The Bottomless Cup A Memoir of Secrets, Restaurants, and Forgiveness

An eye-opening, entertaining, and unflinchingly honest memoir that reads like The Tender Bar meets The Bear

James Beard Award–winning restaurateur Kevin Boehm has opened 40 restaurants in his 30-year career. He’s worked with hard-core line cooks and celebrity chefs, suffered embarrassing setbacks, and won Michelin stars. Today his Boka Group is one of the most successful restaurant companies in the world.

But Boehm’s path was a complicated one. A turbulent family life and a shocking revelation about his father drove him out into the world in search of a home. He found one in restaurants. Amidst other gifted and damaged people, he discovered the magic of hospitality and the thrill of a dining room on the edge of chaos.

The Bottomless Cup is Boehm’s vibrant, funny and frank account of a life in and out of restaurants. This is a memoir about dropping out and finding your place, about opening nights and what comes after, about chefs, partners, guests, and critics. The Bottomless Cup is a story of ambition and adrenaline, of reaching remarkable highs and reckoning with the costs.

Kevin Boehm is cofounder of the Boka Group and winner of the James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurateur in 2019. He has opened 40 restaurants over the last 30 years, including Girl & the Goat, Swift & Sons, Momotaro, GT Prime, Alla Vita, Duck Duck Goat, Little Goat, GT Fish & Oyster, Cira, Lazy Bird, Cabra, Girl & The Goat Los Angeles, and Laser Wolf Brooklyn, among others. He has been a featured or keynote speaker at dozens of conferences, festivals, and universities, and currently sits on the board of the Illinois Restaurant Association, Open Table, 826 CHI, and Steppenwolf Theatre. Boehm has written for Esquire, the Chicago Sun Times, McSweeney’s, and Fast Company. He lives in Chicago.