Villas at Table: A Passion for Food and Drink

Villas, food and wine editor of Town & Country , adores caviar and the late S.S. France , but also prizes M.F.K. Fisher's recipe for the perfect hamburger. Though fond of cognac, truffles and foie gras, the self-described ``ultimate wine snob'' salutes sardines, baked beans and bistros. His wide-ranging collection of 43 essays on his forays into food provides as many recipes as chapters, yet is not a cookbook. ``I've yet to turn out . . . biscuits . . . that can equal Mother's fluffy wonders,'' mourns the author, but gives instructions ``detailed enough to ensure reasonable success.'' Villas writes nostalgically of holiday meals and cooking traditions from his Greek-Swedish-Southern background, and candidly admits his dislike of la nouvelle cuisine (``the silly conceits of the so-called New American style of cooking'') and of ``young, inexperienced superstar chefs.'' His best pieceson country ham, scotch whiskey and the nirvana to be had at the Princess Grill aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2 are travel pieces for the roving appetite. The less successful ones merely chat on about people, places and umpteen favorite dishes. (Nov.)