Lundy's: Reminiscences and Recipes from Brooklyn's Legendary Restaurant (Hardcover)

by Robert Cornfield (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
For more than five decades, F.W.I.L. Lundy's Restaurant of Sheepshead Bay was an institution of Brooklyn life, as essential to defining the borough as the Bridge and the Dodgers.When the restaurant reopened in late 1995 after a hiatus of 16 years, residents greeted it as if a long-lost family member had come home. For thousands of people, Lundy's was their own personal restaurant, a place where they knew the waiters -- and the waiters knew them -- by name and where dining was always an event, an experience to be treasured.

In its heyday it seated 2,800 and today, with room for a mere 800 patrons, it's still no little restaurant. Then and now, Lundy's served a distinguished American cuisine, with generous portions of fresh seafood -- lobsters, clams, oysters -- perfectly cooked; fluffy biscuits; and well-filled fruit pies. It reminded Brooklyn's immigrant community of the plenty that was possible in America, and allowed industrial tycoons and working-class families to dine together.

Through his provocative essays, illustrated by distinctive historical photographs, Robert Cornfield celebrates the vibrantly revitalized Lundy's while breathing life into the old one. He conjures up images of rooms full of women in hats and fur pieces and men in pinstriped suits, all sipping cocktails while requesting more of those incomparably flaky biscuits. Lundy's diners past and present share their memories of the grand occasion of eating there, and Kathy Gunst's recipes allow cooks to reproduce the nostaligc seafood chowders and bisques, entrees from land and sea, sides such as creamed spinach and buttermilk onion rings, and those fabulous Lundy's desserts: Blueberry pie, cheesecake and rice pudding.

When Lundy's closed, says one patron, it "became the the Brooklyn Dodgers of restaurants, but unlike Ebbets Field and the Dodgers, it did come back."

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks; 1st edition (May 6, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060187417
• ISBN-13: 978-0060187415
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,043,367 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just As I Remembered, October 19, 1998

By A Customer

I frequented Lundy's when I lived in New York many years ago. It is the only restaurant of which I still remember the marvelous food. The cookbook and history makes me feel that I am still there! I've tried several of the recipes. They are so delicious and reminiscent that they are almost haunting. A true gift to give anyone who grew up in New York. Judy

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More of a history book than a cookbook, January 2, 2003

By	LBB (Manila, Philippines) - See all my reviews

I bought this book because I was attracted to the many reviews and descriptions extolling the wonderful food and great retelling of the restaurant's illustrious history. The authors have done an excellent job of detailing the restaurant's founder and the institution's beginnings.

However, I was most disappointed that more space was given to the history and not to the recipes. It was also indicated that the recipes are not the originals, but are re-creations of the originals.

In fairness, the recipes are enticing and include some of the most tempting seafood recipes I have come across in one book.

However, to get the most out of this book, I recommend that you should at least have been to Lundy's (or at least be familiar with the Sheepshead Bay area); and have plenty of fresh seafood (lobster, crab, and oysters) at your disposal in order to try the recipes. Without those, this book may be a disappointment, like it was for me.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not real Lundy's recipes, March 9, 2007

By	Goldberger - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am a direct relative of Fedrick Willaim Irving Lundy and I can tell you that none of the recipes in this book are true Lundy recipes. Our family never gave the recipes away. The people who took over Lundy's in the 90's took our name and claim their recipes as Lundy's recipes. I find it sad that so many people don't know this.