Best Served Hot

Julie Zimmerman reviews restaurants online in her downtime as an assistant for an often absent boss, Mr. Decker. Alone in the empty office, she builds a following and hopes to be a premiere restaurant critic. When an altercation at a food festival with Bennett Wright, the new food writer for The New York Scroll (a job Elie hoped to get) goes viral, everything changes. This is the premise of Amanda Eliot’s latest novel Best Served Hot, and while descriptions of restaurants and food and New York City itself are fabulous, the protagonist is a whiny self-indulgent millennial whose goal in life to be an influencer is almost as vapid as her take on class politics.

Eliot has a great idea–rival food critics sharing meals and offering their alternate takes on their individual platforms, and of course, they fall in love because what else would happen? But, Julie is so obnoxious, so over the top, so completely unprofessional that it is impossible to believe that well-bred Bennett would fall for her. And a climactic moment in which Julie helps another character realize her undeniable privilege is cringe on every single level.

If you like predictable romances, unlikable characters, and stunning depictions of food, Best Served Hot will likely scratch your itch.