I really enjoyed Buttermilk Graffiti by Edward Lee
Amazon Link
I enjoyed smoke and pickles. Is this more memoir than cookbook?
He also had a great story about a benefit auction with Anthony Bourdain.
It's more food travel writing with a couple of recipes per chapter.
Fairly formulaic, and kind of Bourdain-esque, but well done:
1. Lee goes to place and eats ethnic/regional food, frequently one you might not expect (i.e: Nigerian in Houston, Peruvian in New Jersey)
2. Gets to know the restaurant owner/chef, learns culinary and cultural history for the area
3. Relates observations to own experiance.
Does something like this in 10-15 different places. Really interesting, and added a lot of restaurants I would like to visit to my list. He is a good writer, and is pretty insightful.