Brooklyn’s Hottest Chefs

Too many cooks in the kitchen? Not a problem for Max and Eli Sussman, a pair of food-obsessed brothers working for two of Brooklyn’s most-beloved restaurants who recently joined forces to write a cookbook. “I love Mile End,” Max says of the Boerum Hill deli (mileendbrooklyn.com), where his brother is a line cook. Likewise, Eli admits to going to Max’s restaurant, Roberta’s in Bushwick (robertaspizza.com), “an embarrassing amount.” For This Is a Cookbook: Recipes for Real Life (Olive Press), Eli and Max crafted over 60 easy-to-prep recipes for all occasions while working out of their Williamsburg home. Opposing schedules made collaborating a challenge, but the book is the product of a total partnership—the kind where disagreements inevitably surfaced. Says Eli: “Heated debates about calling something an aioli or the bake time of a graham cracker crust—those are pretty standard for us.”