Chefs Step Out Of The Kitchen To Tell Their Life Story

Every chef has a story tell. It seems that the best way to give eager fans a glimpse of their behind-the-scenes lives is to sit down and write a memoir.  

The latest chef to jump on the memoir  bandwagon is Joe Bastianich, who mans his family's restaurant empire in New York City.  Joe, the son of famous chef Lidia Bastianich, shares the challenges his family faced when opening their cluster of New York restaurants: Babbo, Lupa, Esca and Del Posto. Joe's upcoming memoir Restaurant Man will be released in May.

He joins the likes of Grant Achatz from Alinea in Chicago, who published his memoir last spring. Life, On The Line, which he co-authored with restaurant partner  Nick Kokonas, documents Grant's rise to becoming one of the best chefs in the United States. It also deals with his battle with tongue cancer. Grant's Alinea ranks 6th on the 2011 list of World's 50 Best Restaurants, sponsored by S. Pellegrino and Acqua Panna.