Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2: More Amazing Clones of Famous Dishes from America's Favorite Restaurant Chains [Mass Market Paperback]

Todd Wilbur (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 26, 2006

The kitchen clone recipe king is back with a new Top Secret Restaurant Recipes collection—the first since his 1997 bestselling Top Secret Restaurant Recipes, which has sold over one million copies. Wilbur takes readers behind the scenes of big-name restaurants like Olive Garden, Applebee’s, and Outback Steakhouse, revealing the key ingredients and tricks of the trade they use to keep diners coming back for more. The book will feature 150 recipes, including:
• Red Lobster® Cheddar Bay Biscuits
• Cheesecake Factory® White Chocolate RaspberryTruffle® Cheesecake
• Romano’s Macaroni Grill® Penne Rustica®
• California Pizza Kitchen® Thai Crunch Salad
• Original Pancake House® Apple Pancake
• Chili’s® Southwestern Eggrolls
• Houston’s® Chicago-Style Spinach Dip
• Tony Roma’s® Baked Potato Soup

Forget takeout—with these fun recipes and blueprints, all using ingredients you can buy at your local supermarket, you can re-create your favorite restaurant signature dishes right in your own kitchen.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Wilbur, who's made a small cookbook empire deconstructing chain restaurant favorites, here introduces 150 new recipes from such well-loved eateries as The Cheesecake Factory, Chili's, Outback Steakhouse and Waffle House. Adopting a wily, covert-agent tone when discussing his research ("A couple plane rides, a bit of driving, some walking and a stumble or two later, I had a cooler full of Houston's goodies procured safely back at the underground lab"), and brings infectious enthusiasm for each dish to his insider-y recipe intros. The results are, for the most part, winning: Houston's Honey-Lime Vinaigrette is a refreshing blend of honey, citrus, and mustard; IHOP Harvest Grain 'n Nut Pancakes are crunchy and wholesome; and Red Lobster's tasty Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Shrimp comes with an addictive cilantro-ranch dipping sauce. But perhaps the most useful aspect of this cookbook is that it allows home cooks to lighten up their favorite artery-clogging dine-out dishes. Have a hankering for P.F. Chang's Spare Ribs but don't feel like consuming a cup of light corn syrup or four cups of vegetable oil? A quick study of the recipe reveals myriad ways to make the dish more simple, healthful and enjoyable right at home.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Todd Wilbur is the top-selling QVC cookbook author. He’s appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Today, and Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, among others.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Plume (December 26, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452288002
• ISBN-13: 978-0452288003
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,571 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #58 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Reference
  • #75 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Regional & International > U.S. Regional

More About the Author

Self-proclaimed food hacker and host of CMT's "Top Secret Recipe," Todd Wilbur is the author of a series of unique cookbooks which reveal simple secret recipes for creating home versions of America's most popular brand-name foods. With over 4.5 million Top Secret Recipes books in print, Todd designs each recipe through careful research, trial-and-error, creative reverse-engineering, and obsession. Readers will not only be fascinated with the backstories and impressed with the accuracy of the formulas, but will also find that they can save money when recreating these signature dishes at home and will enjoy the ability to now customize their favorite foods to suit specific diets and health concerns.

Todd has appeared on numerous talk shows in the 24 years he has been cloning famous foods, including The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Oz, Today Show, Live! with Regis & Kathie Lee, Good Morning America, Fox News, Rachael Ray, Maury, and The Food Network. Season 1 of "Top Secret Recipe" debuted on CMT in October, 2011. When not taste-testing recipes on himself, his wife, his friends, and TV talk show hosts, Todd is busy teaching his 3-year-old daughter how to identify herbs in a sauce at their home in Las Vegas, NV.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

117 of 136 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Just so ya know...., January 10, 2007

By 

Curtis Moore - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2: More Amazing Clones of Famous Dishes from America's Favorite Restaurant Chains (Mass Market Paperback)

I own this book. Well actually, I found out that I owned this book after I bought it. This book is exactly the same as the "Top Secret Recipes Super Secret Restaurant Collection" that is sold by QVC. Yeah there are a couple more recipes, like 8 in a book of hundreds, but there was nothing on his web page or anything to tell me that. I felt kinda screwed. Luckily I bought it at Borders and could take it back when I found out I had been hosed. He hyped this book up on his website, and didn't even tell he loyal fans what he was doing. He has great recipes and stuff, and I literally own all his books, but I just wanted to let anyone else who might have the QVC book know that this one is just a reprint so they dont get hosed....

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2" is FANTASTIC!!!, June 22, 2007

By 

Michelle Jones "editor of BetterBudgeting.com" (www.BetterBudgeting.com - ATL, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2: More Amazing Clones of Famous Dishes from America's Favorite Restaurant Chains (Mass Market Paperback)

This recipe book is simply fantastic and I highly recommend it! Making your favorite restaurant dishes at home is a great way to save money! "Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2" is one of many in a series and a reprint of TSR's "Super Secret Restaurant Collection" which was previously sold on QVC as noted on the title page of the book. But since I didn't have that edition I bought this one and absolutely love it!!! And by the way, the Top Secret Recipes Version of Chili's Southwestern Eggrolls is absolutely wonderful, we made them for my husband for Father's Day and they were a huge hit! Thank you for this wonderful recipe book! - Michelle Jones, Founder and Editor of BetterBudgeting.com

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the best Top Secrets book, February 12, 2007

By 

Christy (Midwest) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2: More Amazing Clones of Famous Dishes from America's Favorite Restaurant Chains (Mass Market Paperback)

I bought this book b/c I love all of his other books. This one just seemed like a bunch of recipes that I already have. I subscribe to the weekly recipes from the website, and get better recipes that way. I've already given this book to someone who didn't have any of this books yet. Not that impressed....