No other region in America boasts such concentrated culinary genius as the
Mid-Atlantic, dominated by New York's thriving food scene. This fall brings new cookbooks from acclaimed restaurants like The Gramercy Tavern and Daniel, plus a Chelsea Market Cookbook and an "autobiography" of Katz's Deli that no true New Yorker will want to miss. Brooklyn's delicious revolution continues with The Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book, 66 Square Feet, and Mast Brothers Chocolate. And upstate, Dr. Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell bring back classic desserts with their Beekman 1802 Heirloom Dessert Cookbook. Browse five of our favorite fall cookbooks out of New York below, or see all our New York cookbook picks here.
The Gramercy Tavern Cookbook by Michael Anthony
With nearly a decade and six James Beard Awards under its belt--including Michael Anthony's award for Best Chef: NYC--Gramercy Tavern's almost overdue for a cookbook--but this meaty volume is well worth the wait. Personal stories and 200 fabulous shots of the venue, its people, and its dishes capture the restaurant’s warm, festive atmosphere. But of course, you’re here for the food: 125 favorite recipes that give new life to American cuisine. Their aim: to inspire food lovers to “make memorable meals and bring the warmth of Gramercy into their homes.” Who can pass up that proposition?
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The Beekman 1802 Heirloom Dessert Cookbook by Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell
Upstate in Sharon Springs, amid bountiful gardens and meadows, Manhattanites-turned-goat-farmers Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell have created their own brand of modern country—Beekman 1802, after their historic house. They’re famous for their goat’s milk soaps and cheese, but now we get to see how sweet their bloodlines really run with this collection of family desserts, “from Brent’s grandmother’s Fourth of July Fruitcake to Josh’s mother’s Hot Chocolate Dumplings,” each accompanied by a story. From rustic favorites to real show-stoppers, it feels both nostalgic and completely now. Perfect inspiration for holiday baking.
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Balaboosta by
Einat Admony
"Long before I won Chopped or appeared on Throwdown with Bobby Flay, before there was cooking school, a husband, a better husband, and a couple of kinds, before I ever imagined running three restaurants of my own in New York City, there were Friday afternoons with my mother." In the kitchen of her childhood, she learned the Yiddish balaboosta ("perfect housewife") style of cooking from the gut. Today, sees a balaboosta as anyone "who lives life with gust, shuns fear, and relies on instinct over precision." Her collection of Persian recipes with New York attitude has grace and guts.
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66 Square Feet by Marie Viljoen
"I have always looked at what is growing at my feet to know where and when I am in the world. And then I have tried to eat it." On a tiny Brooklyn terrace, transplanted South African Marie Viljoen blogs about growing, cooking, and living a deliciously seasonal life. For her, New York is an "unfolding, edible calendar" that tells her when to forage maitake mushrooms in Green-Wood cemetery and pick serviceberries along the Hudson. Her lush, intimate prose welcomes you onto her terrace, hands you a generous glass of wine, and leads you through a succession of seasonal menus for shared feasts--"to look into someone's eyes, to see them, to share something good, something in common."
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Moosewood Restaurant Favorites by the Moosewood Collective
When Ithaca's Moosewood Restaurant opened in 1973, it focused on seasonal ingredients and traditional grain-based dishes, given a fresh spin. Between then and now, vegetarian cooking has gone mainstream, and foods that were rare--like yogurt, coconut milk, and fresh herbs--have become common. And the dozen cookbooks (with thousands of recipes) put out by the Moosewood Collective over the past forty years have undoubtedly helped manifest these vital changes. Moosewood Restaurant Favorites compiles their 250 most-requested recipes, from their Black Bean-Sweet Potato Burritos to Vegan Chocolate Cake. Read More.
See all our picks for great cookbooks out of New York.