Michael's Cookbook

This coolly seductive cookbook and piece de resistance pictures food as exquisite minimalist morsels. Chef/owner of Michael's restaurant in Santa Monica, Calif., the French-trained McCarty (he earned a diploma from the Cordon Bleu and certificates from L'Ecole Hotelier and L'Academie du Vin in Paris) is known not only for his 1979 inauguration of ``California cuisine,'' but also for his use of modern art at table. ``French cuisine and techniques and American ingredients and traditions may be my starting points,'' concedes the cook, and his recipes here--from simple shoestring potatoes to ``Michael's raw oyster presentation'' and grilled saddle of veal with white truffles--are proof of the pudding. Yet decor in the dining room--and on the page--also provides food for thought. Scattering miniature Stellas, Frankenthalers and Hockneys throughout the volume, and employing bird's-eye-view photos of pastas and cream-based soups as virtual design ornaments, McCarty and Kolpas lay out sophisticated fare with restraint, yet aplomb. (Nov.)