Restaurant Books

This book is informative in every sense of the way. Doing a project for French class first made me look to this book but, the author opens you up to a totally different world. If you are looking to go to France or even if you would like to enhance your knowlege of the country I greatly recomend it.

This book is informative in every sense of the way. Doing a project for French class first made me look to this book but, the author opens you up to a totally different world. If you are looking to go to France or even if you would like to enhance your knowlege of the country I greatly recomend it.

This book is NOT a listing of restaurants... It's much better than that! It is a region-by-region guide to the gastronomic specialties of France. I particularly liked the format which provides a general overview for province or region, then proceeds to list specifics in a series of box-type menus, followed by personal anecdotes. The best seasons to buy, local market days, suggestions for ordering, pitfalls to avoid... they're all included here. A most entertaining and interesting sourcebook, it's well worth taking with you on a voyage to 'la belle France.'

I agree with you on the Elsah Landing restaurant. I drove hundreds of miles to go there for lunch and was never disappointed. Try the California Strawberry Pie with peaches and blueberries (together) if is to die for. I have the first cookbook (although tattered and torn from use) but I would love to find the second cookbook that they published. Can anyone help me on this one? This is another part of my past that I miss so much and wish they were still in business.

If you've ever wanted to have fail-safe recipes for home-made soup, bread, and pies, this is the cookbook to own. The banana chocolate chip bread is requested by my daughter in college for care packages as "the taste I can never forget." It makes a wonderful wedding present or gift to a cook who thinks she already has everything

I remember going to "The Landing" for Sunday suppers while in college just up the hill in Elsah. I can't put into words how good the food was! Imagine how excited I was to be able to bring the desserts, breads and meals home to California with this cookbook. I make the desserts and breads constantly, both for home and gifts. People can never get enough of the Banana Chocolate Chip Bread or the California Strawberry Pie. Sometimes the ingredients are hard to find, but the results are worth any effort you have to make. This is a staple for any good cook's kitchen.

Once I read this book, I knew it was the only restaurant guide I would ever need. This is the most incredible book on restaurants I have ever read. Twenty appendages up :-)

Once I read this book, I knew it was the only restaurant guide I would ever need. This is the most incredible book on restaurants I have ever read. Twenty appendages up :-)

Once I read this book, I knew it was the only restaurant guide I would ever need. This is the most incredible book on restaurants I have ever read. Twenty appendages up :-)

I grew up with a grandfather who was born in 1889, who survived the first world war, married his wife at the age of 30, had 5 kids, survived the Great Depression, and made a living as a dairy farmer in Mid-Western Wisconsin. He participated in the old-time threshing crews, which meant 15-20 neighbors (read: big strapping men from other farms) would congregate to help each other harvest their crops from the fields. Who fed all of these burly men? The women! Helen Myhers is the real-deal. She has compiled a cookbook full of recipes that are the actual farm recipes used by the women who fed the threshing crews on hot summer days. You'll find classic menus for holidays, Norwegian favorites, old-time baking from scratch, and my personal favorite- a killer Blueberry Bluff Cake. I'd recommend buying this book in hardcover, because you'll have it forever and return to it over and over again. I can attest to that. Mine is already ragged and very well used. There is also a very sentimental aspect to this cookbook. Helen writes about her memories too and gives readers a background about each chapter and each recipe. Her stories resonated with me and the memories I had about growing up on my grandparents farm near Helen's restaurant, so I cherish the book for its authenticity.

If this doesn't improve your cooking, you are either one phenomenal cook, or you need to just start ordering in. Everything is fantastic in this book. I have had it for over a year, now, and I haven't had a bad batch of anything yet. Helen Myhre has tips and techniques that I wouldn't have ever used, but they've work so well that I'd no sooner give them up than give away my favorite pot. I'd been looking for a good pie crust recipe for about twenty years and finally found it here. The recipe was fantastic, something I would have never tried, and everyone compliments my pie crusts. I wish I could spend a day in this gal's kitchen; she is really something else. I don't give a review unless I'm pretty strongly for or against something. This one had to be written. Buy two copies - one for yourself, and one for the person who feeds you most (besides yourself). I've actually travelled to the Norske Nook (on my way elsewhere, believe it or not), and even the french fries are uncommonly good. Warning: recipes contain copious amounts of butter, LOL!

There is a small-town cafe in Osseo, Wisconsin, called the Norske Nook which has earned a reputation for outstanding cooking and great eating. It was founded by Helen Myhre who, with the collaborative help of Mona Vold, now presents an outstanding cookbook that showcases all of the gustatory reasons why the Norske Nook became a regional Wisconsin success. This outstanding compendium of recipes is presented in sections devoted to Brads, Rolls and Sweet Dough Treats; Assorted Meats and Gravies; Fresh and Canned Treasures from the Garden and Wild Patches; Farm Meals; Pies, Tortes, Pan Desserts, and Puddings; Cakes, Bars, and Frostings; Cookies and Fry Cakes; Homemade Ice Creams and Toppings; Old-Fashioned Beverages and New-Fangled Punches; Scandinavian Specialities; Good Kitchen Tools and Mail-Order Products. No personal or community library Wisconsin oriented cookbook collection can be considered complete without the prominent inclusion of Helen Myhre and Mona Vold's Farm Recipes And Food Secrets From The Norske Nook!

An updated edition of Food and Drink in Argentina is now available! Please either click on the authors' names (above) or enter 0977217604 in the search bar above.

If you want a quick study to eating in Argentina, this book is it. With a brief history and introduction to the regional cuisines, menu guides, help with where to shop, descriptions of a few classic restaurants, it will get you started. I found it a handy, portable, inexpensive guide when I spent a month in the country.

Rachel Laudan

Food and Drink in Argentina served me superbly during my first visit recently to Buenos Aires. While it is easy to eat and drink well in the city, the book's suggestions saved, at certain moments, much time (though the process of discovering for yourself the many bars and restaurants located on nearly every corner is equally important). You can find the unusual as well: when we were in need of buttons, the guide directed us to a button store (better than any Notions department in the US) in a part of town we normally would not have visited. In short, Foster's and Tripp's book is essential for helping you to discover the treasures of Argentina.

very useful commentary adds color to hotel and restaurant listings.rating system is very helpful. unfortunately, you must speak passable french to get the full benefit.

The Gault Millau Guide to France is, without doubt, the best and most comprehensive guide of its type. But beware: You must buy the French-language edition. English-language versions of Gault Millau are simplified and dumbed-down (for the American audience, alas), and will not begin to give you the sheer volume of information that is found in the French-language edition. Written in sometimes idiomatic French, which may slow down the anglophone reader, but well worth the effort. The only negative is the price, which is stratospheric. (But weigh that against what you would gladly pay for a good Hermitage!)

I learned about this lovely book from Mayle's "A Year In Provence". It conveys much about the unique character of the restaurants and even scrutinizes the owners and staff.
By the way, you should know that it can be had for less than half price at the Amazon.fr website. And, it is usually shipped within 24 hours, as opposed to the 1-2 month delay claimed at the U.S. site.

One realizes the level of culture in SanteFe upon first entering therein: one of SW Tradition blending that with sophisticated highbrow indulgences of the residents/visitors.

This is exactly the cuisine of this growing in stature SF restaurant. What is exciting and creativity in this cookbook is that they reveal its beginnings and philosophy (which are truly entwined) is sidebar discussions throughout the cookbook's pages, at appropro sections. These are truly captivating reading.

However, one won't be too captivated by such insights nor trying any of these sophisticated recipes if one is not a fledging or growing gourmet on their own. Although this work is worthy of coffeetable display (gorgeous phots abound), it is truly a bevy of unusual ingredients and intricate steps in their prep. Any timidity about these will likely end in gourmet production that could be tragedy. However, don't let any of this stop the venturesome who want to move up the culinary scale and try some great upscale SW cuisine!

Here is magnificent offerings you won't see other places. I like the likes of: Martini Shots (clever vodka sorbet on cucumber pureed caviar&creme frache); Crab and Meyer Lemon Soup with Spaetzle; Escargots with Tomato Caper Vinaigrette; Maryland Blue Crab Cakes with Caviar Sauce and Braised Leeks; Egg Griddles Goat Cheese and Smoked Salmon with Chicory Salad and Crispy Lardons; Chicken in A Chanterelle Mushroom and Garlic Stew; Npoleon of King Salmon with Braised Ruby Chard, Lemon Crepes, and Green Chile Butter Sauce; Fiery Chile Prawns with Crispy Jasmine Almond Rice Cakes and Caper Basil Sauce; Grilled Coldwater Lobster Tails and Creamy Chili Vinaigretter with Savory Potato Cakes; Mizuna Salad with Maple-Glazed Smithfield Ham and Creamy Buttermilk Hazelnut Vinaigrette; Poire-Williams Soup with Warm Bosc Pears, Star Anise Ice Cream, and Black Pepper Genoise; Tequilla Lime Tarts.

And this great recipe collection highlighted none of the rich venision, fowls nor foie gras dishes.

There is another neat touch to this one, a listing of the suggested side dishes recipied with each entree in the Index. There is excellent glossary for those who don't know a lardon from a roulade. Sources are listed as well.

Don't forget to spend time at the Intro where the authors talk of how to use this cookbook, carefully reading recipe through (and might I add several times then making lists) and how to cook with constant tasting (Eric with Spoons!)

Geronimo Experience must be exciting to experience firsthand, but here the rest of us can with its passion for great food laid out so spectacularly and over 100 of its recipes for us to try.

PETER VITALE'S PHOTOGRAPHS ARE A REVELATION. AN AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFULLY PHOTOGRAPHED BOOK.

This is an absolutely gorgeous cookbook. I love to look at it, to flip through the photographs, to read the recipes and the essays written by the people involved in this Santa Fe restaurant. I immediately have a strong desire to rush to New Mexico and make a reservation for dinner.

The only thing the cookbook *doesn't* do is make me want to COOK any of these recipes.

It isn't that they aren't appealing. They're stunning: scallop mousse with basil lemon espuma (as a first course), mesquite grilled peppery elk tenderloin with garlic confit potatoes and exotic mushroom sauce, chive-tied bay scallops with black truffle and fresh tomato coulis. I'd be happy to EAT any of them, but I know I'm not going to cook them.

Which isn't to say that I'm a wimp cook. I'm happy to make a paella for a Sunday dinner, or "throw together" six separate dishes for an Indian feast. However, despite the best of intentions, these recipes are clearly geared for restaurant kitchens.

Most of these recipes have a page of ingredients (usually expensive ones) and two full pages of instructions. In the intro to "Mesquite grilled foie gras terrine with sweet grapes and verjus," for example, the author says, "When we clean the lobes of foie gras at Geronimo, we always have the leftover snippets that are too small for our recipes. We take these, marinate them for a day in a bit of Cognac and fresh thyme, grill them very quickly over mesquite, and press them into a terrine mold...." I don't know about you, but there aren't any foie gras leftovers in my frig. (The recipe calls for a 1 pound lobe, which you cut up.)

I'd like to think that I'm ready to take on some of these recipes. I know I'm not, though. If you're going to do it, please invite me for dinner.

But as a coffee table cookbook, this one is perfect. Stunning photography, wonderful food combinations, lovely little essays about getting the restaurant started. (Now, honey -- let's go out for dinner.)

I've read the first in the series (So Dear to Wicked Men) and loved it for its clever plot and funny characters. This one (Go Close Against the Enemy) is even better. The characters are still funny and the plot still clever and there is an added seriousness that is thought provoking and at times heart-wrenching. I highly recommend this book.

If you haven't read one of the 2 books in the series, I highly recommend you do so. The authors have owned restaurants and are now using that knowledge to write entertaining books. The couple in the story own a restaurant in the south. The husband is Greek. They have hired a Greek friend of his who speaks less English. This couple find themselves in many "jams" but always seem to find their way out. A very likeable couple and an easy reading book.

Racism is openly flourishing in Delphi, Georgia. This becomes acutely evidenced at the funeral of a stillborn. April McNabb, daughter of the town preacher, married a black man in defiance of her father's commands. Although he disowns her for this sacrilege, he supports her when she wants her baby buried in his churchyard. However, Deacon Walter Fry objects, wanting the infant buried in the black cemetery. During the burial, a demonstrative and ugly protest occurs.

April pushed to the limit, fires a shot at Fry, but misses. However, Fry is soon found murdered and April is arrested for the crime. She calls on her friend Julia Lambros to help her since Julia has successfully conducted a murder investigations before. Though she and her spouse are having problems with an IRA agent, she decides to help her friend. Her snooping places Julia in danger from an individual who wants to remain anonymous.

In SO CLOSE AGAINST THE ENEMY, the victim has many people wishing him dead who also have the means and opportunity to kill him. This makes the story line very complex and difficult to solve. The protagonists are a working class couple whom strikes an immediate chord with the audience. Takis and Judy Iakovou demonstrate that racism is a destructive force that can tear apart a town. This enjoyable book tells a good story while making a powerful social statement.

Harriet Klausner

This book has great pictures! It has a wonderful way of explaining how Fred Harveys restaurants worked. The harvey cup code is explained and what the harvey girls had to do on the job. It is a Great book.

My grandmother was a Harvey Girl, thus, my mother thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It's provided much nostalgia for her, especially reading about some of the people who used to visit her family!

This book explains what the Harvey Girls did for the west. It tells what their duties were and the cup code. It is an easy read and is even good for children as young as first grade.

Jan Greenberg's guide came in handy last weekend when I took my visiting family - kids, grandparents and everything in between - on a two day trip through the Hudson Valley. This is a great area but it is hard to get off the beaten track , particularly if you want to do more than just look at historic sites and state parks. Even though it was early in the season, this book got us to some beautiful farm and country sites; the restaurant recommendations were right on; and we actually learned a lot as well. Don't visit the Hudson Valley without this book.

We bought this book before a weekend trip to the Hudson Valley and can't imagine traveling to the area without it. It has everything you would want to know about the farmers and what they are growing and producing. It tells you where and what to eat and how to use what you buy at a farmstand or local farmers market. It also made us really think about the people who grow the food. Their stories are uniformly interesting, even moving. The author has a pleasingly gentle touch when she writes about issues so much in the news today like organics, the humane treatment of animals and keeping small farms viable. Even if you aren't visiting the Hudson Valley, this is definitely a worthwhile book to have and read.

This is THE book for anyone who lives, works, visits or is even thinking of a trip to the Hudson Valley, this bucolic but agriculturally threatened area, just an hour north of New York City. Jan Greenberg not only tells where to buy and eat these outstanding (and tasty) products but in a non-preachy way makes the reader understand why it is important to support these local farmers and producers. Her profiles and stories of the farmers who grow the fruits and vegetables and raise the livestock are truly heartfelt and gave me, and will do the same I think for anyone else who reads them, a new understanding of what is like to be a grower where everything, from weather to the economy, is out of your control. This is the high risk profession!! It makes Wall Street look safe.

Above all, though, this is a book about enjoying food --buying it, serving it and tasting it. As Danny Meyer, owner of New York City's Union Square Cafe and other restaurants known for their support of local farms, writes - "This book deserves a place on the bookshelf (or in the glove compartment) of every itinerant aficionado of New York's bounty." He's right.