I didn't expect to be writing again about Todd Wilbur, author of Top Secret Recipes, at least not quite so soon. But when he came through Denver last week, I had to meet him. After all, this is the guy who's made a living cloning recipes from the restaurant chains, bringing us his versions of the Cheesecake Factory Original Cheesecake and Claim Jumper Meatloaf that closely duplicate the originals.

My plan is to take him to lunch somewhere unique to Denver, because he's never been to our fair city. Instead he persuades me to go to the Hard Rock Cafe. It's the second time he's been there in the past two hours (and he's from Las Vegas, which has the restaurant and the hotel).

He's on a mission. The first time there, he ordered the quesadilla because he wants to go home and crack the sauce that comes with it - Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry's Mango Peach Tango Hot Sauce. He shows me the picture of it in his digital camera, along with a shot of the menu item. It's the first step - the second is trying the dish - in cloning. He also wants to check out what's new, "because I know I'll get asked for it."

Wilbur has been dissecting recipes for years. His latest book, Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2 (Penguin, $15), was 10 years in the making. Some of the chains have changed the names of their signature dishes, which rankles a bit, given the time he spent on them.

The Hard Rock's Pig Sandwich is a case in point. The name has changed to Hickory Smoked Pulled Pork Sandwich, but is it the same sandwich? He thinks it's been changed slightly and considers ordering it, but then the waiter also recommends the French Dip, which he orders and decides he doesn't like. The quesadilla sauce, on the other hand, is something worth duplicating.

Where Wilbur used to ask the waiter to reel off ingredients in a dish because of his "allergies," he's now perfectly upfront. His book sits on the table next to us, and if ever anyone knows how to "chat up" the employees, it's Wilbur, whose exuberance wins them over.

It took him six months to crack the Original Pancake House's Apple Pancake, unable to solve a basic food-science problem. Neither a trained chef nor a scientist, "I'm a puzzle guy," Wilbur says. "I love mysteries and magic. I would buy all the magic tricks when I was a kid and figure them out and then never do the trick again."

Despite what you'd expect, the restaurants haven't made a fuss about Wilbur's cloning their recipes. In one of those duh-uh moments of discovery, I think I understand why: It's all about the presentation.

When I made the P.F. Chang's Lettuce Wraps at home, a family favorite at the restaurant, said family ate them without comment. They tasted much like the ones at the restaurant, but there was no one standing over the table offering to mix up the chili sauce, only yours truly standing over the stove, dishing up the chicken mixture in one pan and frying the little mai fun rice sticks in another. By the time I figured out how to fry the little rice sticks - I kept burning them - you can darn well bet I wasn't going to worry about placing the chicken mixture on a bed of them.

Just FYI, the rice sticks, available at the grocery, are a lot of fun. You throw them in oil and they puff up into these cool white crispy noodles. Just don't throw in a mega amount at once - trust me.