Hotel Splendide -- Ludwig Bemelmans

<b>"Truly a great book</b><i>--</i><b>unique, invaluable and unapproachable as the gold standard of the genre</b>... <b>Bemelmans got there first, more frequently, and better.</b>" <b>--Anthony Bourdain</b> <p/> <b>Acerbic, colorful, and spirited stories from a bygone era: behind the scenes in a grand NY hotel, from the author of the <i>Madeline </i>books</b><br> <b></b><br><b>Picture David Sedaris writing <i>Kitchen Confidential</i> about the Ritz in New York in the 1920s, which had the style and charm of <i>The Grand Budapest Hotel</i>...</b> <p/>In this charming and uproariously funny hotel memoir, Ludwig Bemelmans uncovers the fabulous world of the Hotel Splendide--the thinly disguised stand-in for the Ritz--a luxury New York hotel where he worked as a waiter in the 1920s. With equal parts affection and barbed wit, he uncovers the everyday chaos that reigns behind the smooth facades of the gilded dining room and banquet halls. <p/> In hilarious detail, Bemelmans sketches the hierarchy of hotel life and its strange and fascinating inhabitants: from the ruthlessly authoritarian maître d'hôtel Monsieur Victor to the kindly waiter Mespoulets to Frizl the homesick busboy. Illustrated with his own charming line drawings, Bemelmans' tales of a bygone era of extravagance are as charming as they are riotously entertaining. <p/><b><b>"[</b>Bemelmans] <b>was </b>the original bad boy of the NY hotel/restaurant subculture, a waiter, busboy, and restaurateur who "told all" in a series