I'm a collector of cookbooks and this is definitely my favorite cookbook. It has recipes from Applebee to Tony Roma. But my favorites recipes are Olive Garden's Toscana Soup and Alfredo Pasta, Big Boy's Cream of Broccoli Soup, and Ruth's Chris Steak House's Potatoes Au Gratin.

The only problem with some of the recipes(not all of them) is that it taste like they are missing ingredients. I would like to state before any of you that have tried these recipes start getting upset with me, that most of them taste fine. But recipes like the Olive Garden's Alfredo Pasta doesn't quite taste the same because it's missing the salt in the recipe. I haven't tried using salted butter yet but if you are using unsalted butter add about a 1/2 tsp. salt. The recipe doesn't specify what kind of butter to use so the problem may have been on my part. I just wish Todd Wilbur would have been more specific on things like this. Like I previously said most of the recipes taste fine it's just simple little things like this in a few of the recipes. And I figure even if you don't eat at these restaurants often, you'll probably still know what they are missing.

In the introduction Todd Wilbur compares some of the prices of the recipes in book to buying them in the restaurant. Some of the recipes are half the price if not more. Now you don't have the convenience of the restaurant but at least you can have the taste and for a lot less. With all this great food if you can't decide which recipe to make following his price comparing he includes a combination of recipes for wonderful meal ideas. Then above each recipe he includes interesting little tidbits about the restaurants and/or dishes. I think it makes it easier to pass the time, since sometimes it hard to wait for these recipes to finish cooking. Overall it's a great cookbook and I'm now looking for other of Todd Wilbur's knock-off cookbooks. I'm positive everyone will find a favorite recipe in this book.

Recommended: Yes