Grant Achatz: The Memoir, Coming Soon To A Bookstore Near You

Grant Achatz is already spreading his story (and his brand) through a cookbook, the documentary, and the feature film, and now according to the New York Times — in a move shocking absolutely no one — there’s going to be a memoir. Tentatively titled “Life, On The Line” (a punning play on the common term for working in a restaurant kitchen, and Achatz’s brush with stage-4b cancer), the plan is for the book to be co-written by Achatz and Alinea managing partner Nick Kokonas, with multimedia illustrations by Martin Kastner that will juxtapose Alinea’s culinary elements with Achatz’s medical records.

While Achatz’s cancer has, perversely, been the component of his life story that’s done the most to thrust him into the international spotlight, the book might serve to remind the world that Achatz had plenty of story to tell even without that Beethoven-esque plot twist. Expect the tale of his climb up the ladder from the kid of a restaurant-owning family, through culinary school, and various stages at numerous high-profile restaurants (The French Laundry, Charlie Trotter’s), and — we hope — some inside dish on his time running the show at Evanston’s Trio. The book is still in a proposal state, and is being shopped around to publishers, so our guess is not to expect a publication date too much earlier than spring 2010. [Diner’s Journal]

Update: Eater has posted a PDF of the entire proposal; check it out by clicking here. [PDF alert]

[Photo credit: Helen Rosner]

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Grant Achatz: The Memoir, Coming Soon To A Bookstore Near You