Last Night Gigi Hadid Celebrated the Debut of Antoni Porowski’s New Cookbook at L’Avenue

By 10:30 last night, the well-heeled dinner guests of L’Avenue at Saks Fifth Avenue had long gone, and the kitchen was about to close until Antoni Porowski arrived at the eatery’s subterranean bar, Le Chalet. After meeting more than 150 of his most loyal fans at a nearby book signing, the restauranteur, a minted arbiter of good taste and culinary expert on hit Netflix series Queer Eye, had one thing on his mind: snacks, specifically french fries dipped in mashed potatoes, which have quickly become a crowd favorite for the likes of Gigi Hadid, who was on hand for the celebration. “It’s not officially a signature dish here yet, but [Gigi] got me hooked on it,” Porowski told Vogue. “I thought it made no sense, but we eat like 12-year-old kids. Honestly, nobody eats a burger like she does too—and I mean that in the best way possible.”

With stacks of his debut cookbook, Antoni in the Kitchen, dotting the après-ski-inspired, Philippe Starck-designed room, Porowski continued. “I’m excited, but if I’m being 100 percent honest, I’m a little overwhelmed,” he admitted as collaborators such as Lisle Richards and Eric Marx stopped by to congratulate him. “If I think more than three days ahead, I have a freakout, but we take everything a day at a time and live in the now.”

Inside the book, readers will find not only a straightforward recipe for the perfect pork chop but also the nostalgic, emotional connections Porowski has to it—like an excursion to a small taverna in Mykonos, Greece. “This was supposed to be purely a technical book, and I wanted it to be an extension of Queer Eye, but then I realized this was an opportunity to share my own voice, and because I’m a very sentimental, and emotional, and sensitive guy, each recipe got personal very quickly,” he added during our chat in one of the boîte’s many quiet alcoves. “I realized every single thing that I’ve made has a story behind it—there’s a first date, a family meal, a grandmother or auntie who taught me how to make something, or even when I was a broke student and fell in love with frozen peas. I just decided to make this deeply personal, so this is my version of a memoir.”

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