Rating: 
Summary: A great read, but not for everyone
Review: A wonderful book to cook with or just to read, but it may not be what you're looking for if you don't have access to the variety and quality of ingredients some Californians might take for granted. There is a great respect for the food and the land that comes through; it makes you feel like buying organic and planting a garden ... or moving to California.
Rating:
Summary: I Need a Better Grocery
Review: Alice Waters is an amazing chef who's tastes buds are on the mark. If only my grocery store had all of the ingredients she calls for. I've made several recipes from this book, some simply, some with more flair. All with great success. There are many I'd love to try but not until I can find the ingredients she calls for.It's also one of the few in my collection that is simply gorgeous just to look at.
Rating: 
Summary: A fun, inspiring cookbook!
Review: Although some of the recipes are a little intimidating, this is a fun cookbook that makes you feel like you are cooking like one of the best chefs of the bay area.
Rating:
Summary: Elegant food,from a wonderful women with a superb cause
Review: Elegant food that is fresh. The illistrations are magnificent. THey show how the actual vegetables look. My favorite is the rooster. That page shows the experienced and the imagination of the artist.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for the serious cook
Review: 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!
Rating:
Summary: Great book for the serious cook
Review: 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!
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I received this book as a Christmas present (through Amazon)and have tried and tried to be friends with it, pulling it off the shelf , looking through it and then returning it to the shelf in favor of my other cookbooks. It is cold and self-congratulating throughout, and the ingredients are not appealing to me. My diet is healthful vegetarian, and this book contains a lot of meat and ingredients I can not find in my area. If anyone wants an unused copy, let me know!
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I was beyond excited to receive this cookbook after my wife and I had the intense pleasure of dining at Chez Panisse for our anniversary. However, while it contains fascinating background information on both the history of the Cafe and its purveyors, its recipes seem unduly impressed with themselves and somewhat precious. The esoteric nature of many of the ingredients provokes a cumulative eye-rolling effect, and to tell the truth, some recipes (Spaghetti with Herb Meatballs) that you would expect to elevate the mundane end up tasting... well, mundane. Great for reading, so-so for cooking. I love you Alice Waters, but I think I'll stick to eating your food.
Rating:
Summary: Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook
Review: I was beyond excited to receive this cookbook after my wife and I had the intense pleasure of dining at Chez Panisse for our anniversary. However, while it contains fascinating background information on both the history of the Cafe and its purveyors, its recipes seem unduly impressed with themselves and somewhat precious. The esoteric nature of many of the ingredients provokes a cumulative eye-rolling effect, and to tell the truth, some recipes (Spaghetti with Herb Meatballs) that you would expect to elevate the mundane end up tasting... well, mundane. Great for reading, so-so for cooking. I love you Alice Waters, but I think I'll stick to eating your food.
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