Book excerpt: Brooklyn restaurateurs Doug Crowell and Ryan Angulo believe that every great meal starts with two essential elements: kindness and salt. Kindness is the spirit of warmth and hospitality that underlies every meal at their restaurants. Salt is shorthand for cooking carefully and bringing out the best in your ingredients. The combination of the two can elevate even a quick meal into a special occasion. In their first cookbook, Crowell and Angulo share more than 100 recipes for the dishes and drinks that draw passionate fans from around the corner and around the globe. Here you'll find the Pecan Pie French Toast and Bloody Marys that Brooklyn lines up for, the perfect Steak Frites, and the Buttermilk Fried Chicken with Cheddar Waffles that the New York Times pronounced "the best in NYC." Plus, they've included a guide to putting together a home bar and inventing your own signature cocktails, and tips for choosing, serving, and pairing cheese, wines, beers, and ciders. In Kindness & Salt Crowell and Angulo expertly guide cooks through the preparation of simple, satisfying bistro meals at home, using techniques refined in their restaurants over ten busy years.