Reddit mentions of Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant: A Novel

I haven't seen anyone else mention this yet, so I will:

http://www.amazon.com/Dinner-Homesick-Restaurant-Ballantine-Readers/dp/0449911594

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner_at_the_Homesick_Restaurant

Dinner at Homesick Restaurant is partially about a man who opens a restaurant that doesn't have a menu, and instead he (the chef) comes over to talk to guests for a minute and then decide what they'll have based on what he thinks they NEED to make them feel better. Something to cheer them up if they're said, something warm if they're cold, etc, etc.

However, the story is mainly about a very dysfunctional family, and the man was always neglected by his family so at the end of the book he opens this restaurant with that idea to cope with it and to help others who are like him, and his lifelong dream is to once -- just once -- get his entire family to sit down for a meal together without a fight breaking out. It's a very sad book with depressing characters you'll never forget :(