No Experience Necessary: The Culinary Odyssey of Chef Norman Van Aken
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.13 (540 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 1589799143 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 352 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-12-25 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Van Aken is the only Floridian inducted into the prestigious James Beard “Who’s Who in American Food and Beverage”; his restaurant, Norman’s, was nominated as a finalist for the James Beard Foundation’s “Best Restaurant in America.” He has also been a James Beard Foundation semi-finalist for “Best Chef in America.” Van Aken h
Van Aken’s story starts in the 1970s, so there’s hitchhiking, Volkswagens needing push starts, and fired-up grills (and girls) around every corner. --Eloise Kinney . From Booklist This is not your mother’s cookbook, and it’s not truly a cookbook, at that, although recipes are slapped in as palate cleansers between restaurant-themed chapters detailing chef and cookbook author Van Aken’s escapades. Come and get it while it’s hot—bad language, good times, fine dining. Like Forrest Gump with a carving knife, the chef serves up tales of hearing Jimmy Buffett in a little Key West dive, partying at Tennessee Williams’ house, and more, all in an era before celebrity chefs truly sprouted. Yet this might just be the book to hand to nearly every raffish, wanna-be-something male in sight—a rowdy, fist-pumped-in-the-air memoir of a guy who found his way chopping, dicing, and
In it he spans twenty-plus years and nearly as many jobs—including the fateful job advertisement in the local paper for a short-order cook with “no experience necessary.”Long considered a culinary renegade and a pioneering chef, Van Aken is an American original who chopped and charred, sweated and seared his way to cooking stardom with no formal training, but with extra helpings of energy, creativity, and faith. No Experience Necessary is Chef Norman Van Aken’s joyride of a memoir. After landing on the deceptively breezy shores of Key West, Van Aken faced hurricanes, economic downturns, and mercurial moneymen during the decades when a restaurant could open and close faster than you can type haute cuisine. From a graveyard shift grunt at an all-night barbeque joint to a James Beard–award finalist for best restaurant in America, Van Aken put his trusting heart, poetic soul, natural talent, and ever-expanding experience into every venture—and helped transform the American culinary landscape along the way.In the irreverent tradition of Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential,and populated by a rogues’ galle
"Five Stars" according to Amazon Customer. Great book, loved hearing about key west in the 70s. Norman Nails It Drwo It is always interesting to read how someone who is disinterested and unqualified rises to the top of a profession. Norman Van Aken was aimlessly wandering the country with his stoner buddies in the 1970's trying all kinds of low end jobs to make ends meet: carnival ride set up and take down, roofer in the August heat. When things became desperate, he found work in a greasy spoon during the breakfast shift. Norman remembers the cast of characters that staffed the many restaurants where he stumbled forward towards chef stardom and his tales are hilarious.It was in a greasy spoon early on . Well Fed and Well Read ! Barney D B Woofer This is one rollicking book ! I would hesitate to call it a "beach read" as this is one that can be read and enjoyed anytime and anywhere. The author is a gifted storyteller and offers a look at the world of restaurants in a manner that I had last read about in Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential and Jeremiah Tower's California Dish. Thoroughly entertaining, and highly recommended for anyone that is considering entering the culinary world, and for those that are in the business, you will recognize many of the scenes so masterfully depicted by Chef Van Aken. And of course, if you are