I loved this. Loved it. I haven’t read a memoir I felt as compulsively readable as this in a long while.

Hannah Selinger wrote this book to invite us behind the curtain during the 2000s, when celebrity chefs were everything and the fine dining scene was exploding across the country. A Gen Xer like myself, Selinger thought she would work at night and write by day, because wouldn’t that be the dream? But being single, living in New York, working late nights at busy restaurants, and then going out for drinks with coworkers after shifts isn’t exactly conducive to any kind of morning wake-up call so you can spend some time at the laptop writing. It’s a cycle that sucks you in.

I didn’t need to read this book to know that you can love the restaurant industry all you like but it’ll never love you back; heck, the service industry at large is like that. Heck, being a wife and mother can feel like that. Service of any kind can feel like that. But the pressure of the restaurant industry is a whole different machine. Selinger writes about her experiences with the kind of candor that only comes from someone who either has nothing left to lose or the kind of confidence that only comes from someone who has zero effs to give. I’m betting on the latter.

The writing here is witty, honest, emotional, thought-provoking, and deliciously descriptive. I don’t like wine, but I could read Hannah Selinger writing about it for an entire book, I think. 5⭐️


I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: 5 Star Review/Autobiography/Memoir

Cellar Rat: My Life in the Restaurant Underbelly by Hannah Selinger is a candid and insightful memoir that accurately portrays the addictive, chaotic, alluring, and demeaning world of the restaurant industry. Through her personal experiences working as a server and sommelier, she offers a raw and unflinching look at the highs and lows of the restaurant employee lifestyle. She also details her entrance into top-end fine dining establishments in New York City and how the price tag of a restaurant like Momofuku doesn't change what goes on behind the scenes.

What sets Cellar Rat apart is its honest portrayal of the unspoken realities behind the kitchen doors. Selinger sheds light on the psychological trauma the industry inflicts on its workers and the impact that it can have on the trajectory of their lives; both personal and professional. The book also serves as poignant reflection on her father's death and her reassessment of her own future.

For anyone, like me, who has worked in the service industry, this memoir is a reflection of all of the highs and lows of being part of the front of house staff at a restaurant. And for anyone who has, like myself and the author, been able to exit the restaurant world, it's a stark reminder about why we got out. I liked that she included recipes at the end of each chapter, also. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in her take on restaurant life.

Nothing makes me more excited that a book about the service industry. As with many memoirs about the restaurant world, Selinger details the trauma and abuse of power that often accompanies the world of fine dining. Selinger speaks about her experience working with various famous chefs during her time in the industry. Having never worked in food service, I am sure there is a lot I am missing but it did seem strange that Selinger complained about every job she had, yet continued to work in the industry instead of making a change. Interesting read but nothing spectacular.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for this eARC!

Cellar Rat stopped me with the title. I had to read it. The service industry is cutthroat and demanding with hot headed chefs and catty personalities in positions of power. Hannah Selinger detailed her experience with fine dining and as a sommelier. She had associations with famous chefs, and she didn't hold back with how she was treated and called them out.

Her knowledge of wine is superior, and I was hoping for more details in that area. She stepped into an amazing opportunity to expand her career as a sommelier early in her restaurant employment. Life went off the rails with a series of bad choices, but introspection resulted with clarity for future endeavors as she will speak up for herself.

This memoir was what I was hoping for plus a little drama. Recipes at the end of each chapter was a nice touch.

Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for early access.

Cellar Rat: My Life in the Restaurant Underbelly by Hannah Selinger

Keeping it short as I try to review memoirs on things other than substance given that it’s someone’s experience. I was excited for this one because Your Table is Ready is one of my all-time favorite food-related memoirs. I was hoping for some of the same vibes in this one but was left wanting more.

Here are the things I liked:
🍽️ Clearly articulated writing
🍽️ Included recipes at the ends of chapters

Fans of food-related stories, those who have been in the restaurant industry, or those looking for a memoir may enjoy this one.

I used to work in restaurants, so these types of books are very interesting to me. This was seemed like a bashing and included some not-needed political musings. It was just okay.

Cellar Rat by Hannah Selinger

Selinger capsulizes common experiences in the restaurant world, especially of a female, in often toxic work environments.

The author spent most of her career in fine dining as a sommelier in New York, working under big names in the restaurant industry, but the scenarios are universal.

She talks about how hard it is to leave, and she's right. I identify with so many situations and feelings covered in this memoir, highlighting how bittersweet restaurant work can be.

As someone who didn't realize they were building a career through the years instead of killing time until I found something "real," this book hits home.

Thank you Little, Brown and Company for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I have family that does restaurant work so I believe every word in this interesting memoir. However, it becomes redundant after awhile as very similar behavior keeps happening in different places. I wish the author well in her new life, she's lucky to get out.

Hannah is a twenty-something server working as a Cellar Rat, stocking bottles in a wine cellar, on her path to becoming a sommelier in NYC’s fine dining restaurants. Now a couple of decades later, she looks back at a career that was both a love affair and an addiction. Hannah is not afraid of naming names is this gossipy restaurant memoir.

For people fascinated by stories of food, wine and gossip, and fans of Vanderpump Rules,
Cellar Rat will be another fun ride on the shoulder of a young naive server. It may also be another nail in the coffin of bossy and sexist male celebrity chefs if the author gets her wish. However, this road has already been well traveled in better, or maybe just published earlier, books like Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. However, this book is one woman’s compelling story that I stayed up late one night to finish. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown & Company for providing me with an advanced review copy.

This book was absolutely fascinating to read. I love a memoir from someone in such a unique and niche world like the restaurant business in NYC. I loved the way she told the stories in each chapter - she was honest, even when it meant not being the best version of herself. She was raw and open about what it is like to work in such a male dominated field, especially in the mid 2000s. Not only do you get stories about the author herself, but of who she meets along the way (good AND bad), and each chapter ends with a unique recipe, which is such a sweet add-on.
Highly recommended!

Pre-Read notes

Sirens and mermaids are my favorite mythological creatures, so this was an obvious choice. I requested and received a digital copy, and then I was sent a widget for the audiobook. I'm really enjoying Hart's style and the audiobook narrator's delivery.

Final Review

Review summary and recommendations

Well, I definitely liked this book! Weyward wasn't a favorite for me, but this is one suspenseful, Gothic, beauty of a book. The twist surprised me but it was well-plotted and fitting to the story. The themes Hart visited here, such as violence against women and children, mental health stigma, and forgiveness in broken, toxic, or dysfunctional families made for a gripping story.

I was so fascinated with the characters belonging to the contemporary timeline. You could comfortably call this book character driven, and Hart provides characters with depth and complexity. I was so fascinated in learning more of the sisters' story that I hardly even noticed the plot, which didn't move much from beginning to end.

I recommend this one to readers of magical realism, contemporary mythology, suspense, or women's fiction. Also, fans of human transformation in metaphor and the flesh, captivity (this word represents a fabulous leit motif that operates throughout the book, from beginning to end, and complex female characters.

Reading Notes

Three (or more) things I loved:

1. The opening of the audiobook, with the music, which is haunting and gorgeous, sets a mood for the book. On the audiobook, the author reads her own introduction about some of the history she discovered in her research but didn't include in her story. I highly recommend.

2. Some gorgeous descriptive writing here, which I remember about Weyward also. A prickle starts at the base of Lucy’s spine. Maybe it’s the knowledge of what the water would do to her skin. She imagines the waves lapping at her like tongues, stripping her of flesh until she is nothing but bone, gleaming white. p37

3. I think it's challenging for writers to juggle both alternating perspectives and multiple timelines without affecting clarity, but Hart manages this technique well.

4. I'm so happy that this book takes on the experiences of students who accuse their classmates (or teachers) of SA. Trigger warning for SA, rp, and victim suppression. When she sought help through the proper channels, the procedures, no one gave her a gold star or thanked her for asking nicely. Instead, they wanted her to keep being nice, to put Ben’s feelings—his reputation, his future—above her own. They wanted her to go away. p131

5. Capture. It’s the perfect word, isn’t it? You paint them and it’s like you own them, like you’ve taken their soul from their body and put it right there on the canvas. p153 I love the repeated use of the word "capture" in the text. This doesn't always work, but it does here. I love all the subtext Harr builds into this word.

6. I love sister stories. I find if very moving when the depicted relationship demands a dreary tone, like it does here, with the sisters being separated. She will stand here, her hands on Jess’s artwork, as if she can soak up her sister’s thoughts. p208

7. "...So, he’d put his hands on the button of my jeans, and kiss my neck and beg for more, and I’d say no, even though sometimes I felt like it’d be easier to say yes. Just give in, I’d think. Get it over with. It can’t be that bad. But still, there was that little seed of fear.” Hart writes brilliantly about what it means to be a young girl.

8. I wasn't much for the plot here, but I also thought that didn't matter because of how well all the elements came together. The climax itself is wonderfully fantastical and fulfilling and I think it strengthens the plot, as it gathers up many ends here at the climax, which is my favorite place in a plot to receive new information that settles a question or conflict. The denouement is too late. She does a great job with this.

Three (or less) things I didn't love:

This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.

1. Hart's definitely wrong about tongue-rolling being entirely genetic, it's not. A simple Google search would have revealed this. But she pils all the eggs in the plot basket on that pseudoscientific idea. *edit Yeah she already knew this lol, but if this point bugs you, i encourage you to keep reading!

2. I nodded, but I couldn’t stop trembling. He got me a glass of water from the art room’s clanking metal sink, and while I drank he put his hand on my shoulder, just for a moment. I was wearing a long-sleeved top under my school uniform, stiff and probably stinking of sweat, but I still felt an almost electric charge, as if his bare skin was touching mine. Then he took his hand away. p153 The main character of this book, a teenage girl with few quality connections, befriends her teacher, a man in his thirties. I love how Hart handles this relationship, gracefully depicting how the very nature of their relationship suggests impropriety, even where none exists. It's as though Hart is saying, I know you're squicked out by this friendship, but that's a you problem.... until it's not. Perception is often flawed.

Rating: 🧜🏽‍♀️🧜🧜🏽‍♀️🧜🧜🏽‍♀️ /5 sirens, not mermaids!
Recommend? yes!
Finished: Mar 19 '25
Format: digital, audiobook, NetGalley
Read this book if you like:
🪢 alternating povs
⌚️ alternating timelines
🙎‍♀️ girl's coming of age
🕰 historical fiction

Thank you to the author Emilia Hart, publishers St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for advance digital copy and an advance audiobook of THE SIRENS. All views are mine.
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I have a love-hate relationship with restaurant memoirs. They are so often filled with stories of abuse and large male egos when they could be inspiring. That said, I appreciated Hannah's perspective and story about "growing up" in the culinary world. I think I am over restaurant industry tell-alls. I think the abuse and toxicity should be called out, but it feels like there's a line between calling out the behavior and toting the abuse for your own gain. I'm not sure how I feel about this yet, but I do feel that parts of Hannah's story were included for shock. Still I really appreciated Hannah's writing and humor.

A new memoir from a female sommelier is coming out this week, "Cellar Rat: My Life in the Restaurant Underbelly," by Hannah Selinger.

Thanks to the publisher, Little, Brown & Company, for gifting me an advance reading copy via NetGalley.

The author shares her experiences in restaurants, both as a server and eventually as a sommelier, in New York City during the early 2000s. She worked for chefs Johnny Iuzzini, Bobby Flay, David Chang and others. The #metoo era encouraged her to write this memoir and share her own stories of harassment, toxicity and trauma. This book shows an inside look at how difficult it is for women working in the restaurant industry.

I wasn't sure I was ready for another restaurant/wine world industry "tell-all" book, since the most recent book I'd read, Victoria James'  "Wine Girl" was so depressing and discouraging. But I found myself immediately engrossed in Hannah's story as she, new to the restaurant industry, threw herself into the mix and learned daily lessons, tips and tricks on navigating her job and the industry. She shares that she loved her jobs and felt addicted to the restaurant industry.

We follow Hannah's adventures at restaurants including The Grog, Bar Americain, BLT Prime, Jean-Georges, Sea Grill, Momofuku, Resto, and Nick & Toni's. 

Throughout, I cringe with sympathy for Hannah when she makes a mistake, when something bad happens, every time a chef calls her an idiot, or a restaurant patron is rude. I feel relieved when a kind co-worker takes her under his wing to help her learn about wine.

I eat at restaurants near daily, and always enjoy the virtual peeks into the back of the house operations, as well as the the behind-the-scenes drama in these industry memoirs. There are revelations, anecdotes and tales about restaurant diners, food writers, critics and celebrities, including Steven Spielberg, Bill Clinton, Jeffrey Steingarten, the Zagats, Frank Bruni, Gael Greene, and disappointing accounts of Christina Tosi's unkind behavior.

But the book is about Hannah, not a list of names to drop, and I enjoyed watching her learn to stand up for herself and go in a new direction. 

Each chapter ends with a recipe, from a Bourbon and Bundt cake and White Burgundy Braised Chicken to Farfalle with Mushroom Cognac Sauce and Bittersweet Chocolate Cream Pie. If your book club reads this book together, you'll have plenty of recipes to choose from to bring to your book club evening.

I found it easy to read through this interesting book in one sitting. It will likely make you hungry for good food and thirsty for wine while you read, too.

Hannah Selinger graduated from Columbia University but found herself working as a server at a hometown dive. She eventually moved back to New York and found employment at some of the most trendy, high-end restaurants. First working as a server, then "cellar rat" (stocking the wine cellar) and eventually as a sommelier. Envious? Well, you shouldn’t be.

Selinger exposes the toxic culture of the industry in her memoir Cellar Rat. She maintains that she changed many of the names of the people and establishments. Since I was not familiar with the New York dining scene, I googled the head chefs and restaurants that she mentioned. I found that she didn’t conceal their identities and what I discovered was shocking.

She never knew what the next day would bring. She thrived on the unpredictability of the restaurant business and found it thrilling and intoxicating. As a cellar rat and sommelier, she loved wines but hated the erratic personalities of management. On the romantic front, since her work was non-stop, her only relationships were at work. She now realizes that she was naïve and susceptive to the advances of unavailable, predatory men. Misogyny was prevalent, which didn’t surprise me in the early 2000’s but the rest she endured certainly did.

Why did she stay in the restaurant business for so long, enduring such emotional abuse and random dismissals without notice? This is essential information, and you’ll find out when you read the book.

"Cellar Rat is a page-turner that is difficult to put down". An original recipe related to the story is included at the end of each chapter. That’s just a plus. More importantly this opened my eyes to a life and subculture I was totally unaware of.

What I also appreciate is that she admits that a few of the dismissals were of her own doing and mistakes. She also admits that she grew up financially stable and had a financial support system when she needed it. She acknowledges that most restaurant workers aren’t afforded that luxury.

"Cellar Rat" will force you to look at the high-end restaurant industry differently. Selinger maintains that these abuses still occur today, and it is her mission to expose them. I think she succeeds in that.

(This review will be posted on UnderratedReads on March 25.)

ARC Book Review!

Cellar Rat by Hannah Selinger

4.5 / 5 ⭐️

If you enjoy reading memoirs I highly recommend Cellar Rat. It was exceptionally interesting to read about this woman’s experiences in the New York restaurant industry but what really got me was her descriptions of pain, suffering, and abuse. She frequently talks about how when people are in toxic or harmful environments it takes a while for that person to realize it. The parellels of different traumas were expertly executed.

I do wish she had talked a bit more about the ins and outs of her sommelier career but overall it was a beautifully written book about growing up, realizing ones own truths and humanity.

This book is for you if you like :

Memoirs
Fine dining
Realism

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Selinger takes us through how, despite wanting to be a writer, she accidentally stumbled into a career of being a server and later a sommelier in the restaurant industry in New York City. She rubbed shoulders with David Chang, Bobby Flay, and Johnny Iuzzini, and recounts how much she loved being a server, but also how much damage it did to her mentally. It was fascinating to read, especially about the abuse and misogyny that runs rampant in the industry, despite all the cozy Food Network show portrayals. Highly recommend this one!

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of Cellar Rat by Hannah Selinger.

This is a memoir about a young, hopeful, writer who turns to the fine dining scene in NYC as a way to make ends meet. It's an interesting look into what it takes to become a trained server in a 3 star Michelin restaurant. It's not just a college job, it takes a tremendous amount of training and discipline. Her sumptuous descriptions of the food and drinks had me longing for an experience that is reserved only for the elite.

I can't help but feel that a portion of this book was reserved for the author to get her literary revenge on the people in the biz that did her dirty. The (now celebrity) chef that was responsible for her firing. The dessert chef that made everyone a cake for their birthday except her. And while, yes, not cool, the overuse of their full names made it clear that she wasn't leaving until the world KNEW. But, who's to say that I wouldn't have done the same thing. Get your justice girl!

A great autobiography about life in the underbelly of the restaurant beast. Funny, sad, poignant and a great read.

I love all things restaurant, chef, and insider info. This was very much all about the early aughts heyday of celebrity chef's gone bad culture. Selinger worked at some of the restaurants in NYC and experienced terribleness of the underbelly. I didn't love her choices but appreciated her story telling and pacing. I am curious to hear what the chefs she calls out have to say about this memoir. I was most surprised about her accounts of Christina Tosi.

3.5 stars but rounding down.

Thank you for the advanced reader copy Little, Brown and Company and Netgalley.

Most of us go out to eat at some point. We enter restaurants with expectations in terms of food, drink, and service, yet often don't think about those who work hard to ensure our good meals. Recently shows like The Bear have offered a fictional insight into the restaurant kitchen.

Author Hannah Selinger fell in love with the restaurant business and went on to work at many top restaurants with many well-known chefs. Here she recounts some of her experiences. In addition, Selinger shares details of her biography.

The restaurant world comes to life in these pages. Readers experience both the front and back of house. They may feel differently the next time they go out to dine.

Some reviews have noted the author's tendency to apologize for her "privilege." If this will put a reader off because of its tone, fair enough. Others may enjoy this account even taking note of the disclaimers. Also be aware that the author describes her book as "creative non-fiction" so not necessarily all factually true. That said, readers can tell that Selinger considered writing as a career since she tells her story well.

Foodies will decide if this is of interest to them. It just may be.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for this title. All opinions are my own.