One of the Crescent City's most famous establishments, Arnaud's Restaurant, continues to attract connoisseurs to its labyrinth of dining rooms serving its justly famous Creole cooking. This new cookbook displays the restaurant to great advantage through its sharply focused, attractively lit photographs, whose warm colors emphasize the dining rooms' turn-of-the-century elegance. In these reproductions, chandeliers gleam, crystal sparkles, silverware shimmers, linens hold sharp creases, and nothing is out of place. The food beckons with those special spices and rich sauces that make New Orleans a favorite destination for anyone who enjoys eating. Recipes record the elegant dishes of the main dining room, such as pompano en papillotte. A section on brunches shows just how many ways one can serve poached eggs. The simpler traditions of Creole cooking, such as red beans and rice and grillades and grits, also get attention. Of special interest, a reproduction of an early menu lists a half dozen oysters Rockefeller for a preinflation 50 cents. Devotees of historic New Orleans cooking will appreciate all that this book offers. Mark Knoblauch Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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