Cookbooks - Prime Time
Lucky for us that author Poppy Z. Brite didn’t lose her appetite while writing horror stories: Brite switched from serial killers to sous-chefs in her delectable new fiction, set in and around New Orleans’ culinary scene.
Last year, Brite’s novel Liquor introduced young line cooks (and lovers) Rickey and G-Man, who struggle to open a new restaurant with a can’t-miss gimmick: Every item on the menu contains alcohol, ideal for hard-partying New Orleans. Called Liquor, the eatery succeeds because - and in spite - of the backing of not-so-silent partner Lenny Duveteaux, a celebrity chef suspiciously similar to Emeril Legasse.
In the follow-up, Prime (Three Rivers Press, $13.95), Rickey parlays Liquor’s success to a consulting gig at an unpopular Dallas restaurant, while Lenny faces the ire of an eccentric district attorney up for re-election. The book’s last hundred or so pages rely on the rickety mechanics of the thriller genre, but Brite’s heart definitely belongs in the kitchen.
Like Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, Brite books savor in the smells, heat and high-testosterone pressures of restaurant work. High-strung Rickey and laid-back G-Man aren’t just funny, well-rounded characters, but acute observers of cooking culture - from meaningless one-word restaurant names like “Jar” to the propensity for New Orleans kitchen workers to contract a rash called “crotch rot.” Married to a chef, Brite breezily conveys the snap of Internet gossip, the sting of unfair reviews and the sensuous pleasures of food.
I won’t give away Rickey’s high-concept hook for Dallas diners, except to say that it would horrify Texas vegetarians (assuming there are any). Liquor and Prime both revolve on restaurants with themes tied to their home city’s identity, which makes you wonder what kind of gimmick would attract Atlanta diners. I suspect that locals would flock to a “greatest hits” restaurant that served the signature dishes of other trendy places, giving Atlantans the appearance of prestige - and less driving time.??