If you’re a Food Network junkie or can’t get enough of “Top Chef,” you’ll relish “Deep Dish” by Mary Kay Andrews, the Atlanta author who wrote “Savannah Breeze” and “Hissy Fit.”  She was in Memphis Tuesday, March 4, for a signing at Davis Kidd, and you can read about her experiences in her blog http://www.marykayandrews.com/blog/2008_03_01_archive.asp

“Deep Dish” is a romantic comedy which pits Regina Foxton, the host of “Fresh Start,” a cooking show on Georgia PBS against Tate Moody, the star of a hunting, fishing, cooking program called “Vittles” in a reality TV “Food Fight.” I liked the way Andrews respectfully pays homage to all those Junior League and church circle cookbooks that line the shelves of Southern cooks. (From my own collection, the most dog-eared and food-spattered are “Out of Our League” by the Greensboro, N.C. Junior League and “Bountiful Blessings” by the Munford Presbyterian Church.

Here’s a link to an interview with the author from the Atlanta Journal Constitution which includes the book’s recipe for “Reggie’s Simply Sinful Tomato Soup Chocolate Cake.” http://www.ajc.com/living/content/living/food/stories/2008/02/26/trocheck_0228.html