When R&I ran a recipe from San Francisco's A16 restaurant in one of its electronic newsletters, the number of click-throughs was nearly a record.

And no wonder. The southern-Italian-focused restaurant has drawn attention from across the country and certainly from the restaurant community (Chef Nate Appleman was a 2008 James Beard Foundation Rising Star Chef of the Year nominee). Happily, all who hunger for first-rate recipes and insights into A16's authentic take on southern Italian food and wines can get a full fix with this month's release of “A16 Food + Wine” by Nate Appleman and Shelley Lindgren with Kate Leahy (Ten Speed Press, $35).

We love the book for lots of reasons, not the least of which is that co-author Kate Leahy (who used to work at A16) is an editor at R&I. The well-tested recipes—rustic, doable and deliciously appealing—reflect Appleman's take on the sun-baked southern region of Campania. As for wine coverage, Shelley Lindgren's discussion of varieties from Campania as well as Sicily, Puglia, Sardinia and Calabria is precise, approachable and straightforward, and one of the best resources on southern Italian vintners.