Andrew Talks to Chefs

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 amend...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Our Season 3 finale (or is it? listen to show intro for details about possible bonus episodes) takes us to Fausto, one of Brooklyn's best modern Italian restaurants, where Andrew recently caught up with Chef Erin Shambura. They kicked around her relatively late start in the pro kitchen (after earning a college degree), how and why she eventually gravitated to Italian food, and the evolution of her...

You won't find a more thoughtful, reflective leader in today's restaurant world than Gabriel Kreuther. Andrew sat down with the chef in his eponymous New York City restaurant to discuss his humble beginnings on a farm in Alsace; his early distinction in a national apprentice competition; his love of New York City; and his very personal observations about teamwork, creativity, and creating an envir...

On one of the hottest days of the summer, Andrew finds himself in a slump but old friend Bill Telepan, chef of Oceana restaurant in midtown Manhattan, pulls him out of it. The two of them, who collaborated on Bill's cookbook Inspired by Ingredients, discuss the trajectory of Bill's career from the kitchens of such restaurants as Gotham Bar and Grill and Le Bernardin to his own restaurants such as...

How in the world did a guy who started off in top French kitchens such as Le Bernardin (at age 14!) end up co-founding a collection of restaurants like The Meatball Shop? In a remarkably open and honest conversation, Daniel Holzman takes us through the twists and turns of his young life and career and explains how he course-corrected to his current path. He and Andrew also go deep on a lot of fran...

Few toques have made the leap from pastry chef to executive chef, but Emma Bengtsson of Aquavit in New York City did it in grand style, earning rave reviews and two Michelin stars since taking over the restaurant's kitchen in 2014. Andrew recently visited with Emma at the restaurant to review her early days cooking in Sweden, her love-at-first-sight relationship with New York City, her management...

A first for the podcast: Andrew welcomes television's Phil Rosenthal, host of the Netflix series Somebody Feed Phil , as our inaugural Open Kitchen (i.e., non-chef) guest. As listeners surely know, Phil--who created the legendary CBS sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond --has a passion for food and travel, which he explores on his series. He's also an investor in roughly 25 restaurants, and an unabashed...

One of the most accomplished chefs in the country returns to center stage this week as Jonathan Benno has just opened his Leonelli Taberna in New York City, the first of three planned Italian concepts he'll launch this year. Andrew, who's neighbors with Jonathan in the suburbs of Westchester County, paid him a visit during construction back in May to discuss the projects, the challenges of new ope...

After some emotionally draining weeks, Andrew & Caitlin dispense with their usual introductory chit-chat and get right to this week's interview: a fun and free-ranging conversation with Chef Marc Forgione recorded recently at his eponymous restaurant in lower Manhattan. Andrew and Marc discuss the blessing/curse of being the son of a legendary chef; his formative days cooking for chefs such as...

Andrew recently had a chance to sit down with Midwestern chefs of two generations: Chicago legend Tony Mantuano, who was instrumental in bringing authentic Italian food to the United States, and has done an admirable job of adjusting to the ever-changing times in stride; and Dan Jacobs and Dan Van Rite, who riff on Chinese food at their Milwaukee restaurant DanDan, and recently announced plans for...

The world lost one of the great representatives of the chef profession today with the tragic death of Anthony Bourdain. Andrew and Chef Bill Telepan got together to talk about this departed icon, and his influence on the industry and beyond. A quick, unedited commiseration on a very sad day. RIP Tony. Andrew Talks to Chefs is powered by Simplecast THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW: Andrew is a writer by trad...

A special double-header with one chef from the Catskills and one who cooks there today: Ruth Rogers of London’s iconic River Cafe joins us to discuss her path to the kitchen, the restaurant’s 30-year trajectory, and her new cookbook; then Ryan Tate shares the story of how he almost joined the Army before discovering the kitchen, moving from Michigan to Manhattan, and slowly developing his own dece...

In New York City, Andrew’s irked at the angle a restaurant critic adopted to review his book Chefs, Drugs, and Rock & Roll in the New York Times. After he and Caitlin hash that out, we cut to a much happier scene: sun-drenched Los Angeles, where Andrew recently sat down with the super-talented Chef Timothy Hollingsworth of Otium restaurant, and before that, chef de cuisine of The French Laundr...

In what might quietly be one of our best interviews, Mary Sue Milliken--one half (with biz partner Susan Feniger) of TV’s legendary “Too Hot Tamales"--and one of the major characters in Andrew’s book Chefs, Drugs, and Rock & Roll discusses cooking in LA; what a female-dominated industry might have looked like; her midwestern roots; and chefs and travel. Pull up a seat and listen in. Here'...

Chef JJ Johnson and Andrew are both very much on the go this spring as they promote their respective books. (Pro tip: Check out JJ's From Harlem to Heaven --it's wonderful!) But they found a few minutes to comandeer a table at The Mermaid Inn and catch up--comparing notes on the book writing/publishing/promotion experience, discussing JJ's exploration of the African diaspora in restaurants and wri...

What's more fun than volleyball and as entertaining as a great summer read? Why, a podcast interview on the beach, of course. When Andrew met Suzanne Tracht, chef-owner of JAR restaurant, at the Santa Monica Farmers' Market recently, Suzanne suggested they have their conversation on the mostly deserted beach. The two of them commandeered a lifeguard tower and got to it, discussing Suzanne's kosher...

Maybe it's because they have Florida in common, or maybe because they both write, or maybe it's something more simple and special than that, but Andrew has always felt a kinship with Chef Norman Van Aken, who's been making his mark on Florida dining since his his first at-bats in Key West in the early 1980s. Norman recently welcomed Andrew to Miami to help him promote Chefs, Drugs, and Rock &...

From '21' to the dear, departed Windows on the World, to his current longtime home at Porter House Bar and Grill, Chef Michael Lomonaco has made a career of finding new registers in the classics of American cuisine. Andrew sat down with his good friend (they collaborated on a book years ago) to discuss the trajectory of Michael's career, how he finds creative expression and satisfaction in the tra...

At his restaurants Zahav, Abe Fisher, Dizengoff, Rooster Soup Company, Goldie and others, Philadelphia-based chef and restaurateur Mike Solomonov has established himself as the standard-bearer of modern Jewish/Israeli cuisine. While at the Philly Chef Conference recently, Andrew and Mike borrowed a conference room for an impromptu rap session about what it means to be Jewish in the industry, the p...

At Williamsburg's popular Four Horsemen, Chef Nick Curtola brings a young lifetime of experience to bear in creating a concise but diverse menu that complements the restaurant's thoughtful wine program. The resulting offerings draw a steady steam of both civilian and industry diners. Nick shares the path that led him here, including his Bay Area childhood, time spent cooking in Italy, and at Frann...