The Man Who Ate the World (40 page)

A year of traveling and eating like this would not have been possible were it not for the help and support of numerous people, who patiently put up with me attempting to blag the most outrageous things for free, or gave generously of their time for interviews. I owe them all my thanks.

For their help, assistance, and wisdom across multiple cities: Jo Barnes and her staff at Sauce Communications; Jennifer Baum, Bullfrog and Baum Public Relations; Heston Blumenthal; Richard Bowron; Camilla Hacking, Elizabeth Crompton Batt Public Relations; Simon Hopkinson; Kristine Keefer, Thomas Keller Restaurants; Jeremy King; Caroline Kirkman, Gordon Ramsay Holdings; Annouschka Menzies, Bacchus Public Relations; Maureen Mills, Network London; Guillaume Rochette, Eureka Executive Search.

For Las Vegas: Gamal Aziz, the MGM Grand Hotel; Mike Burdine, McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas; Eric Drache; June Fujise, Nobu; Mark Hooper, Bouchon; Melanie Jones, Cellet Public Relations; Kenneth Langdon, Caesars Palace; Grant McPherson, the Bellagio; Frank Savoy, Restaurant Guy Savoy Las Vegas; Greg Waldron, Caesars Palace; Erika Yowell, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

For Moscow: Katya Dovlatov; Chrystia Freeland; Tom Parfitt of the
Guardian;
Janina and Alexander Wolkow, Sumosan; Alan Yau. I would also like to record my special gratitude to my fabulous and patient translator and coconspirator, Yulia Ochetova.

For Dubai: Edward Barnfield, World Trade Club; Anne Bleeker, Luc Delafosse, and Willi Elsner, Burg al Arab Hotel; Simon Ings; Jason Levy; “Malik”; Ewe Micheels, Dubai Guild of Chefs; Rob Orchard; Andy Round; Brandy Scott; Mateo Willis.

For Tokyo: Ian Buruma; Paul Charles, Virgin Atlantic; Andy Cook, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, Tokyo; Christian Hassing, Oliver Rodriguez, Hide Yammamoto, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Tokyo; Chie Kobayashi; David Nicholls, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, London; Jeff Ramsey; Robb Satterwhite; Yoshiki Tsuji, Tsuji Culinary Institute.

For New York: Mario Batali; The London Hotel, New York; Josh Emett, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay at the London; Gary Alan Fine; Michelle Lehmann, Union Square Hospitality Group; Ben Leventhal, Eater.com; Michael Mahle, Zagat; Danny Meyer, Union Square Hospitality Group; Josh Ozersky,
New York Magazine;
Adam Platt,
New York
Magazine;
Jason and Rachel Perlow; Steven A. Shaw, egullet.org; Greg Williams; Tim and Nina Zagat.

For Paris: Claude Bosi; Sophie Brissaud; Sarah Burnett; Julien Dubos, Eureka Executive Search; Stephen Harris; The Kube Hotel, Paris; Angelika Kwan; Joe Warwick.

Let me also take this opportunity to pay tribute to that selfless band of eaters who, over the years, have volunteered to be my dining companions across Britain more often than is strictly necessary: Catriona Dry, Henry Harris, Angela Hartnett, Thom Hetherington, Catherine Kanter, Simon Majumdar, and Robert Saunders.

My agents, Pat Kavanagh in London and Zoe Pagnamenta in New York, were endlessly supportive all the way through this project. I was also blessed with two hungry editors, Val Hudson at Headline and Sarah Knight at Henry Holt, both of whom understood this book from the very first and who helped me make it much better than it might otherwise have been.

However, I owe my greatest debt of gratitude to my family: firstly to my boys, Eddie and Daniel, who dealt with my absences with huge and undeserved understanding, but mostly to my wife, Pat Gordon Smith, who encouraged me all the way through the research and writing of this book, moved heaven and earth to create the space in our lives so I could keep leaving the country, read every word as I wrote it, and kept me on the editorial straight and narrow. I simply could not have done it without her. Many people would show their gratitude to such a fabulous spouse by forcing them out for a special dinner in a fantastic restaurant. I will prove how much I love her specifically by not doing so.

J
AY
R
AYNER
is the restaurant critic for
The London Observer,
a contributor to
Gourmet,
and has also written for both
Saveur
and
Food & Wine
in the U.S. He began his award-winning journalism career covering crime, politics, cinema, and theater, winning Young Journalist of the Year at the British Press Awards in 1991, and in 2006 he was awarded Critic of the Year.