High Bonnet

The chef's towering white toque, the high bonnet, is the mark of achievement to which every young sauce-stirrer aspires. Idwal Jones's urbane novel follows the young provincial Jean as he attempts to master culinary art at the hands of Paris's most distinguished chefs. Jean will win his high bonnet and the royal bearing that accompanies it - but not until he's had many outrageous adventures, in the kitchen and out.

High Bonnet is a sly send-up of the seething politics, subtle artistry, and enslavement to the palate that constitute life behind the kitchen's swinging doors. First published in 1945 and out of print for more than four decades, High Bonnet will delight readers of Anthony Bourdain's bestselling Kitchen Confidential or of Ludwig Bemelmans's Hotel Splendide.

Idwal Jones was named Cordon Bleu Chef of the Wine and Food Society of Los Angeles. He was the author of the novels The Vineyard, Whistler's Van, and China Boy and Other Tales. He died in 1964.

Ruth Reichl, editor of the Modern Library Food series, is the author of the bestselling Tender at the Bone and the forthcoming Comfort Me with Apples. Formerly the food critic of The New York Times, she is now editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine.