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The Chef's Library is a series in which we ask chefs around town to tell us about their favorite cookbooks. Today, n/naka's chef Niki Nakayama gives us a few cookbooks (and one magazine!) she wouldn't want to be without.

With the exception of the first book, after a search on eBay and other sites, it looks as if you'll probably need to take a trip to Japan to get your hands on the last three of these books.

4. Eleven Madison Park: The Cookbook: "I love this book for its pure simple beauty. It reminds me that food can be presented in an artful manner and yet maintain the integrity of it being what it is -- food. I love that it's complex in preparations and executions, and yet no ingredient ever gets lost."

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The Chef's Library is a series in which we ask chefs around town to tell us about their favorite cookbooks. Today, we talk to Joshua Whigham, chef de cuisine at The Bazaar.

As chef de cuisine at José Andrés' The Bazaar, Josh Whigham has a lot to stay on top of. Here, he gives us a selection of four cookbooks that help him create, keep up with what his enigmatic boss is thinking, and use as reference.

1. "Favaken by Magnus Nilsson. What we are doing here at The Bazaar is along the same lines of what he's doing, minus the 20,000 acres farm and hunting estate. We are taking the spirit of that into a metropolitan area, and it's really interesting."

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The Chef's Library is a series in which we ask chefs around town to tell us about their favorite cookbooks. Today, we talk to Karen and Quinn Hatfield, chefs/owners of Hatfield's and Sycamore Kitchen.

(From Karen & Quinn) Cooking My Way Back Home by Mitchell Rosenthall: "Our dear friend Mitchell Rosenthall wrote a beautiful book last year called Cooking My Way Back Home. Mitch and his wife tested all the recipes in their home kitchen. It was a labor of love and it shows. The images are amazing.

(From Karen) The Fanny Farmer Cookbook by Marion Cunningham: "The copy I own I basically stole from my mother when I first moved away from home. This book has pages stuck together and handwritten notes along the borders which to me is the marker of a really valuable cookbook. This is my bible."

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The Chef's Library is a series in which we ask chefs around town to tell us about their favorite cookbooks. Today, David Myers, chef at the newly opened Hinoki & The Bird, tells us about his favorite books.

Washoku by Elizabeth Andoh: "I love that this book captures the essence of Japanese home cooking. It's all about the seasons and the spiritual connection."

Charlie Trotter's by Charlie Trotter: "This is the very first cookbook that inspired me not only on culinary level but also on a motivational level. With this book, I realized I had found a home and connection, not only with food but also his philosophy of cooking. This is a book I still use to this day."

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Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson

The Chef's Library is a series in which we ask chefs around town to tell us about their favorite cookbooks. Today, we talk to David LeFevre, chef at M.B. Post.

"I have a kind of huge collection that spans a few shelves," LeFevre admits. We asked him to choose a few that stand out in his mind.

For straightforward, seasonal cooking: "I like the Canal House cookbooks as a reference for simple, but not boring food that has soul."

For baking: "Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson is great for showing anyone how to make breads in or out of a restaurant."

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The Chef's Library is a series in which we ask chefs around town to tell us about their favorite cookbooks. Today, we talk to Andrew Kirschner, chef at Tar & Roses.

"While I have an enormous collection of cookbooks, one of my all time favorites is The Zuni Cafe Cookbook by Judy Rodgers. Her food sensibility is right up my alley and has always served as an inspiration for my cooking. Not to mention that I started my culinary career in San Francisco and ate at Zuni all the damn time!

"One of her most famous dishes would certainly be the her roasted chicken out of the wood fired oven. Since opening Tar & Roses a year ago, many patrons and one particular food critic likened our bird to that of Zuni Cafe ... an amazing compliment that I am very proud of.

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Courtesy Brandon Boudet

Chef Brandon Boudet's collection of In Bocca vintage cookbooks

The Chef's Library is a series in which we ask chefs around town to tell us about their favorite cookbooks. Today, we talk to Brandon Boudet, chef of Dominick's and Little Dom's.

There's all kinds of things that can spark an eBay addiction -- for chef Brandon Boudet it was the siren song of vintage cookbooks. But not just any cookbooks. Specifically, he discovered In Bocca, a series of Italian books published in the 1970s by the Italian publisher Il Vespro.

"In my spare time, I often look for one-of-a kind cookbooks. I stumbled across one of these a few years ago, and I guess you could say it started my eBay addiction," Boudet says. "Since discovering them, they've become one of my favorite series to cook from."

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The Chef's Library is a series in which we ask chefs around town to tell us about their favorite cookbooks. Today, we talk to Steve Samson, chef (along with Zach Pollack) of Sotto.

It's so surprise that Steve Samson's favorite cookbooks cover the history of the cooking of his greatest muse, Italy.

"My all time favorite food-related book is Pellegrino Artusi's The Science of Cooking and the Art of Eating Well," Samson says. The book, also known as Science In the Kitchen and the Art Of Eating Well, is well over 100 years old, and is considered a landmark work in Italian cooking and culture.

"It was the first cookbook to include recipes from the different regions in Northern Italy," Samson says. "Despite being written in 1891, Artusi's recipes, and his wit, hold up very well."

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The Chef's Library is a series in which we ask chefs around town to tell us about their favorite cookbooks. Today, we talk to Jason Neroni, chef at Superba Snack Bar.

Jason Neroni has a lot of beloved cookbooks, but his "favorite of all time" is Paul Bertolli's Cooking By Hand. "His salumi recipes are my benchmark," Neroni says. "The essays are incredible, and the letter to his son is inspiring. And the recipes ... he really, for me, took Italian in a different direction."

That vision of Italian cooking, as well as the focus on salumi, can be seen on Neroni's menu at Superba.

But Neroni's go-to cookbooks also extend to cooking that doesn't make it onto his restaurant menus.

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The Chef's Library is a series in which we ask chefs around town to tell us about their favorite cookbooks. Today, we talk to Mary Sue Milliken, chef and owner of Border Grill.

Mary Sue Milliken could talk cookbooks all day. "Oh my gosh, I love cookbooks," she says. "I just devour them." There are old favorites (like the trio of books out of Moro, a London restaurant), and ones she just picked up in the last few days (like The Preservation Kitchen by Paul Virant). But her face really lights up when she starts talking about Discovering Korean Cuisine.

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