SWEET: 2009 NYC Wine & Food Festival

From pudding to pastries, chocolate to custards: a night of sugar-shock therapy

Man cannot live on burgers and meatballs alone. By Saturday evening, NYC Wine & Food Festival attendees were looking to be sugar-shocked out of their carnivorous comas. And so the desserts (and champagne) flowed freely during SWEET at la.venue in Chelsea, where TV chefs, including our favorite spiky-haired bleach blondes—both Guy Fieri and Anne Burrell—indulged along with the crowd.

We caught up with the rock stars (Johnny Iuzzini, Jean Georges), the serious (Sebastien Rouxel, Per Se) and the health-minded (James DiStefano, Rouge Tomate), and tried to figure out why so many pasty chefs claim the lack of a sweet tooth. The real question of the night, though, was if truffles and bacon truly make everything better.

By Krista Garcia; photos by Jori Klein Jacobs