Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook

September 13, 2004
A celebrity with a high-profile position as executive chef at New York bistro Les Halles, and bestselling author of Kitchen Confidential
and A Cook's Tour
, Bourdain doesn't intend to break new ground. The dishes do exactly as the subtitle notes and include such solid classic fare as Onion Soup Les Halles, Steak au Poivre, Boeuf Bourguignon, Coq au Vin and Chocolate Mousse. Nearly all recipes are within reach of competent home cooks, and those that are more complicated or time-consuming—Bouillabaisse, Cassoulet and Roulade of Wild Pheasant—are thoroughly spelled out to calm most jitters. Foie gras, duck fat and dark veal stock are frequent components, but a list of suppliers makes just about every ingredient available. Even though many of the dishes can be found in other cookbooks, what sets this one apart is Bourdain's signature wise-ass attitude that pervades nearly every recipe, explanatory note and chapter introduction. Profanity adds frequent color. If Aunt Doris would blanche at pearl onions being called "little fuckers," a cook who prefers boneless meat in Daube Provençal a "poor deluded bastard," or a person nervous about making these recipes a "dipshit," this book is not for her. Photos. (Oct.)

Forecast:
With raves by Jacques Pépin, Mario Batali, Jim Harrison and Eric Ripert, Bourdain's handsomely designed book will be taken seriously even by those who aren't wowed by his self-conscious swagger. Viewers who have followed his culinary travels on the Food Network will also be attracted to the book.

October 15, 2004
Bourdain has been chef of New York City's Les Halles ("the best goddamn brasserie/bistro in the country") since 1998. With his best-selling Kitchen Confidential, he acquired a bad-boy reputation that he revels in to this day. Bourdain can be a smart, entertaining writer, but his smugness and reverse snobbery can be wearying-as can his indulgent use of profanity, not only in his boot camp-style introduction to the restaurant world but in the recipes themselves: Butter is "fucking soft," the "broiler sucks," the reader is a "dipshit." As for the recipes, they are straightforward versions of bistro classics from Frisee aux Lardons to Steak au Poivre. Expect demand.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.