New cookbook skewers pretentious eateries

It’s not your typical book publishing story.

About three years ago in New York at Brooklyn’s Great GoogaMooga food festival, three comedians handed out a joke menu for a made-up restaurant called Fuds to thousands of swarming foodies. It became a viral hit – delighting many but fooling others. Arthur Myer, one of the authors and a writer for The Tonight Show, put his actual cell phone number on the menu and received hundreds of calls – some hoping to get catering from the hip new restaurant. Myer, along with fellow creators Dan Klein and Kelly Hudson, parlayed the buzz surrounding their fake menu into a fake cookbook, out this month. The book is more than just “recipes” and is written from the perspective of the fictional Mizretti Brothers with an introduction by the real Mario Batali. The brothers give their grotesque take on restaurant etiquette, wine, and how to gain an elephant’s trust. It’s a bit raunchy, totally absurd and very funny.

KCRW’s Steve Chiotakis talked to Hudson about the project.