Geoffrey Zakarian Shares Steak-Grilling Tips (And More) For A Fantastic Cookout - Exclusive Interview

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Chef Geoffrey Zakarian can claim many accomplishments — helming kitchens at iconic eateries in New York City and beyond, earning a Michelin star as a restaurateur, and attaining TV fame with countless Food Network appearances. Nonetheless, the achievement that Zakarian cherishes above all is fatherhood. "It's the greatest thing ever," Zakarian tells us.

Zakarian is now renowned for his upscale culinary panache and his wardrobe of designer suits, but he comes from an immigrant family of humble means. With a limited budget for food, Zakarian's mother made the most of what ingredients they had, creating delicious meals from scratch and utilizing ancestral recipes for traditional Armenian dishes. Despite the family's financial difficulties, his father George routinely wore a suit and tie at the dining table — and these formative experiences all fostered the culinary and sartorial styles that propelled this celebrity chef to astounding success.

Now the father of three kids, Zakarian is carrying on his family's appreciation for excellent food and quality time spent together in the kitchen. He even collaborated with his daughters Madeline and Anna to publish "The Family That Cooks Together", a best-selling cookbook for kids. Zakarian, chairman of the Food Council at City Harvest, which hosts Summer in the City 2025: Jet Set on June 11, insists that advanced culinary skills are not necessary to create a memorable meal — and in our interview, he shares tips for a Father's Day steak cookout sure to warm a dad's heart.

This following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Chef Zakarian, a few years ago you shared a photo of your father on social media, along with your favorite Armenian recipe for zucchini with scrambled eggs and feta. Can you tell us a little more about this dish? Was this a meal that your family ate together regularly?

Middle Eastern is a great way to be poor, because the food is so good. So I was very lucky to have a mother and a bunch of aunts who grew everything in the garden. They made their own yogurt; they made their own cheese. And this is before the word "farm to table" was even a method, which is a crazy word anyway, because of course everything comes from a farm. So it wasn't necessarily like a staple, but when you're in a family that cooks every meal, you get what's in season, and you get what you can afford. My family had a knack for just creating great flavors. And zucchini is one of those ... a lot of people get tons of zucchini, and it's great — "Look at all the zucchini we have!" — and then they don't know what to do with it. 

Are there other vegetables you recommend with scrambled eggs?

Everything works with scrambled eggs. Fennel, onions, capers. But you have to understand when you do eggs, you need something that's probably more beneficial towards summer, so squash, light squashes, things like tomato, zucchini, fennel, onions, garlic — all that stuff that's very much light and flavorful is what I prefer with eggs.

Speaking of egg dishes, Mother's Day brunch recipes are pretty classic for do-it-yourself celebratory meals, but do you think that dads could enjoy a brunch spread on Father's Day, too?

You can have brunch for Mother's Day, Father's Day, Easter. Brunch is just, I think, sometimes it's an excuse for grabbing the easiest rung on the ladder in the swimming pool. You know what I mean? It's like, okay, lunch is too complicated; breakfast, it's too early, no one's up. Let's have brunch, and we'll basically throw everything that is known to mankind on a menu and make it easy. So that's basically what brunch is. Let's be honest.

I can see why dads might be more likely to enjoy a big cookout on Father's Day. Before we get into specifics, can you warn us about any basic grilling mistakes to avoid?

Grill one item, right? Don't try to have hot dogs and ketchup and hamburgers. ... [Mimicking an amateur chef at the grill] "What do you want? Hamburgers, hot dogs, steak? It's all average because we're doing everything at once, but nothing's great because we don't really know how to do it."

[Laughter] Yeah, we want to avoid that.

And get lots of alcohol. Because you can't mess that up.

And that'll help overcome any mistakes you make, because they'll be forgotten about soon after a few drinks?

Correct. See where I'm going?

[Laughter] But getting back to the foods, how can you still make sure to have a variety of tastes if you're grilling only one item?

I would recommend doing two or three things the day before that you either can marinate or pickle, or make some composed salads.

I guess that should satisfy everybody...

You can't be everything to everybody. You cannot be everything to everybody. That's not the point of having people over. The point of having people over is to really entertain them and take care of them. ... It's not to impress them.

That's true. Most people probably won't be too impressed with hot dogs, anyway.

I don't even do hot dogs and hamburgers. Today, you're going to have steak. You don't like it, go somewhere else. It's not a restaurant. I'm not a short-order cook.

All right, steak it is. What are some cuts of steak that are easiest to grill for people who might not be the best chef in the world?

Well, I mean everybody's been pushed on skirt steak, outside skirt, which is great. Flank steak, because it's basically pretty hard to ruin it — although people do their best — but it does cook quickly.

Any marinating suggestions?

I always dry-marinate. I never put a wet marinade in anything, because the minute you put soy in something and you marinate it, it's just all the salt that cooks the beef. ... So dry-marinate, whatever spices you want, but no salt and no soy.

If we choose to grill outside skirt steak, what's the best way to do it?

Take it out [to let it reach] room temperature an hour before you're going to grill it. Get the grill smoking hot ... then grill three minutes a side. Slice it against the grain, and you got a damn good steak, and it's very quick and it's very forgiving, right? So I'd recommend that for beginners.

And what about the off chance that dad would prefer another type of meat instead of beef? Any recommendations for beginners?

I would do ribs, because ribs are easy. I prefer to do them in the oven, and then you take them out, you slather them, you sear them nice, and smoke them at 300 [degrees Fahrenheit], and just have fun with them.

What if you bring a little more experience to the grill? Should you splurge on some more expensive steak cuts?

My advice is, don't do that unless you really know who's coming and you're really going to spend well and you know what you're doing. There's no worse thing than to spend $500 on prime meat and then just incinerate it and not know what you're doing.

That would be a pricey waste.

That's just what happens. And that's how I tell people. If you're going to really do steak, you want to probably do sirloin, inch and a half. Got to be a New York strip. It's got to be prime. It's got to be aged 30 days. Going to run you $35 a steak, and you got to leave it out an hour to two hours before you cook it. You need a digital thermometer. You need a hot grill and a cold grill, meaning the hot grill is 400 [degrees Fahrenheit], the cold grill is 150, 200. And you put salt on it, you grill it, you sear it. One or two minutes, have nice marks on it. Fat side, three [minutes], other side, two, three minutes on that, put it on the cold side and temp it to 120. [Remove it] the minute the center hits 120 — it's going to be fast. People cook the steak way too much.

What do you consider to be the optimal level of steak doneness?

I would say that 50% of the people that eat steak don't know how to eat it at the correct temperature, which is medium-rare plus or medium-rare. ... [At every cookout,] there's going to be two people you really don't like that are going to [want] it well done. So it's just the way it is. You might like them, but they say, "Well done."

Sounds like an opportunity to use up fattier cuts of steak.

You save those pieces for someone who wants it well done, because they're not going to know anyway.

And, any guidance to offer on properly slicing sirloin for your guests?

I prefer no one slices my steak, because I know how to cut a steak. But, you can slice it straight down, not sliced like flank. Okay? Straight down, quarter-inch cut, sea salt on top.

Your guidance for cooking steak sounds great. But it's important for pops to get his veggie intake, too. Any suggestions for charring vegetables on the grill?

I hate vegetables on the grill. It's a waste of food. It's a waste of time. They all get burnt and charred and they taste like s***. So I do all the veggies first, and I just focus on the protein. Nobody's ever complained. No one needs a side of veggies with their steak. Nobody. Nobody wants it. They'd rather have a baked potato, but you're not going to do that outside on the barbecue.

Well, in that case, what works well for veggie side dishes?

I don't serve vegetables, but I do do first courses. I think first courses, like a beet salad, a beautiful tomato mozzarella, a gorgeous fennel orange salad. That's where I get my veggies from, first courses.

How about snacks before the main event?

If you want to have some salami or prosciutto to pass around, you can. ... No pretzels, no nuts, none of that crap.

So nothing too substantial.

Just don't do, like, crackers. No carbs. ... Maybe some really great olives.

Let's get back to alcohol. What kind of drinks would you have on hand for a Father's Day barbecue party?

I would have very good beer. I would have very good IPA. A very good IPA, like a Sam Adams, like a summer blend. Then I would have a non-alcoholic Heineken — non-alcoholic Heineken Zero — which is the best there is.

That's a good start. How about a wine that would pair well with steak?

I like a lambrusco, which is a very unsung-hero Italian wine. It's actually dry; it's frizzante, which means it has a little effervescence, and you serve it cold like a champagne. It is so f***ing good. There's so many great lambruscos on the market now, and ... it works with steak.

And if we want to take things up a notch, any cocktails that are perfect for a cookout?

I would serve watermelon margaritas that you make the day before, and you add the alcohol right before.

What if pops is a bourbon aficionado?

You can sub the watermelon margarita for a Gold Rush. ... It's Elijah Craig, it's honey, simple syrup, fresh lime juice. You shake it over a little bit of ice, and then you pour it over the glasses that are frozen. Now, if you're outside and there's a pool, be careful, because if someone breaks the glass in a pool, it's a no-no. They have to drain the pool.

I'll tell dad to leave his cocktail on the table before he does a cannonball. But is it time-consuming to mix up a Gold Rush while hosting a cookout?

You make it the day before and then shake it like a Polaroid picture the day people come. Add the bourbon, shake it, shake it, shake it. It'll get nice and frothy.

Do you pour it over ice?

No ice. No, no, no, no, no. Ice is death. Ice is death. Ice is water. You cool it in the fridge. You let it sit overnight for 24 hours, and you shake it and pour it over [whiskey stones]. It's in a frozen glass. It's, like, mind-blowing how good it is.

Let's get back to talking about Father's Day, and fatherhood in general. In a magazine profile about you that was published a few years back...

Oh, that must have been all lies. Must have been lies.

[Laughter] Well, now you can set the record straight. The profile said that you really enjoy making deluxe breakfasts for your kids, and that you consider this a way of creating lifelong memories with them. Now that they're a little older, do you still get to enjoy this ritual — or perhaps the kids even cook for you now?

They cook something once in a while, but honestly, I still cook for them. My daughter had two friends over for a sleepover; I made our huevos rancheros from scratch. I made chocolate chip pancakes from scratch. And you know what? They sit and eat, and that's what it's all about.

Those are lucky kids. What kinds of foods are important for a healthy childhood?

There's no Pop-Tarts or cereal in our house, ever, because what happens is you can't grow the mind without fat, eggs, avocado. Good, [uncured], no-nitrate bacon. No bread, just a lot of protein and a lot of fat. Good fat. Let me tell you something. They eat that every day. They eat like animals. It's 6 o'clock in the morning before they go to school, and I know I've gotten them out of the house, I know they're happy, and they perform better. They really do.

Has fatherhood changed your approach to your work as a chef, as a restaurateur?

Fatherhood changes everything, my friend. All for the best. If I could do it again, I'd have another three kids. ... They each bring a bucket of gold. And I mean that first emotionally, and second, money. Every kid I had, I got another gig.

I thought being a parent was supposed to be expensive.

The opposite. People say, "Well, it takes all your time away." It's just the opposite. It's complete and utter bulls***. It gives you more time. That's valuable. ... If you have a kid in two years or whatever, whenever you have a kid, you're going to ask yourself, "What the hell were we doing when we didn't have kids?" It's way more valuable to have kids around because you're going to do the stuff you have been doing without kids, but you do it with your kids — it's just so much better. Nothing like it.

City Harvest Presents Summer in the City 2025: Jet Set happens June 11. You can donate to City Harvest here.