Chef Fritz and His City: My Education in the Master's Kitchen

It was the first visit to Philadelphia's Deux Cheminées restaurant for Samuel Young and his wife, Risa, and after the meal, Chef Fritz Blank came grumbling by to join them for a few minutes. Despite his rant, though, his eyes were merry, and he left the table with a joke about the tears of the city’s chefs.After that engaging introduction, it was hard not to say oui when the mail brought an announcement that a class with Blank would be introducing students to the preparation of three simple French meals, followed by a sumptuous lunch at Deux Cheminées.That was the start of a personal and culinary odyssey over the years that took Young through kitchens and cooking schools, dining rooms and classrooms, and—most important—into a rich and abiding friendship with the great chef himself. Now Young's new book takes us all along the path that brought such a full menu of varied experiences, fascinating people, and immersion into the entertaining, warmly human story of the highly creative and talented Fritz Blank.