Fat Guy Lays it on the Table

[Fat Guy]

Thanks. The on-sale date for the book is August 16, and there will be signings, readings, parties and such throughout September (in the NY Metro area), October and November (in various places around the central and eastern states). I won't have exact details and dates for awhile, though.

[iheartoffal]

Who do you think will portray you in the movie version?

[Fat Guy]

Richard Gere.

[Mayhaw Man]

Who do you think will portray you in the movie version?

←

Dom DeLouise!

[Dave the Cook]

While no one was looking, Adam Gopnik decided all on his own (in the 4 April edition of the New Yorker) to plop Fat Guy in the midst of Chelminsky, Reichl and the new Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America.

Read it here, but hurry; the New Yorker rotates their stuff weekly.

[Monica Bhide]

Just read it - very very nice & very nice! (Bith the book and the New Yorker review)

[David Leite]

I just finished reading it, and I, too, found it helpful. In fact, I used many of the pointers about how to get a good table and how to make the restaurant staff love you, and they worked. I had especially good luck with sommeliers, to whom I must have always looked like a doofus because I glazed over when they started talking. Recently I took Steven's advice and took an interest in what this one sommelier had to say, his suggestions, etc. Well, he became my best friend.

The book also offers an unvarnished look behind the swinging doors in restaurants, giving even the casual diner a greater appreciation of what really goes into the making of his dinner. So much as been written about how to cook, how to bake, how to entertain, but so little has been written about how to dine out, and "Turning the Tables" fills that void. Here’s wishing you the very best with the book, Steven.

David

[Fat Guy]

Thanks to Adam Gopnik's review in the New Yorker, I have designed my new business card:

STEVEN A. SHAW

Dining Expert

"a queer expertise, a self-evident specialization"

By appointment only

[chefzadi]

Many thanks, Ron. Yeah, the fall is going to be completely nuts. It occurs to me, you all should feel free to PM or e-mail best wishes to Ellen ("Ellen Shapiro" or ellen@byellen.com), but I'll get uncomfortable if everybody chimes in with congratulations here on the book topic.

Congratulations Steven!

I'd like a free copy, please. Seriously though I would pay for. When is the paperback edition due out? I enjoy your humour even though some of it is lost on me through cultural translation.

Anyway, if it has relevant information for culinary students I can get my school library to order it. Of course they would pay for it. As yet, I have little idea what the book is about.

Congratulations again Steven!

[suzilightning]

i see fat guy will be signing at bookamerica expo on saturday 4 june in booth 3339 from 1130-noon.

unfortunately i have to work

[Fat Guy]

Suzi, I will be at BEA in the Harper booth at that time, but I'm not sure whether there will be stock by then -- it may just be me. Anybody who is coming to BEA is welcome to come by and say hi, and anybody who later acquires a book can always mail it to me to be signed, of course.

Chef Z, I don't know when the paperback will come out. I think such decisions get made after they see how well the hardcover is selling. As for what the book is about, I'm pleased to report that it's about a lot of different things -- it's not the kind of book that can be reduced to a sentence, a reality that drives the marketing and PR people crazy! The title, Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out, is pretty much on the money, but if you're expecting a book about what goes on in restaurant kitchens that's not what you'll get. There is one chapter that gives accounts of my time in several different restaurant kitchens and makes general observations about the way kitchens work, but that's only about a seventh of the book. The lead chapter is about getting what you want in restaurants -- it's all about reservations, service, becoming a regular and all that good stuff. There's a substantial chapter on how to read between the lines of restaurant reviews and how to decode the food media, including newspaper and magazine reviews, Zagat, online sources and the forthcoming Michelin guide. One chapter is about the business of the restaurant business: how restaurants open, and how they stay open. Another chapter is about food sources and controversies, and in it I report on many producers and purveyors and some of the major food issues of the day. Finally, there's a chapter about the future of dining in North America, as well as a look at how we got where we are today. My hope is that anybody reading the book, regardless of prior experience, will come away from it with a broad understanding of what goes into a restaurant meal, and I also hope that knowledge will allow consumers to enjoy their meals more and get more out of every dining experience.

[suzilightning]

Suzi, I will be at BEA in the Harper booth at that time, but I'm not sure whether there will be stock by then -- it may just be me. Anybody who is coming to BEA is welcome to come by and say hi, and anybody who later acquires a book can always mail it to me to be signed, of course.

steve you will most likely be signing cards or broadsides like bourdain did in chicago. i will have some coworkers come by and ask about ellen and momo - though the boss will want to meet momo (if indeed the baby is allowed in - actually my boss would be more interested in meeting momo than you)

[Fat Guy]

I'll find out and let you know. The cards they made me for IACP don't have anyplace to sign -- it's just an image of the cover on one side and Tony's "pure crack for foodies" blurb taking up all available space on the other. Maybe they'll do different ones for BEA.

[Susan in FL]

Is it possible to buy an advance copy, rather than "receive" one?

[Fat Guy]

They are not available for sale. The advance-reader copies are uncorrected proofs, printed on cheap paper with soft covers, and they have lots of little mistakes in them (some of which are pretty awful). They're just intended to be used by media for pre-publication coverage, and then discarded. At this point, I can't even get enough copies to give one to each of the people who helped with the book.

[chefzadi]

I was teasing about the paperback edition. Hope the humour wasn't lost in translation. I'm sure you know that already.

I'm convinced the book is of student interest. More than that....

[YoChefGregg]

What an exciting time for you and Ellen. I to can't wait to read your book.

Is this your first child?

[Fat Guy]

Yep. First child.

For those of you who might be interested in getting an early look at Turning the Tables, I wanted to let you know that my publisher, HarperCollins, has just announced that it is giving away 25 Advance Reader Editions (AREs) through its First Look program. These are the same paperback bound galleys/proofs that went out to book reviewers earlier this year. In order to have a chance of getting your hands on one, you have to make your request by 30 May 2005, they pick the 25 recipients on 31 May and you have to agree to send in an informal review by 1 July. If you're interested, please go ahead and fill out the request forms at:

http://www.harpercollins.com/firstlook/title.asp?titleid=254

[chefzadi]

I was chosen at random to recieve the book through the first look program. The copy arrived a few days ago.

If your father treated even the bathroom mopper as an intellectual equal he's a fine example of a parent, teacher, a human being. Look forward to finishing the book.

[suzilightning]

steven-

how did you like bea? unfortunatly all my crew were caught up elsewhere - and the boss was back here in nj. hope you had a good time - it is quite a wild experience.

[Fat Guy]

Chefzadi, I'm so glad you got a copy and I hope you enjoy the rest of the book.

Suzi, sorry I didn't see you at BookExpo. I did see a whole bunch of other eGullet Society members and eG Forums readers there, though. This was my first BookExpo and also my first signing of any kind. It's an atypical arrangement. In my case, I was signing galleys. While it's extremely difficult for me to get extra copies of the galleys for family and friends, somehow a hundred or so copies materialized for BookExpo. It's a nice deal if you're an attendee at BookExpo, because they give away the books for free. So a person would come up, I would give him or her (mostly her) a book and sign it, we would exchange pleasantries, and then the next person would come up. You only sign books for half an hour, and there are 20 authors signing books at the same time, with rope/ribbon things demarcating the lines for each author. I was terrified that I'd be sitting there with no line, especially since the head publicist and associate publisher were right there with me, but luckily there was a good line, so there was always someone at my booth and a bunch of people waiting. I didn't do nearly as well as the author next to me, though, who wrote some girly fiction thing with a pink cover.

[Lesley C]

You mean Cooking for Mr. Latte?

(OK, little joke there. Let's not all get hot under the collar)

[David Leite]

Leslie,

Still naughty after all these years...

David

[suzilightning]

nice article in the 27 June Publisher's Weekly by Lynn Andriani. but steve - the picture with the lobster claws.... might want to rethink that one.

[Fat Guy]

Boy you are really on top of this stuff. It wasn't for another hour after you posted that I started getting e-mails from my publicist, editor and agent.

But Suzi, I've got some disturbing news for you: that's the jacket photo from the book!

Publishers Weekly online is a subscribers-only service. So the only way to read this piece is either to get a hard copy or be a subscriber. HOWEVER, you can sign up for a 30-day free trial and they DO NOT require a credit card for that. So if you're willing to invest a couple of minutes in the process, you can go over to publishersweekly.com and get it. It's a fun piece -- a nice two-page spread based on conversation at a dinner I had with Lynn Andriani in the Modern's bar room.