Dead Man Eating: The Chef's Last Meal

Chef	The Last Meal	The Passion Explained
Nick DiBona Executive Chef Peter Pratt’s Inn 673 Croton Heights Rd Yorktown (914) 962-4090	Eggs Benedict—and I’d have to cook it. Perfectly poached eggs with a really rich and creamy hollandaise sauce; fatty, crispy Canadian bacon; and a good old English muffin.”	“I’m not a morning person, so it’s not often that I have it. Whenever I wake up to make it, it’s a treat.”
Joe Di Maggio, Jr. Executive Chef Zanaro’s Italian 1 Mamaroneck Ave White Plains (914) 397-9400	“My grandmother’s pasta fagioli. Like seven bowls of it. A wonderful mix of flavors including fat from prosciutto, white beans, escarole, garlic, and cherry.”	“It’s such a peasant, satisfying dish for me. Everything about it offers sustenance. When it combines all together, it’s like a symphony in your mouth.”
Rich Foshay Co-Chef/Co-Owner Wobble Café 21 Campwoods Rd Ossining (914) 762-3459	“There’s a place in New Orleans called Mother’s. The first meal I ate when I visited there was crawfish étouffée and jambalaya. Etouffée is a tomato-based thick crawfish stew with cream and lots of spices and the jambalaya was as heavy on the meat, chicken, and sausage as it is on the rice.”	“Mother’s is a standby in New Orleans. It is a wonderful example of the kind of non-expensive, well seasoned, and well-made down-home cuisine that people are nostalgic for their whole lives. It had layers and levels of flavor and preparation, while still being approachable. It lets me appreciate a napkin on the collar as opposed to linen on the lap.”
Brian Galvan Chef/Owner Ocean House 49 N Riverside Ave Croton-on-Hudson (914) 271-0702	Gelato that I had on a visit to Florence. A little side street shop made it, and I stood on the longest line ever three times because it was so incredible.”	“The texture was so creamy and the flavors so intense. Pistachio tasted like a pistachio, and the lemon and chocolate were also so vibrant.”
Nick Rizzo Executive Chef Emma’s Ale House 68 Gedney Way White Plains (914) 683-3662	A loin of pork with roasted potatoes in a Madeira sauce, and chocolate mousse. The pork loin would be roasted with potatoes and onions in the oven really slow for two hours. The mousse would be blended melted chocolate and whipped cream served in a cup.”	“It was a meal my aunt used to cook on special occasions. She made the chocolate mousse from a recipe she got out of a ladies’ magazine in the 1950s. She instilled the love of cooking in me since she did it with such love and enthusiasm.”