Hot for Trotter
The master chef says farewell.

Twenty-five years after opening the doors to his eponymous restaurant, internationally renowned chef Charlie Trotter shut them for the last time on Friday, Aug. 31. And unlike the quiet elegance his patrons had come to expect, his last supper was a raucous bash complete with Jungle Juice (a get-you-buzzed concoction served out of a trash can), a goat roast on the back patio and cameos from Trotter proteges past and present. The Food Network’s Anne Burrell, who met Trotter two months ago, greeted guests from a front-of-house station with corn pancakes topped with quail eggs (“he’s ground-breaking,” she said). Other chefs stationed throughout the space: “MasterChef” star Graham Elliot, who worked under Trotter when he was 21 and “a big malleable ball of clay,” served Caesar salad with a molten brioche Twinkie upstairs; BellyQ’s Bill Kim, who had “two tours of duty” with Trotter, served lemongrass salmon in the studio kitchen; and Hot Chocolate’s Mindy Segal served a trio of desserts in the kitchen; and more chefs spread throughout the space served up dishes to diners hungry for a taste of history.