“I wanted Southern food, but I wanted it on my terms,” explains Alex Hitz in the introduction to his recently published cookbook, My Beverly Hills Kitchen (Knopf) . “The strict European standards of quality and technique applied to those grand old traditions.” Hitz, whose sharp and snappy Southern lilt will persuade you to take his word for it when it comes to cuisine from the South (if his Baked Cheddar Grits, Pecan-Crusted Salmon with Sauce Gribiche, Shrimp Bisque, and Molt

Alex Hitz shares his take on classic Southern cooking with a French twist in his new book, My Beverly Hills Kitchen (Knopf), which includes his Heirloom Tomato Pie, seen here. Opposite page: Hitz has spent a lifetime collecting recipes from the likes of his child-hood cooks to world-renowned chefs. I FIRST MET ALEX HITZ, naturally, over great food. A mutual friend of ours, Gail Monaghan—a globetrotting gourmand and chef who famously entertains in her art-filled Manhattan loft

Alex Hitz is the creator of the gourmet frozen-food line Beverly Hills Kitchen. He has appeared on QVC and HSN, where his show earned the No. 1 slot in the kitchen-and-food category. Hitz is also a prominent New York man-about-town and philanthropist, with home bases also in L.A. and in Atlanta, his birthplace. His first cookbook, My Beverly Hills Kitchen, will be released this month. To prepare for this interview, the author made a batch of Hitz’s Best Ever Brownies from the