Damn Good Food: 157 Recipes from Hell’s Kitchen

“Mitch Omer’s life makes Anthony Bourdain’s look like he was an altar boy. Mitch’s individualistic, personal, and idiosyncratic cooking is that of a man who is larger than life, big-hearted, generous, and wild. It’s evident that he genuinely loves life and nature.” —Jacques Pépin

In Damn Good Food, Mitch Omer reveals the recipes that have made his restaurant a pleasure seeker’s destination, including inventions like his tart, ethereal Lemon-Ricotta Hotcakes; dark, wild Bison Sausage Bread; and sweet, creamy Mahnomin Porridge. These dishes have the hungry and eager queued up out the doors of Hell’s Kitchen, often for hours, and now you can make them at home.

Food writer Ann Bauer also gives us a glimpse behind the scenes, revealing Omer’s darker side, the side responsible for the decor of Hell’s Kitchen, described as the “nightmare side of Sesame Street.” Bipolar, obsessive-compulsive, and a former addict, Omer’s roller-coaster ride of a life has taken him through many towns and love affairs, numerous jobs, and even more controlled substances. But through it all, there has been food—recipes inspired by places and people, including Omer’s own close-knit family, reworked and made his own. He beats back his demons every day with his dad’s caramel rolls and coleslaw, locally raised bison burgers smeared with his mom’s mustard, and his own famous homemade peanut butter, and he invites you in to share it all.