Patricia Wells (1) (1946–)

I took this one to Paris on my honeymoon. Still have the book, but not the husband! A few souvenirs are slipped between the pages, including a menu from a wonderful meal on a bateau mouche.

The book is excellent. It's not limited to restaurants, but lists wine shops, cheese shops, markets, etc., each section divided by arondissements.

Since this edition is 20 years old, I'd buy a current one for my next trip, but keep this one for the memories.

Patricia Wells is my new best friend. I have had her cookbook, Bistro Cooking, for a while but only recently began cooking out of it. The recipes are simple but hearty French bistro fare that rely on the best ingredients for flavor, and each one I have attempted has been delicious. Her Marinated Goat Cheese, for instance, should be a pantry staple; it keeps for a long time, and it is a tasty snack and a useful ingredient to have on hand for salads and other dishes.

Wells’ book Bistro show more Cooking encourages you to keep great ingredients on hand in order to quickly put together satisfying meals that don’t require the fussy handling and intricate preparation we often associate with French cooking. I love turning my kitchen into a French bistro. show less

I expected this to be an Americans in Paris story, something in the vein of Adam Gopnik's [Paris to the Moon], a book I much enjoyed for its gentle humour and insights into French culture.

Instead this book, which is essentially an autobiography of time spent in France by Patricia and Walter Wells, reads much like a very long newspaper story. This should perhaps not be too surprising, since they are both newspaper reporters.

They are both very hardworking Americans, he poured most of his life show more into long hours at the International Herald Tribune, she poured her energies into a huge number of restaurant reviews, later accompanied by a well-received book about French food, more books about French cooking, and eventually by her running a cooking school.

Unfortunately, having put so much of their energies into print in other places, they seem to have very little left for the story of their lives in France. What remains is mostly a story of working really hard, the (re)building of their houses in Paris and Provence, and some of her favourite recipies.

You kind of get a sense of distance in this book, of not quite getting to know them. You can guess that they must be interesting people, given their friendships with various famous chefs including Julia Child, but you have to deduce that, it's not evident in the text. There isn't even much passion for France in the book, it's mostly stories of workmen (some reliable, some not) and neighbours (most annoying, it seems). The only time you get some sense of their enjoyment of France is in the chapter about shopkeepers (the butcher, etc.) that they like.

Basically they worked their way onto the New York Times, and then used good connections and an incredible amount of hard work to succeed and build a pleasant life in France with interesting friends, good food, and nice houses, but I have to say you get more of a sense of the incessant (and typically American) drumbeat of work work work from this book, than you get of them actually enjoying themselves.

I would only recommend this book if you're really interested in Patricia Wells because you've enjoyed her food books or some other aspect of her prolific output, this will add a small piece to your understanding of her, but I have to say you probably get more of her heart and soul from her food books (I expect, I haven't read any of them) than you will from this rather workmanlike news report of her life. show less

Patricia Wells has a particular genius for translating beautiful regional cuisines into recipes well-suited to American kitchens and cooks. Trattoria is a case in point. In it, Wells provides simple, clear instructions for reproducing some of the best dishes of Italy from pasta to pork to a perfection dessert. Now I am a great fan of Italian cooking and enjoy trying to reproduce what I eat in Rome, Florence, Tuscany and the Ligurian coast. Wells has nailed it for me. She's also introduced me show more to some dishes I've never had. Her golden arborio rice cake is a marvel of a dessert-- delicious, easy to prepare and impressive looking. This is one of the cookbooks I return to over and over for ideas for dinner. show less