Snacky Tunes

In 1983, L.H. “Hawk” Arceneaux opened his now-famous eponymous restaurant Hawk’s in the “middle of nowhere” just outside Rayne, LA. The specialty of the house? Crawfish! Hawk’s specializes in a technique called “purging” which unmuddies the rich flavor of mudbugs. The restaurant also helped make crawfish popular eating. We catch up with father and daughter Anthony and Megan Arceneaux, the second a...

Over the course of 20 or so years in the kitchen, Jeremy Fox has risen to become one of the most celebrated and admired chefs in the industry. Besides overseeing the menus at Santa Monica hotspots Rustic Canyon and Tallula’s , Jeremy’s also working to open his newest restaurant Birdie G’s, and he’s the author of the critically acclaimed cookbook, On Vegetables . We journey into the archives to rev...

Joel Miller and Karl Hess operate one of our favorite podcasts, Yelling About Pâté . Joel’s a comedy-loving chef, and Karl’s a food-loving comedian, and every week they interview culinary and comedy industry luminaries. As they say, “It’s back of house meets back of the room.” Los Angeles quartet Criminal Hygiene has been doing the rock band thing since 2011. Since that time they’ve developed a st...

Most people know Shirley Chung from her time competing on Top Chef, but long before she made her TV debut Shirley was sharpening her knives under the tutelage of some of the best chefs in world. Following turns working with the likes Guy Savoy, Thomas Keller and Jose Andres, Shirley’s struck out on her own with the opening of her Culver City restaurant Ms Chi Cafe . From the archives we dig into o...

In 2017, husband-and-wife team Daisy and Greg Ryan traded the fine dining environs of the vaunted New York City restaurant Per Se for the quaint, down-home vibes of Los Alamos, CA, a small town of less than 2,000 people. A year later they opened Bell’s , a French-inspired bistro that’s become a critical darling and must-visit for anyone hanging out in the Santa Ynez Valley’s wine country. Danny No...

We sit down with the culinary concierge, Maisie Wilhelm , to talk about her new endeavor, Palatine , your “friend on the inside” when it comes to all things food. We talk about her insider’s knowledge about traveling the world in search of the best bites and what it was like to work for one of the masters, Chef Daniel Boulud . We also dig deep into the archives for one of our favorite interviews,...

We’re at 11th annual Cayman Cookout at the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman, to catch up with Amanda Cohen . She’s the chef-owner of the groundbreaking vegetable restaurant Dirt Candy , and is also one of the most-respected voices in the restaurant industry. We reach into our archives to 2011, revisiting episode 66 and the synthpop sounds of Computer Magic . She gave us a live, in-studio preview of her...

Maria Nguyen launched one of the most popular digital food media companies with a simple hashtag: #theartofplating. In just 5 years, The Art of Plating has grown to captivate an audience of 3.5 million across multiple channels, and has also branched into experiential events. Abe Seiferth is the owner of Greenpoint’s synth-laden Transmitter Park Studio, and is also a regular performer in NYC’s impr...

It’s a globetrotting episode, and we uncork it all in London’s East End with sommelier-restauranteur Charlie Mellor . He’s the owner of The Laughing Heart , a contemporary British restaurant that specializes in showcasing natural wines. Charlie’s got one of the more interesting backgrounds we’ve encountered. He’s a former professional opera singer who made his stage debut in his native Australia i...

It’s a new year, and that means our dear friend, Michael Whiteman–aka, “the dean of restaurant consultants”–will give us his annual food trends reports . (It’s his 9th episode of Snacky Tunes.) What does Michael think we should be on the lookout for in 2019? Next-generation fast-casual restaurants, marijuana going mainstream, automation and more. Michael is the co-founder of the legendary hospital...

In this special episode of Snacky Tunes we’re in the Caribbean, and come ashore at the 11th annual Cayman Cookout at the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman. We meet up with the cookout’s host: the legendary chef Eric Ripert . Eric shares with us his history with this island paradise, and also gives us a behind-the-scenes look at what makes the Cookout one of the most popular culinary events in the world....

It’s an all-Louisiana episode, taped at the legendary Dockside Studio. Our episode opens with the legendary Ton’s Drive-In , located in Broussard. Hollie Girouard is the third-generation owner / operator of this family eatery that’s been dependably serving up comfort food classics for breakfast and lunch since 1963. For the return of “Snacky Tunes 5’s” we sith with Justin Tocket, engineer at the s...

Timothy Hollingsworth is one of America’s most respected chefs. He began cutting his teeth in kitchens during high school, and age 21 he became a commis at Thomas Keller’s venerated The French Laundry in Napa Valley. Timothy eventually became the restaurant’s Chef de Cuisine, and under Keller’s tutelage even competed in the prestigious Bocuse d’Or world cuisine contest in Lyon, France, in 2009. (H...

Chef Zach Swemle and Marlee Blodgett are the dynamic duo behind the beloved Neapolitan-inspired La Morra Pizzeria . The pair met in NYC, and decamped for Charleston, SC, where Zach built a mobile pizza oven from the bed of trailer. La Morra then developed a fast and dedicated following. A year later in the summer of 2017, they rolled out of town and headed to Los Angeles where they’ve been wowing...

We swung through London’s East End this past March to meet up with chefs Jackson Boxer and Andrew Clarke who gave us a preview of their Shoreditch restaurant St. Leonards . Since opening in May, the duo’s “fire and ice” menu, fueled by a raw bar with shellfish and various crudos and a wood-burning hearth offering up veggies, seafare and meats, have made St. Leonards one of the most popular restaur...

It’s a special episode of the show recorded live in front of an audience at NeueHouse Hollywood in Los Angeles. Our guest is esteemed New York City chef and long time friend, Ignacio Mattos. A native of Uruguay who trained under legendary chefs such as Francis Mallman and Alice Waters, Ignacio is the culinary force behind the popular and critically acclaimed restaurants Estela, Café Altro Paradiso...

We’re in Philadelphia, and that means roast pork and broccoli rabe for sure, but also meeting up with longtime friend of the Tunes, Chef Marc Vetri. His flagship eponymous restaurant, Vetri Cucina , turned 20 this year, and also launched a Las Vegas location on the 56th floor of the Palms Casino Resort. Marc’s fourth cookbook, Mastering Pizza , also hit the shelves. As usual, Marc’s been keeping s...

Jeff Gordinier, Food & Drinks Editor of the venerated Esquire magazine, sits down with us to discuss his 2018 list of the country’s best new restaurants. (You’ll have to tune in to find out who landed at the top spot!) He gives us a real behind-the-scenes look at how the list and its awards came together, and recounts all the miles he traveled for research. Jeff also shares with us his memorie...

We catch up with Fellow Heritage Radio Network host and PR industry veteran Shari Bayer. Shari is the founder and president of Bayer Public Relations , a full-service public relations, consulting and marketing agency in NYC that specializes in culinary and hospitality, mostly representing restaurants. Her show All in the Industry is dedicated to the behind-the-scenes talents in the hospitality ind...

We’ve long known Andrew Knowlton for his prolific work over the years as Bon Appétit’s de facto restaurant guy. Andrew’s byline has been attached to the magazine’s annual Hot 10 best new restaurants list, and some of our favorite feature stories such as 24 Hours at the Waffle House . A longtime New Yorker, Andrew’s recently transplanted himself to Austin, TX, and also added another title to his re...

Magnus Nilsson trained in France to be a chef, but grew disillusioned with the professional cooking life and took up oenology instead. In 2008, he was recruited to be the sommelier at Fäviken , a 24-seat restaurant nestled onto 20,000 acres of farmland located nearly 500 miles north of Stockholm. Due to difficulty finding a head chef in such a far-flung locale, Magnus stepped into the role himself...

This special episode is a live recording from the fifth annual EastSide Food Festival in Los Angeles, and is brought to you by the fine folks at Echo Echo Wines. Jeff Bundschu, a sixth generation California vintner whose family-owned Gundlach Bundschu Winery in Sonoma is the driving force behind Echo Echo, joins us onstage along with the band Neil Frances. Marc Gilfry and Jordan Feller met in 2012...

One of our favorite podcasts is Dan Pashman’s James Beard Award-winning show The Sporkful . Dan uses food as the portal to learn more about humanity, and leads thought-provoking discussions about race, culture and body image. He also has wildly entertaining conversations with comics, chefs and TV personalities. Ricci Swift, Bianca and Molly Nugent make up Brooklyn rock trio Bernadette . They’ve fr...

Bruce and Eric Bromberg debuted the now legendary Blue Ribbon Brasserie in 1992 in New York City. The restaurant is acclaimed for its cuisine, and is the de facto hang spot for the city’s hospitality industry pros. Since then, the Brothers Bromberg built a dining empire spanning 23 restaurants nationwide serving everything from sushi to fried chicken. We catch up with Bruce in Los Angeles to discu...

Since its launch in 2012, Health-Ade Kombucha has become one the most popular wellness brands in the country. We catch up with Justin Trout, Health-Ade’s co-founder and COO, to learn more about the history of the company--hint: hair loss plays a part--and we also talk about his career as a professional musician. The Pacheco Brothers, David and Rene, get our feet moving with a live in-studio perfor...