Snacky Tunes

We meet up with Chef Sean Brock at the ArcLight Cinemas Hollywood during the West Coast swing of the tour for his latest cookbook, South: Essential Recipes and New Explorations . For the past 20 years, Sean’s been exploring, archiving and championing the cuisine of the American South. He shares with us his passion for the ingredients, history and distinct cooking techniques of his native home regi...

Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in fall 2017. The category 5 storm tore buildings apart and flooded everything, wreaking havoc that the island and its inhabitants are still recovering from today. We connect with celebrated chef and native son, Jose Enrique , at the third annual Culinary Getaway, hosted at Dorado Beach , a Ritz Carlton Reserve . Jose, who despite losing the roof, the windows...

Lucas Kwan Peterson introduces us to his new Los Angeles Times Food show “Off Menu.” Traversing L.A. with a camera in tow, Lucas meets up with some of the city’s most notable restaurateurs, and gets an in-depth look at their careers, their lives and their cultures. We visit our archives and pull out a performance from Los Angeles-born-and-bred singer-songwriter Billy Uomo. Check out his latest EP,...

It’s a special episode of the show recorded live at Los Angeles’ must-visit culinary bookstore, Now Serving . Our guest is a longtime friend of ours who’s making her first appearance on the Tunes: Bonnie Morales, chef / co-owner of Portland’s renowned Russian restaurant, Kachka . In addition to our interview, check out Bonnie’s cookbook, Kachka: A Return to Russian Cooking , and her Snacky Tunes C...

We’re in London to meet up with world-famous experimental psychologist Professor Charles Spence, founder of the Crossmodal Research Laboratory at the Department of Experimental Psychology at Oxford University . Professor Spence specializes in neuroscience-inspired multisensory design, and has extensively researched how the background sounds and music that happens to be playing in bars, restaurants...

From 1972 until its closing in 1983, Todd Barkan’s Keystone Korner in San Francisco was widely considered to be one of the world’s top jazz venues. The club played host to a slew of live performances from such legends as Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis and Betty Carter. Todd is a renowned jazz producer and impresario, earning a prized NEA Jazz Masters fellowship in 2018. Chef Robert Wiedmaie...

Critically acclaimed Portland, OR, restaurant Bullard is named after Doug Adams’ hometown in East Texas. The James Beard-nominated chef calls the restaurant’s cuisine “Tex-Oregana,” which is to say Pacific Northwest ingredients combined with Tex-Mex spirit. Bullard’s located in the Woodlark Hotel where Doug also bakes up kolaches at Good Coffee . In keeping things West Coast, we tucked into our ar...

Dave Beran’s our guest for this entire episode. He burst onto the national culinary scene as the Executive Chef of Grant Achatz’s high-flying, concept and genre-bending Chicago restaurant, Next . His work at Next’s stoves earned him all kinds of accolades--including a James Beard Award--so it was a bit of a surprise in 2016 when Dave announced he was leaving for Los Angeles. The following year he...

At her Michelin-starred restaurant Elizabeth in Chicago, Chef Iliana Regan has been stunning diners with her modern and soulful midwestern-inspired fare. Her cooking is rooted into the flavors she learned both growing and foraging ingredients on her family’s small farm in Northwest Indiana. In her new deeply candid memoir, Burn the Place, Iliana chronicles her less-than-conventional life’s journey...

Ben Hundreds, co-founder of famed L.A. streetwear brand The Hundreds , gives us the download on his latest creative endeavor, the Family Style Food Festival , which hits on Sept. 15 at Television City. He described it to us as, “A day where we’re going to collide streetwear and food.” The upcoming fete features the combined talents of restaurants such as Jon & Vinny’s , Secret Lasagna , Felix...

We open the show in Lima, Peru, with legendary chef Virgilio Martínez. He’s redefined the cuisine of his homeland by diving deep into the country’s incredibly diverse ecosystems and indigenous ingredients. He’s served potatoes that only grow thousands of feet above sea level, unleashed the flavors of wild varieties of quinoa and amaranth seed and even used kushuru, an edible cyanobacteria harveste...

It’s an all Eastside L.A. episode. We open in Echo Park with Chefs Akira Akuto and Nick Montgomery, owners of the hit Japanese sandwich shop Konbi . The two longtime friends and restaurant industry vets opened the daytime restaurant in fall of 2018, and it instantly gained critical notoriety and a cult following for its katsu and egg salad sandos . Our good pals at Silver Lake’s Dangerbird Records...

In 2006, Ed Levine was a 54-year-old freelance food writer who wanted control of his own professional life. He took to the internet, created a blog and called it Serious Eats . Unbeknownst to Ed he had launched what would become one of the most respected and most oved food sites in America. Ed’s chronicled the entire surprising and wild journey in his new book Serious Eater: A Food Lover’s Perilou...

Christian Page is the chef / co-owner of one of Los Angeles’ most iconic lunch counters and burger joints, Cassell’s Hamburgers . Originally opened in 1948, Cassell’s rose to wide acclaim before shuttering in 2012. Christian and his partner Jingbo Lou resurrected the brand in late 2014 in the Hotel Normandie--they now have a second location in DTLA--and began once again slinging some of the best b...

In 2015, Chef Rene Redzepi made the surprise announcement that he was shuttering his venerated Copenhagen restaurant  Noma  to search for new inspirations in hopes of finding reinvention. He reopened in 2018, but only after years of hopscotching the globe--Australia, Japan, Mexico and more--learning new tricks and running dining pop-ups. Acclaimed food and drinks scribe Jeff Gordinier, whose own l...

Daniele Uditi arrived in Los Angeles from his native Italy in 2010. It was only supposed to be a 6-month stay for a consulting gig, but nine years later he’s very much still here and gaining a deep, devoted following as the chef-pizzaiolo for the popular Pizzana restaurants. We catch up with Steve Sladkowski, guitarist for Toronto punk band PUP . Steve called into the show during a stop on the ban...

Derek van Bakergem stops by to talk about this year’s Pinknic music, food and wine festival. Started in 2016 by Derek and co-founder Pierrick Bouquet, Pinknic is quickly becoming a New York City summer tradition, welcoming thousands to enjoy rosé and dance the day away. This year’s festival is July 19 and 20 on Randall’s Island Park, and features headliners Mark Ronson and Chromeo. We pull an in-s...

It’s our 400th episode. Wow. Thank you to everyone, and especially to our families and the folks at Heritage Radio for all the support over the years. Cheers! In this special episode of Snacky Tunes we’re in the Caribbean at the 11th annual Cayman Cookout at the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman. Our guest is the indomitable, legendary, inspiring three-Michelin-star chef, Dominique Crenn. Dominique grew...

Roy Choi is one of America’s most innovative, respected and successful chef-restaurateurs. Outside of the kitchen, he’s well-known for his activism and work in regards to social justice and food. Roy joins us to talk about his new multi-media series, Broken Bread , which explores neighborhoods across Los Angeles, and profiles individuals and organizations who make a difference in their communities...

Gabriela Cámara’s work at her restaurants Contramar and Cala have made her one of the most respected and acclaimed chefs in the world. She returns to the Tunes to share with us her first-ever cookbook, My Mexico City Kitchen . The book features recipes and essays encompassing her life, career and the evolution of Mexican Cuisine. For the second half of the show, our buddy Jeet Suresh Paul brings u...

Chef Diego Moya was born in Chile and grew up in Long Island working in his family’s small restaurants. Following stints at some of the most revered vegetable-driven restaurants in France including L’Arpège, he landed in NYC working the stoves at the beloved Casa Mono and LES darling, Hemlock. He currently helms the kitchen at Racines NY . Brooklyn’s Store Front got their start when bass player Pe...

After lamenting how annoying it was trying to find someone to enjoy a three-hour tasting menu with who was not a girlfriend or partner, pals Alana McMillan and Sabrina Chen created the JaynesBeard Supper Club --a monthly culinary meetup for lesbian and queer women in NYC. JaynesBeard events range from cocktail parties to multi-course plated meals, and feature the talents of up-and-coming, mostly q...

In their new Netflix show Street Food , co-creators and executive producers David Gelb and Brian McGinn showcase the most democratic of culinary businesses--the food stands, pushcarts and hawker stalls that feed everyday people. Using the same dazzling cinematography, revealing biographical storytelling and passport-busting globetrotting that made their groundbreaking series Chef’s Table famous, t...

Lien Ta and Chef Jonathan Whitener grew up on opposite coasts, and both came into their hospitality careers from completely different angles. The duo met while working at Los Angeles’ iconic Animal --Lien managing the dining room, and Jonathan holding things down as Chef de Cuisine in the kitchen. In due time, they realized they wanted to eventually own their own place, and so teaming up they open...

Festival season has finally arrived, which means that Coachella kicks off this weekend! In addition to killer bands, there is an incredible food line up for this year’s festivities. We talk to Goldenvoice’s Nic Adler & Lizzy Stadler for an insider’s insight on what people can culinarily expect at this year’s Coachella and Stagecoach . We also dig deep into the archives for a vintage performanc...