Please Wait to Be Tasted: The Lil' Deb's Oasis Cookbook

by Carla Perez-Gallardo, Hannah Black, n/a Wheeler

Foreword by Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Meshell Ndegeocello.

Home cooks will love serving up bold-flavored tropical comfort food from Please Wait to Be Tasted, the first cookbook from Lil' Deb's Oasis, the James Beard Award-nominated hotspot in Hudson, New York. More than a recipe collection, it's a big-hearted celebration of food, love, and community.

For flavor-craving, art-loving, community-celebrating home cooks, Please Wait to Be Tasted serves up tropical comfort recipes, alongside musings on wine, music, love, sex, friendship, and fashion. At Lil' Deb's Oasis in the Hudson Valley of New York, chefs Carla Kaya Perez-Gallardo and Hannah Black, both art school graduates, have created a bright, welcoming, rainbow-colored, LGBTQ+ inclusive community, where guests are treated to "hot, sticky, juicy, moist fever dreams of flavor." Their recipes mesh respect for cultural traditions with a twist: Ceviche Mixto with Popcorn; Charred Octopus in the Ink of Its Cousin, Sweet Plantains with Green Cream, Abuela's Flan, and more. With "Please Wait to be Tasted" (a phrase featured in the restaurant's waiting area), you can bring these recipes home.

In addition to some seventy recipes, Please Wait to Be Tasted shares the knowledge and love that go into making memorable meals at Lil' Deb's Oasis: essays on the restaurant's beginnings and the chefs' navigation of the colonial histories entangled in their recipes' origins; tips on techniques, tools, and pantry; and lessons on how to eat well together.

Genres: Cookbooks

256 pages, Hardcover

Published June 21, 2022

Reviews

[Andi · Rating 5 out of 5]

First and foremost, this book is GORGEOUS. Having never heard of Lil' Deb's Oasis, it was what drew me to the book in the first place. The colorful pages draw you in before you even get to the recipes and then you're hit with these beautiful, and, dare I say, even sexy at times, pictures of food.

Lil' Deb's Oasis is a queer-run restaurant in the Hudson Valley (NY), that serves tropical comfort food and this cookbook is as welcoming as the restaurant's reputation itself. The descriptions of the food and the people involved in making the restaurant what it is today make it a fun cookbook, as well. Sexy too! You may not want to make all the recipes, but you will want to read all the stories and recipe desciptions.

It's part cookbook, part multicultural love letter to food, and part love letter to the community. Some recipes are more complex than others, but I feel like anyone would be able to make them. There are even pro tips to help.

I may have never heard of Lil' Deb's Kitchen, but you can bet the next time I'm in NY, it'll be on my list of places to eat, no doubt about it.

Thank you to Princeton Architectural Press for providing me with an ARC for an honest review.

[Mallory Pearson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a lifelong Lil Deb's Oasis fan--ever since my first trip to Hudson when I had a divine meal surrounded by amazing servers and a vibrant queer community, it's been one of my favorite spots to eat. Now when my friends and I visit Hudson, we make a Lil Deb's reservation before we even find a place to stay. This book is full of photos with the same vivid beauty as the inside of Lil Deb's itself, and the recipes are creative, inspiring, and bright. In between the recipes, there are tender and lovely reflections on the beauty of sharing food, as well as easy-to-follow techniques. There are so many meals and drinks that I'll be trying at home with my friends and family who love Lil Deb's just as much. I'm so excited by the prospect of this community sharing its reach with others, and I can't wait to make my first meal from this book.

[The Candid Cover (Olivia & Lori) · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book is very colourful and has many interesting recipes, I just felt a bit blindsided by the content. The chapters of the book and the recipes are all sex-themed. It seems fun and is definitely unique, but I was not prepared for this in a cookbook and it is not for me. I'm certain that there will be others who will enjoy the style of this book, so if it intrigues you, definitely give it a try!

[K.A. Goodsell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Please Wait to Be Tasted is a Cookbook that is not only colorful and well thought out, but also clever and a fun read.

The cover artwork caught my eye immediately because of it's 60s and 70s vibes. I'll be honest, when I first look at the cover there is no "warning" per say of the topics covered within the cookbook. Between some of the chapters called, Arousal, Foreplay, and even Climax, I was a bit thrown. But, when I dove in and read the backstory, as well as started to skim through the chapters I knew this would be a a fun and different cookbook for the collection.

The images are bright and colorful which go well with the eye-catching font, color palette and illustrations throughout the pages. There are some sexual photographs throughout the pages, just a warning for some readers. But, for anyone open minded and comfortable, it's all a part of the art within the pages.

The recipes are wide range and even include some drink recipes. Some recipes include crispy coconut shrimp lettuce cups, stuffed cabbage rolls, and banana loco.

4 Stars. Would recommend. It's definitely a coffee table or conversation cookbook. I am excited to try some of the recipes within the pages. That being said, there are some recipes that have ingredients that I may have to search for a bit more than what I have on my shelf at home or at my local grocery store. But, that can be part of the fun to try something "new".

Thanks to the publisher, Princeton Architectural Press, the author, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC copy to read and review. Review will also be posted to my blog (www.kagoodsell.com/book-reviews), GoodReads, TikTok (@unearthingeco), as well as NetGalley reviews.

[Theediscerning · Rating 1 out of 5]

My eyes, my eyes!! I never knew hipster nonsense to be so unapologetically gaudy. I was probably on the wrong foot with this book right from the beginning, with its demands we treat positive words about the 'tropical' countries these guys use as inspiration as colonial, and that "comfort food" is an evil, racially charged term. Less of the woke, more of the poke, please. But do the recipes actually help? Do they heck. First, throw some food waste into your vodka and infuse for a week – that's literally step one to one of their cocktails. The second recipe for food presents it as a giant Jenga game, while another dish ends up in the HAT of someone so garish Frida Kahlo would turn her back. Now, I am sure a lot of this tastes absolutely wonderful, but the whole ethos here, from the presentation of the fusion of fusions to the right-on 'tood, really rankled. The eatery concerned must be doing something right because it seems there is nothing grown on Earth they cannot serve up, as long as it's burnt through enough air miles and contains at least six things your grandparents would never have heard of. But they don't seem to have realised the irony in railing against the (predictably evil) "Eurocentric haute cuisine" by producing a newer kind of cuisine du look. Instagrammers will cream themselves over these pages, real world people much less so. I didn't intend to wish it ill, but I got nothing from this.

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 colorful, delicious, more-than-a-cookbook stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Princeton Architectural Press for providing a digital ARC for review :)

I really enjoyed this cookbook!

It's colorful, there's so many stories and fun within... what's not to love? This cookbook opened my mind to all sorts of new culinary ideas I had never thought about before. There is background, musings, fashion, and beautiful photography within. There is even a section about "wine poems" - which I need to do during my next gathering~!

Side note: I definitely need to make that elote recipe!

I recommend this for the culinary enthusiast in your life, especially those with a more broad palette that are adventurous in the kitchen.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a phenomenal coffee table book. The photography is stunning, but not for the faint of heart. It is provocative just like the food and the people who make it. This book is unlike anything else on the market right now. For me, what makes a cookbook great is making things that can be translated in other ways not just in the recipe they are a part of. The Mole Powder(referred to as magic dust in my house) does not disappoint. We use it on anything and everything. The cacao buckwheat chile crisp is exactly the right amount of heat and crunch. I enjoyed the ceviche section as it isn't something commonly found in books. There is something to be found for everyone in this book.

[Joni Owens · Rating 4 out of 5]

If Willy Wonka had a cookbook, it would be less vivid than this cookbook.

Pros:
* The recipes sound really flavorful.
* well written instructions.
* Pictures with the recipes.

Cons:
* It was a visual overload.
* If lots of pictures of hands touching, holding food isn’t your bag, just read the recipes.

Overall a great sounding recipes. Just a little overshadowed by the visual explosion.

[Nancy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is just not for me. I'm sure the fault is entirely my own. I'm too old for such a psychadelic book. I don't like the vibe. I don't like the foreign and exotic ingredients. I don't like the funky pictures. It's just not for me. If it's too loud, then you're too old! Yes, apparently, I am..... sigh.....

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This cookbook has quite the vibe! It adheres strongly to its theme in every sense. The recipes are tasty and the pictures are great!

[Rebecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

A weird book of people! Recipes had so many ingredients and not practical to make any!

[Bookish · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's more than a cookbook, it's an experience. Beautifully illustrated and filled with creative, tempting, do-able recipes.

[Amanda Yates · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book that went by fast. It was easy to read and I really enjoyed it. Defiantly one to add to your to be read pile.

[Honest Mabel · Rating 1 out of 5]

no thank you

I come to cookbooks for recipes I was too distracted by the unnecessary sexualization of the book it’s not my jam