One of the first jobs she took was as a waiter at
Union Square Cafe. The restaurant's owner,
Danny Meyer, later wrote in the preface of Fleming's book that he hired her before she even sat down for the interview, commenting that "even from half a room away, I could feel her warmth, poise, and intelligence". She went from waiting tables to line cooking, and then found a job as a pastry assistant at
Tribeca Grill. Fleming comments that "once I tried a pastry, that was it for me... I was hooked." Fleming released her first book,
The Last Course, in 2001. The book sold poorly upon release, a showing largely attributed to its poor timing;
The Last Course was released in the month following the
September 11 attacks.
Style Fleming's recipes are credited as being somewhat accessible.
Newsday opines that her cookbook is "a great present for an ambitious baker", and that her recipes are time-consuming and involve many steps, if not necessarily difficult.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted that the recipes were organized around key ingredients, and complimented her
Guinness Stout Ginger Cake as "fun to make, fun to eat, and, like the rest of the book, as stylish as it is timeless". == Personal life ==