THE NEW ORLEANS RESTAURANT COOKBOOK

Tourists with fond memories of New Orleans cuisine and/or cooks with an affinity for the Creole will eat this up, as will native fans of particular dishes and establishments. Others can profitably skip the first section's petite histoire of eight distinctive New Orleans restaurants, bypass the more esoteric ingredients and arcane dishes in order to concentrate on the excellent hors d'oeuvres, seafood and sauces. Still others will find that they can't spare the cash and don't share the chamber-of-commercial spirit which the author (of Brennan's New Orleans Cookbook and The Art of Cooking With Spirits finds proper for the eminently food-conscious city in question.