Julie Zimmerman has been working for years on her social media presence. She posts videos and photos all about food, restaurants, and chefs. Despite having a day job as an executive assistant, she posts several times a week as @JulieZeeEatsNYC, introducing her followers to all her favorite foods, to the hottest new restaurants, and to the chefs who are bringing the flavors. And when the restaurant reviewer job for the prestigious New York Scroll is up for grabs, Julie thinks she’s got a shot at it.
She wants that job, to help bring that outdated column from the pretentious old New York restaurants that all the rich white guys go to into the golden age of international cuisine. She wants to teach the Scroll readers all about the small restaurants opening up with celebrity chefs, the food trucks, the neighborhood dives with the best bites, and the local dishes that have come to Manhattan from all over the world.
So she’s devastated to find out that she didn’t get the job. Instead of an email telling her that they went a different way or a thanks for applying, Julie is faced with the story that the Scroll hired a new restaurant reviewer. Bennett Richard Macalester Wright. Even his name sounds pretentious. Julie is disappointed but she has to focus. The Central Park Food Festival is coming up, and she needs a game plan to find all the delicious dishes she wants to feature.
Imagine her delight as she stands in line at the shaobing stand only to find new reviewer Ben standing right in front of her. And when the two of them start arguing about what food media should be, and her friend catches it all on video, Julie decides to post the video to her social media accounts, calling out the Scroll on its outdated ideas.
Julie thinks her impulsive decision to post the video will end her career as @JulieZeeEatsNYC. Instead, the Scroll makes a public commitment to more diverse restaurant reviewing and offers Julie a chance to team up with them on social media. Immediately, both Julie’s accounts and the newspaper accounts start garnering more followers, so she can’t say no to the offer. She and Ben will both review the same restaurant, on the same night, and the readers can decide whose food feelings they want to follow.
After some early misunderstandings, the original disdain between the two reviewers cool, leaving room for spicier moments. But as the heat grows between them, Julie is reminded that there is still a divide between them, between the reviewer for one of the most respected newspapers in the city and a woman who posts pictures of her food online. Is there a way to create a fusion between them, or will their attempts to create a delicious duo go up in flames?
Best Served Hot is a foodie rom com filled with lots of tasty bits of friendship, food, feuds, and falling in love. Author Amanda Elliot, who wrote Sadie on a Plate, is back with this story that looks at privilege and class and how we can choose the life we want, no matter where we come from. Blending charming flirtations with revealing moments of entitlement, this isn’t just a fluffy dessert of a novel. It’s a full meal, meaty and filling and served with at least one type of potatoes.
I loved this book from the first page. Julie is a strong character, smart and determined and scrappy. And watching her go down in flames in front of her nemesis over and over is a lot of fun. But this is also a dangerous book. There are so many delicious sounding dishes that (if you’re anything like me) you will get hungry. You will get very hungry over and over. So be prepared with lots of snacks. Perhaps some should be potato based (I’m with Julie on her love of potatoes, so that got me hungry a lot). But overall, Best Served Hot is fun and funny, with layers of honesty and warmth and frustration and butter and buzzy feelings and internet posting and uppity restaurant hostesses. What more could you want in a foodie rom com?
Egalleys for Best Served Hot were provided by Berkley through NetGalley, with many thanks.
