Dwight Garner's omnivorous reading is on full display in this memoir that quotes liberally from some of the best and strangest writing on food. We learn Steinbeck's prescription for the perfect coffee (dropping an egg in it) George Orwell's eleven rules for good tea; and how Percy Shelley nearly abandoned his principled vegetarianism after tasting a "small bite" of bacon. Garner's offbeat perspective and wide-ranging enthusiasm make the book a pleasure to read aloud. At once a love letter to reading and eating, The Upstairs Delicatessen crackles with epicurean joie de vivre.