This is the debut cookbook from Gabriel Rucker, named as a James Beard rising star. Le Pigeon: Cooking At The Dirty Bird ($30) features a serious but at the same time playful collection of more than 125 recipes from Rucker’s phenomenally successful restaurant in Portland. Dining at Le Pigeon is a culinary experience like no other as it celebrates both end of the cooking spectrum. Buffalo hot wings are taken to a whole new level thanks to sweetbread, simple potato salads become dirty with the inclusion of chicken livers and on the drinks menu you will find $3 Coors rubbing shoulders with premier cru Burgundies. This is the book that charts the rise of Gabriel Rucker to the very top of the food scene in Portland, and what a journey it is.
Cardboard Gods ($19) is Josh Wilker’s memoir, a quite brilliant writer who marked all the important stages of his life through his collection of baseball cards. It also perfectly captures what is is like to grow up with an obsession for baseball cards and explores what it is like to be a fanatic of the game. […]