“They’re stories that I’ve never gotten a chance to tell in my seven years of writing almost exclusively about myself for [Westword],” he says. “It sort of ties them all together.” And through an odyssey of broiling kitchens, barely controlled chaos and mild-to-moderate injuries, the book reveals not just the real Jason Sheehan, but a previously untold tale of an industry in transition. “Coming from, admittedly, the bottom of that industry and never really rising that high, I sort of got to see firsthand the way things were changing,” he says. “It became very much something kids were trying to get into, not trying to avoid, as it was when I started. They all wanted to be chefs, they all wanted to be rock stars, and I got to see that transition.”

That the story is told in lyrical prose liberally peppered with obscenity, insanity and laugh-out-loud moments (seriously, I laughed aloud twice in the prologue alone) makes it an easy read even if you never wanted to know what happens in a kitchen.

Sheehan will read from, talk about and sign copies of his opus tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Tattered Cover, 2526 East Colfax Avenue. For more information, visit www.tatteredcover.com or call 303-322-7727.
Thu., July 23, 6 p.m., 2009