Andrew Talks to Chefs

Barbara Sibley came to New York City from Mexico in the early 1980s and fell in love with the restaurant industry thanks to time working at the storied La Tulipe in Greenwich Village. Today, she owns and operates La Palapa, an authentic Mexican restaurant, and is creative director of Holiday Cocktail Lounge, in the East Village. Barbara and Andrew caught up recently in the garden behind Holiday Co...

For our money, there's no better writer in the food realm today than John Birdsall. In his new book The Man Who Ate Too Much , a biography of James Beard that commingles the icon's life story with a history of both America's relationship with food and queer life in the United States. John spent five years researching and writing the book, producing a brilliant and moving work. We invited John on t...

David Kinch and his Manresa restaurant team are at the center of the new documentary "A Chef's Voyage," about the time they spent in France, collaborating on meals with the chefs and kitchens of three venerated restaurants. David discusses the movie and some topics it raises, and reflects on the loss of Pierre Troisgros, who died last week. And Matt Sartwell, managing partner of the fabled Kitchen...

Akhtar Nawab grew up in one of a handful of Indian families in Louisville, Kentucky, before setting his sights on the pro kitchen and New York City. After thriving in kitchens such as Gramercy Tavern, he made a name for himself as a chef in his own right, eventually opening his Alta Calidad in Brooklyn, among other restaurants. Akhtar recently saw his first cookbook, Good For You: Bold Flavors wit...

Friend of the pod David Nayfeld, one of our favorite recurring guests, has launched his own podcast, The Main Ingredient with David Nayfeld , cohosted and produced by Manny Jimenez (aka Manny J) . David checks in from San Francisco to talk about his new show, why he launched, it some of his first guests (including Dominique Crenn and Gwyneth Paltrow). And, of course, he and Andrew can't help a lit...

We are delighted to share our first-ever guest-hosted and curated episodes of the pod. In a 2-episode special report, educator and former chef Scott Alves Barton moderates 4 conversations among Black professionals in food. Two of the panels comprise Black chefs, one features four writers and editors, and one features two chef-farmers. Our hope is that taken together, this report helps foster a gre...

We are delighted to share our first-ever guest-hosted and curated episodes of the pod. In a 2-episode special report, educator and former chef Scott Alves Barton moderates 4 conversations among Black professionals in food. Two of the panels comprise Black chefs, one features four writers and editors, and one features two chef-farmers. Our hope is that taken together, this report helps foster a gre...

The coastal town of Mystic, Connecticut, boasts an emerging culinary scene, and chef James Wayman is at its center, helming Oyster Club , as well as the hybrid butcher shop-restaurant Grass & Bone and Engine Room , a bar--all in partnership with proprietor and fellow cook Dan Meiser. Andrew and James recently sat down for our first in-person interview since the lockdown began in March, and it was...

Friend of the pod Kelly Fields, whose desserts at Willa Jean restaurant in New Orleans have captured the national imagination, just launched her first cookbook, The Good Book of Southern Baking . Kelly joins Andrew to talk about the book's mix of classic and idiosyncratic recipes; Kelly's philosophy that savory cooking and baking aren't as different as many believe them to be; and some favorite di...

In culinary circles, chef Mark Ladner is widely admired for his versatility in the realm of Italian food: He created the very distinct menus for restaurants ranging from Lupa to Otto to Del Posto to the fast-casual Pasta Flyer. Currently, he's culinary director of Moby's restaurant in East Hampton, NY. Andrew drove out to Moby's to catch up with Mark on the day he staged a one-night-only Italian b...

Friend of the show (and of Andrew personally) chef Erick Williams of Chicago's Virtue restaurant recently asked us to host a conversation between him and his father, Ricardo Isom, about an unfortunate American tradition known as "The Talk," in which Black parents tell their children how to behave in interactions with the police.  Sparked by the murder of George Floyd and the protests it inspired,...

Esquire 's Culture and Style Director Kevin Sintumuang discusses this year's America's Best Bars list , an eclectic class of new and classic bastions of beer, wine, cocktails, and myriad foods. Join us for this fun, energetic celebration of the distinct pleasures bars offer and a look at how the magazine creates the list, as well as some of this year's selections. Yes, we're in a pandemic, but man...

Author Bill Buford recently debuted his new book Dirt , about his adventures in Lyon, France, training to be a professional cook and chef. That might sound like a stunt, but Buford--who also wrote the bestselling Heat , among many other literary accomplishments--actually went to cooking school and put in the hard yards in prep kitchens, and on the line. He and Andrew discuss key moments from the b...

Food and drinks writer and recipe developer Alicia Kennedy and Plate magazine editor in-chief (and former pro cook) Chandra Ram discuss two subjects that have been in the news recently: Recipe credit in restaurants and the media's role in creating and expunging bad kitchen behavior. This episode was occasioned by the articles "There's No I in Jam: Sqirl Wrestles with the Sticky Question of Who Rea...

Allison and Matt Robicelli are back for a new Shelter en Place discussion of the food & drink of Quentin Tarantino's classic Pulp Fiction . What's with all the coffee? The fast food? Why does Mia Wallace take Vincent Vega to the wacky Jack Rabbit Slim's for their (not a) date? We get into all that and more in this free-range conversation about one of everybody's favorite movies. Please consider  s...

The LEE Initiative has been working to improve the restaurant industry for several years, with programs like a women's chef mentorship program. When COVID-19 swept across the United States, shuttering restaurants and leaving millions of industry employees out of work, founders Edward Lee , Lindsey Ofcacek, and their team instituted a number of new programs to help workers, farms, and other industr...

Just before New York City went into lockdown mid-March, Russell Jackson--chef/owner of Harlem's tasting menu restaurant Reverence --sat down with Andrew for an in-depth interview covering his Southern California upbringing, his training in a handful of legendary restaurants in LA and San Francisco, why he came to New York, as well as such tangential subjects as Star Wars, Bruce Lee, social media,...

A blast of normalcy in a longform biographical interview recorded pre-pandemic! In late January, before COVID-19 hit US shores and we shifted to nightly special reports, Andrew had the chance to sit down with Douglass Williams, who's had an amazing young life so far. Raised in Atlantic City, knocked off his path to track stardom by Crohn's disease as a teenager, and a graduate of Michelin-starred...

On our last nightly special report, Daniel Boulud discusses the shutdown, the road to reopening, and the pain of being away from his team, as well as charitable efforts during the pandemic and his forecast for government support of the industry. Our great thanks to S.Pellegrino for making these special reports possible. Please consider  supporting Andrew Talks to Chefs via our Patreon page –pledge...

Ryan King, editor in chief of the online magazine Fine Dining Lovers , takes us inside the numbers of two recent surveys conducted by the site, one with 8,000 diners and one with more than 2,500 hospitality professionals . He also discusses the online forum Turning the Tables , hosted by Fine Dining Lovers this week, that gathered industry thought leaders from around the world to discuss what a po...

On the week the French Open would have begun, veteran tennis writer Joel Drucker joins fellow tennis-lover Andrew to discuss food rituals and other traditions that he associates with the major tennis tournaments, the global community of tennis scribes, and what it's like to chase summer around the globe during a normal tennis season. (Follow Joel's Twitter feed here .) Our great thanks to S.Pelleg...

Our quest for great chef- and food-focused entertainment continues, as it does every Friday, as our favorite guest critics Allison and Matt Robicelli  join Andrew to discuss the lamentable 2018 rom-com "Little Italy" starring Hayden Christensen and Emma Roberts. How can we possibly explain (or forgive) the cultural stereotypes on display? Does anybody, anywhere actually talk like the people in thi...

In our first-ever crossover episode, Rob Petrone--producer and host of the Hot Takes on a Plate podcast--joins Andrew to discuss the prospects of restaurants in a post-pandemic America, and Andrew joins Rob on his podcast to share his thoughts on the politics of the moment. Please enjoy this conversation, and then check out Rob's podcast ! Our great thanks to S.Pellegrino for making these special...

Lynn Buono and Skip Schwarzman of Philadelphia's Feast Your Eyes catering join Andrew to discuss the unique short- and long-term challenges faced by their industry during the COVID-19 era. Lynn and Skip share the adjustments they've made, from creating service-free meals to be served at events that are proceeding as scheduled, to adjusting contracts and commitments as ever-shifting government mand...

Jesse Cool has been operating her Flea Street Cafe in Menlo Park, California, for 40 years, and has seen it all during that time. Except for a pandemic. She's used this opportunity for reflection and reevaluation to start developing a program she calls "Heart of House," eliminating front- and back-of-house designations in favor of a model where everyone pitches in on all fronts, and all employees...