Name: Burn the Place
Rating: 3.5 (6 reviews)
ISBN: 9781572842670

Iliana Regan

A memoir chronicling Iliana Regan's journey from foraging on the family farm to running her Michelin-starred restaurant, Elizabeth, in Chicago

A Memoir

Burn the Place

The new paperback edition of Michelin-starred chef Iliana Regan's (Elizabeth, Milkweed Inn) acclaimed culinary memoir, chronicling this intensely driven chef's upbringing in rural Northwest Indiana, her battle with addiction, and the development of her career in urban restaurants.

A really powerful memoir of growing up, overcoming addiction and finding your way through food in the Midwest. I loved all the Chicago references so much, just wished it had been even more about her restaurants.

Amelia

Nick Gracilla

I live in Chicago. The Michelin-starred restaurant Elizabeth is a local hero; I celebrated an anniversary at Kitsune. Had I read the book reviews before diving in, I would have realized this is not so much a culinary memoir as it is one woman’s struggle with drugs, alcohol, and her sexual and personal identity. 

As a lesbian coming-of-age story for folks in and around “The Industry,” it is frank and sincere in capturing a moment in Chicago’s history. I lived, apparently, just down the street from Regan. I ate at the restaurants she worked in (and walked out of) in Andersonville. In summer, my friends and I would grab burgers and cheap liter steins of beer at T’s patio and watch the drunk lesbians fight on sidewalk. So the backstory she provides made perfect sense to me. 

As a story of recovery, there’s a vital hopefulness in this book. Regan suggests threads of obsessive compulsive behavior in herself and her family, but she makes good use of it in transforming her questions (how do ice cream stabilizers work?) and interests (wild gathering, fermenting, bread making) into her profession, first through underground dinners, then popups, then her restaurants. Side projects really can save one’s life. 

I do wish a stronger editor’s pen had tightened up the often overly conversational, sloppy writing.

Burn the Place A Memoir

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