Generation Chef
Page 31
Eric Lupfer at WME looked after this book as though we’d known each other for years, not months, before we started. An auspicious beginning; I appreciate his attentive support.
At Avery Books, editor Lucia Watson is insightful, precise, and funny; I was the fortunate beneficiary of her enthusiasm. Thanks as well to Megan Newman, Lindsay Gordon, Louisa Farrar, Roshe Anderson, Farin Schlussel, and Anne Kosmoski.
William Whitworth read the manuscript even though he didn’t have the time to do so, and I am as grateful as always for the opportunity to discuss my work with him. My thanks to Lisa Belkin for her careful read.
Friend-colleague is an awkward hyphenate, but I am lucky to have several of them at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism: Paula Span, Laura Muha, Amy Singer, Alexis Clark, and Merrill Perlman are great friends and supportive colleagues at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, as is alum and fellow food writer Kate Cox. I thank ex-students Alex Hubbard and Thomas Brennan for teaching me a thing or two about resilience.
Jesse Kahn upped my coffee game and confirmed the value of a dry sense of humor.
I have friends without borders back on the West Coast who refuse to let geography do us in, and I’m grateful when we land in the same time zone: Vicky Mann, Lori Rifkin, Patty Williams and Kenneth Turan, Laura Moskowitz, Cassidy Freeman, and Clark and Megan Freeman. Thanks to Ginger Curwen, who is easier to access.
Carolyn See is with me no matter where we are.
My thanks to my sister, Lori, to Lesly and Trey, Josh and Lani, and the next generation of diners—and to my mother, Norma, who probably would have preferred plain chicken but was always a good sport about dining out. And always, to my father, Ira.
Which brings me to the person who rounds off these acknowledgments more often than not. Sarah Dietz first appeared in this space as a four-year-old who loved words. She’s had some birthdays since, but I thank her for being that girl in spirit, still.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Complete access is a lot to ask of a young chef about to open his first restaurant, but that is what I needed, and that is what Jonah Miller provided. I stood in the kitchen during service and in the hours that preceded and followed it, attended lineup and partners’ meetings, and observed everything from recipe prep to the tense moments before a big review hit. To fill out the story, I spent hours interviewing the principals—so when I describe how they were feeling or their private thoughts, it’s not because I can read minds. It’s because I asked and they told me. If I wasn’t present at a particular moment, I talked to multiple sources who were, to make sure that I had consensus on what happened. I also sought out sources whose stories complemented the central narrative at Huertas, from chef David Waltuck, Jonah’s first mentor, to chefs Stephanie Izard and Gavin Kaysen, whose paths are very different from Jonah’s.
For part of the time my daughter worked at Huertas. If she were a cook we would have had a conflict to resolve. Since she worked front-of-house, she remained out of my professional line of sight.
I made a decision about names that splits the difference between informality and tradition. I refer to the Huertas staffers by their first names because last names—the way journalists usually do it—felt too removed. They’re a family, and I was in the midst of it. Everyone else gets the usual last-name treatment.
One last note on parameters: I stick to third-person narrative because I had no role in the story except to watch and listen as it unfolded. I stepped into the story on only two small occasions: I changed the names of a couple of job applicants who came and went, fast—and I changed the fake name that restaurant critic Pete Wells used to make one of his reservations at Huertas, in case he still uses it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
KAREN STABINER is a journalist and author of narrative nonfiction. She has coauthored the cookbooks Family Table and The Valentino Cookbook, and her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Saveur, Travel & Leisure, and Gourmet. She teaches at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and lives in New York.
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