Grilled: 2009 City Harvest Summer in the City

Spontaneous, quote-worthy combustion from chefs Amanda Cohen, Cyril Renaud, Alex Guarnaschelli and Marc Murphy

On Tuesday evening Metropolitan Pavilion hosted the annual Summer in the City, a walk-around tasting that flashed the culinary—and karaoke!!!—skills of  some of NYC's top chefs. The event, part of City Harvest's Generations program, raised funds for the organization’s 25-year mission to feed the city’s most needy cases. A four-star cause, indeed. We caught up with several chefs, grilling them the only way we know: by having them pull random questions out of a saucepan. And, no, they couldn't take a pass when we asked them about the big topics of the day: summer drinking, summer eating and who really is the city’s top barbecue pitmaster. Controversy! Interviews included Leah Cohen, Cyril Renaud, Alex Guarnaschelli, Amanda Cohen, Gabe Thompson and Marc Murphy. 

By Matt Rodbard; photos by Natasha Ryan