Although I already have a serious cookbook problem, as I've divulged here before. I already have bulging cookbook shelves. Now with these new books, I have no room. This stack, pictured above, is sitting on a piece of furniture at the moment in the kitchen/family room area. The Alice Waters biography has been removed and is sitting by my kitchen placemat. Always available for a little look-see if I have a spare moment while I'm eating a meal.

Two of the stack are novels (with one of those a food mystery). Actually both have disappeared to the upstairs library, where I keep all of my fiction. I have much more library storage in the upstairs office, where I spend several hours every day, mostly on my desktop computer. But for now, I'm enjoying just looking at this stack, getting ready for more pleasurable minutes of cookbook reading.

Cookbooks and more Cookbooks

These are all cookbooks. And I have another 5-8 more books sitting around in different places in my kitchen too. Once upon a time I was able to decoratively arrange my cookbooks - some standing up, a few short piles in strategic places lying flat. That was a long time ago. I haven't counted all my cookbooks, but they surely number over 100. And I have no more room in the cabinet. None whatsoever. Some years ago I did perform a necessary purge. I simply had to get rid of some of them. It was agonizingly difficult. Even though there are many of these that I never refer to anymore, one just never knows. Maybe tomorrow would be the day I need that very book I just gave away.

But then, I'm that way about all books. Not wanting to get rid of them. With my non-cook book collections, my desire is to keep them all. Tattered paperback or brand new hardbacks. No matter. I like them all surrounding me. My biographies collection resides in our downstairs guest room. I always know where to find them. Non-fiction fills another book case in my office upstairs. And the fiction, the largest by far, fills all of the other bookshelves in the office. I like to gaze at those spines now and then and recollect how much I enjoyed reading the pages in between. I like looking at the multiple books I own by a few authors, like Anita Brookner, Ludlum, Rutherford. I do loan them out now and then. Sometimes I get them back. Not always, even though I tell the borrower I want them back. I don't keep a log, so don't remember who I gave them to. But that's okay, as long as somebody is reading them. A friend once asked me why I kept my novels. She, a librarian, doesn't keep any. I marveled at her ability to give them away, or just borrow them from the library. She asked me, do you ever read them a second time? Well, no I don't. Why keep them, then? Why indeed. But I do.

But cookbooks. I DO refer to them. I have a 12-volume cookbook encyclopedia - the Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery. It was given to me back in the 1960's by my former father-in-law. He had an in with the publisher. I still refer to those books time and time again. I don't much use the recipes, but I look up information. It's full of advice about how long you can keep things, calorie counts, methods of cooking and really basic information about the origin of foods, spices, ingredients. And of course, it contains lots of recipes. The books, although published in 1966, are worth a bit if you have the whole set (I do). A whopping $74.99. But I can't part with them. Even at that price.

I have cookbooks that reflect a bygone era - like Vincent & Mary Price's large volume about cooking, A Treasury of Great Recipes. Published back in the late 1960's the mostly French recipes are heavy with butter and cream and sauces. I could sell it for $20 on ebay. But no, I'll hold onto it, thank you. Why? I really don't know. Likely I'll never make a single one of the recipes in it. I don't know that I ever have. But I choose to keep it. I like it's large shape. Heavy, padded cover, even. And it contains lots of photographs of Vincent Price's home and kitchen. Not that I was a fan of his acting. I wasn't. But, I just like glancing at the book now and then.

Then, as with most cooks of my generation, I have a copy of the Joy of Cooking. It was by far the most popular cookbook of the 1960's. I still have my copy, food spattered and all. I rarely refer to it anymore, but I don't want to give it away, either. A couple of years ago I read the biography of Irma S. Rombauer, Stand Facing the Stove. In it you learn about her life, of course, but many interesting stories about how the publisher of Joy took such unfair advantage of Irma in the publishing of the cookbook. But it was revealing too, because Irma Rombauer really didn't have much of an interest in cooking, certainly no love for it, but she saw a need and thought she could, with a great deal of work, create a cookbook that would be useful and sale-able. She was a single mother (her husband committed suicide) who had never worked, and needed to provide a living for her family. Unfortunately, she saw very little of the earnings from the printing and reprinting of her book and the multitude of other books Bobbs-Merrill printed using the names of Irma and her daughter. The publisher took grave and unfair advantage of her naivete. Versions written after 1976 were compiled by the publisher and the Rombauer family was not consulted.

In 2006, however, the Rombauer family rewrote the original Joy in its new 75th Anniversary Edition. I have a hankering to get that version, although I don't know that I'll be willing to forgo my old spattered copy. Numerous famous chefs were consulted and wrote some parts of this new book, bringing it fully up to date.

One of the things some food bloggers do is present a list of favorite cookbooks. I have several, but I must tell you that when I'm searching for something new to cook, I may consult 10-20 of my cookbooks before I decide. Or I may combine two or three recipes from different books. So what I will give you is a list of the books that I seem to refer to more often than others. Maybe I'll create a sidebar box for this list too.

The Silver Palate Cookbook (the original one, 1982), Lukins & Rosso. The original book that I have is out of print, but click on the title and you'll get to the 25th anniversary edition.

Thrill of the Grill, Chris Schlesinger. Available at a bargain price at Amazon, through their used book resellers.

Barefoot Contessa at Home, Ina Garten. You may still be able to buy this at Costco. It's been out for several years, but she's very popular and they've done umpteen reprintings.

Weir Cooking in the City, Joanne Weir. She's one of my favorite cooking class instructors, but rarely comes to Southern California. She has a cooking show on PBS that I Tivo whenever it's on. She's much more out-there and fun in person than she is on the show. She says the producers make her tone down her crazy, vivacious personality. One day, Cherrie and I are going to take one of her week-long classes in Tuscany. She has her own website.

A Cook's Tour of Sonoma, Michelle Anna Jordan. A smallish paperback book from a former caterer in Sonoma. I have several recipes from this book that are favorites. There is a new edition - if you click on the book title link, you'll get to it.

Slow Mediterranean Kitchen, Paula Wolfert. More a wintertime kind of reference, but everything I've cooked from this book has been wonderful. She's a well known writer and author who lives in Europe, although she's American.

Barbecue! Bible (new), Steve Raichlen. I bought this at Costco recently for $11.99, and have referred to it many times, so I think this will become a favorite.

Baking: From My Home to Yours, Dorie Greenspan. I think I've written about Dorie before. She's quite a globetrotter, but a baker extraordinaire. She has her own blog, and I love reading her stories. If I want to bake something, this is my go-to book now.

Another day I'm going to write up my favorite food writing books (enjoyed more for the reading than for the recipes). I have a bunch of those too. But if you know me, you know that already! I'm one of Amazon's best friend!