‘Dirt’ memoir is French fantasy for foodies

If (like me) you love to travel and plan every journey around visiting great restaurants, you’re probably pretty bummed these days. Arriving right on time to offer us a delicious fantasy trip is Bill Buford’s new memoir, “Dirt: Adventures in Lyon as a Chef in Training, Father, and Sleuth Looking for the Secret of French Cooking.”

A longtime editor at the New Yorker, Buford published a bestselling memoir in 2006 called “Heat.” It was an engaging account of his four-year odyssey to learn Italian cooking, first in one of the hottest (in both senses) kitchens in New York City, then in Italy to apprentice with pasta makers and a butcher. Much of that book’s humor grew out of Buford’s depiction of himself — middle-aged and a not-exactly-accomplished amateur cook — throwing himself into the demanding training usually undertaken by people a decade or two younger.

But he was entirely serious about food and cooking, and that’s true in “Dirt” as well. Its quest begins about a year after “Heat” was published, when Buford, living back in New York, literally runs into Michel Richard, “chef and patron of Citronelle, Washington, D.C.’s finest restaurant.” Buford will spend eight months in that restaurant’s kitchen, learning to make proper ratatouille (cook every ingredient separately) and souffles that involve three meringues.

He’s bowled over by a visit to the kitchen by Michel Rostang, chef of a Michelin two-star restaurant in France, and his brigade of chefs: “They were so different from the Americans at Citronelle. We seemed pampered, unserious, soft. They seemed like street brawlers. They were — there is no other word — terrifying.”

There really is no other choice but for him to find a restaurant in France to train in. When he moved to Italy, his wife, Jessica, went along. This time, the family includes 2-year-old twin sons, George and Frederick.

Jessica, fortunately, is as adventurous as her husband and much more organized, not to mention a fluent French speaker. (Buford will have to learn French on the fly.) Their application to live in France requires a mountain of paperwork, including separate financial statements for each toddler.