New City’s top five cookbooks of 2009

[Dateline: Seattle, my father’s computer, my parents’ house, 2:15 PST.]

Me: Hey, Dad! Check it out! The cookbook got named one of the top five Chicago cookbooks of the year by New City!

Dad: How many Chicago cookbooks were published last year? Six? [Goes back to crossword puzzle.]

And, well, he’s probably right. But, still. NICE! And, very kind of the good people at New City to include our little project alongside the work of Sarah Levy, John Coletta, and Marcus Samuelsson. For what it’s worth, it appears to be the pick of one Veronica Hinke, whom I do not know, and not regular food columnist Mike Nagrant, whose Champagne and Lamb French Onion Soup and Parmesan-Cheddar-Thyme Gougeres make appearances in the book (pages 24 and 114, respectively).

Next on the vacation agenda: Confirming the cooks for our inaugural 2010 soup night on January 6. Mark those calendars, folks. It’s going to be good.