Nao Hauser

The Branding of Wendell Dawes Nao Hauser

A comedy of celebrity chefdom, played out at a time of crisis for Wendell Dawes, a French-trained chef striving to become hot entertainment--while staying true to the cooking that's kept him in the kitchen. With his own restaurant about to go under, Dawes agrees to work as a consulting chef at his former brother-in-law's new boutique hotel. There he acquires the services of a branding expert, Dodie Brolin, whose assignment is to boost the hotel by promoting Dawes as a hot chef. Trying to build a name and following for him, she convinces Dawes to lift his attention from the cooking he knows and instead share with audiences his experiences of the heart. He does his best--filling out details of his own few and failed relationships with what he gleans of the love life of the hotel's guests, his assistant, colleagues, and the people attending his cooking demos. It's a feast made for laughter, a comic look at celebrity chefdom, foodie fashions, and the human desire for dignity and love.