
A NEW COOKBOOK MEMOIR BY CHRISTOPHER J DESTEFANO
MISFIT CHEF
THE BOOK
Chefs are supposed to be passionate about ingredients and the dishes they create, so what happens when you meet a chef who believes that it’s not about the food?
Misfit Chef is a cookbook memoir that answers the question, if it’s not about the food then what the hell is it about? Chef Christopher DeStefano takes us on a painstakingly honest and heartwarming journey through hysterical stories, breathtaking photography, and mouthwatering recipes from his acclaimed prepared food shop & restaurant, Christopher’s Table to find the answers.
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From growing up in his grandparent's grocery store in East Boston to escaping a catering job that literally goes up in flames, leading culinary adventures through the streets of Paris and wild late night parties with drag queens in his restaurant's kitchen, Misfit Chef celebrates the power of food and reminds us of how it can bind us to the very best bits of life.
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8x10 Glossy hard cover. 222 color pages with stories, recipes and photographs by Cynthia August. Published by Palmetto Publishing.
THE AUTHOR

Christopher J DeStefano is an award winning chef, serial entrepreneur, and food writer who has been cooking professionally for over 16 years. In 2008 DeStefano opened his celebrated prepared food shop and restaurant, Christopher’s Table on the North Shore of Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to running the day to day operation of his food shop, he has written food articles for local publications, led culinary tours through Paris, and hosted hundreds of guests at elaborate dinners in bucolic farm fields as part of the Dinner on the Farm series.
In 2014 after closing Christopher’s Table, DeStefano managed some of the Boston area’s top restaurants, including Oak Long Bar & Kitchen in the venerable Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel. In 2019 DeStefano created an online culinary brand, Table Manners www.tablemanners.shop which sells homemade baked goods, freshly prepared foods, and unique culinary gifts. In 2022 Table Manners was recognized by North Shore magazine as the area’s best personal chef service.
Misfit Chef, his cookbook memoir is his first published book.
PRE ORDER | BECOME A PATRON
Full transparency: Misfit Chef is almost complete. It's so close we can taste it.
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The written text is complete
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The recipes have all been selected and tested
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The photography by Cynthia August is eighty-five percent complete
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We expect Misfit Chef to be available to ship in early 2024.
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We hope that you will pre order a copy and consider becoming a patron of this project. In doing so, you are ensuring this book actually makes it to publishing, covering significant costs along the way. The final book will be an 8" x 10" glossy hard cover in full color, and will be published through an independant hybrid publisher Palmetto Press. Publishing through a hybrid model means the author retains 100% creative control as well as all of the rights to the book, but the initial costs are carried by the author, not this publisher.
Our goal is to raise enough to cover the following:
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Costs associated with editing the final draft
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Publishing through hybrid publisher Palmetto Press, which includes cover designs, layout, formatting, setting up for distribution and purchase through Amazon and other outlets
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Printing the book - printers have minimums and every book has a cost to print
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Getting the book to you, which for most will require shipping and is included in your pre order/donation
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Fun fact: For all money raised through this campaign beyond costs associated with publishing/printing, a portion of the capitol raised will be donated to Project Bread which connects people and communities in Massachusetts to reliable sources of food while advocating for policies that make food more accessible—so that no one goes hungry.
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Thank you in advance for supporting this project.
HOW TO BECOME A PATRON
We have partnered with a third party fundraising site called Indiegogo. We have created a number of ways for you to become a patron of this project. Click the level that suits you and you will be taken to our fundraising site on Indiegogo!
PATRON LEVELS


