Barbara Lynch Is Writing a Memoir

Chef and restaurateur Barbara Lynch of the restaurant group Barbara Lynch Gruppo has a new project at hand: a memoir. Lynch, whose venues include Menton, No. 9 Park, B&G Oysters, Sportello, The Butcher Shop and Drink, is teaming up with novelist Kate Christensen according to a post on Publishers Marketplace. The book will cover Lynch's "journey from working class Irish Southie to two-time James Beard Award-winning chef and restaurateur despite any formal education or training." Much has been made of Lynch's impressive career, which includes the title of Boston's only Grand Chef Relais & Châteaux (for Menton) as well as running her own foundation. In other recent Lynch-related news, chef Kristen Kish of Lynch's cookbook shop and demo kitchen Stir recently became the chef de cuisine at Menton, coincidentally after winning Top Chef: Seattle. Lynch was also profiled by the New York Times in a 2012 article titled "After South Boston, a Restaurant Was Easy," which included such memoir-inducing sentences as "I dealt drugs, anything to survive."

Kate Christensen is the author of six novels, including the PEN/Faulkner award-winning The Great Man, and her food writing includes contributions to the Wall Street Journal colum "With a Twist." Her own food memoir, called Blue Plate Special: An Autobiography of My Appetites, is due out on July 9.

· After South Boston, a Restaurant Was Easy [NYT]
· Blue Plate Special [Amazon]
· Kate Christensen [Official Site]
· Publishers Marketplace (registration required) [Official Site]
· All Coverage of Barbara Lynch on Eater [~EBOS~]