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Stories from the front line of dining

Former fine-dining server spills the flageolets, er, beans in Service Included

By Anne Johnson
Published: December 5th, 2007 | 10:44am

It is a true testament to the popularity of chefs and all things food that a publisher would deign to put out a book that documents the seemingly lowliest of restaurant creatures, the server. A couple of books (and films) have covered the subject before, like Debra Ginsberg’s Waiting: The True Confessions of a Waitress and gross out flick, Waiting , which follows the antics of disgruntled employees of fictional Shenaniganz restaurant. This former server’s book, however, takes place in one of New York finest restaurants, Per Se, owned by esteemed chef, Thomas Keller, author of the cookbook that has brought “food porn” (see chapter two in Damrosch’s book) to new heights: The French Laundry Cookbook.

Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter follows Damrosch’s quick ascent from busboy at a café in Williamsburg, Brooklyn to captain – one of only two females in the position – at one of the country’s best restaurants. The plucky heroine of this well-written book is hard working and is swiftly promoted from back server to captain and finds herself waiting on the wealthy and powerful – including New York Times food critic, Frank Bruni – in no time. Yes, plenty has been written about chefs, but this book captures what happens on the front line, in the “front of the house”, and Damrosch covers in nerve-wracking detail the very rigorous training she and her co-workers underwent in order to open Per Se in 2004. And, more importantly, she imparts the excruciating level of professionalism needed to be maintained in order to keep such a position.

If you care – or already know – that there are many different types of persimmons, you will greedily consume the food portions of the book and an account of a trip to visit a pair of Vermont cheese-makers will have you on the edge of your seat and, sadly, hungry for more. If you do not know a coulis from a canapé, not to worry, the Barnard-educated Damrosch will teach you a thing or two and there may be enough to chew on from the romance that she finds at the restaurant with sommelier, Andre; otherwise, this may not be your cup of Lapsang Souchong. Being the responsible person she is, the author offers some entertaining – and useful – morsels, such as a very reasonable “Diner’s Bill of Rights” (“the right to the food you ordered at the temperature the chef intended.”), and some tips for diners (“‘Give me…’ is a very unattractive way to begin a sentence.”). Raised in a cabin on a mountaintop and in Haiti, the Kreyol-speaking Phoebe Damrosch seems to be a fairly fascinating person and the frustratingly small portions about these parts of her life may leave you eager to learn more about the experiences that may have led her to Per Se.
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ABOUT THE BOOK:
Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter (William Morrow)
By Phoebe Damrosch
228 Pages
List Price: $24.95