The San Francisco Chronicle Cookbook Volume II

Rating:
Summary: capturing the many flavors of the city
Review: San Francisco has a very unique food and restaurant landscape with more ethinc cuisines on offer than in any other city in the US. This is reflected very well in this outstanding volume that brings together another great selection of eclectic dishes from local restaurants and coinisseurs. This is quite a big book and it is bursting with good stuff. It is also what I call a "no fluff" cookbook that really only has recipe after recipe, with no glossy pictures and other decor.

The recipes are well-written, easy to follow and also organized extremely well. This is a detail that I look for a lot, since you want to be able to pull a cookbook out and get right to the section of dishes that might interest you for a particular type of menu. Many of the more glamorous cookbooks are meant for browsing rather than serious searching, this is not.

If you are a beginner cook who needs visuals with every meal, this book is not for you. Basic cooking skills and a basic recipe skills are a must.

Rating:
Summary: Using Fresh Ingredients
Review: This book gives simple but good recipes for using the local vegetables and fruits that are available at the local farmer's market. I have clipped many of the recipes from past FOOD sections of the newspaper and now I have them all in one easy to find place. I like to cook new recipes and enjoy ones with lots of flavor and I find that in this book.