Everybody Eats There

Stadiem (Marilyn Monroe Confidential) and Gibbs (of the famed Morton family restaurateurs) delve into the not-so-secret secrets of famous and favored eateries worldwide. Stadiem and Gibbs stick with the icons, but the unfortunate result is that anyone interested in marquee dining likely already knows the inside scoop doled out here. New York's Elaine's gets tagged, for instance, as ""the Lion Country Safari of American letters, all giants, no midlisters,"" while the short-on-patience waiters at Brooklyn steakhouse Peter Luger serves heart attacks on a plate. How about dining at The Ivy in the heart of London's theater district? ""It's so good and obvious a choice that you can't get in unless you're a star."" And a trip to the Hotel Costes restaurant in Paris will-shocker-leave you feeling inadequate. Though the book's mission to ""enable outsiders to feel like insiders"" is noble, the dope proffered is minimal.