Ritz and Escoffier: The Hotelier, the Chef, and the Rise of the Leisure Class

From the Publisher - In early August 1889, Cesar Ritz, a Swiss hotelier highly regarded for his exquisite taste, found himself at the Savoy Hotel in London. He had come at the request of Richard D'Oyly Carte, the financier of Gilbert & Sullivan's comic operas, who had modernized theater and was now looking to create the world's best hotel. D'Oyly Carte soon seduced Ritz to move to London with his team, which included Auguste Escoffier, the chef de cuisine known for his elevated, original dishes. The result was a hotel and restaurant like no one had ever experienced, run in often mysterious and always extravagant ways--which created quite a scandal once exposed. arr deftly re-creates the thrilling Belle Epoque era just before World War I, when British aristocracy was at its peak, women began dining out unaccompanied by men, and American nouveaux riches and gauche industrialists convened in London to show off their wealth. In their collaboration at the still celebrated Savoy Hotel, where they welcomed loyal and sometimes salacious clients, such as Oscar Wilde and Sarah Bernhardt, Escoffier created the modern kitchen brigade and codified French cuisine for the ages in his seminal Le Guide culinaire, which remains in print today, and Ritz, whose name continues to grace the finest hotels across the world, created the world's first luxury hotel. The pair also ruffled more than a few feathers in the process. Fine dining would never be the same--or more intriguing.

A bit of history (from me)

We all have heard of Ritz but few have heard of Escoffier unless you have read about or studied hotel and restaurant history. At the end of the Victorian era, snobbery was beginning to peak, although it would not really be over until the end of the Edwardian era. Caught up in this snobbery were the nouveau-riche and their "dollar duchesses", women (such as Consuelo Vanderbilt) who were married off to cash-poor gentry with titles. The nouveau-riche liked to show off their wealth and where better but a hotel and its famed restaurant where women could (gassssp) eat alone in full view? (We can also blame Escoffier for the kitchen brigade and despotism that led to tyrant chefs such as Gordan Ramsey.. thanks for that...not!)

If you love social history and anything travel and food-related you will love this book. Deftly and highly entertainingly written you will be caught up in the founding of what we take for granted today whether we are camping out at Motel 6 or ensconced in the presidential suite at the Savoy in present-day London. I am still laughing at the thought of having to teach these snobs how to flush a toilet that (gasp) was IN THEIR ROOM vs. a w.c. down the hall or using a water closet. [fun fact - my husband's grandfather refused to have an indoor bathroom as late as the 1930s ... he thought that was the most disgusting thing on the planet.]

This is a great book for any reader of history, traveler, or foodie --- it is certainly being purchased by me and placed on my bookshelf once published..