Hotbox

Now in paperback: the beloved Lee Brothers take on the wild, competitive world of high-end catering, exposing secrets of the food business that no home cook or restaurant chef has experienced.

Hotbox exposes the real-life drama that takes place behind cavernous event spaces and soaring white tents, where cooking conditions have more in common with a mobile army hospital than a restaurant and clients tend to be highly emotional and demanding. It's a realm where eccentric characters, working in extreme conditions, must produce magical events, instantly adapting when, for instance, the host's toast runs a half hour too long, a hailstorm erupts, or a rolling rack of hundreds of dessert parfaits goes wheels-up.

The Lee brothers, known for their humane portrayals of uncelebrated food workers for the catering business for four years, learning the culture from the inside out. Now, Matt and Ted take you along for the ride as they dash through black-tie fund-raisers, spot celebrities at a Hamptons cookout, or follow a silverware crew at 3:00 a.m. in a warehouse in New Jersey. Along the way, you'll get to know every facet of this essential industry.