I love Jessica, I love Sqirl, and I love this book.
Mark Bittman Don't let the cuteness of Sqirl fool you. It's smart and insanely delicious. I never understood why white people loved toast so much until I had theirs. But everything is genius and every ingredient has a purpose.
David Chang Paraphrasing the philosopher Isaiah Berlin, I ... Read moreonce called Jessica Koslow a hedgehog, which is to say a thinker who knew One Big Thing. In her case, the One Big Thing was jam: Koslow was remarkably talented at capturing the nuances of fruit, sweetness and dust in a jar. Could I have been mistaken? Because at the moment, Koslow seems to embody nearly everything wonderful about Los Angeles cuisine.
Jonathan Gold, food critic for the LA Times In 2004 I lived on my friend's couch on Hoover just around the corner from where Sqirl would eventually exist. I had no interest in breakfast then, still don't. However, in the off chance I get to visit Los Angeles these days, I always go to Sqirl. And always eat breakfast. This book is a monster. And if I ever get the opportunity to write another cookbook, I will steal shamelessly from this one. Watch me.
Brooks Headley, chef and author of Fancy Desserts People ask me (like a lot) who the chef I admire most is, and my answer is always lightning quick: Jessica Koslow. Jess cooks food that I yearn to eat every day, resplendent with unbridled freshness, focused authenticity, and mad skills. She is also the most badass person I know in our restaurant industry. And now you can cook like Sqirl.
Hugh Acheson, chef and author of A New Turn in the South Jessica once joked to me that Sqirl is a place where beautiful people come to eat on uncomfortable chairs. And this book is full of them, the beautiful people, eating her beautiful food, shot by fantastic photographers: Nacho Alegre's stacked-food shots in the latter third joyously evoke Irving Penn. But the proof of a cookbook is not in how much we want to climb inside the pages and live in them, the proof is in the pudding: here there are two, coconut and cocoa, as well as the recipes for all the jams & eggs & toasts & things that made all those beautiful people want to line up on an ugly corner in almost-Silver Lake for an uncomfortable seat at Ms. Koslow's cantina. Now you've got the power to conjure that kind of draw at home. Use it wisely!
Peter Meehan, editor of Lucky Peach I would say that Koslow and I are culinary soul mates, but given the popularity of the place, it's clear that I'm not the only one. This is food whose time has come.
Mark Bittman Koslow's dishes managed to galvanize the very narrow crossover of food writers and L.A. salad obsessives. Turns out that in her hands, breakfast and lunch are what people want to eat all day long.
Bon App tit It's hard to describe Sqirl to people who've never been there. It's hard to justify why I fell so hard for a tiny East Hollywood coffee shop serving fancy toast and sorrel pesto rice bowls to passels of hipsters. But Everything I Want to Eat encapsulates the feel of and flavors and spirit of Sqirl so beautifully. I've often thought of Jessica's food that it's exactly what I'd like to be cooking for my family if I had the tools to do so, and now I do. The creativity, the ingredients, the people, the delicious exuberance that makes Sqirl so special
and makes L.A. one of the the world's most exciting places to eat
it's all here. And you don't even have to stand in line for an hour to get it.
Besha Rodell, restaurant critic and author In Everything I Want to Eat, Jessica Koslow opens the door to her world for the reader through the people, the product, the place and her stunning aesthetic on the plate. At Sqirl, while the rest of the world was shunning gluten, Jessica has made toast and jam modern, unctuous and feminine without being precious. Her grain bowls are brilliant and her treatment of the most perfect protein, the egg, reverent. I will cook from this book ... and devour Jessica's familiar yet witty food and words with a smile on my face. Everything you will want to eat is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Anne Quatrano, chef and author of Summerland Jessica Koslow's cooking is always in tune with the seasons and I admire her approach to food that is pure and beautiful. Everything I Want to Eat is a delightful cookbook that truly lives up to its title!
Alice Waters Show Less