I originally requested Delancey because this book was promoted on Library Reads and because I was looking
for a gift for good friends who love to cook AND to read. AND I will be
buying a copy for them because I so enjoyed Molly Wizenberg's conversational
tone and her amusing anecdotes about the hard work of starting a restaurant
with her husband. In fact, I was reading
this book on a road trip and kept laughing and reading excerpts to my
husband who laughed along and finally asked me to stop so that he could enjoy
the book in its entirety. 
Wizenberg's writing is both funny and evocative: "no one
said a word as we waited, at least two dozen of us, watching him [the pizza
cook] the way a pack of lions watches a grazing zebra." I also loved her
descriptions of food, especially since pizza was featured and several recipes are
included, such as Tomato and Corn Salad with Shallot Vinaigrette, Chilled
Peaches in Wine or Toni's Apple Crisp. Delancey is certainly a terrific
read for "foodies" and anyone interested in opening a restaurant. As a result,
I will also be recommending Delancey to teachers and students in our Gourmet
and Business classes. Some of our Gourmet students were recently required to
read The Soul of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman, but I think that Delancey could be even more engaging
for them.
I look forward to following Molly Wizenberg's blog, Orangette and hope to make a trip
to her family's restaurant in Seattle when I am next on the West Coast. I want to see what she describes as what
matters about Delancey: "We get to make people happy. We get to give people a
good night. We get to spend our days doing work that we can be proud of, and
when we’re done, there’s all the pizza you can eat."
