Grilled: 2009 StarChefs Rising Stars Revue

We asked Jason Neroni, George Mendes, Harold Dieterle and 10 other 'Rising Stars' to pick a question out of a sauce pan…and answer it no matter what.

Culinary trade organization StarChefs held its fifth annual New York Rising Stars Revue awards ceremony at the Mandarin Oriental to honor 13 of the city's "rising talents." (See our coverage in 2007 and 2008.) To honor the culinary muscle and mind in the room, we decided to do what we know best: grill each of the recipients on topics ranging from bloody kitchen injuries to Patriots season predictions. As always, all questions were pulled randomly out of a saucepan.

By Matt Rodbard, photos by Natasha Ryan