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Here's a recipe you've probably never heard before: Take a handful of the best chefs in the world, add two bottles of Patrón Añejo Gold tequila, and combine with an icy luge for liquids. The end result? Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin, Fergus Henderson of St. John, and Daniel Boulud of — well, you name it — are huddled in the tiny back room of Le Bernardin's kitchen, pounding back double shots of Mexican truth serum like frat boys on spring break. "Eric told me you could drink the whole bottle," Boulud says to Henderson as they pour another round into the top of the luge, catch it on the other end, and then clink their glasses together. "C'est bon!" Boulud announces.

Partying like there's no demain comes naturally at a dinner for a book entitled My Last Supper: 50 Great Chefs and Their Final Meals, in which Melanie Dunea interrogates the culinary ruling class about their ideal valedictions. Among the volume's gastronomic gods packing Le Bernardin for the 120-guest dinner are Jean-Georges Vongerichten (last supper wine: Tokay Pinot Gris), Anthony Bourdain (last supper music: Curtis Mayfield, live), Marcus Samuelsson (last supper cook: himself), Tom Aikens (last supper location: a Tuscan field), and Dan Barber (last supper companions: none), along with foodies Martha Stewart, André Balazs, and Mary-Louise Parker. Ripert's six-course meal — certainly worthy of being the last thing you might ever put in your mouth — consists of black bass tartare, white tuna, spiny lobster curry, stuffed capon with truffles, lemon-poached apple, and milk chocolate pot de crème, with a different Moët & Chandon bubbly for each dish. All told, there are literally two bottles of Moët per guest, and many of the champagne glasses at the cocktail hour are all stem and no base — as in, you can't put them down — thus forcing guests to grip their goblets until they're empty. (Call it the Michelin version of the beer funnel.)

Martha Stewart tears into a piece of Puerto Rican roast pig. (Photo: Roberto Bruzadin)

Like the ingredients of their famous dishes, the chefs gathered here tonight amount to a mélange greater than their parts. "This is an incredible group," says Bourdain. "It's like that scene from The Godfather with representatives from the five families all in one room. And, of course, none of them would have hired me at any point in my career." It's not all food and games, though: A couple seats over, Stewart's billionaire pal, ex – Microsoft engineer Charles Simonyi — having conquered outer space last year — is talking about the new plane that he's learning to fly, a Falcon model "beyond the G5" that will re-revolutionize private jet travel. It's apparently all very hush-hush, and if I told you any more I'd have to julienne you. But suffice to say that if he passes the license tests, he'll be on a very short list to eventually own, and pilot, one of the coveted crafts.