Garlic and Sapphires

<b>Author of <i>Save Me the Plums </i>Ruth Reichl&#146;s iconic bestselling memoir of her time as an undercover restaurant critic for <i>The New York Times<br><br></i>Expansive and funny.<i> &#151;<b>Entertainment Weekly</b><br><br></i></b>Ruth Reichl world-renowned food critic and former editor in chief of <i>Gourmet</i> magazine knows a thing or two about food. She also knows that as the most important food critic in the country you need to be anonymous when reviewing some of the most high-profile establishments in the biggest restaurant town in the world&#151;a charge she took very seriously taking on the guise of a series of eccentric personalities. In <i>Garlic and Sapphires</i> Reichl reveals the comic absurdity artifice and excellence to be found in the sumptuously appointed stages of the epicurean world and gives us&#151;along with some of her favorite recipes and reviews&#151;her remarkable reflections on how one&#146;s outer appearance can influence one&#146;s inner character expectations and appetites not to mention the quality of service one receives.<br><br><b> &#147;[A] wonderful book which is funny&#151;at times laugh-out-loud funny&#151;and smart and wise.&#148; &#151;Jonathan Yardley <i>The Washington Post</i></b>