Rating: 
Summary: The Most Trivial Piffle Ever Published by the New York Times
Review: Most of this book appeared as a series of food columns in the once august Sunday Magazine of the New York Times. After the 30 or 40 years of dedicated columns by the sainted Craig Clairborn and Pierre Franey, both of whom understood food, cooking, recipes, and how to write about them, these columns (and their recipes) by Ms. Hesser were incredibly callow, jejune, pretentious, and, in a word, worthless. Her relationship with the so-called Mr. Latte, which apparently was the pretext for presenting us with recipes for monuments to haute cuisine such as "hardboiled eggs with mayonnaise" or "chicken breasts baked in (Hellmans) mayonnaise", was even more tedious than her trivial chitchat about food. If you're about 17 years old and never made (or contemplated) anything more complex than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, you might enjoy this book. Otherwise, avoid it like spoiled mayonnaise!
Rating: 
Summary: Great book - and the recipes are good, too!
Review: Having cooked often from THE COOK AND THE GARDNER and enjoyed Ms. Hesser's NYT column, I was very happy to see this book. Most of the recipes sound delicious (especially the vanilla loaves and the Airplane Salad) but what I loved most is Ms. Hesser's willingness to show that she is not perfect. We see her temper tantrums when people invade her small space in the kitchen (I'm sure we can all identify) or her frustration at learning to live in shared quarters with Tad, and learning to adapt some of her habits to his. I particularly disagree with the above comment about Ms. Hesser's "gaffe" re: the price of a meal at Jean-Georges. Why not see it as a "foodie" saying what she would say to any friend or tourist who was curious about the place? A so-called "gaffe" like that could happen to anyone. Overall, this is a wonderful, charming, witty collection with some great recipes. I look forward to more from this writer!
Rating: 
Summary: Cute and a good present for foodies
Review: I really enjoyed this book's mix of recipes and anecdotes. Though it is slightly poseur at times, Cooking for Mr. Latte does a nice job of capturing Hesser's world of cooking,eating and dating in New York. Chapters on cooking as a couple and post 9/11 dinner party were served up particularly well.Overall, this is a bit like MFK Fisher for the 21st century, though perhaps a big more lightweight than Fisher's finest work. And one complaint....Hesser uses the word "tangle" about a million times. I know she's a better writer than that, and it drove me slightly crazy.
Rating:
Summary: Not afraid to make mistakes
Review: I enjoyed this book very much. I actually think it's better than The Cook and the Gardener for non-recipe content. Contrary to the "official" review, I did not think that the content was cutesy at all. Rather, I was glad to see Ms. Hesser admit to her faults, romantic, gourmet, and otherwise. I read the chapter about the Indian visitor entirely differently-- to me, Ms. Hesser nicely conveyed the embarrassment accompanying the gaffes and assumptions that well-meaning but realtively affluent people can sometimes make. I enjoyed Ms. Hesser's willingness to discuss how her recipes don't always come out, and thought she did a nice job discussing the ins and outs of relationships, including learning how to compromise, and learning to not be such a snob about one's personal preferences. (See the chapter on artificial sweeteners. . .) And I enjoyed her approach to cooking, since it mirrors my own "freestyle" approach. The recipes are great, especially the "white" bolognese from the chapter about her visit to Rome. I made this recipe when it first appeared in the NYT for a dinner party, and got raves-- and promptly lost the recipe. Imagine my joy to find it here-- it made the price of the book well worth paying, even without the rest of the good recipes and enjoyable writing. Now if she would only publish her winter fruit salad with Vanilla Syrup recipe!
Rating:
Summary: simply a treat
Review: this book is a wonderful blend of nuanced, mouth-watering writing about food and of the ways food shapes friendships and courtships. many of the 37 morsel-sized chapters examine a moment in the relationship of hesser, a "new york times" food writer, and her boyfriend, mr. latte, who likes to eat but wouldn't know fleur de sel from talcum powder. the other chapters take up foodie meals, dinner parties, hesser's relationships with her own family and mr.latte's family, and the daily struggles over who shops, who cooks, who cleans up, who chooses the restaurant--food fights in the best sense of the phrase. the book contains more than 100 recipes complete with thoughtful headnotes that explain, for instance, exactly how to tell when a souffle is ready. "cooking for mr. latte" is perfect for cooks and non-cooks alike--it is fast, funny, and written like a dream.
Rating: 
Summary: NY-Style Tidbits--bland, need salt
Review: Cooking for Mr. ... Who? Even though I may be the only male member of the species who has read this book--this is *hard core* "chick lit," so stop reading now if that turns you off--I can only assume the title is smugly ironic. C'mon--*no one* cooks for *Mr.* Anybody anymore, right? Ah, but the subtitle ("A food lover's courtship") assures us; dear Ms. Hesser is the food lover--you were expecting maybe the guy with the nickname?--so *she's* doing the courting here, thank you very much. We're back on safe ground. And this tale starts well because, compared to a bit later on, we're actually reading a tale. The first few "chapters" (I use that term *very* loosely, as does the author) consist of light, gossipy, he-said, she-said banter with good food as a backdrop. They stumble through a first date. He earns his nickname. He makes her dinner. (She's impressed.) Conclusions of each episode detail exact recipes of everything eaten (the author kept a diary). The recipes aren't bad (I even tried a few). At this point I hope the reader likes how the relationship is going, because by forty pages in the author adjusts the lens on Mr. Latte; he comes back into focus when needed, but we're basically done with him. The remaining 90% of Mr. Hesser's diary gives us Everything You Possibly Wanted To Know About Me. Or at least My Diet. Courtship? I can count on one hand the number of emotional statements, expressions of affection, or even more-than-trifling romantic insights in this book; in case you have to ask, they're nearly all hers. Attraction? *Sex*? Please, this is about, um, food. And so on it goes--for thirty-seven (count 'em) vignettes, each about 5-6 pages (or approximately the length of a newspaper food column, which Ms. Hesser conveniently writes--for the New York Times) followed by the aforementioned recipes. This structure isn't really *that* awful, but for supporting a bird's eye-view of a courtship, well, this ain't quite Cyrano de Bergerac. Strangled both by its prose and format, 'Mr. Latte' doesn't convey or evoke the slightest wisp of emotional pulse. By the less-than-breathless ending I was left with a few questions. What in the name of Zeus was Ms. Hesser's affection for her beloved based on? Mutual appreciation of food? Work? Sense of life? Approval from friends and relatives? We're given obtuse hints on all these subjects, but the author never lets us in; we get plenty of food, precious little courtship, and zero emotion. And finally: how can a food writer who puts away a daily bowl of ice cream, attends an endless stream of dinner parties, and basically never appears to do anything but write and eat (passionately!) still be the ultra-thin chic gal artistically rendered (the retro hair clips are a give-away) thirty-seven times over--not including the cover? Now answering *that* would be a column worthy of courtship! And include the recipes, please.
Rating:
Summary: I'm Still Hungry!
Review: I really wanted to like this book and was looking forward to it getting into it one long rainy weekend. It had everything I like: food, cooking, reading, a love story-- even cute little drawings.... but I'm sorry to say it fell flat.
Because I don't read The New York Times, and am not a dedicated (or obsessive as the case may be) "foodie," I don't know who Amanda Hesser is (surely a faux pas in the world of cooking!)
After getting through most of her book, I still don't know much about her. Perhaps if I found some back issues of the New York Times Magazine, as most of the book was written in installments for it, I might have enjoyed this book more. Who is Mr. Latte? Tad? Don't really know. Who are all these friends? Don't know. Where did she train? France? Don't remember. Why did she begin take this career path? Don't know. I was hoping for more of a STORY, and perhaps the dust jacket was misleading in it's promise of one.
For the most part, it was a "much of a muchness" i.e. "I went here, I ate that," and "I went there, I ate that," followed by "I went there and then we ate this and that." I found myself skipping over the last part of the book (the engagement party meal was as far as I could read-- I was bored) to the recipes, because the whole dinner-dining experience was getting old. I was hoping the trips to Rome and Spain would liven things up, but it was still more "I went here, I ate that."
On the recipes: I'm sure they're all very nice, but as one who just enjoys cooking from scratch, in reading this book, I began to feel like a plebeian in the kitchen because I dare to cook with "regular" extra-virgin olive oil-- disgrace!
I did make a salad of Red Flame seedless grapes (halved) with one perfect six-inch Persian Hothouse Cucumber (peeled and sliced paper thin), Bulgarian feta cheese white in color, hand-torn Romaine hearts rinsed in distilled water, their dampness gently spun away, and fresh lemon zest, with a secret white wine vinaigrette that can and should only be mixed en-bowl. The sweetness of the seventeen perfectly sliced grapes is softened by the salty pungent tang of the feta cheese, with the lemon* zest zipping on the tongue in a provocatively citrus manner (*a lemon is a spiny, Asian evergreen tree widely cultivated for its yellow, egg-shaped fruit, which has a yellow aromatic rind and juicy, acid pulp. Only use the best.)
BTW: This recipe isn't in the book- I made it up using what I found in my kitchen.
Instead of this book, I'd suggest both of Ruth Reichl's books: Tender at the Bone and also Comfort Me With Apples, both of which I enjoyed.
I wanted to like this book, but frankly, it was just boring if you don't know of Amanda Hesser.
Rating:
Summary: FUN FOOD READ....
Review: I am a New York-born food enthusiast and am enjoying this book immensely. I am reading it for what I imagine it was intended...for fun, food-related, light-reading. In my opinion there are not enough food novels out there. I have difficulty getting through the abundant food-related who-dunits. I'd rather read my cookbooks, thank you very much. However, I'm finding that I don't want Ms. Hesser's book to end and I'll probably read it again. I've even tried a couple of the recipes. Elizabeth's Broccoli Salad was yummy.
Rating:
Summary: Skillful Writing with Personal Insights about Food and Life
Review: `Cooking for Mr. Latte' is a culinary journal by New York Times culinary columnist, Amanda Hesser which I would not have even noticed except that Ms. Hesser is also the author of a really exceptional culinary and horticultural diary of a year spent in a French country house, `The Cook and the Gardener'. As I gave a very favorable review to the `French book', I felt compelled to taste the quality of Ms. Hesser's writing about something much, much closer to home for both of us.
For starters, this volume is much lighter than `The Cook and the Gardener' and does little to support comparisons of Ms. Hesser's writing with that of M.F.K. Fisher. This does not mean this book is not entertaining. It most certainly is, as it has a very light touch in making interesting a life which has relatively little of the `Sturm und Drang' of, say, the self-reported personal life of Ruth Reichl.
It's odd to even come close to describing the events Ms. Hesser recounts as `ordinary', as she does prep cooking for Anne Willan, chauffeur's Julia Child to and from Orly airport in Paris, dines with Jeffrey Steingarten, and trades high signs with Bobby Flay at some of New York's more interesting eateries. This is enough to make the life of any daydreaming foodie. But, I guess even lunch at leading Manhattan restaurants can become ordinary after a while. But, a quick check of the book's index reminds me that there is practically no mention of leading culinary landmarks. The book is much more about the culinary side of the romance between Ms. Hesser and `Mr. Latte', beginning with the first blind date and ending with a very successful marriage.
What is totally reassuring about the book is in how totally normal a course this relationship plays out, with little awkwardness, occasional discomforts, and growing affections. The picture of Ms. Hesser's personal culinary life may even be more interesting to her foodie readers. For example, I strongly identify with her attitudes on time spent in the kitchen. Like her, I am often very uncomfortable with a second person with me in my relatively small kitchen while I am cooking. I also sympathize with her discomfort when cooking in someone else's kitchen, where you have trouble finding things and are wary of moving anything out of its rightful place.
One confession, which is very satisfying, is Ms. Hesser's confession that even though she has attended cooking school and writes about food professionally, she occasionally makes some serious mistakes in the kitchen.
About a third of the text in the book consists of recipes, and most of these recipes are not original with the author. Many are copied from published sources such as Julia Child's `Mastering the Art of French Cooking' and `Cooks Illustrated' magazine. Many others are recipes of friends, relatives, future relatives, and restaurants. Their interest is less as a source from which you may wish to cook as it is an illustration supporting the narrative of the events in Ms. Hesser's day. One very nice thing about the book is that while the index says nothing of Le Bernardin, Babbo, or Craft, there are extensive pointers to interesting recipes. What this means is that a recollection of an interesting recipe can take you to the text of that recipe by a simple consult with the index.
I was surprised at her take on `Cooks Illustrated', as this journal is commonly very well regarded among many food writers. It was odd that she said it contains no pictures, as it commonly has many. However, I confess to agreeing with her that their writing can often be pretty dour, as they seem to take very seriously their discovery of techniques that have been well known to practicing chefs for generations.
As the book is really dedicated to the courtship between Ms. Hesser and her future husband, please don't expect a lot of `New York Times' gossip. There is no mention of leading Times food columnists such as Mark Bittman, Nigella Lawson, or R. W. Appel, although a relatively large chunk of the foodie writing establishment is mentioned in the acknowledgments.
In spite of some parallels in the cadences of the two titles, I could find no similarities in content between this book and the novel `Looking for Mr. Goodbar'.
Hesser is a genuinely talented writer and while I think M.F.K. Fisher's reputation is not yet in any danger, I agree with the perceptive Ms. Lawson who describes the writing as `Tender, wry, passionate, truthful...' A very charming read. It will encourage me to look up Ms. Hesser's cookbook reviews and hope I find a bit more honesty than I find in the reviews in `Gourmet', `Saveur', and `Bon Appetit'. It actually gives me a little thrill to be reviewing the work of a cookbook reviewer. I look forward to learning something from Ms. Hesser's reviews.
Oh, and I thought the drawings by illustrator Izak Zenau matched the tone of the text perfectly. Nothing great, just complementary.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't They Think About Anything but Food?!
Review: "Precious" is the word that comes to mind when I think of Hesser's columns in the New York Times, now combined into an ode to love via food for her dear heart. Spare me.
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