First of all, there is nothing common about this cookbook, and it is not about grilling. Rather, it is a compilation of more than 150 recipes from the Common Grill, chef Craig Common's restaurant in the quaint town of Chelsea, Michigan. Common's food has been described as a combination of "big city" and "casual comfort," and with recipes such as Grilled Portobello Mushrooms with Warm Garlic Custard, it's easy to see why.

Common's work is well organized. He starts with a chapter of basics, such as stocks, basil pesto, and a roasted-tomato sauce, and then presents a chapter of sauces, some of which are called for later in the book and some of which will make a dish all on their own. A little note at the end of a recipe for Mint Aioli says, "A great addition to grilled lamb chops"; Tomato and Roasted Pepper Compote is "great on grilled fish"; and Bacon-Balsamic Vinaigrette is used in a salmon recipe but would be tasty also on a spinach salad.

Once you get past the basics, however, Common gets less common and more complicated. While there are a number of recipes with short lists of ingredients and manageable time frames, such as Skillet-Roasted Mussels, Dungeness Crab Cakes, and Apple Praline French Toast, most are quite complex and time-consuming, requiring a bit of expertise in the kitchen. Fortunately, many are beautifully photographed and all are laid out well, with the lists of ingredients separated into mini-recipes and printed on an off-white background to help you keep your place as you look back and forth at the instructions alongside. Tuna Salad Niçoise, for example, is a work of art, made with fresh Ahi tuna and served on mesclun with beans, potatoes, asparagus, cherry tomatoes, and ricotta or feta cheese with Roasted Lemon-Basil Vinaigrette. The recipes for the Tuna Marinade and the vinaigrette are called out separately.

Pan-Seared Whitefish with Cajun Ragout Sauce, Chilean Sea Bass with New Bedford Littleneck Clams, and Roasted Vegetable Cannelloni are all worth the trouble, but the key to these recipes is to really read them, as the instructions sometimes oversimplify the work involved. While this book is certainly something a kitchen novice could aspire to, it is geared more toward cooks who are already quite comfortable in the kitchen. For them, Common is sure to be a source of inspiration. --Leora Y. Bloom

SYNOPSIS