CityFood Magazine - New Books from Quattro and C Restaurant

If the recession of 2009 hasn't been kind to the restaurants, the increased number of people renewing their cooking skills at home has been good news for cookbook sales. So perhaps it's not surprising that several local restaurants have been motivated to serve up their recipes on paper.

This season has already seen the launch of Blue Water Cafe: The Cookbook (Douglas and McIntyre) by Chef Frank Pabst and team (with sister restaurant Araxi to publish next). Come this fall, two additional top Vancouver restaurants, Quattro and C Restaurant, will join the authors group.

Mangia with Quattro will feature Vancouver's primo family of Italian Cuisine, the Corsis. Antonio Corsi, Patrick Corsi (along with help from friend Tanis Tsisserev) will present a family style album of photos, anecdotes and recipes that are much loved, both in the restaurant and around the Corsi table at home. Look for such dishes as Roast Pork Tenderloin with Grappa and Sun-Dried Cherries, Tripe with Pancetta, and everyone's favourite, "Glutton's Pasta".

With a reputation built on innovative treatments of pristine (and difficult to source) local, sustainable ingredients, its hard to imagine how C restaurant will capture its taste and techniques in an instructional tome that home cooks will be able to duplicate. Practical concerns aside however, the book is bound to be a visual eye-popper. Taking the opposite tack from Quattro's home style by aiming for an urbane and arty approach, C lived up to its penchant for taking classic concepts to new and unexpected places by reversing the book's production process. Normally photos are taken to illustrate the recipes. In C Food, Executive Chef Robert Clark was challenged to create dishes from the starkly dramatic and pre-composed photographs. The results should be interesting. Chef Clark and C owner Harry Kambolis invite you to be "a composer on the plate" with such recipes as: Bayne Sound Scallop with Coriander Grapefruit Jelly, Seared Albacore Tuna with Watermelon Three Ways, and Wine Lollipops.

Both books to be published in Fall 2009 by WhiteCap Books.