Dinner is a lighthearted but often painstaking endeavor in this cookbook from the owner of Lumière Restaurant and Feenie's Bistro in Vancouver, Canada. With his own show on Food Network Canada, a recent Iron Chef title and two previous cookbooks (Lumère
; Lumière Light
), Feenie has won over fans for his creative mix of French fundamentals, Asian techniques and greenmarket ingredients. While this cookbook is based on homier bistro cooking, Feenie has infused the recipes with enough surprise elements to keep matters interesting. There's a Grilled Quail and Braised Endive Salad, Steak and Blue Cheese Pie and the choucroute-topped Feenie Weenie, a tongue-in-cheek reference to his schoolyard nickname. He doesn't believe in shortcuts, and some cooks may find his offbeat aesthetic difficult to pull off at home: Scrambled Eggs with Spinach and Rosti Potato requires rendered duck fat, and other dishes call for specialty ingredients like shiso, Japanese mayonnaise and yuzu, which might be difficult to find outside of major cities. Still, Feenie's sophisticated approach to cooking makes it an edifying read, and the food itself, captured in beautiful color photos, is something to behold. (June)
