When Condé Nast offered Ruth Reichl the top position at America's oldest epicurean magazine, she declined. She was a writer, not a manager, with no inclination to be anyone's boss. Yet Reichl had read Gourmet since she was eight; it had inspired her career. How could she say no? Complete with recipes, this is the story of a former Berkeley hippie entering the corporate world worried about losing her soul, and coming to terms with being in charge...

The editor-in-chief of "Gourmet," a former restaurant critic at the The New York times, recounts her visits to some of the world's most acclaimed restaurants, both as herself and as an anonymous diner in disguise, to offer insight into the differences in her dining experiences.