Brian Hieggelke

While any family business can be raw material for the storyteller, there's something especially rich about a restaurant family. In her memoir "Stuffed," Patricia Volk draws from the deep well of her family's three generations in the restaurant business in New York. It seems every relative, described in vignettes that match the nature of memory, is exceptional in some way. Like the grandfather who worked in the demolition business, and did so so prominently that he was material for the New Yorker. Or the great-grandfather who introduced pastrami to the New World. Or the nanny who virtually raised the writer, and cooked one dish so well that the steak served only as a warm-up to the hash its leftovers became. Volk connects a food memory to everyone, but, like any family table, food serves as mere condiment to the main course of life.

Patricia Volk reads from "Stuffed" on November 12 at 7:30pm, at Barbara's, 1350 North Wells, (312)642-5044.

(2002-11-06)

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