"Though long a fearless pioneer and innovator on the San Francisco Bay Area scene, Chris Cosentino's excellent book offers comfort, reassurance and an array of enticing possibilities. If you thought you had enough "Italian" cookbooks? You clearly don't."

– Anthony Bourdain

"Chris cooks with a lot of heart. And you see that in his restaurant, in his cured meats, and in this cookbook. He takes care with each and every ingredient and shows you how to make them astonishing."

– José Andrés

"When I met Chris, he was known as a chef with a peerless reputation for cooking offal and variety meats. Over the years of our friendship, I have come to love and admire him as a brilliant and creative technician, one of the best chefs in the country, a culinary daredevil without boundaries. That being said, the best thing he ever made me to eat was a humble bowl of noodles that remain the benchmark against which I measure all pasta courses. I am thrilled that Chris has put all of that genius into a book that is as satisfying for the food geek as it is for a family to pull weeknight dinners from. It's a stunning debut of workable recipe authorship from a thinking man's chef."

– Andrew Zimmern

"Chris built his reputation on cooking hearts, brains, and kidneys, but it's the soul in his food that sets him apart from his peers."

– Tom Colicchio