Introduction

Restaurant Nicholas is my favorite restaurant. I also enjoy cooking at home, photography, and blogging (see: my other blog, and my chef's table review) . When I heard Nicholas Harary was coming out with a cookbook, needless to say I was excited.

After looking at the cookbook, I became even more excited. I have many cookbooks. I'm a cookbook addict. Old, New, Good, and Bad. The fact is, while I have all of these cookbooks, there aren't many cookbooks that I actually use! Many have great photography and list some great dishes, however, the recipes are not home friendly unless you plan on spending 7 days on one part of one dish. For example, Thomas Keller's, The French Laundry Cookbook. Others, like Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, have delicious and simple recipes, but lack pictures. Nicholas - The Cookbook, is the only cookbook I've found that combines the two. The photography, quality of the book, and dishes are on par with The French Laundry Cookbook, and the recipes are easily executable by a home cook. Restaurant Nicholas is the only NJ restaurant to get 4-stars from the New York Times. It's obvious that Chef/Owner Nicholas Harary and his wife do things 110%, and this book is no exception. My only negative of the book, if I had to be picky, is the cocktail section being a little weak. I'll let Dale DeGroff's "Essential Cocktails" be my bible for libations.

I'm going to use this blog as a 'showcase', if you will, to cook my way through every recipe in the book. I will not list recipes. Buy the book! I will also not advertise or profit or do anything silly like that. I just love cooking, and this is one of those "110% self challenges". My wife, of course, will be my sous-chef...and I might even have another Nicholas fan guest blogger from time to time...

Disclaimer: I'm good at a lot of things. However, grammar and writing, I am not. But, I'll try to give it my best.

I'd like to note, the "blogging your way through a cookbook" idea, is not unique. I'm not breaking any grounds here. Julie Powell did it with Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Julie's blog later developed into a book, and then a movie. I'll reserve my opinions on both.  Carol Blymire has done it with Thomas Keller's The French Laundry Cookbook and called it "French Laundry at Home". Carol is currently doing it with Grant Achatz Alinea Cookbook, "Alinea at Home". Carol's blogs are simply awesome.

I'm excited because Nicholas - The Cookbook, in my opinion, is the perfect balance between Kellers and Child's books, which is exactly what I've been looking for in a cookbook. Ironically, it happens to be dishes from my favorite restaurant.