What happens when a four-star chef and a culinary minimalist decide to join forces to create something different? They invent a new style that adapts to every occasion and every level of cooking expertise. Simple to Spectacular introduces a unique concept developed by one of the world's top chefs, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and Mark Bittman, author of How to Cook Everything and the New York Times's hugely popular column "The Minimalist." Ever since their award-winning collaboration on Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef, the acclaimed duo has been cooking up a repertoire of new dishes that can be prepared in any of five progressively sophisticated ways.

Every aspect of the meal is covered, from superb soups and salads to unforgettable side dishes, entrees, and desserts. In Simple to Spectacular, everything--from the basics to innovations by a four-star chef--is tailored for a quick Tuesday night dinner or an elegant weekend party. And in the now-classic Vongerichten-Bittman style, all of the recipes can be made in the kitchen of any home cook. With 80 full-color photographs giving a mouthwatering view of the Simple-to-Spectacular transformations, readers and cooks will eagerly explore the possibilities.Jean-Georges Vongerichten (right) won the 1998 James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef and Best New Restaurant. His Manhattan restaurants include Vong, Jo Jo, The Mercer Kitchen, and Jean Georges, which earned a rare four-star rating from the New York Times.

In Simple to Spectacular, two titans of the food world have created a truly groundbreaking cookbook. Here are 250 superb recipes arranged in a uniquely useful way: a basic recipe and four increasingly sophisticated variations, with each group (there are 50 groups in all) based on a given technique. This ingenious organization enables cooks of all levels of expertise to understand how a recipe is created and to re-create the brilliantly simple recipes and dazzling variations from one of our best food writers and home cooks teamed with one of America's greatest chefs.

About the Author
Mark Bittman (left) has won IACP Julia Child Awards for his books Fish and How to Cook Everything, which has sold more than 400,000 copies. He is also the author of The Minimalist Cooks at Home, based on "The Minimalist" column he writes for the New York Times .

Biography continued

...some more herbs." His love for food cemented into his choice for a career at the age of 16, when his parents brought him to the 3-star Michelin-rated Auberge de lIIl for a birthday dinner.

Jean-Georges began his training soon after in a work-study program at the Auberge de l'III as an apprentice to Chef Paul Haeberlin. He went on to work with the top chefs in France, including Paul Bocuse and Louis Outhier at LOasis in the south of France. With this impressive three-star Michelin training, Jean-Georges won a position at the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok. From 1980 to 1985, he opened 10 restaurants around the world, including the Meridien Hotel in Singapore and the Mandarin Hotel in Hong-Kong; it was during this time spent in Asia that Jean-Georges developed his love for the exotic and aromatic flavors of the Far East that would later translate into his own interpretation for his menu at Vong.

Jean-Georges arrived in the United States in 1985, opening the Lafayette restaurant in Boston. A year later he arrived in New York to take over the executive Chef position at Lafayette in the Drake Swisstel, dazzling guests with his innovative interpretation of classic French cuisine and earning four stars from The New York Times at the age of 29. In the first of many bold moves that have established him as a culinary trend setter, Jean-Georges traded this formal dining room for paper-clothed tables, and opened his charming bistro JoJo in 1991.

At JoJo he introduced us to his vibrant and spare cuisine whose intense flavors and satisfying textures he created by eschewing traditional meat stocks for vegetable juices and fruit essences, light broth and herbal vinaigrettes. JoJo was named Best New Restaurant of the Year, and earned three stars from The New York Times, in which Ruth Reichl summed up his contemporary French cuisine in the sentence "His food took my breath away".

His next venture, Vong, paid homage to his passion for the spices and flavors of the East. Using over 150 different herbs and spices to create his unique take on Thai-inspired French cuisine, the menu at Vong wowed both critics and patrons, earning yet another three-star review from The New York Times for his "explosive flavorful food". In an adjacent space to Vong, Jean-Georges also opened The Lipstick Cafe, a stylish cafe that caters to the midtown business crowd and serves breakfast and lunch in a casual, upscale setting.

A year and a half later, Jean-Georges opened a second Vong in the Knightsbridge area of London, earning a three-star review and the 1996 vote for the London Evening Standards "Newcomer of the Year". In September 1997, he opened Vong in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong, which Robb Report awarded " Best Restaurant in the World" award in 1998 . A fourth Vong is schedule to open in Chicago in March 1999.

In March of 1997, Jean-Georges opened Jean-Georges Restaurant in the Trump International Hotel and Tower, earning a four star review from The New York Times less than three months after opening, and the coveted "Chef of the Year Award" from John Mariani at Esquire magazine.

His most recent projects include The Mercer Kitchen which opened in July 1998 in the stylish Mercer Hotel in Soho. This venture features an American-Provencal menu and communal style tables in the open kitchen area. The newest addition is the Prime Steakhouse in Steve Wynns much anticipated Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, which opened in October 1998.