the girl & the fig cookbook: More than 100 Recipes from the Acclaimed California Wine Country Restaurant

You have to admire a cookbook that opens with recipes for martinis. These are fig-accented for the most part, in keeping with the theme chef-owner Sondra Bernstein has laid down for her restaurants and cookbook, all called the girl & the fig. It's about attitude, about fun, about good things in store. "Country food with a French passion" is what she calls her theme. And she paints it with the bright colors of California. Bernstein actually takes something as stale as fresh, local, and seasonal ingredients spliced to an ersatz French country cuisine overlaid with Northern California wine country easy living, and makes it work to her advantage.

Once past the pantry ingredients and the martinis, you are invited to consider the many taste treats in "A Small Bite," the likes of herb-marinated olives, apricot-cured salmon, and crispy sweetbreads. "From the Garden to the Stockpot" encourages the making of soup--cauliflower-Gruyere, perhaps, or carrot-ginger. "In the Salad Bowl" has nice touches like the grilled asparagus salad with lemon-thyme vinaigrette. "Large Plates" covers ground from wild mushroom risotto to pan-roasted halibut with spring vegetable ragout, to braised chicken with prunes, olives and capers. The braised beef short ribs are worth a second glance. Sondra Bernstein also treats us to vegetable side dishes, to a separate chapter on the cheese plate, to the sweets that end a meal, and to a consideration of the wines that round out the entire experience. In fact nearly all of the 100-plus recipes are matched with the kind of wine that would be served at the girl & the fig in California's wine country.

This is a spirited cookbook, with challenges for the new cook and happy reminders for the experienced cook. Sip that martini and turn the pages. --Schuyler Ingle