Frankie Curtiss’ cookbook dream is finally a reality.

The owner of Frankie’s Pizza and Pasta in downtown Redmond recently released his first cookbook, “Frankie: At Home in the Kitchen,” with recipes featuring colorful photos, wine pairings and “Frankie’s Tips.”

“I’ve been wanting to do (a cookbook) forever,” he said. “It’s always been a dream of mine.”

Redmond residents can check out the cookbook and meet Curtiss at a cookbook signing on Saturday from 3-6 p.m. at Frankie’s restaurant, located at 16630 Redmond Way. There will be another cookbook signing at the restaurant Tuesday, Sept. 20 from 5-8 p.m. In addition, Curtiss will be giving a chef demonstration at 10 a.m. at the Redmond Saturday Market Sept. 17.

The cookbook features more than 100 recipes of appetizers, soup, salads, sandwiches, pizza, calzones, pasta, deserts and even beverages. Curtiss’ favorites include Pasta Bolognese, Chicken Marsala, Pizza Rustica and Lemon Semifreddo, a semi-frozen dessert.

Many of the featured recipes are from Curtiss’ restaurant, but also include “seasonal recipes, recipes we do as specials and some new recipes that we never did at the restaurant because of time and space constraints,” Curtiss said. “The vast majority of the recipes we served in the restaurant at one time or another.”

The cookbook ($19.95) was designed and laid out by Curtiss himself and he had plenty of help from family and friends with food preparation, testing recipes, food photography and proofreading. Curtiss estimated that he logged about 2,000 hours and spent nearly $20,000 as part of the cookbook project.

Now his valued customers and Italian foodies “can go cook themselves into a frenzy,” said Curtiss, who opened Frankies in 1993.

Frankie’s Pizza and Pasta, voted the best pizza in town by Redmond Reporter readers earlier this summer, is considered one of the best pizza joints in the area, so Curtiss knew a cookbook would be well received. He said he started doing a cookbook three or four times in past, but got sidetracked. Finally, he committed himself to completing the project, taking one day out of his work week for the past year and dedicating it to working on the cookbook.

And finally, the cookbook is complete — while his nearly 20-year-old business continues to thrive. Not bad for a former McDonald’s supervisor who doesn’t have any formal culinary training except for a week of continuing education classes at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa, Calif.

But don’t be fooled — he’s not a spring chicken in the kitchen. He has honed his cooking skills on his own for the last 20-some years, becoming “a student of food and Italian cooking in particular,” he said. He has learned about Italian food and culture first hand, taking many trips to Italy, which he calls “the best place in the universe.”

Curtiss worked 23 years for McDonald’s, working his way up to supervisor and training consultant. But in the back of his mind, he always wanted to open his own restaurant — a place “I would like to eat at,” Curtiss said.

“I was very entrepreneurial,” Curtiss said. “I had a million ideas. I was tired of going to Godfather’s and chain restaurants.”

So he and his wife took a chance and opened Frankie’s in 1993 and the restaurant has thrived ever since — mainly because of Curtiss’ dedication and passion for food, which is well documented in his new cookbook.

“I tested all the recipes myself as I went along,” he said. “Sometimes I would make three or four variations before I finalized it.”

Now residents can see all the final products from Frankie’s kitchen in one colorful cookbook.