Now that the series has wrapped after five seasons, what are the cast’s cooking skills like? “My slicing and dicing is a little better and I take better care of my knives,” said Liza Colón-Zayas, who won an Emmy for playing Tina, the no-nonsense sous chef. “But I’m less confident now because I question everything. I doubt all my techniques because I’ve seen the masters doing it. I thought I was good at home cooking for my family, but once you’ve seen the greats doing it, I’m nowhere near that level.”
White mused that despite all the training he did for the show, his cooking still isn’t outstanding. “Before the show, it wasn’t great. Then for seasons one and two I was working in restaurants, going to culinary school and they went up, up, up,” he said. “Season three, it started going down. And four and five, there was much less that I had to prepare, and now, I know I can be much better. I can still cut an onion though, that I know for sure!”
Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ayo Edebiri, and Jeremy Allen WhiteJohn Nacion/PictureGroup for FX
“It went back down for me,” Edebiri laughed. “Season three was the most that I was cooking, so I got really good. In season five, I had to do a little bit of cooking again, but not as much. Now, I have just been lazy in my personal life. I have been back to the one-sheet pan meals. Also, I’m doing a play [Proof on Broadway] so my eating hours are weird. I’m eating a lot of basic salads and a lot of broth. Stuff that I don’t have to think about and that I can keep in my fridge or freeze.”
After the cast completed interviews, they made their way up to Nine Orchard’s open-air rooftop for a golden hour cocktail reception. Despite extremely windy conditions, the packed crowd, which also included cast members Will Poulter, Molly Gordon, Oliver Platt, Corey Hendrix, Sarah Ramos, and Ricky Staffieri, roamed around cheerfully. As the sun set, servers passed out mini plates of steak frites, rigatoni alla vodka, and beef sliders (the menu was curated by Storer’s sister Courtney, a professional chef who also served as a culinary supervisor on the series.) High top tables were decked out with picture-perfect edible centerpieces, and there was even a cone-shaped tower stacked with tomatoes at the bar.
The gathering was a family affair for many of the stars. White brought his mom and sister, while Edebiri invited her parents, and Colón-Zayas was accompanied by her children, granddaughter, and husband David Zayas, who previously made a memorable appearance as her on-screen husband, David Marrero, in season three.
As plates of pavlova were dished out, the crowd dispersed, but Edebiri and Boyce were the last to leave. As the DJ spun Madonna’s Like a Prayer, Edebiri did a quick shimmy and playfully posed for selfies on a disposable camera. During the party, the same camera was passed and captured candid moments of the cast, including White and Moss-Bachrach making funny faces. “I’m going to miss these beautiful people’s hearts the most,” Moss-Bachrach reflected. “I love these people. They are family and I have so much respect. Nobody knew that the show was going to be what it has become, so it’s been a wild, once in a lifetime ride. And I will never forget it.”
