It’s great to have friends in all the right places. Pamela Mazzola and Nancy Oakes, wonderful chefs who wrote the cookbook, Boulevard, based on the San Francisco restaurant with the same name, have been nominated for a James Beard award.

This cookbook is a work of art with gorgeous full page color pictures of mouth-watering entrees, starters, and desserts. Before Pamela did this book, I had no idea how much work went into a cookbook. The authors have to try out all the recipes multiple times to get them right for a home kitchen. They have to create the food for the photos.

Even though Boulevard is arguable one of San Francisco’s most popular restaurants, the San Francisco Chronicle virtually ignored the book’s release. The paper has an excellent food section, one I love to read every week, but it only put in a short review of Boulevard, many weeks after its release. It took judges in New York to recognize the cookbook’s value.

I’m always baffled when newspapers ignore the talent in their own communities. There are so many good writers in the Bay Area and many times their books are never reviewed in the paper. I know there are space limitations, but you would think the Web-savvy Chronicle would at least have its own literary blog.