Ayers takes an interesting organic approach to many of the recipes, but the recipes seem overly complicated and use some fairly hard-to-find ingredients. The author also comes across as pretty pleased with himself - I don't expect abject humility but his attitude, at least in the book, is somewhat off-putting. ( )

There are some intriguing recipes in here, but had I flipped through it on a bookstore shelf I would have put it right back down. Certainly, there's a lovely organic approach to many dishes, but that isn't enough to make any of the foods really stand out as being worth the effort to make. I guess if you worked for Goggle, however, and really loved the food there you'd be a very happy reader now. ( )

I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of this from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Group. I was very excited, as I love cookbooks! I'm not sure what to think about this one, though.

The book's focus on organic and local foods and healthy eating was pleasing, but upon first glance none of the recipes really jumped out at me. They all seemed very complicated, using A LOT of ingredients, and many of those were specialty ingredients that I don't stock at home. I consider myself to be a fairly adventurous eater and a middling-to-good cook, but I'm not sure my kitchen is properly outfitted for these recipes.

It being an ARC, it is often difficult to read the grey text on a grey background -- I can only assume that in the full-color version of the book, this is different (otherwise, how can anyone really read what he has to say?)

I think, in the end, I'm not nearly as impressed by Charlie Ayers as he is with himself. Still, a friend and I have committed to trying a few of the recipes, because they come highly recommended. I'm hoping they turn out to be easier than they look! ( )

Not a cookbook I'll be reaching for. I always like to see how chefs do things, but these recipes just didn't appeal to me. I wasn't really sure why working for Google made him a chef of distinction, either. ( )

The author was remarkably obnoxious. ( )