Chef's Night Out: From Four-Star Restaurants to Neighborhood Favorites: 100 Top Chefs Tell You Where (and How!) to Enjoy America's Best (Paperback)

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Key Phrases: ten best new chefs, leading chefs, restaurant professionals, New York, San Francisco, James Beard Award (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

From the authors of Becoming a Chef, which won a 1996 James Beard Book Award, comes this clever guide to neighborhood restaurants. Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page interviewed over 100 top chefs in 28 cities across the country, from Miami and Boston to Seattle and Honolulu, with plenty of stops in between, and asked them where they eat when they aren't cooking for themselves.

Chef's Night Out is the fourth book from Dornenburg and Page, and, like their previous work, it was conceived primarily for people in and interested in the restaurant business, aspiring chefs, and food lovers. The basic premise, explain top chefs like Bob Kinkead (from Washington, D.C.), Rick Bayless (Frontera Grill in Chicago), and Suzanne Goin (Lucques in Los Angeles), is that dining out is one of the best ways to learn about food. But whether you're looking to learn or just looking to eat well, this book is great fun to read, and particularly useful for travelers.

Divided into chapters by city, we are introduced to some local top chefs with their own award-winning restaurants who explain their food philosophies and then offer a short list of their favorite local haunts--everything from fine dining to bakeries, coffee shops, and fast food. Sean Kelly (Aubergine in Denver) loves the Vietnamese curried shrimp and potatoes over rice noodles at New Saigon Restaurant and the "great raw bar" and "happening" bar scene at Jax Fish House. Sanford D'Amato (Sanford in Milwaukee) loves the thin, crispy pizzas from Zaffiro's Pizza and Bar. And Tom Colicchio (Gramercy Tavern in New York City) raves about the constantly changing menu at Etats-Unis, the razor clams in a light white bean broth at the Red Cat, and everything at Daniel and Jean-Georges.

Looking for recommendations in your hometown? Planning a trip and want to know where to go? Here's your chance to find out where the chefs go and why they go there. With help from greats such as Loretta Keller (Bizou in San Francisco), Thierry Rautureau (Rover's in Seattle), and Jimmy Schmidt (The Rattlesnake Club in Detroit), you can't possibly go wrong! --Leora Y. Bloom

From Publishers Weekly

The incisive, hip writing team of Dornenburg and Page (Becoming a Chef, etc.) style their sophisticated yet democratic guidebook to chefs' favorite restaurants as a peek into today's great culinary minds, but at times it comes off as mutual back-scratching as chefs name one another's restaurants and even, in the case of Daniel Boulud, their own. Dornenburg and Page's purpose is to inform devoted foodies how to savor a meal the way the big boys (and gals) do and why it is critical for would-be chefs to do so. Then, arranged alphabetically by city (there are 28 in all) in a format that can make skimming a tad confusing, chefs offer their candidates for the best in popular categories pizza, bagels as well as where they like to catch a quick bite after a long, hard day or luxuriate on their day off. Although there aren't many discoveries here, the concept is original. Sidebars and personal stories are the real gems, such as Rick Bayless's sweet tale of saving money when he was 12 to go eat at a fancy Oklahoma City restaurant. (Mar.) Forecast: With a $100,000 marketing budget, this book is getting a full-court press with author appearances in five prominent cities and major TV promotion. Additionally, the featured chefs plan to do tie-in events at their restaurants. Dornenburg and Page's books sell well, and this one should be no exception.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 340 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (January 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471363456
• ISBN-13: 978-0471363453
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #796,695 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Really interesting reading for food lovers!, February 11, 2002

By A Customer

And the purpose of this book is....Well, to be honest, I was not quite sure. Then two hours passed, and I was still reading it.

That was my first impression of Chef's Night Out, the latest publication from Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, the same team that brought us Becoming a Chef, Culinary Artistry and Dining Out.

Chef's Night Out serves as a mouthpiece for over one hundred chefs, highlighting their favorite restaurants, what they eat, and why they eat there. The index of contributing chefs reads like a Who's Who of American cooking: Charlie Trotter, Daniel Boulud, Todd English, Rick Bayless and Francois Payard, to name but a few. The restaurant recommendations, however, range from upscale destinations like Nobu, Bobby Flay's choice for inventive Japanese cuisine, to downtown recommendations like Pho Bang, Jean-Georges Vongerichten's house of pleasure of simple Vietnamese food.

What makes the book really interesting is reading why the chefs like to eat at a certain restaurant -- understanding what a great chef thinks makes a great restaurant serves up an unusual learning experience. Additionally, there is a multitude of short educational essays throughout the book -- not all of which come from chefs. Stephen Beckta, sommelier of Cafe Boulud, writes an outstanding piece, unveiling his wine philosophies: Serving Wine to Industry Insiders, Wine and Food Pairing Guidelines, Matching Wines and World Cuisines, and Palate of the People, describing how a client's palate is often based on their geographic origins. His three-page article alone makes the book worth picking up.

So, if you are the kind of food lover who has the money to spare and loves to read easily-digestible short stories -- like Norman Van Aken's snippet on Cooking in Miami, Charlie Trotter's tips on creating a memorable dining experience, or just that Mario Batali likes well-done hot dogs from Gray's Papaya, then this is one for you.

--Jeremy Emmerson

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Foodie Paradise Between Two Covers, February 5, 2001

By A Customer

Once I got this book in my hands, I didn't want to put it down!

I thought I knew a lot about where and how to eat out, but the star chefs in this book are teaching me plenty more--like the RIGHT way to order in a Chinese restauarant, the "must-have" specialties in each city (like sourdough bread in San Francisco and barbeque in Memphis) and where to find THE BEST.

What I loved about it that it's got the places for those special occasion (or expense account) dinners, but it shows that eating well doesn't have to be snobby or expensive. The chefs recommend a whole treasure-trove of bargains--the little "hole in the wall" places in major cities that they frequent for great food. For example, it tells where Jean Georges eats authentic Vietnamese food in New York City and where Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin goes for his favorite pizza (I wouldn't have guessed the guy even ATE pizza!), where in Phillie to get the best cheesesteak (several chefs have differing opinions), where in Chicago Charlie Trotter goes for Italian Beef. There's even a "Chef's Secret Cravings" section--great burgers are high on the list (they name their favorite "joints"), as are Krispy Kreme Donuts!

What was also wonderful was the absolute wealth of advice and information--the book is jam-packed, and there are gems on every page, like how to eat an oyster and what kind of expectations you should have for your dining experience. Flipping through the appendix, I found the resources there (recommended reading list, source for greenmarkets, where to go to look for a cooking apprenticeship, etc.) invaluable for ANYONE who has any interest in food--whether eating out or cooking (professionally or at home).

All-in-all, the book was a joy for this foodie to read and I'm already using it as a reference--I've tried two places close to my neighborhood (Pearl Oyster Bar & Chibi's Sake Bar) that I'd never been to--both were GREAT!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous guide for traveling foodies!, February 14, 2001

By A Customer

I truly had trouble putting this book down. First I checked out the NYC scene, then I read about the city I had just visited, and then on to the city I will next visit. So many restaurants, and so little time! I'm especially looking forward to exploring some of the non-descript, inexpensive places that the chefs recommend.