Rating: 
Summary: A feast for the eyes!
Review: This is a lovely coffeetable book with a bit of practical application. Though many of the recipes will take you hours -if not days to make- you can find a few delicious treats that can be done in less time. The gnocci recipe is the best I've tried.
Rating: 
Summary: A beautiful cooking book but not for everyone
Review: We got this cookbook last Christmas and used the recipets on the new year dinner. In the cookbook, most of the dishes are elegant and well present. But it did not mention how much works and patient are involved. We made the lobster soap and it took almost a whole day to cook it. Finally, we spent almost 3 days and 4 people to prepare for that dinner. However, most of the dishes were phenomenal. To be honest, I don't think I will try to use that cookbook again unless special occasion. But I truly enjoy the whole process. Cooking is not only to make a dish to eat. If I just want to eat, I will go to restaurant. But the process, the achievment and the joy are way more important. So, I still think this is a great cookbook. It give us more than food(after a long, painful process). It is the joy. Thank you, Mr. Keller.
Rating:
Summary: Don't hate this book because it's beautiful!
Review: Thomas Keller's cookbook doesn't deserve its reputation as something only for the coffee table. True, most of the recipes are quite involved, but Keller also works the basics. Check out his detailed technique for breaking down a lobster: It worked perfectly with not a shred wasted. Keller's tastes are both predictable (kosher salt or fleur de sel only) and unusual (he's not big on pepper, rarely uses it). Beautiful photos and interesting stories throughout. Store this one next to Charlie Trotter's cookbooks -- or go ahead and put it on that coffee table.
Rating:
Summary: Imagination is part of cooking
Review: Let's face it. I collect many cookbooks because they are just plan interesting to look at. If there are recipes inside that make my life even more enjoyable, all the better. This book falls into that category. While I may make four or five recipes out of this book, I absolutely love the photography! I want to go to the restaurant someday and it's great to daydream about my trip by looking at the fabulous photography in this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Does the Emperor Have Clothes?
Review: My husband had eaten at the French Laundry (in the 70s) numerous times before we met, and before Keller took it over. He couldn't praise it enough, so we decided to go together in 1997. We was expecting something out of this world, but all we got was an enormous bill and we left the place hungry. My husband was very disappointed in what Keller's done to the place. Are we alone? Does the Emperor have no clothes or what? Can anyone really appreciate a meal or even a course with one or two bites? Kudos to those who can, I really need to taste more than a morsel to be satisified with any meal or entree. The cookbook? A Christmas gift to me. More of the same pretentious Keller, with nice photography and some insight into this chef's philosophy on food, but honestly, he's too fussy and his ingredients are just too too for the mere mortal to pull together, in my opinion. If you love pretty picture cookbooks or just want a nice one for the coffee table, go for it. If you want to prepare a real meal, I'd skip this book and try something else.
Rating:
Summary: Laundry at Trimalchio's?
Review: This massive book is one of the most precious and pretentious pieces of nonsense I've ever seen. Buy it if you hate to cook but love to impress your social-climbing pals. If you love food and love to cook, save your money and buy Elizabeth David's French Provincial Cooking instead.
Rating: 
Summary: Mixed Thoughts
Review: Mixed thoughts, but glad we bought it. "Spectacular" is an appropriate description. Both the photography and the written insights are stunning. Not an everyday, or reference cookbook, it is a welcome change of pace. It shows how the other "one per cent" live. It will stay in our collection; a special book with limited application, but a very valuable insight into an alternative approach to food and nourishment. It helps me define the upper limits of cuisine.
Rating:
Summary: Spectacular!
Review: I was impressed by Keller's honesty, since the reciepes are very precise and descriptive. To agree with most everybody, it takes skill, patience and some experience to reproduce Keller's magic, but as you can probably imagine, it is worth all the time and effort. If you are not so sure about your culinary skills, go to the bookstore and read through this book before you buy.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing book - great ideas with just a few weird spots
Review: As an amateur chef, I'm always looking for ways to improve my technique and do things that are truly unique - this book at least DOUBLED my knowledge of gourmet technique and ideas. In an era of lots of stupid, flashy "fusion" cooking and "star" chefs who think an unusual combination of exotic ingredients is enough to be good, it's wonderful to see this kind of painstaking attention, dedication, and devotion that this book shows. If you revere great technicians like Pepin, Child, Claiborne, Soltner, Perrier, Boulud, and Beard over Wolfgang "duck on a pizza - wow" Puck, hate trendy-cutesy dish descriptions like "infusion" and "melange", consider "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" Vols I-II holy writ, can't imagine anyone NOT owning The Joy Of Cooking (and NOT the new edition, please!), have ever reduced stock to demi-glace or made a foil collar, or rejoiced in discovering the *right* way to dice an onion (e-mail me and I'll share! ;-) - this book will astound you. His ideas - extracting clorophyll from parsley to use as a coloring 'gel' and garnish, e.g. - are amazing. I'll agree with reviewer Lizzy, though, some of it is a little pretentious or just plain weird ("The Importance of Offal" chapter didn't do it for me, and I'm sorry, but I will NEVER, ever cook a stuffed pig's head!) I see this book less as a practical cookbook for the home chef (it is NOT) and more as a stimulating source of really cutting-edge ideas you probably have *not* thought of but may just try!
Rating:
Summary: Worth the read, even if you don't cook from it
Review: This is a big, beautiful book full of lots of great tips for the serious cook. Many of the recipes are pretty elaborate, but, as the author admits, can be simplified. If you want to wow friends, push your abilities, or just 'visit' the F.L. from afar, I highly recommend this book. Now all I have to do is save for a trip there.....
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