CRU Oyster Bar Nantucket Cookbook: Savoring Four Seasons of the Good Life

Eating and drinking wonderful things!

The perfect accompaniment to prepare a fantastic fresh meal.

Amazing!!!

A fabulous cookbook!

I love everything about Nantucket and Cru, but my book came in damaged on the edges of the covers and the pages were put in backwards and upside down. I’m very disappointed because I had been wanting this book for so long.

As a home cook that lives inland this book permits me to daydream about excellent seafood at the ready instead of the hit and miss supply that makes its way out to my part of the country. But, this book also tells the story of the CRU restaurant and even a bit of the history of Nantucket. Filled with intriguing recipes, the cookbook also offers enjoyable reading in each chapter.The recipes are organized by season from spring to late fall. At first glance this restaurant may at first glance to be a simple seafood shanty by the bay but it is a sophisticated restaurant serving some basics with their own creative twist, but also complex, inventive dishes.The book begins with Raw Bar Basics which covers what is needed and how to arrange the components. Included are recipes for sauces like Classic Cocktail Sauce, Horseradish Crème Fraiche, Key Lime Dijonnaise along with Shrimp Cocktail and Crab Cocktail. Wines are discussed throughout the book—favorites and pairings.As an example of the chapters--Daffodils and Antique Cars is the title of the chapter for the spring season. This is where the Clam Chowder and Lobster Rolls are located along with surprises like Potato Salad with Capers and Soft Cooked eggs, Spiced Fried Chicken along with Bittersweet Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Sea Salt Buttercream.I prepared the Lobster Salad with Grapefruit, Avocado and Quinoa because its summer and it looked cool and delicious--and the combination somewhat unusual. It was delicious and I will definitely make it again. And there are many other tempting recipes to try.Some recipes are suitable for novices but most require an intermediate skill level. And, other than the ability to find fresh quality seafood, most of the ingredients are not exotic or hard-to-find and should be available in a medium-size or larger city grocery store.Most recipes have an accompanying photograph which serves as a blueprint if preparing the recipe. There are also pictures of the restaurant, Nantucket along with the staff which helps flesh-out the text. The sturdy hardback book has a laminated cover so no worries about damaging a dust jacket—this should be a rule for cookbooks.Quality paper is used for the pages and the black text used for the recipes is the usual small font size which I estimate to be 8 or 9 point--and a kindness--bold print is used for the ingredients. In the back of the book is an area where the recipes are Organized by Occasion—picnic, grilling, side-dishes, dinner at home, etc.In addition, they are also Organized by Category—starters, main courses, sandwiches, soups, salads, desserts, etc. And, finally in the back of the book is a solid index which helps the user to find recipes quickly locate recipes, people and places within the pages. The care used in creating this cookbook is evident.

The Cru Oyster Bar Nantucket devotes many of its pages to describing Nantucket life and how the restaurant feels about everything from bluefish to wine producers to oyster farmers. For those reasons, this cookbook is not an ordinary listing of a chef's best recipes but rather one that evokes a certain lifestyle: casual but upscale. Recipes can be complicated or as simple as slicing melon (one of those "Seriously?" recipes.) Cocktails often contain esoteric liquors and homemade syrups. Seasonal recipes embrace both locally available ingredients and the weather. In addition to photographs of the recipes, the book includes photos of fishermen, shellfish, sunsets, and boats. Even if you don't cook from this, it's a great book to page through. But the recipes -- at least the ones I've tried -- are worth the purchase.The attitude of the authors and the restaurant are evident in the chapter subtitles: Daffodils and Antique Cars; Welcoming Spring, Nantucket-Style; Beach Cruising: Barefoot Holiday; Fall for Nantucket: The Romance of the Fading Light and Fleeting Days. Can't you picture the island through those few examples? I certainly can. The recipes follow suit. The Harissa Grilled Tuna with Leeks Vinaigrette was the perfect meal for an early summer night. The flavors were good, although the recipe itself, with essentially three recipes embedded in one, was more complicated (not difficult, though) than I would have liked. I ended up drowning the tuna in the leek vinaigrette because the recipe made so much -- and I still had tons leftover. Sliced Summer Tomatoes With Green Goddess Dressing was an interesting take on the ubiquitous summer salad; it would be been better at the height of the local tomato season. I'm looking forward to trying Burrata With Fig and Olive Tapenade. You'll find recipes for lobster bisque, whoopie pies, grilled littleneck clams with cilantro-lime butter, cranberry cinnamon rolls, and zucchini ribbon salad with lemon vinaigrette and mint. Most of the recipes scream "New England" but usually have a twist that makes them unique.Not surprisingly, the summer recipes appeal to me, but the winter ones are more blah and ordinary-sounding. I do love the contagious Nantucket attitude found on every page. I makes me want to invite friends over to enjoy a summer evening.-- Debbie Lee Wesselmann