Second Helpings from Union Square Cafe: 140 New Recipes from New York's Acclaimed Restaurant

Below are general observations regarding deliveries in the last month or so. The products are fine...But...Quite often I'm finding items to have been packaged inadequately OR in TOO much material.Example: Flexable silicone mats (10 & 12"D) packaged in a box designated 80 Z08. These items would have traveled quite safely in a bubble padded or a ripstop envelopeExample: USPS has shoved a book in my mail box slot. It didn't fit & blocked other items from dropping out of reach of post box pirates. Another book, Second Helpings/Union Sq Cafe was tightly wrapped in butcher paper that did not hold up at all well in transit. Luckily the book itself arrived undamaged, but such treatment puts hardcover book bindings are at risk. Soft cover books wouldn't survive. Frankly Powell's Books does a better jobBottom line: Speed on the packaging floor seems more important than getting it right. A bit more thought would result in fewer returns & hassles for customers. Same zip code but World Foods for returns is less than convenient. I shop a local grocery = donation of an item I decided easier not to returnHope this helps your understanding one customer's view of Amazon World. I don't always reply to these requests. The usual rating stars don't allow for adequate expression of an opinion. But I'm literally waiting for paint to dry

Anyone who has visited any of Danny Myers restaurants knows exactly what this book is all about. Trying to get a copy was very difficult as all of the bookstores were sold out ahead with advance orders. When I at last managed to get a copy the story and the logic behind it made the book a must have for any future venture into any service based business.Visit his original restaurant "The Union Square Cafe" just once, and you will be hooked. Each and everyone of his eateries are the apitome of perfection. The staff are thrilled to have you as their guest( and it shows ) the food and presentation is superb. Every single one is run in a manner that is hard to find in this day and age. I wish that New York was not so far away from beautiful South Carolina as my wife and I really miss the option of fine dining that we got so used to when living in Manhattan a few years ago.May Danny go on for many years setting high standards for everyone in all business's to follow successfully.

good book and easy to follow when cooking

This is the second cookbook I have bought about Danny Meyer's cooking style. The first one fell apart I used it so much. (I bought a second copy!) This one, I haven't used as much but each one I have tried has been excellent.

Best cookbook ever. I have bought 15 copies for different friends. Every recipe is incredible, if time intensive. But delicious.

Gave this book as a gift....I am sure he is enjoying it.

Here's the good news.Second Helpings will help you to recreate some of the fantastic meals served at the Union Square Café. This is not a book that most people can turn to without a special trip to the market, and the costs won't fit most people's day-to-day food budgets. If you live in the heart of New York, San Francisco or Seattle, you may not find shopping for Second Helping's recipes difficult. But many people will have to make an effort to make this food. Nowadays even many upscale areas lack butcher shops and fish markets. Special fruits and vegetables often require planning and a trip to the farmer's market. The cost of the cuts of meat and fresh fish, called for in this book, will be impossible for many people to justify without a special occassion.Keep in mind that many, if not most of the recipes in Second Helpings call for at least one of the following1) An expensive pantry item such as cognac, brandy, Scotch whiskey or2) Something hard to find such as tripe or honeycomb tripe, fresh calamari, green tomatoes, Italian plums, sheeps-milk ricotta, cardoon (a kind of Italian celery), store bought veal stock, fingerling potatoes, venison, dried pomegranate seeds3) An expensive fresh ingredient such as fresh lump crabmeat, fresh lobster, rack of lamb, lamb chops, rack of veal, veal shoulder (also hard to find in many places)4) Something that takes a lot of time such as homemade veal stock (expensive and veal bones are hard to find) homemade chicken stock, homemade fish stock etc.The exception to this is the desserts, a number of which call for common ingredients and are not terribly expensive or time consuming to make.When you go to the Union Square Café in NY you don't expect the kind of food you have been whipping up after work. You expect marvelous, creative, expensive food that took some doing. This a great book to buy, so long as you realize that that is exactly what you are in for with this book.. I gave this book four stars because, well, the food is amazing. Its fun to read, even if you can't make the recipes too often. But be advised, this is not a book to open Tuesday night after work when you need to get supper on the table by seven.