Kerry Heffernan

How did you get involved with City Harvest?
I first got involved with City Harvest years ago…we had been giving food as far back as Mondrian w/Tom Colicchio. But when I first worked w/Danny Meyer in 1999 at Eleven Madison Park, that was when my involvement really evolved…with Danny and team, we really walked the walk. Once a week, we’d make a family meal for restaurant staff that we would also expand into a prepared dish for City Harvest. We got our vendors involved to donate product and we’d create large-scale meals to be donated. We’d ride along on deliveries in the trucks, get to know the volunteers, workers and ultimately, the recipients – allowing us to see first-hand the issues and the greater impact. In the time since, I’ve joined the Food Council and my wife Grace is on the Board. 

Why is hunger an important issue for you?
It’s always very difficult to see people on the street that look hungry, but it’s even harder when you see kids in the classroom that are not getting enough to eat. As a new parent, the thought of not being able to feed an infant is just heartbreaking.

How has your involvement with City Harvest affected your outlook on food/or hunger in New York City?
It’s helped establish a normal human connection between those that deliver and receive food – there’s less stigma attached. Being a part of City Harvest allows you to get to know the other donors and eventually the recipients… it’s created a warm chain.

What inspired you to become a chef?
I loved to cook as a child and it was a cornerstone of our family; my parents took cooking very seriously. When I was younger, I happened upon a restaurant job, and I discovered I had passion and talent for it…growing up, we often followed Julia Child’s recipes at home and cooked together, and that built the foundation that still exists for me and my family today.

What advice would you give someone currently studying to become a chef?
Make sure that you get a restaurant job immediately and understand what’s involved. You have to be in love with the business more than simply cooking, because they’re two very different things.

What is your favorite hidden gem of a restaurant in New York City?
Trestle on Tenth – it’s affordable, nice, comfortable and a great neighborhood restaurant

What is your favorite type of food to eat?
You mean after doughnuts and fried chicken?

What is your favorite type of food to make?
I am an avid fisherman and angler, and love cooking fish, especially what I catch or forage myself.  We are part of an oyster repopulation project in Sag Harbor, and we forage for whelks, oysters, and more together as a family.

What can you not live without in your kitchen? What are your favorite food items?
A very sharp Japanese, Western-style chef’s knife Ingredients: Marjoram, garlic, ripe avocado…I also love fresh surprises from the greenmarket – like when you stumble upon the first day of raspberries.

What is your favorite junk food?
TATES Chocolate Chip cookies

What is in your refrigerator?
Artisanal ultra-premium preserves, including apricot and marionberry; Fage Greek yogurt; lettuces and greens from my in-laws garden in Queens; dried salami is a lifesaver after a long night in the kitchen; three vintages of maple syrup; Korean pickles and kimchi; and enormous tub of Gochuchang; Wölffer Vineyard’s Verjus; seven kinds of habanero and assorted chili vinegars and hot sauces; magnum of Champagne; dried chilies from Bhutan from our nanny’s mother – they’re hottest things I’ve ever had; ripe avocado; variety of honeys – including one from a beekeeper from the greenmarket.

What was the last best meal that you had?
The one I hooked and cooked with Joe Isidori of the "South Fork Kitchen" – blue fish w/garlic scape mayo, kimchi and Asian lettuces, whelks with a yogurt / garlic/ tarragon emulsion and baby fennel salad. Joe cooked Asian bouillabaisse w/clams, crabs, porgy – all of which we caught that morning… everything we caught was w/in mile or less away in Sag Harbor. It was a delicious meal and very special to fish together then cook what we caught.

Any big plans for the summer?
Tuna fishing – we will likely go back to the Cape … it’s a spectacular trip on the water about 180 miles on the open ocean

Questions from our readers:

From Chef Ben Pollinger: Kerry, what’s your favorite fish to go fishing for?
Well if I am not offshore chasing Tuna, then I love to chase their little cousin the Atlantic Bonito (Sarda Sarda, not to be confused with the many small tunas and mackerels that, in various places, carry that name) with a fly rod.

• At the Chef's Table
• The Food Council