Andrew Talks to Chefs

Chef Miles Thompson grew up on the East Coast of the United States with dreams of becoming an actor, but after he moved to California (and landed a movie role), he migrated to the pro kitchen. He first drew attention at Allumette restaurant, then left LA, returning about two years ago to take over the kitchen of Michael’s Santa Monica (the restaurant featured on the cover of Andrew’s recent book), and reinvigorated the nearly 40-year-old landmark with his state-of-the-art cuisine. Deceptively reserved in the dining room, at the podcast mics, Miles reveals himself to be a young chef of great confidence, thoughtfulness, and honesty with a wonderful culinary philosophy to share. Here's a thought: If you like what you hear, please tell your chef-fascinated friends, subscribe to Andrew Talks to Chefs (it's free) on iTunes or Stitcher, follow us on your favorite social media platforms @ChefPodcast, and/or rate or review us on Apple's podcast store. Thanks for listening! Powered by Simplecast THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:Andrew is a writer by trade. If you'd like to support him, there's no better way than by purchasing his most recent book, The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food (October 2023), about all the key people (in the restaurant, on farms, in delivery trucks, etc.) whose stories and work come together in a single restaurant dish.We'd love if you followed us on Instagram. Please also follow Andrew's real-time journal of the travel, research, writing, and production of/for his next book The Opening (working title), which will track four restaurants in different parts of the U.S. from inception to launch.For Andrew's writing, dining, and personal adventures, follow along at his personal feed.Thank you for listening—please don't hesitate to reach out with any feedback and/or suggestions!

John Currence doesn't hold back. From his politics to his convictions about Southern cuisine to his feelings about industry awards and what defines a chef, this Oxford, Mississippi-based chef/restaurateur/author/advocate lays it all out there. Who better to chat with the weekend before Election Day 2018? Andrew and "Johnny Snack" go deep and wide, touching on his earliest days as a cook, evolution as a chef, and his no-holds-barred opinions on myriad aspects of his chosen profession and of society at-large, the early days of the Southern Foodways Alliance, and more. A one-of-a-kind open, honest, and philosophical conversation. Give it a listen, and (if you're a US-based listener) VOTE on Tuesday, November 6! Andrew Talks to Chefs is powered by Simplecast THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:Andrew is a writer by trade. If you'd like to support him, there's no better way than by purchasing his most recent book, The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food (October 2023), about all the key people (in the restaurant, on farms, in delivery trucks, etc.) whose stories and work come together in a single restaurant dish.We'd love if you followed us on Instagram. Please also follow Andrew's real-time journal of the travel, research, writing, and production of/for his next book The Opening (working title), which will track four restaurants in different parts of the U.S. from inception to launch.For Andrew's writing, dining, and personal adventures, follow along at his personal feed.Thank you for listening—please don't hesitate to reach out with any feedback and/or suggestions!

As he prepares to double his number of restaurants from 2 to 4 (and in the midst of Hudson Valley Restaurant Week), David DiBari--chef/owner of The Cookery and The Parlor in Dobbs Ferry, NY--sits down with Andrew to discuss his Upstate New York roots, his time cooking at Babbo and at David Bouley's Danube in Manhattan, and why he chooses to ply his trade in Westchester County. They also discuss his upcoming projects: a British-style eatery in Dobbs Ferry, and an upscale diner in Port Chester, NY. In between they get into the "criminal amount" of fun David has always found in the cooking trade, his love of culinary school, his surprising affection for classic French cuisine, and the importance of bringing his own personality to every project he takes on. Here's a thought: If you like what you hear, please tell your chef-fascinated friends, subscribe to Andrew Talks to Chefs (it's free) on iTunes or Stitcher, follow us on your favorite social media platforms @ChefPodcast, and/or rate or review us on Apple's podcast store. Thanks for listening! Powered by Simplecast https://simplecast.com [1]http://thecookeryrestaurant.com/chef-david-dibari/ [2]http://www.theparlordf.com/about-the-chef/ [3]http://thecookeryrestaurant.com/ THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:Andrew is a writer by trade. If you'd like to support him, there's no better way than by purchasing his most recent book, The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food (October 2023), about all the key people (in the restaurant, on farms, in delivery trucks, etc.) whose stories and work come together in a single restaurant dish.We'd love if you followed us on Instagram. Please also follow Andrew's real-time journal of the travel, research, writing, and production of/for his next book The Opening (working title), which will track four restaurants in different parts of the U.S. from inception to launch.For Andrew's writing, dining, and personal adventures, follow along at his personal feed.Thank you for listening—please don't hesitate to reach out with any feedback and/or suggestions!

A double-feature episode—Chefs Naomi Pomeroy and Pano Karatassos both have relatively new non-restaurant ventures in their lives. Naomi, based in Portland, Oregon, has opened—of all things—a flower shop. Why did this chef who already has a successful restaurant (Beast), bar (Expatriate), and cookbook (Taste & Technique) take on such a seemingly out-of-left-field enterprise? To find out, Andrew sat down with her at the shop, Colibri, for a free-flowing and wide-ranging conversation. Pano, based in Atlanta, Georgia, and known for his Greek seafood restaurant Kyma, just saw his first cookbook, Modern Greek Cooking, published. Andrew and Pano discuss his career (he came up cooking for Eric Ripert, Thomas Keller, and Jean-Georges Vongerichten) and the process of writing and producing one’s first cookbook. Two complementary interviews about how the chef’s mind and talents can be adapted to extra-kitchen pursuits. Here's a thought: If you like what you hear, please tell your chef-fascinated friends, subscribe to Andrew Talks to Chefs (it's free) on iTunes or Stitcher, follow us on your favorite social media platforms @ChefPodcast, and/or rate or review us on Apple's podcast store. Thanks for listening! Andrew Talks to Chefs is powered by Simplecast. THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:Andrew is a writer by trade. If you'd like to support him, there's no better way than by purchasing his most recent book, The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food (October 2023), about all the key people (in the restaurant, on farms, in delivery trucks, etc.) whose stories and work come together in a single restaurant dish.We'd love if you followed us on Instagram. Please also follow Andrew's real-time journal of the travel, research, writing, and production of/for his next book The Opening (working title), which will track four restaurants in different parts of the U.S. from inception to launch.For Andrew's writing, dining, and personal adventures, follow along at his personal feed.Thank you for listening—please don't hesitate to reach out with any feedback and/or suggestions!

Chef Fatima “Fati” Ali connected deeply with the culinary community earlier this month with her Bon Appetit essay where she shared the news that her cancer had retuned and been deemed terminal. The Top Chef Season 15 fan favorite wrote with stunning honesty and eloquence about her diagnosis, prognosis, and plans for the coming months—everything from a bucket-list global eating tour to making amends with people in her life. Though they’d never met, Andrew reached out to invite Fati on the pod, and she graciously accepted and the two sat down for a conversation about Fati’s life and career and how she’s coping with the challenge before her, as well as the incredible outpouring she’s received from the cook/chef population worldwide, and the lessons she’s gleaned from the past year. Here's a thought: If you like what you hear, please tell your chef-fascinated friends, subscribe to Andrew Talks to Chefs (it's free) on iTunes or Stitcher, follow us on your favorite social media platforms @ChefPodcast, and/or rate or review us on Apple's podcast store. Thanks for listening! Andrew Talks to Chefs is powered by Simplecast https://simplecast.com [1]http://www.bravotv.com/people/fatima-ali [2]http://www.bravotv.com/the-daily-dish/top-chef-season-15-contestant-fatima-ali-cancer-update-chemotherapy-complete-photo [3]http://www.grubstreet.com/2018/10/top-chef-fatima-ali-cancer.html THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:Andrew is a writer by trade. If you'd like to support him, there's no better way than by purchasing his most recent book, The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food (October 2023), about all the key people (in the restaurant, on farms, in delivery trucks, etc.) whose stories and work come together in a single restaurant dish.We'd love if you followed us on Instagram. Please also follow Andrew's real-time journal of the travel, research, writing, and production of/for his next book The Opening (working title), which will track four restaurants in different parts of the U.S. from inception to launch.For Andrew's writing, dining, and personal adventures, follow along at his personal feed.Thank you for listening—please don't hesitate to reach out with any feedback and/or suggestions!

Culinary degrees and kitchen experience don't always lead to chefdom. In this Open Kitchen episode, Chandra Ram, editor of PLATE magazine, shares her journey from her home state of Kentucky to the Culinary Institute of America to life as a working cook and consulting chef to her longstanding role as editor of PLATE magazine. A compeling story of where the cook's road can take you. (Chandra is also the author of the forthcoming The Complete Indian Instant Pot Cookbook: 130 Traditional and Modern Recipes.) Here's a thought: If you like what you hear, please tell your chef-fascinated friends, subscribe to Andrew Talks to Chefs (it's free) on iTunes or Stitcher, follow us on your favorite social media platforms @ChefPodcast, and/or rate or review us on Apple's podcast store. Thanks for listening! THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:Andrew is a writer by trade. If you'd like to support him, there's no better way than by purchasing his most recent book, The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food (October 2023), about all the key people (in the restaurant, on farms, in delivery trucks, etc.) whose stories and work come together in a single restaurant dish.We'd love if you followed us on Instagram. Please also follow Andrew's real-time journal of the travel, research, writing, and production of/for his next book The Opening (working title), which will track four restaurants in different parts of the U.S. from inception to launch.For Andrew's writing, dining, and personal adventures, follow along at his personal feed.Thank you for listening—please don't hesitate to reach out with any feedback and/or suggestions!

On the heels of the dinner he and Tony Mantuano threw for Andrew last week in Chicago, Spiaggia's executive chef Joe Flamm sat down for a deep-dive biographical interview. He shares it all: From his South Side childhood upbringing, to early jobs in unheralded neighborhood joints, to formative gigs working for Windy City chefs Stephanie Izzard, Art Smith, and Bill Kim, to his arrival and ascension at Spiagiga. He also details, from casting to winning, his triumphant turn on Top Chef Season 15. Here's a thought: If you like what you hear, please tell your chef-fascinated friends, subscribe to Andrew Talks to Chefs (it's free) on iTunes or Stitcher, follow us on your favorite social media platforms @ChefPodcast, and/or rate or review us on Apple's podcast store. Thanks for listening! THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:Andrew is a writer by trade. If you'd like to support him, there's no better way than by purchasing his most recent book, The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food (October 2023), about all the key people (in the restaurant, on farms, in delivery trucks, etc.) whose stories and work come together in a single restaurant dish.We'd love if you followed us on Instagram. Please also follow Andrew's real-time journal of the travel, research, writing, and production of/for his next book The Opening (working title), which will track four restaurants in different parts of the U.S. from inception to launch.For Andrew's writing, dining, and personal adventures, follow along at his personal feed.Thank you for listening—please don't hesitate to reach out with any feedback and/or suggestions!

For three years, at Maude restaurant in Beverly HIlls, Justin Hilbert (who was elevated to Executive Chef by Chef-Owner Curtis Stone in April 2016) changed the menu monthly to celebrate a single ingredient. These days, the restaurant revamps itself quarterly to focus on a different wine region. What kind of chef does it take to pull off this periodic feat, and what toll does the commitment demand of the chef? Find out in this remarkably open conversation with Justin, who also recounts his first days in the pro kitchen, his time in New York restaurants such as WD-50 and Gwynnett Street, and his other creative interests. Here's a thought: If you like what you hear, please tell your chef-fascinated friends, subscribe to Andrew Talks to Chefs (it's free) on iTunes or Stitcher, follow us on your favorite social media platforms @ChefPodcast, and/or rate or review us on Apple's podcast store. Thanks for listening! Andrew Talks to Chefs is powered by Simplecast. THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:Andrew is a writer by trade. If you'd like to support him, there's no better way than by purchasing his most recent book, The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food (October 2023), about all the key people (in the restaurant, on farms, in delivery trucks, etc.) whose stories and work come together in a single restaurant dish.We'd love if you followed us on Instagram. Please also follow Andrew's real-time journal of the travel, research, writing, and production of/for his next book The Opening (working title), which will track four restaurants in different parts of the U.S. from inception to launch.For Andrew's writing, dining, and personal adventures, follow along at his personal feed.Thank you for listening—please don't hesitate to reach out with any feedback and/or suggestions!

Though born into a food-centric family (legendary cookbook editor mom; passionate homecook dad), Alex Guarnaschelli never imagined a life in the pro kitchen. But when she decided to give it a go just after graduating college, she never looked back. Known to most listeners as one of the judges on Food Network's Chopped, and as chef of Butter restaurant in New York City, Alex has a depth of kitchen experience that might surprise casual observers--she began her career working for a quartet of legends (Larry Forgione, Daniel Boulud, Guy Savoy, and Joachim Splichal), before becoming a chef in her own right. In this first meeting between herself and Andrew, Alex opens up about herself and her feelings about the profession. Here's a thought: If you like what you hear, please tell your chef-fascinated friends, subscribe to Andrew Talks to Chefs (it's free) on iTunes or Stitcher, follow us on your favorite social media platforms @ChefPodcast, and/or rate or review us on Apple's podcast store. Thanks for listening! Andrew Talks to Chefs is powered by Simplecast THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:Andrew is a writer by trade. If you'd like to support him, there's no better way than by purchasing his most recent book, The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food (October 2023), about all the key people (in the restaurant, on farms, in delivery trucks, etc.) whose stories and work come together in a single restaurant dish.We'd love if you followed us on Instagram. Please also follow Andrew's real-time journal of the travel, research, writing, and production of/for his next book The Opening (working title), which will track four restaurants in different parts of the U.S. from inception to launch.For Andrew's writing, dining, and personal adventures, follow along at his personal feed.Thank you for listening—please don't hesitate to reach out with any feedback and/or suggestions!

Our fall season kicks off with one of the industry's true wunderkinds--Daniela Soto-Innes, chef de cuisine of Cosme and Atla in New York City, where she shares the singular style of Mexican cuisine she and Enrique Olvera have honed at these restaurants. (Daniela was a protege of Olvera's at Pujol restaurant in her native Mexico City.) Andrew and Daniela discuss her early start and quick ascension in the pro kitchen, why she decided to hone in on Mexican food, and what it was like building a restaurant from scratch in a space that was formerly a strip club in New York City. Here's a thought: If you like what you hear, please tell your chef-fascinated friends, subscribe to Andrew Talks to Chefs (it's free) on iTunes or Stitcher, follow us on your favorite social media platforms @ChefPodcast, and/or rate or review us on Apple's podcast store. Thanks for listening! Andrew Talks to Chefs is powered by Simplecast THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:Andrew is a writer by trade. If you'd like to support him, there's no better way than by purchasing his most recent book, The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food (October 2023), about all the key people (in the restaurant, on farms, in delivery trucks, etc.) whose stories and work come together in a single restaurant dish.We'd love if you followed us on Instagram. Please also follow Andrew's real-time journal of the travel, research, writing, and production of/for his next book The Opening (working title), which will track four restaurants in different parts of the U.S. from inception to launch.For Andrew's writing, dining, and personal adventures, follow along at his personal feed.Thank you for listening—please don't hesitate to reach out with any feedback and/or suggestions!