The Last Supper

The Grinder directed our attention to an excellent slide show over at Time Magazine. The photo essay is promoting Melanie Dunea’s new book My Last Supper: 50 Great Chefs and Their Final Meals, which has a gloriously simple conceit at its heart: fifty of the world’s top chefs were asked what they would choose for their last meal on earth. This is a game that chefs (and foodies of all stripes) have long played among themselves for ages and the idea of compiling them into a book is, we think, genius. We were especially excited to see Gary Danko of (of course) Restaurant Gary Danko profiled: we especially enjoyed his choice of a feast “to be eaten by hand like at a Roman or Greek banquet” of “the finest foods from around the world, including caviar, spit-roasted suckling pigs, black truffles wrapped in salt pork and a roasted Bleu Bresse chicken.”

Watching the drool-worthy slide show inspired us to pose the question to our fellow city editors here at MenuPages. Adam P. of MP: Chicago would start with illegal beluga caviar with all the trimmings and sashimi before moving on to his mom’s brisket and would finish with brownies and chocolate chip cake and good vanilla ice cream. MP: Philadelphia’s Neal would get an appetizer of al pastor sopes from Plaza Garibaldi before travelling to New York and hitting up Peter Luger Steak House for a porterhouse, German potatoes, and some fine whiskey. He’d forgo dessert in favor of a giant plate of bacon. New hire Adam M, soon to be the force behind this very blog, wants steamed clams, french fries, chowder, an al pastor super burrito, Anchor Steam beer, and mud pie from Mattie’s Tavern in Los Olivos. Carolina over at MP: South Florida would like an appetizer of crema de malanga (a soup full of malanga, a yam-like root vegetable, garlic, and cream), followed by vaca frita, white rice, black beans, and tostones from Havana Harry’s Restaurant, and a dessert of her friend’s mom’s passion fruit mousse topped with strawberries and mangoes from her uncle’s tree. As for us, we’d start off with a pan-Mediterranean plate piled high with prosciutto, salami, jamon Iberico, pate, olives, Taleggio, Manchego, goat cheese, and a really excellent baguette, before a first course of spaghetti carbonara with fresh pasta, a second course of the grilled Wolfe’s Neck sirloin from Rialto, and a light dessert of a few fresh-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookies. We’d drink bellinis throughout.

We’re dying to know: what would you eat for your last supper?

The Rockstarification of Chefs Continues [The Grinder]
My Last Supper [Time Magazine]
My Last Supper: 50 Great Chefs and Their Final Meals / Portraits, Interviews, and Recipes [Amazon]

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The Last Supper