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New York City’s most iconic Central Park dining destination is coming into home kitchens this spring. Tavern on the Green, known for its storied history and frequent use as a filming location, is releasing its first-ever cookbook on April 7, curated by executive chef Bill Peet. The book brings nearly a century of culinary tradition to home cooks, offering signature dishes, seasonal classics and refined techniques that have defined the restaurant for generations.
“This is a very iconic place, and it really needs something up to date with the food,” Peet said to Time Out when asked about the decision to release the cookbook. “We’ve been working on it for about two years.” Organized seasonally, the book mirrors the restaurant’s kitchen approach, allowing readers to cook in tune with the calendar year.
Inside, readers will find beautifully photographed, step-by-step recipes alongside behind-the-scenes insights from one of America’s most storied kitchens. Peet has spent his 45-year career developing recipes, and the cookbook includes some of his personal classics. “The crab cake is probably 30 years or so that I’ve been using it,” he said of his classic offering, equal parts crab and sea scallops. “The chopped vegetable salad is another. It’s 11 different vegetables, grilled, raw or boiled, all cut really small, very colorful. It’s gluten-free and it’s vegan.”
Peet’s approach balances classical French training with a modern sensibility that emphasizes accessibility and flavor. “I’ve done a lot of cooking classes, and these are all very basic and well-written and easy to work,” he said. Beyond technique, the book also reflects the way New Yorkers eat today. “I never remember so many allergies," Peet said. "But we also take care of so many people here. Let’s say you do 10,000 meals a week, there’s going to be a lot of allergies.”
For Peet, presentation remains central even while he doesn't allow the rise of social media to dictate plating. “Hot food, hot plate; cold food, cold plate,” he said. “We push really hard to get the food looking great on the plate and hot at the same moment. I see too many restaurants out there with food on a plate that was composed. OK, so it looks great. But how hot is it?"
For home cooks, the cookbook offers an invitation to experience Tavern on the Green’s celebrated dining ethos firsthand. From the crab cakes and chopped vegetable salad to desserts like the confetti cake, Peet’s recipes make it possible to bring the elegance and warmth of Central Park’s most famous tables into any kitchen.