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A review by brontherun
Ten Restaurants That Changed America by Paul Freedman
2.0
I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. It combines a take on U.S. history through a prism of the rise and fall of restaurants and cuisines. I found it nostalgic both for certain restaurant types, and for my college days. The structure and content of Freedman's book puts me in mind of what could easily be an entire semester course in the American Studies department at a liberal arts college of the late 1980s or early 1990s.
The research and source material seems solid throughout, and although unfamiliar with some of the example restaurants, they were described with enough detail and narrative to give the needed historical and gastronomical context. However, I struggled with the dryness of the work overall. I gave thought to abandoning several times, but the remaining restaurants/topics were still of interest.
The research and source material seems solid throughout, and although unfamiliar with some of the example restaurants, they were described with enough detail and narrative to give the needed historical and gastronomical context. However, I struggled with the dryness of the work overall. I gave thought to abandoning several times, but the remaining restaurants/topics were still of interest.