Monday, December 8, 2008

Diners Drive ins and Dives or Top Chef

Diners, Drive-ins and Dives: An All-American Road Trip ... with Recipes!

Author: Guy Fieri

Food Network star Guy Fieri takes us on a tour of America's most colorful diners, drive-ins, and dives-including a classic recipe from each establishment-in this tie-in to the enormously popular TV show.

Join Guy Fieri, host of the hugely popular Food Network show Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, as he takes you on a tour of 60 of the best local restaurants across America, as featured in his very favorite episodes. Bursting with his iconic personality, the book will follow his hot-rod trips around the country, mapping out the best places you've never heard of. Whether he's visiting the legendary Squeeze Inn in Sacramento, CA, delighting in clam chowder from Evelyn's Drive-In in Tiverton, RI, or savoring mini-Mex rolls at Psycho Suzi's Motor Lounge in Minneapolis, MN, he's showcasing the amazing personalities, the fascinating stories, and most important, the outrageously good food provided by these American treasures. Replete with recipes, photos, and memorabilia, and featuring Guy's hilarious voice and rampant enthusiasm for these hidden culinary gems, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives is the perfect gift for the his countless fans and for lovers of the American food scene.

Publishers Weekly

The iron-stomached Fieri, restaurant owner and Food Network personality, has probably choked down more burgers, bacon, pancakes, hash browns and fried eggs than any person should have to, and this dense, photo-packed retrospective allows viewers to replicate many of his favorite restaurants' recipes at home. Like the show, Fieri takes diners on a tour of the country's best local eateries, like Kansas City favorite YJ's Snack Bar, which uses two electric burners and a sidewalk grill to crank out exotic fare from around the world; James Beard Award-winning Al's Breakfast in Minneapolis; and all culinary points in between. The book contains a fair number of predictable classics like coconut cream pie, macaroni and cheese, meatloaf and burgers (including one that's dipped in batter and deep-fried), but has an equal number of interesting riffs such as Cap'n Crunch French Toast, Nut N' Honey Pancakes, Pork and Sweet Potato Empanadas and Chicken Fried Lamb Chops. Viewers' requests are also featured, including the Red Arrow Diner's American Chop Suey. Rounded out with plenty of behind-the-scenes anecdotes and local color, this tour of off-the-beaten-path establishments has enough regional entries to keep culinary road-trippers busy (and full) for many, many miles.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.



Top Chef: The Cookbook

Author: Chronicl

Pack your knives and go . . . straight to the bookstore. Top Chef presents the official companion cookbook to the No. 1 rated food show on cable television! Featuring 100 fabulous recipes from the first three seasons of the show, including dishes from the Elimination Rounds and the Quick-Fire Challenges, The Top Chef Cookbook invites fans into the hottest kitchen on prime time. In-depth discussions with contestants, judges, and crew reveal the inner workings of the show, and lavish photographs take readers behind-the-scenes into the Top Chef pantry and the competition sites. Handsomely packaged with a canvas cover inspired by the chef's jacket worn by each of the Top Chef contestants, this cookbook will have aspiring culinary contenders reliving classic show moments and relishing new recipes just in time to obsess over Padma's outfits in Season 4.

Publishers Weekly

Part fanzine, part cookbook, this volume will appeal to the anyone who tunes into Top Chef each week to see contestants out-cook each other, using vending-machine ingredients to make appetizers or preparing lunch for the cast of a telenovela. Replete with dozens of glamour shots of contestant/contributors and sweetly old-fashioned profiles of the judges (host Padma Lakshmi is "a no-nonsense kind of gal"), this volume feels like a guide to a strange, food-obsessed cult. The author sighs over pretty, eccentric Betty Fraser, "it was always hard to know what to make of Betty," and notes that season two winner Ilan Hall was "good at falling into the kind of cliquish drama you might find in a high school cafeteria." The recipes themselves, taken directly from the show's "quickfire" and elimination challenges, are dauntingly involved, much more suited to cooking competitions than the average home kitchen: they never use one ingredient when three will do, nor do they shy away from expensive options like foie gras, truffles and abalone. Even simple-sounding dishes like Chiles Rellenos are accented with complicated sauces and garnishes. It's hard to imagine anyone consulting this book to whip up dinner, but it's easy to see how a Top Chef obsessive would get much satisfaction out of it, if not necessarily a full stomach.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.



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