The Seaside Café Metropolis - by Antanas Sileika (Paperback)
About this item
Highlights
- Reluctant Canadian restaurateur Emmet Argentine is stuck in Khrushchev-era Vilnius, Lithuania, trapped under the tyranny of two equally formidable forces -- the Soviet Union, and his staunchly socialist mother.
- Author(s): Antanas Sileika
- 240 Pages
- Fiction + Literature Genres, Historical
Description
About the Book
In this comic novel about drawing warmth from food and company, a Canadian restaurateur, trapped in Soviet Lithuania with his staunchly socialist mother, navigates the repressive communist regime while opening a fashionable bohemian restaurant -- while KGB spies listens in from the basement.Book Synopsis
Reluctant Canadian restaurateur Emmet Argentine is stuck in Khrushchev-era Vilnius, Lithuania, trapped under the tyranny of two equally formidable forces -- the Soviet Union, and his staunchly socialist mother.
Raised in the kitchens of Toronto's Royal York Hotel, Emmet's talent for hospitality catches the attention of a high-ranking architect, who hires Emmet to helm a magnificent new restaurant. The Seaside Café Metropolis, though located neither by the sea nor in a major metropolitan area, aspires toward elegance without pretention, bohemianism without vulgarity. Evading the repressive communist regime through guile, wit, and charm, Emmet assembles the menu and the staff to create a sophisticated and atmospheric fine dining experience in the heart of the Soviet Union -- all while KGB operatives listen in on the restaurant from the basement.
Review Quotes
"A delicious peek into the world of spies, artists and food at the fringes of the Soviet Union. Sileika's prose is wry and wise, and conjures up a place and time that glimmers like a bittersweet memory."--Trevor Cole, author of Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour-winning Practical Jean
"Antanas Sileika has invented a new genre: the culinary picaresque. Throw in the Cold War, dissident shenanigans, an ideologue mother, knife-fighting love story, iron curtain Bohemians, and more than half a dozen traditional and innovative Lithuanian recipes and you get a sense of the many flavors Sileika blends to perfection in this sad, funny, insightful, propulsive banquet of a novel. This is a rare dish served by a master chef."
--Tamas Dobozy, author of the Governor General's Award-shortlisted and Writer's Trust Fiction Prize-winning Siege 13