Food Wine The Italian Riviera and Genoa: Terroir Guide (Terroir Guides) [Paperback]

David Downie has written a Bible for authentic Ligurian food, worth the modest investment for both gastronomes and brief-stay tourists -- anybody eager to get the most value for their euros on the Italian Riviera. To experience the freshness, the aliveness, the heights of Ligurian cooking, you really must go one step beyond the seaview restaurants that dish up mediocre fare to day-tripping tourists. This is the best guide.

It's a sophisticated, thorough handbook to all the very best the region produces. Not only does does David Downie have educated taste buds -- making his recommendations reliable -- he has gone to the trouble to provide detailed directions to each of the places he recommends (a must in alley-strewn Liguria) as well as all the opening hours (yet another must on the summery Riviera, which adheres to its own clock).

Unless you know a Ligurian family and can be invited to eat at their home, following in David Downie's footsteps through Liguria is the most efficient and budget-friendly method for tasting the pure delights of Liguria's Mediterranean cuisine.

I've never met David Downie but, all put together, I have spent at least five of the last ten years exploring the nooks and crannies of the Italian Riviera during repeated long stays. I've lingered in many of the places he's lingered, so I can say from first hand experience that this new guide to the food and wine of the Italian Riviera and Genoa is a fantastic achievement, absolutely essential for every visitor who wants to eat and drink memorably without spending a fortune -- that is to say, to live as the Ligurians actually do themselves.

Not only is the writing witty, economical and a pleasure to read on its own, this book includes page after page of truly touching, evocative color photos of small-town Liguria, photographed by Alison Harris. These are not the usual guidebook Riviera pictures of sky, sea and flouncy flowers. These are intimate pictures of the people, the places and the traditions that sustain the Ligurian soul -- the open-air markets, the cooks, the bakers, the fisherman, the olive cultivation, the historic caffes, the atmospheric piazzas and winding walkways beloved by locals. It's great documentary material -- and great to look it.

This guidebook goes beyond the tourist menus touted by lazier generalized guide books to help visitors to discover the town-by-town specialties of Liguria, a region still so dependent on handed-down family recipes, century-old bake shops, special cooking pans, once-a-year treats. It champions Liguria's still secret "entroterra" -- the dramatic, atmospheric hilltowns, sometimes only a half-hour's bus ride from the jam-packed beaches -- where the food is sublime, the silence is mystical, the landscape unspoiled, and the fascinating traditions date back, unchanged, forever.

This past weekend I took a friend -- who has lived in Genoa for more than 20 years -- to one of this book's recommended restaurants. He was immensely impressed with the book's section on Genoa, citing places only known to the most savvy locals. Similarly, I recently followed this book's advice and entered an almost ridiculously tiny bake shop in a wayside village -- and it was a revelation to eat the pine-nut cookies recommended by the book. Only in this tiny corner of Liguria could I taste these light, crunchy, aromatic cookies, packed with the flavor of the pine trees all around me -- and I would never have found them without Downie's help.

This thorough guide book is a wonderful investment, unlikely to be surpassed, and bravo to the author and photographer, and the publisher! It supersedes Fred Plotkin's books on Liguria, which are now -- alas -- dated. This is a fresh as Liguria's cooking itself.

I cannot imagine anyone being disappointed if they purchase it.

I picked up this book at a local book store, and I am amazed at how good it is.
It is accurate, authoritative and insightful. A "must have" for the thinking gourmand visiting Liguria.
However, I praise this book reluctantly because it is just too good. Secret little restaurants where you would never see a tourist are revealed and accurately described. Specialties that only someone from the city appreciates are touted. A potential disaster if it falls in the wrong hands!
So, please promise me. When visiting these restaurants do the following.
Eat like an italian. Appetizer, first dish, second dish and coffee (dessert is not mandatory, but have it before coffee, not during).
No sharing anything. Ask for half portions.
Never order a cappuccino after 10AM. Never.
Follow Italian not American tipping customs. We do not want to spoil a good thing.
If you are unsure of the item on the menu, ask for advice from the host and take it. Do not ask for too many details and make them feel that they have to display photos of the food on their menus. I would never be able to go back there.
I say all this tongue in cheek, but remember, you promised.....

Armchair travelers will enjoy the nice layout and great photos of places like Genoa and Portofino, but not just the fancy and famous things that seem out of step with the world of the recession. We enjoyed the way the author went out of his way to be on our side, and provide lots of affordable addresses for delicious focaccia, pesto and the kind of food the locals eat, in atmospheric little trattorias. The reviews don't fawn, they're entertaining and informative and sometimes withering. We discovered things about the Italian Riviera we didn't know, and learned a lot about the wonderful food (and wine, which is surprisingly good). Before buying this one, we'd read other books by Downie -- on Paris and Rome -- and weren't disappointed. Highly recommended.