Gargagliano, Arlen

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Gargagliano, Arlen

PERSONAL: Female.

ADDRESSES: Home—New Rochelle, NY. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 100 5th Ave., New York, NY 10011.

CAREER: Writer.

WRITINGS:

(With Curtis Kelly) Writing from Within (textbook), Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2001.

(With Rafael Palomino) Viva la Vida: Festive Recipes for Entertaining Latin-Style, photographs by Susie Cushner, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 2002.

(With Rafael Palomino) Nueva Salsa: Recipes to Spice It Up, photographs by Miki Duisterhof, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 2003.

Mambo Mixers: Recipes for Fifty Luscious Latin Cocktails and Twenty Tantalizing Tapas, photographs by Dasha Wright, Stewart, Tabori & Chang (New York, NY), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS: Writer Arlen Gargagliano is a frequent collaborator with New York City restaurateur and chef Rafael Palomino. In Nueva Salsa: Recipes to Spice It Up, Gargagliano and Palomino offer sixty-five recipes for a diverse array of different kinds of salsa. Many of the recipes are for salsas that serve as garnishes or side dishes, not merely as substantial dips for chips and snacks. In fact, some of the salsas covered in the book are complete dishes in and of themselves. The authors include serving and presentation suggestions for each salsa as well as detailed ingredient lists and recipes. Library Journal reviewer Judith Sutton called it an "attractive little book" with "striking color photographs" of the dishes described within.

In Viva la Vida: Festive Recipes for Entertaining Latin-Style, Palomino and Gargagliano concentrate on Nuevo Latino cooking in a book that "open[s] up new territory," observed a Publishers Weekly contributor. The recipes offer broad coverage and usage of traditional Latin-American foods and ingredients, including avocados for guacamole and mangos and corn for making a Peruvian-style potato salad. The recipes also offer an "appealing fusion" of ethnic styles and ingredients, noted the Publishers Weekly reviewer. Among the culinary hybrids are tuna and chipotle burgers and Asian Ceviche with soy sauce and rice vinegar. The Publishers Weekly reviewer noted that the book is easy to use, but also presents a number of recipes with difficult-to-obtain ingredients, which diminishes the volume's overall usefulness. Still, the reviewer found that Viva la Vida is "charming all around and should seduce consumers with its attractive packaging."