I absolutely loved this book! It was such a captivating read, and I had a fantastic time diving into its pages. I definitely recommend it to anyone looking for something enjoyable and easy to read!

There's a wonderful warmth and honesty to Keene's voice as he narrates his life, making it easy to love and admire the flawed yet openhearted and deeply empathetic man within the pages. His love of his family, friends, dogs, and food is palpable, and his petty moments, when he describes celebrities and investors he's had run-ins with just serve to make him more endearing to me. And how sad am I to be on the opposite coast from Cyrus, his restaurant? SO SAD, you guys! I could practically taste the food when he described it, but 'practically' ain't the same as actually tasting it.

And yes, everything about the dogs made me tear up. And the elephants! OMG.

If there's a weakness here, it's when Keene shifts mode from memoir to prescriptive work. His points are excellent, but he has a tendency to repeat himself when trying to make them, and I miss the showing when he's telling. Nevertheless, this can't ding my rating much, because what Keene's trying to do for the culinary industry is so necessary and so good.

Thank you to NetGalley and Köehler Books for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions within are my own.

Thank you, Köehler Books for providing a copy of Culinary Leverage by Douglas Keane for me to review. I learned of this book after reading an interview with Keane on the Food Gal blog. The interview was great and I couldn’t wait to read this memoir. It started out a little darker than I expected and I shed a few tears at first but that shows how affecting the writing was. I loved learning about the restaurant star rating system and how it affects chefs. I got a kick out of the mentions of Michael Bauer, former local restaurant critic here. I have a feeling Keane could have said a lot more about the “Bauer Era”! This is an amazing book that pulls no punches and is an interesting view of the realities of working in and owning restaurants. Keane has lots of ideas about improving the restaurant business, and his new venture Cyrus incorporates his vision. It sounds amazing and I really enjoyed meeting his team and learning about their contributions. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5 for this fascinating book!