Who are America's restaurant critics, and what do they really know about food? How did they get their jobs? What's the weirdest thing they've ever had to eat? What's the worst? Is the job of restaurant critic all it's cracked up to be? Can a good review "make" a restaurant? Or a bad review break one? In Dining Out: Secrets from America's Leading Critics, Chefs and Restaurateurs, husband-and-wife team Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page answer these and hundreds of other questions, just the sort of material that we Beardies-intrepid restaurant-goers all-like to debate fiercely over our lobster latte with truffle lather and our glass of Château d'Yquem.

Dining Out is the third in a trilogy of Dornenburg/Page books that look at the inner workings of America's restaurant world. Their first book, Becoming a Chef, won the 1996 James Beard Award for Best Writing on Food and has become a standard text for culinary students across the country. Their second, Culinary Artistry, explored the art of composing a dish. All three books draw on extensive research and interviews with leading figures in the restaurant world. Their latest, Dining Out, is "a fascinating collage," Michael Ruhlman wrote in The New York Times. "Offering insiders' knowledge and illuminating insights from some of the country's best chefs and food critics, the moderators Dornenburg and Page have brought a generous curiosity and balance to a subject of compulsive interest to a growing number of people."

Dornenburg and Page live in New York, where he spent seven years cooking at many of the city's leading restaurants, including Arcadia, JUdson Grill, and March. Dornenburg studied under Madeleine Kamman and now runs his own catering business. When not writing books, Page is a marketing and strategy consultant on culinary trends and new product development; she has an MBA from Harvard and is writing a book on the school's most distinguished alumni.

For the couple's Beard House gig, Dornenburg will forsake his laptop for a stovetop and cook up a meal that pays tribute to his mentors and friends in the restaurant business. (You'll see the names of their restaurants on his menu below.) Reserve now to get the inside scoop.