On The Line by Eric Ripert

This book is a fairytale type of book for someone like me. I would love to one day travel to New York and eat at Le Bernardin. Will that ever happen? Unlikely. But in the meantime, I have this book. Filled with gorgeous photos of food and recipes that I could probably never recreate (although I am going to try the sweet corn sorbet in the summer), this book takes you behind the scenes of an incredibly successful Michelin restaurant.

We get the details of the kitchen, including all the positions, the stations, how each station works and each person who is the key to that station. We meet the executive pastry chef, the Chef de Cuisine (second in command to Ripert - the Executive Chef), and everyone who makes up Le Bernardin, including the waiters and maitre de. Everyone in the restaurant is clearly important to the success and Ripert gives everyone equal credit.

All of the details of the costs of running the restaurant, the charity work, everything is touched on in this book. Did I mention the gorgeous pictures of the food??