
Ina Garten is a Food Network legend known for bringing warmth, simplicity, and confidence to home entertaining. In this conversation from May 2025, Garten and Willie Geist continue their discussion from the second Sunday Sitdown Live at City Winery, where she demonstrates how to build the perfect dessert tray and reveals her dream dinner guests. Plus, she explains why hosting has remained one of the most meaningful parts of her life and career. (Venue sponsored by City Winery.)
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Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit down podcast. My thanks as always for tuning in again this week for a special episode two with Ina Garten. And in episode one, we brought you my sit down conversation with Ina in front of a live audience at City Winery in New York City. Now in part two, in front of that same audience at City Winery in New York City, we popped up and built a proper dessert tray. I didn't know how to build a dessert tray. Guess who does? Ina Garten. Turns out you want a mix of shapes, you want a mix of sizes, you want a mix of colors, you want some greenery on that platter, you want some fruit on that platter. We also poured a proper cocktail, which was a Kir royale. She will explain that to you, how you mix it. It's actually two ingredients. It's very simple. We had a great time with the demo in front of the audience and then fielding audience questions as they came in. So sit back, relax now, and enjoy part two of my conversation with Ina Garten. Right now on the Sunday Sit down podcast.
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When you're having a dinner party, everybody thinks they have to do some over the top dessert, which takes so much time to make. I have a way to make a dessert that's equally over the top but really simple, requires no cooking at all.
A
Did I hear dessert?
B
Dessert in the right place at the right time.
A
See you on the streets of New York. So I understand dessert starts with flowers.
B
Yeah, Unusually, it does. Okay, let's go shopping.
A
Oh, this is a beautiful shop.
B
Isn't it a fabulous shop? So we're not doing flowers on food. We're doing flowers on the table. So I think these peonies have been gorgeous. You know, I believe in picking one flower and just doing a lot of them. So look how gorgeous that is. Isn't that fabulous? And the other thing I always get at a flower shop is some kind of green leaves.
A
So that will be part of the.
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Plate, that's gonna be part of the platter. It just makes everything pop a little better.
A
You think of that color?
B
Yeah. Here we go. Let's go shopping for dessert. So what I'm gonna do is a big platter, and I'll show you how to make it look gorgeous.
A
You know, none of my other interview subjects have ever brought a dessert platter, so why I love Ina.
B
Oh, I'm so glad. And then we can eat it.
A
Let's go.
B
You're looking for color, texture, shape, and flavor. So you want some things that are round, some things that are natural, like fruit. These are beautiful. Look how gorgeous these big, beautiful strawberries.
A
Is it me or have strawberries and blueberries gotten bigger since I was a child?
B
I think it's gotten bigger. I mean, not necessarily better, but definitely bigger. Okay, let's go to the bakery. Eli has the best cookies. And nobody will know you never turned the oven on.
A
We have landed in heaven.
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Heaven. Right.
A
Well, these look good.
B
Yeah, these look great. I love these little lemon loaves. Maybe instead of lemon bars, we'll have lemon loaf. Right. And then we'll just slice this and let's see where else. Oh, you know what I love? I love these raspberry bars. They're fabulous. Oh, I know. We have to have brownies. Do we like marshmallows?
A
I like a marshmallow.
B
You like a marshmallow?
A
Oh, my gosh.
B
Chocolate dip macaroons.
A
I love it.
B
And raspberry jam thumbprints. How's that? Do we have enough?
A
I mean, yeah, I think. Boy, it's hard to resist some of this stuff.
B
I know.
A
I think we are well stocked for dessert.
B
I think we're in good shape. But we have one last stop. Champagne. Because it's a celebration. Right? So this is my friend Eli's wine shop, and he picks out every bottle. Personally, I mean, they're really extraordinary wines. So if I was going to get champagne anywhere, this would be the place.
A
We've come to the right place. And there's Eli, the legend himself. Pleasure to meet you. Hi, Eli. So great to meet you.
B
I'm honored. Hi, sweetie. So we want to make kiroyle good. And I know you know champagne, right? This coquiet is a Grand Cru, highest level of champagne. Yeah. Good.
A
And why we chose it because it.
B
Has a certain amount of acidity. To cut through the sweetness because you're adding the cassis. The cassis, which is a. A sweet dessert wine. Exactly. And cassis, you know, it's.
A
It's black currants.
B
Fabulous.
A
So for people who don't know Kir Royale, it's just these two ingredients.
B
It's just these two. You put a little cassis in the bottom of the glass and then you pour in cold champagne and you use.
A
A flute glass of some kind.
B
A flute. Whichever. And you know what, if you want to drink it out of a tumbler, knock yourself out. It'll be still be delicious.
A
Whatever makes you happy. So I think we've made our choices. Okay, great.
B
Yep. You take that, I'll take this.
A
Thank you. Well, Ina, I think we've got everything we need.
B
Did we clean the place out?
A
I think we did. Let's go make dessert.
B
Okay, good. Everybody like the kiroyle? Excellent.
A
Did you get the Kir royale? We should have a cure.
B
I think it's in tumblers.
A
That is. Yeah. Wait, I've got.
B
I think we need some.
A
Let's make a little cure oil.
B
Perfect. Okay, wonderful.
A
Not tumblers, but we'll do our best.
B
I like a recipe. That's two ingredients. That's it. And one of them champagne.
A
Now which go, remind me, which goes in first?
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The cassis. The cassis.
A
Okay, you're gonna have to walk me through the.
B
Just a. Just portions. Perfect. Perfect.
A
Okay.
B
Yep, perfect. I love these old fashioned champagne glasses. That's great.
A
Isn't that nice, guys? I don't like to brag, but I was the co valedictorian of the 1993 Metropolitan Bartending School.
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He was. It's true.
A
I was a senior in high school looking for to do with my free time. So I went to bartending school, which I think was illegal. I was 17. All right, heads up now.
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And. And Willie knows the way to do it is you turn the bottle, not the cork. Right, right, right. That's the key. Thank you.
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And then just top that off.
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Oh yeah, Keep going.
A
Still got it.
B
Wow. Perfect.
A
Look at this. Well, that's a beauty.
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How gorgeous is that?
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Cheers everyone. Cheers everyone.
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Cheers.
A
Cheers. Cheers, Aina.
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Cheers.
A
Okay, so here are all the things we bought at Eli's the other day. By the way, how great to see Eli, your old friend.
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I know. Isn't he wonderful?
A
He's amazing.
B
Fabulous.
A
So what do we have here? Let's talk through it.
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You know, if you have so much to make for a dinner party, I always like to try and think of something that you can make for dessert that's just assembled. And I was in the south of France at a restaurant, and there's this. They walked in with like a six foot board filled with strawberries and little tarts and chocolates and all kinds of dessert things, and just put it down in the middle of the table. And I thought, why would you ever want to cook if you could do that? I mean, it was so gorgeous and so appealing. So that's what we're going to do. We're going to make a dessert platter. Not a six foot one, but just a little one. And green leaves are really important because they really make everything look so much better. So I'm just gonna.
A
So you get like a little bed of leaves?
B
Yeah, just. Just a couple of leaves so that you can put things on top of it. Okay. So you want something in the middle to give it focus. So I'm. These gorgeous strawberries.
A
Look at the size of these things.
B
Absolutely gorgeous. And some grapes, because green is a really important color.
A
Have you guys noticed that about strawberries and blueberries getting bigger? There's some like, mutant thing happening on Friday?
B
It's crazy. It's just crazy. You know, the first time I did a cheese platter, when I was at the store, I had a chef and I thought, well, a cheese platter. Somebody asked me for a cheese platter. And I thought, well, I can do it myself. It doesn't require cooking. So I got a platter and I did the whole thing. And the chef came over to me and said, okay, so this is what you want to do. You want to take everything off that platter. I said, okay. And she said, you want to put a big bunch of grapes in the middle of the platter, and then you put the cheese around and some strawberries and some apricots and then stop. And she was right. I mean, it's really about keeping the focus of like, groupings of colors and flavors and things like that, but make them interesting. So what I always do is I take these squares. Do you want to help me with this?
A
Yeah, of course.
B
And I cut them in half in fingers. And then take these little muffin cups. White muffin cups. Just white ones, not fancy ones.
A
Rectangle shape.
B
Yeah, I like kind of like the finger of. So these are the raspberry crumble bars. Just do two of these.
A
Okay, everyone get this?
B
Yeah, you want to. And then you want to cut more for me and brown. Yeah, more of these guys. You want to put a large group of each one. You don't want, like, you don't want it to look like a bowl of M&M's, like, a grouping of each one. Okay. And then, so if you have things that are rectangular, you want things that are round next to it. That's perfect. Actually. We can even just put it on. How's that? We don't even need the paper cups. We'll just put it on like that. That's nice for some brownies and brownies.
A
Don't worry. We'll pass this around in a minute.
B
And actually, I'm not gonna put the brownies next to the crumble bars because they're the same shape.
A
Too much rectangle.
B
How about if we do too much rectangle?
A
Is that good?
B
You got the message. So if we do round cookies. These are raspberry. These are great. Damn thumbprints. You have to make sure they're good. It's very important. Extremely important.
A
They're good. Yeah.
B
And then something rectangular, like a lemon cake. I'm just gonna put this on and then slice it.
A
Come on. Oohs and ahs. Mmm.
B
Wow. So it's about texture and flavor and. And kind of like, make it really. To make it really interesting. And everything is accessible. So if you put this in the middle of a table, everybody would just go, oh, that looks so fabulous.
A
Do you want one of these, or is it too much?
B
Should we run out of room? I think it's too much right now. How about the macaroons?
A
Okay.
B
You want to make sure they're good?
A
Yeah, I should.
B
It's a public service, right? It's very important. Okay. So big groupings. You just want big groupings of things everywhere. Coconut macaroons. Aren't they great? Yes, I know.
A
Delicious.
B
And then what should we put in this corner? What do you think?
A
All right, so we got a little.
B
Spoon, maybe more strawberries.
A
We haven't done the brownies yet. Do we want to do that?
B
Oh, yeah, we need brownies. Exactly. Okay, perfect. Got to have brownies.
A
And a couple more.
B
Is it too much? Yeah, perfect.
A
Look at this.
B
Just kind of piled them up. I think we need one more brownie. How's that?
A
Yeah.
B
Yep. I mean, who wouldn't want that for dessert?
A
Look at that.
B
Right? And then one more thing. What do we have? Maybe the chocolate. The chocolate loaf.
A
A rectangle of that one, too.
B
Yeah. Perfect.
A
Like a slice.
B
Okay.
A
Okay.
B
Well done.
A
Now where do you put that? Like, you just put this out after dinner.
B
You just put it right in the middle of the table and let everybody help themselves.
A
Okay.
B
I mean, like, who wouldn't want that?
A
Guys, I know.
B
There was no cooking at all. How's that?
A
That's gorgeous.
B
Isn't that pretty? Very pretty. Strawberries around.
A
Look at that.
B
And dessert is served.
A
Well, what was fun when we were shopping at Eli's was Ina already had the vision she's going to need those to cut into the rectangular shapes. We need round of these. We need these fruits and these colors, like you already kind of saw it when we were walking.
B
I think you have to have a plan. And you don't want all things that rectangular or all things that are round. And you want variety of flavors and things that are delicious. Always chocolate. Something chocolate.
A
How about it, guys?
B
Cheers.
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Okay, stick around for more of my conversation with Ina Garten, right after a quick break. Hey, everybody, Ted Danson here to tell you about my podcast with my longtime friend and sometimes co host Woody Harrelson. It's called Where Everybody Knows yous Name, and we're back for another season. I'm so excited to be joined this season by friends like John Mulaney, David Spade, Sarah Silverman, Ed Helms, and many more. You don't want to miss it. Listen to Everybody Knows yous Name with me, Ted Danson, and Woody Harrelson sometimes, wherever you get your podcasts. Why have I asked my electrician I found on Angie.com to bury my pet hamster Nibbles, in our yard for me? Because I was so moved by how carefully he buried my electrical wires, I knew I could trust him to bury my sweet Nibbles after his untimely end. Nibbles gone too soon. May he scurry in peace. Hey, sorry about your pet, but I just wire stuff. Nibbles would have loved you like a brother. Connecting homeowners with skilled pros for over 30 years. Angie, the one you trust. Define the ones you trust. Find pros for all your home projects@angie.com.
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Welcome back now to the rest of my conversation with Ina Garten. Now, before we let you go, Ina, we're gonna do some Audience question. Guys have submitted, uh. Oh, we're gonna get through as many as we can in the next few minutes. Okay. Where's Faye Evans of Philadelphia? Faye, are you here somewhere? Hi Faye. Okay, I love this question. Ina, do you ever have one of those nights where you just want to order takeout? If so, what is your go to takeout?
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Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.
A
Every day? Yeah.
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What's my go to? I like really simple takeout things like a souvlaki from the Greek restaurant or. Right. I love Greek food. Just simple, wonderful. There's a restaurant near us called 1770 house that has great meatloaf. So on a cold winter night, it's wonderful. Yeah.
A
Do you ever do like a fast food drive through on any other catch in there?
B
Not so much, no.
A
Do you not getting a super size number one?
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No. I don't even know what that is.
A
Highly recommend. It's the Big Mac meal. If you supersize it, the fries are big and the drink, it's fantastic. I mean it's not this, but it's close.
B
I have been known to go to In n Out Burger when I'm in California.
A
There you go. In and out burger. In and out burger. Okay. How about Nicole from Katona, New York? Where's Nicole? She's here somewhere or she submitted a question. Anyway, this is for Ina. I am a self over here. Oh, great. Hi Nicole. I'm a self taught cook. I've always struggled with the timing for a meal with multiple dishes. What's the secret to getting all the dishes to the table at the same time? I grill and I struggle with that too.
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It's the hardest thing and what I do is I make literally a battle plan. I figure out if I have four things I have to make and I want to serve everything at 7:30 I work my way backwards and literally right, turn on the oven to 400 degrees when I have to turn the oven on and then put in the meat for 25 minutes, take it out, put the string beans in. I mean literally have the whole thing organized. Otherwise I'm always going, oh my God, do I have to put the string beans in now? Right. It's really hard.
A
At what point do you start to enjoy a dinner party? Because it is.
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When it's over.
A
Because it is. It's stressful. All day is stressful.
B
From the time that I lived in Washington when I was like in 24, I would every single Saturday I would give a dinner party and every single Sunday I'd go, oh, I'm so tired I'm never giving another dinner party again. And then on Monday, I'd start inviting people for the next weekend.
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There you go.
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Go figure.
A
Can't help yourself. Thank you, Nicole. Okay, this is from Susan. Amarillo, Texas. Thank you, Susan.
B
Oh.
A
Oh, this is a good one. Do you play music while you cook?
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Always.
A
And if so, what do you play always?
B
I actually have playlists that I have on Spotify and Apple, like. Oh, you do? Oh, good. Oh, that's wonderful. I have like a French playlist and a dinner party playlist and road trip playlist. And so, yeah, I always. I always love to listen to music.
A
Any favorite artists that pop? Is it like Edith Peele, Taylor Swift.
B
I'm really a teenage, teenage at heart.
A
She's working that booking hard tonight. Taylor Swift. Get that out to the press. Okay. We mentioned our lunch in Paris. How often do you get to Paris? And what is your favorite restaurant there?
B
Ooh. You know, Jeffrey and I go to Paris certainly twice a year, but usually like three or four times a year. And you know, the thing I love about Paris is not the fancy restaurants. It's the brasseries and the really simple places. And one of the things we love to do if we, like, go to Belgium for the day and then come back late at night and go to Flor and have an omelette and a glass of champagne, I mean, it's the best omelette in the world. And it's just the simplest meal. And that's kind of what I'd like to do.
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Simple and delicious.
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Simple.
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Ina Garten way. Okay, here's one for both of us. This is hard. Who are the three people, living or dead, you would like to have dinner with? Todd from Huntsville writes this question. Yeah, Todd. And Todd points out Ina is always on our list of three.
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Thank you, Todd.
A
So you're kind of having that too.
B
How about Julia Childs? Eric Ripert from Laverna Dan's, who's the other food person? That would be really fun. And Jacques Pepin, who's so much fun. Wow. Wouldn't that dinner party be fabulous? Yes, that'd be great.
A
Talk about stress making that dinner.
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Oh, God. I actually had Eric Ripert as a guest. And afterwards I remember thinking, oh, my God, I have to cook something for him. I was in a full panic. And then I thought, I remember that when he was a little boy, his mother used to make literally get up at five o' clock in the morning and make a two course breakfast, a three course lunch, and a three course dinner for them. And she would make. And she worked. She was in the fashion business and she would make him a tarte tatin every day. So when he came home from school and she was away at work, he would eat the entire tarte tatin. So I made him a French apple tart when he came. And he was just adorable. Yeah, it was really nice.
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This is impossible. You can go historical figure. I went Dolly Parton, our greatest living American.
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Oh, yeah, that's good.
A
You want some energy and comedy. At the party, I went Marty Short, I thought would be a.
B
Can you imagine Marty Short at a dinner party?
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And then if we're doing living or dead, I went a little family. My great grandfather, Herbie Lewis, my mom's grandfather, played in the NHL for the Detroit Red Wings. Really huge, huge figure in our family. And I would love to now sit and talk and get to know him a little bit.
B
That sounds like a good party.
A
Sounds like a good party. Marty Short's running that party though, let's be honest. Okay, time for a couple more. For those of us that do not cook, this is from Mike in Haddonfield, New Jersey. How do you recommend we start? Where do you begin? If you're not good in the kitchen but you kind of want to get.
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There, I would say get a really simple cookbook and learn to make two things. You don't have to make a million things. Make a roast chicken and some kind of pasta, like a pasta bolognese if you just follow the recipe and you don't have to nail it on the first try. Just keep making it over and over and over again until you feel comfortable with it. And then you've got two great dinners. You don't have to make a million things.
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Good advice, right? Good advice.
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Yeah.
A
Okay, before we say goodnight to you guys, we want to do a mug shot with everybody.
B
Literally a mug shot.
A
So Mark is our photographer. He's going to be out here and Ayn and I will stand here. You guys will be in the background. He's got a wide angle lens and we're gonna take the mug shot and get everybody on the show when this interview airs next Sunday, June 1st with Ina. So we'll get in position. Okay, if you have a mug, lift it up. Ready? Cheers. Cheers. Thank you.
B
Thank you, guys. One more time for Ina Berwin.
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My big thanks again to Ina for that conversation and of course to City Winery for hosting and sponsoring our Sunday Sit down live event. Stay tuned for the next one. Ina's best selling memoir, Be Ready when the Luck Happens, is available wherever you get your books. My thanks again to all of you for listening this week. If you want to hear more of my conversations with our guests every week, be sure to click follow so you never miss an episode. And don't forget to tune in to Sunday Today every weekend on every NBC. I'm Willie Geist. We'll see you right back here next week on the Sunday Sit Down Podcast. If you, your parent or spouse served.
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Airdate: February 1, 2026
Host: Willie Geist
Guest: Ina Garten
Episode Highlights: Dessert Tray Secrets, Simple Entertaining, Dream Dinner Guests, and Q&A
This episode continues Willie Geist's warm, live conversation with beloved entertainer and cookbook author Ina Garten. Together, they build a show-stopping dessert platter and pour classic cocktails, sharing Ina’s best tips for effortless but unforgettable gatherings. The episode also features a lively audience Q&A covering Ina’s culinary routines, takeout habits, and dream dinner party invites.
Ina Garten:
Willie Geist:
Warm, humorous, practical, and convivial—Ina and Willie’s banter is full of laughter and approachable advice, encouraging listeners to embrace joyful, stress-free entertaining.
Recommended For:
Anyone looking for fresh entertaining tips, fans of Ina Garten, or those who want to bring elegance and ease to their home gatherings—plus a little inspiration for who to invite to their own dream dinner!