This book is about the creative work of chefs at top restaurants in New York and San Francisco. Based on interviews with chefs and observation in restaurant kitchens, the book explores the question of how and why chefs make choices about the dishes they put on their menus. It answers this question by examining a whole range of areas, including chefs' careers, restaurant ratings and reviews, social networks, how chefs think about food and go about creating new dishes, and how status influences their work and careers. Chefs at top restaurants face competing pressures to deliver complex and creative dishes, and navigate market forces to run a profitable business in an industry with exceptionally high costs and low profit margins. Creating a distinctive and original culinary style allows them to stand out in the market, but making the familiar food that many customers want ensures that they can stay in business. Chefs must make choices between these competing pressures. In explaining how they do so, this book uses the case study of high cuisine to analyze, more generally, how people in creative occupations navigate a context that is rife with uncertainty, high pressures, and contradicting forces.

In Washington, DC, political rivals disagree on just about everything, but there is widespread bi-partisan support for the city's restaurant scene. The nation's capital and neighboring suburbs boast premier restaurants and inspired chefs who bring even the most hardened adversaries, to the table. Now, everyone, inside and outside the beltway, can savor a taste of the best Washington has to offer. With tantalizing recipes from more than 50 of the capital's most celebrated chefs and 100 beautiful full-color photographs, Washington, DC Chef's Table is a feast for the eyes as well as the palate.

It’s become less of a trend to talk about how trendy the Brooklyn dining scene is, and just an accepted fact that from Crown Heights to Mill Basin, Prospect Heights to Bensonhurst, Brooklyn is home to some of the best and most varied and most destination-worthy restaurants, not just in New York City, but throughout the entire country. More than just a collection of recipes, Brooklyn Chef’s Table uncovers a Brooklyn expressed through that glorious medium, food. By reading the stories of the members of Brooklyn’s restaurant community, the ones that grew up here and never left, or that came from other countries in search of a dream, or merely migrated across the bridge in order to better articulate their craft, you’ll discover Brooklyn as it was, Brooklyn as it is, and Brooklyn as it will be, far into the foreseeable future. With recipes for the home cook from 60 of the borough's most celebrated eateries and showcasing over 200 full-color photos featuring mouth-watering dishes, famous chefs, and lots of local flavor, Brooklyn Chef's Table is the ultimate gift and keepsake cookbook for both tourists and New Yorkers.

Portland, Oregon Chef’s Table celebrates the food and culture of what the New York Times calls the city’s “Golden Age” of dining and drinking. The city’s food scene—largely a celebration of the farm-to-table movement—has grown and evolved tremendously in the last five years, with an abundance of local farms, fisheries, and small beef, lamb, and pork producers providing the city’s iconic restaurants with a wide array of locally-grown deliciousness. Portland, Oregon Chef’s Table is the first cookbook to gather Portland’s top chefs and restaurants under one cover. With over seventy recipes for the home cook from more than sixty of the city’s most celebrated restaurants and showcasing stunning full-color photos from award-winning photographer Bruce Wolf, featuring mouth-watering dishes, famous chefs, and lots of local flavor, Portland, Oregon Chef’s Table is the ultimate gift and keepsake cookbook for both the tourist and the Portland local.

Very few areas in the world offer more diversity than the San Francisco Bay Area, a place that is without a doubt, “foodie central.” One reason for the major influx of the finest chefs and their restaurants here is perhaps twofold. First, the resident foodies love to eat out, not to mention the 16 million tourists that also visit here with food at the top of their to-do list. The second reason is perhaps the fact that the Bay Area offers chefs an incomparable proximity to fresh, local, and organic ingredients with which to cook, which anyone who cooks can tell you make all of the difference in the end result. With recipes for the home cook from over 50 of the area's most celebrated eateries and showcasing over 200 full-color photos featuring mouth-watering dishes, famous chefs, and lots of local flavor, San Francisco Chef's Table is the ultimate gift and keepsake cookbook for both tourists and locals alike.

Though the West was won years and years ago, the pioneer spirit lives on in Salt Lake City (SLC). The local food scene is ripe with opportunity and alive with food entrepreneurs filled with ideas that many thought would never take off in Salt Lake City?let alone fly. Salt Lake City may be known for a world-renowned choir and the Transcontinental Railroad’s Golden Spike, but it’s a modern, vibrant city that has held on to its pioneer spirit. And nowhere is that force stronger than in the local food scene, ripe with opportunity and ingenuity. The foodie community embraces collaboration and generosity, so local restaurants, bars, and suppliers—pardon the pun—feed on each other to reach greater heights. Entrepreneurs are serving everything from bone marrow to tumbleweed, while foraging for mushrooms and new ideas to elevate SLC and its culture. With 76 recipes for the home cook from the area's most celebrated eateries and showcasing over 200 full-color photos featuring mouth-watering dishes, famous chefs, and lots of local flavor, Salt Lake City Chef's Table is the ultimate gift and keepsake cookbook for both tourists and residents alike.

Austin is an oasis of creativity in Texas. Food ranges from mom-and-pop eateries and eclectic food trailers to high-end, chef-driven restaurants, and all of them have received a warm welcome from the community. East Austin is home to taquerias and barbecue joints, while north Austin claims some of the city's best Vietnamese and Korean cuisine. Austin Chef's Table is the first cookbook to gather Austin's best chefs and restaurants under one cover. Including a signature "at home" recipe from more than fifty iconic dining establishments, the book is a celebration of the city's creative food scene. Full-color photos throughout capture Austin's eclectic eateries and highlight fabulous dishes and famous chefs.