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Matthew
read and liked
Chuck's
review of Alinea:
"As a coffee table book, Lara Kaster's photographs are some of the most stunning food photography I've ever seen. As a cookbook, the over 300 recipes included in this monolith are as addictive and all-consuming as any I've tried recreating.
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As a coffee table book, Lara Kaster's photographs are some of the most stunning food photography I've ever seen. As a cookbook, the over 300 recipes included in this monolith are as addictive and all-consuming as any I've tried recreating.
My issue with the book is with the essays. Given the writing talents of the food writers involved — Michael Ruhlman, Jeffrey Steingarten, Mark McCluskey and Michael Nagrant — the essays are mainly rehashes of better articles each has written about the Alinea dining experience and Grant Achatz's evolution as a chef. With Achatz's much-publicized recent battle with tongue cancer adding a necessary humanizing element to the aloof and overly serious chef, I expected more of Ruhlman's essay than the standard parallels of Achatz's culinary awakening to a existential journey.
The book could have been a chance to break down the barrier separating Achatz the presumed mad genius and Achatz the man. The Alinea team saved that for the complementary Alinea Mosaic website. There, owners of the book can participate in forums and engage in discussions with members of the Alinea team. I wished that this informality transferred onto the page, but understand the rationale for keeping the two separate-but-equal.(less)
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