American Flavor

In American Flavor, Andrew Carmellini—two time James Beard Award winner, acclaimed author of Urban Italian, and executive chef-owner of the hit New York City restaurants Locanda Verde and The Dutch—offers a magnificent collection of delicious, innovative, down-to-earth recipes and stories that get at the soul of how we eat today. Inspired by both traditional regional cuisines and the multicultural neighborhoods, global eateries, and ethnic groceries that dot the American landscape American Flavor combines a United Nations of cultural influences into scrumptious dishes that are a cornucopia of delights for armchair foodies, fans of super chefs Mario Batali, Joe Bastianich, and Nate Appleman, and cooks at every skill level who appreciate real American food 21st century-style: sophisticated but down-to-earth, rustic but refined, and always deeply flavored and delicious.
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Andrew Carmellini, two-time James Beard Award winner, acclaimed author of Urban Italian, and executive chef–owner of the hit New York City restaurants Locanda Verde and The Dutch, takes readers on a wonderfully rich and diverse tour through the ingredients and cuisines that constitute American flavor

For most of his life, Andrew Carmellini has been hitting the road, tasting the best of American flavors. Whether on childhood trips escaping from the hard-bitten winters of Ohio to sunny Florida and its fresh citrus fruit, cross-country trips in pursuit of the Great American Breakfast, or five-meal-a-day swings through barbecue country, he absorbed everything he could about regional cooking, American-style, at every stop.

In American Flavor, Carmellini shares the lessons of his culinary life on the road in recipes and stories that get at the soul of how we eat today. Using the traditional regional foodways and the multicultural neighborhoods, global eateries, and ethnic groceries that dot the American landscape as his inspiration, he introduces delectable, enticing dishes that deliver maximum impact yet are surprisingly simple to make. In the book, you’ll find cheese pierogies inspired by the Polish church ladies of Carmellini’s native Cleveland right next to his take on savory-sweet barbecued beef short ribs from L.A.’s Korea Town; seriously smoky southwestern mole alongside savory lamb stew that takes its flavors from Astoria, the historically Greek neighborhood in Queens, New York. Every recipe reflects Carmellini’s laid-back style, midwestern roots, big-city palate, and dedication to great ingredients and serious flavor.

Along with the recipes are true-life tales of Carmellini’s crazy culinary travels across America, into Canada, and even to Europe. Whether he’s hunting ramps with the locals during an extern summer at a Virginia mountain resort or sampling some of the surprising off-menu specials at a hippie café in Vancouver, British Columbia, these hilarious, engaging stories tell the tale of the education of an American chef inside the kitchen—and out.

Entertaining and inspiring, American Flavor is a book that readers will turn to again and again, not only for special occasions and everyday meals, but also as a portrait of real American food in the twenty-first century: sophisticated but down-to-earth, rustic but refined, and always deeply flavored and delicious.

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“Andrew Carmellini’s Urban Italian is that rare breed of cookbook: written by a skilled, top-tier professional, yet at all times accessible, unintimidating, and inspiring to the home cook. In short, it’s everything a cookbook should be. The conversational style provides both a thrilling introduction and the feeling, while cooking, that the chef is standing next to in the kitchen, forgiving your mistakes, urging you along, painlessly expanding your reservoir of knowledge. In a world awash with Italian cookbooks, this one’s a must-have.” - Anthony Bourdain

“Andrew Carmellini is an enormously talented chef who brings a distinctive style and voice to his restaurant. Urban Italian captures that style and voice for the home cook with intriguing recipes—and also with great stories about the cook’s life, written with a candor and bravado not typically found in chefs’ cookbooks. A terrific book.” - Michael Ruhlman

“Andrew’s passion for Italy is contagious. Urban Italian is entertaining, informative, and witty.” - Eric Ripert

“This would be a great book if it did nothing more than faithfully capture between covers the great food served at A Voce. But, marvel of marvels, the modest-but-confident chef I’ve admired for so long for his cooking can also write his ass off. Urban Italian is every bit as intimate, profane, soulful, and amusing as Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential. To paraphrase Andrew himself on the subject of cooking, this book engages your senses, takes your mind off your day-to-day problems, and makes both the reader and (I’m pretty sure) the writer happy.” - Sara Moulton

“Like many Italian American chefs, myself included, Andrew had to go through France to get to Italy. Urban Italian takes the reader on that journey. Fabulous recipes, of course, but just as important are the stories that informed the heart and soul of this great chef.” - Tom Colicchio

“Creative yet accessible. Carmellini presents spectacular recipes while opening a window onto his life with food, from his Italian-American boyhood and cooking school to revelations while traveling in Italy and being a top New York chef. Carmellini gives [the recipes] an idiosyncratic touch that heightens flavors and makes them work for the modern cook at any skill level. Carmellini shows why he is considered one of the country’s best young chefs, and a natural teacher.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review)