Popovers and Candlelight: Patricia Murphy and the Rise and Fall of a Restaurant Empire

Marcia Biederman

Popovers and Candlelight: Patricia Murphy and the Rise and Fall of a Restaurant Empire
Format
Paperback
Publisher
State University of New York Press
Country
United States
Published
1 November 2018
Pages
256
ISBN
9781438471549

Popovers and Candlelight: Patricia Murphy and the Rise and Fall of a Restaurant Empire

Marcia Biederman

What would you do with your last sixty dollars? If you were Patricia Murphy you’d turn it into a fortune by buying a rundown Brooklyn diner. On the cusp of the Great Depression, the diner became an overnight sensation, the first of nine popular Patricia Murphy’s Candlelight Restaurants that opened over the course of four decades in New York and Florida. Popovers and Candlelight recounts how Murphy bucked Mad Men-era sexism in a male-dominated field and created remarkable dining experiences with solid American fare, a talented staff, and eye-popping decor. Dripping in diamonds, she transcended ethnic prejudices to become a socialite and built a brand that sold fragrance as well as food. Mutinous siblings, a desperate manager, and a typhoid outbreak brought it all to an operatic end, but Marcia Biederman restores Murphy and her contributions to their proper place in women’s and culinary history. This book will delight readers with its rags-to-riches story and fascinating view of class, gender, ethnicity, and food culture during much of the twentieth century.

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