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| Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin | 
 enlarge | Authors: Kenny Shopsin, Carolynn Carreno
Publisher: Knopf
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $15.34
You Save: $9.61 (39%)
New (41) Used (9) from $15.34
Avg. Customer Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 1001
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.1
Dimensions (in): 9 x 7.1 x 1
ISBN: 0307264939
Dewey Decimal Number: 647.95068
EAN: 9780307264930
ASIN: 0307264939
Publication Date: September 23, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
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
Product Description
"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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
A Cookbook and Life Story Joyfully Shared September 23, 2008
20 out of 28 found this review helpful
Effective translation from one art form to another is a high wire act of the greatest difficulty - readers may agree for example that the film director faces an uphill battle to craft an effective cinematic experience from even the most masterfully written novel.
Those who have had direct experience of the unique restaurant and social environment described in this book will, I am sure, be able to confirm to a wider public that the author, his collaborator and illustrator have created a grand success in making Shopsin's live and breathe realistically and delightfully within the covers of this work. This is a success fully as memorable and arresting as film director Henri-Georges Clousot's "The Mystery of Picasso" which did the same in sharing and preserving the leading Twentieth Century artist's mercurial character and irrepressible creativity.
Enfolded copiously among the many recipes are anecdotes, philosophical ruminations, and historical comments on the legendary Greenwich Village of a previous generation -- many of which are presented in a deceptively casual, even profane manner. These amount to a second book nestled within a diverse collection of recipes.
The illustration and design work on this book are labors of love by Kenny Shopin's daughter, Tamara Shopsin -- an artist of increasingly wide reputation in her own right.
A cookbook reviewer should be pleased to report that such a publication does a good job at showing the reader how to prepare good food. This presentation far exceeds that worthy result: it provides a window on how to be a genuine human being on one's own terms.
This is not your mom's cookbook. September 29, 2008
11 out of 15 found this review helpful
This is the first cook book I've ever read where I sat down and read it cover to cover first. The musings in this book is worth every page and makes for an engaging read. The book arrived at my house on Thursday and I basically spent all weekend trying out a bunch of the recipes. So far: Patsy's Cashew Chicken (a new household favorite but mixed hoisin sauce, water and soy sauce instead though), Slutty Pancakes, Glazed Pancakes, Tahini Dressing, Coconut rice (never thought leftover rice can taste so good), Crepes (amazing approach and he's right, no once can tell the difference). The recipes are elegantly simple and does not require a culinary degree nor a translator when you go shopping for the ingredients. In fact, most of the stuff is probably already in your pantry. Kenny Shopsin has a distinctive point of view and will leave you wanting to visit NYC just so you can eat at his restaurant and hear his philosophy in person. Be careful you don't get thrown out though...
Awesome Stories and Insights October 14, 2008
7 out of 11 found this review helpful
This is a great book. It is one of the few cookbooks I've read through page by page. I enjoy his stories and his matter of fact attitude.
The recipes are interesting and his shortcuts are a crack up. Do yourself a favor and by it. You will enjoy it.
Absolutely Love It. October 13, 2008
6 out of 11 found this review helpful
I am almost finished with this book and I have to tell anyone who is interested in it that you shouldn't hesitate to buy it--not just for the recipes, which so far look quite tasty and VERY doable--but for the philosophy and wit that it contains. I have never met Kenny Shopsin or eaten at his place but I have gained a ton of respect for him and been VERY entertained in the process.
Underneath the crusty exterior beats a loving hippie heart --- and great recipes October 23, 2008
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
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].
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