There are many people who are enthusiastic about food—the cooking of it, the preparation of it, the serving of it, and let’s not forget the eating of it. But Andrew Delaplaine is the ultimate Food Enthusiast. This is another of his books with spot-on reviews of the most exciting restaurants in town. Some will merit only a line or two, just to bring them to your attention. Others deserve a half page or more. “Exciting” does not necessarily mean expensive. The area’s top spots get the recognition they so richly deserve (and that they so loudly demand), but there are plenty of “sensible alternatives” for those looking for good food handsomely prepared by cooks and chefs who really care what they “plate up” in the kitchen. For those with a touch of Guy Fieri, Delaplaine ferrets out the best food for those on a budget. That dingy looking dive bar around the corner may serve up one of the juiciest burgers in town, perfect to wash down with a locally brewed craft beer. Whatever your predilection or taste, cuisine of choice or your budget, you may rely on Andrew Delaplaine not to disappoint. Delaplaine dines anonymously at the Publisher’s expense. No restaurant listed in this series has paid a penny or given so much as a free meal to be included. Bon Appétit!

There are many people who are enthusiastic about food—the cooking of it, the preparation of it, the serving of it, and let’s not forget the eating of it. But Andrew Delaplaine is the ultimate Food Enthusiast. “This concise guidebook was exactly what I needed to make the most of my limited time in town.” = Tanner Davis, Milwaukee This is another of his books with spot-on reviews of the most exciting restaurants in town. Some will merit only a line or two, just to bring them to your attention. Others deserve a half page or more. “The fact that he doesn’t accept free meals in exchange for a good review makes all the difference in his something brutally accurate reviews.” = Jerry Adams, El Paso “Exciting” does not necessarily mean expensive. The area’s top spots get the recognition they so richly deserve (and that they so loudly demand), but there are plenty of “sensible alternatives” for those looking for good food handsomely prepared by cooks and chefs who really care what they “plate up” in the kitchen. For those with a touch of Guy Fieri, Delaplaine ferrets out the best food for those on a budget. That dingy looking dive bar around the corner may serve up one of the juiciest burgers in town, perfect to wash down with a locally brewed craft beer. Whatever your predilection or taste, cuisine of choice or your budget, you may rely on Andrew Delaplaine not to disappoint. “Unlike the ‘honest’ reviews on site like Yelp, this writer knows what he’s talking about. He’s a professional, with decades in the business, not an amateur.” = Holly Titler, Los Angeles Delaplaine dines anonymously at the Publisher’s expense. No restaurant listed in this series has paid a penny or given so much as a free meal to be included. Bon Appétit!

The Best Restaurants, Markets & Local Culinary Offerings The ultimate guides to the food scene in their respective states or regions, these books provide the inside scoop on the best places to find, enjoy, and celebrate local culinary offerings. Engagingly written by local authorities, they are a one-stop for residents and visitors alike to find producers and purveyors of tasty local specialties, as well as a rich array of other, indispensable food-related information including: • Favorite restaurants and landmark eateries • Farmers markets and farm stands • Specialty food shops, markets and products • Food festivals and culinary events • Places to pick your own produce • Recipes from top local chefs • The best cafes, taverns, wineries, and brewpubs

IACP COOKBOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNER • In the first cookbook by a Black pitmaster, James Beard Award–winning chef Rodney Scott celebrates an incredible culinary legacy through his life story, family traditions, and unmatched dedication to his craft. “BBQ is such an important part of African American history, and no one is better at BBQ than Rodney.”—Marcus Samuelsson, chef and restaurateur ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time Out, Food52, Taste of Home, Garden & Gun, Epicurious, Vice, Salon, Southern Living, Wired, Library Journal Rodney Scott was born with barbecue in his blood. He cooked his first whole hog, a specialty of South Carolina barbecue, when he was just eleven years old. At the time, he was cooking at Scott's Bar-B-Q, his family's barbecue spot in Hemingway, South Carolina. Now, four decades later, he owns one of the country's most awarded and talked-about barbecue joints, Rodney Scott's Whole Hog BBQ in Charleston. In this cookbook, co-written by award-winning writer Lolis Eric Elie, Rodney spills what makes his pit-smoked turkey, barbecued spare ribs, smoked chicken wings, hush puppies, Ella's Banana Puddin', and award-winning whole hog so special. Moreover, his recipes make it possible to achieve these special flavors yourself, whether you're a barbecue pro or a novice. From the ins and outs of building your own pit to poignant essays on South Carolinian foodways and traditions, this stunningly photographed cookbook is the ultimate barbecue reference. It is also a powerful work of storytelling. In this modern American success story, Rodney details how he made his way from the small town where he worked for his father in the tobacco fields and in the smokehouse, to the sacrifices he made to grow his family's business, and the tough decisions he made to venture out on his own in Charleston. Rodney Scott's World of BBQ is an uplifting story that speaks to how hope, hard work, and a whole lot of optimism built a rich celebration of his heritage—and of unforgettable barbecue.

The definitive word on tacos from native Angeleno Wes Avila, who draws on his Mexican heritage as well as his time in the kitchens of some of the world's best restaurants to create taco perfection. In a town overrun with taco trucks, Wes Avila's Guerrilla Tacos has managed to win almost every accolade there is, from being crowned Best Taco Truck by LA Weekly to being called one of the best things to eat in Los Angeles by legendary food critic Jonathan Gold. Avila's approach stands out in a crowded field because it's unique: the 50 base recipes in this book are grounded in authenticity but never tied down to tradition. Wes uses ingredients like kurobata sausage and sea urchin, but his bestselling taco is made from the humble sweet potato. From basic building blocks to how to balance flavor and texture, with comic-inspired illustrations and stories throughout, Guerrilla Tacos is the final word on tacos from the streets of L.A.

WINNER OF THE JANET HEIGINGER KAFKA PRIZE FOR FICTION “The novel showcases the humanity, tragedy, and complexity of life in the West Bank. . . . The characters’ interwoven lives will stay with you long after the book's denouement.” —Entertainment Weekly “Sacks is an extraordinarily gifted writer whose intelligence, compassion and skill on both the sentence and tension level rise to meet her ambition. She keeps us constantly on edge. . . . City of a Thousand Gates makes a convincing case for a literature of multiplicity, polyphonic and clamorous, abuzz with challenges and contradictions, with no clear answers but a promise to stay alert to the world, in all its peril and vitality.” —Washington Post Brave and bold, this gorgeously written novel introduces a large cast of characters from various backgrounds in a setting where violence is routine and where survival is defined by boundaries, walls, and checkpoints that force people to live and love within and across them. Hamid, a college student, has entered Israeli territory illegally for work. Rushing past soldiers, he bumps into Vera, a German journalist headed to Jerusalem to cover the story of Salem, a Palestinian boy beaten into a coma by a group of revenge-seeking Israeli teenagers. On her way to the hospital, Vera runs in front of a car that barely avoids hitting her. The driver is Ido, a new father traveling with his American wife and their baby. Ido is distracted by thoughts of a young Jewish girl murdered by a terrorist who infiltrated her settlement. Ori, a nineteen-year-old soldier from a nearby settlement, is guarding the checkpoint between Bethlehem and Jerusalem through which Samar—Hamid’s professor—must pass. These multiple strands open this magnificent and haunting novel of present-day Israel and Palestine, following each of these diverse characters as they try to protect what they love. Their interwoven stories reveal complicated, painful truths about life in this conflicted land steeped in hope, love, hatred, terror, and blood on both sides. City of a Thousand Gates brilliantly evokes the universal drives that motivate these individuals to think and act as they do—desires for security, for freedom, for dignity, for the future of one’s children, for land that each of us, no matter who or where we are, recognize and share.