The Perfect Setting: Menus and Memories from Cincinnati's Taft Museum

The Perfect Setting is both a menu based cookbook, and an anecdotal social history of the residents of 316 Pike (now the Taft Museum of Art)which was built in 1860. The 11 menus are soup to nuts feasts including all skill levels of cooking from ideas for a children's tea party to an elegant french dinner party. Advisory chefs include Georges Haidon former executive chef at the Maisonette, the longest running 5 star restaurant in the US. Additional chefs include Sal Baressi of Baressi's, Jimmy Gherardi of J's Fresh Seafood, Jeff Thomas Catering, and the Bonbonerie.

"Before it was a museum, the Baum-Longworth-Taft House was a home where families of substance lived, dined and entertained. So it is only fitting that the Taft Museum of Art publish a cookbook....

From informal outdoor teas, to Venetian balls, to receptions for royalty the Taft was the scene for much entertaining.

The cookbook, two years in the making, is divided into menus, inspired by the museum's galleries and artworks, that range from the simple to the extravagant. Each section is preceded by a short essay about the Taft home and its families. Vintage pictures are scattered throughout, as are color photos of artwork from the Taft's collection." -- The Cincinnati Post, December 4, 1999