A Guide to the Best of Southern California : FOOD : Italy by the Book

WHETHER you dream of a simple dish from Tuscany or the rich, hearty fare of Emilia-Romagna, the Bocca series of regional Italian cookbooks can bring fulfillment. You can save yourself a transatlantic trip by visiting The Cook’s Library, the only Los Angeles source for the complete 20-volume set of the Bocca (Italian for mouth ) series.

Art books as well as cookbooks, the Bocca tomes ($24.95 each) have a rustic, hand-bound appearance and feature handsome covers (colored drawings depicting each region), pages of rough-hewn paper dominated by colored plates, black-and-white photos and illustrations reflecting Italian lifestyles, antique cooking utensils and food, and, interspersed between recipes, poetry and essays (in Italian) on various food-related subjects.

The Cook’s Library, 8373 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles; (213) 655-3141.