Dirty Dishes: A Restaurateur's Story of Passion, Pain, and Pasta

3.4/5 ( ratings)

The ultimate insider's story: a no-holds-barred memoir by the legendary restaurateur, from his boyhood in Tuscany to his rise, fall, and rebirth in the New York food world.

Everyone has an opinion about Pino Luongo. To Anthony Bourdain, he was the notorious Pino Noir, the shadowy kingpin of a restaurant empire. To Manhattanites, he was either the savior or the scourge of the city's dining scene. To the many fans of his cookbooks, he was the herald of T uscan cuisine.

In Dirty Dishes, Luongo emerges to tell his side of the story. And what a story: After an idyllic childhood in Tuscany, Luongo came to New York as an actor, but soon fell into, and then in love with, the restaurant business. Within ten years, he had risen from a position as a dishwasher to build a string of the hottest restaurants in the city. In the decade that followed, he reigned as one of the undisputed kings of New York nightlife, earning a reputation for brilliance, charm, and volatility. But after a flirtation with a corporate chain went sour, he left behind the empire he had built and returned to his first love: the kitchen.

Luongo is a natural raconteur, and his memoir is full of hilarious and jaw-dropping stories of the New Y ork restaurant world, taking in everyone from Sylvester Stallone and Jackie Onassis to Andy Warhol and Tim Zagat. Accompanying all this are ten of Luongo's all-time favorite recipes. For fans of Kitchen Confidential and The Devil in the Kitchen, this book is not to be missed.