Restaurant Books

What a hoot--this is a great book, funny and enlightening. This is a collaboration of 5 authors with funnhy tales about the inside world of the service industry. Very nice reading after a hard day at work--helps keep things light--Must buy!!

This book is not funny, it is up right hilarious. This book was one that you couldn't put down, you had to find out what extremly crazy things where going to happen next. When reading you think, does this really happen "e behind the sences & quote. It makes you wanna snope around the next time you walk into a resturant or hotel.

The books are wonderful, but if you think that the books are gonig to be like any other version of The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, you are dead wrong. If you read the introduction to the books you know that each version is meant to be different than the others. That is the beauty of Douglas Adams work. They are all unique but all worth you time.

Okay, for those of you who haven't read the book yet but did watch the movie you guys missed out on a lot the movie didn't include all the scenes that I personally though was very well.
Now that that's out of the way. Douglas Adams in his one of his possibly best know books really out did himself. In this adventure a boring simpleton named Arthur Dent living on the planet we call earth has befriended a guy named Ford Perfect, who is not as he claimed from earth but from a planet called Betelgeuse. Where he was sent from to do research for "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe" (it's a book where it has everything and anything that you could possibly need to know about the universe). Ford tells Arthur that he isn't from around here. He isn't from Earth. In telling Arthur this he also tells him that the earth is about to end.
And since they have gotten to be really close friends he takes Arthur with him when he hitches a ride with the Vogan ships (these are what the aliens are called that destroyed our planet earth). Vogan's in particular don't like hitchhikers very much. So they kick them off the ship, shortly after they get on. And by pure chance they get picked up. And the story goes from there.
Now that I've told you how the book starts I'll leave it up to you to read the rest of the book. And if you read this book, then watch the movie. You'll see that the movie is hardly based on this incredible book .

Layne and Wall's seminal work is a must read for the serious student of this pork delicacy. From the selection of wood to the all important application of sauce, the authors have provided SC BBQ the rich treatment it deserves.

Layne and Wall's seminal work is a must read for the serious student of this pork delicacy. From the selection of wood to the all important application of sauce, the authors have provided SC BBQ the rich treatment it deserves.

Robert Willaims captures the essence of our hometown diners in a beautiful and touching way. The photographs are beautiful and a perfect example of excellent photography. I would highly recommend this book to all readers, especially those who remember the nostaglia of going to your hometown diner. Don't miss this one!

Williams' book plunges you head-first into an era when people truly did make money "the old-fashioned way" ( they earned it with their sweat and tears). We sit as interlopers as we watch the toil of daily lives unfurl across the beautifully photographed pages. We sit at the counter while the waitress who has been at this particular diner way past her prime, exchanges small talk with the patrons. We can almost feel the cold rain against our faces as we view the water-drenched images of The Cheyenne (NYC) and The Highland Park(NY). We sense the simultaneous joy and frustration on the faces of diner owners who can't be sure what the future holds for their life's work. William's has taken us into a doorway that we rarely have a chance to enter; he has given us a license to the past. Through this book we have the opportunity to rekindle the memories of our childhood, teenage years and young adulthood...all at the same time. We remember what it felt like to sit at the counter with our Dads. We remember the hard formica tables against our ribs as we shared a ketchup-drenched kiss across the table. We remember introducing our "little ones" to the wall boxes of music that sit on the tables and watch in wonderment as they try to figure out "where the music comes from".

I bought this on a whim. I feel bad when I only order one book, but I had trouble thinking of another book to buy. A quick search through my recommendations turned this up and I don't regret it.

Much of the photography is nothing less than stunning. I normally count photography as a mark against a cookbook (too many use it to cover up bad recipes and a lack of content), but not here. It would take a lot of very flowery words to describe how beautiful the green stir-fry could be, but the picture sums it up into a single page of greenness.

I'm pleased that there are some meat dishes in here and that it isn't all vegetarian. I'm not normally a seafood fan, but the simplicity of flavors and (again) the beautiful photography make these things look good.

When I saw the egg-roll recipe I was especially impressed. It detailed how to efficiently lay out a series of wrappers and how to work with them to roll a large number of egg rolls in a single sitting.

Many of the ingredient are hard to come by for me, but I live in a rather rural area without access to things that most people take for granted. But, for the most part, nothing I saw struck me as unusual. If you live in any kind of populated area then you should have no trouble shopping for the things you will need to cook.

Honga's Lotus Petal has been a Telluride favored establishment notable to both locals and skiers for its eclectic Asian-influenced cuisine, and here a varied set of innovations offers up recipes for soups, salads, main dishes, and even sushi and drinks. Fine color photos and easy step-by-step instructions accompany a guide that reflects the cook author's visits to chefs across Asia and even into Hawaii. The resulting dishes are mouth-watering, outstanding creations holding many unique twists and turns to attract cooks and libraries - even those who already have extensive Asian cookbooks.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

I'll be up-front in saying that I wrote a few reviews for the book, though none of us contributors got paid. I just got my free copy in the mail today and I must say that the book turned out even better than I expected. Being a food-fan and lived in San Francisco for almost 2 years, I still found oodles of places to try and honest info about eateries I would have usually avoided, but am now quite curious about. Every local resident and area traveler should have this book - a truly indispensable guide for affordable and uber-tasty goodies.

Best SF travel guide to date. Incredibly helpful - I recommend this book to everyone I know. The supreme authority in travel books. Whoever compiled this book really knew what they were talking about!!

It's a pleasure to browse through this guide.

It's just the thing to use to translate Deutsche Spezialitaten, the German-language version of Culinaria Germany, the lush, big food book that describes the delicious cuisine of Germany, region by region, or you can use it in a German supermarket to decipher labels. Plus, it's handy for translating German menus.

At 289 pages, it's a bit too thick to carry in a pocket, next to your body. Plus, it's a bit fragile, with its paper covers and perfect binding. So carry it in a purse, fanny pack, jacket- or cargo pocket.

I may know the names of typical German dishes, but that doesn't help me decipher a menu when I'm visiting a restaurant in Germany. With a limited amount of time (and thus a finite opportunity to pig out on regional specialties), I wanted to make sure I was picking the best stuff to eat.

We took this slender tome with us on our last trip, and we were extremely glad we did. What's this dessert prepared with Muskatnuss? Ah, nutmeg! How do I ask for a hard-boiled egg at breakfast? (If you don't specify, I learned, you get it soft-boiled.) And so on.

We definitely had fewer surprises. And we able to order what we really wanted. The book also includes a section on regional specialties, so we knew enough to order Maultaschen when we had the opportunity to do so, not to mention an idea of what would arrive on the plate.

In addition to the Hungry Traveler Germany, I also have the Marling Menu-Master Germany (which appears to be out of print, alas). Both are very good, earning 5-stars unquestionably, though this book is a bit larger (and thus may be awkward to carry; it fits okay in a fanny pack). If I had to choose, I'd take the Marling book with me on a trip, because it's organized by restaurant menu sections, rather than alphabetically. It's also small enough to fit in a pocket.

This one, though, has little extras that make it worth reading all the way through. For example, it warns you not to try to bring back any meat products (which I should have read before trying to bring home Black Forest Ham), and suggests made-in-Germany food related specialties that won't bother Customs at all (ranging from Christmas gingerbread to cutlery and table linens).

This is a very informative guide to eating in NYC. I will keep a copy of this guide book with me when I visit NYC. My Midwest Mentality tells me to go to where the locals go. I am sure they know where to eat in NYC.

This guide to eating well on the cheap in NYC proves that it really can be done. The editor's introduction kicks off the tone of this guide with his literate, articulate, and very witty comments, which also appears in all the reviews. This book is a gem, well worth having for any visit to NYC.

I was given this book as a gift and at first I let it sit on my shelf and look pretty. But recently I began to make some of the recipes for friends and each one of them got rave reviews. The pictures are beautiful; the writing is superb and now I find that the recipes are outstanding. I am ordering a bunch to give as gifts for birthdays and when I am invited to someone's home. Buy it and ENJOY!
Ronnie Weston
Palm Harbor, Florida

I've noticed that there seem to be 2 kinds of cookbooks; those that sit on the shelf for many years in largely the same condition in which they were acquired, and those that are dog-eared and have certain food-stained pages with the corners turned down.

The same goes for narrative books intended to be read for the content of their story (whereas cookbooks should usually be more properly thought of as manuals). Again, two types - they either get read once and forgotten or read and then passed around or lent, often never to be seen again (in my experience).

Here's a cookbook that will receive the latter treatment on both counts. I owned this book for no more than a single day when a fellow cook absconded with it. Luckily, I've recovered the book. However, I've noticed that people pick it up for a cursory glance and then, distracted, sit down and begin pouring through it. In order to retain this book so that it can achieve dog-eared food-stained status at my own hand, I'll be giving copies of it away as gifts (as opposed to replacing my own copies as they vanish).

Whether you're new to Slow Food or not, you'll find the creativity evident in these dishes inspiring. If you already participate in any sort of Slow Food gathering, this book will be de rigueur.

While I'm partial to desserts (I must, must round up some Shagbark Hickory Syrup, p.34), the layout of the recipes restaurant by restaurant and chef by chef, a full course from each, does a superior job of emphasizing the regional elements of the foods. This is a terrific book, and the LaSalle Grill's Apple Fritters with Caramel Sauce are underway in our kitchen this very evening. That page (p.53) already has a post-it stuck to it, doubtless a presage to dog-earedness.

I was blessed to have dined this year at the Inn at Little Washington, which was an enchanting experience and a delight to all the senses. This book captures the experience well, and describes in detail why the place is a bargain at any price in terms of perceived value. I have given copies of this book to friends, so that they can begin to understand why I rave about the Inn. It is also a book about excellence, and should be mandatory reading for any who own a business or restaurant. The attention to detail and staff training should be instructive. This book, however, is not only for business owners and those who dine there, but should be a wonderful read for any lover of food. I also recommend the O'Connell book.

This is a delightful book that, while it includes recipes and numerous photographs, is primarily a history of the restaurant, and its owners' goal of dazzling every customer. Their success and world-wide recognition speaks for itself. Despite modest beginnings in rural Virginia, the owners have tried from the outset to provide not just outstanding food, but also a memorable dining event. The lengths to which they will go to accomplish this provides lively reading, and a compelling desire to share the experience.