4.0
Soul Kitchen
ByPublisher Description
A sharp commentary on race relations in pre-Katrina New Orleans and a fast ride through the dark side of haute cuisine.
Liquor has become one of the hottest restaurants in town, thanks in part to chefs Rickey and G-man’s wildly creative, booze-laced food. At the tail end of a busy Mardi Gras, Milford Goodman walks into their kitchen—he’s spent the last ten years in Angola Prison for murdering his boss, a wealthy New Orleans restaurateur, but has recently been exonerated on new evidence and released. Rickey remembers him as an ingenious chef and hires him on the spot.
When a pill-pushing doctor and a Carnival scion talk Rickey into consulting at the restaurant they’re opening in one of the city’s “floating casinos,” Rickey recommends Milford for the head chef position and stays on to supervise. But soon Rickey finds himself medicating a kitchen injury with the doctor’s wares, and G-man grows tired of holding down the fort at Liquor alone. As the new restaurant moves toward its opening, Rickey learns that Milford’s past is inextricably linked with one of the project’s backers, a man whose intentions begin to seem more and more sinister.
Liquor has become one of the hottest restaurants in town, thanks in part to chefs Rickey and G-man’s wildly creative, booze-laced food. At the tail end of a busy Mardi Gras, Milford Goodman walks into their kitchen—he’s spent the last ten years in Angola Prison for murdering his boss, a wealthy New Orleans restaurateur, but has recently been exonerated on new evidence and released. Rickey remembers him as an ingenious chef and hires him on the spot.
When a pill-pushing doctor and a Carnival scion talk Rickey into consulting at the restaurant they’re opening in one of the city’s “floating casinos,” Rickey recommends Milford for the head chef position and stays on to supervise. But soon Rickey finds himself medicating a kitchen injury with the doctor’s wares, and G-man grows tired of holding down the fort at Liquor alone. As the new restaurant moves toward its opening, Rickey learns that Milford’s past is inextricably linked with one of the project’s backers, a man whose intentions begin to seem more and more sinister.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesSoul Kitchen Reviews
4.0
“I enjoyed the hell out of this book. I didn't want to stop reading it. The first two were fun but lacking. This one was really fun and less lacking. I found I liked reading about Rickey and G-man. Maybe I've finally gotten to know them enough to enjoy reading about them and their life. Also, Brite seems to get a little out of control when there is excessive plot, so I liked that this one just meandered along.
There were some plots, but the whole book wasn't focused on one hackneyed idea. Milford's plot involved racial profiling and murder and just terrible luck. Tanker's plot involved him getting pissed off and going to work somewhere else, with him and Rickey being stubborn and ridiculous about the whole thing. Then Rickey and G-man had their plot with Rickey's pill dependency and the strain on their relationship.
For some reason this one just worked for me in a way the other two didn't. The relationship between Rickey and G-man seemed more believable, they seemed more complex as characters, and I enjoyed reading about their daily life. There's many lesser characters that are pretty much cardboard, but Rickey and G-man, as well as Lenny and Milford were pretty well done. Tanker was pretty much a mystery, and who knows about the people that work in their kitchen.
The ending to Milford's plot seemed abrupt, though. I was just meandering happily along when BAM! plot over. It was alarming and unexpectedly gruesome. And I don't understand how someone does something like that and gets away with it. I don't care WHO you are. And it was an odd contrast to the rest of the ending, which was a hilarious look at the food Tanker was having to serve up at his new restaurant, known as molecular gastronomy. The scene with G-man and the kitchen guy when G-man was vulnerable and his relationship with Rickey was most strained would have worked better if we had ever seen this guy before, but he just dropped into the book out of nowhere.
But in the end this book was an enjoyable read, and I regret waiting so long to finally read it...ALSO, this was the second book where Brite mentions Advocaat. If anyone knows where I can get some let me know, I really want to try it..”
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