Restaurant critics are supposed to maintain their distance about chefs and restaurateurs. Or so Todd Kliman had always maintained. But when Peter Chang, an emigre genius capable of turning ordinary food into small miracles, crossed his radar, he couldnt help himself. He becomes obsessed with Chang's cooking. When it turns out that the chef possesses both a checkered past and an increasingly enigmatic present, jumping from restaurant to restaurant across the country, fleeing towns and expectations and jilting both diners and restaurateurs, Kliman realizes he has gotten himself in deep - perhaps too deep. His obsession with the chef's brilliant food becomes entwined with his obsession with finding out the truth about his identity. A fascinating, funny, page-turning tale of food and memory, of lust and betrayal.
Restaurant critics are supposed to maintain their distance about chefs and restaurateurs. Or so Todd Kliman had always maintained. But when Peter Chang, an emigre genius capable of turning ordinary food into small miracles, crossed his radar, he couldnt help himself. He becomes obsessed with Chang's cooking. When it turns out that the chef possesses both a checkered past and an increasingly enigmatic present, jumping from restaurant to restaurant across the country, fleeing towns and expectations and jilting both diners and restaurateurs, Kliman realizes he has gotten himself in deep - perhaps too deep. His obsession with the chef's brilliant food becomes entwined with his obsession with finding out the truth about his identity. A fascinating, funny, page-turning tale of food and memory, of lust and betrayal.