Chefs release CD cookbook of restaurant's most ordered menu items
By JAN HOGAN
VIEW STAFF WRITER
marlene karas/viewMichael and Wendy Jordan, the chefs and owners of Rosemary?s Restaurant, located at 8125 W. Sahara Ave., work on a shrimp dish on Jan. 5. They have released a cookbook on compact disc called "Food of Love."
steve andrascik/viewMichael Jordan, a chef and owner of Rosemary?s Restaurant, located at 8125 W. Sahara Ave., sautees shrimp.
Advertisement
A secret to good food is often in how ingredients are combined to complement the main ingredient. The secret is out when it comes to Rosemary's Restaurant.
Award-winning chefs Michael and Wendy Jordan of Summerlin are letting people in on their methods with their first cookbook, "Food of Love."
"Food of Love" contains 238 of their most ordered dishes, including ahi tuna, halibut, beef kabobs and grilled eggplant for the vegetarian crowd.
Wendy Jordan admits to recreating dishes she's tasted and admired at other restaurants. She said the Sonoma goat cheese toast recipe comes from her first line cook job at a New Orleans restaurant called Bayona. The chef there was Susan Spicer.
"We took our idea directly from an appetizer on her menu except that we changed the sauce," she said. "Did we copy? Absolutely. Why not do something that works and tastes fantastic?"
It works both ways. Jordan considers it a sign of respect when her eatery's recipes are borrowed by other chefs.
Her husband echoed that sentiment, adding, "When you take a recipe and make it your own, because it always seems that something gets changed along the way, it becomes a part of your life."
The Jordans opened Rosemary's at 8125 W. Sahara Ave. in 1999, and their menu draws from regional twists steeped in the traditions of New Orleans, the deep South and the Midwest for what they call their French-inspired American cuisine. The couple's restaurant is currently ranked No. 1 in the Top Food category for Las Vegas restaurants by the ZAGAT Survey.
Just as their food provides a twist on recipes, their cookbook provides a twist on publishing norms. It is only available on CD.
"At first, we were looking for a way to bypass the difficulties of having our recipes published in the traditional format, but we soon found ourselves asking the question, 'Why not a CD?' " Michael Jordan said. "People use their computers on a daily basis anyway, and a digital cookbook would be far more user friendly."
Besides, the print-on-demand method provided an economical avenue into the publishing world.
Once the "Food of Love" disc is loaded into a CD-ROM drive, it operates like a Web site, with user navigation and printer-friendly versions of the recipes. Each recipe comes with a photo of the completed dish.
Users can access recipes two ways -- by looking at chapters, or by choosing a specific recipe through the Recipes A to Z page.
Signature dishes on the disk include Hugo's Texas BBQ Shrimp with Maytag Blue Cheese Slaw; Butternut Squash Soup with Spice Cream; Crispy Skin Striped Bass with Andouille, Fingerling Potato and Rock Shrimp Hash; Creole Seared Scallops with White Cheddar Carolina Quick Grits and Creole Mustard Butter Sauce. There also are dishes that reveal how to make port wine syrup, balsamic extraction and toasted walnut vinaigrette.
"Food of Love" costs $24.95 and is available at Rosemary's Restaurant or at either www.rosemarysrestaurant.com or www.foodoflove.com.
Archived Editions| Advertising | Contact The Staff
