“Truly a great book—unique, invaluable and unapproachable as the gold standard of the genre… Bemelmans got there first, more frequently, and better.” —Anthony Bourdain   Acerbic, colorful, and spirited stories from a bygone era: behind the scenes in a grand NY hotel, from the author of the Madeline books Picture David Sedaris writing Kitchen Confidential about the Ritz in New York in the 1920s, which had the style and charm of The Grand Budapest Hotel…In this charming and upr