An uproariously funny memoir from 'the original bad boy of the hotel/restaurant scene' (Anthony Bourdain) and the author of the beloved Madeline books______Welcome to the grand Hotel Splendide in nineteen twenties New York, where hilarity and chaos reign. In the mirror-lined dining halls, the champagne is constantly flowing; in the kitchens downstairs, malcontent waiters incite revolution.In this classic memoir, Ludwig Bemelmans encounters eccentricity on every level of the hotel hierarchy as he works his way up from busboy at the restaurant's most undesirable table, to assistant manager of the magnificent private banquets. There may be Russian ballerinas and Wall Street tycoons to entertain, but there is also Mespoulets, the world's worst waiter, to contend with and a murder plot against Monsieur Victor, the authoritarian maitre d'hotel, to solve.Accompanied by Bemelmans' own witty illustrations, this account of a bygone era of extravagance is as charming as it is riotously entertaining.
