LUCHOW'S GERMAN FESTIVAL COOKBOOK

This is as much a promotion piece for Luchow's as it is an Austrian-German cookbook, organized as it is around the New York landmark restaurant's annual festivals--the most famous being the Bock Beer Festival, the May Wine Festival and the Oktober Fest--and dripping with celebrity name-drops. Still, if you've ever eaten at Luchow's you won't pass this by without checking out their herring, schnitzels, game, wursts, kraut and dumplings. Some of the dishes are as standard as sauerbraten and hasenpfeffer, but there are also house specialities. Some favorite soups: lettuce, or eel, or barley, or cucumber-beer. There are a lot of cold salades a la Russe and volkisch things like pigs' knuckles and head cheeses. The Schoors recommend hazelnut torte, but the variety of desserts--mostly heavy, even when fruit-based--is wide. Mit schlag, liebchen.