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Look Inside Dominique Crenn’s Cookbook, Where the Kitchen Is an Atelier

"Atelier Crenn: Metamorphosis of Taste" hits shelves in November.

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Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Hillary Dixler Canavan is Eater's restaurant editor and the author of the publication's debut book, Eater: 100 Essential Restaurant Recipes From the Authority on Where to Eat and Why It Matters (Abrams, September 2023). Her work focuses on dining trends and the people changing the industry — and scouting the next hot restaurant you need to try on Eater's annual Best New Restaurant list.

Here now is a look inside lauded San Francisco chef Dominique Crenn's debut cookbook, Atelier Crenn: Metamorphosis of Taste. As first glimpses of the book teased, Crenn has created a gorgeous, multi-faceted look at the stories and recipes from her two Michelin-starred restaurant, with the help of co-author Karen Leibowitz and photographer Ed Anderson.

While multi-page, and in some cases multi-day, recipes for highly conceptual dishes —made with modernist techniques and ingredients like blue-green algae and powdered plankton — might not be what the average home cook is looking for, Crenn implores non-professional readers to let the book be an "invitation." "I believe that once we begin to imagine the aesthetic possibilities of cuisine, the potential for meaning is infinite," writes Crenn in the introduction. "With this book, I invite every cook in the world, from professional chefs to home cooks, to regard the kitchen as an atelier, and to get to work. Food is Art."

Back in 2013, Crenn told Eater she didn't want to "just do a book of recipes." Instead, she wanted to explore "Atelier Crenn, who we are, storytelling, and texture, and feeling, and emotion." Here now, a look at how she did it:

Atelier Crenn: Metamorphosis of Taste will be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and hits shelves on November 3 (pre-order now).

Atelier Crenn

3127 Fillmore Street, , CA 94123 (415) 440-0460 Visit Website