“Atlanta Kitchens” — Cook like a chef

atlkitAtlanta food writer Krista Reese — currently the restaurant critic for “Georgia Trend” magazine — has just released a wonderful new cookbook filled with the most local of flavors.

“Atlanta Kitchens: Recipes from Atlanta’s Best Restaurants” (Gibbs Smith, $30) is not your typical chef’s cookbook with recipes that are beautiful to photograph and, oh yeah, require 30 pounds of veal bones and a teaspoon of fennel pollen for the sauce.

Consider this instead:

  • Five recipes for fried chicken, from Scott Peacock’s Watershed classic to those from Wisteria, Son’s Place (R.I.P.) and Mary Mac’s Tea Room. I see a fried chick-a-thon in my future.)
  • Great ethnic recipes, such as the always-delicious Mom’s Cabbage Soup from the Vietnamese restaurant, Nam.
  • Linton Hopkins’ fascinating recipe for lobster poached in corn milk — a dish he invented to earn a spot on “Iron Chef America” and then put on the menu at Restaurant Eugene. What’s fascinating is that it calls for precisely 6 ingredients: …