Only two of them— Izard herself and Dale Levitski— had actually been on Top Chef, but there was no question that the book release party for Stephanie Izard’s new cookbook, Girl in the Kitchen, drew an impressive gaggle of top chefs to the vaguely surreal setting of Salvage One. Colleagues from Koren Grieveson to Giuseppe Tentori dished up variations on recipes from her book, while Three Floyds and others sampled beer and mixed cocktails. We chatted with co-author Heather Shouse, who expressed delight that for her second book this year, someone else would be doing the multi-city book tour, and with newly-anointed-chef-to-watch Jesse Katzman, the charcuterie specialist at Avec, with whom we found common ground on the wonderfulness of old school sausagemakers Paulina Meat Market and Freddy’s in Cicero. And like everyone there, we were happy for our hometown Girl’s latest achievement, which she seemed to be enjoying, to judge by her customary irresistible smile. Check out our slideshow of the event below.