OP: The Cafe des Artistes Cookbook

Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., New York, 1984. Hardcover. Very Good Plus. Signed first printing.

George Lang (1924–2011) was a legendary, larger-than-life personality. He knew everyone worth knowing, as one should when one is employed by or owns some of the most prestigious fine dining restaurants in New York City. His resume includes time at the Waldorf Astoria and The Four Seasons before becoming the owner of Café des Artistes, a popular gathering place for artists, writers, and others who often found themselves in the vicinity of Lincoln Center. 

Published in 1984, The Cafe des Artistes Cookbook offers a selection of the restaurant’s dishes. Homey and hearty, they represent cuisine bourgeois more than the caviar and truffle-laden dishes of other high end restaurants that catered to celebrities and politicians.

Our copy is a Near Fine, signed first printing, inscribed to “the Misch family,” referring to food and wine writer Robert Jay Misch. A signed letter from Lang to Misch, thanking him for a wine recommendation, is laid in. Price clipped dust jacket. Color photographs throughout, predominately of Howard Chandler Christy’s famous murals adorning the walls, help set the scene.