Looking for a “novel and delicious” way to spend an evening? Come to the Hotel Pattee Sunday, Oct. 4 at 6 p.m. as Executive Chef Ben Ferguson creates a literary dinner inspired by J. Ryan Stradal’s debut novel, “Kitchens of the Great Midwest.”
The special menu promises to astonish your taste buds while stimulating your brain — all for just $25 per person, including tax and tip. For reservations, visit the Hotel Pattee website or call 515-465-3511.
This unique dining opportunity will include a chance to “meet and eat” with Stradal, who will be in Iowa as a featured author at the Iowa City Book Festival. Following dinner, guests will be invited to the hotel’s ballroom at 7:30 p.m., where the author will give a free public presentation and share stories about his writing and cooking experiences.
Stradal’s book has been a best seller on the American Booksellers Association Indiebound list and is number 10 on the Midwest Booksellers Association bestseller list. Beaverdale Books will offer books for sale and signing.
“Kitchens of the Great Midwest” was recently described by BookForum as the first novel about the emergence and current state of foodie culture. “Fundamentally, [it’s] about what happens when opposing personalities coexist: those who bake with real butter versus those who don’t, those who obsess over heirloom tomatoes alongside those who don’t even know what they are. It uses these categories as a way to look at one of the most confusing, liberating truths there is, which is that often the people we think we’re the least like are the ones we end up needing the most.”
Reminiscent in style and structure of “Olive Kitteridge,” Stradal’s novel delivers the touching and hilarious story of Eva Thorvald’s triumph over a difficult childhood to become the woman with a once-in-a-generation palate behind the most sought-after dinner reservation in the country.
Told in chapters—one for each of the most influential ingredients in Thorvald’s life— the book weaves together the perspectives of eight people in her orbit, with the bake-offs, eating contests and potluck dinners that shaped her story of pain, spirit and resilience.
Already a major in-house favorite at Penguin Random House, booksellers, librarians and reviewers are recommending “Kitchens of the Great Midwest” to fans of “Where’d You Go, Bernadette?” “Tell the Wolves I’m Home” and “The Art of Fielding,” saying it brings readers right to the heart of Minnesota, from Lutheran church bake sales to the opening weekend of deer season, and shares an incredible tale of how the food we eat and the people we meet shape the world around us.
Stradal edits the fiction section of The Nervous Breakdown with Gina Frangello, writes regularly for The Rumpus, and has been published in the Los Angeles Review of Books, McSweeney’s and Hobart, among others. He also produces a culinary reading series in Los Angeles called Hot Dish.
Visitors cab turn the evening into a Hotel Pattee mini-vacation. A hotel-and-meal package is available for out-of-town guests starting at $139, which includes a guest room and two dinners. Hotel reservations can be made by calling 515-465-3511.
For more information or to purchase a signed copy of Stradal’s book, call Beaverdale Books at 515-279-5400.
