Cusine from New York's  four-star seafood restaurant, Le Bernardin, is made accessible to everyone in more than 100 meticulously formulated and carefully tested recipes for all courses, from appetizers through dessert, in this cookbook from Le Bernardin chef Eric Ripert and owner Maguy Le Coze. The food served in Le Bernardin's beautiful dining room is as subtle and refined as any in the world, and because fish and shellfish are often best turned out quickly and simply, the recipes in this book can be reproduced by any home cook. Maguy Le Coze traces the origins of Le Bernardin's "simplicity" to her late brother, Gilbert, the restaurant's legendary cofounder and first chef. Today, Chef Eric Ripert carries on Gilbert's simplistic tradition with dishes such as Poached Halibut on Marinated Vegetables, Pan-Roasted Grouper with Wild Mushrooms and Artichokes, and Grilled Salmon with Mushroom Vinaigrette. And, of course, there are the desserts for which Le Bernardin is also so well known--from Chocolate Millefeuille to Honeyed Pear and Almond Cream Tarts. Essential to the experience of dining at Le Bernardin and to the Le Bernardin Cookbook are the dynamic and charming personalities of Maguy Le Coze and Eric Ripert, whose lively dialogue and colorful anecdotes shine from these pages as brightly as the recipes themselves. At Le Bernardin, seafood is always the star. From the day this posh restaurant opened in New York City, it was recognized for revolutionizing the way fish was prepared. Chef-owner Gilbert Le Coze and his sister, Maguy, quickly gained an exalted four-star rating for their original, impeccable, exquisite food, which you can now reproduce at home using their recipes. Le Coze avoided using classic sauces because, lacking professional training, he did not know how to make them. Instead, he created Carpaccio of Tuna, a kind of paper-thin sashimi on a plate, Baked Sea Urchins, and Roast Monkfish on a Bed of Sautéed Savory Cabbage with Bacon, a dish that is both rustic and rich. When Gilbert died in 1994, at just 48, his chef de cuisine, Eric Ripert, stepped in and has continued to dazzle with his own fish dishes. Ripert, who had a classical chef's training, is especially innovative in his Poached Lobster in Lemongrass-Ginger Bouillon. If following three pages of meticulously clear instructions for handling the lobsters, puréeing their coral, and much more is not for you, try the salmon fillets served in a magically cream-free but creamy lemon sauce, the Roast Cod Niçoise flavored with basil, capers, and black olives, or the saffron-and-orange-perfumed Fish Soup. Le Bernardin's desserts are famous, too. A reasonably competent cook can create ecstasy with the Bitter Chocolate Soufflé Cake, lavish with dark chocolate, butter, eggs, and just one tablespoon of flour. If you read mostly cookbooks, the spirited dialogue between Ripert and Maguy, their anecdotes of culinary adventures, and characteristically Gallic commentary may divert you. Typically, Maguy says, "My favorite way to eat calamari is with a nice green salad. How American!" Seems the French only ate a lettuce salad with meats until nouvelle cuisine came along in the 1970s, and Maguy still considers it an aberration with seafood. Just as her taste has changed, this book may open you to new experiences with seafood. --Dana Jacobi Cook with one of today's hottest chefs. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. In 1986, Le Coze and her brother, Gilbert, opened Le Bernardin, an offshoot of their popular Paris restaurant, in New York City and almost immediately received a rare four-star rating. (They went on to open brasseries in Miami and Atlanta.) Ripert, the executive chef since the early 1990s, has been in charge of the kitchen since Gilbert's death in 1994. The Le Cozes came from a restaurant family in Brittany, and fish and seafood have always been the specialty of Le Bernardin. Although some of the recipes feature truffles and foie gras, others are surprisingly simple?but their success, of course, depends on ingredients of the highest quality. Most headnotes offer comments from both authors, with some of Ripert's assertions "tempered" by Le Coze's response to them. Le Bernardin's reputation is well known, and its cookbook is recommended for most collections. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. When Le Bernardin opened in Manhattan a decade ago, critics lauded its new approach to seafood that stressed total freshness and simple preparations that enhanced, rather than masked, a fish's essential character. This brainchild of a Breton brother and sister team quickly dominated the New York restaurant scene. Then chef Gilbert Le Coze suddenly died, leaving his sister with a leaderless kitchen. Eric Ripert stepped into the breach, and Le Bernardin's reputation grew even greater. This cookbook begins with Maguy's retelling of the family saga and her brother's brilliant, self-taught culinary genius. Ripert's recipes demand the