The Bottomless Cup - by Kevin Boehm (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

An eye-opening, entertaining, and unflinchingly honest memoir that reads like The Tender Bar meets The Bear

James Beard Award-winning restaurateur Kevin Boehm has opened 40 restaurants in his 30-year career. He's worked with hard-core line cooks and celebrity chefs, suffered embarrassing setbacks, and won Michelin stars. Today his Boka Group is one of the most successful restaurant companies in the world.

But Boehm's path was a complicated one. A turbulent family life and a shocking revelation about his father drove him out into the world in search of a home. He found one in restaurants. Amidst other gifted and damaged people, he discovered the magic of hospitality and the thrill of a dining room on the edge of chaos.

The Bottomless Cup is Boehm's vibrant, funny and frank account of a life in and out of restaurants. This is a memoir about dropping out and finding your place, about opening nights and what comes after, about chefs, partners, guests, and critics. The Bottomless Cup is a story of ambition and adrenaline, of reaching remarkable highs and reckoning with the costs.

Review Quotes

"The Bottomless Cup is the surprising, at times harrowing, heartbreaking, and compelling story behind one of our country's most ambitious restaurant industry leaders. With clarity and self-awareness, Kevin Boehm peels back layers of childhood anguish along the winding road to self-discovery and success, revealing a side of himself otherwise carefully camouflaged by the celebrated dining rooms over which he presides. His story is a master class in vulnerability and drive, a reminder of the power in chosen family, and how caring deeply for others can help heal us all."-- "Gail Simmons, food expert, TV host, and author of Bringing It Home"

"Through vivid storytelling, Kevin unravels the weight of secrets and struggles, including the metaphorical and literal 'embolisms' that once constrained him. This hard-earned narrative of self-discovery resonates with emotional depth and left me profoundly impacted. The Bottomless Cup is a deeply moving and masterfully crafted memoir."

-- "Angela Bassett, Academy Award-winning actress"

"The Bottomless Cup is a raw, powerful exploration of the exhilarating highs and dark lows of Kevin's personal, professional, and psychological lives. From shocking family secrets to frenetic restaurant scenes to poignant battles with himself and his past, Kevin is brutally honest and insightful throughout. His humanity, vulnerability, and passion resonate in a way that is deeply moving and leaves the reader wanting more of this entertaining, challenging memoir."
-- "Theo Epstein, legendary baseball executive and Fortune magazine's #1 leader in the world"

"The Bottomless Cup is a riveting page-turner of a memoir, overflowing with moving storytelling about life, longing, and self-discovery. Kevin Boehm's beautiful writing provides an extra helping of smiles and gasps--especially for anyone who's ever wondered about the ups and downs and ups of restaurant life."-- "Danny Meyer, James Beard Award-winning restaurateur and bestselling author of Setting the Table"

"If you met Kevin Boehm today, you'd see the consummate front-of-house person: polished, warm, able to anticipate and solve any problem, kind. To read this emotional, deep, and entertaining book, and to learn about his upbringing and the challenges he faced, is to see that none of it came naturally or easily. This is a book of hope and warmth and kindness."

-- "Brian Koppelman, Film Writer, Producer and Director (Rounders, Runaway Jury, Oceans Thirteen, Billions.)"

"There is nobility in hospitality--unbelievable power in pouring yourself into the restoration of others. But in this beautiful and inspiring story, Kevin Boehm shows us all how sometimes answering the call to serve is the best way to restore ourselves." -- "Will Guidara, James Beard Award-winning restaurateur and bestselling author of Unreasonable Hospitality"

"Who knew the starry-eyed guy I met in college would make himself into one of the country's great restaurateurs? This is a relentlessly entertaining and very funny book about American entrepreneurship, about Chicago (now a great food town; thirty years ago, not so much), and about a man who taught himself how to live and build while working through some very confusing elements of his own origins."-- "Dave Eggers, author of The Eyes & the Impossible"

About the Author

Kevin Boehm is cofounder of the Boka Group and winner of the James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurateur in 2019. He has opened 40 restaurants over the last 30 years, including Girl & the Goat, Swift & Sons, Momotaro, GT Prime, Alla Vita, Duck Duck Goat, Little Goat, GT Fish & Oyster, Cira, Lazy Bird, Cabra, Girl & The Goat Los Angeles, and Laser Wolf Brooklyn, among others. He has been a featured or keynote speaker at dozens of conferences, festivals, and universities, and currently sits on the board of the Illinois Restaurant Association, Open Table, 826 CHI, and Steppenwolf Theatre. Boehm has written for Esquire, the Chicago Sun Times, McSweeney's, and Fast Company. He lives in Chicago.