I really wanted to love this book... and it is a great book, especially before it offers vegan alternatives for every recipe. However... for such a great book that is tied in with such great films, the lack of pictures (there are a few pictures) really hurts this book - especially when it offers party menus and uses the same pictures presented for the recipes. That is simply lazy or maybe the menus were unplanned and they were just fillers, there's no other way I can explain the use of the same photos.

But I did save some recipes, because I am excited to try them. Some of them have a bit too many ingredients for my simple taste, but I am excited to try some.

The Nightmare Before Dinner by Zach Neil is a recipe book that is sure to spark some creativity into your kitchen. This whimsical Tim Burton themed cookbook has so many fun and tasty ideas that can be created for any occasion. However, those seeking inspiration for a Halloween party will find everything they need to set the stage for a bash suitable for the King of Halloween himself.

Having never heard of Zach Neil’s restaurant chain, The Beetle House, I am even more excited to make a trip to New York to experience what sounds like an amazing culinary adventure. Neil starts the book off with a bit of personal history as to how he became the owner of these unique restaurants. It is truly an inspiring story that sets the stage for these yummy dishes.

Inside the book are quite a few recipes for the food and drinks offered at The Beetle House. If you are already a fan of the restaurant, favourite menu items, such as Brains and Chips, are all revealed for you to create at home. The ingredients are simple and easy to source, as are the directions. Vegans will also be happy to discover that many of the recipes offer alternatives for the dishes included in the book.

If you are after some tips for your next Halloween party, The Nightmare Before Dinner is one book to check out. At the end of the book, you will find specific theme parties for many of Tim Burton’s films. The author pulls all sorts of recipes together based on each movie and gives some advice on decorations as well. I am really excited to put one of these parties on myself.

I was excited to receive a Kindle ARC of The Nightmare Before Dinner from NetGalley.

As a Tim Burton fan, I can't believe I wasn't aware of Beetle House but, judging from the reviews on Yelp, I'm not missing much.

The Nightmare Before Dinner, however, is great. Its dark, lurid, goth, creepy, puny and morbidly humorous.

Each recipe is an ode to director Burton's imaginative and original movies like Beetle's Juice and Edward Burger Hands.

I'm a mediocre cook, but I would make these recipes just so I can say the recipes hilarious names aloud.

I loved the introductions to each recipe, especially when it referenced movies and horror and the pictures are bright and gorgeous, though it featured less photos than I expected. I love food porn and I wanted more photos! 

The cookbook has a nice touch in that it ends with instructions on how to throw your own theme party though it was a bit light on details and repeated photos from previous pages. I can tell.

Additional point for the author in adding vegan substitutions for those inclined.

A fun cookbook with easy to follow instructions but light on photos makes this a four star read but definitely a book to add to your collection, even if you're not a Tim Burton fan.

Great resource! The author has put a lot of useful information, this is such a helpful book. The recipes sound amazing and the accompanying pictures are something to be drooled over. Would recommend!

This is a fun, spook-tacular recipe book from the restaurant "The Beetle House Restaurant",  I enjoyed this book, it's not too big, about 60 recipes in all, with some pictures.  While not all the dishes are photographed, there is a fair amount and they are spook-tacular! Definitely, Halloween themed, but with delicious recipes that you just have to try!  Have fun with this one, it's un-boo-lievable!
 "I voluntarily reviewed this book for an honest review"

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. What a unique book this is. I haven’t tried to cook anything yet but really enjoyed flipping through all the recipes. Many titles made me giggle. Thanks to the author and publisher for the free copy. I see some Nightmare dishes on my table soon!

Firstly this book is very American centric. Its hard to find grits and other assorted items outside of the US so some of the recipes would be very hard to duplicate. That said the fact that most recipes offered a vegan alternative was great, its nice to have variations on the dishes so to appeal to all.
I loved the drinks section and thought the concoctions were intriguing.
I will probably try several of the recipes as they looked delicious.
The aesthetic of Tim Burton-esque choices was a huge selling point for me. The names evoked the films and I would love to go the restaurant in question. The names of the dishes was on point and the unique "party planning menus" at the back was a great addition.
The only real criticism is that there were not enough pictures of the food, some I wasn't sure what they were supposed to look like so illustrations would have been nice.

Perfect for All Hallows Eve. You're going to some weirdly good food that will both surprise and delight your guest at your Halloween banquet. Beetlejuice is one of my favorite characters from a child to now. I always catch it every year and now I can have make some of these frightfully delicious treats.

After being raised in a religious family that didn't allow Halloween celebrations, Zach Neil grew up to love the holiday so much he wanted to celebrate it every day.  That dream became a reality when he opened Beetle House, a Tim Burton-inspired restaurant full of creative and hearty autumn comfort food.

This cookbook contains seven chapters with clever names, covering everything from sauces (Sauces & Dips for the Recently Deceased), appetizers (Nightmares Before Dinner), soups and salads (Herbs, Plants, & Cauldrons), entrees (Platos de los Muertos), desserts (Tricks & Treats), drinks (Poisons, Potions, & Elixirs), and dinner parties (Put the FUN Back in Funeral).

Neil includes a list of must-have tools and ingredients, all common enough you probably already have them in your kitchen pantry. Most recipes include substitutes to make the dish plant based and vegan-friendly.

The book design, layout, and color photographs are well done, fitting the Burton/gothic vibe of the restaurant and its menu.

Some of my favorite recipes included:

-Sweeney Beef (filet mignon served with Sweeney Sauce and garlic mashed potatoes)

-Shrimpy Hollow (sauteed shrimp covered in Hollow Sauce, served with cheesy grits in chorizo oil)

-Victor Van Pork (southern style pulled pork in Soul Sauce with jalapeno coleslaw)

-The Butcher's Stew (richly flavored chili) *I'm already making this a second time!  A new favorite chili recipe for sure.

-The Beetle's Juice (a cocktail of tequila and blackberry schnapps that has non-alcoholic substitutions)

-Edward Sauce (cream based sriracha perfect for burgers and fries)

If you love food, film, fall, and most importantly Halloween, you'll love this cookbook full of classic dishes with unique twists.

Thanks to Quarto Publishing Group/Race Point Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.  The Nightmare Before Dinner was released September 4, 2018.

Fantastic cookbook! It has a lot of creative, in-season, twist on old recipes to give that NBC feel. Plus I love the ideas on how to make a recipe vegetarian/vegan!

This is a wonderfully creative cookbook. It provides a great start with everything you need from a material list to vegan substitution suggestions. Then you get creative chapter titles and recipes titles that you'd expect from such a cookbook -- the talented author and chef does not disappoint. Recipes are easy to understand with some being a little in depth for the cook, but well written, which helps makes the entire process easier. Beautifully colorful pictures throughout help create a delightfully visual cookbook.
You'll find recipes for sauces, jams, appetizers, sides, soups, salads, main dishes, desserts, beverages -- and they look delicious! Not every recipe is ghoulish such as the Giant Peach Salad and Barbarous BBQ Beef Ramen, which look fairly tame and just right for anytime. There are fun items too included in this cookbook. You'll find ideas for creating themed parties, which are fun. He provides menu ideas, decoration suggestions as well as help for invitations. I recommend this cookbook especially if you are looking for some spooky recipes and creative fun.

Completely over the top and representing well its restaurant!  Funky and fun and much more practical than expected, despite headings like "deadly ingredients".

Every day is Halloween day, at the Beetle House restaurant! Every day, the restaurant pays a wonderful tribute to Halloween and to all things Gothic, eerie, dark, ghostly, and spooky.
The Nightmare Before Dinner Recipes to Die For is the official Beetle House cookbook, written by the owner and chef of the restaurant Zach Neil.
The book includes 60 plus recipes, photos of the Beetle House, and four themed party ideas—suggested props and accessories and four menus created with the recipes in the book.
Most recipes come with a photo of the final dish. Each recipe has suggestions for gluten-free and vegan alternatives. Each recipe is inspired by a fictional character or by a movie.
The YES, YES, YES of this book...
1)Fun Fact
Zach Neil was raised in a family that did not allow the celebration of Halloween.
2)My Top 5 Weird Recipe Names
Hallowpeno Honey Cheddar Cornbread
Edward Burger hands
Silence of the Lamb Chops
Victor Van Mushroom
Beetle Pie
3)What I liked…
Each recipe comes with detailed and easy-to-follow step instructions.
The food tasted so delicious!
The vegan and gluten-free alternatives were a nice touch.
The NO, NO, NO of this book ...
1)Most ingredients are expensive and difficult to find.
Four cups of raspberries, a bag of red cherries, and 2 cups of blackberries, here where I live,  are worth a human kidney! I spent hours in grocery stores looking for 35 chocolate cookie wafers! I came home with vanilla cookies.
2)The food coloring and liquid smoke required by a few recipes were not a nice touch.
I would have loved to have a healthy alternative to artificial coloring and artificial flavors.
3)Apart from the name of the recipes and their descriptions, the dishes have no connection with Halloween.
If you take away the name and the description and you show a picture of the dishes to someone who does not know the book, he/she will not see Halloween in the dishes. The beetle pie is just a green and red pie. The chocolate cake is just a cake with a cool name. The burger is just a burger with a knife in the picture.
I would have loved to open the book and to see brilliant but creepy Halloween recipes, rather than yummy but boring recipes. After all, we should be bold on Halloween day!
In a nutshell,
Cute names, clever descriptions, tasty dishes. But, the unique and spooky flavor of a Halloween dinner, on a dark night, under feeble candlelight,  is not quite there, in the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in exchange for an unbiased review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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As a huge Nightmare Before Christmas fan I was thrilled I got my hands on this book! 
It is filled with the most haunted and fabulous recipes, totally a must have for any Nightmare Before Christmas fan!

Something different! Great ideas for dinner parties/ themed events, most of the recipes look devilious 😉

An absolute must have for any Tim Burton fans. The recipes are reasonably easy and it would make a lovely addition to any film lover's bookshelf.

Race Point Publishing and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of The Nightmare Before Dinner.  I was under no obligation to review this cookbook and my opinion is freely given.

The Nightmare Before Diner is a cookbook with recipes inspired by the author's love for everything dark and lovely.  As the celebration of Halloween was forbidden in his childhood, the author has opened a series of Tim Burton inspired restaurants called The Beetle House.  Author Zach Neil clearly has had a great deal of fun in concocting both the recipes and the names for the finished dishes.  Separated into sections such as: Beetle House Must-Haves, Sauce and Dips for the Recently Deceased, Nightmares Before Dinner, Platos de los Muertos, and Poisons, Potions, and Elixirs, readers are teleported into the dark but happy place of Halloween.  Don't let the theming fool you, these are bonafide recipes.  The author has also included vegan substitutes for those who follow a non-dairy diet.

There are sauces such as Edward Sauce (p. 17), a cream-based sriracha sauce that is designed for the Edward Burger Hands (p. 62) but can also be used for sandwiches or a dipping sauce.  The Hollow Sauce (p. 21), made with homemade ketchup and gochujang, is great for chicken, fish, or shellfish.  In the Nightmares Before Dinner section, my hands-down favorite is the Charlie Corn Bucket (p. 43).  This cheesy casserole can be adapted for vegan eaters and is a great side dish with its cheesy sauce and sprinkling of bread crumbs on top.  Herbs, Plants, and Cauldrons includes soup and salad recipes, such as Barbarous BBQ Beef Ramen (p. 54), a delicious and hearty ramen that will satisfy and nourish.  Platos de los Muertos has main dish entrees, like Cheshire Mac and Cheese (p. 61) and Sweeney Beef (p. 66).  Love It Pot Pie (p. 78) is a hearty dish that includes a cornbread base and a beetle jam.  Tricks and Treats has dessert offerings to die for, such as Bloodbath Cobbler (p. 92-93), with its dark cherry and blood orange filling.  Poisons, Potions, and Elixirs has deadly drinks and cocktails that are great for any Halloween party.  Put the Fun Back in the Funeral shows readers some themed parties that they can throw, with photos of the previously listed dishes to inspire.

Although the theme to The Nightmare Before Dinner may be Halloween inspired, the recipes contained within will be phenomenal any time of the year.  I would definitely recommend this cookbook and I look forward to visiting one of the author's restaurants in the future.

Just in time for Halloween celebrations, this new cookbook, The Nightmare Before Dinner Recipes to Die For by Zach Neil will get your imagination rolling with this creative mix of dark recipes including drinks to desserts and everything in between. Inspired by a wide range of movies, this goth-styled mix of recipes is sure to delight anyone with some creativity bursting to come out with a few gasps and shocked surprises as favored responses.

This book contains over 60 recipes from Beetle House restaurants which features a menu inspired by the works of Tim Burton. Wouldn’t you want to dine at a restaurant where “every day is Halloween”! These restaurants are located in New York and Los Angeles, so for now I’m going to be creating some of these recipes at home thanks to this new cookbook!

My all time favorite Tim Burton movie is Edward Scissorhands, so I was delighted to hear that their very first recipe was the Edward Burger Hands. This is a seven layer burger, and the burger is actually held together with a pair of scissors going right through the burger! The photography in this cookbook is positively vivid and you will love the look of this burger. This burger includes an egg, sunny-side up, pepper jack cheese, bacon, avocado, roasted red pepper – do I need to say anymore to encourage you to check out this cookbook.

Ok, I will keep going to get your movie references going, there is the Sweeney Beef, think of a straight shaving razor being used instead of a steak knife to enjoy this filet mignon, and I wanted to mention that if you are vegan or vegetarian this cookbook has you covered as well, because you can also make Sweeney Mushroom. Vegan alternatives or suggested ingredient swaps come for every recipe. Next, we can try Evil Dead Shrimp, and as we are waiting for that to cook we can enjoy a delightful drink – The Coco Skellington combining rum, gin, creme de coconut, lime juice, orange bitter and the zest of an orange – oh my!

Speaking of The Nightmare Before Christmas, there is a chapter entitled “Put the Fun Back in Funeral” which is a themed party section. One of the parties is the Nightmare Christmas Party. You will never find a more fun risotto recipe than Frog’s Breath & Nightshade Risotto to include in a party.

Finally, I have to include the most beautiful dessert, straight from Beetlejuice, is Beetle Pie. With a chocolate crust, a bright green pistachio pudding filling, and topped with a blackberry jam concoction, it is a pie beyond belief! From start to finish, The Nightmare Before Dinner Recipes to Die For is as fun to read as it is to jump into the cooking. I hope you get a chance to get this book before your Halloween celebrations.

I was underwhelmed by this book. The food doesn’t look particularly nice and I find the graphic design on the recipes ugly. The recipes also don’t seem themed - I expected them to look good and have a spooky element, maybe something that would be good for a Halloween party. The dessert and cocktail sections had some interesting ideas, but the savoury and mains are just very basic recipes that you could find in any cookbook. To be fair, I didn’t make any of them, so perhaps they’re all delicious and just don’t look that great in photos. Also the book really doesn’t travel well, as many of the recipes mention American brands and types of food (what is half and half? American cheese?)

Zach Neil's The Nightmare Before Dinner: Recipes to Die For: The Beetle House Cookbook is a Halloween-themed cookbook that offers tempting recipes from Beetle House restaurants. The cookbook offers recipes in these categories:



Sauces and Dips for the Recently Deceased

Nightmares Before Dinner

Herbs, Plants, and Cauldrons

Platos de los Muertos

Tricks and Treats

Poisons, Potions, and Elixirs

Put the FUN Back in Funeral



Starting with Sauces and Dips for the Recently Deceased, there are recipes for items like homemade ketchup and a very cheesy Cheshire Sauce that looked tempting based on the photo of grilled baguettes with the sauce. There's also a vegan version of the Cheshire Sauce.



Nightmares Before Dinner is all of your appetizers. I loved the spin on shrimp cocktail that has a raspberry cocktail sauce. The Beetle Bacon Bread doesn't sound good for you, but it certainly sounds delicious.



Herbs, Plants, and Cauldrons is next. These are all the recipes for soups and salads.. The recipes that most caught my eye are the Barbarous BBQ Beef Ramen and the beef stew. This section is pretty limited with five recipes.



You'll find the main dish recipes under Platos de los Muertos. I love the picture and recipe for The Silence of the Lamb Chops. The raspberry glaze paired with the compote-like apple mix sounds amazing. Shrimpy Hollow also sounds hearty and perfect for the current cooler weather.



In Tricks and Treats, you'll find all kinds of sweet treats. I need to try the Blood Orange Cheesecake when blood oranges are available again. I'm always a sucker for chocolate cake, so the Red Velvet Midnight Espresso Cake caught my eye.



Poisons, Potions, and Elixirs is the section where you'll find cocktails and beverages. I'm not much of a cocktail drinker, so this section is a little less appealing to me. I stick to beers. There are recipes like the Big Fish Bowl or the Franken-Martini.



Finally, there's the meal plans under Put the FUN Back in Funeral. The meal plans incorporate recipes found in the book plus decorating ideas.



If you're looking for a cookbook that pairs clever recipe names with tempting recipes, Zach Neil's The Nightmare Before Dinner: Recipes to Die For: The Beetle House Cookbook delivers. It's packed with recipes and some also have photos so that you can see the final product before you attempt it. It's ideal for the person who loves Halloween any time of the year.