Forget those noncommittal Election Day promotions publicists keep pitching us — what we really want to know is, whose side are local restaurateurs on? And for that, we once again turn to the Huffington Post’s Fundrace 2008 search engine, which allows us to see just how much money Danny Meyer, caterer of the RNC, gave to Democrats!

...Also: Big-time restaurateurs were obviously generous, but we didn’t find contributions from a lot of the small-business chefs and owners — the kinds you’d find in Starchef.com’s Chefs to Know.

This second edition of the annual publication proves that Starchefs.com has its finger on the pulse of the American culinary industry.

Chefs to Know features 80 professional photos and recipes plus contact information and fun facts about every chef -- from their favorite restaurants off-the-beaten-path to their most indispensable kitchen tool. Nationally-acclaimed chefs including Morimoto, Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller, Grant Achatz and Charlie Trotter have all shared their culinary know-how.

StarChefs.com has launched its second edition of Chefs to Know: A Guide to Chefs for Chefs; a guide to more than 600 notable chefs, mixologists and sommeliers across the country. This perfect holiday gift for foodies highlights chefs selected by the StarChefs.com editorial staff, who taste with and interview celebrated leaders in the culinary field each year.

Fox Rankings: Antoinette Bruno shows the Chefs to Know Book during Fox Business' count down top earning chefs.

If you don’t know your Cantu from your Kato, or your Goldsmith from your Goldfarb, a good primer is the new book by online chef-worship magazine StarChefs, Chefs to Know. The subtitle is A Guide to Chefs for Chefs, and indeed, as Epi-Log points out, the book “includes some information that a recent culinary-school graduate would find invaluable, such as contact information, which chefs welcome interns and stages, and what the chefs like to ask of potential employees during interviews.”

Sorta sad to see a prodigiously talented young thing go from zero to Mariani so quickly. I can’t tell if “intern” is code for “unpaid,” but anyone who needs help in attending parties is getting too many invitations. Food is a first-hand experience.

Sending an emissary to the starchefs.com book party at Barfry, for instance, would mean missing out on a physics lesson, some great banter, a little bitching and a surprising admission. Not to mention the most effete slider ever: foie gras. I learned that a little bottle of Champagne will bubble over wildly unless you remove the straw, which funnels the effervescence straight up and out.

Starchefs.com has come out with its first "Who's Who" guide on chefs and aimed at an audience of chefs. It's called "Chefs to Know."

It's got an impressive list of entries--about 500 notable chefs in all--and includes some information that a recent culinary-school graduate would find invaluable, such as contact information, which chefs welcome interns and stages, and what the chefs like to ask of potential employees during interviews.