"Publicity is like the air we breathe; if we have it not, we die."

—Chef and cookbook author Alexis Soyer (1810-1858),

as quoted in Becoming A Chef  (p. 8)

Culinary experts Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page are happy to be interviewed by the media on subjects related to chefs, cooking, culinary trends, customer service, flavor development, food, menu design, restaurant criticism, restaurants, and all other aspects of the restaurant business.

They welcome sharing their expertise and opinions.  Andrew Dornenburg can be reached at (212) 642-5870 or via email at Dornenburg@aol.com.  Karen Page can be reached at (212) 969-0020 or via email at KarenAPage@aol.com. 

To request a copy of the authors' prior broadcast media appearances (including their interview with Matt Lauer on "Today") or a review copy of one of their books, please contact Julia at CookbookRave@aol.com. To listen to an audio sample using RealPlayer, click here.

Karen Page, Andrew Dornenburg and Matt Lauer on NBC's "Today"

Andrew Dornenburg, Karen Page and Fanny Kiefer on "Studio 4"

IN THE NEWS....in 2003

"Going for Original: It's not as hard as you think to skip the mall and get one-of-a-kind gifts. Why are we still reading cookbooks at this point? We've covered all the basics. Our omelettes are second to none, our sauces taste like nectar. We're dab hands at sauté work. We can braise with the best of 'em. And still the cascade of cookbooks continues. For me, they're a continuing source of inspiration and, yes, education. I'm rarely interested in what this or that celebrity has to say about food, and I'm especially wary of the glut of Food Network celebs. The best of the books that have appeared this year remain food-centered, and are more than mere recipe lists....Travel from the home to the professional kitchen with THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page (John Wiley & Sons), writers who earlier ventured into the restaurant business in BECOMING A CHEF and DINING OUT. The thesis in their new book is that 10 influential cuisines - Chinese, French, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Mexican, Moroccan, Spanish, Thai and Vietnamese - impart important lessons in dealing with food and cooking, and each cuisine has several noted chefs offering insights and sharing recipes. The comparisons are dramatic. "
— B.A. Nilsson, Metroland Holiday Gift Guide   (Holidays 2003)

"Booked for Christmas? 3 1/2 stars. THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF, written by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, is the ideal gift for the chef-wannabe on your Christmas list and is anything but ordinary. Dornenburg and Page have risen to the next level by bringing to the serious cook insider information from some of America's leading experts. The mouth-watering recipes found within the 430 pages are simply a bonus!"

— Morning Telegraph  (December 2003)

"Chef du jour: Alfonso Fonseca, Executive chef, Signature Room Grille; 6401 Purchase Drive, Woodridge (at Seven Bridges) How I got here: I came to Chicago from Mexico when I was 9 or 10 years old. I got my first job in a restaurant when I was 15 scooping ice cream for DB Kaplan's in Water Tower Place. Why I like cooking: Food is like a never-ending book. The more you cook, the more you learn. I like to absorb knowledge like a sponge and then put it together in great food. Favorite cookbook: CULINARY ARTISTRY by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page. It gives you different ingredients for each season and recipes to go with them. It also reprints some really old menus to show the evolution of food from 1960 to now."

— Laura Bianchi, Daily Herald  (December 31, 2003)

"If you love food, you'll love this couple and their books — Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page write about all things culinary, from history to criticism....The authors of five books on the culinary arts, the pair came out with a new edition of their fascinating BECOMING A CHEF this fall. Packed with tantalizing morsels of information from some of the country's best and most well-known chefs — including Philly's own inimitable Georges Perrier — this book will inform and inspire....Dornenburg and Page's most recent book THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF was published last month. After choosing the cuisines of 10 countries around the world, they asked well-known chefs and cookbook authors to explore each of the cuisines, discussing the staples of a national cuisine and its techniques."

— Sono Motoyama, Philadelphia Daily News  (December 31, 2003)

"THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page promises 'cooking with the best of flavors and techniques from around the world.' The authors are James Beard award winners. They have collected more than 100 recipes and insights from a stellar range of chefs and food writers, including Mario Batali, Alain Ducasse and Paula Wolfert. The focus is on 10 cuisines: Chinese, French, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Mexican, Moroccan, Spanish, Thai and Vietnamese. The result: a feast of food lore with the promise of much good eating."

— Bucks County Courier Times and The (Doylestown, PA) Intelligencer   (December 31, 2003)

"THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF is an eye-opening look at what the best chefs are bringing to the American table from Europe, Asia and North Africa. It is a book for people who love cooking, serving and eating great food and, more importantly, understanding that food. Trends and recipes identified through interviews with top chefs like Rick Bayless, Mario Batali, Paula Wolfert, and Daniel Boulud are presented in a way that reveals the spiritual heart of each cuisine."

— Myrna Collins, The Appleton Post-Crescent (December 31, 2003)

Fabulous Foods' Top 10 Book Picks of 2003: "#2 — THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF:  This fabulous new book by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page (who wrote another of our favorite books, CHEF'S NIGHT OUT) puts its finger firmly on the pulse of contemporary American cuisine.  With the philosophy that you must understand and respect the underlying principles of any cuisine before you can begin breaking the rules and creating exciting fusion dishes, the book takes you on a gastronomic tour of the world including Japan, Italy, Spain, France, China, India, Mexico, Thailand, Vietnam and Morocco.

With 100 recipes and content from some of America's most respected and innovative chefs and cookbook authors, you'll not only learn to make some great recipes, but will also get advice on how to taste, what to read, where to shop and where to dine for some of the best food in the country. Informative sidebars give lots of practical tips to help you make the most of the recipes, along with wine pairing advice.

This book is fun and educational to read as much as it is to cook with. Anyone who considers themselves a 'foodie' will want to have this invaluable reference in their libraries. Because America is such a melting pot, it makes sense to explore the culinary roots of our cuisine. Why not explore with some of the culinary world's greatest stars like Mario Batali, Rick Bayless, Daniel Boulud, Susan Feniger, Mary Sue Milliken, Jean-Georges Vongerichen and many, many more?"

— Cheri Sicard, www.fabulousfoods.com  (December 2003)

"The 'incisive, hip writing team' (Publishers Weekly) of Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, winners of the James Beard Award for Best Writing on Food, have brought together dozens of top chefs and cookbook authors-including Mario Batali, Rick Bayless, Daniel Boulud, Alain Ducasse, Julie Sahni, Nina Simonds, Paula Wolfert, and many others-to reveal the essence of ten popular and influential cuisines: Chinese, French, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Mexican, Moroccan, Spanish, Thai and Vietnamese. Andrew and Karen have written a wonderful new book called THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF...."

— www.healthnewsdigest.com (December 2003)

"[I'm] joined in studio this week with husband and wife authors Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page who have written books for every food lover on your shopping list.....BECOMING A CHEF, THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF, CULINARY ARTISTRY and DINING OUT."

— Phil Lempert, "Shopping Smart" on WOR Radio and syndicated to 100 other stations nationwide (www.supermarketguru.com  - December 28, 2003)

"Our kitchens are a great place to sample the diversity of influences that make up the culture of the United States. That inviting idea doesn't lack for guidelines: Among the wealth of cookbooks lined up to choose from are many offering traditional dishes adapted or evolved from ancestral sources. Here are a few to look at. THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page promises 'cooking with the best of flavors and techniques from around the world.' The authors are James Beard award-winners. They have collected more than 100 recipes and insights from a stellar range of chefs and food writers, including Mario Batali, Alain Ducasse and Paula Wolfert. The focus is on 10 cuisines: Chinese, French, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Mexican, Moroccan, Spanish, Thai and Vietnamese. The result: a feast of food lore with the promise of much good eating."

— Joan Brunskill, Associated Press as quoted in the Long Beach Press-Telegram, Myrtle Beach Sun News, Panama City News Herald, Redding Record Searchlight (December 24, 2003), The (Dubuque, IA) Telegraph Herald and The Capital Times (March 19, 2004)

"[Tonight's guests] are three people who know everything about food:  Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, and Dennis Ray Wheaton....Andrew and Karen have written a wonderful new book called THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF...."

— Milt Rosenberg, Extension 720 on WGN Radio / Chicago

(December 23, 2003)

Gael Greene Selects This Year's Keepers —

ASK GAEL:  Are too many cookbooks just barely enough?

"Even as I deaccession my cookbook overload, I can't resist the new....THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF, from my pals Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, explores flavors and techniques in the words of the chefs themselves."

— Gael Greene, New York magazine   (December 22, 2003)

"The Cream of the Crop: The cookbook awards bestowed by the International Association of Culinary Professionals and the James Beard Foundation won't be announced until spring 2004, but the food media has been publishing its own lists of the best cookbooks of 2003 at a breakneck pace over the past few weeks....Carolyn Jung of The San Jose Mercury News lists her picks for 'this year's best gift cookbooks,' which include THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF: Cooking with the Best of Flavors and Techniques from Around the World by James Beard Award-winning authors Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page (www.newamericanchef.com) and AQUAVIT by Marcus Samuelsson (www.aquavit.com)....The Web site FabulousFoods.com lists the top 10 cookbooks of 2003, with selections by editor Cheri Sicard. The top two books are...THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF: Cooking with the Best of Flavors and Techniques from Around the World by Dornenburg and Page."
— www.thefoodsection.com  (December 19, 2003)

"Required Reading:  At one time, a fine restaurant chef needed to know only one cuisine: classic French. Today, among those considered the best chefs in America are men and women cooking in Italian, Japanese, Thai or Mexican traditions. Or, more likely, they have found ways to blend and fuse techniques and ingredients from those cuisines and others. In THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF, Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page explore 10 popular cuisines from around the world with prominent American chefs who know and use each one. Each chapter is full of information about the customs and ingredients of each culinary culture, as well as recipes from several chefs. The chapter on Mexico, for instance, discusses American misconceptions about Mexican food, describes the culinary regions of Mexico, introduces the various kinds of chiles, suggests the Top 10 ingredients you need, suggests drinks and recommends cookbooks. There's a short section of 12 characteristic recipes. Every chapter puts the cuisine in the context of social life: how people eat throughout the day and the year. The 10 cuisines explored are Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Moroccan, Mexican, Italian, Indian, Spanish and French. Chefs who were interviewed and contribute recipes include Mario Batali, Rick Bayless, Daniel Boulud, Alain Ducasse, Julie Sahni, Nina Simonds, Paula Wolfert, Penelope Casas and Barbara Tropp."

— Polly Campbell, The Cincinnati Enquirer  (December 17, 2003)

"Cleveland-area chefs serve up titles of their tried-and-true recipe books:  Looking for the ideal cookbook gift this holiday? According to a national library database, nearly 2,500 titles were published in the United States this year alone. To sort through the options, and especially the titles that have proven more than useful, we turned to some Cleveland-area chefs and discovered which cookbooks have shaped their careers and inspired their passion....Matthew Moore, chef-owner of Ohio City's Souper Market...swears by Andrew Dornenburg's and Karen Page's CULINARY ARTISTRY, a compendium of complementary food and spice combinations."

— Amy Viny, The Cleveland Plain Dealer  (December 17, 2003)

"Mix-and-match flavors:  Some cooks look to books not for precise ingredients and specific instructions but for inspiration. One to look for is CULINARY ARTISTRY by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page (Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1996). The most relevant information is found in the aptly named section 'Matches Made In Heaven.' Arranged alphabetically, the list comprises about 328 ingredients and seasonings and, for each ingredient listed, the authors provide several complementary flavors."

— Waterloo - Cedar Falls Courier  (December 16, 2003)

"Cover Story:   Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page — Making America a Better Place to Eat. 

The Food Gurus:  A Husband-and-Wife Team from Murray Hill Works to Make the Nation a Better Place to Eat.

      Americans may like to order exotic foods, but they don't necessarily know how to cook them.  Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page want to change that.  This Murray Hill couple strives to inform foodies and chefs alike on ways to better the American kitchen.  In their fifth book, THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF, they turn their attention to ethnic cuisines, pointing out food basics that will come as a revelation to most cooks....The book includes recipes at the back of each chapter, and many are easy enough to prepare in even the smallest New York apartment.  Dornenburg and Page also completed an update of their first book BECOMING A CHEF this year and hope to continue their quest to better people's palates."

— Sara Bonisteel, New York Resident  (December 15, 2003)

"For the food lover on your list:  THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF: Cooking with the Best of Flavors and Techniques from Around the World."

— Biloxi Sun Herald  (December 15, 2003)

"HOLIDAY CHEER: Distinctive Books by Chefs and Experts May Find a Place Under the Tree — In looking for books to recommend on cooking and wine this fall, I found myself attracted to several that are not in the familiar (and much loved) recipe-heavy mold. Therefore you might want to file such mostly-for-reading books as THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF under 'food for the mind.'"

— William Rice, The Chicago Tribune  (December 14, 2003)

THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF: Cooking with the Best of Flavors and Techniques From Around the World  by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page is cited as one of the top cookbooks of 2003.

— The Akron Beacon Journal  (December 12, 2003)

"Choose a Gift of Exquisite Taste from This Wide-Ranging Dozen:  THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF: Cooking with the Best of Flavors and Techniques From Around the World  by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page."

— Wichita Eagle  (December 12, 2003)

Books to get the mouth watering —
Publishers again offer a feast of worthy cookbooks to put under the tree.

"The cream of the crop of this year's best cookbooks....Authors Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page tapped the knowledge and recipes of top chefs — Rick Bayless, Daniel Boulud, Alain Ducasse, Julie Sahni and Piero Selvaggio, among them — for lessons in 10 popular cuisines for THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF: Cooking With the Best of Flavors and Techniques From Around the World ($29.95)."

— Marilynn Marter, Philadelphia Inquirer (December 11, 2003)

"THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF: Cooking with the Best of Flavors and Techniques from Around the World,' Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page: Who is the new American chef? James Beard Award-winning authors, Dornenburg and Page provide the first reference to fill this information void. Our kitchens are filled with global flavors and techniques. Are we using them correctly? This expert husband-and-wife team has interviewed a bevy of respected culinary experts to get the answers. Includes 100 recipes."

— Muriel Stevens, Las Vegas Sun (December 10, 2003)

"Chef or ethnic cookbooks can be ticket to another world:

      Today's holiday gift column covers two subjects that have become staples of the cookbook industry: books by or about chefs and books on ethnic cuisine. Both take you on a trip into another world.

      THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF: Cooking With the Best of Flavors and Techniques From Around the World. This is the fifth book from the team of Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, whose first book, BECOMING A CHEF, made history in the professional culinary world. This book's thesis is that a dish won't work just because the parts sound good together. Therefore, before you try to fly on your own, learn the essence of other cuisines. They selected 10 countries: Japan, Italy, Spain, France, China, India, Mexico, Thailand, Vietnam and Morocco. Subjects include — Italy: procuring the best ingredients; France: Western classical techniques and savoir faire. It's sure to be another hit."

— Marion Sullivan, Charleston Post and Courier 

(December 10, 2003)

Our Picks for the Year's Best Gift Cookbooks:

THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF: Cooking with the Best of Flavors and Techniques From Around the World  by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page

"This-husband-and-wife team found a calling by delving into the inner workings of chefs and restaurants in such previous books as BECOMING A CHEF.  This time, the authors ponder what makes up a cuisine. With insights from chefs such as Alain Ducasse, Mario Batali and Rick Bayless, they dissect 10 cuisines, from Japanese to Spanish to Moroccan, to reveal the common techniques, ingredients and influences of each. Each chapter includes a list of recommended reading. Recipes include miso-marinated beefsteak and roasted poblano guacamole with garlic and parsley.

Best for: those who cook not just to eat, but also to learn about people, places and things."

— Carolyn Jung, San Jose Mercury News (December 10, 2003) as well as the Aberdeen News, Duluth News Tribune, Kansas City Star, Ledger-Inquirer, Monterey Herald, Sun Herald, Tallahassee Democrat, and Times Leader

"Book's greatest feature is its guide to pairing things:  CULINARY ARTISTRY."

— Redding Record Searchlight  (December 10, 2003)

COOKBOOK GIFT LIST:

"BECOMING A CHEF: Recipes and Reflections From America's Leading Chefs by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page: This is a revised edition of one of my favorite restaurant books. It offers recipes, lists, advice, interviews and engaging stories with America's celebrity chefs, including Mario Batali of New York via Federal Way, Daniel Boulud, Alice Waters and Emeril Lagasse. The book is a big, easy read, like a 362-page magazine.

THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF: Cooking with the Best Flavors and Techniques from Around the World by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page: The brightest star chefs, people from The Food Network shows and America's most talented cookbook authors contribute 100 international recipes, including ones from Japan, Italy, Spain, France, China, India, Mexico, Thailand, Vietnam and Morocco. Dornenburg and Page are New Yorkers, married and winners of a James Beard award for food writing."

— Bart Ripp, The News Tribune (Tacoma, WA) (Dec. 10, 2003)

On Food:  Book helps navigate new culinary terrain

    "Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page are the authors of THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF  (432 pages, $29.95). They discovered in their travels across the country that specialty ingredients once limited to culinary meccas aren't so exclusive anymore.

    'This is not a New York City or San Francisco phenomenon anymore,' Page says. 'We're all trying to learn about these ingredients and how to use them.'

      The premise of the book is that the accessibility of exotic ingredients has come at a faster pace than our understanding of the nature of those items and their proper use. There are also many misconceptions about each cuisine, and that French technique is the basis of all professional cooking.

      The authors, in the same way they helped demystify the field of restaurant criticism in DINING OUT, developed a guide to understanding what makes each of 10 cuisines what it is. They offer a culinary compass, divided into traditional, Western cuisines, experimental and Eastern cuisines, as a navigational tool.

     'If you don't have the language, it's hard to have intelligent conversations with people,' says Page, who isn't a cook but needed a way to communicate with her chef-husband, Dornenburg, and his friends.

     'I just keep asking the dumb questions. I'm a consultant by trade and I know how to make charts. I try to understand the world and put it into a visual. It's the anthropological process of figuring out what the hell my husband does.'

      The couple interviewed a bevy of experts in the cuisines, which includes Japanese, Italian, Chinese, French, Indian, Mexican and Spanish, who break down the barriers to understanding.

      For example, Indian cookbook author Julie Sahni says that one of the reasons there are misconceptions among American diners about Indian food is that " 'as Indian restaurants got better, they didn't teach Americans how to order. ... Indian cuisine is not necessarily mix-and-match food.' '

      Dornenburg describes the book as the Cliffs Notes to these cuisines. He found out the hard way that he didn't know as much about how to combine certain ingredients as he thought.

'One night, I made polenta and decided to add goat cheese and cilantro — it was horrible,' he says. 'We went out for pizza instead.'

      Page adds that 'each cuisine has something very fabulous about it and no one has articulated what makes one distinct from another.'

      To me, this book is full of possibility and knowledge. Like most people, I learn about different cuisines from travel or cookbooks or eating in restaurants. I don't sit down with a stack of books and do a comparative analysis. THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF, with more than 100 recipes, is a concise resource for anyone who likes to cook. It's also stimulating for anyone who likes to read food books.

      For more information about Dornenburg and Page and their other books, visit www.becomingachef.com."

— Hsiao-Ching Chou, Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Dec. 10, 2003)

"What books do chefs consult for inspiration?  Not all of the good gift cookbooks are new ones. Some of the best are classics, the stars of Christmases past (in some cases, Christmases way in the past). For ideas, we turned to some of the Bay Area's top chefs. After all, professionals are probably the biggest consumers of cookbooks, maintaining large libraries that they thumb through to spark inspiration or learn about different approaches to cooking....Chef Howard Bulka of Marche in Menlo Park:  Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, CULINARY ARTISTRY ($29.95). An excellent aid for professional chefs, including charts of 'food matches made in heaven.'"

— www.foodservice.com  (December 9, 2003)

"A great gift for a culinary professional or aspiring chef, BECOMING A CHEF, the winner of the James Beard Book Award for Best Writing on Food, is out in time for the 2003 holiday season in a newly-revised and expanded edition. Essential reading for anyone who loves food, BECOMING A CHEF is an entertaining and informative insider’s guide to the chef’s profession, providing behind-the-scenes look into some of the most celebrated restaurant kitchens across America. Dozens of America's leading chefs including Boston-based favorites like Todd English of Olives, Gordon Hamersley of Hamersley's, Susan Regis of Upstairs on the Square, Lydia Shire of Excelsior and Locke-Ober, and Jasper White of the Summer Shack, share their secrets for succeeding in this most demanding of professions."

— www.BostonChefs.com/rest_news/index.html   (Dec. 9, 2003)

"After weeks of holiday buffets, cooking with your own gourmet ingredients can be a gift to savor....Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg, coauthors of the recently published THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF, relish the spices and gourmet flavorings sold at Kalustyan's. The New York City specialty food purveyor imports whole spices and grinds them as needed so they're always fresh, says Page. They recommend the Urbani white truffle oil from Italy (250-ml. jar, $43); Fleur de Sel, a sea salt from Brittany (5.4-oz. jar, $17), or Persian saffron (2 grams, $10; www.kalustyans.com). Page says, 'They transform a dish from ordinary to extraordinary.'"

— Michelle Andrews, U.S. News & World Report

(week of December 8, 2003)

"CULINARY ARTISTRY...is a style manual for those who need to find out if a certain something will go with another certain something."

— Minneapolis Star-Tribune  (December 7, 2003)

""Mix-and-match flavors:  Some cooks look to books not for precise ingredients and specific instructions but for inspiration. One to look for is CULINARY ARTISTRY by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page (Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1996). The most relevant information is found in the aptly named section 'Matches Made In Heaven.' Arranged alphabetically, the list comprises about 328 ingredients and seasonings and, for each ingredient listed, the authors provide several complementary flavors."

— The (Bergen County, NJ) Record  (December 3, 2003)

"Rick [Bayless] is like an Eagle Scout in the industry. I thought he was the least likely to endorse fast food. It's sort of like seeing Bruce Springsteen endorsing a foreign car," said Andrew Dornenburg, co-author with Karen Page of THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF, a cookbook that features Bayless as one of the country's leading chefs. (...)  [S]uggests cookbook author Karen Page, "It's billed as Southwestern, but the tomato sauce tastes more Italian. Why didn't they use his salsa? That would have enhanced it."

— Candy Sagon, The Washington Post  (December 3, 2003)

[Authors' note:  We are long-time admirers of Rick Bayless, and while we share others' initial surprise over Rick's endorsement of a Burger King sandwich, we hope our comments in The Washington Post are not misread as critical of his decision to do so.  As we've expressed to Rick, we share the hope that the deep pockets of Fortune 500 companies will unite with the expertise of leading chefs to make this world a better place to eat — for everyone.  And we do believe that Burger King could start by substituting Rick's own Frontera salsa on the Santa Fe chicken sandwich — now that's an idea to get excited about!!]

"Layered flavors unite:  Leading chefs think about layering textures as well as flavors, according to Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, two James Beard Award-winning authors who co-wrote BECOMING A CHEF, CULINARY ARTISTRY, and THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF, among others. 'A juxtaposition of alluring textures and tastes goes a long way,' Page said. 'Certain classic flavor combinations have a synergistic effect: The combination of pineapple and coconut, for example, can be more than twice as alluring as either flavor on its own, because of the way the flavors play off of one another.'"

— Annie Pierce Rusunen, The Columbian

(December 2, 2003)

A Shortcut to Sophistication

      The best books are written with a crystal-clear purpose in mind, and Beard Award-winning writers Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page (BECOMING A CHEF, CHEF'S NIGHT OUT) have really honed in on a crucial subject for THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF ($29.95). 

      Their analysis of the current culinary situation hits the nail on the head.  "Whereas a young professional cook may have had the opportunity in years past to develop a solid grounding in classic technique (most frequently French) before branching off into multiethnic experimentation, today the same cook has to work from day one with an extraordinarily wide variety of ingredients and techniques," they write.  "The widespread availability of international ingredients has outpaced our ability to assimilate them into our daily cooking.  This represents both a major opportunity and a major challenge for the New American chef."

     Few full service restaurant operators or, especially, restaurant critics would argue against Dornenburg's and Page's thesis.

     This book is designed to fill the ever-widening information gap.  And while it seems like an impossibly large topic to cover, this clever duo devised a format that distills the essentials of 10 influential cuisines (Chinese, French, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Mexican, Moroccan, Spanish, Thai, Vietnamese) into digestible lessons for the reader.

     Each chapter begins with a lengthy profile of a particular country's cuisine, with key fundamentals spelled out via interviews with respected chefs and cookbook authors.  Then come recipes (one hundred in all for the book) that enables the reader to tackle the lessons just learned.  Dozens of celebrity chefs dot the roster of contributors.

     "We've narrowed down the gist of what you need to know about each cuisine in order to retain its spirit in your cooking," Dornenburg and Page say.  "In thirty pages per cuisine, we can make you feel like you have just taken an immersion course in that cuisine and our experts will enable you to better reproduce its food and its spirit in your kitchen."

     What a godsend.  This book will be of value to just about anyone who works in the back of the house or writes a menu cooked there.

— Bob Krummert, Restaurant Hospitality  (December 2003)

"THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF is like ten cookbooks in one.  Authors Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page chose to feature ten different cuisines, then asked some of the country's best chefs to contribute (look for French recipes from Daniel Boulud, Italian dishes from Mario Batali, and more)."

— Bon Appetit  (December 2003)

"Food Trends for 2004:  Fast-Casual — Consumers who want a quick bite coupled with more service and higher-quality food are turning to fast-casual chains. 'People aren't willing to settle for fast without flavor anymore and [are] looking for something that's a step up in price and quality," says Karen Page, co-author of THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF: Cooking With the Best of Flavors and Techniques From Around the World. "There are chains developing to fit that niche exactly.'"

— Devlin Smith, Entrepreneur  (December 2003)

Top Picks:  Holiday Gift Ideas

Best Books for Favorite Foodists
"Food pros and home cooks alike will be delighted with THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page. This recently-released follow-on to the authors' best-selling hit, BECOMING A CHEF, features the techniques of today's top chefs. Mario Batali, Daniel Boulud, Alain Ducasse, Paula Wolfert, and many others share the foundations of (and nearly 200 recipes from) ten influential cuisines: Japanese, Italian, Spanish, French, Chinese, Indian, Mexican, Thai, Vietnamese, and Moroccan. Anyone who loves to cook and wants to keep up with the latest global trends will be delighted to have this new book."

— www.culinaryforum.com/toppicks.html  (December 2003)

Gift Books for Cooks:

"FOR TRENDY DINERS

THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page

The authors are best known for their trilogy of books that look at the inner workings of America's restaurants. Now in THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF, they do a top-notch job of bringing the 10 most popular and influential cuisines to the home cook. The book offers advice on dining, tasting and stocking a kitchen. More important, they show through interviews with top chefs how simple it is to cook once you learn a few basic rules. For instance, marinate a piece of meat using lots of lemongrass, let it sit overnight before you grill it, and you will be well on your way to cooking with a true Vietnamese accent."

— Kathie Jenkins, St. Paul Pioneer Press  (November 28, 2003)

"A SEEDY PLEASURE:   The pomegranate is a truly maddening fruit. Served chilled, its juice-filled seeds burst in your mouth with a delightful, tart snap. If only they weren't so difficult to extract from their rubbery, bitter white skin. Fortunately, there is more than one way to eat a pomegranate. Tip Sheet gathered some novel serving suggestions:
ENTREES: Andrew Dornenburg, coauthor with Karen Page of the cookbook THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF, suggests coating fish and meat with pomegranate powder before cooking. "It adds an extra zing, and it's also beautiful," he says. Reduced pomegranate juice can also be used as a glaze to finish off meats, or in salad dressing. Juice and powder are available in grocery stores or at kalustyans.com.

DESSERT: Sprinkle pomegranate seeds over cheesecake or flowerless chocolate cake-anywhere you might use raspberries in summer."

— Anna Kuchment, Newsweek  (November 24, 2003)

THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF:  "A fabulous book!"

— Jim White, "The KRLD Restaurant Show" / CBS Radio - Dallas (November 23, 2003)

"FLAVOR MATCHMAKING:   Some cooks look to books not for precise ingredients and specific instructions, but for inspiration.  I've got a book for those cooks. It's the loftily named CULINARY ARTISTRY by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page (1996), also the authors of the better known BECOMING A CHEF.  It's not a cookbook per se. Nor is it a treatise on the techniques every cook ought to know. And it's certainly not a collection of culinary prose. It's more a style manual for those who need to find out if a certain something will go with another certain something. The most relevant information is found in the aptly named section 'Matches Made In Heaven.'  Arranged alphabetically, the list comprises about 328 ingredients and seasonings and, for each ingredient listed, the authors provide several complementary flavors. It may not come as any surprise that the entries under beef ribs read ginger, horseradish, mustard, potatoes, tomatoes. But it is incredibly liberating, when in a chicken rut, to alight on the appropriate page and find 57 compatible ingredients for a plain old hen. When the vegetable bin is overflowing with leafy greens or I'm flummoxed over a side dish for a dinner party, I consider it a godsend to flip through the pages and decide on mustard with the greens and walnuts with the watercress. And it's inspiring to be reminded in the midst of Thanksgiving chaos that perhaps that pear dish needs a sprinkling of black pepper rather than a drizzle of honey.   As with any reference work, it's not the entire book I value so much as a particular page or two in a desperate moment. The balance of the book's 426 pages are chapters on composing a dish and a menu, complete with advice from restaurant chefs. I confess I haven't read the book cover to cover. And I doubt I ever will. But it's nevertheless the one book that regularly makes the commute from office desk to kitchen counter."

— Renee Schettler, The Washington Post  (November 23, 2003), as well as the Minneapolis Star Tribune (December 7, 2003), Charleston Daily Mail (December 3, 2003), The (Hackensack) Record (December 3, 2003)

"Chicago magazine's own Dennis Ray Wheaton will be on 'Extension 720 with Milt Rosenberg' (WGN-720 AM) on November 27th from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m.  He'll be discussing Karen Page's and Andrew Dornenburg's informative new book, THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF, for which Wheaton wrote the Foreword."

— Penny Pollack & Jeff Ruby, Chicago  (November 20, 2003)

"IH/M&RS Bookstore - Presented by Kitchen Arts & Letters, a New York City-based culinary bookstore, the first-ever IH/M&RS Bookstore presented a variety of titles to the hospitality industry throughout the four-day event. Highlights of the bookstore included signings by the following industry professionals: Sherry Yard, The Secrets of Baking; Marcus Samuelsson, Aquavit and the New Scandinavian Cuisine; Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr, The Balthazar Cookbook; Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein, Raw; Christian Delouvrier, Mastering Simplicity; David Bouley and Mario Lohninger, East of Paris; Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF; and Charles Palmer, The Art of Aureole."

— Hospitality.net  (November 20, 2003)

"Chef Du Jour:  Cliff Ostrowski, Executive Chef, Windows, Oak Brook Hills Resort and Conference Center (IL)

My favorite cookbook: The one that inspires me most is a book called CULINARY ARTISTRY by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page. The authors chose specific foods, like veal, and then asked world-famous chefs to name their favorite ingredients to pair with that food. If you're a chef, the plate is your palate and ingredients are your colors. This book helps you coordinate the colors."

— Laura Bianchi, Daily Herald  (November 12, 2003)

"THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF is a master class between two covers on how to cook 10 different cuisines....There's information on how to taste, what to read, how to stock a pantry, even how to pair wines and teas with different dishes."

— Faith Middleton, "Food Schmooze" on Connecticut Public Radio  (November 12, 2003)

"THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF is not just for professional chefs, but for all people who love cooking!"

— Annie Copps, "Table Talk" on WBIX Radio  (November 8, 2003)

"Karen Page [interviewed] Emeril in 1992 when she was researching her book BECOMING A CHEF: With Recipes and Reflections from America's Leading Chefs. A revised edition was released last month. 'I think he had just shot some pilots for the Food Network. He was just on the rise. I didn't think anybody had any idea that he would become the household name that he is now.'  When Page and her husband and co-author, Andrew Dornenburg, interviewed Emeril they were particularly struck by his extraordinary customer service. 'Things like umbrellas on the way out to the car and a computer system so they knew the customer liked a Beefeater martini before dinner.'  In the 10 years since, she believes Emeril has created a unique spot for himself and the profession.   'Everybody's got a different place they want to go as a chef. And it's not everybody's dream to have multiple restaurants because it takes the focus away from the cooking. There are going to be chefs who have very personal, single restaurants. But for the first time in history, it's a matter of choice. People don't all have that sort of leadership and entrepreneurial drive. It's a very unprecedented and exciting time for chefs in America right now'."
— John Tanasychuk, The Sun-Sentinel  (November 6, 2003)

"Reader:  Karen Page

Age:  41

Occupation:  Author of books on food and dining out

Family:  Husband (and co-author) Andrew Dornenburg

[Karen Page] recently finished two books, THE NEW AMERICAN CHEFand BECOMING A CHEF.  'I'm definitely as productive and sometimes even more so working in spurts, but without the burnout,' she says.  That's also due in part to her exercise regimen, which has boosted her energy.  She celebrated her 41st birthday by running a half-marathon."

— Aviva Patz, Health magazine  (November 2003)

Interview with Eric Colgrove, Chef, Otto's Restaurant and Bar:

"Favorite dish to prepare: Walnut-crusted salmon with tomato-fennel beurre blanc.
When I'm hungry, it's late at night and no one is watching, I've been known to eat: Corn dogs.
If I could eat anything or anywhere it would be: I'd spend two weeks eating my way through Morocco.
Last cookbook read: CULINARY ARTISTRY by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page."

— Ronnie Hess, Madison magazine  (November 2003)

"This is a fun issue in other ways. In honor of Thanksgiving, Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, authors of such popular books as BECOMING A CHEF and CULINARY ARTISTRY, interviewed a number of wine and food professionals, as well as authors and executives, to get an idea of what dishes remind them of home and the holidays."
— Adam Strum, Wine Enthusiast  (November 2003)

"... And chefs like Batali found that appearing on the network gives them a far greater level of fame than they previously enjoyed.   Karen Page, co-author with husband, Andrew Dornenburg, of BECOMING A CHEF, said the couple were frequent visitors to Batali's first restaurant, Po, when it was a 'tiny little place.'  Yet the chef 'wasn't even on our radar screen then' as someone to feature in the book, Page said. Batali is now on the back cover of the newest edition."

— Kristin Eddy, The Chicago Tribune  (October 22, 2003) as well as The Baltimore Sun (Oct. 29), The Detroit Free Press (Oct. 28), The Houston Chronicle (Oct. 29) and Newsday (Oct. 28)

"THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF: Cooking with the Best of Flavors and Techniques from Around the World by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page (Wiley, $29.95) explores ten cuisines, with the help of Mario Batali, Daniel Boulud, Zarela Martinez, Paula Wolfert, Alain Ducasse, Rick Bayless, and many others. Great pics, tons of recipes, the usual first-rate work from Dornenburg and Page. Catch them on Saturday, November 1 at 3 pm, talking and signing, at Broadway Panhandler, 477 Broome [Greene/Wooster] 212.966.3434."

— Charlie Suisman, Manhattan User's Guide  (Oct. 27, 2003)

or visit www.manhattanusersguide.com

"Husband-and-wife team Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page have collaborated on their latest cookbook called THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF...which shares secrets of cooking with the vast array of global ingredients and techniques at the fingertips of today's chefs...."

— WLS-TV / Chicago  (October 14, 2003)

"KEEP IT SIMPLE, SAY FOODIES:  When Avenue magazine invited four writers to an eight-course dinner at Alain Ducasse, the most expensive restaurant in Manhattan, the guests didn't put on airs.  Etiquette expert Charlotte Ford confessed that when she's home alone, she cooks everything on a George Foreman Grill. 'Lamb chops come out crispy and delicious — I marinate them all day in soy sauce,' the automotive heiress told columnist Richard Turley.  Kitchen Confidential author Anthony Bourdain chimed in, 'I own a George Foreman Grill and I would never have admitted it. You broke the ice. It is fabulous.'   Andrew Dornenburg, co-author of THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF admitted he loved his grill, too.   Caterer-to-the-cognoscenti Serena Bass asked Ford if it's OK to put on lipstick at the table. 'The Queen does it,' Ford responded...."

— Richard Johnson, New York Post, "Page Six" (Oct. 13, 2003)

"...Anyone who buys a copy of THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF (only $20.96 with Amazon's 30% discount) between now and October 19th (its official publication date) via www.CookbookRave.com and forwards their receipt to CookbookRave@aol.com will receive a free $25 gift certificate to be used on Lobels.com. They'll also be thanked by name in the Acknowledgments section of [the authors'] next culinary book. Please note, eGullet will not be earning any commissions from these sales — we are simply alerting our members to a great offer."
— NewsGullet: The eGullet.com Weekly Update  (Oct. 13, 2003)

"Barring pre-emption by the Cubbies, our own Dennis Ray Wheaton will be on 'Extension 720 with Milt Rosenberg' (WGN-720 AM) on October 15th from 9 to 11 p.m. to discuss Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg's new book, THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF."

— Penny Pollack & Jeff Ruby, Chicago  (October 9, 2003)

"Asparagus with mint? Bleu cheese and mango? How do you know what will work and what will simply sear your taste buds? You could experiment — possibly traumatizing your family and guaranteeing your kids a spot on 'Oprah' — or you could learn how various flavors interact....If you want to look like a genius in the kitchen, top picks include Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page's CULINARY ARTISTRY."

— Chad Ward, eGullet.com's "Book Talk"  (October 6, 2003)

"To get started, Brand bombarded de la Torre with dozens of questions in advance. On the day of their get-together, he brought two pages of answers and a copy of CULINARY ARTISTRY, by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page.  Designed to help the recipe-dependent navigate the how, why and when of meal preparation, the book doesn't just explain what to do with, say, asparagus; it details many different ways to prepare asparagus — grilled as a side dish, pureed in soup, tossed in a salad with shrimp and a lemon vinaigrette."

— Ellen Sweets, Denver Post  (October 1, 2003)

"It's hard to say what makes authors Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg so readable:  their informed delivery of cooking lore, culinary history and explanation of techniques? Or is it the pleasure of getting inside the heads and hearts of some of America's great chefs and sommeliers? Why go out to eat if you can stay at home and gorge on THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF, in which Page and Dornenburg tell the story of 10 international cuisines through the instruction and techniques of U.S.-based experts in each type of cooking? The duo has collected recipes, techniques, quotes and insights from pros like Masa Takayama of Ginza Sushi-ko, Mario Batali, Daniel Boulud, Rick and Deann Bayless and others. It's required reading for aspiring chefs and latent foodies."

— Wine Enthusiast magazine (October 2003)

"Foodies in Paradise:  Richard Johnson & Richard Turley Invite Four-Star Culinary Stars to the Four-Star Alain Ducasse -- It had a bumpy arrival in town, but with its recent elevation to four stars by the Times, many gourmets regard Alain Ducasse NY as the finest dining experience in America.  To share a dreamlike four hours inside its velvet womb, Richard Johnson and Richard Turley invited experts in the field.  Andrew Dornenburg is a former chef who co-authored THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF with his wife, Karen Page."

— Avenue magazine  (October 2003)

"LunchBox Recommends:  CHEF'S NIGHT OUT by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page."

— Philly LunchBox  (October 2003)

"Hot Off the Press:  THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF.  These culinary authors tend to revolutionize any subject they sink their teeth into.  Learn to cook with international ingredients from ten cuisines accompanied by lessons and recipes from master chefs."

— Barbara Revsine/Lucy Webster, Local Palate  (Sept./Oct. 2003)

"Great American Cookbooks...Forget perfection — this fall, foodies are cutting loose in the kitchen....Trend #4: We Love Professional Chefs....'When we published our first book BECOMING A CHEF in 1995, we were stunned that 50 percent of the readers weren't chefs, just people interested in the subject,' says Karen Page.  Her latest book, written with Andrew Dornenburg, is THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF:  Cooking with the Best of Flavors and Techniques from Around the World.  'We've talked to top chefs and honed it down to their key insights.'"

— Hilary Davidson, Pages magazine  (Sept./Oct. 2003)

"When MatthewB asked the collected minds of eGullet to help him on the next step in mastering the art of cooking without a recipe, he was inundated with suggestions. The names that kept popping up include Jacques Pepin's Complete Techniques for a thorough grounding in the basics, CULINARY ARTISTRY for an advanced course in flavors and flavor combinations, and Cooking by Hand by Paul Bertolli."
— eGullet.com   (September 5, 2003)

"We're traveling and dining out all over the map this week. Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, authors of CHEF'S NIGHT OUT, reveal where America's top chefs eat when they have a night off. One goes looking for a hot dog with a 'caviar crunch,' while another wants a better meal in a Chinese restaurant and knows how to get it. Take along the chefs' 'Bests' List the next time you travel. From sushi to hamburgers, oysters to pizza, you'll be guaranteed good eating."

— Lynne Rossetto Kasper, "The Splendid Table" (August 30, 2003)

"If you are dyslexic or a free thinker, one who thinks freely, you are in good company. The following is a list of famous and practically famous people who have been reported in the media, on the web, and in books, as having some form of dyslexia or of struggling in school. Our intentions are to research these leads and profile their inspiring stories with factual information about their lives in hopes of opening the door to self-discovery for others. Some of the names are linked to others' websites that feature their biographies. Those with a little picture have a biography by us (Van Gogh, Dornenburg)."

— Stacy Poulos, Dyslexia.tv  (August 28, 2003)

"The Making of Marcus: ....Enough of the theory; how does it translate on to the menu? Well, in dishes like roasted scallop with saut,d foie gras, cauliflower puree and beetroot syrup — a great combination of poor and rich man's ingredients with a satisfying contrast of clean, fresh flavours and textures. Beetroot is rather in vogue at the moment, and it can easily be overplayed, but Ashenford uses its earthy sweetness sparingly, putting just enough on the plate to cut through the creamy texture of cauliflower purée and the decadent richness of foie gras.
Sometimes he matches beetroot with pigeon, and he's also been experimenting with using it in a dessert. The inspirations were a delicious, intensely fruity strawberry soup with creme fraiche sorbet that was already on the menu, and a classic Polish borsch soup. Ashenford's inventive take? — a cold beetroot soup with sour cream sorbet. Perfect for a hot summer's day and evocative of a Victorian kitchen garden, despite its Eastern European roots. Beetroot appeals to Ashenford because of its versatility. Nothing else delivers quite the same sweet earthiness or stunning visuals in one hit; and that means you can play around with it in both savoury dishes and desserts. But it does mess up the nice green veg chopping boards — 'and the baby ones are a bitch to prep, so I give them to Marcus to do,' confides Ashenford with a wicked smile. He also has a fondness for rhubarb, which he often makes into chutneys and compotes, serving them with game, for instance, or using them to give a sophisticated twist to that old childhood favourite, Welsh rarebit. His version — the only canape he sends out — also uses his trademark brown and white dual-loaf bread as a base. Why only one canape, though? 'People think that guides like Michelin judge you by the amount of canapes you do. But I've been to places were there are lots and lots of canapés and then the food's crap. What's the point of that? Better to do one and get it right.' Beetroot and rhubarb flavour matches:

Beetroot: allspice, anchovies, apples, bacon, cheese, chives, cloves, cream, creme fraiche, cucumber, curry, dill, hard-boiled eggs, fennel, ginger, game birds, horseradish, lemon, mustard, nutmeg, onions, oranges, paprika, parsley, pigeon, potato, prosciutto, quail, salt pork, smoked fish, sour cream, swordfish, tarragon, tuna, vinegar, walnuts, watercress

Rhubarb: apples, berries (especially strawberries), brandy, butter, cinnamon, cream, citrus fruit, ginger, oranges, pepper, pigeon, plums, sour cream

Main source: CULINARY ARTISTRY by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page."
— Caterer-online.co.uk (August 21, 2003)

"In an economic downturn, such as we are in, you'll see both better and worse customer service," says Karen Page, co-author with Andrew Dornenburg of the book DINING OUT.  'The smart businesses turn it up a notch to let great customer service become a competitive advantage in a crowded marketplace.'"

— Amy Cancro, The News & Record  (August 19, 2003)

"Seconds after that last bite of cake, the final sip of cappuccino and a quiet close to breezy dinner conversation, the check arrives -- along with who-owes-what anxiety. Here, Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg, co-authors of the book DINING OUT,  share their hassle-free bill-splitting tips that guarantee everyone goes home happy.'"

— Mary Margaret Chappell, First for Women  (August 11, 2003)

"This week we introduce a new column called 'Kitchen Bible,' where chefs reveal their most treasured and inspirational cookbook."  The first selection?  "CULINARY ARTISTRY, by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page."

— John Campbell, Michelin-starred chef, on Caterer.com (August 7, 2003)

"The Margot Cafe and Wine Bar is usually closed on Mondays, but lately the light is on in the kitchen anyway. Those are the nights chef and co-owner Margot McCormack has been teaching cooking classes there... As last week's class on shellfish got under way, she took time to mention some of her favorite cookbooks on the topic, including the latest edition of Sharon Tyler Herbst's The Food Lover's Companion , A.J. McClaine's Encyclopedia of Fish, and Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg's CULINARY ARTISTRY."
— Thayer Wine, The Tennessean  (August 4, 2003)

"Seconds after that last bite of cake, the final sip of cappucino and a quiet close to a breezy dinner conversation, the check arrives — along with that who-owes-what anxiety.  Here, Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg, co-authors of DINING OUT, share their hassle-free bill-splitting tips that guarantee everyone goes home happy."

— Mary Margaret Chappell, First for Women  (August 2003)

"THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF:  Dornenburg and Page (CHEF'S NIGHT OUT, BECOMING A CHEF) collaborate successfully once more, bringing together the international inspirations that today's chefs draw from.... Drawing on the knowledge of the leading exponents of each fare, and liberally sprinkling in quotations, they distill these styles, ingredients and techniques into a philosophy that can guide the chef or the inspired home cook to produce authentic results.... The finished work is deceptively thorough , [working best] as a guide to the values, tastes and methods that form each cuisine."

— Publishers Weekly  (July 7, 2003)

"...The answer may be the half-dozen chefs in the Twin Cities who have spent years working in Manhattan's best kitchens. If these chefs deliver, customers will be treated to exotic ingredients prepared in innovative combinations that people in the Big Apple consider the norm. 'They've gotten the best training that you can possibly get in the world today,' says Karen Page, co-author of BECOMING A CHEF and DINING OUT.  New York restaurant kitchens are competitive battlefields fueled by customers willing to pay top dollar for the best. And chefs had better please, or they risk losing their reputations. Cooking in those top kitchens exposes chefs to the hard-driving styles of the culinary masters as well as the best spices, produce, fish and meat. 'You get some pretty demanding customers who are eating the best food in the world every night,' says Andrew Dornenburg, a former chef who co-authored the books with Page. 'They don't suffer fools gladly'."

— Gita Sitaramiah, St. Paul Pioneer Press  (June 20, 2003)

"Creativity, knowledge are key ingredients to creating menus: A common joke among menu developers is that if they take one menu item from a competitor, it's stealing; if they take two, it's research. But according to chef and restaurateur Aaron Noveshen, the key to devising a unique menu that customers will crave involves more than scrutinizing competitors and trends. ...Noveshen shared his successful menu-developing philosophies at 'Creating Food Products Your Customers Will Crave,' a seminar presented during the 84th annual National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show here May 17-20....Food books that Noveshen said had been particularly helpful to him were CULINARY ARTISTRY by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, The Elements of Taste by noted chef Gray Kunz and others, and chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Mark Bittman's Simple to Spectacular."
— Amy Spector, Nation's Restaurant News  (June 9, 2003)

Andrew and Karen were featured on two segments of the May 2003 "San Diego Gourmet Club," the talk radio show of the San Diego Union-Tribune.