Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page: WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT:The Definitive Guide to Pairing Food with Wine, Beer, Spirits, Coffee, Tea — Even Water — Based on Expert Advice from America’s Best Sommeliers

Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: Anyone who eats — and wants to know the perfect beverage to elevate their meal from ordinary to extraordinary.

Q: What is the book about?
A: WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT is based on the collective wisdom of experts at dozens of America’s best restaurants, including Alinea, Babbo, Bern’s, Blue Hill, Chanterelle, Daniel, Emeril’s, The French Laundry, Frontera Grill, The Inn at Little Washington, Jean Georges, Masa’s, The Modern, Per Se, Rubicon, Tru and Valentino.

You’ll find authoritative recommendations for stocking your cellar and kitchen with must-have beverages, from wines to waters. You’ll also learn what to drink with everything from French toast to Chinese food, and what to eat with everything from Pinot Noir to green tea, to create mouthwatering matches. Follow the authors’ three simple “Rules to Remember” when making a match — or just dive into the wide-ranging listings in chapters 5 and 6. Exceptional in its depth and scope, the book features more than 1500 entries to guide every imaginable pairing of food and drink.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: The “incisive, hip writing team” (Publishers Weekly) of Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page — who each hold sommelier certificates, and previously won the James Beard Book Award for their first book BECOMING A CHEF — distills history, geography, science, expert technique, and original insight to create a remarkably user-friendly and engaging reference sure to become an instant classic essential to every connoisseur’s bookshelf.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: It’s the first book on pairing food and drink that doesn’t oversimplify, and yet doesn’t require advanced wine knowledge to be able to use. You can read the introductory chapters for theory and techniques on how to come up with the ideal pairing, or you can simply go to the tables in the book to look up your favorite food (e.g. aioli, bacon, more than 100 different cheeses, Filet-o-Fish sandwich, Pad Thai, etc.) and find suggestions for the ideal beverage to accompany it, or look up your favorite beverage (e.g. ale, Barolo, coffee, green tea, Zinfandel, etc.) and discover what types of foods will best accompany them. Think of it as your own portable sommelier — it’s as easy to use as a thesaurus.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: It’s truly one of a kind. It was the first book on beverages and the first non-cookbook ever to win the coveted IACP “Cookbook of the Year” Award, beating out nearly 500 other books from around the world to win the title in April 2007. It also won the Georges Duboeuf “Wine Book of the Year” Award.