Coastal: 130 Recipes from a California Road Trip

Unfussy California style suffuses this freewheeling paean to the Golden State’s Central Coast from restaurateur and debut author Clark. The owner and chef of Dad’s Luncheonette in Half Moon Bay, Clark left behind Michelin-starred kitchens to set up “in a rented caboose on the side of the highway,” where he turns out gussied-up comfort foods like mac and cheese with a mantle of puffed wild rice and an Earl Grey custard pie with a graham cracker crust. In breezy personal interludes, the author spins a Bourdain-esque saga of dropping out of college, overdosing on cocaine, and being beaten with a paddle at his first restaurant job. Recipes exhibit a knack for unexpected combinations, such as breakfast tacos with smoked salmon and everything bagel seasoning, and a salad of figs, seared radicchio, and grapefruit. The concoctions may be out-of-the-box, but the recipe-writing is precise, with helpful tips in the margins (use the stem of a brussels sprout as a handle when shaving it on a mandoline for latkes). Sidebars pay homage to local suppliers, such as goat’s milk feta maker Dee Harley, further reinforcing a sense of place. With both umami and personality at the wheel, readers will be eager to go along for the ride. (Mar.)