This is one of my favorite cookbooks. In addition to truly delicious and different recipes, it includes historical notes about the Pike Place Market - which is one of the oldest fish and farmer markets in the U.S. - interesting facts about finny creatures. bivalves, and crustaceans (did you know that the plastic-like quill inside a squid is the vestige of its primeval molluscan shell?) , and the many people and cultures that make up and sell at the Market. The recipes are a bouillabaisse of cultures too: Thai, Cajun, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Native American, Sephardic, Mediterranean, Mexican - and you will find a number of accompaniments, which perfectly complement the entrees. A great gift (my wife has shared many copies), and a delightful read even if you don't feel like cooking. My only criticism - I wish her husband/architect, Mr. Johnson, had been commissioned for the cover illustration. His drawings that are interspersed with the text add interest and depth to Braiden's fine writing. Also, this book does not replicate her other fine works.

This is a fantastic book for kids to learn how to cook beyond opening a can of spahgetti. It doesn't make things cutesy, because kids want to eat real food. Not tacos decorated to look like sharks. These are really kid tested and make cooking fun.

Inside the Pike Place Market lives up to its title. It delivers a "day in the life" of the Market village, plus color pushed photos from angles never before seen. And, 20 recipes as a bonus. I collect Market books, photos, and printed ephemera but nothing since Victor Steinbruecks Market Sketch Book brings the reader so close to the people and activity of the Market as Rex-Johnson's Inside.....

Braiden Rex-Johnson has written a foodies delight. Sumptuously decorated with the photographs of Paul Soders, Rex-Johnson's exploration of Pike Place Market is candy for all the senses. This is NOT a cookbook. There are just 20 recipes (all very good). Rather, this is a delightful narrative of the history of the market, the people and products that inhabit it, and the terrific food that emerges from it. Braiden-Rex is deeply in love with her market, and it shows in her wonderful book. When you finish the book, you'll be hungry, but very, very satisfied.

I rarely read a food-related book, skimming instead for any nuggets of wisdom, or a select recipe or two. But few such books are as well-written as Braiden Rex-Johnson's "Inside the Pike Place Market." I opened to the first paragraph and just couldn't put it down. Part history, part travelogue, part cookbook, and lavishly illustrated with Paul Souders' photographs, this is indeed a book to savor from beginning to end.

(From Take 5 newsletter)
Braiden Rex-Johnson's revised edition of the Pike Place Market Cookbook is a delightful read about the Market's colorful vendors and includes delicious recipes from shopkeepers, restauranteurs and local chefs. Rex-Johonson's first edition was published in 1992, and a decade-plus later nearly a third of the businesses featured in the original book have changed hands. She describes current vendors from the fishmongers to French bakery, smokehouse to spice shop, berry vendor to brewery. Among her 130 appetizer-to-dessert recipes are 60 new recipes and 70 of the best from her previous book. The Pike Place Market is a popular destination for locals and tourists alike - this book will guide readers to the many tucked-away shops and cafes, and its recipes will prompt a shopping list for the next trip.

(From Wine Press Northwest magazine)

Braiden Rex-Johnson's newest offering is her second edition of the best-selling Pike Place Market Cookbook.

Rex-Johnson, a Wine Press Northwest columnist, published the first Cookbook a decade ago, and it's been wildly popular with residents and tourists alike.

Like the first edition, the completely revised version is loaded with recipes by and features on vendors and chefs, and it beautifully captures what a special and magical place the Pike Place Market is in the Pacific Northwest.

If you own the original Cookbook, you'll thoroughly enjoy the revised edition, and if you never picked up the first version, this will become a treasured part of your cookbook collection.

For anyone who's ever visited Seattle's famous Pike Place Market, this book is a necessity. A short history of the market frames anecdotes about the people who spend their working life at the market: high stall vendors, farmers, restauranteers. The stories are delightful and the many recipes delicious - I've personally tried quite a few of them. The skill range needed is moderate and the ingredients available, some can be mailordered from the Market vendors and information is given at the back of the book. Ms. Rex-Johnson's affection for the people and place shines throughout, and most strikingly, almost all of the business profiled are still in existence, 6 years later. A must for Market fans.