Spiced

February 9, 2009
“Your lack of experience doesn't bother me,” Jurgensen's first boss in a restaurant kitchen told her. “It just means... you haven't learned any bad habits yet.” From that auspicious beginning, Jurgensen, pastry chef at Dressler in Brooklyn, makes a few mistakes along the way (one time, she managed to burn a hole in the bottom of a pot while trying to melt chocolate), although she steadily improves, landing jobs at several impressive Manhattan restaurants (with an interlude as a chef for Martha Stewart's TV show). In this amiable narrative, she describes various pitfalls: a hookup with one of her bosses eventually settles into a dating relationship; when they break up, it's right back to work for Jurgensen ever the professional. The edgy “backstage” atmosphere will be instantly familiar to fans of chef memoirs, but Jurgensen's promise of a feminine perspective to the sexist environment is barely fulfilled by the indifferent telling of a few raunchy anecdotes and her insistence that she got over it because she had no other choice. Individually, the stories are never anything less than entertaining, but when they're put together it feels like there's one more ingredient missing—an elusive something that would make a good dish great.

March 15, 2009
Everything you always wanted to know about working in a high-powered restaurant kitchen—unfortunately, you may already know most of it.

Now the well-respected executive pastry chef at acclaimed Brooklyn restaurant Dressler, Jurgensen previously cooked at such top-shelf New York eateries as Nobu and La Cte Basque. She has experienced nearly everything in and out of a high-end kitchen: on-the-job romance, getting freaked out by a visit from New York Times review goddess Ruth Reichl and, of course, being privy to some brilliant food. Despite the up-and-down wackiness of the restaurant world, Jurgensen loves her lot in life, and her debut memoir reflects great affection for the professional kitchen. But how much more attention do professional kitchens need? Ever since Anthony Bourdain made a splash with Kitchen Confidential in 2000, food-industry types have been trying to bottle that lightning again, with mixed results. Steve Dublanica's Waiter Rant (2008) and Phoebe Damrosch's Service Included (2007) were creative successes, but among them and the dozens of other restaurant confessionals that have emerged in the past decade, there isn't much further we can go behind the scenes. On the plus side, Jurgensen does a nice job with the female perspective in the testosterone-centric kitchen culture. She gently dishes on former part-time employer Martha Stewart, and her experience as a pastry chef puts a slightly different slant on the proceedings. Ultimately, though, her pleasantly told tale likely won't resonate beyond Food Network junkies.

Likable, but doesn't offer enough new insights to stand out in the crowded field of behind-the-scenes foodie memoirs.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

March 15, 2009
Joining the growing collection of restaurant-insider memoirs, Jurgensen's (executive pastry chef at Dressler in Brooklyn) book takes readers on a culinary adventure through her rise as a pastry chef at New York's best restaurants while attending culinary school. The highlights include her experiences at Martha Stewart Living Television, when she accidentally melted her glasses while making macaroons. A quick read, this book will appeal to those interested in chef stories and what happens behind the scenes in the kitchen. Recommended for libraries building a culinary collection, but not an essential purchase.Nicole Mitchell, Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham Lib.

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