Book Review - Michael Cecchi- Azzolina's Your Table is Ready: Tales of a New York City Maitre D'

Thank you to NetGalley and Libro FM for providing me with both digital and audio copies of Michael Cecchi-Azzolina’s memoir, Your Table is Ready: Tales of a New York City Maitre D’.

I appreciate having access to both the digital and audio arcs, but decided to go with the audio, as it was narrated by the author. Authors are not always the ideal person to narrate their books, but Cecchi-Azzolina is a larger-than-life type of person and a riot. His memoir is filled with outrageous stories, but hearing them in his heavy New York accent with the thrill in his voice, lended to the overall experience.

Your Table is Ready is a great pick for anyone who would like a behind-the- scenes look at the restaurant industry. It has shades of Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, but instead of a chef’s perspective, Cecchi-Azzolina gives us a glimpse of the chaos happening in the front of house. The chaos that professionals in high-end dining manage to conceal from patrons, usually giving us a calm restaurant experience. Primarily set in the 1980’s, Cecchi-Azzolina’s career in the restaurant industry was drug-fueled and rife with sexism among other aspects of the era that would be considered taboo now. He also speaks of the many friends and colleagues that he lost to the AIDS epidemic, ending the memoir with a very touching tribute. As much as his memoir is a look at the restaurant industry, it is also a peek into the norms of a different era.

Cecchi-Azzolina has plenty of wild stories, including getting entangled with the mob. I’m not going to give the story away, but it’s intense and will have you worried as it unfolds.

Towards the end of the book, I had the surreal experience of realizing that I have friends in common with the author. Cecchi-Azzolina is also an actor and my friends were producers of one of his films. However, the story is better than that, as one of Cecchi-Azzolina’s customers helped fund the film. I immediately paused the audio and called my friend, who had only nice things to say about Cecchi-Azzolina, mentioning that he was the kind of guy, who “always knows a guy.” This confirms my impression of him from his book- he’s a character in the best possible sense!

Your Table is Ready is a fun, fast-paced, engaging read. I’ve never worked in the restaurant industry, but I find the behind-the-scenes of it to be fascinating. It has made me more aware and appreciative of the complexities of running a successful restaurant.