Rudolph Nureyev told Time magazine that the Russian Tea Room was what he liked most about America. Carol Channing regularly dined there for lunch - on mysterious items she'd bring herself in a lunch box.

Leonard Bernstein scribbled the first bars of Fancy Free there on a napkin. And Dustin Hoffman made his hilarious and unforgettable debut public appearance as a woman in the famous movie Tootsie at the Russian Tea Room.

Now, just in time for the Russian Tea Room's long-awaited reopening, comes this delightful, anecdote-rich story of the famed eatery. And more - not just about a famous place, it is a true memoir, at times very funny, always touching, sometimes sad, and often revealing, about a brave and quirky young South Carolina woman, Faith Stewart-Gordon.

Her journey from the early 1950's and acting on Broadway to her marriage to the Russian Tea Room owner, Sidney Kaye,and her subsequent struggles to operate the restaurant after his death, balancing a career with young motherhood, is a journey with which many will identify.

It is not only a story of survival but of the quest for self-knowledge set against the most glamorous background, but never losing sight of what went on behind the scenes, both in the restaurant and in her own life.