Settings & Atmosphere - Fiction, Women's Fiction, Phases of Life - Fiction, Love & Relationships - Fiction, Occupations - Fiction

Girl Cook

Name: Girl Cook
Author: Hannah McCouch
ISBN: 9780812968408

by Hannah McCouch

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Overview

I, for one, have piled enough skyscraper salads to be given some consideration. I’m not working my way up the kitchen ladder for my goddamn health. I know all too well the sting of vinegar in an open cut. Oh yes, that salad you’re eating as a light appetizer? My bare hands have massaged dressing into every leaf. Lettuce loves me. But I’ve got ambition and, I don’t mind saying, a decent palate. I want to be The Chef. And the only way to do this is by becoming the greatest cook I can be. Which means kicking ass on the line, not just salads and desserts. These are my hopes. These are my dreams.
Layla Mitchner is a twenty-eight-year-old Cordon Bleu graduate trying to carve out a space for herself in the fast-paced, high-pressure world of Manhattan’s top restaurant kitchens. She knows she’s got the talent to be a great chef, but there she is slaving for a misogynistic boss who’d sooner promote the dishwasher than give a woman the chance to prove her sous-chef mettle. And while Layla knows that the dwindling balance in her bank account won’t begin to cover what she owes her roommate, she’s desperate not to seek help from her self-absorbed, serially divorced, soap-opera-actress mother.
Her romantic prospects seem no brighter. She gets set up with a nice enough guy, but his tassel loafers and corporate demeanor reek of the WASP aristocracy she’s determined to leave behind. After continuously striking out, she meets a musician who appears to be the bohemian Mr. Right of her dreams, only to find he may be more deadbeat than heartthrob. But Layla refuses to settle for anything short of true love and success, and sheultimately finds both where she least expects them.
Hannah McCouch’s fresh and animated voice leaps off the pages of Girl Cook, a deliciously modern Cinderella story of love, sex, chefs, and the city.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

First-time novelist McCouch adds an intriguing element to an otherwise typical contemporary romance plot: she takes readers inside the New York restaurant scene, where men rule the kitchen and a female sous-chef is seen as a glorified hostess. A graduate of Le Cordon Bleu, 28-year-old Layla Mitchner dreams of becoming a chef, but has to settle for working garde-manger-in layman's terms, tossing salads. When her chauvinistic boss, Noel, refuses to let her move up the restaurant ladder, Layla quits her job and takes a hard look at her life outside of the kitchen-she can barely pay her bills, has major problems with her quasi-famous actress mother and hasn't been on a date in months. She allows herself to be fixed up with Dick Davenport, an upstanding guy whom she quickly dismisses because he wears loafers with tassels. She then falls for sexually adventurous Frank (his black work boots pass muster). At first Layla believes she's in heaven, but an excess of quality time with Frank during a weekend away finds her reconsidering: "What I say I want is true love, just like every other human being on the planet. I want men on their knees holding little blue Tiffany's boxes. So why am I here in this two-bit motel getting handcuffed by Frank?" A number of chance run-ins with Dick remind her of his virtues, while a bit of r sum -doctoring promises that her career might revive as well. The ending is a bit abrupt, but this light and witty fare will leave chick-lit fans sated. (July 1) Forecast: McCouch's irreverent take on restaurant work will please fans of Anthony Bourdain, and a sassy jacket will hook beach-going readers. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Anthony Bourdain plus Bridget Jones equals Layla Mitchner, a 28-year-old "girl cook" working as a salad specialist in a hip New York restaurant. Her culinary education at Le Cordon Bleu has not prepared her for the glass ceiling in the male-dominated world of professional cooking. She works hard and wants a shot at the saut station, but her patronizing boss won't give her a chance. The kitchen scenes are raucous fun, peppered with kitchen lingo and spicy language in Spanish and English. But Layla's blah romance suffers by comparison-which is partly the point as she tries to balance work and love and isn't very happy with either. A few errant plot details don't detract much from this fast-paced, enjoyable first novel. The author's writing has appeared in Cosmopolitan, and her r sum includes graduating from Le Cordon Bleu. The prefatory matter includes a caution to her parents that the "foul language, sex, drinking, and drug use depicted are fictional." Yeah, right. Recommended for most public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/03.]-Julie James, Thomasville P.L., NC Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.