Since Anthony Bourdain’s 2000 best seller “Kitchen Confidential,” chef memoirs have become a publishing staple. But only recently has the life story of a restaurant owner become memoir-worthy.
Keith McNally, who opened the Odeon, Balthazar and Pastis, published his best-selling book, “I Regret Almost Everything,” in May. Now comes Drew Nieporent, the co-creator of Nobu, Tribeca Grill, Corton and Montrachet, all influential restaurants that changed New York City and helped make TriBeCa the affluent, alluring neighborhood it is today.
In “I’m Not Trying to Be Difficult: Stories From the Restaurant Trenches,” which publishes on Sept. 23, Mr. Nieporent, 70, makes the case that his skills, experience and taste have as much to do with a restaurant’s success as those of a chef. He claims to have been the first restaurateur to accept credit cards, employ food runners and limit diners to a fixed amount of time at the table.
He also admits that he talks too much, too loud, and suffers from incurable hubris. In 40 years, he opened more than 40 restaurants, but only the Nobus remain open today.
Among the chefs Mr. Nieporent hired early in their careers are David Bouley, Claudia Fleming, Bill Yosses (who went on to become White House pastry chef), Traci Des Jardins, Masaharu Morimoto, Ryan Hardy, Chris Cosentino, Jonathan Waxman, Stuart Brioza, Nicole Krasinski, Markus Glocker and Harold Moore.
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The post From McDonald’s to Nobu, a Restaurant Hitmaker’s Not-So-Humble Story appeared first on New York Times.
