French Laundry Cookbook

Summary: "95 percent of the recipes are over the top, much too complex, too elevated, and too dependant on having ingredients that would take weeks for the home cook to assemble....So why would you buy this book, except to dream about eating at the French Laundry? A few reasons. For one, it's gorgeous--as beautiful as most art books. And like most books about artists, it can't help but raise your own standards, which may keep... you from tossing any old thing onto the table and calling it supper. What's more, it does have, hidden among the recipes for lobster pancakes with pea shoot salad and "ice cream cones" holding salmon tartare and red onion crme frache, a surprising amount of solid cooking advice." [read more]