The Culinary Caper (By Cook or By Crook)
The fun book cover for The Culinary Caper Book cover design: Speaking Volumes
AUTHOR: ARTSY CHOW ROAMER
The CULINARY CAPER
(BY COOK OR BY CROOK)
As most of you know, when I do a book review it has usually been for a new cook book with good recipes and beautiful photography of finished dishes. For some reason when I got an email about my interest in writing about The Culinary Caper, I got interested.
It was listed on Amazon as fiction with humor, mystery and a bit of action. A food truck owner slings pirogi and gets the Russian mob on his tail because of his actions to deal with his money woes. Who doesn’t like a little suspense and mystery along with their action/adventure for some cozy winter reading? It caught my attention for a variety of reasons.
Author Nick Greenberg who writes, makes music and cooks at home Photo: Nick Greenberg
A BIT OF BACKGROUND
The author’s background is mixed just like mine. Nick Greenberg started out as a composer and professional bassist playing a nice variety of music like jazz, classical and Broadway tunes with a solid list of concerts and gigs to back it up. I play the piano and fancy I could land a gig anytime playing classics, jazz and country tunes in some club, restaurant or bar.
His first job was a busboy who graduated to dishwasher. Mine was a dishwasher who graduated to a table server. He did stints as a caterer and prep cook while I dabbled in interior design and an art gallery. He decided he liked traveling, eating in nice restaurants and writing fiction. I decided I would keep traveling, eat in nice restaurants, visit museums/galleries and write about it in a blog.
The author is also a professional composer and musician Photo: NIck Greenberg
Nick is a former chocolatier, current winemaker and award-winning home brewer while I am a former home canner, current she-chef of note and master pasta maker. In 2020, he publishesd his first book, Buried Treasure and his short story, Eat, was recently published in the literary journal, Jelly Bucket. And I…well…I have my monthly column in the newspaper. See where I’m going here? There is more than one path to get to any creative end. But I digress…
Nick Greenberg talks with Tonia about his new book
ABOUT THE BOOK
Nick draws on all his life experiences with the colorful eccentric characters of both the food and music industries he’s been a part of. He tells the story of Chef Anton Cherny who owns a food truck and is “up to his eyeballs in debt”. Turns out the business and trying to support a son he has never even met costs a lot more than he makes. Mounting tensions with his truck partner and the fear generated from a Russian loan shark are taking a toll on his emotional well-being.
The author takes time out for a book signing Photo: Nick Greenberg
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Anton met his ex-Julia, a talented pastry chef, in chef school and finds out after she moves abroad that he not only is a baby daddy but a daddy to a son with heart problems that have been expensive to treat. He not only runs his food truck during the day but starts taking on catered events for the extra money which he has been leaving his partner Rollie out of by not sharing the money.
Find the book in your local store in the fiction shelves
Turns out before becoming a foodie, Anton was a pretty darn good sculptor who went to art school with his buddy Ricky who can paint in almost any style demanded. Ricky has ties with an insurance company who tracks stolen art and will pay good reward money for their return.
Ricky is hooked into professional sports players who have a lot of money to spend on art collecting only they don’t know they have been buying stolen pieces. He hits Anton up about catered events for the players in order to replace stolen paintings with forgeries. With thousands of dollars being offered it is too good for Chef to turn down.
The author knows his way around a pirogi plate
IT’S THE art stupid!
The only problem with the plan is that Anton’s new girlfriend Trina is on to them and wants in for a cut. The bad idea about that is her father, Peter, is a part of the Russian mafia and things are getting a lot more complicated. Add in a suprise visit home from Julia for Anton to meet his son Francois for the first time and there is a lot of stress as well as unexpected consequences to his decisions.
The chef and his art school buddy swap their forgeries for the real art
it’s a love story
BTW, turns out Trina is an herb garden grower of note and can sing her little heart out. This makes for an even greater love match for Anton since he also plays a little jazz on the side with a band for the pleasure and the extra money. I mean when does the boy sleep?
While it is about the love and the art, the foodie in me got plenty to think about with the recipes Chef was constantly coming up with for the truck and the catered events. Gourmet tacos like soft shell crab with kimchi, duck Reubens and scallops with lobster caviar sound delicious while duck fat fries and short ribs with greens and garlic mash had my mouth watering.
There are a lot of plot twists I can’t tell you about but I can say that Anton will have a lot to think about as things come to a head at a final event that affects everything in his life. Should he continue with his food truck business or accept a job offer from an unexpected source? Are Julia and Francois staying to be a bigger part of his life? Is Trina the right girlfriend and can he shake the influence of her father and the loan sharks?
A fan enjoys the read on his deck with drink and cigar in hand
CONCLUSION
This is a fun winter read of a book as far as I’m concerned. It is written by someone with more than a passing knowledge of subjects I love like art, music, food and travel. Throw in the Russian mob and the constant reference to pirogi’s and you got yourself a well written caper that keeps you on your toes throughout. Pick up a copy and give it a read!
Episode from The Ash Said it Show podcast about the new book
If you enjoyed what you read, you might also like other posts under Edible Fare and Artful Ideal. Look for my next post on a review of a local winery you won’t want to miss. Until then…
Cheers,
Artsy Chow Roamer
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