Issue link: https://www.balharbourdigital.com/i/1078587
118 BAL HARBOUR Ruth Reichl's memoir of her days as the editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine is out this spring. Jacqueline Terrebonne reflects on the book and her days eating and editing alongside the legendary critic. LAST WEEK IN PARIS, AS I SLATHERED mounds of housemade pâté de campagne on thick slices of bread at L'Ami Jean, I heard a familiar sound—the voices of Americans. There was a big table of women seated in the window laughing over bottles of red; by the bar, a couple on a long-weekend getaway canoodled. And then there was the New York-based catering chef ordering everything on the menu with his wife. The low-ceilinged, off-the-beaten-path restaurant had become a must on every foodie adventure in Paris for one reason— Ruth Reichl had anointed it so in Gourmet's "Paris on a Budget" issue in September 2008. Such was the power of Reichl and her team of editors for 10 glorious years, from 1999–2009, at the glossy food bible. It was the golden age of magazine publishing, especially at Condé Nast— when creativity reigned and budgets were unknown. In her memoir of that decade, entitled Save Me the Plums, which is out this April from Random House, she brings readers to the heart of that incredible Ruth Reichl comes to Books & Books at Bal Harbour Shops for a talk about Save Me the Plums on April 23. MEMORIES OF AN EPICUREAN PAST PORTRAIT BY MICHAEL SINGER