Critique du Library Journal

Two collections of California's best. The latest addition to Collins's popular series ( America the Beautiful Cookbook, LJ 11/15/90; France the Beautiful Cookbook, LJ 10/15/89; et al.) is a locally specialized but stunning entry. The photographs of the California scenery/scene are varied and vivid, while the food photography is quite spectacular, and the recipes are far better and more interesting than those in several of the previous books. Recommended for most California libraries, and for any others that can afford this luxury. Like Robert Schneider's The Open Hand Cookbook ( LJ 11/15/89), the San Francisco Symphony's benefit cookbook offers a tantalizing collection of menus from some of California's most talented chefs. The roster of Bay Area contributors includes Jeremiah Tower, Alice Waters, Barbara Tropp, Ken Hom, and many other stars; many of the recipes are unmistakably ``California,'' but they do in fact represent a wide range of styles, and they've been well edited for the home cook. Recommended. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.