This collection of seasonal menus from restaurants located in New York City's TriBeCa neighborhood has a distinctly '80s feel. Recipes are hit-or-miss, with no big bloopers but with little blips that make preparation difficult. For example, Duane Park Cafe's recipe for Potato Salad with Mushrooms & Sun-Dried Tomatoes instructs the reader to boil the potatoes, drain them, and pat them dry with paper towels, but patting just-boiled potatoes with paper towels caused burned fingertips. There is a sense, too, that these restaurants are not revealing much. The acclaimed Chanterelle's corn custard was bland and uninspired, and healthful Nosmo King's sourdough toasts with tapenade and goat cheese are not particularly innovative. Many of the more original recipes call for special equipment: The Cleaver Company's corn madeleines are a cunning idea but require madeleine pans. (Coauthor Cleaver owns The Cleaver Company, a take-out shop and catering service and the source of some of the book's most unusual recipes. Hamburger is a writer and graphic designer, and Taft is a publishing consultant.) The authors try to work up a TriBeCa culinary philosophy in their historical introduction, but it boils down to fresh food and good-quality ingredients—no big secret, and certainly not specific to the area. Ultimately, geographical proximity is not enough to unite such disparate eateries as the funky Mexican El Teddy's and the chi-chi Italian Barocco. Upscale advertising. (Illustrations, not seen)
Pub Date: Jan. 15, 1995
ISBN: 0-89815-634-3
Page Count: 160
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1995
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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