Savor Seattle                   

Even a cursory glance around Seattle will tell you—this is a food and wine-loving town. It seems every other storefront is an intimate bistro or retail wine shop. Waterfront buildings are filled with a wonderful assortment of fine-dining restaurants and take out fish and chips. Winemaker dinners abound. Cooking stores sell everything a home chef could want (and more!).

None of this is surprising considering the natural bounty in the Pacific Northwest. Seafood abounds at our very doorstep, the state is filled with farmland and orchards and our wine industry has grown by leaps and bounds.

And we don't just love to eat and drink what someone else creates. We like to make it ourselves sometimes. Wine tasting parties with friends are popular and cooking schools offer basic knife skills to advanced training. It's no surprise, then, that Savor Seattle has appeared on the scene, offering recipes from 25 of Seattle's and the Eastside's top restaurants.

Yes, other cookbooks with restaurant recipes are available. Several things set this book apart, however. The first is that each recipe is paired with a wine from a Northwest winery.

Second, you learn a bit about the restaurants, their owners and chefs—décor, ambiance, menu and wine/cocktail program.

Third, photos of chefs, owners and recipes are beautiful and give you a sense of what each place is like and what your dish should resemble once plated (not that it has to match—that's not what it's all about).

Fourth, you learn about the wineries, the types of wines they specialize in, where they're located and become familiar with labels and logos.

Best of all, recipes are very clear with just the right amount of instruction. Instead of chefs making the assumption that every home has a professional kitchen, you'll see explanations of how to finish a dish if you're working on an electric stove vs. gas. Most recipes serve four to six.

It's also nice to know that a Seattle firm, Elton-Wolf Publishing, located right downtown, publishes the book. You can find the book at most major and independent book stores, COSTCO, libraries, airport and museum stores, or you can purchase your copy now at Amazon. Retail price $30.

Spring 2005