Customer Reviews

Chef Daniel Boulud: Cooking in New York City

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

At first glance many of the recipes in this book appear surprisingly complex,in fact the kinds of dishes only professional chefs would prepare in a world class restaurant kitchen. As you flip the pages, you realize this is the whole point. This lively book is, in fact, meant to be a glimpse into the kitchens and wine cellars and dining rooms of Daniel Boulud's three NYC restaurants. The photo journalistic approach has gives you the impression you are watching a documentary about life behind the scenes in these wonderful fairy tale like places where every hors d'oeuvre, soup, terrine, entree, dessert, petits fours, etc, etc is the result of complex preparation, incredible attention to detail and the font of creativity and spirit that are conjured up beind the scenes by master chef, Daniel Boulud.

If you're looking for great recipes by Daniel Boulud that you can actually and easily cook at home, try "Daniel Boulud's Café Boulud Cookbook" or his more recent "Daniel's Dish". It's clear from these that the chef has as great a talent for the simple as for the sublime. The former will be a joy to try for your next dinner party the latter are better left to Boulud and his brigade of 40 or more cooks. Vive la difference !

What a delight to peek behind the swinging door at one of the top restaurants in the world. The people who make Daniel run day to day - that's what intrigued me about this book. These men and women take feeding people very seriously. The philosophy of Daniel Boulud radiates in everything that is done at Daniel - soigne. They take care of people and don't miss a beat from the flowers to the wine, the great service, and of course the food. Brenner introduces the reader to all of the people who make it work from the farmers to the seafood purveyors, cheese shops, wine reps, cooks, maitre d's, pastry chefs, pr people, owners, and of course the guests (don't forget the VIPs). Brenner does a fabulous job of putting the reader behind the scenes.

Being a novice food person, many many of the terms I didn't know. It might be helpful to have a glossary or even a floorplan of the restaurant (maybe the hardcover edition has this). Also, when writing dialog, Brenner often has one person asking a question of someone else but it never gets answered. Or there might be an answer but it's to a different question in a different conversation altogether. I'm sure the confusion of the reader parallels the confusion of a worker in a restaurant kitchen. Regardless, it was at times very hard to follow. I would have liked to have read more about the servers, who are called captains at Daniel. The sommelier, reservationists, bartender, maitre d', cheese person and many others all had a lot of coverage, but the servers, who really present the face of the restaurant to the client, were not covered in detail.

I admit I enjoyed a voyeuristic pleasure from the behind the scenes peek the book offers of daily life at Boulud's restaurant.
The chef seems so fun and fast moving and like he's actually daring you to read on and try a recipe. In the very least, I know I'll try to recreate one of the yummy sounding staff meal dishes. As for the beautifully illustrated eight course tasting menu I guess I'll just read longingly - or - go ahead and make reservations.

I expected a lot form this book, as Mr. Boulud's previous book was very good. But this one is not so much a book of recipes or cooking techniques as it is a lot of pictures of wine bottles, Mr.Boulud's daily life and so on. Also, a lot of pages made up of huge fonts which say too little but look too much. Recipes are not good at all, if you can find any. For example between pages 240 and 260 there is no single recipe but a lot of photographs of everything except recipes. I personally wouldn't give a try to any one of his recipes. The price for this book should be no more than $5. Hence, please don't waste your money.