The Raclette Rascal: Sandwich Shop

By Natalie-Nicole Bates

Nothing strikes fear in the heart of a chef as a visit from a food blogger with a huge following.

Well, maybe not every chef.

Noah Keller, a Swiss hockey player turned chef/restaurateur, introduces his toasted Raclette cheese sandwich creations to the USA via pop-up restaurants.

Noah has never had to try very hard to succeed.

What he doesn't have in talent, Noah makes up for with his good looks, charm, and an accent that makes most women swoon.

Food blogger Brijean Brook doesn't fall so easily.

Often working in disguise, she has brought some of the most admired chefs to tears with her scathing but honest reviews.
When she visits Noah's pop-up restaurant on the final week of his American tour, she walks in on him about to ravish a beautiful willing sycophant on a customer table.

Brijean doesn't wait to taste his food. Instead, she blasts him and mocks his stinky cheesy toast sandwiches and vulgar behavior.

And her review goes viral…

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paperlate Press
• Release date: Sep 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223841845

Natalie-Nicole Bates

Natalie-Nicole Bates is a book reviewer and author. Her passions in life include books and hockey along with Victorian and Edwardian era photography and antique poison bottles. Natalie contributes her uncharacteristic love of hockey to being born in Russia. She currently resides in the UK where she is working on her next book and adding to her collection of 19th century post-mortem photos.    

Book preview

Natalie-Nicole Bates

The Raclette Rascal

The Sandwich Shop Series

First published by Perfectly Poisoned Press 2022

Copyright © 2022 by Natalie-Nicole Bates

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

Natalie-Nicole Bates asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

Natalie-Nicole Bates has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book and on its cover are trade names, service marks, trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publishers and the book are not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. None of the companies referenced within the book have endorsed the book.

First edition

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Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Conclusion

About the Author

Also by Natalie-Nicole Bates

Chapter 1

Chapter Separator

Brijean

Let me start by telling you that I am a nice person. I know what your thinking – when someone is described as nice, it is usually a polite way of saying the worst.

But I really am a nice person.

To my close friends and family, I’m also known as witty, generous to a fault, and a friend to the end.

Not when it’s just convenient to be someone’s friend.

My bad reputation comes from my job.

I am a food blogger.

One of those extremely lucky people who actually make a living eating food and talking about it.

Yes, it’s a dream job traveling all over the world and eating. But, I am also a truthful person.

I say it like I see it.

Or, in my case, I write it as I eat it – well, after I eat it.

Being truthful can often lead to anything from bruised feelings to downright death threats. Chefs and restaurateurs live and die by their reviews, and they are proud people, as they should be. Their restaurants and the food they produce are like family members to them. If you insult it, then quite naturally, they become outraged.

The food I’ve tasted over the years has run the gamut from I’ve died and gone to heaven to I am about to die and go to hell.

Once a restaurant forgot to make the birthday cake I had specially ordered for my sister. But the pastry chef was quick to remedy the problem and presented us with a beautifully decorated cake that fell into the I’ve died and gone to heaven category. I never tasted cake that good in my life, and I may never again.

It was that good.

Not to mention that the restaurant comped our meal and the cake as an apology.

In the category of I am about to die and go to hell, I ordered chicken soup from a top-notch takeout. The food poisoning that resulted from that chicken soup put me in the emergency room for half a day with IV’s running through me because I was so incredibly ill. It took a week for me to recover, and I lost five pounds of weight.

But those are just two very drastically different experiences.

Because my face and my blog are now so well known throughout the industry, I often dine in disguise. I’ve worn it all – glasses, hats, contact lenses that changed my eye color. I’ve been a brunette, a blonde, a redhead, raven-haired, and just about every other color in the rainbow thanks to wigs. I’ve had 1920’s flapper bobs, hair to my waist, and everything in between. I enjoy dressing up though. It’s kind of like being a spy, unidentifiable and full of mystery and intrigue.

I decided last minute to try a new pop-up restaurant.

Well, maybe restaurant is a bit much, I’ll call it a pop-up bistro.

It was called Rascal and Raclette.

Cute name, huh?

The pop-up was owned by Noah Keller. A man who had no experience with running a restaurant or even being a chef. But there he was, doing it all, and apparently doing it well, too, according to all the reviews of his American tour.

Noah Keller made his fortune and initial fame as an ice hockey star. Hailing from Switzerland, he had the kind of looks that instantly brought a woman to her knees.

Yes, he