THE DISHWASHER DIALOGUES

In this debut memoir, two former restaurant employees dish about life in 1970s Paris.

American-born Mahdavi and Canadian-born Light got to the City of Light in different ways. Both had done some world traveling by that point, and both were looking to make art in what was undoubtedly one of the coolest cities to be in 1976. Both found work at Chez Haynes, the popular tiki-themed soul-food restaurant, operated by American chef and former U.S. Army intelligence officer Leroy Haynes. The restaurant was a place where expatriates, cops, gamblers, and French movie stars converged. After Jacques Chirac became mayor of Paris in 1977, he would sometimes give press conferences in the eatery. Suffice it to say, it was a thrilling place to work: “When I began that first one day a week as a dishwasher,” recalls the typically enthusiastic Light, now a retired professor, “I was over the moon—actually I was over a large industrial tin sink with sludgy brown water dotted by bits of half-chewed lettuce floating on top.” As he and Mahdavi trade memories, it’s not only a portrait of a workplace that emerges, but of a time and place filled with big personalities, strange happenings, and, of course, excellent food. The authors composed the book via email, and the text switches perspectives after nearly every paragraph. Topics include relationships, philosophy, art, and many curious figures who populated their working lives. “Don, the cook, was a rather strange and inscrutable man,” recounts Mahdavi, a writer and artist who seems to be the more analytical of the co-authors. “I never knew much about him except that he pined for the blond manageress.” There’s a My Dinner With Andre quality to the book, as readers listen in on the reminiscences of two aging artists about their wilder days in a foreign city. It works, however, and will appeal to those who have little interest in Paris or the restaurant industry. Both authors skillfully build on each other’s recollections to bring a vanished world to vibrant life.

A vivid, nostalgia-laced evocation of a restaurant-anchored scene.