PARIS CITY OF NIGHT

“Unputdownable——a real page-turner. No one should miss this.”
—Anton Gill, author of the world best-selling series The Egyptian Mysteries

“A wild ride through the dark side of Paris with a writer who knows the city's streets and their secrets...”

—Diane Johnson

“Stands out brightly above the rest for originality, ingenuity, local color and unputdownableness.”

—Barbara Bray

“Intricately plotted, convincingly written, David Downie's PARIS CITY OF NIGHT is a fast-moving, atmospheric thriller. Best to start reading this one early in the evening... unless, that is, you don't mind losing a night's sleep!”

—David Hunt

THE TERROIR GUIDES: FOOD & WINE

LIBRARY JOURNAL, FEBRUAY 2010

Travel & Geography

Downie, David (text) & Alison Harris (photos.). Food Wine Burgundy. Little

Bookroom. (Terroir Guides). 2009. 464p. photos. maps. index. ISBN

978-1-892145-75-8. pap. $29.95. TRAV

Downie (Food Wine Rome) pragmatically explains how world markets push out many "moms and pops" that produce a quaint bounty in vast, varied, and lush landscapes and how haute influences in bistro cuisines replace traditional dishes and forsake roots. Not writing a dirge, Downie instead calls readers to arms by celebrating the terroir (literally "terrain") and how it, along with the particular climates, has created culinary jewels for millennia-snails, Charolais beef, chèvre, honey, truffles, and grand cru pinot noirs and chardonnays. He easily demystifies the processes of wine making and the distinction and variety of Burgundy's regional productions. Downie succinctly maps and divides Burgundy into four regions, walking readers through each town and discussing lodgings, markets, artisans, and vintners. He also deconstructs restaurants' menus for their technique and signatures. VERDICT: Beautifully depicted, handily sized, and substantially sourced for contact info and seasonal hours. Not a stand-alone general guide, this book is a regional standard for oenophiles and the palatably enchanted traveler.

Highly recommended.

-Ben Malczewski, Ypsilanti Dist. Lib., MI, Library Journal, 2/15/10, Starred Review

CHICAGO TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 2010

Resourceful traveler

February 21, 2010

The Terroir Guides: Food Wine Burgundy

The word "terroir" refers to the way local influences - geography, culture, history, tradition - are expressed in a region's food and wine. This marvelous book's content and photographs are lovely to look at but also full of substance. Author David Downie encourages readers to appreciate a slower, more meditative lifestyle based on a culture with deep roots that respects the soil and the seasons' turnings. Indeed, Downie insists that "depth" is the key to understanding Burgundy itself; each of its subregions has a distinctive history and character that, in turn, are reflected in its food and wine. Nearly all wines made here fall into two categories: pinot noir (red) and Chardonnay (white). Yet because of the soil and climate's complexity, the range is exceptionally wide (Burgundy has about 4,000 wineries). The guide is divided into five parts that reflect the region's geographical, cultural, historic and/or administrative divisions. But Downie points out that Burgundy is not immune to the globalization of the last few decades. Terroir traditions often are under siege for various reasons: the easy availability of fast food, European Union health and safety standards and their homogenizing effect, supermarkets, gentrification, and the closing of many small, family-run rural businesses. Still, Downie includes restaurants where chefs continue to work from scratch and use fresh, locally produced ingredients to serve traditional (or gently updated) regional fare. Here you will find such Burgundian staples as snails (escargots), ham and pork, poultry, honey, truffles and, of course, cheese (the region is home to about 30 varieties). Includes a food and wine glossary.

“...an invaluable key to the city’s authentic quaffs and cuisines. Eschewing eateries that are likely to be visited by the typical bus-group turisti, Downie walks readers through bountiful food markets, into artisanal-food shops and to the front doors of Rome’s temples of food and drink. The reviews in this highly informative restaurant guide, accompanied by Alison Harris’s photographs, also celebrate the people, customs and tastes that tempt so many travelers to eat as discriminating Romans do.”

—Town & Country

“Outside of general guidebooks to Italy, few individual regions have had single volumes dedicated to their gastronomy, and this, one of a series of ‘Terroir Guides,’ is both thorough in its listings of places to eat and drink, from ristoranti and focaccerie to pasticcerie and chocolate shops, as it is a well-written depiction of what makes Liguria so very special—and heretofore underrated—as a territory for wonderful food and wine, with its rippling, seafood-rich coastline, its famous basil that goes into making pesto, and its ties to the cooking of Southern France. Excellent, evocative photos too.”

—John Mariani, author of The Italian American Cookbook and The Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink

“Getting to the heart of regional cuisine can be a tall order, but The Terroir Guides ably examine the interplay between markets, local food artisans, winemakers, and chefs on a town-by-town basis, taking the reader from field to plate and making a great companion for any food-obsessed tourist...packed with local history, food lore, and useful translations.”

—Sherman's Travel

“I love The Terroir Guides. They give me everything I want. They're a tactile pleasure, compact, meaty. They're lovely to look at, elegantly laid out, mutedly and tastefully colored... positively overflowing with the Who, What, Where and How even an intrepidly independent traveler should know...The Little Bookroom has a knack for putting guidebooks into print that are as useful as they are beautiful.”

—Wine News

“… an in-depth look at this beautiful area that still holds hidden culinary treasures.”

—Bon Appétit

“When I travel, food is naturally a primary focus, but most guidebooks provide minimal information in that realm. Thankfully, The Little Bookroom is publishing Terroir Guides, a series for the foodie traveler that focuses entirely on culinary delights. The third in the series, Food Wine Rome, just came out this month. Organized by neighborhood, each chapter includes listings in three categories. “Dining” includes restaurants, trattorias, and osterias; “gourmet shopping” covers venues such as bakeries, markets, cheese mongers, and salumi makers; and “wine” includes both shops and wine bars. There’s also fun sidebar information, including a listing of museum cafés, a pasta family tree, and 33 ways to order coffee…. a fun, informative read that’s prompting me to plot out all the gastronomic destinations for my next visit.”

—Celia Cheng, Find Your Craving

“Italian food guru David Downie wrote the recently published Food Wine Rome. It's an insightful and lovingly written guide to my former home town, one of Italy's great food capitals. He starts out with some important definitions of classic Roman treats like local bitter vegetables, goes into 33 ways to order some of the best coffee you will ever drink and highlights some of the region's top wine producers.”

—Liza Zimmerman, www.examiner.com

PARIS, PARIS. JOURNEY INTO THE CITY OF LIGHT

“… beautifully written and refreshingly original…Curious and attentive to detail, Downie is appreciative yet unflinching in describing his adopted home… makes us see [Paris] in a different light…. There's a deft portrait of the driven, self-created designer Coco Chanel, an acid portrait of the Brutalist modernizer Georges Pompidou, an evocation of the hard-working boat people of the Seine and historical passages that effortlessly recall lost worlds in vieux Paris.”

—David Armstrong, San Francisco Chronicle

“Downie’s Paris, Paris has earned a remarkable accolade from vet travel-writing legend Jan Morris, who describes the book as "the most evocative American book about Paris since (Hemingway's) 'A Movable Feast.'" The delightful and insightful essays in "Paris, Paris" meld history, atmosphere and observations on Paris places, Paris people and Paris phenomena.”

—John Marshall, Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Chicago Tribune

“Downie is a saunterer, wandering down the narrow ancient streets of the Ile de la Cite, picnicking in storied graveyards like Père-Lachaise, observing a seduction at Jardin du Luxembourg with a birder's patience…. captures the sort of people and places missed by those jetting from starred bistros to hotels with showers.”

—Dan Rubin, The Philadelphia Inquirer

“…gives fresh poetic insight into the city… a voyage into ‘the bends and recesses, the jagged edges, the secret interiors’ [of Paris].”

—Dory Kornfeld, Departures

“…evoke[s] the soul and the substance of the city with a critic’s intelligence and a lover’s heart.”

—Donald George, Global Travel Editor, Lonely Planet

“Perhaps the most evocative American book about Paris since A Movable Feast.”

— Jan Morris

“[A] quirky, personal, independent view of the city, its history and its people. Residents will recognize a place they can vouch for and not the clichés so frequently conjured up to match the legends. Visitors and newcomers are bound to find Paris, Paris reliable company as they discover the city’s beauties and pleasures and its problems too.”

—Mavis Gallant

“Downie brilliantly upholds the American expat tradition of portraying the City of Light with an original and endearing touch.”

—John Flinn, Travel Editor, San Francisco Sunday Chronicle

COOKING THE ROMAN WAY

“…explores the streets and alleys of Rome, gathering recipes from trattoria chefs, home cooks, and even his Roman-born mother in this wonderfully complete culinary tour of the Eternal City…. highlights each recipe with history and anecdotes…. beautifully and evocatively captured the cuisine of one of the world’s best-known cities.”

—Publishers Weekly

“First-century Roman gourmet and author Apicius undoubtedly would be pleased with Cooking the Roman Way…. Strolling through these pages, you'll find many recipes you'll want to try… Downie also has packed Cooking the Roman Way with fascinating historical notes.”

—Peter D. Franklin, Universal Press Syndicate

“… a literate cookbook, filled with stories and classic recipes collected from authentic sources. Harris’ real photographs, vibrant color snapshots of the people who contributed recipes, places and dishes, illustrate the text… I read Cooking the Roman Way from cover to cover in a couple of hours and learned not only how to make some of my very favorite dishes in the world, but a culinary history of Rome, too…”

—Patricia Unterman, San Francisco Examiner

“The dazzle factor is off the chart... comments were of amazement at the simplicity and purity of flavors. This type of cooking — and thinking — is what makes this book worthwhile. Downie shares how the Italians in Rome cook and eat, not how we have interpreted Italian food. If you want to gain some understanding about how the Roman respect for ingredients translates into a refined yet down-to-earth cuisine — or you just want to know how fettuccine alfredo is actually made — then get this book.”

—Hsiao-Ching Chou, Seattle Post Intelligencer

“The melange of travel notes, history and sense of place and plate that Downie dishes up is enticing, whether you adore the Eternal City or just daydream about going - and eating – there… Photographs by his wife and collaborator Alison Harris add to the appeal…”

—San Francisco Chronicle

“… transported me to a place I love: Italy.”

—Steven Petusevsky (Winner, “Top-ten gift cookbooks of the year”), Florida Sun-Sentinel

“… delves into the trattorias of Rome and comes up with remarkable recipes.”

—Sheryl Julian and Julie Riven, The Boston Globe (Winner, Top cookbooks of the year)

“…avoids the glib, glossy prose that colors so many hymns to great cities. The lovely photographs of food raw and cooked are not glossy either… a memorable recording of how intently dedicated are Romans to food and eating…..”

—William Rice, Chicago Tribune (Winner, Top-12 cookbooks of the year)

“…. way more than a cookbook… a veritable tour guide to so much of what makes Rome special … not only recipes, but stories on vendors and foodstuffs and the everyday people that give the city its full flavor, plus some fascinating history on different aspects of this singular cuisine…. passion oozes from every word. He also has a whimsical side… The recipes are the real deal, culled from the original sources…”

—Bill Ward, Minneapolis Star Tribune

ENCHANTED LIGURIA

“It’s the next best thing to being in Italy.”

—William Murray, The New Yorker contributor and author of Italy, the Fatal Gift

“For good reason, the region has been called "Enchanted Liguria" by authors David Downie and Alison Harris. In their lavishly illustrated book (Rizzoli, 1997), this husband-and-wife team have vividly captured the culture, history, and daily life of this delightful place in pictures and words.” —Lorna Sass, Los Angeles Times syndicate

“… investigates the unique and often misunderstood character of Liguria and how that is reflected in its architecture, lifestyle and cuisine. It's a fascinating but unromanticized view of an insular people...”

—Daniel Young, New York Daily News

“Beautifully presented... closes the way all fine things Italian must -- with a good meal, and Downie's flourish of fine wine and recipes leaves readers with a sense of Liguria that is as satisfyingly complete as it is mouthwateringly inviting.”

—San Francisco Sunday Examiner

“Complete with authentic recipes, stunning photography by Alison Harris, and a detailed guide to cultural and epicurean hot spots, the 208-page book captures the spirit and customs of the hidden hilltop villages and enticing Riviera beaches of northwest Italy's Liguria region.”

—Appellation Magazine

“Splendid illustrations and equally well written... This book is an act of love, but first and foremost a work of meticulous, heartfelt research... a tale of traditions, landscapes and beauties that, often, even Ligurians themselves do not know... Many will be surprised to discover a fantastic reality that they see every day and, precisely because of that, fail to capture.”

—Il Secolo XIX

“The fruit of their labor is a very interesting book, destined to arouse the curiosity even of those who know -- or pretend to know -- Liguria inside and out.”

—Il Giornale