Customer Reviews

The Black Dog Summer on the Vineyard Cookbook

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've been to the Vineyard numerous times and each trip includes a meal at the Black Dog. I was thrilled when they published a cookbook and I've found this one to be easy to read, the recipes are a cinch to follow and they include ingredients that "normal" cooks have at home. It is gourmet without being too gourmet, if you know what I mean. The pictures are lovely and the story lines bring it all home. I highly recommend this book and think it will be fun to have summer on the vineyard next winter -- in the mean time, though, it is a pleasure preparing summer food!

Well worth the price for the breakfast section alone! I've owned this book a week, and my family is working it's way through the breakfast section - we haven't even started on the rest of the book yet. Not only are these delicious, but really quick to put together.It's not at all necessary to save for the weekends, we've made two of the recipes for weekday-6 am-not awake enough for complicated recipes mornings. Try it, you'll like it.

I love this cookbook! It's my favorite kind: easy to use, chock-full of information and a "good read", too! It's a visual feast: from the colorful designs, the fun drawings to the beautiful photographs of both food and island. But it's more than just a pretty book. It offers a great combination of contemporary recipes and traditional ones. I love this book...and I even vacation on the OTHER island!

I rate recipes on a 1-10 scale. In 3 days, we have four recipes over 9! I have read the book cover to cover twice. It is not only a cookbook but a giant slice of the Black Dog Tavern and its people - enjoyed immensely - almost as good as having breakfast there!

My friend and I first ate at the Black Dog Tavern several times in 1973. It had only been open for a couple of years. The food was very good and the restaurant was very unspoiled by huge crowds. If it had not been for Amizon, I probably would not have been aware that this, their first cookbook, was now available.

I have tried several of the recipes and my favorites are the Crunchy Pecan Chicken, Blueberry Banana Pancakes and several of the delicious deserts and chowders. However, I must say if you lived in a seaport area where fresh seafood was readily available, you certainly would have constant use for these wonderful from-the-sea dishes. I really enjoyed the beautiful photos and commentary which reminds me of my many enjoyable times on the Vineyard.

I have friends who recently dined at the Black Dog and they said they enjoyed the food but did not enjoy the long wait to be seated. However, they did come back with yet another T-shirt and a mug with the Black Dog. This cookbook is a personal delight.

This cookbook's not just for Vineyard groupies! The Black Dog restaurant is on an island, so expect lots of recipes for seafood and fish. There are pictures... and lots of 'em, so you'll be able to see what you're making. I've made the Grilled Butterflied Leg of Lamb, Crunchy Pecan Chicken with Lemon Ginger Sauce, and Sesame Crusted Salmon Fillet... all were easy, delightfully satisfying, and filled with flavor!

I wouldn't have discovered this book if it hadn't been for amazon as I haven't yet seen it for sale in England. (Thanks, amazon!) It's terrific. I have made the blueberry butter cake three times and everyone loved it. I love the anecdotes and will certainlybe trying lots more of the recipes.

I scanned this book in the Atlanta airport and couldn't wait to get on-line to order. The recipes sound simple to prepare and use wonderful seasonal produce. Plus, I noticed lots of "tidbits" throughout that I would like to have in my arsenal of kitchen tricks. Like the quick Hollandaise sauce (for those times you really want it and don't want to spend time on the real thing - ala my old standby "The Silver Palate" version). Don't think by any of this, I am not a serious cook. But these simple recipes sound wonderful, workable, and a nice break from the complications of "The French Laundry Cookbook". This book also appeals to me because now I can stop saving all those catalogs with the recipes interspersed between the merchandise. The Maple Apple Cake, the soups, the fish dishes all sound lovely. Can't wait to get my copy in the mail!

I Just don't get it. I got the book hoping to discover some wonderful and innovative new recipes. What I found instead was an advertisement for a restaurant. I just don't see what the big deal is. Adding fruit to pancakes and substituting vegetables for the canadian bacon in Eggs Benedict is hardly a brainstorm worth spending twenty dollars for. Other recipes call for outragously obscure ingredients. The outcome is seldom worth the pursiut of exotic items. I made the black bean clam thing...disgusting. My dog wouldn't even eat it. I recommend instead buying something like the new Joy of Cooking. It contains plenty of exotic and innovative recipes along with all of the basics. I guess I thought this would be a cookbook worthy of the shelf space it takes up. It turned out to be a slick, glossy, colorful brochure containing very little of value unless you are easily impressed with anything "Vineyard".

I so badly wanted to dislike this cookbook. I went to Martha's Vineyard once, and I was nauseated by all the look-at-how-upwardly-mobile-I-am people that abounded. The most reprehensible are the people who wear Black Dog t-shirts-- nobody cares that you went to Martha's Vineyard. I still doubt that you're Old Money.

Anyway, contemptuous of the restaurant as I am, I sneered when my friend came home from college with this cookbook. Even the recipes sound snotty-- lots of heavy sauces, and expensive, obscure ingredients. But I agreed to make the clam chowder in the book just as the recipe called for, and it was amazing. We made a few others, and they were all at least very good. There are lots of neat ideas for omlettes.

My advice is to consider getting the cookbook, but avoid Martha's Vineyard at all costs.