Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin
by Carolynn Carreno, Kenny Shopsin
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Book Summary Information
Author: Carolynn Carreno, Kenny ShopsinEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-09-23
ISBN: 0307264939
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Knopf
Book Reviews of Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin
Book Review: Underneath the crusty exterior beats a loving hippie heart --- and great recipes
Summary: 5 Stars
The title says it all.
Kenny Shopsin is profane, hard on customers, full of big ideas that are as important to him as anything he'll put on your plate.
If your idea of a restaurant is a place where "the customer is always right," do yourself a favor and stop reading right here.
But if you like a combative good time, an original mind and some amazingly simple recipes for home-cooked classics, you might inch a bit closer to the screen and pay close attention to this unusual cookbook.
First, the facts: Shopsin's is a New York institution. Kenny Shopsin and his late wife Eve started it as a Greenwich Village market before turning it --- without much in the way of redecoration --- into a 40-seat restaurant. It's now moved to the Essex Street Market, in a more pristine space with just 20 seats, more constrained hours and a menu trimmed from its former 900 items.
Now for some consumer warnings...
Kenny Shopsin on Customer Relations
Sometimes my mind works a bit too fast, and I come to the conclusion of a relationship with customers faster than they get there. The abruptness of my understanding the essence of what's happening is really upsetting to them and makes them vindictive and angry.
Kennedy Shopsin on Publicity
[to a New York magazine photographer who asked to take his picture] Get [REDACTED] out of here! What? [REDACTED] [Sound effect: Shopsin slamming the door.]
Kenny Shopsin on his huge menu, revised daily
I spent almost $3,000 on toner in the last three months.
Kenny Shopsin on what makes his restaurant special
The brilliance of my restaurant is my ability to control my clientele. The thing that makes my restaurant special is my relationships and interactions with my customers --- and the way they relate and interact with one another. With the wrong people here, those interactions don't happen, so...I probably axe at least one party every day --- and usually more than that.
Kenny Shopsin on what's in it for you
Once we've established a rapport, my customers and I are absolute equals in my restaurant. But I guess I shouldn't expect newcomers to understand this. In all fairness, they're right and I'm the [REDACTED], because my way is hardly the traditional you-give-me-the-money-I-give-you-a-bagel. I want more from them. I want a relationship.
But you get the idea. Underneath the crusty exterior beats a loving hippie heart. And a totally committed owner --- there is no other cook. And were you to order, say, one of the 300 soups, Shopsin would make it right then and there. No steam table here... ever.
So don't be fooled by the signs that say, in so many words, GO AWAY. Play by the key rule: No two people at one table can order the same thing. [It bores Kenny.] Do remember that a waitress once poured soup over the head of an annoying customer --- and that Kenny took her side. And, finally, do know you can make his food at home.
This food is international home cooking. Even the eggs and the pancakes can be had in surprising combinations. But it's the soups where Shopsin really shines. Chicken Tortilla Avocado. Brazilian Chicken Garlic Rice. And then chili, made punchier with coffee. An egg, rice and bean mixture called Blisters on My Sisters. A simple Bolognese, tricked up with chili.
Three of his five children work with Kenny. The book was designed by Kenny's daughter Tamara and photographed by Kenny's son-in-law, Jason Fulford. So it's no surprise that, six days a week, Kenny Shopsin wakes up eager to see his kids, engage his customers and, as an aside, cook.
Kenny Shopsin is, in short, a very happy man. Between the recipes and the philosophy, his very useful book can make you happy. You don't think so? To quote the maestro: [REDACTED].
Summary of Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin
"Pancakes are a luxury, like smoking marijuana or having sex. That?s why I came up with the names Ho Cakes and Slutty Cakes. These are extra decadent, but in a way, every pancake is a Ho Cake.? Thus speaks Kenny Shopsin, legendary (and legendarily eccentric, ill-tempered, and lovable) chef and owner of the Greenwich Village restaurant (and institution), Shopsin?s, which has been in existence since 1971.Kenny has finally put together his 900-plus-item menu and his unique philosophy?imagine Elizabeth David crossed with Richard Pryor?to create Eat Me, the most profound and profane cookbook you?ll ever read. His rants?on everything from how the customer is not always right to the art of griddling; from how to run a small, ethical, and humane business to how we all should learn to cook in a Goodnight Moon world where everything you need is already in your own home and head?will leave you stunned or laughing or hungry. Or all of the above.
With more than 120 recipes including such perfect comfort foods as High School Hot Turkey Sandwiches, Cuban Bean Polenta Melt, and Cornmeal-Fried Green Tomatoes with Comeback Sauce, plus the best soups, egg dishes, and hamburgers you?ve ever eaten, Eat Me is White Trash Cooking for the twenty-first century, as unforgettable and mind-boggling as its author.
Amazon Best of the Month, September 2008: The eccentric and engaging food-lit manifesto, Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin, collects the wisdom, rants, and recipes of New York's most legendarily cranky, publicity-hating short-order cook. The foul-mouthed genius of Kenny Shopsin has been captured before, most notably in Calvin Trillin's wonderful New Yorker profile and the documentary I Like Killing Flies, but Eat Me gives a from-the-cook's-mouth take on life behind the counter, with the layout of a quirky, illustrated textbook. Chapter titles like "Selling Water, or the Secret of the Restaurant Business" and "The Story of Shopsin's Turkey, or Why I Hate the Health Department" should give you a taste of what's in store. Formerly located in Greenwich Village, Shopin's now sets up camp at Stall No. 16 at the Essex Street Market, where you'll find dozens of soups, sandwiches, burgers, milk shakes, breakfast plates, and pancakes (from Plain to White Mint Chocolate Chip), along with original comfort-food classics like Blisters on My Sisters (tortillas, cheese, fried eggs, beans, and rice), gracing the crammed 900-item menu. Getting tossed out of Shopsin's (for whatever offense) has taken on badge-of-honor status among diners--the culinary equivalent of being on the business end of a Don Rickles zinger. Reading Eat Me feels like the next best thing. --Brad Thomas Parsons
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