Favorite Restaurant cookbooks

Do any of you have favorite cookbooks from restaurants/chefs that you have patronized? I just bought a copy of The Youn Man & the Sea by David Pasternack of Esca in New York City.
Pasternack is known for seeking out very fresh, very local seafood and using them creatively. His recipes sound sophisticated but are not difficult. He also profiles his suppliers and his own love of fishing. Good recipes and entertaining reading.

Although I've never been to his restaurant in Cork, (maybe one day) I really like Denis Cotter's two books: The Cafe Paradiso Cookbook and Paradiso Seasons.

Cotter (and his restaurant) are vegetarian and he is especially keen on using local and seasonal produce. I tend to adapt the recipes to use Devon cheeses which are local to me - I hope he would approve.

Edited to correct touchstone (unsucessfully so you must co via the author page to view)

I recently got the Pret a Manger: Food on the move recipe book, I dunno if it really counts. I got it out of curiosity after news reports that their All Day Breakfast sandwiches were the worst offender in terms of salt content

There are many that I like. A couple of favs are

"Aquavit" (restaurant of the same name in NY) by Marcus Sameulsson

"City Tavern Cookbook" (restaurant of the same name in Philadelphia)

Besides a few Moosewood cookbooks, I like Vegan World Fusion Cuisine (restaurant in Hawaii), Real Food Daily Cookbook (L.A.), and Down to Earth Cookbook (New Jersey). And, of course, Alice Waters' cookbooks are great just to read.

I've a problem with restaurant cookbooks that in effect talk down to readers.

As a source for great fish recipes, the Le Bernadin book is pretty great. If you really and truly want to achieve the results you'd get at the restaurant, the most recent Galiatoure's books is brilliant. Worth buying just for their crabmeat maison, and it caused me to make a couple of changes in a gumbo recipe I've used for 25 years. I enjoyed the food porn of both the Thomas Keller books, and have had really great results with recipes from both (French Laundry and I'm drawing a blank on the other) when I've been willing to take, oh, 8 hours to make onion soup.

There is a really brilliant book of recipes from French bistros run by women in the first half of the 20th century, given the unfortunate title Simple French Cooking At Home. It was on the LA TImes best of the year list a couple of years ago, and I ordered it sight unseen and was delighted with it.

From older books, the Ferdinand Point book (Ma Cuisine) that was put together from notes after he died is considered a classic, though I found it slightly disappointing, perhaps because it's SO highly regarded-- my expectations were too high, maybe--and because much of its teaching has been assimilated into other books. Although I wonder if it's reputation is partly a desire to name-check Point.

I've ignored the question to some extent, having never eaten in La Pyramid or any of Keller's places. I've eaten many times in Galiatoure's, though, and can warrant both that the cookbook is great and that the recipes achieve results akin to what you'd get there.

I have Nantucket Recipes from the Fog Island Cafe from a restaurant on Nantucket Island, Massachussetts. Lots of great recipies -- especially their breakfast items and baked goods.

I think buying restaurant cookbooks is a great way to remember restaurants visited while traveling. Sometimes the recipes can be a bit outside my level of expertise (I remember being scared to try some of the recipes from the cookbook that Santa Fe's Coyote Cafe sold), but they still are a nice souvenir.

Cookbook: The Pump Energy Food Cookbook
Restaurant: The Pump Energy Food

Health food that actually tastes good...no, great. There's about 5 or 6 of them located in NYC and the food is amazingly good. I typically get a plate that consists of brown rice with spinach, lemon marinated chicken and vegetarian chili on top. They don't use any oil, sugar, white starches. I highly recommend the restaurants and the book.

I agree with bercilak--Paradiso Seasons is really good. I haven't tried Denis Cotter's other book, but now I'll have to.

(Also, can anyone help me with the touchstone for this one? I can't seem to pull it up. I know it's listed because I have it and it is on the author page. But a search for "Paradiso Seasons" won't pull up anything either.)?

I should add a comment in favor of the Rancho de Chimayo cookbook from near Santa Fe, New Mexico. The family there has done extraordinary work since the 60s preserving a very particular cuisine of northern New Mexico, and the cookbook reflects that. Great restaraunt, great cuisine, and excellent recipes.

It appears that The Commander's Kitchen cookbook from the Commander's Palace Restaurant in New Orleans is about to become my favorite. I found it at a friends of the library sale and one of the volunteers tried to talk me into giving it up to her. I'm afraid I couldn't do that selfish me.

In general I've stopped buying restaurant cookbooks as I find I rarely cook from them - they are often overcomplicated for everyday cooking (I think restaurant chefs forget we don't have the sous chefs they have).

However, one I got recently that I love and use a lot is Sunday Suppers at Lucques by Suzanne Goin. The recipes are practical but adventurous and, so far, all work perfectly.

Another one I've had for a while and use a fair bit is The Union Square Cookbook. I can also recommend the various River Cafe Cook Books - lots of easy but delicious Italian food from the London restaurant.

The Soup Peddler's Slow & Difficult Soups: Recipes And Reveries is a really fun book that I got several people for Christmas. It has a lot of story about how the soup peddler came to be along with the recipes which are all fantastic.

2nd Ave. Deli and Mama Leah's are two that come to mind, aside from the usual Moosewood Low Fat and Silver Palate gang.

My father and his best friends have been going to this San Antonio restaurant most every Saturday night since 1983. I strongly recommend:
Los Barrios Family Cookbook by Diana Barrios Trevino.

I bought the cookbook Coyote Cafe last week at my local library sale. I have never eaten there. Looks like some good recipes.
Leona

My main problem with restaurant cookbooks -- besides the fact that I am almost always cooking for one -- is modern chefs use so much equipment that I just don't have. I watch the cooking shows and they're always tossing something in the deep fryer or using the stove grill or something similar. I do have the Moosewood Cookbook, though, and enjoy it. I regularly use their cornbread recipe.

I'm a fan of The Commander's Palace New Orleans Cookbook, but the one I'm really looking forward to using more now that it's warm is Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home.

We still use Moosewood occasionally, but we've also found some of its recipes to have gotten dated. There are a few recipes which look like they're calling for substitutions or processes based on American grocery stores of the 70s (or even the 90s), which just aren't necessary any more. The one which really stands out is a curry which took a lot of work and wasn't nearly as good as using curry paste from the store.

>17 PhaedraB: Very true re the equipment, and I also get a bit annoyed with the assumption that there's a hot oven always available to roast a handful of squash seeds or finish cooking a piece of fish (for 4 minutes! It takes 5 times that long to get my oven up to 220C).

I'm not sure I've got any restaurant cookbooks now - I do have several of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's but he didn't have a restaurant when he started writing (though he does now).

Generally, I find restaurant cookbooks more inspirational than practical, though the intention is often towards the latter. Of course, this just speaks to the limitations of a homecook, and I do not believe chefs should assume any less standards than their profession demands, for it is inspirational and aspirational. That said, there are some cookbooks by chefs that truly work in the home environment for the interested and passionate cook. I proffer the following as examples that inspire and aid me: Sunday Suppers at Lucuqes by Suzanne Goin, which I've been cooking from (with success) for years (and in 2 different countries), Biraz Maya, Biraz Gram, and Zuni Cafe Cookbook by Judy Rodgers.

I have liked "The Enchanted Broccoli Forest" and had great successes with Mollie
Katzen's recipes over many years.

On the lowfat and healthy side, there is Follow Your Heart Vegetarian Soup Cookbook, and Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites. I hear you on the limitations of home kitchen tools as compared with restaurant tools; one solution is to make more use of clay pots, which many restaurants make use of for savory results: The Clay Pot Cookbook. If you don't yet have a clay pot, they can sometimes be found at thrift shops, or you can buy them online at a cooking supply website, or at a Williams Sonoma store, or at Sur Le Table stores.