Alfred Portale Simple Pleasures: Home Cooking from the Gotham Bar and Grill's Acclaimed Chef

by Alfred Portale and Andrew Friedman

When you imagine the quintessential New York City restaurant, one name comes to mind: Alfred Portale's Gotham Bar and Grill. The same is true when you think of the top American restaurants: Gotham has been one of our most cherished culinary institutions for two decades.

Led by executive chef and co-owner Alfred Portale, Gotham has been honored with four consecutive New York Times three-star reviews and has resided among the Zagat Survey's...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060535024
• ISBN13: 9780060535025
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 2.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 8.0" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

Amazing!!!

I bought this book years ago when first embarking on my culinary adventures. Mr. Portale has shown me that cooking can be a simple task, leading to glorious results. I adore the pasta section. This cookbook will make you look like a rock star in the kitchen. Mr. Portale's other books are for more advanced cooks. This is definitely a great one to start off with.

Great cookbook

This is a cookbook for people who love to cook and would like some new ideas and combinations. The directions are good, the recipes work, and the food is delicious. It's easy to take off from the recipes, too, and use his ideas for the basis of a great new dish. As far as the truffle oil comment in a previous review, substitute good olive oil. I used three of his recipes for jumping off points for a large wine tasting dinner, and they all got raves. Portale's recipe for White Bean Crostini with Truffle oil, for example, is a simple and excellent do-ahead dish that can be assembled at the last moment. I substituted Moroccan olive oil for the truffle oil, and the crostini were a big hit. I expanded his Oxtail Braised in Red Wine with Mashed Root Vegetables in a lot of directions to serve eighteen--substituted short ribs for half of the oxtails, added 6 anchovies, and added taro root and potatoes to the root vegetable mix, but kept the essential recipe for the sauce and the procedure intact. It produced an incredibly flavorful dish that was easy to make the day before and just stick in the oven for the party. The dish is very wine friendly, too. I think that people who love food will love this book, and although Portale's a chef, the recipes are very simple and accessible for anyone who knows the way around a stove.

One of my favorite cookbooks...simply outstanding!

I own a large number of cookbooks, and this wonderful book by Alfred Portale is one of my favorites. The recipes are creative yet relatively simple and easy to follow. In particular, he is an absolute master with seafood. Recipes such as "Asian Stripped Bass en Papillote", "Lime and Butter-Braised Fluke (or Sole)", and "Roasted Halibut with Lemon-Caper Butter" have all become favorites in our home. I highly recommend this book.

One of the Best Examples of Modern Cooking

The book is called Simple Pleasures not Simple Cooking !! If you want to set your tastebuds alight, then go through some of the recipes in this book. Sure it isn't a book of simplistic recipes, of how to make your evening meal in 30 minutes or less, but that isn't what you buy this book for. If you want a book that shows you the recipes and thinking of one of the best modern American chefs, then you buy this book. Having gone through the book, I think that this will be one of the cookbooks that I will use the most. On a par with Bistro Cooking at Home by Gordon Hamersley, and Cooking One on One by John Ash. Some of the best of modern American cooking is contained in these pages.

love the restaurant, love the book!

Interesting info also given with some delicious recipes. Not for the "Semi-homemade" kind of cook. No gourmet ingredients necessary; truffle oil is readily available in most supermarkets.