Author: William King (Editor)
Publisher: Arnica Publishing (November 1, 2005)
ISBN: 0974568651

The following review was contributed by: Jennifer Murray Somerset: Click Here To Read Jennifer's Reviews

I have not had the opportunity to dine at McCormick and Schmick’s even though there is a restaurant here where I live. I have heard rave reviews of the atmosphere, the service and especially the food, so I was more than happy to have the opportunity to review their cookbook. I also liked that a short history of the restaurant’s origin was included and that it’s not so much a chain as carefully selected locations that has “community awareness that is reflected in each restaurants’ menu.”

The first thing I noticed about this cookbook that I loved is that it is written for couples or for a single person who likes leftovers. It is very refreshing, being newly married, to find a cookbook that doesn’t’ cater it’s recipes to feeding a small army as one is led to believe is expected with most cookbooks “ feeds four to six” recipes. It’s also broken down to around fifteen appetizers, seven soups and salads, sixteen sandwiches and pasta, eleven seafood classics, thirteen with salmon halibut as the main ingredient, as well as the same number of house specialties. For the more health conscious, there are ten seafood grills as well as eight house grill specialties that deal more with other meats than fish, and last but not least, five deserts and the recipes for the dressing, sauces, glaze, relish, salsa and batter needed to make the meals just a little more special as well.

Every recipe included in this cookbook has ingredients that you can find at your neighborhood store rather than a trip to an exotic store only known by a friend of a friend who’s a professional cook. Even though these are exotic gourmet sounding, the preparation is very non-threatening in steps and you also get guidance as to how certain things should look and smell to help you know you’ve cooked it long enough. I find that a big comfort since I am a novice cook and have no idea how a sauce should look when it’s cooked to the right amount.
Each and every one of these recipes sounds mouth watering delicious and most of the preparation time would be in trying to make a decision as to which one to prepare for that particular evening’s meal.