Top Secret Restaurant Recipes: Creating Kitchen Clones from America's Favorite Restaurant Chains

Customer Reviews

A blueprint for good food

My family has been trying to figure out how to make Cracker Barrel's hashbrown casserole for at least 5 years. We have failed miserably. But Todd Wilbur has finally revealed the secret -- beef broth -- along with a lot of other really delicious secret recipes. I've had the book a week and have already made the hashbrown casserole, the old "toad in a hole" eggs, the IHOP French toast and the avocado egg rolls and every one of them has been delicious. Of course, I've probably put on 5 pounds this week, but it was worth it. Wilbur's recipes are not only easy to follow, using ordinary food in most cases, but he includes hilarious blueprints of each dish. I particularly like the cross-section of Planet Hollywood's Chicken Crunch which also includes a diagram of a piece of Cap'n Crunch, and his very thoughtful inclusion of diagrams of a 10 inch skillet and three eggs in the Perkins Granny's Country Omelette. The diagrams make the cooking fun and the quality of the product makes the eating even more fun. I'm buying another copy of this book for my mother, and, when they try the food, I suspect all my friends will buy copies. Aside from my 1970s edition of the Betty Crocker Cookbook, this is the best cookbook I've ever found. The question is, does Todd take requests? If so, I have a few recipes I'd like for him to clone, especially the house salad dressing at the Echota House here in Tahlequah. This is a great book--buy it.

Easy to make and tastes like the real thing

Todd Wilbur is the undesputed king of recipe clone cooks. Yes, you can find all sorts of "clone" or "copy" recipe web sites on the web but most of them really don't taste anything like the brand-name food they are supposed to be copying. Todd's creations are different in that they almost always are indistinguishable from the real thing and this book continues that fine tradition. This book is a godsend for those of us who live in parts of the country where some chain restaurants don't have a presence (I loved Chi-Chi's all during my youth until I left Wisconsin in 1992 and moved to California where Chi-Chi's doesn't exist). Todd's recipes are always trivial to create requiring few ingredients and few steps. Although there are no photographs, there are some nice illustrations in "blueprint" form that show you what the finished product will look like. Check out the table of contents to make sure there's something that catches you eye.

In my opinion, this book is much more important than his other books which feature recipes for foods that you can get anywhere. I emailed Todd's website and they told me that a sequel "restaurant recipes" book is in the works. I will DEFINITELY buy that one too.

Not for dieters...

This book is similar to all the other ones out there. Not really anything that sets it apart from the rest. if you're on a diet, I would definitely steer clear of this book. Many of the recipes seem to be high in fat and calories.

The recipes are easy to follow but I would have to say that the best one in the whole book is the recipe for the Olive Garden's Italian dressing. Delicious!