You can re-create your favorites restaurant dishes right in your own kitchen by following these easy, step-by-step instructions.

Top selling author Ron Douglas reveals his best-kept secrets for preparing these scrumptious dishes at home - without waiting in line, and for a fraction of the cost.

America's Secret Recipes is the perfect cookbook for those who enjoy eating out.

Among its wide-ranging recipes, Desserts offers Carolyn's Jell-O Cheesecake, Lauren's Chocolate Drizzle Pie, and Hidden Mint Cookies--recipes based on cake mixes and other convenience foods. These creditable sweets are of course work saving, but are perhaps better viewed as solidly characteristic of their time and place. Equally particular are candies like Mamma's Divinity and Uncle Bubba's Benne Candy, and "other sweet things," as Deen dubs them, such as Banana Split Brownie Pizza, Easy Homemade Oreo Ice Cream, and Fresh Apples with Butterscotch Dip. With asides by Deen family members, including son Jamie's "Food Is Love" ("I am right this minute 20 pounds over-loved," he writes), useful tips (Deen provides an "emergency" recipe for sweetened condensed milk), and plenty of piquant anecdote (after Deen had rattled on endlessly to her grandmother about her intention to open a restaurant, the older woman paused and replied, "Paula, have you lost you damned mind?"), the spiral-bound book is not only full of delectable eating, it's lots of fun. --Arthur Boehm

East fearlessly meets West, and many regions between -- in such first courses as Stirfried Scallop Salad and Spicy Honey-Glazed Baby Pork Ribs; in soups from Tortilla to delicate Cream of Corn with Gulf Oysters to hearty Clam and Mussel; in simple and sophisticated main dishes, such as Sizzling Catfish, Baby Pork Chops with Cranberry Sauce, and Chicken with Garlic and Parsley; in Spago's signature gourmet pizzas, such as Pizza with Smoked Salmon and Golden Caviar and Pizza with Shrimp and Sun-Dried Tomatoes; and in desserts that range from the subtle to the sublime, from the refreshing Grapefruit Tequila Sherbet to the decadent Jack Daniel's Chocolate Chocolate Chip Ice Cream.

Every recipe, each a triumph of innovation, exemplifies Puck's unique style: a passion for blending the elements of cuisines the world over, a freshness and simplicity of ingredients and presentation, and, above all, a free and joyful approach to food. The guiding principle behind the creations that emerge from Puck's kitchens ("my playgrounds," he calls them) is that food should give great pleasure -- to the cook as well as to the diner.

Illustrated throughout with engaging drawings by Puck himself, here is an utterly original collection of great recipes -- and an utterly original culinary style -- that no cook will be able to resist adopting.

Chapters cover appetizers to desserts, with sections devoted to pasta and risotto and to side dishes and condiments, such as the restaurant's much-loved Olive Mashed Potatoes and Apple-Pear Chutney. Sweets like Butterscotch Pudding with Brown Sugar Sauce and Chocolate Pudding Flan should also keep diners happy. A word must be said about the photographs of Duane Michals, whose signature storytelling style (depicting, for example, a seated couple's response to a cell-phone-using table neighbor) wonderfully echoes the sweetly knowing tone of the restaurant itself. With a section on basic preparations, the book should become a trusted kitchen friend. --Arthur Boehm