Product Description

Michael McCarty has played a major role in defining a uniquely modern American attitude to cooking, dining, and entertaining since 1979, when he opened his first acclaimed Michael"s restaurant in Santa Monica, California. McCarty"s approach, now enjoyed on both coasts with the opening of Michael's New York in 1989, has always been refreshingly simple: start with the best ingredients, cook them in simple ways that highlight their natural qualities, pair them with great wines, and serve them in a relaxed yet stylish setting. The result, in Michael's own words, should be a "great party," which this book makes possible for any home cook. Adding to the lively spirit of Welcome to Michael's are the voices of dozens of luminaries from the worlds of entertainment, the arts, the media, business, politics, and cooking who share their own insightful, sometimes irreverent opinions about the Michael's experience. The result is a book to be savored on many levels: as a guide to cooking for yourself, your family, and your friends and to entertaining with style; as a primer on the rewarding relationship between food and wine; and as an experience that comes as close as words and pictures possibly can to enjoying a meal at one of Michael's restaurants, surrounded by the luminous personalities who dine there.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #267188 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Chef/owner McCarty (Michael's Cookbook) has served celebrities, media executives and foodies at his self-named Santa Monica and New York City restaurants for more than 25 years. In this attractive, chatty volume, he proudly presents a distinctly bicoastal collection of 85 of his favorite dishes. Employing quality ingredients, McCarty uses relies on simple preparation and last-minute garnishing with fresh herbs. Classic examples of California cuisine include a simple goat cheese and beet salad artfully dressed in a white wine-Dijon vinaigrette and a dash of fresh chives, and dungeness crab served with a Meyer lemon butter. His east coast roots shine through in dishes like Baked Clams Casino and Soft Shell Steamers, as well as a trio of dishes featuring ramps sautéed with peas and morels, fiddlehead ferns and spring onions, and a assorted spring vegetables. Enthusiastic and patient, McCarty frequently takes time to extrapolate on topics such as charcuterie, lobster and mushrooms; his passage on choosing and opening oysters will prove a Godsend for frustrated fans of the bivalves. Liberally peppered accolades from famous friends and customers, on the other hand, prove little more than distracting. Those looking for a handy and accessible guide to creating elegant seasonal dishes will find a lot to like. Full-color photos throughout.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"Michael is irrepressible. He's always on. He's just this unfailing source of good cheer." -- Corby Kummer, Senior Editor, The Atlantic Monthly

"Michael shows you that entertaining at home is about not being conventional, not being stuck with clichés, boxes, do's and don'ts." -- Rémi Krug, President, Krug Champagne

"Michael's got a giant, happy personality, and I think it shows in his food." -- Donnie Madia, Co-owner, Blackbird, Chicago

"Michael's message to people is: Hey, you're welcome here. Come in and let's have a good time." -- Helen Gurley Brown, Author and Legendary Editor in Chief, Cosmopolitan

"With Michael, everything is always an adventure. You always feel that Michael is having as much fun as you are." -- D. Crosby Ross, Former Executive Director, American Institute of Wine & Food

About the Author
In 1979, at the age of 25, Michael McCarty founded Michael's, a restaurant in Santa Monica, California. An instant success, it remains one of the most acclaimed and popular restaurants in the United States. Both McCarty, who is the chef and owner, and Michael's have been written about in countless national and international newspaper articles and in numerous magazine features. McCarty currently operates Michael's in New York City and Santa Monica, and lives in Malibu, California with his wife, painter Kim McCarty, and their two children. Liz Smith's famous gossip column is syndicated in more than seventy newspapers. For eleven years, she served as the entertainment editor of Cosmopolitan magazine. A correspondent for The New York Post's Page Six and the author of NATURAL BLONDE and DISHING, Smith lives in New York City.

Customer Reviews

Eat, drink and be merry
I don't like to cook. At least in the past I didn't like to cook. But as I've gotten older and haven't had to cook for children anymore and with the advent of Top Chef, the television program that I love, I'm actually becoming curious about learning. So far all I do is study cookbooks and occasionally take a heartfelt stab at trying a recipe or two. It's a start.

Welcome to Michael's is an interesting cookbook because it's not just filled with scrumptious recipes, Michael also talks about the ingredients-the actual food that makes a dish great, rather than so-so. I found I had a new understanding about ingredients, their smell, freshness, color, crispness and the like. It makes a difference.

Michael's instructions were easy-to-follow and the photographs were not only beautiful, but contribute to helping the preparer `do it right.' Not all of the ingredients were those generally found in a kitchen (at least mine) but the end result (taste and appearance) make that extra trip to the market worthwhile.

My favorite recipes are: Jumbo Asparagus with a Seven-Minute Egg and Black Truffles. Oh, the black truffles! The Deep-Fried Soft-Shell Crabs with Ponzu Sauce and Asian Slaw (I didn't make but my mouth is watering) is a must make. The Grilled Copper River Sockeye Salmon with Fava Bean, White Corn, and Wild Mushroom Succotash is going to become my signature dish, I just know it. Now the Roast Chicken with Herb Butter is mouth-watering good. Everyone at the table loved it. A dessert to die for is the Flourless Chocolate Cake and the Cinnamon Rolls will be my downfall. Tomorrow morning I'm treating myself to Michael's Eggs Benedict, and I know I will be in heaven. Bring on that Hollandaise Sauce!

Welcome to Michael's just might help me with an attitude adjustment about cooking. I've already tried several of the recipes and have marked more for further attention.

Armchair Interviews says: Welcome to Michael's is a cookbook for everyone!

Good bread, good meat, good God! Let's EAT!
Michael's book oozes with his tenacity for food. What makes each menu item taste even better are the accompanying anecdotes describing the nature and origin of the dish.

I purchased it for my mother for Christmas, and she has called or e-mailed me frequently to share a Michael insight or memory, as she has followed his career with enthusiasm and even attended a workshop of his at Michigan State University.

While this book is not your standard measurements and prepartions cook book, what you get out of it is more than dinner. You get inspiration, and the smiling face of Michael McCarty.


Cheers,

Kelsey

The next best thing to having lunch there

Every few weeks, I meet friends at Michael's Restaurant. That's the sort of thing you do when you're a sole proprietor of a media shop in Manhattan --- you go where the Kool Kids go, just to remind them that you're alive.

And then you have lunch.

If that sounds like an inverted set of priorities, you're not a New Yorker. We get the reality: Michael's is two establishments in one. The first is a media cafeteria for the extremely powerful and their court jesters. The other is a damn good restaurant. Everybody talks about the cafeteria. The restaurant is noted mostly in passing. Both are misunderstood.

The powerhouse lunchroom is misunderstood because it is exclusive without being snooty. Michael's has white tablecloths and huge flower arrangements and walls covered with Hockneys and Diebenkorns, and it is annoyingly expensive and getting more so with every menu change, but you can go there, even if you're Nobody. You may not get to sit in the fabled front room. But over time, as you get to know the staff and/or make something of yourself, your lot may improve. This is in dramatic contrast to another exclusive lunchroom, the now-departed Mortimer's, where innocents routinely entered an empty dining room only to have the owner peer dismissively over his glasses and announce that his establishment was full.

The restaurant is misunderstood because so many people go there to rub shoulders with peers and would-be peers that they barely notice the food. It is possible to eat well here, but this is not a clientele that likes to chow down. If ever a restaurant should have a compost heap, it's Michael's.

Neither misunderstanding is fatal. Michael's has been a popular restaurant in Santa Monica for 30 years and has owned the power lunch business in Manhattan for almost two decades. That is not a record we will see broken in our lifetimes, and while it takes a village to raise a restaurant, most of the credit should go to the founder, Michael McCarty.

McCarty is such an exuberant guy --- "Party on, dude!" is his signature line --- that he's the restaurant's biggest misunderstanding of all. Alice Waters usually gets the major ink for inventing New American Cuisine, but McCarty was right there with her. And he has the credentials to prove it. After a privileged childhood of parties at summer resorts and ski retreats and an apprenticeship as a teenage gourmet at New York's better restaurants, he rushed off to Europe. He returned with a Certificate d'Aptitude Professionelle from the Ecole Hoteliere de Paris, a Grand Diplome from the Cordon Bleu, and a diploma from the Academy du Vin --- and a vision.

His vision was simple. He would streamline the eternally elegant recipes of France and prepare them using the freshest ingredients in America, then he'd serve his food in a room that was lovely but relaxed. As he puts it: "My cooking is presented simply, dramatically, with none of the fussiness you find in many fancy kitchens. Even those dishes that contain butter and cream, I use the light hand that modern sensibilities demand."

What McCarty does not say: He's a Rabelaisian spirit, maybe even Falstaffian. Truffles? Pile them on! Fois gras? Thicker! So let's be clear: This is not your everyday cookbook. It's got some great twists on old favorites --- like the salad of goat cheese, beets and lettuce dressed with a white wine-dijon vinaigrette --- but for every grilled chicken with tarragon butter there's a recipe for grilled chicken with duck foie gras and morels. If you're not billing your life to your employer, you may have to restrain yourself here.

But this cookbook has charms beyond food. It's also a summary of Michael McCarty's philosophy. Given his success, his obvious happiness and his uncanny ability to make the most neurotic people on the planet feel at home, that philosophy merits your attention. And, for good measure, some of the regulars offer their Michael's stories, which are often as funny and irreverent as the owner.