Video: Behind the Cookbook with Chef Corey Lee

Chef Corey Lee's austere, delicate dishes are a delicious product of his constant devotion to detail. In this video, the first in our partnership with Phaidon, he talks about his cooking inspiration and philosophy; his restaurant, Benu; and his new cookbook of the same name. Benu—Lee's debut book—is presented in the format of a 32-course tasting menu. "The book is about a menu at Benu because that's what this restaurant is about," he says. "It's about providing one menu for our guests any given night. ...If you write a cookbook with several different dishes, each dish can be really beautiful. But when you look at all the dishes in the context of a menu—that's when it's really greater than the sum of its parts. And hopefully we can convey the experience of dining at Benu to the reader."