Andrew Talks to Chefs

For our 100th episode, we have a special report from the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Competition North American regional semifinals. Andrew sat down with all of the emerging chefs who faced off in New York City a few weeks ago, for the right to represent North America at the Grand Finale in Milan, Italy, in 2020. In a series of short (10 minutes or less) conversations, he profiles this wildly talented...

Andrew drove out to Southold, NY, this summer to visit influential pastry chef Claudia Fleming at her North Fork Table & Inn . They spoke about Claudia's Italian-Irish upbringing, her early days as an aspiring dancer, her transition to restaurant work (starting in the front of the house), and ascension to opening pastry chef at Gramercy Tavern, where she inspired generations of colleagues. Claudia...

A fun episode for both professional cooks and chefs, and "civilian" food geeks alike: Christine Muhlke , co-curator and writer of the new Phaidon book Signature Dishes That Matter , joins Andrew to kick around the notion of signature dishes, how she and her collaborators made their selections, and even some dishes that didn't make the cut. Joining them is acclaimed pastry chef Michael Laiskonis, c...

Whitney Otawka , whom some listeners might remember from her stint on Top Chef , just released a new cookbook, The Saltwater Table , based on her exploration and interpretation of the terroir of Georgia's Cumberland Island. It's a fascinating read, and Whitney's story--she grew up as a wannabe archeologist in Southern California, discovered cooking in a first job in a two-person kitchen in Berkele...

Andrew welcomes one of the founders of modern Israeli cuisine, Erez Komarovsky, to New York City, where he recently opened his first US restaurant, Mint Kitchen . The two discuss Komarovsky's culinary awakening in Tel Aviv, his development in Paris and San Francisco, and his storied, multifaceted career in Israel. In our second interview, Andrew visits with Nicholas Stefanelli of Washington DC's M...

After a long hiatus, Andrew Talks to Chefs is back with two interviews featuring chefs at the forefront of the New York City dining scene: First, Andrew sits down with Angie Rito and Scott Tacinelli of the red-hot, red-sauce-inspired Don Angie , which draws on their shared and distinct Italian-American heritage and myriad New York City influences. Then, he catches up with Victoria Blamey (whom you...

While in Milan, Ohio, to partiticpate in a dinner at The Culinary Vegetable Institute at The Chef's Garden, Andrew grabbed the opportunity to interview one of his favorite people in the industry, the CVI's Executive Chef & Chef Liaison Jamie Simpson . Hear the story of how this young chef found his way to a unique six-year (and counting) stint at one of the most esteemed farms in the world, and wh...

As he readies his new restaurant Pasjoli for a fall debut, Dave Beran--who's already enjoying great success in Santa Monica, California, at Dialogue--takes us back through his life and career, from his formative days in Upstate New York and Michigan, to his early kitchen years at Alinea and Next (he served as chef de cuisine at both) to his decision to migrate to the West Coast. A far-ranging conv...

This week, Andrew sits down with two chefs who have gone their own way: Rōze Traore , who's part of the kitchen team at Eleven Madison Park and also stages pop-ups and private dinners around the world, and has a second career as a model, epitomizing the emerging avenues available to a young chef today. And Jose Arroyo, of Ontario, California, who served in the miliary and trained in culinary schoo...

There are no hotter restaurants in New York City right now than Cote and Frenchette , and on this week's episode, we've got the chefs behind both of them: David Shim, the soft-spoken but intensely exacting chef of Cote tells Andrew how and why he gave up aspirations of professional soccer to pursue a pro cooking career, and how he went about designing the food for Cote's unique, modern take on a K...

The wonderfully creative soul behind Dana's Bakery , Dana Pollack, left a successful career as a photo editor in pursuit of something more fulfilling. She attended culinary school, decided restaurant kitchens weren't for her, and began fashioning unconventional macaroons and other baked goods that have made her (mostly mail order) company a rousing success. Her story is one of career changing and...

Our 2nd LIVE show took place last week at San Francisco Cooking School and it was a blast: Oakland-based chef Preeti Mistry joined Andrew to talk about everything from how one's identity is inevitably reflected in their food to the politics of the modern restaurant scene to her early tendencies toward the theatrical. In the second segment, a quintet of current and former Zuni Cafe chefs (Nate Norr...

An intersection of the classic and contemporary defines today's episode: First up: Last week, Andrew made a pilgrimage to the legendary, three-Michelin-star Inn at Little Washington where the singular visionary Patrick O'Connell has been lording over his dream restaurant, inn, and other properties since 1978. While there, the two sat down for a revelatory conversation that has had Andrew's head sp...

Two titans of the food world are the focus of this week's episode. First up, an Open Kitchen (non-chef) interview with Ed Levine, founder of Serious Eats and author of the new book Serious Eater: A Food Lover's Perilous Quest for Pizza and Redemption . And, from the Chef's Roll Anti-Convention in April, we are thrilled to present a tribute to legendary chef Jeremiah Tower , subject of the recent d...

A never-before-aired, recently rediscovered interview with Anthony Bourdain , whom we lost a year ago this week. On April 29, 2014, Tony was kind and generous enough to sit down over lunch with Andrew for a two-part conversation, covering everything from his early days as a cook to his transition to a writer and television icon, to coping with fame, meeting his idols, how the industry has changed...

Four interviews, all recorded outdoors in the splendor of Santa Monica at the recent Los Angeles Chef Conference : Spago's Della Gossett; Providence's Michael Cimarusti; Laura Avery and Meredith Bell on the legendary Santa Monica Farmer's Market ; and Brooke Williamson of Playa Provisions , The Tripel, Hudson House Bar, and TV's Top Chef. Plus a conversation on the origins of the festival and the...

As Bâtard (his collaboration with John Winterman and Drew Nieporent) turns 5-years old, and he settles into a new phase of shepherding two restaurants (he's also executive chef of Keith McNaly's Augustine), Markus Glocker sits down with Andrew to discuss his old-school European training, how he takes flavor to the brink even in traditional recipes, and his time working for such legends as Gordon R...

*** This episode originally aired on our former host network; Andrew Talks to Chefs is now an independent podcast please visit and bookmark our official website  for all show updates, blog posts, personal and virtual appearances, and related information.*** Two big winners at last week's James Beard Foundation Awards join Andrew on this week's show: Kwame Onwuachi of Kith and Kin in Washington, DC...

Raised as a "bar baby" by his devoted jazz musician father and just-as-loving mother, it might have seemed that Milton Abel II was destined for a life onstage himself. But after a period of self-discovery, this Kansas City native found his way to the professional kitchen, eventually settling on pastry and rising to the top of such world-renowned kitchens as The French Laundry , Per Se ,...

Andrew took his podcasting gear on the road again (this is getting to be a habit) and recorded interviews with 5 participating chefs at the recent Chef’s Roll Anti-Convention in San Diego, California, earlier this month. This 3-hour episode should keep you entertained through our between-season break: Listen at your leisure to intimate conversations with LA’s Nyesha Arrington ; Boston’s Barbara Ly...

A rare food-focused episode of the pod, featuring two of the preeminent pizza specialists working in the United States today: US-born Dan Richer of Jersey City's Razza and Italian-born Daniele Uditi of Brentwood's Pizzana . While Daniele was on the East Coast to collaborate on a special dinner with Dan, the two took time out from their preparations to sit down with Andrew and talk about how they f...

Not many people can lay claim to having shaped the restaurant world that we dine in today, but Michael McCarty is surely one of them. As his masterpiece, Michael's Santa Monica , prepares to celebrate its 40th Anniversary with a special dinner later this month, Andrew sat down with this visionary (featured on the cover of Chefs, Drugs, and Rock & Roll) to discuss his original vision for the re...

Pull up a chair at the table in the window and join Andrew as he gets to know Clare de Boer and Jess Shadbolt , the British-born team behind the ever-changing menu at downtown Manhattan's wonderfully received Kings restaurant . The kitchen collaborators share their approach to honing the restaurant's culinary style, how they've managed growth and evolution, and the highs and lows of their first ye...

A great many professional cooks and chefs shifted to the kitchen after one or more earlier careers. On this episode, we speak to two women whose stories exemplify the possibilities available if you can muster the courage to make a change: Alycia Matthews is a New Jersey-based engineer whose love of cooking was so persistent that after years of wrestling with the impulse, she began attending culina...

We're not sure what the odds are of two Nashville chefs turning up in New York City on the same day, but somehow they did, and we were lucky to book them both for back-to-back interview sessions. First up: Chopped judge and prolific chef and restaurateur Maneet Chauhan takes us through her life and career, from her Indian childhood to her culinary training at the Culinary Institute of America to c...