Wrestling with Gravy

In this inviting feast of a memoir, former New York Times food columnist Jonathan Reynolds dishes up a life that is by turns hilarious and tender--and seasoned with the zest of cooking, family, eating, and lounging around various tables in tryptophanic stupors. Growing up on Manhattan's Upper East Side, a child of material privilege and emotionally distant parents, young Jonathan discovers that food serves as a catalyst for adventure, a respite from loneliness, and a fail-safe way to navigate his often eccentric surroundings. When Jonathan is thirteen, his uncle Bus, a surrogate father of sorts, treats him to his first fine dining experience, at the old Westbury Hotel on Madison Avenue. The suspicious teen orders pheasant under glass--and from the moment the glass dome is lifted, Reynolds's culinary curiosity takes off. Always absorbing, often hilarious, and surprisingly affecting, Wrestling with Gravy is full of wonderful characters and anecdotes. With droll self-effacement and a sharp eye for detail, Reynolds relives the time that his own father made a move on his girlfriend during a meal at Maxim's in Paris; extols the surprising virtues of baseball stadium cuisine (with the exc