Fluidita

At Le Calandre, their Michelin 3-star outside Padua, the Alajmo brothers have forged a reputation for a cuisine that is technically innovative but remains nonetheless emphatically Italian.

This follow-up to their imposing, sensational 2006 is even longer (566 pages), with still denser text and images. It seeks to engage users more deeply, employing dramatic photography to underscore the theme of the fluidity of connections between ingredients. Many—but not all—dishes are photographed as if seen partially or fully underwater.

The cuisine itself is striking and never strays far from its Italian roots: red shrimp with pistachio cream, radicchio and fennel salad, and blood orange sorbet; broccoli rabe and truffle soup with crispy eggs and cold onion cream; ravioli-inspired tripe packages with rosemary-scented white bean purée.

As we said, dramatic!

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.