Cookbook Restaurant — Restaurant in Ketchum

What a quaint little hideaway in Ketchum, Idaho. When paying it a visit during the summer, Cookbook provides an endearingly cozy outdoor dining oasis. Fresh, delicious dishes and attentive service make it an easy go-to for me, and I’d highly recommend it to anyone looking for anything from a light salad, to a rich pasta dish.

We ordered the Caprese Salad, Watermelon Gazpacho, Roasted Chicken (Nightly Special), and the KG Bowl.

The Caprese salad had a wonderful balance of all ingredients. There’s nothing worse than running out of all the burrata before finishing the heirlooms, before finishing the bread, etc etc. reverse order and apply.

The gazpacho was very unique. It was a little on the sweet side for my palate, but I still appreciated the uniqueness of the flavor blend they were going for. I’d say the mint needed to be a bit more pronounced, and the consistency would benefit from having a less syrupy texture. It was fun to try but I wouldn’t order it again. Something about the sweet tomato fruit flavor reminded me of leftover cold pineapple pizza (which I love btw, this isn’t an insult, just a flavor reference).

Chicken was great. A little on the dry side and wasn’t served entirely warm, but had a pleasant flavor. The bed of kale salad complimented the protein nicely.

KG bowl was fantastic and great ethnic vegetarian option.

Overall, the beauty of this place comes from the thought/creativity behind the dishes, the ambience, and the pleasant service atmosphere. I’d come back to try some of their...

IMHO Cookbook has risen to the number one restaurant in the Valley. They've taken the crown from CK's. First, a small but excellent wine list, very reasonably priced. I also like that their wine by the glass is by and large identical to their bottles. Normally I'm very hesitant to order wine by the glass, who knows when it was opened? Here I'm confident because there will be good turnover and Burke understands good wine and won't serve anything marginal.

Second, the menus is ever changing and limited. This means that the quality of the menu items are easier to maintain -- Cookbook doesn't disappoint. If you have food allergies or restrictions, you may find the menu doesn't easily accommodate you. Having said that there is probably one item on the menu that can be modified to address your needs.

Cookbook has done an excellent job of moving outside. Its very garden like and despite being near a busy area of Ketchum is nicely isolated and private. The interior is small and when it was open, rather cramped and noisy. I like the new outdoors venue, so will you. The air in Ketchum cools rapidly when the sun sinks below the mountains, be prepared with a sweater or the ilk.

Finally, save...

Don’t do takeout. We ordered salmon and ravioli since they were not doing dine-in tonight. I felt like I was eating a stick of butter out of a box, everything congealed at the bottom - felt very heavy-handed. We tossed the majority of it and I feel bad since this town does not compost. Salmon was fine - buried in butter - but forgettable. The ravioli was distastefully sweet. Marsala cream is on the sweeter side, but this tasted like it had sugar added to it. Hopefully it’s a better dine-in experience.

I’d also strongly recommend more appropriate take out containers to at least spruce up the appearance of the food, and prevent cross-contamination of the dishes. For example, the salmon should not be in the same box as the risotto, as the risotto just drenched the salmon.

Edit: Very defensive response from the restaurant. Get more sensible take out containers if you’re doing take out. And if you’re hosting a private party (like you clearly were), just close the restaurant instead of making up excuses about the weather. You were already closed by the time we brought the food home - well, officially. I imagine you were still hosting a private audience. This is...