5024 E. McDowell

By Nikos Ligidakis

This unique story cookbook reveals every recipe created by legendary chef Nikos Ligidakis. It is a collection of over 500 original recipes in a motivational story about the personal failures and accomplishments of a man who used his imagination and courage to make his dream a reality. The recipes in this book are written in an easy to follow form. This inspirational book will encourage readers to create original recipes.

Comments About the Book

“”This culinary haven is a tribute to the chef / owner’s skills, innovative spirit and dedication to freshness with the use of quality ingredients.””

Destinations of the Southwest, 1988

“”Nick is a man who marches to his own culinary drummer. According to him, there are three ways to prepare a dish: the right way, the wrong way, and his way.””

Best of Phoenix Restaurant Guild, 1993-94

“”The restaurant is here because Nick Ligidakis wants it to be. His restaurant is his mission and it’s not for the faint-hearted.””

Arizona Republic, 1993

“”Ligidakis is a legend locally both for his selfless charitable involvement and his very idiosyncratic restaurant.””

Tribune Newspaper, 1996

“”Nick creates dishes the way Mozart made music, all in his head, able to picture the final result without writing it down or testing it first.””

Arizona Republic, 1993

“”Like Saguraos, Camelback Mountain and red-tile roofs, Nick Ligidakis seems to be a permanent part of our desert landscape.””

New Times, 1999

“”Ligidakis is one of the most beloved chefs to ever grace the valley restaurant scene.””

Scottsdale Tribune, 2001

Reviews About the Book

“”This is a great recipe book if you had the privilege to eat at any of his establishments. The recipes have the right taste to them and his hints on cooking/baking in the southwest were very helpful. Be careful when making some of the recipes. They will feed a restaurant full! Paring down is a must.””

Alice Fuchs

About the Author

Nationally recognized chef, Nikos Ligidakis is a native of Greece. He gained national acclaim for combining the full tantalizing flavors of the Mediterranean region with imaginative presentation. Nikos’s success is credited to the fact that he has created a cuisine that is once both exotic and familiar.

Nikos’s love affair with cooking began at an early age. His grandparents owned a taverna in Kiaton, Greece, which was later passed on to his parents. He spent much of his childhood watching his parents and cultivating his imagination for cooking and fanciful uses for ingredients. Nikos has become a legend locally both for his selfless charitable involvement and his idiosyncratic style of cooking. He prides himself on his culinary creativity, use of quality ingredients, freshness, consistency, and the fact that he prepares everything from scratch.

Nikos has been lauded in virtually every print publication in the greater Phoenix area, and in many national ones as well. He has been profiled numerous times on all of the valley’s television stations and has received awards for both his cooking and charity work. Most notable of these was the 1990 Golden Rule Award and the 1995Humanitarian award from the city of Phoenix.

5024 E. McDowell, Phoenix, Arizona is the location where Nikos’s original restaurant was located. It was there where everything began; a little legendary place where hundreds of recipes were created and endless heartwarming stories originated.

Nikos’s story is told frequently; a story about a man with simplistic views of life, yet holding the complexity of the thoughts running through his mind. Evidence of this you will find in every page of this book, with his approach of using simplicity to create complex results, never compromising on taste. Food experts praised him throughout the decades, but for Nikos, what is most important, are the people and their children who have formed a following that resembles a cult.

In this unique story-cookbook, one will find over 500 original recipes, each one of them created by this one-of-a-kind chef. The book also contains the story of a man who refuses to give up or compromise his art. Nikos’s personal failures and accomplishments are an inspiration to others who think that their dreams are unattainable.

In his work, Nikos refuses to follow some of the old, tired cooking methods; methods that insist there is only one way to prepare a dish. Finding a simple way to express his art became his challenge.

The only rule that Nikos has not broken is the final result of the taste, which is a tribute to his skills, innovative sprit, dedication to freshness and the use of quality ingredients.