Bookshelf

Post-Retirement, Johnny Iuzzini Has a New Cookbook in the Works

“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.” Photo: Photo: Cindy Ord/Getty Images

As you know, some seriously large French meringue–shaped holes were left in the city’s pastry kitchens late last year, with the departures of the “big three” from their restaurant posts: Michael Laiskonis left Le Bernardin to pursue teaching and writing; longtime Daniel chef Dominique Ansel now runs a beautiful Soho bakery and patisserie; and Johnny Iuzzini left the Trump International Hotel and Tower building in order to nurture his inner lumberjack. In fact, Iuzzini told us in November that while he only wanted to “chop wood, ride around in my ATVs, sleep, and decompress” in the Catskills, but the chef has also signed a new book deal. Yesterday, Publishers Marketplace logged some more details of the forthcoming title. (And no, it won’t be a pop-up book for children.)

Top Chef Just Desserts head judge Johnny Iuzzini with Wes Martin’s untitled dessert cookbook, in which the author illustrates how to take basic recipes to turn them into simple but impressive desserts.

So it seems the chef is putting the “FourPlay” concept he practiced at Jean-Georges — where each dessert choice was served plated with four iterations — to bed. Perhaps the puns and double entendres are now also retired, and the forthcoming book will not carry a follow-up cover blurb from Paula Deen wherein the LDL queen of Georgia, ahem, gushes, “Y’all … I just love a man who knows his way around some chocolate!”

Publishers Marketplace (Subscription Required)
Earlier: Johnny Iuzzini Resigns From Jean Georges to Chop Wood, Study Gelato, and ‘Be Scared Again’

Post-Retirement, Johnny Iuzzini Has a New Cookbook in the Works