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What happens when a career you love doesnt love you back?

As Hannah Selinger will tell you, to be a good restaurant employee is to be invisible. At the height of her career as a server and then sommelier at some of New Yorks most famed dining institutions, Selinger was the hand that folded your napkin while you were in the bathroom, the employee silently slipping into the night through a side door after serving meals worth more than her rent.

During her tenure, Selinger rubbed shoulders with David Chang, Bobby Flay, Johnny Iuzzini, and countless other food celebrities of the early 2000s.Her position allowed her access to a life she never expected; the lavish parties, the tasting courses, the wildly expensive wines the rare world we see romanticized in countless movies and television shows. But the thing about being invisible is that people forget youre there, and most act differently when they think no one is looking.

InCellar Rat, Selinger chronicles her rise and fall in the restaurant business, beginning with the gritty hometown pub where she fell in love with the industry and ending with her final post serving celebrities at the Hamptons classic Nick & Tonis. In between, readers will join Selinger on her emotional journey as she learns the joys of finefinedining, the allure and danger of power, and what it takes to walk away from a career you love when it no longer serves you.