Cooking On the Line...from Food Lover to Professional Line Cook, is a unique behind the scenes, ground level, cook's-eye-view of the professional restaurant kitchen. You will feel the heat, the pressure, and the intensity of cooking at the highest level. With no formal training, Wayne Cohen pursues his passion for food, changes careers in mid life, and becomes part of the legendary, hyper-competitive restaurant industry.
Armed only with a love for food and a decent chef's knife, Wayne answers an ad, manages to talk his way into a restaurant kitchen, eventually becoming a line cook at award winning, multi-starred restaurants including; Michael Jordan's one sixtyblue, Chef Tony Priolo's Piccolo Sogno, and TV's MasterChef's Graham Elliot Bowles' restaurant Graham Elliot.
Cooking On the Line is told from the unique viewpoint of a line cook, the guy who is really cooking your food. It reveals the experience of what it feels like to be immersed in all things food and the techniques of restaurant cooking, while dealing with the intense pressure of the moment, and personal relationships that come with the job.
Cohen's detailed narrative about his experience as a line cook and his reflections of the restaurant industry offer a unique, behind-the-scenes perspective. Filled with delicious recipes throughout the book and a notable chapter detailing how to become a professional cook, COOKING ON THE LINE... from Food Lover to Professional Line Cook, is a must-read for all lovers of food.
From Publishers Weekly,
"In this absorbing memoir, Cohen--a college football player and business owner who always loved to cook--answers an online advertisement for a line cook and brings significant life skills but scant culinary experience to the kitchen. Working with a young chef and an ambitious menu, Cohen forges through mundane tasks and back pain and finds his personal and professional comfort zone despite hostile personalities and questionable restaurant operations. Eventually, Cohen becomes a chef himself, laboring to meet the many challenges of kitchen work while yearning to take the next professional step. He interns in the kitchens of celebrated chefs, discovers the latest trends and techniques, and receives other job offers before settling in with his mentor. The book is intensely detailed, and though the author's tendency to conclude each chapter with a melodramatic cliffhanger will likely irk some readers, Cohen's relentless positivity--a quality that often comes across as slightly vain--lends a nice energy to his story."
From Skyline Newspapers,
"YOU CAN DEVOUR “COOKING ON THE LINE,” a new book by food lover Wayne Cohen who became a professional line cook at 50. In this delicious autobiography, Wayne gives credit to chef Tony Priolo of Piccolo Sogno, chef Martial Noguier of Bistronomic and others for allowing this novice a chance to show his work ethic and love of good food. You will salivate, and wince, as Wayne slaves and reveals all the passion that goes into creating fine dishes. (He even shares a few easy recipes.) Cohen is working now at Piccolo Sogno and everyone who reads his book will have a deep appreciation for the hard work and devotion that makes a kitchen produce the exceptional cuisine we often take for granted. -by Ann Gerber
From The Reader,
'When the accomplished home cook and Maurice Lenell Cookie CEO found himself out of a white-collar job, he answered an ad for a line cook at a Lincoln Park German joint that sounds a lot like the late Prost. Through attrition, he quickly winds up head of the kitchen at the dysfunctional restaurant, and parlays the experience into stages at One SixtyBlue and Graham Elliot before landing on the line at Piccolo Sogno. That's really hard to do, but you wouldn't necessarily know it from Cohen's account."
" Still, as compared to Achatz's and Tramonto's books, this is the one most engaged with the trenches of kitchen warfare." - By Mike Sula
Armed only with a love for food and a decent chef's knife, Wayne answers an ad, manages to talk his way into a restaurant kitchen, eventually becoming a line cook at award winning, multi-starred restaurants including; Michael Jordan's one sixtyblue, Chef Tony Priolo's Piccolo Sogno, and TV's MasterChef's Graham Elliot Bowles' restaurant Graham Elliot.
Cooking On the Line is told from the unique viewpoint of a line cook, the guy who is really cooking your food. It reveals the experience of what it feels like to be immersed in all things food and the techniques of restaurant cooking, while dealing with the intense pressure of the moment, and personal relationships that come with the job.
Cohen's detailed narrative about his experience as a line cook and his reflections of the restaurant industry offer a unique, behind-the-scenes perspective. Filled with delicious recipes throughout the book and a notable chapter detailing how to become a professional cook, COOKING ON THE LINE... from Food Lover to Professional Line Cook, is a must-read for all lovers of food.
From Publishers Weekly,
"In this absorbing memoir, Cohen--a college football player and business owner who always loved to cook--answers an online advertisement for a line cook and brings significant life skills but scant culinary experience to the kitchen. Working with a young chef and an ambitious menu, Cohen forges through mundane tasks and back pain and finds his personal and professional comfort zone despite hostile personalities and questionable restaurant operations. Eventually, Cohen becomes a chef himself, laboring to meet the many challenges of kitchen work while yearning to take the next professional step. He interns in the kitchens of celebrated chefs, discovers the latest trends and techniques, and receives other job offers before settling in with his mentor. The book is intensely detailed, and though the author's tendency to conclude each chapter with a melodramatic cliffhanger will likely irk some readers, Cohen's relentless positivity--a quality that often comes across as slightly vain--lends a nice energy to his story."
From Skyline Newspapers,
"YOU CAN DEVOUR “COOKING ON THE LINE,” a new book by food lover Wayne Cohen who became a professional line cook at 50. In this delicious autobiography, Wayne gives credit to chef Tony Priolo of Piccolo Sogno, chef Martial Noguier of Bistronomic and others for allowing this novice a chance to show his work ethic and love of good food. You will salivate, and wince, as Wayne slaves and reveals all the passion that goes into creating fine dishes. (He even shares a few easy recipes.) Cohen is working now at Piccolo Sogno and everyone who reads his book will have a deep appreciation for the hard work and devotion that makes a kitchen produce the exceptional cuisine we often take for granted. -by Ann Gerber
From The Reader,
'When the accomplished home cook and Maurice Lenell Cookie CEO found himself out of a white-collar job, he answered an ad for a line cook at a Lincoln Park German joint that sounds a lot like the late Prost. Through attrition, he quickly winds up head of the kitchen at the dysfunctional restaurant, and parlays the experience into stages at One SixtyBlue and Graham Elliot before landing on the line at Piccolo Sogno. That's really hard to do, but you wouldn't necessarily know it from Cohen's account."
" Still, as compared to Achatz's and Tramonto's books, this is the one most engaged with the trenches of kitchen warfare." - By Mike Sula
