The mem­oir of a New York City chef describ­ing the busi­ness and the art of being a chef/​restaurateur. The chap­ters alter­nate between those describ­ing the mechan­ics of run­ning a restau­rant with chap­ters telling the his­tor­i­cal and botan­i­cal back-sto­ries of the ingre­di­ents, his culi­nary mus­es, that Hoff­man sources at farm­ers mar­kets. The book tracks his upbring­ing in a sub­ur­ban com­mu­ni­ty of New York City and ear­ly days as a line cook, to open­ing, oper­at­ing and ulti­mate­ly clos­ing his own place while also track­ing a year in the grow­ing sea­son from root cel­lar veg­eta­bles and spring greens to the toma­toes and peach­es of high sum­mer and then after the hardy greens and radic­chios that can sur­vive the final hard frost.