Johnny Iuzzini should have a lot of pride in his work. He's a driven, accomplished pastry chef who from an early age was smitten with sweets.

I'm a night owl -- I work late and sleep late -- but when Emeril Lagasse invited me to a taping of his new show Emeril's Table, it was well worth getting up at the crack of dawn.

What do you get when you have Pierre Hermé, Massimo Bottura, Andoni Luis Aduriz, Grant Achatz, Jeffrey Steingarten, Elizabeth Falkner and Johnny Iuzzini all under the same roof? The StarChefs International Chefs Congress.

Pierre Hermé performed to a packed house, creating two desserts that showcased his creativity and his unique sense of flavor and texture combinations.