Honkman

Actually it is the other way around. The big difference between cookbooks in Germany and US is the low number of photos in US cookbooks (I have quite a lot of them which hardly have any) and the large number of photos in German cookbooks. Even my older German cookbooks have often photos of nearly every dish etc. Also the quality of paper in the US us rather disappointing compared to Germany. I don't know in which bookshops you have looked in Germany but there are many "coffee table" style book available.

You might look into Baking from James Peterson: http://www.amazon.com/Baking-James-Peterson/dp/1580089917

Here are a few suggestions (even though I don't think any of them can replace Better Half which for us was by far the best and most creative restaurant in San Diego. Hopefully Chef John Kennedy will reappear on ther culinary scene soon): The Linkery (farm to table restaurant. The last few dinners were very, very good and service has improved a lot over the last few months) Jayne's Gastropub (very solid food, nice service) Restaurant at the Hotel Pearl (surprisingly creative food. Not your typical hotel restaurant) Wine Vault (fantastic $30 5-course dinners on Saturdays but also a lot other good wine dinners throughout the week) Alchemy (new restaurant in South Park with good food, Service can be mixed depending who is in) Cowboy Star (very good steak/meat focus restaurant) Terra (flies under the radar but has very good food)

What was the price for the tasting menu ?

Market Restaurant in Del Mar is a must. Check it out at its website: www.marketdelmar.com You will not be disappointed. However, they are always full so make sure you have your reservation before you go and they are not cheap - starter around $10-15 and entre $28-40. ← Place looks great, and $68 for a 10 course tasting is actually a great price! thanks for the tip ← $68 is for a 4-course tasting menu. Market is overall a good but not outstanding restaurant.

The new book from Thomas Keller "Ad Hoc at Home" will come out this fall. Will be interesting to see what level of cooking it will include

I am still puzzled how Cyrus was able to get two stars. We had an average (food quality) to lousy (service) dinner there beginning of January. In the weeks before and after we had great meals at Providence, Spago, Hatfields, Aureole, Picasso and all of them were much, much better than what we got at Cyrus. (with Providence as the highlight. Outstannding 15 course meal with service you would expect at a two star restaurant but at the same time not to formal ot unfriendly)

Do you have a car ? It will give you many more options. One restaurant I like in Culver City is Fraiche: http://www.fraicherestaurantla.com/

I haven't looked into the Flavor Bible but other books from Dornenburg/Page might cover what you are looking for. I would start by looking through Culinary Artistry.

At home or in restaurant not participating in the restaurant week. I always feel that exploring a restaurant in the restaurant week is a bad thing to do. The special menu often doesn't reflect the "real" quality of a restaurant, service is often lousy etc.

The Better Half has a webpage now. http://www.thebetterhalfbistro.com/ I can highly recommend to go there. Another good french-influenced restaurant in SD is Cafe Chloe Bob, I know it's now past Valentine's Day and this recommendation isn't exactly French, but it is in Hillcrest and why wait for Valentine's Day to roll around again for a date with your wife Try The Better Half (no web page as of now). It's been open for a couple of months in the space that was formerly occupied by The Abbey, on University between 1st St. and Front, next to Ortega's and across the street from Chilango's. The chef John Robert Kennedy was cooking at Cafe One-Three on Park Ave. until just recently. His cooking pedigree is pretty impressive for a chef in SD...CCA for culinary school in SF, then on to The French Laundry, Charlie Trotter, Daniel Boulard, back to SF to work at Gary Danko and now SD. The food is interesting, creative, almost all of it made in house (including some really good whole grain mustard), and well priced. The bread pudding is probably the best version in the city right now; it's light, almost souffle-like, flavorful and completely seductive. Service was warm, friendly, sincere and some of the best I've seen in San Diego over the last few years. The owner was recently affiliated with the very upscale Blanca in Solana Beach. The whole premise is built around 1/2 bottles of wine rather than full bottles. I dine a lot during the week and sometimes only want a glass or so of wine, not a whole bottle. I'm also not infrequently a solo diner and the half bottle appeals to me on that level too. Their wine list is extensive for half bottles (it includes champagne splits too) and we were very pleasantly surprised at how knowledgable our server was about the different wines. We basically told her what we liked to drink and she made a suggestion that turned out to be perfect for us. They don't sell full bottles of wine, but diners are more than welcome to bring full bottles with them, corkage is a very reasonable $5. Appetizers are $7 - 14, entrees $15 - 25, I thought the prices were quite reasonable, plus they do an amuse and intermettzzo gratis. Don't wait for Valentine's Day, grab your wife and go check out The Better Half. ←

If you look for very good (not outstanding) Italian food in Newport Beach I would highly recommedn Il Farro: http://www.ilfarro.com/restaurant.htm

As a German I can only say that I haven't seen a reasonable good German cookbook here in the US. If you want to read good German recepies I recommend buying a German cookbook written in German. It is not that difficult to understand German recipes especially if you use one of the German online dictionaries (e.g. www.leo.org is one of the best). A good German cookbook would be then "Die echte deutsche Kueche" http://www.amazon.com/echte-deutsche-K%C3%...9972505&sr=11-1 (I always have problems to get the links correct in eG). It covers a lot of recipes from the different regions in Germany and is pretty authentic. In addition the publisher Graeve & Unzer puts a lot of thoughts in their cookbook and has also very good pictures for each dish (something I really miss with American cookbook which often look very cheap).

This is unfortunate. Riko is a good friend of mine and I know how much he put into this business. I hope he stays in SD. ← Riko will open a restaurant in Kapalua, Maui.

The Cookbook Store in SD is nice but very small, unorganized and very crowded.

For Italian I really like "The Splendid Table" from L.R. Kasper

One cookbook from 2006 I really like (even though I just tried one recipe so far but it was very good) is Braise from Daniel Boulud. Molly Stevens is great for the basics of braising whereas this books has more unusual recipes.

I normally buy most of my meat as organic meat but the shopping possibilities here in San Diego are relative limited (Wholefoods and Jimbo). But there are many shops (TJ, Henrys etc.) which sell natural meat (and claim that it is minimal processed, free of antibiotics, pesticides, from grass fed animals etc.). I know that the "organic" meat includes certain processes and certifications which means it is controlled and nobody can claim something is organic if it is not organic. By searching on the web it looks like that there is no similar process for the "natural" meats. Does this mean that more or less everbody can claim some meat is "natural" with out any kind of evidence of the claims (e.g minimal processed, free of antibiotics, pesticides, from grass fed animals etc) or did I overlook some regulation for "natural" meat and it has a comparable standard as "organic" meat.

I use dry ice daily in the lab and I would never think about to use it even close to any kind of food I would eat. As long as you don't have any certified (regarding the purity) dry-ice don't bring it in contact with your food. And as mentioned don't bring it in contact with your skin or you will have nice frostbites.

I thought La Jolla Village would be the small "town" of La Jolla otherwise it would be more the UTC area. ← Not really. People who live in La Jolla may refer to it as a "village" but no one in the rest of San Diego does. It's just "La Jolla". La Jolla Village Shopping center (on La Jolla Village Drive) is west of UTC and is quite a distance from the actual "town" of La Jolla. I am sure the nearby hotels refer to themselves as "La Jolla Village Mariott" or something similar. And La Jolla Village Drive itself is nowhere near the heart of La Jolla. If you go west of the La Jolla Village Shopping center on La Jolla Village Drive, it eventually takes you past UCSD. La Jolla proper is quite far south from UCSD and La Jolla Village Drive. Hence, my question as to the reference of "La Jolla Village". Just seeking some clarity since some may confuse the two very different places. ← I live close to La Jolla and for me La Jolla Village is the "town" of La Jolla. But you are correct that the OP could have mixed it up. If he is staying in the UTC area it would be good to know in which hotel he is staying. There are only a few fine dining option in the UTC (Cafe Japengo etc.)

I thought La Jolla Village would be the small "town" of La Jolla otherwise it would be more the UTC area.

I don't know how much money you are willing to spend but La Jolla has some good restaurants around Prospect Street (and close by): - Georges at the Cove (Fine Dinig is on the main floor): http://www.georgesatthecove.com/finemenu.php?pmenu=2 - 9-10: http://www.nine-ten.com/eat-and-drink.html - Tapenade: http://www.tapenaderestaurant.com/menus.cfm - Jack's: http://www.jackslajolla.com/index2.html - Marine Room: http://www.ljbtc.com/Default.aspx?p=Dynami...e&PageId=204542

The problem is with Gaslamp that there not too many good restaurants.

Two good places for real Mexican food in SD are Chilango and Mama Testa both in Hillcrest, so it would be necessary to take a cab but both are definitely worth the small trip. Chilango is mainly central mexico based food and Mama Testa is a restaurant specialiced on Tacos from all over Mexico. The exmaples of tacos from every region in Mexico. http://www.chilangosgrill.com/ http://www.mamatestataqueria.com/

Does it have to be in Carlsbad or can the places also be in San Diego. In San Diego I would recommend Region, Cafe Cerise and Parallel 33 for good places to eat often focused on local produce (Region and Cafe Cerise) or an interesting concept (Parallel 33).