Customer Reviews

Damn Good Food: 157 Recipes from Hell's Kitchen

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I stumbled into Hell's Kitchen on a trip to Minneapolis during a quick trip. While eating a slice of Bison bread with the most amazing peanut butter I had ever had slathered on top.. I never wanted to leave. Lemon Ricotta pancakes, Mahnomin Porridge, Mitch's food spoke to me.. and I knew I was eating food I would never get anywhere else. Every sauce was made by hand, and the experience was glorious. I left taking a jar of peanut butter with me and I have told many others since .. If you ever get a chance to get to Minneapolis ... YOU have to eat here. I thought about the restaurant often, signed up on their website for the newsletter, and was thrilled to hear that Mitch had written a cookbook! I pre-ordered it from the restaurant, added in a jar of the to die for peanut butter.. and waited patiently for it to arrive. If you enjoy cookbooks that are more than recipes, you will love the story this book tells. There is love on every page. Love of friends, food, and love for a troubled man who has surrounded himself with a terrific support system so he succeeds in life. Ann Bauer does a wonderful job capturing the experience of Hell's Kitchen, in the writing and the photos. I was astonished to find ALL of the recipes from the menu in the pages of the book. THANK YOU! Not sure I will ever attempt some of them, but I can droll over them, and look forward to the next time I get
to Minneapolis. And I just might try to make the peanut butter myself!

Being a fan of Hell's Kitchen, I had heard that Mitch was working on a cookbook. I didn't think much of it, because I know that I would just rather eat at the restaurant (I'm not so great in the kitchen). I flipped through the book the last time I was at Hell's and found myself absorbed in reading it immediately. This is not JUST a cook book... Mitch's life is very interesting and he's straight forward and honest about the good, the bad and the ugly!

Love all the photos too... good shots of the food, but also good photos of Mitch's family and friends in and out of the restaurant, gives you a great sense of what and who's behind the magic!

I have always enjoyed Hell's kitchen and now i am loving the fact that i can try and recreate these recipes in my own kitchen. I am not nearly as a good a cook as Mitch, and would rather just go to Hell's Kitchen but I live in the south now and can't ake it more than once a year, so i am enjoying this wonderful cookbook.

Thanks!!

Mitch's cookbook, Damned Good Food is simply the best. When I'm too lazy or broke to go to Hell's Kitchen I can whip up some tasty treats in my own kitchen. Yum!

I love this restaurant in Minneapolis and ordered the cookbook just for the lemon ricotta pancake recipe. I've tried to duplicate it in the past without luck. When I made the recipe in this cookbook, it tasted exactly like the restaurants pancakes. I'm excited to try the other recipes in the book as almost every recipe from the restaurant is in here and I'm confident they are as authentic as the pancakes. It has basic recipes from BLT's with homemade mayo and chicken divan to really crazy recipes like biscuits with rabbit gravy (I will never be making this). They are also famous for their bloody mary's and kethcup and both recipes are in this book as well. In addition, I enjoyed this book because it told a story of the start of the restaurant and struggles that the founder has faced.

I've been a fan of Hell's Kitchen since my first visit and my wife got me the cookbook last year as a Christmas present knowing I would love it. The recipes are just as you would expect if you have eaten at Hell's kitchen - not fancy, but not simplistic either. After a year of owning the cookbook and not finding time to make many of the recipes I have decided to do a Julie/Julia and make all of the recipes in the book - [...]

Delicous and easy to make. Impressive company meal ideas. Last time in Minneapolis we ate all 4 mornings at HELL'S KITCHEN,downtown Minneapolis,trying somthing differet evdry day - which is hard to do as you are tempted to repeat the day before meal. WOW...never a disappointment! TIP - order NUMEROUS selections and SHARE!

Purchased two of these books as gifts for two people who had been to the restaurant a few times in Minneapolis. Both really liked the food there and this book. Many different recipes from breakfast to dinner options, using a varied selection of food ingredients. If you've eaten there, or you think a cookbook from a restaurant called Hell's Kitchen sounds intriguing, then buy this book.

Minneapolis's own Hell's Kitchen is no relation to the television show of same name but it is just as intense, and reading the story behind its success is even better than watching Chef Ramsay yell. The vivacious chef and owner of our local hellish hotspot is Mitch Omer. He joins literary forces with Ann Bauer, an unfulfilled food writer. Bauer gains a new zest for life, love, and all things gastronomical after chronicling Omer's tumultuous rise from dysfunction and suicidal tendencies to beloved and edgy chef.

Omer's fascinating story of mental health, drugs, and gluttony fill the pages of this cookbook. From rebellious son to drug-filled bouncer to backroom cook, the storyline is intermingled with recipes acquired during the many stages of Omer's turbulent life.

"He started snorting blow every night and then zipping through the dining room, making funny, charming small talk with the guests. When cocaine got too expensive, Mitch switched to crystal meth. And eventually, when even meth failed to send him, he started smoking PCP."
-pg 33

Damn Good Food is a meat-lovers wet dream. Carnivorous taste buds will salivate with recipes like "Biscuits with Rabbit Gravy," "Antelope Stroganoff," and "Bison Benedict." The mashed potatoes even sport an impressive `2 cups rich chicken broth." Vegetarians shouldn't shy away from dishes, like "Mahnomi Porridge," "Hot Damn Buttered Pretzels," and "Lemon-Ricotta Hotcakes." In addition to its range of recipes, another distinguishing factor to this cookbook is the completeness. There are directions for tartar sauce, curries, rubs, and even peanut butter. If a recipe calls for mayo or Jamaican jerk rub, you have a reference to that recipe.

"There are three key spices in any jerk seasoning: Jamaican pimento (which we call allspice), thyme, and Scotch bonnet peppers, so hot they have been known to spontaneously combust. No longer relegated just to pork, jerk seasoning is used on every manner of meat and fish, as is seen in this book's charred sea bass recipe."
-pg 148

The vicious red cover, punk photos and remnants of Omer's youth grace the pages. Despite his current success and happiness, anyone else walking in Omer's shoes may not have made it. The inspiration of Hell's Kitchen and life of Omer is captured charismatically by Bauer, who discovers she is a bit of a badass, herself. If the rock-n-roll lifestyle takes a slight precedence over the food, we can hardly blame either writer. This is full-on cooking in every sense.

The title says it all...thank you Hell's Kitchen for including ALL of your recipes as well as step-by-step pictures for several. The bonus was the mesmerizing story of a mad man (bipolar) who's been to Hell and back. This most unusual cookbook/memoir deserves the accolades which The New York Times and Village Voice gave you (I visited your restaurant during a convention in Minneapolis years ago and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it mentioned in BOTH papers)