There are cookbook launches, and then there are evenings that turn into block parties. This Thursday, the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan is going for the latter — and the guest of honor is one of New York’s most celebrated chefs.
On Thursday, June 25, the JCC welcomes acclaimed chef and four-time James Beard Award nominee Hillary Sterling for an evening built around the release of her debut cookbook, Ammazza! Culinary Adventures from New York to Italy and Back Again. The centerpiece is a live conversation between Sterling and veteran food journalist Dana Cowin, a wide-ranging talk that promises an inside look at Sterling’s culinary path, the influences that shaped it, and the stories behind the more than 100 seasonal recipes packed into the book.
If you don’t know Sterling by name, you almost certainly know her cooking. She’s the executive chef of Ci Siamo, the live-fire Italian restaurant from restaurateur Danny Meyer, and she built her reputation in some of the city’s most celebrated kitchens before landing there. What sets her apart is the combination critics keep returning to: serious technical chops paired with warm, soulful, deeply personal food. That sensibility traces straight back to her childhood in a food-obsessed Jewish family in Brooklyn — a thread that runs through Ammazza! from the first page to the last.
The book itself is a personal collection rather than a straight recipe manual. Across more than 100 seasonal dishes, Sterling traces her journey from her earliest days as a young cook to her lasting love affair with Italian cooking, weaving in family menus and traditions along the way. It’s the kind of cookbook that’s as much about how a cook becomes a chef as it is about what to make for dinner — which is exactly why a sit-down conversation, rather than a simple signing, makes sense as the format for the evening.
That conversation is the heart of the night, but it’s not the whole of it. The June 25 program is part of the JCC’s Summer of Light festival — a season-long celebration of light in all its forms and the connections that bring people together. The day kicks off with the Summer of Light Opening Party from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m., an afternoon of complimentary ice cream, games, and giveaways, with a chance to meet Chef Sterling before the evening’s main event. The author talk with Sterling and Cowin follows from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, with general admission running $20 and VIP admission at $45, which includes a copy of Ammazza!
It all adds up to something bigger than a cookbook launch. Food, storytelling, culture, and community sit at the center of both Sterling’s work and the JCC’s mission, and this evening brings all four together under one roof — giving New Yorkers a chance to spend time with one of the city’s most respected chefs while helping kick off a summer dedicated to connection, joy, and shared experience.
The Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan is located at 334 Amsterdam Avenue (at 76th Street). Learn more and get tickets here.
