Le Cirque's Cookbook Will Leave Out Recipe for Lumpy Gravy

The above picture (via Eater) of Sirio Maccioni and Frank Zappa was taken from A Table at Le Cirque: Stories and Recipes from New York's Most Legendary Restaurant.  The cookbook, published by Rizzoli, comes out October 16th and is the first of its kind for the restaurant.

In its 38 years, the kitchen at Le Cirque has been graced with some of the city's most talented chefs; Terrance Brennan and David Bouley among them.  Though in his recent one-star review of the restaurant for the Times, Pete Wells bashed the current state of food being served at Le Cirque, "The kitchen gave the impression that it had stopped reaching for excellence and possibly no longer remembered what that might mean."

Authored by Maccioni himself, the 256 pages of A Table at Le Cirque will shed some light on the nearly 40-year-old restaurant.  From Amazon's description of the cookbook; "Woven throughout the book are colorful anecdotes and candid photographs documenting the glitz and glam of the restaurant, where a reservation is always coveted."  Sirio Maccioni's has spent nearly half his life on the dining room floor of Le Cirque and his charm has been an integral part in developing the aforementioned "coveted reservation."  His warm personality and approach to hospitality is the reason Le Cirque is the restaurant it is today.  Service has never been the issue at Le Cirque.  Wells describes it as "Old-guard formality softened and animated by charm and warmth."  Here's to hoping the book will inspire the kitchen.