5 comments about Counter Intelligence: Where to Eat in the Real Los Angeles.

1. Some key spots were missing and that's a shame, but overall a good buy



2. Be forewarned: Jonathan Gold's culinary prose is compelling reading, but any attempts to use this as an actual guidebook for restaurants in Los Angeles should be heavily researched first. Perhaps I just have extraordinarily bad luck, but each time I've tried to visit one of the restaurants, something's gone wrong. Aladdin Falafel (p. 2) no longer exists, though its sign is still up there on the corner mini-mall placard. India's Tandoori (p. 137) no longer serves Tandoori pizza, so temptingly describe in Rich's essay. Gagnier's Creole Kitchen (p. 109) in Santa Monica disappeared years ago. With that said, I would still recommend the book as a fun read for those who enjoy learning more about the culinary diversity available in Los Angeles.



3. Jonathan Gold just won a Pulitzer (4/07) for his food writing, and he deserved it. Read it for the writing, even if you never go out. He makes a Shackburger sound better than it tastes, although no one should go through life without eating at the Shack at least once.
   
   One problem: The book is seven years old, so a few of the places have closed their doors.
   
   Not a guide to LA's best or most famous eateries, but a guide to the best ethnic places in working-class neighborhoods (Sort of. Calling the Shack ethnic stretches the adjective to breaking but most of the restaurants do fit that category.)



4. author of Cooking Jewish: 532 Great Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family
   
   from the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles
   October 4, 2002
   
   Jonathan Gold knows his pastrami. He should. As restaurant critic to Gourmet magazine, he has sampled delis from coast to coast (by his count, 20 last week in New York alone). In his book "Counter Intelligence: Where to Eat in the Real Los Angeles" (St. Martin's Press) this James Beard Award-winner writes, "The fact is inescapable: Langer's probably serves the best pastrami sandwich in America."
   
   So what better place to meet than Langer's (over pastrami, of course) to discuss the deli scene as Gold prepares for the panel discussion he will host with Los Angeles' top deli owners in conjunction with the Yiddishkayt festival.
   
   The Jewish Journal: Today the egg roll, taco and pizza are thought of as American food. Do you think deli food is still considered Jewish food?
   
   Jonathan Gold: Sure, it is. At Junior's in Brooklyn you have African American and Caribbean and Asian people, and the place is completely hopping at 1 a.m. I'm not sure there's a Jew in the room, but they're all completely aware of what they're eating, even if they're having a patty melt instead of a pastrami sandwich. People know what deli means.
   
   Sixty years ago in Los Angeles probably the biggest concentration of Jews was in Boyle Heights, but there's still generations and generations of people who grew up having Canter's in the neighborhood, having pastrami in the neighborhood, and they're hungry for it.
   
   There's a fast food stand called Oki Dog on Pico [Boulevard] near La Brea [Avenue] owned by Okinawans where you have people doing Mexican versions of Jewish food with Okinawan-style cabbage and serving the entire thing to African Americans. It's just great.
   
   JJ: How do you think the deli plays in Peoria, Ill.?
   
   JG: I don't think the deli does play in Middle America. One of my favorite delis anywhere is Shapiro's in downtown Indianapolis, which is great, but it's hard to sustain a restaurant when the people who know what the food is really supposed to taste like aren't there.
   
   JJ: How has our health consciousness affected delis in general?
   
   JG: The successful delis have everything on the menu. I think the biggest seller at Junior's is Chinese Chicken Salad. They probably go through a half-ton a week.
   
   JJ: Which dish is the benchmark by which you rate a deli?
   
   JG: Pastrami on rye. If you can't do pastrami on rye, you have no reason to exist. There's something great about how much attention Langer's pays to its pastrami and its bread. There's not any less detail to the food here than somebody like Wolfgang Puck will have to the food at Spago's. When your basic core item is good, it's like a steakhouse having great steak. Everything else is gravy.
   
   They all get pastrami out of the same package and steam it, but these guys steam it a lot longer, so it becomes denser, but also more tender, and there's more shrinkage. Most places don't do that because it's expensive.
   
   If you're going to serve eight pounds instead of 10, there's a huge difference in your bottom line.
   
   And there's something about hand slicing that gives with the shape of the muscle. It's like the difference between eating sushi and eating a chunk of fish.
   
   JJ: Why do deli patrons put up with, even welcome, rudeness from servers they would never tolerate elsewhere?
   
   JG: It's part of our culture, isn't it? We want what we want when we want it, and the deli has the first shot at that. It sounds weird, but I feel more Jewish when I walk into a deli than when I walk into a shul, because it's the smells, it's the people, it's the way they dress, it's the whole L.A. Jewish thing rolled up into one long wait in line at Junior's.
   
   JJ: What do you see as the future of the deli?
   
   JG: I don't know. As long as we're around, there will be delis. The delis tend to follow us Jewish people wherever we move. Brent's deli in Northridge is in an area that wasn't especially Jewish 15 years ago or so, but enough Jews are suddenly brought together by the possibility of some decent chopped liver ... because even if they marry outside of the religion or never go to shul, that's the one thing they can't give up.
   
   JJ: How do you think L.A. delis compare to those in New York?
   
   JG: I think Los Angeles might be the best deli town in the country right now. I have spent my entire life being sneered at by New Yorkers for living some inferior version of Jewish life here, and then I move to New York and find out that, gosh sakes, it's right here in Los Angeles.
   
   Nate `n' Al's is a great place. It has Beverly Hills hard-wired. It knows everything about Beverly Hills. The same people have been coming, sitting at the same counter at the same time in the morning, for 40 years.
   
   Art's has real energy to it. There's a lot of show biz guys, and it's fancy in a way that sometimes feels a little absurd when you realize you're in there for a corned beef sandwich.
   
   The delis here are not theme parks the way they are in New York. In New York you go to the Stage, and if there's one regular patron to every 10 tourists, it would surprise me.
   
   Some of the delis in New York's outer boroughs are really good places, but they don't exist as cultural centers, because there's enough Jewish cultural resonance everywhere you go in New York that you don't necessarily need to have it confirmed by a restaurant. But in Los Angeles, places like Brent's, Junior's, Art's, they're real in a certain way. They're what the owners want them to be. They're what the neighborhood wants them to be. They're indivisible from the people around them, who are -- let's face it -- us. And there's something great about that.



5. The only thing I didn't like about this book is that the organization of the index is only by style of food (Tawainese, Cuban, Mexican, etc)...hence only 4 stars. But the descriptions of food are excellent! Since it's 2007 now the content is a little outdated and some restaurants are no longer there. Make sure you check if the restaurant is still there before driving to it.

5 comments about The Science of Wine: From Vine to Glass.

1. This is a decent overview of the science of making wine. It is occassionally a bit dense (lots of buzzwords), and the author avoids taking positions on anything remotely controversial (biodynamics, UC Davis' impact on winemakine, etc). But it does contain information you are unlikely to find elsewhere.



2. If you are interested in why wine tastes, well, like wine. Or, if you are interested in what it is in certain wines that make them more appealing. Of, if you are interested in ANYTHING beyond knowing certain wine names, this book is a must buy! Author Goode not only makes some seriously scientific information understandable to non-scientific people (like me), but also enhances the appreciation for wine itself. After reading this book, I found myself really appreciating all of the work which results in wine I enjoy - and wines I think longingly about, during winter nights, or while being stuck in traffic during rush hour. Wine is a subject which contains within it a lot of passion. This book demonstrates the background and foundation for much of how we humans have guided nature in such a passionate way as to allow wine to be formed in such a way that it is "good" and pleasing to our pallet. And, I have used this book also as a resource manual while making my own wine for the previous couple of years; it explains what properties will be imparted to wine by various types of oak, and how cultured yeast strains can be more predictable than native yeasts. I find myself constantly reviewing sections of this book and think anyone interested in the subject will benefit from its reading.



3. This author probably knows here stuff. That being said, this book is dry dry dry. Make's a Chianti taste like sweet cool-aid. I picked up this book and started at the beginning. A few chapters in, had to lay it down as it was not helpful and I didn't feel like I was learning. And I'm pretty decent with science type stuff (how's that for smart sounding). I feel that she tries to explain technical points with a lot of fluff. It reminded me of an article I might write in college. I find the book wasn't good for reference because of that, too much fluff to get to the facts. For home brewers looking to learn, I would look elsewhere. For professionals, this probably isn't technical enough.
   
   Positives of this book as it has a really interesting cover and lots of other good reviews on here that got me to buy it.



4. This is agood book. It has 2 ways of being read. 1- Quick overview if you are not that interested in that particular chapter 2- then of course if you like the content of that chapter you can read it much more in depth.
   
   Keeps it simple, yet good content and an easy quick read.



5. This appears to be a nice book, but it is ruined by problems in the printing process. Every picture or illustration is DARK BLUE.. making illustrations unreadable and the pictures unpleasant. I sent back one copy already to have amazon replace it with another copy of the book identically flawed. The publisher needs to recall all misprinted stock and reprint.

3 comments about California Pizza Kitchen Family Cookbook.

1. I haven't tried all recipes yet. Just scan through and found out most of the recipes are simple and instructions are easy to follow
   
   There are 4 basic sections for this book.
   1/ Appertizer, salads, and panini sandwiches
   2/ Specialties from menu, including chicken dishes and pizza
   3/ Kids pizza party
   4/ Dessert pizzas
   There is not many recipes for pizza section which is not what I am looking for. However these are the pizzas you see they have at restaurant.
   It seems the appertizer section is more interesting than the pizza section. Kid pizza party is ok. There is just a few for desert pizza.



2. I have yet to find a recipe from a Restaurant that is not sabotaged in some way. So, I really can't complain because I rather expected it. I was looking for a simple pizza recipe to get me started, pretty much knowing I'd be left on my own common sense for what is missing from this recipe. All I can say is, don't trust the measurements, use your common sense. Upon initial perusal I could see that the pizza sauce recipe had no liquid content. The sauce recipe was about 5 ounces short on tomato paste and another cup or two short on liquid (water or tomato sauce).The dough recipe was about 2 cups short of flour. But it ticks me off when restaurants (this was the only book I could find, after checking several others, that had a pizza recipe in it) make cookbooks when they really don't want you to cook, they want you to go to their restaurant. Besides some interesting ideas on dessert pizzas, you are best off just surfing the web than wasting your money on this book.



3. I have been making pizza using the thin crust recipe and the simple sauce recipe in this book and they have been outstanding. The key with any at home pizza is using a good quality pizza stone and an oven that can get high temps. I have an oven that goes to 550 and that combined with an 1 inch thick stone, this recipe works great with this setup. It is really a simple recipe and is ready in a couple of hours. The dough you can get very thin and is very flavorful. Overall, this book has lots of good pizza recipes that use a couple of different base crusts. I highly recommend this book if you want to start to make pizza at home that tastes like what you get at the restaurant.

5 comments about The Little Saigon Cookbook: Vietnamese Cuisine and Culture in Southern California's Little Saigon.

1. I found "The Little Saigon Cookbook" to be amongst the best of any of my Vietnamese/Asian cookbooks. It is vivid in its descriptions and illustrations. It also provides any serious enthusiast with some excellent recipes. My last dental assistant was Vietnamese and taught me a great deal before I had to retire and this cookbook reflects much of what she took the time to teach me. I also found the narrative of the author's coming to this country very interesting and inspiring.
   
   I regret that there is a "one-star" rating on this book. But I have found that if you investigate grossly deviant ratings/reviews you can usually disregard them due to personal agendas, lack of experience, etc.
   
   No, I am not Vietnamese, but I have been cooking and learning about Vietnamese cooking before most non-immigrants even knew much about this incredible cuisine. I can remember finally finding one of the few Vietnamese grocery stores at that time in south downtown Houston. This was just south of my dental practice and the owners couldn't believe that this "round-eyed" American was interested, much less knew anything about their foods. My first cookbook was a first edition by Bach Ngo. Since then I have collected most Vietnamese cookbooks in print and several out of print.



2. I've tried a few recipes in this book and it is not too bad. There isn't a book out there that you follow exact steps to get a perfect dish. You will still have to modify it a bit to fit your taste bud. This book was able to be that base starting point for me. Highly recommended.



3. This book of recipes is complete and easy to follow. It is also in brand new condition.



4. I was excited to order the book base on it great review. When I receive the book I open to read through some of the recipe that I would like to try. First off, the quality of the paper just feel cheap. Not the kind you get when you buy a cookbook with smooth hard paper type and everything and I seriously mean everything is in black and white. There isn't any color and don't expect any pictures to go with the recipe you trying to make. The only color and good pictures you will get is the book cover, that it. I don't understand why this book receive 5 star, when some of the recipe is off. One of my favorite is "Pho" and I was excited to give it a try but when I read the direction, it was off. Like how you were suppose to pre-boil the bones 10-15 min before you transfer it in another pot to cook. So the broth would be clear. After you broil the ginger and onion how you suppose to clean it. Little things like that wasn't mention anywhere in the book, including several other recipes like you suppose to know it. I just wish that they would include color pictures with good quality paper and detail recipes. That how cook book should be.



5. Book contains really good recipes and is presented well so following the recipes is not a problem.

No comments about The Finest Wines of Champagne: A Guide to the Best Cuvées, Houses, and Growers (The World's Finest Wines).

5 comments about Wine Politics: How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters, and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink.

1. It is said that to really appreciate wine, one must understand its context. When some talk of "context", they often focus on what is in the bottle, such as a wine's varietal makeup, the vineyard from which its fruit was sourced, and/or the vintage which serves to describe the growing season. Even still, there are some who extend context further to include the historical and cultural influences shaping a wine, specifically those factors that have served to guide viticulturists and enologists in a singular fashion within a particular region.
   
   Tyler Colman has now broadened this notion of context with Wine Politics: How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink, a book that should appeal to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of wine.
   
   If you have ever wondered why certain wines show up on some store shelves but not others, or why specific wines appear on certain restaurant menus while others do not, then you should read Wine Politics. The book not only explains how politics influence the distribution of wine here in the U.S., but also reveals how these same forces direct each bottle's production and eventual consumption. The best description of this book is offered by the author in Chapter 1::
   
   "In this book I follow the travels that a bottle of wine takes from the vineyard to the dining-room table. Along the way it may encounter flying winemakers, humble vignerons, dull regulators, passionate activists, and powerful critics. I tell the neglected backstory of wine, which, as with Hollywood movies, can often be more interesting than the finished product."
   
   Tyler Colman, a.k.a. Dr. Vino, approaches this topic by following the wine histories of France and the U.S., with a focus on winemaking in each country's respective, and most venerable, region, Bordeaux and Napa. This comparative treatment offers the reader a variety of useful insights and revelations throughout the book. Tyler extends his geographic coverage to include other regions of the world, including mentions of specific politics, policies, and practices in the Pacific Northwest.
   
   I enjoyed the second half of the book the most, which includes chapters such as, "Who Controls Your Palate?", and, "Greens, Gripes, and Grapes". What Michael Pollan did in such great detail for food in "The Omnivore's Dilemma", Tyler Colman has now provided for wine, albeit at a cursory level, in these two chapters. For it is in chapters five and six that Tyler exposes the downside of the industrialization of wine, while contrasting this approach with the upside of "natural" winemaking practices.
   
   After reading Tyler's book, I now have a deeper understanding of the public policies that influence the wines I am able to buy and ultimately enjoy at my table. As a result, I am a much more informed consumer, citizen, and most importantly, voter. I highly recommend Wine Politics as required reading for anyone seeking to enlarge their understanding of wine.
   
   If Wine Politics is any indication of the path Tyler Colman is on with future books, then I am confident he will continue to increase my appreciation for wine in the years ahead.



2. On my list of "summer readings", there was Wine Politics. How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters and critics Influence the Wines We Drink by Tyler Colman. Quite a program! And a surprising one! I knew DrVino blog and enjoy reading it. I never commented - being a little shy but always liked the spirited and hot posts and debates. I knew Dr Vino was an academic and a fellow teacher as well as a fellow doctor since he holds a Ph.D.
   
   Because of all those similitudes I read with a lot of interest his opus and especially enjoyed the picture of the author with the Paris Notre-Dame cathedral in the background! Tyler Colman is an expert on French and American wines, laws and marketing strategies. His constant parallel between the two worlds is very enlightening and brings a few surprises. French-born I usually rant about the French administration, its stupid regulations and how the system slows down (and even prohibits) any kind of initiatives. Guess what? America is not any better: the pages on how the environmentalists prevented the development of many vineyards is absolutely amazing. And don't even mention the war between "Baptists and Bootleggers" - a fascinating chapter - or the Prohibition days.
   
   In this book, everybody will learn something: marketers, wine lovers, winemakers, corporations and consumers. After reading the book, you'll know how the bottle you bought ended up on the shelf of a supermarket or a very exclusive wine store, why the wine you heard one of your friends say wonders about is not available in your area and why this wine you know is plonk is all over the stores.
   
   Please make sure you read this book - especially if you're French or American. Knowing very well your side of the story, you'll be amazed by what is really behind the scenes in your country or the other one. Having a foot in both, my heart went back and forth as well as my compassion for the two industries and the consumer. But I refuse to be pessimistic and I agree 100% with Tyler when he writes: "Any producer who can sell wines for $500 a bottle, or a company such as LVMH that can sell almost 600,000 cases of wine for an average of $44 a bottle, certainly has something to teach wine marketers in other parts of the world. But William Deutsch, who sold 7 millions cases of Yellow Tail at $6 a bottle in 2005, also has lessons to teach the French. This global exchange of learning helps make winemakers more efficient as well as helping artisanal winemakers make their products more distinctive."
   
   Enjoy life, good wines and good food!



3. Wine Politics is a book that tells us how wine is made. It is not about pruning, grape selection, fermentation methods or blending. It does take a tangent that is often set aside by most wine drinkers. The author explains and exemplifies, in a manner that makes it very clear that adjacent decisions to wine making are sometimes more influential on the styles of wines that we drink than the actual transformation of fruit into wine. It tells you about the conditions on which farmers and winemakers have to conform to practice their craft. Its approach is sober and it does not rely on a fatalistic or demagogic rhetoric as it portrays the matter of winemaking and its history in a holistic manner. It pictures the cause and effect of political, economical and marketing decisions on the wines we drink.
   
   Tyler Colman's purpose is to enlighten the consumer about the political forces that all producers have to be subjected by, even those seen as celebrities. As he says: it "illuminates how distributors, mobsters, environmentalists, regulators, and critics all have a hand in producing, selling and delivering the glass of wine we will drink tonight". In doing it so, it also helps to demystify the common dogmatic approach to wine, as choices in wine making, more often than not, are a fruit of impositions of political and marketing realities.
   
   This book takes on the USA and French markets as examples and set them "side by side, studying the different paths taken by winemakers ... to produce the quality wines we enjoy today."
   
   In France he draws a picture of the early rise of Bordeaux and fall of La Rochelle due to marriage ties between Eleanor of Aquitaine and King Henry II in 1152, the influence of négociants and the early creation of brands with the classification scheme of 1855, the tragedy brought by the phylloxera aphid in the mid 19th century and rebirth of an industry with new plantings and the renaissance of old Midi (Southwest of France) with advent of the railroads and the consequent crisis of oversupply and falling prices, the fraudulent production of wine and the creation of the restrictive Appellacion System to protect those known areas.
   
   In the USA depicts the importance of the Californian Gold Rush with the arrival of immigrants and their thirst for wine, the formation of large conglomerates which valued quantity other than quality and the temperance movement to ban alcoholic consumption. He exposes the loopholes of the 18th Amendment (The Prohibition), the rise of home winemaking and the consequent image problem after the Repeal, the rise of the new American viticulture after the Paris Tasting of 1976 and the bureaucratic growth of a viticultural area after its success.
   
   It is a book about the "booms and bursts" of the wine business. It is a historical account that helps us understand the mechanisms that trigger changes and trends that are often are not understood by the unsuspecting consumer. It is a must read book for everyone interested in the trade and the history behind this beverage that some are so passionate about.



4. Starting this book and reading it cover to cover would get a wine novice up to speed and conversant across subject matter that is frequently difficult to penetrate. In addition, the author's writing is incredibly insightful, lucid and accessible.
   
   My Top 10 List of things that are interesting about Wine Politics -
   
   10) The author paraphrases the all time famous opening line to a book --Dickens' from a Tale of Two Cities, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Doing so in HIS opening line is a wonderful, slightly funny, insider homage to Dickens and other writers.
   
   9) On page 23, the author attributes the first successful commercial wine operation to John James Dufour in Vevay, Indiana. This is a fact I believe to be true, but other historians do not acknowledge it in the same context. Indiana is the home of the first successful viticulture in the U.S.
   
   8) On page 34, the author notes that FDR and his administration sought to revive the domestic wine industry, post Prohibition, establishing an experimental winery in Beltsville, Maryland and Mississippi. An interesting factoid.
   
   7) On page 76, the author notes that Napa Valley become the second AVA in 1981. Augusta, Missouri beat them to the punch for the first designated AVA. Another interesting factoid.
   
   6) Chapter 4 should be required reading for every wine lover for the in-depth, but easy to understand explanation of the dynamics of big and small wineries and how that wine gets to our table
   
   5) On page 110, aside from the extracted wines that are largely attributed to Robert Parker (which gets good coverage here, as well), the author summarizes the balance of the wine industry that is polarizing for many enthusiasts in one fell swoop, in regards to large corporations like Constellation and E& J Gallo, he says, "All of these corporations regard wine as a brand."
   
   4) On page 114, the author notes that the first genetically modified yeast strain for wine, ML01, is available in the U.S. An interesting fact that I did not know that is even more interesting given our current fascination with food origins and natural winemaking
   
   3) On page 118, the author paraphrases and quotes noted macro-economist John Maynard Keynes, a noted 20th century thinker and translates that to wine reviews with the following mention, " ... to try to predict the winner of a lineup of one hundred contestants in a beauty contest, the best tactic is to `favor an average definition of beauty rather than a personal one.'"
   
   2) On page 136, the author distills Biodynamics down to one succinct, understandable sentence: "Biodynamics takes a holistic approach to establishing a self-regulating ecosystem, with few or no external inputs and nothing going to waste."
   
   1) The footnotes run 16 pages. The bibliography runs 6 pages. Rarely do you see this level of research and detail. Impressive.
   
   Wine Politics is a fantastic book - a book that every wine lover should read and a book that, undoubtedly, will make its way onto college wine program curriculum and reading lists. If you are interested in learning the dynamics and back-story of how and why wine gets to our table in the manner that it does, in a way that is understandable and concisely explained, I cannot think of a better book to help guide you down the path to greater understanding.



5. This book is a must read for anyone who enjoys wine. It is a concise and precise explanation of how and why different drinks from different places end up at our tables. The most valuable insight one takes away from this informative book is that we can and should trust our own palates and preferences, and not concern ourselves with the mythology of wine, which as it turns out, is often self aggrandizing if not outright fraudulent. Distinguishing among categories of wine we learn the mass produced "factory" wines from Australia and elsewhere pretty much guarantee that one bottle will look, smell and taste like the next 5,000 bottles of that varietal, just as we learn that the "farmer" produced wines of Burgundy, Bordeaux, Oregon and parts of California can vary significantly not only from year to year but from bottle to bottle. Finally we learn of the undue influence some critics have on what is grown and we learn that clever vintners are designing their wines to appeal to these critics regardless of how they really think wine should be made. With backstories about the politics of wine in France and the United States and with charts and tables showing us the massive control
   a very limited number of companies, mostly privately held, control just about everything we get on average store shelves the book teaches one important lesson. Drink what you like, search out obscure wineries, explore on your own, and trust your own judgment.

5 comments about Chez Panisse Café Cookbook.

1. I have a lot of respect for Alice Waters. She plays a positive, constructive role in promoting excellent,healthy food in this country. I wish, however, she had take more care over the quality of the product that has her name on it, The Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook. Obscure ingredients intrigue me and, because I live in northern California, I'm likely to find a lot of them. What annoys me is sloppy editing that can lead to their wastage. Too many of the recipes are unclear. My complaint has nothing to do with my experience as a cook. The flours in the pizza dough recipe could have been described more clearly. Where was the editor? Why didn't Ms Waters' read her galleys closely? I want to point out one more recipe to show how the small things matter. In the recipe that calls for bottarga (dried tuna or spelt roe that comes in small quantities, costs a fortune and can only be found at an Italian supermarket in Sacramento, as far as I know), saffron and lemon over spaghetti, the directions are to shave the bottarga over the spaghetti. Now that I've made bottarga with spaghetti and lemon (but not the saffron) several times, there is no way that shaving the bottarga (at $40 for a couple of ounces!) helps melt it over the spaghetti. Why wasn't grating called for? It's a minor detail, but when expensive ingredients are involved, I'd like to have confidence in the cookbook writer when I try it.

   So, go back to Jean-George, Marcella, Lynn and even Jamie. Leave this one behind. Alice's food is best experienced in her restaurant.




2. I had made many things out of the book, and all have turned out delicious. The success of the dishes depends completely on having the highest quality, freshest ingredients available. If you can't get a hold of any pancetta or prosciutto, you're going to be really limited in what you can prepare from this book. The cookbook is definitely for a serious home cook, who's interested in spending time in the kitchen, making homemade sausages, experimenting with homemade pancetta, etc. If that's you, you will love it!



3. My foodie friends in Berkeley jokingly refer to Alice's books as "food porn". I have actually cooked a couple of the recipes and, while they are correct, they are exhausting. In Berkeley, CA, where the author's restaurant is thriving, it is easy to get the interesting and seasonal ingredients that are described in the book. However, the complexity of preparation of the recipes makes the book less acessible to most readers and home cooks.

   The illustrations are lovely, as are the narratives. It is fun to just read the book and fantasize about being a hemp-clad, kinder version of Martha Stewart. However, it is not the most practical cookbook to stick in the cookbook holder when putting the family's meal together.

   The real lesson behind this book is that foods that are in season taste better, are less expensive, and are fun to eat. Changing the menu as the seasons change keeps the experience of dining and cooking interesting and entertaining. Also, buying seasonal food is better for the environment than flying foods out of season from another hemisphere.

   Take that wisdom, go to your store and get seasonal fruits and vegetables and use an easier and more accessible cookbook like, "The Joy of Cooking". But do keep this one on the coffeetable for those days you want to fantasize about being a world class hippie chef.




4. This book is, at the very least, a feast for the eyes due to the hauntingly Art Nouveau woodcut illustrations by David Lance Goines. This, together with Alice Water's substantial reputation sets the bar of expectations very high for this book.

   Waters has established a niche for herself in the culinary world, which is not unlike that of Martha Stewart. She is the flag bearer for a culinary style which endorses using fresh local produce for both their health benefits and the economic benefits to small, artisinal farmers, ranchers, and fishermen, followed by a loving handling of these ingredients in the kitchen in order to draw out their best properties. Her similarity to Miss Martha is that both are vocal in their support of their lifestyle choices, yet they are not necessarily the most gifted craftsmen in their chosen fields. Both enhance their own standing by hosting true stars in the culinary world. Martha does it on her TV show with Mario and Eric and Jean-George and Daniel and a long line of other justly famous chefs. Alice does it in her kitchen where she has launched the careers of Jeremiah Tower and Paul Bertolli.

   Ms. Waters' efforts may not have been as lucrative as Miss Martha's, but Alice has succeeded in establishing a leader's reputation in her field with no blemishes other than a few for possibly hogging a bit more credit than may be her due for the success of Chez Panisse and the creation of `California Cuisine'.

   This book seems to answer one question puzzling me about California Cuisine. I have always wondered whether it was Miss Alice or Wolfgang Puck who first installed a pizza oven and started selling pizza in a distinctly un-Italian venue in California. Alice herein claims that Wolfgang got the idea from a visit to Chez Panisse. If Alice had any regrets about the glamorous Austrian's stealing her thunder, she can get satisfaction in having referred her incompetent German oven bricklayer to Wolfgang.

   As I indicate in my title to this review, the book contains much more than you would expect to find in a conventional cookbook. It's content is much richer than Alice's book on vegetables, for example, in that it opens with a little history of the Chez Panisse Café and its style of service, clientele, and suppliers. The level of detail about the ingredients even matches the more specialized Vegetables book. After a while, it starts to read less and less like a cookbook and more and more like a culinary travelogue, the most famous of which is Patience Gray's `Honey from a Weed'. The travelogue aspect adds value for the reader, but it is not enough to carry the book to a full five star rating.

   The culinary aspects of the book, the recipes, give a loving treatment of their ingredients, making every effort to respect the attributes of each foodstuff. The book does not, however, spell out every little detail of every technique. It does not, a la Alton Brown for example, give you careful steps for dealing with beets. It's mission is not to teach prepping, it is to communicate a knowledge and appreciation for all of the different types of beets available to you, once you have established your connections with local farmers. I have not found any extremely difficult recipes in this book, but an amateur with a fair level of skill will enjoy the book much more than it will by a rank newbie.

   Just as with Patience Gray's book, not having a source of nettles for my pasta will not detract from my pleasure in reading about how nettles are prepared. I am truly amazed at the extent to which foraging for `weeds' continues to this day in some European societies. But back to Alice.

   I give this book good marks for giving the name of every recipe, not just chapter titles, in the table of contents. This little feature always enhances the value of a cookbook. This value is further enhanced by listing recipes by major ingredient rather than by course. This fits the style of the earlier book on Vegetables and makes finding an appropriate recipe even easier. This organization is taken to it's logical conclusion in that even pantry recipes commonly put into a separate chapter are slotted by ingredient so that chicken stock is in the chapter on chicken and so on.

   The recipes cover the most simple salads to some of the most unusual products such as boudin blanc, a French white sausage of chicken and pork. The range of recipes is simply a result of Alice's staying on message. These are all the recipes made at the Chez Panisse Café, and only recipes made at the Chez Panisse Café.

   While several recipes may be beyond the skills, time constraints, budget, or ingredient availability of many readers, the book succeeds in providing great value. As a source of salad recipes alone, the book is first rate. Salads are one of Alice Waters' most passionate subjects. While my title to this review holds back any claim that this is a classic like `Honey from a Weed', it is the equal to the very similar, recent book `The Vineyard Garden' to which I gave five stars. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who shares Alice Waters' ideals. I would recommend it to anyone else interested in food and cookbooks.




5. Alice Walters is well known for her "philosophy" of cooking, as exemplified in her restaurant "Chez Panisse." She emphasizes top quality ingredients and fresh foods. For example, she developed a network of local producers of vegetables to provide the best quality and freshest raw materials for her restaurant's menu items. She speaks of how (page 3) "central the quality of produce is to our cooking. Because the food we cook is simple and straightforward, every ingredient must be the best of its kind." Since most of the growers that she has worked with sell at local farmers' markets, she suggests that readers of this cookbook use local farmers' markets as a source of vegetables--not your average supermarket.
   
   The cookbook illustrates her ideas pretty well. There are simple recipes; there are others that (despite her words above) aren't. The very first recipe, on page 7, is a simple garden lettuce salad. And she notes that (page 6) "a restaurant is only as good as its simplest green salad." On page 55 is another salad recipe, one of only two recipes that have been continuously on her menu since the day her place opened--Baked goat cheese with garden lettuces.
   
   There are nice hints for cooking, such as her description on page 44 about how to make a perfect hard-cooked egg.
   
   Other recipes that strike me as interesting--Crostata de perrella (the other item that has been on the menu since Day One), a calzone; Yellowfin Tuna with coriander and fennel seed; Salted Atlantic cod baked with tomatoes; Roast pork loin with rosemary and fennel; Red-wine braised bacon; Grilled chicken breasts au poivre. And so on.
   
   This represents, first, a good cookbook, with quite a few interesting recipes. It also represents a view of how to get the best quality out of one's cooking. For both reasons, this is a good buy for those interested in acquiring worthwhile cookbooks.

5 comments about Mustards Grill Napa Valley Cookbook.

1. we are fortunate to be able to visit the restaurant several times a year the favorite of my family for their visits esp the pork chop and the ribs and the amazing lemon lime pie now, they can do these at home was a perfect gift for my sophomore and jr college grandchildren, who love to cook, and do these in their apts at school. mom and dad, too



2. I love this book. I collect cookbooks and read them for fun. I love her chatty style of describing recipes. She gives you such a good idea of when they are good to use, what equipment you will need. Also, her combinations are quite unique. Over and over I came across unusual ideas that sound fabulous. I recommend this to anyone who loves to cook, it's a great resource.



3. This book contains recipes from my favoriate casual restaurant in Napa Valley. You should go. In the meantime, this book has a good selection of the kinds of food they serve - well-seasoned, relatively simple, dishes that emphasize fresh ingredients.



4. Mmmmm Mmmmm.. Salmon roulades with parsley and garlic topped with a citrus, celery, kalamata dressing or the Mongolian Pork Chops... Excellent recipes. Our guests are always raving! Not to mention the Chicken wings recipe! I've been purchasing this cookbook as gifts to my closest friends and family! Ms. Pawlcyn knows how to do it!



5. I bought this cookbood when I was in Napa Valley after eating at Mustard's Grill. Since then, I have prepared dishes that my guests rave about. One of my dear friends loved the crab cakes and beet relish so much that she wanted to purchase the book immediately. It was just the idea that I needed for her Christmas present. You won't go wrong preparing menus from this book for your guests if you can't go and enjoy the real experience at Mustard's Grill in person.

1 comments about The Finest Wines of Tuscany and Central Italy: A Regional and Village Guide to the Best Wines and Their Producers (The World's Finest Wines).

1. This book is very useful for wine lovers who already know the basics about Tuscany wines and region and wish to know something else. Colours and images make a very special presentation, as well as the family touch when showing the different generations of wine producers.

5 comments about The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market Cookbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Impeccable Produce Plus Seasonal Recipes.

1. "The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market Cookbook" is filled with fabulous photographs, appetizing recipes and excellent tips about seasonal fruits, vegetables, herbs, meats, cheese, eggs and fish!
   
   Peggy Knickerbocker has done an excellent job at researching seasonal foods and the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market! She is a food and travel writer that has written for Gourmet, Food & Wine, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times and Saveur.
   
   Christopher Hirsheimer is a photographer whose work has appeared in Saveur, as well as cookbooks written by Lidia Bastianich, Rick Bayless, Julia Child and Jacques Pepin.
   
   California is a state bursting with flavor. In such a large state, virtually anything can grow there. Kiwifruits, rice, wine, olives, tomatoes, corn, strawberries and much more! The influx of other cultures help infuse their produce and culinary contributions.
   
   Excellent recipes in this book are: Avocado and Grapefruit Salad with Frisee, Fried Zucchini Blossoms, Shaved Raw Asparagus with Lemon Vinaigrette and Roasted Halibut with Braised Artichokes and Potatoes.
   
   This entire book reminds me of my previous life in California where food never tasted fresher. Where ingredients are fresh, recipes are simple, yet the result was sophisticated and intoxicating.
   
   Great book!



2. What a great resource. I had to read this book for work and I now cook from it all the time.



3. The subtitle's "A Comprehensive Guide to Impeccable Produce Plus Seasonal Recipes", but it's oh-so-much more than that. Filled with recipes culled from dozens of cookbooks, plus personal interviews with favorite farmers and purveyors... a must-have for Bay Area residents and a fantastic gift for anyone who loves San Francisco.



4. This is a spectalarly colorful cookbook with innovative tasty recipes for items found at a Farmer's Market. I use it all the time. Excellent.



5. This is a great reference for storing and preparing and the treasures that can be purchased from the farmers Markets.