Sign-In
Cart
All or Nothing: One Chef's Appetite for the Extreme
Paperback
Culinary BiographiesFood WritingAgriculture
ISBN13: 9780062339317
Publisher: Dey Street Books
Published: Jun 2 2015
Pages: 272
Weight: 0.50
Height: 0.80 Width: 5.40 Depth: 8.10
Language: English
Blending Kitchen Confidential, Blood, Bones & Butter, and Breaking Bad, a culinary memoir that illuminates the highs and lows of addiction, anxiety, and ambition in the world of haute cuisine.
Thirty-one-year-old Jesse Schenker has rocketed to the top of the culinary world. An Iron Chef winner and James Beard nominee, he was voted Best New Chef by New York Magazine, and his acclaimed Recette was named Best New Restaurant by the New York Times. But Jesse's epic rise masks a little-known past filled with demons and obsession, genius and mania.
Growing up in wealthy suburban Florida, Jesse was introduced to the culinary world--and the world of hard drugs. Becoming a high-school dropout addicted to heroin and crack, he was alienated from his family and wanted by the cops. By twenty-one, he had robbed, cheated, and lied to everyone in his life--and had overdosed, been shot at and nearly beaten to death. His eventual arrest motivated him to get clean.
Jesse learned to channel his obsessiveness and need to get ever higher into his career. But his growing success fueled his anxiety, leading to panic attacks and hypochondria. In this startling and down to earth memoir, Jesse lays it all on the table for the first time, reflecting on his insatiable appetite for the extreme--which has led to his biggest triumphs and failures--and shares the shocking story of his turbulent life.
How does a homeless addict become an acclaimed chef without losing himself in the process?
- Addiction and Recovery: From a high school dropout hooked on heroin and crack to finding sobriety in the last place he ever expected: a jail cell.
- Behind the Scenes Kitchen Life: The intense, high-pressure world of New York's elite kitchens, where Jesse trades one addiction for another: the relentless pursuit of culinary perfection.
- Mental Health and Ambition: A raw look at the anxiety, panic attacks, and hypochondria fueled by the same obsessive drive that earned him an Iron Chef win and a James Beard nomination.
- An Inspirational True Story: The unforgettable story of going from homeless, wanted by the cops, and alienated from his family to becoming the celebrated chef-owner of the acclaimed NYC restaurant, Recette.
Also in
Culinary Biographies
Make It a Double: From Wretched to Wondrous: Tales of One Woman's Lifelong Discovery of Whisky
Sackier, Shelley
Hardcover
Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect
Guidara, Will
Hardcover
Kitchen Confidential Annotated Edition: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
Bourdain, Anthony
Paperback
Main, Middle & Gay: A Chef Finds His Place in the World Against All Odds
O'Connell, Patrick
Hardcover
What Could Possibly Go Right?: The Essential Journey to Scale an Enduring Culture
Meyer, Danny
Hardcover
Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook
Bourdain, Anthony
Paperback
Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks
Wilkinson, Crystal
Hardcover
The Devil in the Kitchen: Sex, Pain, Madness, and the Making of a Great Chef
White, Marco Pierre
Paperback
El Chef Migrante: La Vida Y Los Tiempos de Lalo García / The Migrant Chef: The Life and Times of Lalo García
Tillman, Laura
Paperback
The Meat Teacher Cookbook: The Ultimate Backyard BBQ Guide for an A+ in Pitmastery
Groark, Matt
Hardcover
The Secret in the Sauce: Kitchen Wisdom and Life Lessons from an Irish Cookery School, with Recipes
McMichael, Kelly
Paperback
Roasting in Hell's Kitchen: Temper Tantrums, F Words, and the Pursuit of Perfection
Ramsay, Gordon
Paperback
Dining Out: First Dates, Defiant Nights, and Last Call Disco Fries at America's Gay Restaurants
Piepenburg, Erik
Hardcover
Cork Dork: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste
Bosker, Bianca
Paperback
Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef (Large Print Edition)
Hamilton, Gabrielle
Paperback
Julia Child's Kitchen: The Design, Tools, Stories, and Legacy of an Iconic Space
Johnson, Paula J.
Hardcover
The Upstairs Delicatessen: On Eating, Reading, Reading about Eating, and Eating While Reading
Garner, Dwight
Paperback
Make the Bread, Buy the Butter: What You Should (and Shouldn't) Cook from Scratch to Save Time and Money
Reese, Jennifer
Paperback
Eat Like a Fish: A James Beard Award Winner: My Adventures Farming the Ocean to Fight Climate Change
Smith, Bren
Paperback
Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip--Confessions of a Cynical Waiter (Harper Perennial)
Dublanica, Steve
Paperback
The Gentleman's Companion: Being an Exotic Drinking Book Or, Around the World with Jigger, Beaker and Flask
Baker, Charles Henry
Hardcover
Hunger Like a Thirst: From Food Stamps to Fine Dining, a Restaurant Critic Finds Her Place at the Table
Rodell, Besha
Hardcover
The California Pizza Kitchen Story: How Two Federal Prosecutors Changed the Way America Eats Pizza
Rosenfield, Rick
Hardcover
The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trotting Botanist Who Transformed What America Eats
Stone, Daniel
Paperback
What Could Possibly Go Right?: The Essential Journey to Scale an Enduring Culture (Large Print Edition)
Meyer, Danny
Paperback
Rambutan: Recipes from Sri Lanka, Accompanying the Acclaimed New London Restaurant
Shanmugalingam, Cynthia
Hardcover
From Here, You Can't See Paris: Seasons of a French Village and Its Restaurant
Sanders, Michael S.
Paperback
We Thought They'd Never Leave: Musings on Food and Family (Large Print Edition)
Adams, Josie
Shalhoub, Tony
Hardcover
Beaujolais In My Blood: Growing Up Gay and Well-Fed in a Family-Run French Restaurant
Pitsenbarger, Eric Neil
Paperback
Jean Paré an Appetite for Life: The Inspiring Story of Canada's Most Popular Cookbook Author
Schultz, Judy
Paperback
Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany
Buford, Bill
Paperback
We've Always Had Paris... and Provence: A Scrapbook of Our Life in France
Wells, Walter
Wells, Patricia
Paperback
Hunger Like a Thirst: From Food Stamps to Fine Dining, a Restaurant Critic Finds Her Place at the Table
Rodell, Besha
Paperback
The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears in Paris at the World's Most Famous Cooking School
Flinn, Kathleen
Paperback
Dumpling Therapy: My Mother, Chinese Food, and Five Thousand Years of Not-So-Ancient Recipes
Brown, Miranda
Hardcover
Poor Man's Feast: A Love Story of Comfort, Desire, and the Art of Simple Cooking
Altman, Elissa
Paperback
Old Farm Country Christmas: Favorite Recipes, Homespun Crafts, and Merry Memories
Apps-Bodilly, Susan
Apps, Jerry
Paperback
Reflections of a Vintner: Stories and Seasonal Wisdom from a Lifetime in Napa Valley
Kenward, Tor
Hardcover
Hungry: Eating, Road-Tripping, and Risking It All with the Greatest Chef in the World
Gordinier, Jeff
Paperback
Gluten for Punishment: Just Desserts for the Heartbroken, Lovesick, and Jilted
Seyler, Julie
Paperback
Life, on the Line: A Chef's Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eat
Achatz, Grant
Kokonas, Nick
Paperback
The Roast Penguin Chronicles: Hoosh, Scurvy Days, Sleeping with Vegetables, and Other Adventures in Antarctic Cuisine
Anthony, Jason C.
Paperback