Last Summer at the Golden Hotel served with Golden Beets

Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Elyssa Friedland.  

This was a fun one.  I saw it described as Dirty Dancing meets Mrs. Maisel !  The Golden Hotel was the gem of the Catskills back in the day but now it has fallen on hard times.  The 2 owners, the Goldmans and the Weingolds have a long history together and at times it is full of love and frustration.  The story goes back and forth in time as the family is coming together to make a decision on selling to a large company who wants a casino.  

To be honest at the beginning I had a hard time keeping the characters straight.  I kept getting confused on who was who and which family the belonged to.  But once i figured that out, it was a fast fun read.  I enjoyed the nostalgia of the days when the Catskills was THE place to vacation if you were jewish.    The family drama kept it interesting.  I loved how the grandkids really started pushing the parents and grandparents to go modern with social media.  I liked the tension between the families and the tension between parents and children. Of course there are secrets revealed and confessions made.  Overall just a fun trip through some family drama and history.  I was torn between 3.5 to 4 stars but i'm going with 4.  Enjoyable quick read ⭐⭐⭐⭐

One of the best parts was all of the references to the jewish dishes the resort served.  They were so old fashion and the kids just couldn't understand them.  They had borscht a lot!  I am not a borscht fan but to be fair, I think i've tried it 1 time.  BUT I love beets so much .   I decided to pair this with golden beets (golden hotel...) served on a bed of soft polenta which is my go-to comfort food.  Just roasted the beets in the oven for an hour.   I took the beet greens and sauteed them with some onions and sprinkled just a pinch of apple cider vinegar over them.    I didn't find the golden beets to be a flavorful as my usual red beets so next time i'll go back to red.  

Enjoy the book and my borscht substitute!