The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook: A Year in the Life of a Restaurant

Michelle Wojtowicz · Philip Wojtowicz · Michael Gibson · Catherine Price

Jun 2009 · Harper Collins

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From the celebrated California restaurant comes a stunningly photographed cookbook showcasing seasonal ingredients, local vintners, fishermen, and farmers.

Chef Philip Wojtowicz, baker Michelle Wojtowicz, and host Michael Gilson escaped the Los Angeles food scene to create their version of the ideal restaurant, nestled in the heart of some of the most beautiful country in the world on the Pacific Coast. This is simple, wood-fired American cooking at its best, executed in a way that lets the ingredients—seasonal and often locally produced—shine. Weekend brunches feature thick, nine-grain pancakes and savory breakfast pizza topped with crisp bacon, fresh herbs, and pasture-raised eggs. At night, Phil offers classics like Grilled Prime Rib Steak with Red Wine Sauce along with twists on traditional favorites like Venison Osso Buco or Rockfish Scampi. And every meal should end with one of Michelle’s great desserts, whether it’s a homemade Peppermint Ice Cream Sundae or Hazelnut Flan with Roasted Cherries.

But this is more than a cookbook; it’s a yearlong glimpse into what it’s really like to live in Big Sur, introducing the people and places that make the restaurant’s renowned food possible, including Wayne Hyland, hunter and forager, Jamie Collins, organic row cropper, and Gary Pisoni, the eccentric vintner who supplies some of the restaurant’s most beloved wine. With its outstanding photography, lively profiles, and dozens of must-make recipes, this book helps bring the experience of Big Sur home.

“The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook tells the compelling story of the people and community that created that rare beauty: a great restaurant with soul.” —David Kinch, chef/owner of Manresa Restaurant

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Catherine Price is an avid traveler and writer who hopes never to see a body farm firsthand. Coauthor of The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook and a contributing editor at Popular Science, she has written for the New York Times, O, the Oprah Magazine, Salon, Slate, and The Best American Science Writing. Eric Schlosser, a contributing editor at the Atlantic Monthly, won a National Magazine Award for an article he wrote on strawberry picking for that magazine. His work has been nominated for several other National Magazine Awards and for the Loeb Award for business journalism.