He claims she is “destroying the system” that he and other critics from former generations strived to build. A gossip column tips Reichl off that Miller, even though he retired of his own free will, has been sending letters to Reichl’s bosses disparaging her and her work. Bryan Miller himself targets her approach to criticism. Others see her as a needed breath of fresh air. Some readers and editors are horrified at her comparatively casual approach. Her reviews, too, reflect her personal voice, imbued with bits of overheard dialogue and personal digressions. Reichl is different, eager to sing the praises of ethnic establishments like sushi bars and noodle joints. The previous critic, Bryan Miller, is a Francophile who reserved his four-star ratings for haute French establishments.

Her approach to food is considered controversial for the paper. The New York Times’s clout is unmatched.īut as Reichl discovers, she was right to have misgivings. Her husband persuades her that the change will be a good one, reminding her that this new job will make her the most powerful restaurant critic in the world. She describes her position at the Los Angeles Times, in contrast, as “cozy” and welcoming. She has misgivings about the transition, worrying about rumors that the New York Times is a “snake pit” filled with people who would stab her in the back just to get ahead.

The book opens in 1992, as Reichl moves across the country to assume her new position as restaurant critic for the New York Times. Reichl sprinkles the prose chapters of her memoir with clips of relevant restaurant reviews and her own recipes. She has received four James Beard awards for her food writing. Eliot poem “Four Quartets” about “garlic and sapphires in the mud.” Reichl has served as a food critic for both the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, and was Gourmet magazine’s editor-in-chief from 1999 until it folded in 2009. The title of the book is taken from a line in the T.S. While there, she championed ethnically diverse restaurants and went to extreme lengths-even donning disguises and false identities-to get the authentic, “common woman” dining experience rather than let restaurants cater to her because of her high status. Garlic and Sapphires is Ruth Reichl’s 2005 memoir of her years as a food critic for the New York Times.

Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl