By Melanie Dunea
224 pages; Bloomsbury

The question that gets the attention of the most in-demand chefs: If you had only one night left to live, what would you have for dinner? The 50 seasoned cooks (including Ferran Adrià, Mario Batali, Anthony Bourdain, and Lidia Bastianich) whose full-page portraits appear in My Last Supper (Bloomsbury) describe the menus, the settings, the background music, the guests—and even provide the recipes—for the ultimate meal (Scott Conant's is seared foie gras and green apple risotto) that would top off their glorious lives in the kitchen.

— Francine Prose