Food and wine, of course, are intrinsically linked to a country’s culture in all three of these volumes. This connection informs Paul Freedman’s selection of the ten most influential restaurants in America—or, as the book’s title says—changed America. These are restaurants whose innovations say something about the way society was/is progressing or which helped influence such progress (and not meant to indi- cate the ten best restaurants). Changes in American society since the creation of the first influential restaurant—Delmonico’s, established in the early 1800s—is evi- denced, for example, by the emerging role of women, the assimilation of diverse racial and ethnic groups, and the growth of an automobile-focused society. These and other societal shifts are all reflected through the lenses of the restaurants docu- mented in this book. For example, the changing role of women in American society is seen through restaurants in several ways in Ten Restaurants That Changed America. Schrafft’s is identified as a safe-haven for women. Until its creation, women were generally thought poorly of if they tried to dine alone. As women increasingly worked out of the home and wanted to eat lunch outside of the office, Schrafft’s provided a comfortable and welcoming environment for women without male escorts, with menus catering to their tastes and, until Schrafft’s final years, the absence of alcoholic beverages. The story of the empowerment of women over the past 100 years in America is also shown in the chapters discussing restaurants where women are owners and chefs—including Cecilia Chiang’s Mandarin, Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse, and Sylvia Woods’ Sylvia’s Restaurant.

The ethnic and racial diversity in the United States, as well as the internal migra- tion of African Americans from the South to the North, is also explored through res- taurants in Ten Restaurants That Changed America. The explosion and acceptance of Chinese and Italian food (whether totally authentic or modified/created for American tastes), as well as the rise of an even broader ethnic diversity in dining, is shown through the book’s histories of the Mandarin in San Francisco, Sylvia’s in Harlem, Mamma Leone’s in New York, and Antoine’s in New Orleans.

The Gourmands’ Way is the most wine-centric of the three volumes reviewed, although the importance of wine for the individuals and restaurants portrayed is clear in all three works. The American expatriates cooking and eating in France con- sidered wines that paired well with foods an essential part of the meal, and went to great lengths to understand French wine culture. They took advantage of the oppor- tunity to visit and often make friends with the local vignerons. Richard Olney, who was by then writing a wine column for Cuisine et Vins de France (and later published Simple French Food), constructed a wine cellar as part of his home renovation project in Provence, and then was meticulous about the wines selected to accompany each course of the frequent meals he prepared for friends. Julia Child’s husband, Paul Child, also paired wines with care for Julia’s dinners at home and for their meals in restaurants. They and others profiled in this book all understood, too, the role of simple as well as grand cru French wines as part of the dining experience, although the wines cited are often classified Bordeaux and great Burgundies. Even though many of the gourmands had limited resources (Olney, Fisher, Toklas), this choice was reflective of the era under discussion—the mid-20th century, when fine wines were all relatively inexpensive compared to today; footnotes in The Gourmands’ Way often tell us what these wines, similarly aged, would cost today. Even when Chez Panisse opened towards the end of this era in 1971 on a tight budget and with only three wines on its wine list (Mondavi Gamay, Mondavi Fume Blanc, and Chateau Suduiraut Sauternes), Alice Waters in Coming to My Senses noted that great Sauternes cost $2.50 per bottle, and the most expensive, d’Yquem, was $3.50 (about $21 in today’s dollars).