From Publishers Weekly
The first in the publisher's Great Chefs/Great Restaurants series spotlights Splichal, owner and chef of Patina, an L.A. restaurant setting trends since the early 1990s. This combination cookbook and account of a day in the life of a four-star restaurant describes the laborious route a top-quality meal takes from market to plate. Splichal is known for tweaking traditional recipes. He substitutes potatoes for pasta (Potato Oyster Ravioli) and concocts a four-inch-high club sandwich with sweetbreads, spinach, duck liver and brioche toasts, sauced with a bacon-enhanced veal stock. The more than 60 exacting recipes, replete with instructions for assembly and wine recommendations, demand strict attention and are not for beginners or the impatient. The choppy mixture of typefaces in the text is distracting, but Splichal's spirit, devotion and talent shine through. Black-and-white photos cover the restaurant section; color photos for food. Author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
In Los Angeles, Spichal is a Mozart among the Mendelssohns of the kitchen, a chef whose ideas are closely monitored by other chefs. -
Gourmet"If Oscars were awarded for cooking, Joachim Splichal would have to bunk out in the garage to make room for them in his house."
-New York Times
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.