Boulevard

The Cookbook

by Nancy Oakes and Pamela Mazzola with Liza Weiss

One of the great pleasures of dining out—aside from actually eating—is that moment when your plate is placed in front of you. It's like being presented with a small work of art, created just for you. A drizzle of black truffle sauce, a scattering of smoked Spanish paprika... Rarely do we serve with such artistic attention at home, but with Boulevard, you'll be inspired to try.

From Nancy Oakes, owner of the fêted Boulevard restaurant in San Francisco, and her chef de cuisine, Pamela Mazzola, this beautiful cookbook offers 75 recipes from Boulevard and its predecessor, L'Avenue bistro. Because Boulevard's menu continues to evolve, the book is representative, rather than definitive. But that doesn't mean the recipes are watered down for lay chefs. This is complex restaurant food, and the authors make no apologies for that. What they do, as compensation, is employ an unpretentious tone and insightful narrative style that make Boulevard a literary as well as culinary contribution to the cookbook world.

Consider, for example, a recipe for pan-roasted wild King or Ivory Salmon with potato, bacon and watercress cake; shaved apple and fennel salad; cider sauce; and mustard vinaigrette. You're reminded about the environment impact of commercial fish farms and informed that, "It's good to be a patient cook and wait for each season to unfold. Although we're not particularly known for our patience, we do try to wait until late summer to put this dish on the menu." Further reading reveals the benefits of seasonal produce for this particular meal, suggestions for serving the fennel salad on its own, the appeal of Gravenstein apples and the steps necessary to prepare the dish.

Boulevard is unique in that—as evidenced above—it doesn't isolate side dishes into a separate chapter, but pairs them harmoniously with a main, much the same way a restaurant menu does. We love this. You don't have to flip pages back and forth while working on a meal, and you can feel confident in your combinations. After all, if fresh coriander risotto and green almonds worked with bacon-wrapped Maine monkfish stuffed with lobster and avocado in an acclaimed restaurant, it's sure to succeed in your dining room. Recipes come with detailed kitchen and shopping notes, which are small food essays unto themselves. Vivid, full-page photographs mean you don't have to guess at the presentation of Dungeness crab cakes with asparagus, lemon vinaigrette and crab salad, or Manjari chocolate truffle tart with salted caramel ice cream.

Much of the food in this cookbook is rich and therefore probably not for everyone. You'll find venison and lots of veal; don't be surprised to see bacon referred to as a muse in a recipe for endive and heirloom apple salad. But before you let skepticism get the best of you—salt-roasted Bosc pears and Roquefort salad threw us before we examined the recipe—read a page or two. Not only will you be hooked, you'll be confident that you, too, can prepare pan-roasted California pheasant breast with spring onions, prunes in Armagnac, braised bacon and Savoy spinach for your next dinner party.

Reviewed by Kim Fay

(Published: 12/07/05)

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