A cookbook and wine guide celebrating the regional traditions and exciting innovations of modern Italian cooking, from San Francisco's SPQR restaurant.
The Roman Empire was famous for its network of roads. By following the path of these thoroughfares, Shelley Lindgren, wine director and co-owner of the acclaimed San Francisco restaurants A16 and SPQR, and executive chef of SPQR, Matthew Accarrino, explore Central and Northern Italy’s local cuisines and artisanal wines.
Throughout each of the eight featured regions, Accarrino offers not only a modern version of Italian cooking, but also his own take on these constantly evolving regional specialties. Recipes like Fried Rabbit Livers with Pickled Vegetables and Spicy Mayonnaise and Fontina and Mushroom Tortelli with Black Truffle Fonduta are elevated and thoughtful, reflecting Accarrino’s extensive knowledge of traditional Italian food, but also his focus on precision and technique. In addition to recipes, Accarrino elucidates basic kitchen skills like small animal butchery and pasta making, as well as newer techniques like sous vide—all of which are prodigiously illustrated with step-by-step photos.
Shelley Lindgren’s uniquely informed essays on the wines and winemakers of each region reveal the most interesting Italian wines, highlighting overlooked and little-known grapes and producers—and explaining how each reflects the region’s unique history, cultural influences, climate, and terrain. Lindgren, one of the foremost authorities on Italian wine, shares her deep and unparalleled knowledge of Italian wine and winemakers through producer profiles, wine recommendations, and personal observations, making this a necessary addition to any wine-lover’s library.
Brimming with both discovery and tradition, SPQR delivers the best of modern Italian food rooted in the regions, flavors, and history of Italy.
SPQR: Modern Italian Food and Wine
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Review
“Shelly Lindgren and Matthew Accarrino have composed a book filled with their inspirations based on Italian regional cuisine and wines. It gives us a powerful insight into what makes SPQR one of San Francisco’s favorite restaurants. It makes me wish I lived close by.”
—Thomas Keller, The French Laundry
“Shelley Lindgren has done it again. First, there was her restaurant A16 and a stunning cookbook emerged from that still-marvelous restaurant. Then came SPQR. With the remarkable talent of chef Matthew Accarrino, it has become one of San Francisco’s
finest restaurants, bar none. If you haven’t yet heard of SPQR and Matthew Accarrino, trust me, you soon will. This book shows why.”
—Matt Kramer, author and Wine Spectator columnist
“Matthew brings a sense of elegance and refinement to Italian cooking that seems at once natural and yet revelatory. There is a humanistic element to the cooking at SPQR that in concert with Shelley’s wine service, creates a memorable and warm experience. I always look forward to returning.”
—Christopher Kostow, chef, The Restaurant at Meadowood
“I am a staunch traditionalist when it comes to Italian cuisine, yet I love Matthew Accarrino’s modern Italian cooking at SPQR. His food is Italian in spirit but cooked in the region (paese) of California, using local ingredients, contemporary techniques, and infusing the food with soul and sophistication. Shelley Lindgren is my go-to goddess for Italian wine. A charming and delightful educator, she has extensive knowledge of Italian wine making and wine makers. But even more important, she seeks out little known wines from small regional producers. I learn and taste something new with every visit to SPQR.”
—Joyce Goldstein, chef, author, and culinary consultant
“With well-thought-out recipes and little known wine pairings, discover a perfect
balance of contemporary flavor and technique with a soulfulness that is respectful of tradition. Through Matthew’s passion and experience, SPQR will challenge you to become a better cook!”
—Rick Moonen, executive chef and owner of rm Seafood
Praise for A16: Food + Wine:
“This is a cook’s cookbook; it deserves a quiet season filled with long chilly nights, the ideal time to enjoy its gutsy dishes.”
—Gourmet
—Thomas Keller, The French Laundry
“Shelley Lindgren has done it again. First, there was her restaurant A16 and a stunning cookbook emerged from that still-marvelous restaurant. Then came SPQR. With the remarkable talent of chef Matthew Accarrino, it has become one of San Francisco’s
finest restaurants, bar none. If you haven’t yet heard of SPQR and Matthew Accarrino, trust me, you soon will. This book shows why.”
—Matt Kramer, author and Wine Spectator columnist
“Matthew brings a sense of elegance and refinement to Italian cooking that seems at once natural and yet revelatory. There is a humanistic element to the cooking at SPQR that in concert with Shelley’s wine service, creates a memorable and warm experience. I always look forward to returning.”
—Christopher Kostow, chef, The Restaurant at Meadowood
“I am a staunch traditionalist when it comes to Italian cuisine, yet I love Matthew Accarrino’s modern Italian cooking at SPQR. His food is Italian in spirit but cooked in the region (paese) of California, using local ingredients, contemporary techniques, and infusing the food with soul and sophistication. Shelley Lindgren is my go-to goddess for Italian wine. A charming and delightful educator, she has extensive knowledge of Italian wine making and wine makers. But even more important, she seeks out little known wines from small regional producers. I learn and taste something new with every visit to SPQR.”
—Joyce Goldstein, chef, author, and culinary consultant
“With well-thought-out recipes and little known wine pairings, discover a perfect
balance of contemporary flavor and technique with a soulfulness that is respectful of tradition. Through Matthew’s passion and experience, SPQR will challenge you to become a better cook!”
—Rick Moonen, executive chef and owner of rm Seafood
Praise for A16: Food + Wine:
“This is a cook’s cookbook; it deserves a quiet season filled with long chilly nights, the ideal time to enjoy its gutsy dishes.”
—Gourmet
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is more of a travelogue of food and wine and the Roman roads rather than a cookbook. The authors write of their travels in northern and central Italy, their descriptions are interesting, maps of the regions are included. Their introduction is appealing as are their accounts of wine, food and the recipes they include. Pictures are incorporated of the sights, people and food.
There are recipes in here; but they are for the more adventuresome chef and diner. The dishes are not for beginning cooks, the recipes and ingredients can be complicated. Many of the recipes have ingredients such as; rabbit liver, pig ears, ox tails, lamb belly, truffles, suckling pig belly or squid ink
Strangely the techniques and methods are in the back of the book, but tips and methods such as how to clean mushrooms, making dough and pasta, stove top smoking, egg wash are given. Our family has enjoyed spaghetti with shrimp and tomato passatina, egg in the hole with mushrooms and miner's lettuce and barlo beef with carrots and new potatoes.
This is a book that adventurous chefs with a desire to make some different Italian dishes than one normally finds in cookbooks would appreciate.
There are recipes in here; but they are for the more adventuresome chef and diner. The dishes are not for beginning cooks, the recipes and ingredients can be complicated. Many of the recipes have ingredients such as; rabbit liver, pig ears, ox tails, lamb belly, truffles, suckling pig belly or squid ink
Strangely the techniques and methods are in the back of the book, but tips and methods such as how to clean mushrooms, making dough and pasta, stove top smoking, egg wash are given. Our family has enjoyed spaghetti with shrimp and tomato passatina, egg in the hole with mushrooms and miner's lettuce and barlo beef with carrots and new potatoes.
This is a book that adventurous chefs with a desire to make some different Italian dishes than one normally finds in cookbooks would appreciate.
9 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a beautiful book that was obviously created with a lot of passion. My husband and I love cooking and we don't mind some work to find special ingredients etc. but this book is mostly filled with recipes with hard to get ingredients and it feels - exclusive, rather than inclusive in its tone. We love Italian food more in the old world peasant style I guess. The "modern" in the title should have been a clue. We bought it because of the few recipes that were posted online with ingredients that are obtainable (shrimp, sardines) but it turns out these are almost the only recipes in the book with readily available ingredients. We ended up returning it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By ari
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Great book and lots of information but its 3/4 wine chapters. Can be a dry read but very educational on northern Italian wine making and varietals. I wish it had more food and recipes in it but good purchase none the less
By D. Maust
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Having traveled Italy, I found this book full of interesting recipes, wine pairings, and general information. Great photos throughout the book.
By A. Baines
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This cookbook is beautiful: flip through it's pages once and take a trip to Italy. Flip through a second time and pick out what to make for dinner.
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I've heard the expression "all roads lead to Rome" throughout my life, considering it a figurative statement. The introduction to this book explains the importance of the roads to the history and culture of Italy, then the text meanders along the roads describing the food and wine to be encountered on the journeys. The recipes given in the book are, for the most part, esoteric in the extreme, containing ingredients such as verjus, fennel pollen, and Activa RM, and are not the type of dishes to throw together for unexpected guests.
This book was a gift from a nephew who heard me say that SPQR is the best restaurant along restaurant-heavy Fillmore Street (and beyond). The two meals I've encountered there are among the best I've ever eaten. This is why I'd be willing to seek out the verjus and collect the fennel flowers that we consider weeds that grow along urban fences. In the meantime, I'll continue to read, select a few recipes, enjoy the exquisite photographs, and seek out a glass of Pagadebit.
This book was a gift from a nephew who heard me say that SPQR is the best restaurant along restaurant-heavy Fillmore Street (and beyond). The two meals I've encountered there are among the best I've ever eaten. This is why I'd be willing to seek out the verjus and collect the fennel flowers that we consider weeds that grow along urban fences. In the meantime, I'll continue to read, select a few recipes, enjoy the exquisite photographs, and seek out a glass of Pagadebit.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Pen Name
Format:Hardcover
This book inspired me to cook some amazing food. I recommend it to those looking to cook things you didn't think you could
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have the opportunity to eat at the always excellent SPQR very often. This gorgeous book allows you to bring home with you all the wonderful food, wine, and LOVE that Shelley Lindgren and Matthew Accarrino serve up every day. Shelley and Matthew have such passion for sharing what they love about the entire Italian food experience.
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