Chi Spacca

“For home cooks, restaurant cookbooks usually serve as half archive, half inspiration, but Los Angeles chef Nancy Silverton writes ambitious recipes a home cook looking to grow (or flex) actually wants to try. The Chi Spacca cookbook, written by Silverton, Ryan DeNicola, and Carolynn Carreño, will fuel fantasies of massive slabs of meat seasoned with fennel pollen on the grill, served with salads of thinly shaved vegetables and a butterscotch budino for dessert. . . . What’s really wonderful about the book . . . is the way it mixes serious ambition with practical advice and tons of context. Silverton explains the inspiration and authorship of every dish, and in those headnotes reveals the extent to which Chi Spacca, for all its Tuscan butchery pedigree, is a deeply Californian restaurant. . . . And the recipes always consider the cook.” —Meghan McCarron, Eater

“The argument of Chi Spacca . . . is strong—and sensible: It’s not about how much or how little meat you eat—but the quality of that meat.” —Paul Kita, Men’s Health

“This hallowed restaurant is a temple of meat in Los Angeles. . . . For anyone who’s been wary of cooking meat on the grill, or cooking, this is essential reading. . . . The recipe for the restaurant’s most requested menu item, focaccia di Recco, is a game-changer, especially if you’re tired with futzing with a sourdough starter and want to step it up to dough stretching. Silverton writes, ‘… you may have no idea what focaccia di Recco is. Also called focaccia col formaggio (focaccia with cheese), this is nothing like any other focaccia you’ve ever tasted.’ Truth.” —Brekke Fletcher, CNN.com