adamoem's review

4.0

Really cool book that kept me very entertained while teaching me new cooking tips and tricks and introducing weird veggie recipes I will have to try.

echiariz's review

4.0

So much fun! I read the comics and skimmed the recipes. The recipes sound great but not being an incredibly precise cook, I'm a little intimidated by the amount of work that goes into each recipe and messing it up because I'm not careful enough.
funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

Not at all what I would expect from a Grady Hendrix book, but delightful nonetheless! I love the comic art and detailed instructions. A very fun cookbook!

vizinie's review

5.0

J'ai tellement eu de plaisir à lire ce livre et j'ai TELLEMENT hâte d'avoir le temps de me consacrer à un projet culinaire qui en sera tiré.
jjp723's profile picture

jjp723's review

3.0

Very interesting cookbook/graphic novel (?). Everything sounds delicious but I am way too lazy to try most of these things at home. It did give me some ideas of things I want to try once I find an easier way to do them (smoked veggies!!)
skelegracie's profile picture

skelegracie's review

4.0

I really enjoyed this! It definitely shows that it was published in 2012, but it’s had lots of valuable tidbits about running/working in restaurants. And especially to be a hi-acclaim vegetarian restaurant! So many exciting ideas about “elevating” vegetables, I can’t wait to try the recipes!
stellaphent's profile picture

stellaphent's review

4.25
adventurous informative lighthearted fast-paced

Fabulous presentation for a cookbook. I just learned so much. I do wish the food dishes could have been in color or actual photos just because my brain processes things better that way, but the illustrations give a great perspective on plating that you just don't get with photography.
ajamarsh's profile picture

ajamarsh's review

4.0

do not recommend this as an ebook-- really hard to get through because of the unique format.

seattlecubsfan's review

3.0

Interesting enough as a graphic-novel memoir of the (much-abbreviated) trials and tribulations of starting a restaurant in New York. It also has some great tips about how to approach vegetables and how to get the most out of them. As a cookbook, though, it's way WAY too complex for a home cook with a family. I didn't try any of the recipes (and almost certainly won't), but a quick reading suggests that they are more chef-focused than home-cook focused, in that many of them seemed to leave out key steps, providing guidelines rather than instructions.
catmeme's profile picture

catmeme's review

2.0

Part memoir, part cookbook, this is one ambitious package that doesn't quite succeed.

There's a panel on p.28, detailing the Iron Chef judges' reaction Amanda Cohen's dishes, that perfectly sums up this book. Pondering Cohen's pickle and broccoli combination, Kelly Hu finds it "confusing," while the competitor's is deemed "illuminating."

And that's exactly it. Given the abject mistreatment that vegetables often receive in the US, you'd think that a recipe book that claims to do to flavor what Justin Timberlake claimed he did to sexy would make the recipes generally accessible. But no. What Cohen offers, beyond some pickles with dubious claims,* a few solid tips for vegetable cooking, and a good salad philosophy,** just isn't feasible at home if you have a life at all (8 hr dehydration, followed by rehydration, and 2 more hrs prep? lol no keep your one trick recipe thanks).

*No, hot vinegar is not a substitute for fermented pickled goodness. Never in the history of ever will this occur.

**Her dressings, however, are TERRIBLE. 3T acid to 3/4C oil??? 2.5T acid to 1/2C oil??? Those are oil spills on your plate, not dressings. If using lemon juice, a much more palate friendly ratio is closer to 1:1 for acid:oil, and 1:1.5-2 for vinegar:oil.

Anyway, the book is useful if you:
1) want to catch a glimpse of running a trendy restaurant in NYC (and don't mind tone deaf attempts at social commentary);
2) know exactly nothing about vegetarian cooking and feel up to kitchen challenges;
3) need ideas for time consuming things to do to carrots and zucchini.

Beyond that? Not sure. There are better vegetarian cookbooks out there, but no one probably picked this up because of the recipes. I know I didn't.