The Paris Cafe Cookbook : Rendezvous and Recipes from 50 Best Cafes (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Paris Café Cookbook brings home a food experience peculiar to a single city and singular kind of establishment. In Paris, the birthplace of the café, these establishments provide a sense of family cooking where little of it exists at home any longer. Daniel Young, restaurant critic for the New York Daily News, has produced a delightful and informative book.

Young begins his book with a long elaboration that defines the Parisian café, setting it apart from brasserie and bistro, though some can be either. Though his book is set up to follow a standard pattern (appetizers, sides, main dishes, and desserts), the divisions are broken up by short essays describing each of the 50 cafés Young has selected. This is as much tour guide as cookbook at this point.

But it also anchors to a specific place and sensibility the food described in the recipes. Sure, Pot-au-Feu recipes are a dime a dozen, but Young gives the reader the Pot-au-Feu to be found at Brasserie Stella--as well as the Brasserie itself. Steamed Chicken with Tarragon Sauce is sure to elicit no big surprises, yet this is the recipe served at Pétrissan's. The Stuffed Artichokes with Ratatouille Niçoise can be found at Les Fontaines or at your very own dinner table. Café food is not elaborate or technique intensive. You can, in fact, do this home cooking at home.

That's what is so delightful about The Paris Café Cookbook: anyone who can't make it to Paris 16 times in three years to work on a book about Paris cafés can simply cook the food at home, establish the right ambience, sit down, dine, and pretend. Let taste be your guide. --Schuyler Ingle

From Publishers Weekly

Young, a New York City restaurant critic and food commentator, collects recipes from the City of Lights' best-known haunts in this serviceable cookbook. In a slightly smug introduction, Young explains why he?a New Yorker?is qualified to select the best of Paris (he's more open to the city's charm) and suggests that although the dishes he's selected are high in fat, the small portions (along with cigarettes and alcohol) aid Parisians in staying slim. Appetizers include an Onion Tart from Brasserie de l'ile St.-Louis and Mussels and Zucchini Salad with Spicy Mayonnaise from the Clown Bar. The Decadent Mashed Potatoes from Le Cafe Marly live up to their name with 1 1/4 cups butter plus one cup cream. Desserts are the strongest category here: Lemon Tart with Prune Compote from L'Ete en Pente Douce is pleasantly tangy, while Le Vaudeville's Gratin of Fresh Figs with a Red Wine Sabayon is simple yet original. Descriptions and histories of the cafes themselves are light and fun: despite its name, Cafe Cannibale was created as a place where women could gather without falling prey to cruising men, and the famous clientele at the Cafe de Flore has included Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre. The owner called the latter his worst customer ever because he could make one drink last so long.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 1.92 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks; 1 edition (October 21, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688153305
• ISBN-13: 978-0688153304
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 8.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #416,583 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you buy this book, you'll always have Paris!, December 17, 1998

By A Customer

As a reader of Daniel Young's New York Daily News restaurant reviews, one of the things that has always impressed me is the drama he is able to convey: of great food presented flawlessly, of heightened expectations and dashed hopes, and the 8 million (or so) stories that are unfolding in that Naked City.

The happy news is that Young's singular touch, as unique as Lubitsch's, has survived the Atlantic crossing and is flourishing in Paris. The Ernst Lubitsch reference is not used lightly. Each restaurant, each review, each meal, each recipe has its own scenario and is paced like a good movie. And the recipes are so good, your script will be guaranteed a happy ending.

The Paris Cafe Cookbook is book of meals to be made with love and shared with those you love and about a city that Daniel Young loves dearly.

This wonderfully written, beautifully photographed and illustrated hommage to the City of Lights is must for all who love Paris, and, by extension, all who love life.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Recipes, August 12, 2002

By A Customer

The recipes from the book are truly delightful. I've made several of them over the past two years. This book is well-written and does justice to a cook outside France, by providing reasonable substitutions. Once while in Paris, I decided to compare the recipe results against the actual dishes at the cafes in the book. Surprisingly, the food tasted and looked very similar. The desserts are especially delicious - Mousse au Chocolat, Profiteroles au Chocolat, Peach Cake with Strawberry Sauce, Creme Brulee, Pear Clafoutis ... ummm!

25 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I live in Paris, and have never had bad meal with this book, March 7, 1999

By A Customer

I live in Paris and know hundreds of restaurants, but Dan Young's wonderful book has led me to wonderful places I never would have found, or have passed by dozens of times without a thought of going inside. I've never had a bad meal with Mr. Young's book, and every new choice is an adventure. As he says in his introdion: finding a greate expensive restaurant is easy, but finding value and wonderful food is a real art. Eat well!