cover image Are We Having Fun Yet? The Cooking & Partying Handbook

Are We Having Fun Yet? The Cooking & Partying Handbook

Sammy Hagar, with Josh Sens. Dey Street, $29.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-06-237000-6

Though Hagar (Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock) is best known as a musician, he is also an accomplished restaurateur. Fans are likely familiar with his famed Mexican outpost Cabo Wabo, but he’s also the owner of El Paseo, a chophouse in Mill Valley, Calif. These restaurants inform his fun-loving ode to living well. Hagar takes readers on an impressive tour of culinary approaches, supplementing selections from Cabo Wabo (lobster burritos; braised pork shank in green chili sauce) and the island cuisine of Hawaii (papaya-marinated chicken; a macadamia rum cocktail) with an intermezzo of bistro fare from El Paseo (osso buco; chorizo and pork loin paella). Hagar’s more than happy to share the spotlight with friends, crediting Emeril Lagasse, Guy Fieri, and Mario Batali with providing recipes and inspiration. Though he doesn’t pull punches when describing former bandmates or business partners—Tyler Florence, his former partner in El Paseo, is described as seeming “more interested in being a celebrity than in being a chef”—Hagar prefers to focus on the positive, infusing the book with stories of epic meals and wine collecting as his approach to cooking, cuisine, and the good life evolved. (Sept.)