Off The Menu
Notes from the Corner Booth
Coming August 2026
Ten stories. Forty recipes.
One narrator watching from the corner booth,
A woman orders the tuna melt instead of the patty melt her boyfriend always chose for her. It ends a six-year relationship.
A graveyard-shift waitress grates cheese at 2 AM for a boy with nowhere to go, and sends an email that changes her life.
A widow makes Thanksgiving for one and discovers, in the absence of a second stalk of celery, something close to freedom.
These are the meals people order when they’re finally hungry for the right thing.
Off the Menu is a cookbook for people who read, and a short story collection for people who cook. Ten stories, forty recipes, and one question running through all of them: what are you actually hungry for?
What’s in the book?
10 Short Stories
Set in restaurants, diners, and kitchens. Each one a complete scene with real people making real decisions over food.
40 Recipes
Fully developed. Headnotes with a point of view. Methods written with sensory precision. Built to be cooked.
1 Epilogue
No recipes. Because some meals are only for witnessing.