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by Michael Ruhlman
From James Beard award-winning author Michael Ruhlman, a coming-of-age story about finding a new life and love in the kitchen…and trying not to get burned along the way.
When high school football star Theo Claverback breaks his leg just weeks after a devastating break-up, he's forced to call an audible on his summer plans and put his college ones on hold. He soon finds himself in the most unlikely of places for a jock on crutches: the kitchen of an upscale French restaurant, where he'll work as a prep cook while his heart and leg heal.
But it's in the kitchen where Theo finds new purpose and a new romance. As he becomes a trusted employee to Chef and is welcomed into his inner circle, Theo begins to discover the true costs of running a restaurant—and what happens when you get into hot water with the wrong people.
Set in Cleveland, Ohio in 1980, If You Can't Take the Heat is a gritty look inside the belly of an upscale kitchen where love and danger boil behind closed doors.
"Food writer Ruhlman employs exacting verisimilitude to bring the heat of the kitchen and sensory details of the dishes to life in this vivacious debut." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Ruhlman's writing is at its best when Theo is in the kitchen. The hustle and passion that flow during service drop readers squarely in the middle of the action...The well-realized foodie elements are the highlight." —Kirkus Reviews
"This human story is the book's real strength, as is the care given to detailing the operations inside a restaurant kitchen, lending power and authenticity." —Booklist
This information about If You Can't Take the Heat was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Michael Ruhlman is a trained cook and an award-winning author best known for writing about food, chefs, and the work of professional cooking. He has also written for The New York Times, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Gourmet magazine, and other publications. He lives in New York City and Providence, Rhode Island.
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