“Uncorking Secrets: How Hannah Selinger’s ‘Cellar Rat’ Takes You on a Thrilling Journey Through Wine and Intrigue”
What happens when the glamorous façade of fine dining collides with the raw, unvarnished truth of its underbelly? In Hannah Selinger’s Cellar Rat: My Life in the Restaurant Underbelly, we’re taken on a mesmerizing journey through New York’s culinary landscape, where the delectable allure of gourmet dishes often masks the dark, tumultuous experiences of those who serve them. With a sharp pen and a fearless heart, Selinger dishes out her life’s story—a narrative steeped in the complexities of love, trauma, and resilience. As she weaves together her experiences as a sommelier in some of the city’s most revered eateries, she invites us to ponder an unsettling question: how much are we willing to sacrifice for a taste of acceptance and belonging? Her memoir is not just a tale of rise and fall; it’s a candid exploration of the flavors of pain, healing, and empowerment, leaving readers hungry for more than just food. If you’ve ever wondered what really goes on behind the curtains of the kitchen, Selinger’s book is your ticket to that world. LEARN MORE.
Reviewed by Layla Khoury-Hanold
In Cellar Rat: My Life in the Restaurant Underbelly (Little, Brown and Company; March 2025), author Hannah Selinger charts her rise and fall as a former sommelier and restaurant worker in some of New York’s most lauded restaurants. The book unspools like the best meals, both literally and figuratively, with many chapters anchored by standout dishes that Selinger either served to discerning clientele or sampled herself and is written in sharp prose shot through with acerbic wit.
The book begins with Selinger’s humble restaurant beginnings, which are lighter in tone, like an amuse-bouche, then works its way to more substantial, meaty passages that are wrought with more technique, on the page as on the plate.
