The name of Jewish food writer Jake Cohen’s new cookbook, “Dinner Party Animal,” is a particularly apt one: The 31-year-old celebrity chef — who lives on the Upper West Side with his famous pals, comedian Alex Edelman and songwriter Benj Pasek — regularly hosts parties for his well-known friends.
Like his earlier cookbooks, “Jew-ish” and “I Could Nosh,” the new title is catchy. But beneath the playful phrase lies Cohen’s conviction in the central role of community —the Jewish community, in particular.
“Having a lot of Instagram followers and having people like posts online isn’t what makes me happy,” Cohen, who has nearly 2.5 million followers on TikTok and Instagram, said. “Having a book that sells a million copies isn’t what makes me happy. The act of hosting these dinners and building community, impacting individual people who come to me and say, ‘oh my God, I love this recipe; oh my God, I love this book of yours; I love making your challah every week.’ That is what makes me happy.”
Growing up in Dix Hills, Long Island, Cohen describes himself as a shy teen “struggling with my weight and sexuality.” But he gained confidence — and friends — through cooking and hosting dinner parties.
“I’ve always said extending hospitality to others is the fastest way to turn strangers into friends and friends into family,” he writes in the book’s introduction. “Through hosting Shabbat dinners I discovered firsthand the magic of a dinner party. But dinner parties shouldn’t be limited to Shabbat, and they don’t have to feel daunting.”
And so, “Dinner Party Animal,” which is out Tuesday, is a guide to demystifying the dinner party. Sprinkled among the book’s 100 recipes — which are grouped according to 16 party ideas, from a casual bagel brunch to an elegant, celebratory meal — are photos of his myriad friends, all of whom have been guests at Cohen’s table. Many of these pals are Jewish celebrities, like actress Debra Messing, fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi and record producer and songwriter Benny Blanco, who married pop star Selena Gomez over the weekend.
Not everyone in his universe is famous, however. One of the recipe testers for “Dinner Party Animal,” a stay-at-home Jewish mom from the Bay Area, befriended Cohen several years ago, when she sent him a message on Instagram.
Said recipe tester, 53-year-old Julie Bell, runs a cooking circle of Jewish women who range in age from 30s to 70s. The group tested several of the book’s recipes, and sometimes Cohen joined them via Zoom.
“Jake brings joy to me,” Bell said. “He is an example of Jewish joy in the world, and I think we need a lot more Jewish joy.”
Cohen, who is gay and describes himself as “a nice Jewish boy,” said that many of his friends, like Bell, are “people who literally slide into my DMs.” That’s how he met journalist Katie Couric — she asked him to teach her how to make challah, he said — and it’s how he and Blanco, whose legal name is Benjamin Joseph Levin, connected.
“Benny direct-messaged me in 2020 and said, ‘You’re my hero,’” Cohen said. “I literally had no idea who he was. We became Instagram pen pals, I said I’m coming to LA on a book tour, let’s do Shabbat — and now we do all holidays together. I’m going to LA to do Rosh Hashanah with him. He did Passover with my family the last two years. Our mothers know each other!”
A chicken biscuit pot pie, left, is one of the 100-plus recipes in the book. At right, Cohen and his pal, record producer and songwriter Benny Blanco. (Courtesy HarperCollins, photography by Matt Taylor-Gross)
Cohen’s aim is to simplify the art of the dinner party. Every menu is accompanied by a grocery list, broken down by pantry items, spices, the type of meat or fish needed, the precise amount of produce to buy. He also provides a detailed game plan, from what to do five days ahead to how to finalize details in the hour before guests arrive. And one party menu, “That Was Tonight?” walks readers through how to put together a last-minute feast.
“A huge part of the success of the first two books came with recipes that people make every week, every holiday,” he said. “I started getting messages: ‘I love this recipe, but what do I serve with that? I got really good at making your Iraqi salmon but where do we go from there?’”
To celebrate the release of “Dinner Party Animal,” on Saturday, Oct. 4, Cohen will be joined by Jewish comedians Judy Gold and Modi at Temple Emanuel’s Streicker Cultural Center along with his roommates, Edelman and Pasek. Once the book talk is done, they’ll head to a subterranean space downstairs for what they’re calling “Bubbe’s Basement Dance Party.”
“I wanted something fun that is good for the Jews, and for me, the idea that the hottest club in New York on that Saturday night is going to be the basement of a synagogue?” said Cohen, adding that DJ Emil Cohen will spin “amazing” music. “Kind of iconic and kind of where we need to be going, creating these types of events so that we are engaging Jewish youth in some kind of relationship with synagogues or cultural centers like Streicker.”
But that’s not all. In honor of “Dinner Party Animal,” several New York City food establishments will be preparing Cohen’s recipes from the book to sell in their shops. Breads Bakery is offering, via Goldbelly, a “Jake in the Box” dessert sampler ($59.95), and at the West Village’s Buba Bureka, Cohen’s friend, baker Ben Siman-Tov will spotlight Cohen’s everything bagel bureka. Hani’s Bakery at Cooper Square will feature his chocolate raspberry cake, and Butterfield Market on the Upper East Side will be selling Cohen’s cabbage farro salad, a dish Cohen describes as “one of these salads that you can make long in advance with lemon tahini dressing and roasted broccoli and it’s just hearty and delicious.”
While “Dinner Party Animal” can be enjoyed by people of all faiths and backgrounds, within the Jewish community, Cohen sees his role as turning people onto Shabbat and communal dinners. He sits on the board of One Table, an organization that connects people through Shabbat dinners all around North America.
“I get the most internal fulfillment from this work of building community through a dinner party,” said Cohen. “I have influenced my entire generation to create a real pride around Shabbat and Jewish food. I am part of a group of people that feel the same way and are really helping to push our people forward with pride.”
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