Black, White, and The Grey: The Story of an Unexpected Friendship and a Beloved Restaurant [Hardcover]

A story about the trials and triumphs of a Black chef from Queens, New York, and a White media entrepreneur from Staten Island who built a relationship and a restaurant in the Deep South, hoping to bridge biases and get people talking about race, gender, class, and culture.

“Black, White, and The Grey blew me away.”—David Chang

MASHAMA BAILEY IS ONE OF TIME’S 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN THE WORLD

In this dual memoir, Mashama Bailey and John O. Morisano take turns telling how they went from tentative business partners to dear friends while turning a dilapidated formerly segregated Greyhound bus station into The Grey, now one of the most celebrated restaurants in the country. Recounting the trying process of building their restaurant business, they examine their most painful and joyous times, revealing how they came to understand their differences, recognize their biases, and continuously challenge themselves and each other to be better.

Through it all, Bailey and Morisano display the uncommon vulnerability, humor, and humanity that anchor their relationship, showing how two citizens commit to playing their own small part in advancing equality against a backdrop of racism.

A GARDEN & GUN BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR“From the first few paragraphs of Mashama Bailey’s prologue, you know that you’re dealing with a writer of uncommon honesty. She and partner John O. Morisano offer us an illuminating exploration of what it takes to build something and understand one another, and in the process remind us that restaurants are about much more than just food—even though every recipe, from the Dirty Rice to the Clams Oreganata to the Country Pasta, is proof that Bailey is one of our