Episodes

  • Chef Ashwin Vilkhu on merging New Orleans cooking with the Indian cuisine he grew up with, and then with a variety of Asian flavors, at two Michelin-recommended restaurants at the same time

    Chef Ashwin Vilkhu on merging New Orleans cooking with the Indian cuisine he grew up with, and then with a variety of Asian flavors, at two Michelin-recommended restaurants at the same time
    Feb 3 2026
    Ashwin Vilkhu’s Master’s thesis was a roadmap to get his family into the restaurant business by opening Saffron in New Orleans. He and his father were named semi-finalists for the 2025 James Beard award as Best Chef South for their cooking there, marrying Indian cuisine with New Orleans favorites. And now they’ve added a second restaurant just down the street, The Kingsway, where as Executive Chef he’s combining New Orleans cooking with a range of other Asian cuisines. Both spots received recommendations in Michelin’s first guide to the American south. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    38 mins
  • Chef Sue Zemanick on recently winning a Michelin star, marrying fresh gulf seafood with her family’s Slovakian home cooking, and the wonders of caviar on pasta

    Chef Sue Zemanick on recently winning a Michelin star, marrying fresh gulf seafood with her family’s Slovakian home cooking, and the wonders of caviar on pasta
    Jan 27 2026
    Sue Zemanick decided she wanted to become a chef when she was fourteen and began cooking professionally at fifteen. Her love of seafood, nurtured at the Culinary Institute of America, brought her to New Orleans, where she worked at Commander’s palace and Gautreau’s, where she rose from line cook to Executive Chef, before opening her own place, Zasu, creating a menu featuring seafood, global flavors, and multiple variations of the pierogies her grandmother used to make. The night Zasu won a Michelin star she wasn’t at the ceremony—she was working, which she says was a good thing since diners immediately rushed in and the kitchen was slammed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    37 mins
  • Michelin star winning chef Perry Hoffman on returning to his family’s small-town hotel and restaurant where he worked after high school and building a culinary destination town around it

    Michelin star winning chef Perry Hoffman on returning to his family’s small-town hotel and restaurant where he worked after high school and building a culinary destination town around it
    Jan 20 2026
    Chef Perry Hoffman and his partners are turning the small northern California town of Boonville into a culinary destination. He grew up in the restaurant business, as a young child helping his grandmother in the kitchen of the French Laundry in Yountville, California, which his grandparents founded, and cooking in his uncle’s Boonville Hotel and Restaurant after high school. He went on to a high-level cooking career, winning a Michelin star, before returning to that hotel in Boonville, earning rave reviews and a Michelin recommendation for the tasting menu he’s offering there. And now he’s expanding, opening a more casual California/Italian restaurant across the street and an ice cream shop, where many of the home-made flavors are created with local fruit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    40 mins
  • Husband and wife restaurateurs Bethany and chef Dano Heinze on winning a Michelin star at their Charleston restaurant, why it isn’t fine dining, and how they set such a high bar at an affordable neighborhood favorite

    Husband and wife restaurateurs Bethany and chef Dano Heinze on winning a Michelin star at their Charleston restaurant, why it isn’t fine dining, and how they set such a high bar at an affordable neighborhood favorite
    Jan 13 2026
    Bethany and Dano Heinze recently received a Michelin star for their Charleston Restaurant Vern’s. He’s the chef. She handles front of the house and a superb wine program built around little-known family-owned vineyards. Their innovative seasonal menu features unique presentations of local produce and charcoal-grilled proteins sourced straight from the farm. They’ve been working together for years — first under Sean Brock at the groundbreaking McCrady’s in Charleston, then at the legendary Animal in L.A. Now back in Charleston, they’re making a major impact on that renowned culinary city. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    48 mins
  • 14-time Michelin star winning chef Ken Frank on pioneering California cuisine, his legendary battles with restaurant owners, and winning a Michelin star 14 times at his own restaurant

    14-time Michelin star winning chef Ken Frank on pioneering California cuisine, his legendary battles with restaurant owners, and winning a Michelin star 14 times at his own restaurant
    Jan 6 2026
    Ken Frank was a pioneer in the creation of fresh and local California cuisine as a young chef in Los Angeles. He became famous not just for his food but also for standing up to and calling out restaurant owners he says didn’t live up to his standards. He’s won a Michelin star 14 times at his own restaurant in the Napa Valley, where he’s still in the kitchen five days a week. And he’s become America’s leading truffle chef, with a lot to say about the allure of that fungus and why truffle oil is an abomination. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    43 mins
  • Food trends for the new year from the woman major corporations rely on for culinary info and insights—industry analyst (and classically trained chef) Maeve Webster

    Food trends for the new year from the woman major corporations rely on for culinary info and insights—industry analyst (and classically trained chef) Maeve Webster
    Dec 30 2025
    Maeve Webster is the woman big companies rely on to understand what’s happening—and what’s about to happen—in the culinary world. A trained chef and former café owner, she is president of the culinary research firm Menu Matters and in this episode she predicts the next hot cuisine—not one you might expect, explains how restaurateurs have gone wrong chasing trends, why consumers are becoming bored with restaurant menus, and calls for a return to hospitality in the hospitality business at the same time she advises restaurant owners to simply tell some diners, “No, we can’t give you what you want.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    41 mins
  • Master Mixologist Mariena Mercer Boarini on the hottest drink trends, the explosion in mocktails, and her time as a “Tequila Goddess”

    Master Mixologist Mariena Mercer Boarini on the hottest drink trends, the explosion in mocktails, and her time as a “Tequila Goddess”
    Dec 23 2025
    Mariena Mercer Boarini invents 300 cocktails a year as Master Mixologist for Wynn Resorts, North America. She supervises the drinks programs at nearly 40 venues at Wynn’s flagship in Las Vegas, treating drinks as culinary creations, collaborating with chefs to match drinks with specific dishes, and often employing incredible molecular gastronomy techniques. She explains some of her best loved cocktails, how and why mocktails are exploding, what’s hot now and what to expect in the future, and talks about her time as a "Tequila Goddess" and wining an international mixology championship. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    36 mins
  • Chef Darian Bryan on pioneering Jamaican fine dining in the US, becoming a personal chef for Buffalo Bills MVP quarterback Josh Allen, and proving the doubters wrong

    Chef Darian Bryan on pioneering Jamaican fine dining in the US, becoming a personal chef for Buffalo Bills MVP quarterback Josh Allen, and proving the doubters wrong
    Dec 16 2025
    Born in Jamaica, now living in Buffalo, NY, Chef Darian Bryan has elevated Jamaican cuisine to the fine dining level at his restaurant, and through his work as a private chef. He has also amassed a roster of Buffalo Bills NFL players including MVP Qquarterback Josh Allen as clients, as an in-home private chef, preparing ready-to-heat meals, and as a special event caterer. He is engaging, entertaining, and an inspiration—from a childhood of poverty without electricity or running water to a first job in America at Denny’s, to shining in culinary school, to successful chef and restaurateur. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    39 mins