What Honolulu chefs are reading now

Looking for holiday gifts? Check out what some Honolulu chefs are reading now:

Quinten Frye, chef at Salt

  • Vietnamese Home Cooking by Charles Phan of The Slanted Door in San Francisco
    This was Frye's most recent cookbook purchase: "I'm most drawn towards this style because of the authenticity, tradition and technique, and the ingredients that are used can be found throughout Hawaii."
  • Lucky Peach
    David Chang's quarterly magazine published by McSweeney's "has drawn a lot of attention from fellow cooks/chefs. I like [Chang's] raw, behind-the-scenes look at the culinary world."

Ed Kenney, chef/owner at Town

  • A Girl and Her Pig by April Bloomfield of The Spotted Pig, The Breslin and The John Dory in New York
    Ed Kenney has a thing for a female chefs. No, not that in way (ok, maybe). He finds their food less ego-driven. Right now, he's digging Bloomfield's new book: "It's so good! So simple, soulful, satisfying."
  • Honpa Hongwanji's Favorite Island Cookery series
    "I've also had fun reading [this series] from the early '70s. The guilt-free use of MSG (aka "Flavor Powder") is awesome."

Lance Kosaka, chef at Cafe Julia

  • Lucky Peach
    "I really enjoy [the magazines] because they are always interesting, informative, hilarious and written from an industry standpoint."
  • Mission Street Food: Recipes and Ideas from an Improbable Restaurant
    Another quirky McSweeney's publication. Kosaka says he loves this book for the story—the evolution of a fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants operation spawning the nationally-acclaimed Mission Chinese Food and other ventures. 
  • Flour Water Salt Yeast by Ken Forkish
    Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson
    "I've been very interested in bread and baking lately," Kosaka says. "Not only are the technical aspects of these books interesting, but I really enjoy the stories they tell."
  • Bouchon Bakery by Thomas Keller
    "Bouchon is pretty unreal. As with all Thomas Keller books, it's filled with great stories, beautiful photographs, and it's very inspiring."

Lindsey Ozawa, chef/owner at Prima

Chris Sy, BreadShop

  • Fäviken by Magnus Nilsson
    Bon Appetit calls Nilsson's restaurant, Faviken Magasinet, "the most daring restaurant in the world." It's hidden on a 20,000 acre farm in a remote part of Sweden, so it may be hard to replicate some of the recipes, such as the grilled pine mushrooms with vinegar matured in the burned-out trunk of a spruce tree. Sy admits that as a cookbook, it may be impractical, but he finds the chef's fanaticism alluring.
  • Bouchon Bakery
    Bread is Sy's livelihood at the moment, hence Keller's latest catches his attention.

Lucky Peach, Tartine Bread and Faviken also available at R&D, 691 Auahi St.