In 1996, Americans spent over $100 billion gobbling up meals at full-service American restaurant chains, inspiring Todd Wilbur to change his focus from cracking the recipes for convenience store foods to cloning the popular dishes served at these sit-down stand-bys. Wilbur's knock-offs, absolutely indiscernible from the originals, are selected from national and regional chains, many drawn from a list of the top ten full-service restaurant chains, including Houlihan's, Red Lobster, and Pizza Hut. Also included in this savory cookbook is a special section devoted to dishes from hot theme restaurants such as Hard Rock Cafe, Planet Hollywood, and Dive! Recipes include: Applebee's Quesadillas; Denny's Moons Over My Hammy; Bennigan's Cookie Mountain Sundae; The Olive Garden Toscana Soup; The Cheesecake Factory Bruschetta; T.G.I.Friday's Nine-Layer Dip; Pizza Hut Original Stuffed Crust Pizza; Chi-Chi's Nachos Grande, and many more! 

In addition to the ribs (reason I got the book) there is a terrific cinnabon clone which is a great Sunday brunch item, as are the blinzes. This is not HAUTE Cuisine, but sure is fun.

53 of 54 found the following review helpful:


Just as good or better than the real thing!  Jul 26, 2000 By J. Austin "jodylync"
This cookbook is great! I haven't made every recipe in this book, but I have come close. Some of these items I have actually had. Some I haven't so I can't honestly say that these recipes are dead on with the real thing. What I can tell you is that I have enjoyed these recipes immensely. Favorites are Cheesecake Factory's Pumpkin Cheesecake (a new Thanksgiving tradition), Planet Hollywood Chicken Crunch, Cracker Barrel Hash Brown Casserole, and Hard Rock's Orange Freeze just to name a few. Todd is very good with the instructions and extra tips. For example, with the Outback's Walkabout Soup (another favorite) he tells you to be very careful when stirring or you will tear the onions. A highly recommended book!

35 of 35 found the following review helpful:


The Best Cookbook Ever  May 30, 2005 By R. L. Miles "Miles"
I originally bought this book as a novelty cookbook, thinking that it it would just be fun to know how they make 'secret sauce' and a few other cool things. However, once I cracked this book open, I read it from cover to cover! I never read a cookbook all the way through before.

The book has tons of trivial and fun info on restaurant history and how most of these chain restaurants started. I've made about a dozen of the recipes so far and they really are just like the restaurants make! I made the Walkabout Soup from Outback restaurant as an appetizer while I was entertaining the other day. The soup is the best that I ever had and certainly the best that I have ever made. And, last week I made the pizza sticks from Applebees and loved them so much I'm making them again tomorrow.

Helpful info: Don't use Hunt's tomatoe sauce for any recipes (way too salty--ruins the whole recipe).

Also, follow the recipes to the letter. Even if the recipes only call for 1/8 tsp. of something, you'll find that little ingrediant makes or breaks the whole dish

Have fun!

32 of 32 found the following review helpful:


A blueprint for good food  Jun 29, 1998
My family has been trying to figure out how to make Cracker Barrel's hashbrown casserole for at least 5 years. We have failed miserably. But Todd Wilbur has finally revealed the secret -- beef broth -- along with a lot of other really delicious secret recipes. I've had the book a week and have already made the hashbrown casserole, the old "toad in a hole" eggs, the IHOP French toast and the avocado egg rolls and every one of them has been delicious. Of course, I've probably put on 5 pounds this week, but it was worth it. Wilbur's recipes are not only easy to follow, using ordinary food in most cases, but he includes hilarious blueprints of each dish. I particularly like the cross-section of Planet Hollywood's Chicken Crunch which also includes a diagram of a piece of Cap'n Crunch, and his very thoughtful inclusion of diagrams of a 10 inch skillet and three eggs in the Perkins Granny's Country Omelette. The diagrams make the cooking fun and the quality of the product makes the eating even more fun. I'm buying another copy of this book for my mother, and, when they try the food, I suspect all my friends will buy copies. Aside from my 1970s edition of the Betty Crocker Cookbook, this is the best cookbook I've ever found. The question is, does Todd take requests? If so, I have a few recipes I'd like for him to clone, especially the house salad dressing at the Echota House here in Tahlequah. This is a great book--buy it.

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