Save Me the Plums

Initially, Reichl struggled to balance the transition from her old job at the New York Times to her new job at Gourmet. She regretted agreeing to go into the Gourmet offices every day, especially when she was sent on a nationwide book tour for her first memoir, Tender at the Bone. At the same time, her husband Michael’s reporting job took him to Colorado, leaving Reichl solely responsible for the care of their preteen son, Nick. Reichl was shocked and touched when her brother Bob, the product of her mother’s first marriage, arrived to stay with Nick while she was away.

Reichl began her book tour in Los Angeles, where she hoped to recruit her former assistant at the Los Angeles Times, Laurie Ochoa, as executive editor. Reichl and Ochoa became friendly after they ran into each other repeatedly at L.A. restaurants, and their work together at the Times made them inseparable. Reichl was delighted when Ochoa agreed to come to Gourmet. On the last stop of the tour, Reichl’s son Nick joined her at a book signing where she was confronted by a chef whose restaurant she once panned. The unnerving experience made her glad she was leaving her career as a reviewer.