II Viaggio Di Vetri: A Culinary Journey (Hardcover)

~ (Author), (Author), Douglas Takeshi Wolfe (Photographer)
Key Phrases: provolone fondue, blue foot mushrooms, tie securely with kitchen string, Basic Pasta Dough, Chicken Stock, Taverna Colleoni (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. More than a cookbook, this debut from acclaimed Philadelphia chef/restaurateur Vetri is a guide through the particular Italian cuisine and culture on which he has based his career. In brief memoir-style essays, Vetri describes the Lombardy taverna education that transformed a struggling jazz guitarist with a keen interest in his family's native cuisine into the creator of what some critics have called America's best Italian eateries. Repaying the generosity of his mentors, Vetri opens up his kitchen, too, including his signature dishes: impossibly light spinach gnocchi, sweet onion crepes and rustic stewed rabbit over polenta. Trusty sommelier Jeff Benjamin provides wine notes for each. While Vetri presumes that the reader has a fairly sophisticated palate and an expansive amount of free time to cook, Prep Ahead and Improv tips included for many dishes invite creative variations and allow for the occasional skipped step. And as exotic as veal sweetbreads with rhubarb and crispy brain Milanese might sound, dishes like a cucumber salad spiked with ribbons of preserved lemon or salt-baked whole fish lavished in a truffle-butter sauce are relatively simple. Amateur chefs may have only dreamed of having a culinary journey like Vetri's, but with this book he has given them a reliable key to turning dream into reality. (Oct.)
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From Booklist

Vetri serves as chef, owner, and eponym of Philadelphia’s celebrated Italian restaurant. His cooking has earned him accolades for its remarkable inventiveness. Although he bases his dishes on a firm foundation of Italian principles, his creativity launches them in utterly new directions, which he characterizes as his own personal journey. He credits a number of influences, principally the cooking of Bergamo, a Lombard town in the Alpine foothills. Vetri’s take on this cuisine also owes plenty to his decided sophistication. He turns cauliflower regal by pureeing it into a flan flecked with truffle. His version of classic vitello tonnato retains the tuna sauce but substitutes elaborate stuffed pork belly for the veal. Squab sauce crowns an unusual chocolate-kissed pasta. Elegant, large-format photographs enshrine both the food and cooks significant to Vetri’s education. Jeff Benjamin provides wine notes specifying the best Italian vintages. --Mark Knoblauch

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press; illustrated edition edition (October 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580088880
• ISBN-13: 978-1580088886
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 9.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #21,132 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars great pictures, December 2, 2009

By	siekret - See all my reviews

i started to really get into this book, as i spent more time going through it i noticed the book contains 23 pages of what i see as wasted, pics of marc drinking coffee, talking to someone, a fish purveyor holding a big fish, all these pics take up a full page. at my first glance of this book, skimming pages, recipes, and pics, it all looked good. then i noticed a lot of micro-green garnishes and lame pics that don't serve much of a purpose. annoying and confusing. i enjoy reading this book for short periods at a time.

5.0 out of 5 stars Story behind Vetri, November 13, 2009

By	Jeanette N. Fisher (Cincinnati) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

Beautiful pictures along with the story and recipees from the restaraunt and in Italy where Mark Vetri got his training..
Can't wait to try them all...

4.0 out of 5 stars Sincerely prepared, nice to read, October 11, 2009

By	Eser Ispartali - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

The name of the book attracted me first. I thought that it should be a fine book to have not just about the recipes but for also to get inspired by. It have not dissapointed me. Sincereley written with nice photos to be shared. All the dishes are prepared complately to be eaten... Thanks!