Family Table

February 4, 2013
If you cannot afford to eat at Gramercy Tavern, you can at least afford to cook like one of its sous chefs. That’s the premise of this solid and accessible collection of more than 150 recipes, derived from the family-style meals shared by staffs of 10 different New York City restaurants, all owned by Danny Meyer and his Union Square Hospitality Group. Too many cooks may spoil the broth, but the four dozen or so contributors here are striving for something more than a simple consommé. For instance, there is chilled carrot soup with frizzled ginger, as served up to the cafeteria staff at the Museum of Modern Art; and Romano’s secret-ingredient soup from behind the scenes at the Union Square Cafe (spoiler alert: the secret ingredient is polenta). Most of the family-style entrees have been scaled to serve 4 to 6 people and cover a broad international spectrum, from jerk shrimp to lasagna to lamb meatballs with yogurt sauce. Meyer’s Indian restaurant, Tabla, closed at the end of 2010, but is preserved here with a staff favorite, macaroni and cheese made with Grana Padano and thyme. Photos of the cooks at work are interspersed throughout the 11 chapters, and several of the contributors receive full-page profiles, including Chris Bradley, the executive chef at the Whitney Museum’s restaurant, Untitled. Bradley has been known to treat his staff to pulled pork and beans. Agent: David Black.

March 15, 2013
Part haute cuisine, part comfort food, dinners that chefs whip up for their kitchen- and waitstaffs before the evening's guests pile in serve as an object lesson in thoughtful meal planning. These repasts must employ ingredients readily at hand, must be appealing and attractive, can't take too much time to prepare, and daren't cost too much. Union Square Caf' chef Romano and food writer Stabiner have gathered recipes from Danny Meyer's lauded New York City restaurants, including top-ranked Eleven Madison Park. These staff dinners, eaten in haste, live up to the high expectations of food professionals. Diverse ethnic dishes represent culinary traditions from Korean short ribs through American southern biscuits and gravy, here in a lighter-than-usual version. On the other hand, macaroni and cheese brims with cream and chicken stock. Since staff members must rise from the dinner table and get to work, only a few desserts appear here: simple cookies or fruit-based sweets.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)