Bread and Butter by Michelle Wildgen

Published by Doubleday on February 11, 2014

I enjoyed reading Bread and Butter, in part because I enjoy a good meal as much as I enjoy a good book. There's also something romantic about the restaurant business. Like many people, I love the idea of owning/managing a restaurant even though I know nothing about food preparation. I do know that most restaurants fail and that I'm much too lazy to put in the hours that a successful restaurant demands. Reading a book that's set in the world of fine dining is therefore a vicarious pleasure that appeals to my culinary fantasies.

Two brothers, Leo and Britt, have been in the restaurant business for ten years, having grown a successful upscale restaurant in the economically deprived soil of Linden, Pennsylvania. Britt is the restaurant's handsome face; Leo the brains. Britt knows how to manage people while Theo is adept at managing finances. Their younger brother Harry, long absent from Linden, has returned to start a restaurant of his own. Britt is bugged that his little brother would have the audacity to compete, particularly without paying his dues in the business. Britt is also bugged when Harry turns up for dinner with Camille, a beautiful regular at Britt's restaurant who nonetheless remains a mystery to him.

While always written in the third person, the novel shifts point of view among the three brothers. They have very different personalities, all brought into sharp focus during the course of the novel. Their outward personalities -- Leo is withdrawn but ultra-competent, Britt is outgoing and relaxed, Harry is charming but high strung -- often mask their true selves. Each is doing his best to conceal his insecurities from the others and the brothers' perceptions of each other (like the reader's perceptions of each) are constantly evolving. Getting a better understanding of the characters as their depths are gradually revealed is a highlight of reading the novel.

Still, the best part of Bread and Butter is its fascinating behind-the-scenes look at restaurant management (in the case of Britt and Leo's established venue) and restaurant development (in the case of Harry's startup). The drama of the restaurant business is complemented by family conflict -- sibling rivalry combined with personal and professional jealousies. To make an innovative high quality restaurant work, you might need to be a little obsessed. All three brothers are obsessed in their own ways. Bread and Butter drives home the point that obsessions might help you succeed professionally while destroying you personally, particularly when obsessions begin to clash.

Some portions of the narrative are too expository and some of the relationship drama is too predictable to be dramatic, but those flaws are overshadowed by the lush descriptions of food and the quirkiness with which line cooks, dessert chefs, and other members of the gossipy and insular restaurant community are portrayed. This isn't a perfect novel but it is one that I imagine most food fans will enjoy.

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