Buvette: The Pleasure of Good Food

by Jody Williams, Mario Batali (Foreword)

The best of French Bistro cooking--simple yet sophisticated tastes--by the owner and chef of the celebrated New York restaurant.

Buvette will celebrate and capitalize on the trend of informal eating and simple entertaining, but with delicious flair. Jody Williams, owner of Buvette restaurant, shows the home cook how to create casual, polished meals without spending a lot of money or time. She has a certain aesthetic that is a combination of Italian and French bistro cooking in that she uses sophisticated taste combinations, but prepared in simple ways to make unforgettable dishes. A comfortable and interesting table will make your meals a pleasure and Williams offers suggestions for using varied plates (from your shelves or the flea market) and helps you think creatively about serving food, like scooping ice cream into a tea cup, or serving chocolate mousse in a silver tablespoon.

There will be recipes like Ricotta Fritters, Carrot Spoon Bread, Shaved Brussels Sprouts with Pecorino and Walnuts, Potato Chips with Rosemary Salt, Scallops with Caper Brown Butter, Ratatouille, Roasted Heirloom Apples Stuffed with Pork Sausage, Chocolate on a Spoon, and her special Tarte Tatin. There will be sections on Aperitifs and Cocktails and Coffees and Teas. Also included will be 25 sidebars that offer useful tips on everything from building a bar to removing wine stains. With gorgeous photography and surprisingly simple recipes, this will be the book cooks will turn to again and again.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Food and Drink, Nonfiction

304 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2014

About the author

If you really want to know about me, go to www.nobelwomensinitiative.org or goggle me. Too much information for my taste.

If you want to know why I wrote "My Name is Jody Williams" this is why:

Too often for my taste, giants of change are stripped of the flaws, weaknesses and complexities that make us all human and the focus is solely on their strengths. Then all buffed up and made almost saintly, they are put on a pedestal where they seem far beyond the reach of “ordinary” people. They become intimidating and hard to relate to and it’s hard to believe they are or were as human as we are or that we mere mortals could ever accomplish such things too.

In all honesty, I wanted to write this book because I know how many people think they are powerless in this world with so many issues challenging us. I know they are not. They just need to understand about activism and change and that we all can find ways to contribute. I am an inspiring speaker – much comes from the fact that I talk straight with people. I do the same in the book. I am who I am and I don’t try to pretend I’ve not made good and bad choices like everyone else I know. I think I help people realize that they too can make changes in the world without having to turn into a saint to do it.

If my work and my writing help some people really understand that, I'm supremely happy.

Reviews

[Sungyena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wowed by so many great ideas: season your toast like a steak, ricotta fritters, bibonade, crepe ribbons! Enchanted by the crazy cooks of the ‘80s-‘90s who could just go to Europe and work, then come back to NYC impoverished but within a decade find success running their own restaurants. Sounds like a fairytale now. Really enjoyable and lovely.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took this cookbook on my vacation. Turned out to be an excellent choice as this book is meant to be savored and enjoyed slowly. Many of the recipes are deceptively simple but described in mouth-watering detail for recreation by even the ordinary cook. Fine volume.

[Drew Dietz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best tidbit of life advice that transcends food and cooking, found in Jody Williams’ Mornings chapter regarding thoughts on translation... “In French there’s no word for cheap. There’s just pas cher, non expensive, or bon marche, good deal. There’s something wonderful about the absence of a negative word. I try to keep this way of phrasing things in mind.”

Buvette is an easy culinary Bible to approach simple good food. “Instead of using the obvious, slightly off putting description, chunky, we simply call it not too smooth.” I will continue to reach for this book as a foundation for the basics of food education like eating with the seasons. How attitude and approach informs flavor, avoiding anything processed and opting for fewer but greater quality ingredients. The method behind these recipes is how to provide a foundation that has unlimited tweaks, substitutions and paths so that the home cook can creatively express and provide one’s own original twist on any of these food concepts.

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've torn through 85% of the recipes in this book and for good reason: they're delicious, yes, but also they teach even someone who's been cooking many years a few new tricks. Apparently I'd missed out on the best technique for scrambled eggs in all this time! Williams instincts translate into beautiful recipes, like smolked salmon rillette (now a staple of my family's holiday meals) or the most decadent one of the best gateways into French cooking in recent years.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading this delicious book I was delighted to discover that the restaurant is still alive and well and living in the West Village. Can’t wait to visit on one of my future trips to NYC. While I likely won’t make many of the dishes myself, this chef’s approach to eating and living is something I appreciate very much. Beautiful book and lovely ode to France and Italy.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Borrowed from the library, but will be buying my own copy.

[Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

My go to cookbook!

[Beka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really yummy looking recipes, although also a good deal of cheffiness.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost passed over this book. When I first saw a copy, I opened to a section near the end that wasn't really anything I was interested in, even after flipping through a few pages. I put it down. *Thank goodness* I picked it back up a few days later and actually read through. The philosophy, the insistence on simple but good ingredients, the focus on perfect combinations to make a stunning dish with a short list of components... This is the most approachable and sense-making (is that a word?) cookbook of mostly-French food I've ever read. I am inspired to make rillettes and omelettes and crepes and aligot and buy chicken livers (again!) for mousse. Buvette is a lovely book and the experience of reading it is worth seeking out a copy, right now.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical restaurant cookbook with phenomenal photos and lots of food I'd love to eat but probably wouldn't make. I pulled a recipe for a shaved brussell sprout salad, a flourless chocolate torte (mainly b/c I think mine might have never made it into my cookbook and I think the kids would like it) and risotto with Meyer lemon (since we have a tree overflowing with lemons). I hope the lemons will hold off until I'm done on my diet!

[Rosemary]

I am SO embarrassed that I had to read this book before realizing that Buvette itself is around the corner from the girls' school. One of the first places I'm going when we get back to NYC next month.

[km · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buvette (the restaurant) is sooo good. This book is full of things I want to make (albeit with many of them a bit involved for my weeknight life) and I really like Julia Turshen's cookbook writing in general.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

French bistro cooking as a term sounds appealing, but then not much in this book truly captivated me (besides all the creamy/cheesy/potatoey things, but that doesn't really count).

[Lizzie Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a terrific restaurant - and now - how lucky we are to have insight into recipes from there.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

The recipes are not overly complicated and the food looks amazing! Great photography. Good food at its finest.