Chefs Without Restaurants

This week I speak with chef Terence Tomlin for the second time. In 2017, Terence suffered two strokes while working at his restaurant, leaving the right side of his body paralyzed. Despite this setback, Terence has been able to regain much of his strength and has even gone on to compete in Baltimore's Mason Dixon Master Chef Tournament, and winning the seafood competition at The Maryland Foodie Fest.Terence has spent the last few years hosting both private and public dinner parties. Now, he's tackling ice cream. We discuss Terence's road to recovery, competing in cooking competitions, and his big plans to build an ice cream business that gives back to disabled people in the community. Don't miss out on this inspiring episode, and make sure to check out Terence's social media channels for more culinary inspiration.TERENCE TOMLINTerence's  InstagramHelp Terence fund the new ice cream businessTerence's YouTubeCHEFS WITHOUT RESTAURANTSIf you enjoy the show and would like to support it financially, please check out our Sponsorship page (we get a commission when you use our links).  Get the Chefs Without Restaurants NewsletterPrivate Facebook groupChefs Without Restaurants InstagramTHE CHEFS WITHOUT RESTAURANTS PODCAST FEEDBACK SURVEYGet in touchSupport the show

On the Chefs Without Restaurants podcast this week I have chef Christina Pirello of Christina Cooks. After already losing her mother to cancer, Christina was diagnosed with terminal leukemia in her mid-20s. Not wanting to undergo traditional treatment for cancer, she ultimately changed her diet and lifestyle, and her cancer went into remission. She’s been cancer-free for more than 37 years now.Christina wanted to share what she’d learned about food and cooking, and Christina Cooks was born. She started a cooking show on PBS (and won an Emmy in her first season) and has published numerous cookbooks. While Christina maintains a vegan diet, she isn’t preachy about it.We talked about her early days working in a professional kitchen, her journey to wellness, and how she built and grew the Christina Cooks brand.CHRISTINA PIERLLOChristina’s Instagram Christina’s Facebook Christina’s Twitter Christina’s YouTube The Christina Cooks Website CHEFS WITHOUT RESTAURANTSIf you enjoy the show and would like to support it financially, please check out our Sponsorship page (we get a commission when you use our links).  Get the Chefs Without Restaurants NewsletterPrivate Facebook groupChefs Without Restaurants InstagramTHE CHEFS WITHOUT RESTAURANTS PODCAST FEEDBACK SURVEYHear Chris on the Line Cook Thoughts Podcast Get in touchSupport the show

This week I talk about working for free. More specifically, I discuss why giving away free food, and doing events for free didn't work out for me. I'm not saying that there isn't a place for it. But before you do an event, I think you need to make sure it's a good fit. Does it make sense to give out free cupcakes at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new car dealership? There are lots of people looking to trade your services for "exposure", but does it actually ever help move the needle from a business standpoint? What do you think? Let me know. ⁣ CHEFS WITHOUT RESTAURANTSIf you enjoy the show and would like to support it financially, please check out our Sponsorship page (we get a commission when you use our links).  Get the Chefs Without Restaurants NewsletterPrivate Facebook groupChefs Without Restaurants InstagramTHE CHEFS WITHOUT RESTAURANTS PODCAST FEEDBACK SURVEYSponsor- The United States Personal Chef AssociationOver the past 30 years, the world of the personal chef has grown in importance to fulfill dining needs. While the pandemic certainly upended the restaurant experience, it allowed personal chefs to close that dining gap.  Central to all of that is the United States Personal Chef Association.  USPCA provides a strategic backbone for those chefs that includes liability insurance, training, communications, certification, and more. It’s a reassurance to consumers that the chef coming into their home is prepared to offer them an experience with their meal.  Call Angela today at 800-995-2138 ext 705 or email her at aprather@uspca.com for membership and partner info.Get in touchSupport the show

As 2022 comes to a close, I want to thank all of the listeners, guests, and people who have supported this podcast. As I get ready to continue with shows in 2023, I want to know what you want to hear. Please take 5 minutes to fill out this survey. It's only 7 questions and is anonymous. I'm going to use this information to make the Chefs Without Restaurants podcast even better.THE CHEFS WITHOUT RESTAURANTS PODCAST FEEDBACK SURVEYCHEFS WITHOUT RESTAURANTSIf you enjoy the show and would like to support it financially, please check out our Sponsorship page (we get a commission when you use our links).  Get the Chefs Without Restaurants NewsletterPrivate Facebook groupChefs Without Restaurants InstagramSponsor- The United States Personal Chef AssociationOver the past 30 years, the world of the personal chef has grown in importance to fulfill dining needs. While the pandemic certainly upended the restaurant experience, it allowed personal chefs to close that dining gap.  Central to all of that is the United States Personal Chef Association.  USPCA provides a strategic backbone for those chefs that includes liability insurance, training, communications, certification, and more. It’s a reassurance to consumers that the chef coming into their home is prepared to offer them an experience with their meal.  Call Angela today at 800-995-2138 ext 705 or email her at aprather@uspca.com for membership and partner info.Get in touchSupport the show

This is the olive oil episode. This week, I speak with David Garci-Aguirre, the master miller at Corto. This one ingredient probably touches more dishes than any other ingredient except salt. But how much do we know about it? David likes to say that it's the ingredient that farm-to-table forgot. Nobody knows where it came from, who made it, or how it got made. But on this episode, we're going to change that.Did you know that much of the oil on the market is already rancid when you purchase it? This is one of the reasons that most extra-virgin olive oils have a low smoke point, and aren't recommended for sauteing with. But David says that fresh, high-quality olive oil is one of the most stable cooking oils there is.Besides rancidity and oil smoke points, you'll learn how Corto grows, harvests, produces, stores and packs its oil. They have an innovative bag-in-a-box system that protects the oil, making sure that the very last drop is as fresh as the first. They don't sell their oils at a retail level, but if you want to purchase it, use the link below to get it directly from their website.DAVID GARCI-AGUIRRE & CORTOCorto's InstagramDavid's InstagramBUY CORTO OIL HERE or Get it on AmazonRecipe: Wild Juniper Pan Roasted Scallops - Hari CameronRecipe: Chocolate Olive Oil Torte - Holly GaleCHEFS WITHOUT RESTAURANTSIf you enjoy the show and would like to support it financially, please check out our Sponsorship page (we get a commission when you use our links).  Get the Chefs Without Restaurants NewsletterPrivate Facebook groupChefs Without Restaurants InstagramSponsor- The United States Personal Chef AssociationOver the past 30 years, the world of the personal chef has grown in importance to fulfill dining needs. While the pandemic certainly upended the restaurant experience, it allowed personal chefs to close that dining gap.  Central to all of that is the United States Personal Chef Association.  USPCA provides a strategic backbone for those chefs that includes liability insurance, training, communications, certification, and more. It’s a reassurance to consumers that the chef coming into their home is prepared to offer them an experience with their meal.  Call Angela today at 800-995-2138 ext 705 or email her at aprather@uspca.com for membership and partner info.Get in touchSupport the show

Chef Imrun Texeira is the chef and owner of Wanderlust, a personal chef service based in Toronto, Canada focused on blind tasting menus. Whether you currently have a personal chef business, want to start one, or are any type of culinary entrepreneur, this episode is packed with valuable tips on growing a food business.Imrun’s worked in some of the world's best and most influential restaurants, including Noma in Copenhagen. Most recently, he was named as a recipient of the Top 30-Under-30 Award for hospitality leaders in Canada, and as a rising talent in North America by The Art of Plating. He was a semi-finalist on the Food Network’s Top Chef Canada Season 8, and a finalist on the Food Network’s Chopped Canada Season 3. Imrun’s culinary style is often referred to as 'New Canadian Cuisine' as he showcases local produce, foraged ingredients and blends them with flavors and tecniques from around the world.On the show, we talk about positioning your business and how to stand out from your competitors. We discuss pricing your service, staffing considerations, and customer interactions. Also, Imrun is an ambassador for The Burnt Chef Project, so I asked him to explain what that is, which led to a bigger discussion about mental health and the state of mental health services today. And I wanted to talk about how he plans and markets his menus. Imrun offers either five or ten-course blind diners. That means that the customers don’t know what they’ll be dining on before he serves it. I’m not sure I’m ready to try that with my business yet. I have some challenges just getting people to order some of the more interesting items from a selection menu. For those with personal chef businesses, do you do this? Let me know because I’m interested. As always, you can hit me up on Instagram @chefswithoutrestaurants. My DMs are open.IMRUN TEXEIRAImrun's InstagramImrun's WebsiteCHEFS WITHOUT RESTAURANTSIf you enjoy the show and would like to support it financially, please check out our Sponsorship page (we get a commission when you use our links).  Get the Chefs Without Restaurants NewsletterPrivate Facebook groupChefs Without Restaurants InstagramSponsor- The United States Personal Chef AssociationOver the past 30 years, the world of the personal chef has grown in importance to fulfill dining needs. While the pandemic certainly upended the restaurant experience, it allowed personal chefs to close that dining gap.  Central to all of that is the United States Personal Chef Association.  USPCA provides a strategic backbone for those chefs that includes liability insurance, training, communications, certification, and more. It’s a reassurance to consumers that the chef coming into their home is prepared to offer them an experience with their meal.  Call Angela today at 800-995-2138 ext 705 or email her Get in touchSupport the show

On this week's episode, we have chef Nikko Cagalanan. Born and raised in the Philippines. Nikko grew up in a family that loved food. His dad cooked. His aunt cooked. And his grandmother, Mansueta, cooked. Sure, he didn’t always want to be in the kitchen, but food was an integral part of their family. Eventually, he moved to the United States, landing in Massachusetts. Cooking wasn’t his career back then. Nursing was. But, like many of us who feel the kitchen calling us, Nikko decided he wanted to start a career in cooking. With no formal training, he essentially had to start at the bottom. You’ll hear the story of how he got his start, and eventually launched his own pop-up. If you’re someone who’s thought about starting one, Nikko will share how he did it, and some things to consider. We also talk about collaborations and his recent appearance on the show Chopped where he had to cook pork uterus, among other bizarre food items.NIKKO CAGALANANNikko’s Instagram Mansueta’s Instagram CHEFS WITHOUT RESTAURANTSIf you enjoy the show and would like to support it financially, please check out our Sponsorship page (we get a commission when you use our links).  Get the Chefs Without Restaurants NewsletterPrivate Facebook groupChefs Without Restaurants Instagram Sponsor- The United States Personal Chef AssociationOver the past 30 years, the world of the personal chef has grown in importance to fulfill dining needs. While the pandemic certainly upended the restaurant experience, it allowed personal chefs to close that dining gap.  Central to all of that is the United States Personal Chef Association.   USPCA provides a strategic backbone for those chefs that includes liability insurance, training, communications, certification, and more. It’s a reassurance to consumers that the chef coming into their home is prepared to offer them an experience with their meal.  Call Angela today at 800-995-2138 ext 705 or email her at aprather@uspca.com for membership and partner info.Get in touchSupport the show

On this week's episode, we have chef Russ Zito. Russ has been a culinary instructor at Johnson & Wales University for 26 years. You might have heard our "What is a Chef" mini-episode.Chef Zito was one of my instructors and my senior advisor when I was a student at Johnson & Wales University. But a lot has changed since I graduated in 1998. I wanted to find out how the school, and the curriculum, have changed (or stayed the same) since I've been gone. He talks about the newer courses and classes dealing with things like sustainability, dietetics, and entrepreneurship. They even have a garden there now. I asked his opinion about who was a good fit for culinary school. We also talked about his thoughts on community college as opposed to a top-tier culinary university.If you're a current or former culinary student, or are thinking about going to culinary school, this is the episode for you. If anyone has questions they want to ask me directly, feel free to reach out to me at chefswithoutrestaurants@gmail.com.RUSS ZITORuss's InstagramRuss's TwitterJohnson & Wales UniversityCHEFS WITHOUT RESTAURANTSIf you enjoy the show and would like to support it financially, please check out our Sponsorship page (we get a commission when you use our links).  Get the Chefs Without Restaurants NewsletterPrivate Facebook groupChefs Without Restaurants InstagramSponsor- The United States Personal Chef AssociationOver the past 30 years, the world of the personal chef has grown in importance to fulfill dining needs. While the pandemic certainly upended the restaurant experience, it allowed personal chefs to close that dining gap.  Central to all of that is the United States Personal Chef Association. USPCA provides a strategic backbone for those chefs that includes liability insurance, training, communications, certification, and more. It’s a reassurance to consumers that the chef coming into their home is prepared to offer them an experience with their meal.Call Angela today at 800-995-2138 ext 705 or email her at aprather@uspca.com for membership and partner info.Sponsor-meezStill keeping your recipes in docs? Doing your costing in spreadsheets? You should try meez—the recipe tool designed for chefs by chefs. Founded by professional chef Josh Sharkey, meez transforms your recipe content into a powerful digital format that lets you organize, scale, train, and cost like never before. See why meez is loved by over 12,000 culinary professionals. Sign up for a free account today at getmeez.com/cwr. Get in touchSupport the show

Thank you for three years and 100,000 downloads. This week marks the three-year anniversary of the podcast, and last week we hit 100,000 total downloads, so I thought I'd do something a little different. This is a re-post of the first podcast episode. The show was co-founded with Andrew Wilkinson of Pizza Llama, and back then, Andrew took on much of the hosting duties. He was with the show for the first four months.On the show, Andrew and I talk about the foundations of Chefs Without Restaurants: community, collaboration, and education. We discuss our aspirations for the community and podcast. Most of it has remained, though some things have changed. I'd love your feedback. What's working? What do you love? Where can we improve? Feel free to email me at chefswithoutrestaurants@gmail.com or send an Instagram DM @ChefswithoutrestaurantsCHEFS WITHOUT RESTAURANTSIf you enjoy the show and would like to support it financially, please check out our Sponsorship page (we get a commission when you use our links).  Get the Chefs Without Restaurants NewsletterPrivate Facebook groupChefs Without Restaurants InstagramSponsor- The United States Personal Chef AssociationOver the past 30 years, the world of the personal chef has grown in importance to fulfill dining needs. While the pandemic certainly upended the restaurant experience, it allowed personal chefs to close that dining gap.  Central to all of that is the United States Personal Chef Association. USPCA provides a strategic backbone for those chefs that includes liability insurance, training, communications, certification, and more. It’s a reassurance to consumers that the chef coming into their home is prepared to offer them an experience with their meal.Call Angela today at 800-995-2138 ext 705 or email her at aprather@uspca.com for membership and partner info.Sponsor-meezStill keeping your recipes in docs? Doing your costing in spreadsheets? You should try meez—the recipe tool designed for chefs by chefs. Founded by professional chef Josh Sharkey, meez transforms your recipe content into a powerful digital format that lets you organize, scale, train, and cost like never before. See why meez is loved by over 12,000 culinary professionals. Sign up for a free account today at getmeez.com/cwr. Get in touchSupport the show

On this week's show, we have chef Carla Hall. She was a contestant on Bravo's Top Chef and Top Chef All-Stars.  Carla spent 7 years co-hosting ABC’s Emmy award-winning, popular lifestyle series “The Chew”. She's been on multiple Food Network programs, was a judge on Netflix's Crazy Delicious, and is a culinary contributor to “Good Morning America”.  She's the author of four cookbooks, in addition to a number of cookbooks put out by The Chew.We discuss her Top Chef experience, and why she wanted to return for All-Stars.  We talk about the transition from catering to food media, licensing her recipes, and chef-in-residence programs. This is also a mini-Masterclass in biscuit-making. She talks about what makes a good (and bad) biscuit, and gives lots of actionable tips.CARLA HALLCarla's InstagramCarlas's WebsiteCHEFS WITHOUT RESTAURANTSIf you enjoy the show and would like to support it financially, please check out our Sponsorship page (we get a commission when you use our links).  Get the Chefs Without Restaurants NewsletterPrivate Facebook groupChefs Without Restaurants InstagramSponsor- The United States Personal Chef AssociationOver the past 30 years, the world of the personal chef has grown in importance to fulfill dining needs. While the pandemic certainly upended the restaurant experience, it allowed personal chefs to close that dining gap.  Central to all of that is the United States Personal Chef Association. USPCA provides a strategic backbone for those chefs that includes liability insurance, training, communications, certification, and more. It’s a reassurance to consumers that the chef coming into their home is prepared to offer them an experience with their meal.Call Angela today at 800-995-2138 ext 705 or email her at aprather@uspca.com for membership and partner info.Sponsor-meezStill keeping your recipes in docs? Doing your costing in spreadsheets? You should try meez—the recipe tool designed for chefs by chefs. Founded by professional chef Josh Sharkey, meez transforms your recipe content into a powerful digital format that lets you organize, scale, train, and cost like never before. See why meez is loved by over 12,000 culinary professionals. Sign up for a free account today at getmeez.com/cwr. Get in touchSupport the show