The Cookout is back, and Chef JJ Johnson is keeping the brief simple: gather great chefs, turn up the music, and make the mission visible. The 2025 edition lands at St. Bart’s on Park Avenue with co-host Angela Yee, framing an afternoon that centers Afro-Caribbean and African American foodways—loud, joyful, and pointedly communal.
Across the courtyard, guests can graze the kind of New York snapshot you only get when cooks bring their neighborhoods with them. The current lineup includes Preston Clark (Lure), Osei “Picky” Blackett (Ariapita), Ben “Moody” Harney (The Real Mother Shucker), INDIA DORIS (Markette), Sugar Hill Creamery, and Johnson’s own FIELDTRIP—plus a tease of preview dishes from his next restaurant. More names are promised as the date approaches.
Music isn’t background here; it’s architecture. Jill Newman Productions is building the stage for sets from DJ Moochie, DJ Jahi Sundance, and MUNDO Soundsystems, with more to be announced. Expect a proper crossover moment when CLEO TV hosts a kitchen jam—part cooking demo, part crowd hype, exactly the kind of playful chaos that turns a tasting into a party.
