The '21' Cookbook

Nation's Restaurant News, Nov 6, 1995 by Michael Schrader

Restaurants and the chefs who define them are the pacesetters for fine food. Here are three cookbooks from restaurants that have become legends.

THE `21' COOKBOOK, Michael Lomonaco with Donna Forman, Doubleday, 1540 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10036, (800) 323-9872, 389 pages,$35.

Lomonaco, who has worked at Le Cirque in New York, has been executive chef at `21' since 1989. With the help of Forman, a Virginia food writer, he has told the fascinating story of, and provided more than 150 recipes from, this internationally celebrated restaurant at 21 W. 52nd St. in Manhattan.

As the authors explain, `21' began as a speakeasy more than seven decades ago. It was started by Jack Kriendler and Charlie Berns, who recruited customers from the Ivy League colleges. It was Prohibition, and the sons of America's first families patronized the place, not for bathtub gin, but Scotch and cognac from Europe.

When Prohibition ended, `21' became respectable and it expanded, incorporating an adjacent townhouse. It survived the war years and came to depend "more on corporate coffers than family fortunes."

The house that Jack and Charlie built has been the grazing ground for the rich and famous for a very long time. To maintain such a following, it had to offer great food. And that is what these dishes are all about. They are grouped as starters; soups and chowders; salads, vinaigrettes and dressings; fish and shellfish; meats; poultry and game; vegetables; grains, pasta stuffings; and desserts.

Standouts include the famous `21' burger, whitefish filets with morels and asparagus, `21' traditional bay scallops with lemon butter, giant blue prawns with garlic risotto, `21' traditional rib steak "Brizzola," and veal sweetbreads with capers and lemon.

This excellent cookbook about "the speakeasy that became a restaurant that became a legend" is must reading for all those who want to know what makes a restaurant a classic.

THE LUTECE COOKBOOK, Andre Soltner with Seymour Britchky, Alfred A. Knopf, 201 E. 50th St., New York, N.Y. 10022, (800) 733-3000, 573 pages, $35.

Soltner, who was born in Thann, Alsace, decided to become a chef at 15. He was with the Parisian restaurant Chez Hansi when the founder of Lutece, Andre Surmain, asked him to be the restaurant's first chef. In 1972 Soltner became Lutece's sole owner. Britchky has been writing about restaurants for 25 years.

As Britchky writes about the restaurant: "It has been said that of New York restaurants of its class, only Lutece is not tailored to its time and place, does not address itself to the received taste of a fickle public, does not indiscriminately flatter. ... No one is immune. All who enter come under the spell. Lutece has the power to civilize."

The 333 recipes in this excellent French-Alsatian cookbook include pike dumplings, stuffed baby bass, duck with raspberries and medallions of lamb au gratin.

PATINA COOKBOOK, Joachim Splichal, Collins Publishers, San Francisco, 160 Battery St., San Francisco, Calif. 94111, (800) 331-3761, 144 pages, $27.

This attractively illustrated cookbook presents a day in the life of Patina restaurant and Splichal, the German-born chef whose presentation of unexpected flavor combinations and exciting visual design has brought him to the pinnacle of the culinary scene in Los Angeles. The 60 avant-garde recipes include signature dishes like Santa Barbara shrimp with mashed potatoes and ahi tuna tower with avocado plum tomato and yellow bell pepper.