When former Sunset Magazine trade publications editor Judy Thompson Hay married chef-trained Bob Pochini and started collaborating with him on four-star quality dinner parties for their family and friends, she realized she had a story on her hands. As a scion of a venerated tradition of restauranteurs, Bob not only could prepare the noteworthy cuisine offered at Pochini's Restaurant for 37 years, he could fuse the concepts of "old-country" Italian dishes with the cutting-edge cuisine and ingredients available in San Francisco, Northern California's gourmet capitol. Early on, Judy started recording the menus of special occasion luncheons and dinners to which she and Bob treated their guests. She understudied Bob as sous chef and began to learn the secrets and techniques of his cuisine. But her perfectionist husband jealously guarded his hard-earned culinary knowledge. Even his children had to show proper humility before he would share his inside information, literally gained by sitting at the feet of his father, the talented and creative Chef Leo. Gaining admittance to Bob's kitchen was a rare privilege. And he definitely did not give away his recipes. After all, one never knew what liberties an untrained recipient might take. That this travesty of preparation could happen came home to him when he shared just one family secret, the frittata recipe. Read about it in Living From Bite to Bite / The Frittata Affair, the keynote chapter of this book. When Bob was diagnosed with inoperable cancer he gave Judy permission to reveal some of the secrets of the Pochini's signature cuisine and their approach to Four-Star Dining at Home. This book with its stories and its presentation of the cuisine carries as well the underlying thread of gentle and loving collaboration between trained chef Bob and sous chef Judy as they presented their many festive dinners. Buon Appetito!
