Snacky Tunes

Showcasing Los Angeles’ incredible women-owned restaurants, the Regarding Her festival (RE:Her) takes its inaugural flight on January 21. The 10-day event features a roster of 100 participating restaurants from all across the sprawling metropolis, and is a spectrum of the city’s diverse cuisines and eateries. Lien Ta, of All Day Baby , and Heather Sperling of Botanica , are two of RE:Her’s nine fo...

Though he’s only been in the industry for a relatively short period of time, Keith Corbin has already established himself as a talented chef to watch. As the Executive Chef of Los Angeles’ Alta Adams , he’s been garnering wide acclaim for his creative California soul food cooking. We catch up with Keith to talk about preparing meals for his family growing up in Watts, his approach to the menu at A...

We’re revisiting stops on our recently wrapped 2020 virtual tour in support of our new book, Snacky Tunes: Music is the Main Ingredient, Chefs and Their Music . This pandemic plagued year has certainly reminded us of the importance of maintaining perseverance and hope. No other city is more imbued with that never-out-of-the-fight spirit than New Orleans, and it seemed fitting to conclude our tour...

We’re revisiting stops on our recently wrapped 2020 virtual tour in support of our new book, Snacky Tunes: Music is the Main Ingredient, Chefs and Their Music . Our London visit really had us nostalgic for those good ol’ days. Generating that fuzzy warm feeling were a trio of longtime Snacky Tunes pals, Chef Isaac McHale and Daniel Willis, co-owners of the Clove Club , Luca and Two Lights ; and mu...

We’re revisiting stops on our recently wrapped 2020 virtual tour in support of our new book, Snacky Tunes: Music is the Main Ingredient, Chefs and Their Music . Our most international meetup spanned three of Earth’s hemispheres and 14 time zones. It was an India and Brazil hang with Chef Pooja Dhingra of Le 15 Patisserie + Cafe and singer-songwriter Lisa Mishra , who were both in Mumbai, and Chef...

We’re revisiting stops on our recently wrapped 2020 virtual tour in support of our new book, Snacky Tunes: Music is the Main Ingredient, Chefs and Their Music . For the New York City leg, Paige Lipari, owner of the amazing culinary bookshop and cafe Archestratus Books + Food , and our HRN fam were gracious co-hosts. Joining us for a conversation about creativity, cooking food and making music were...

In the time before COVID-19, Tommy Brockert had well established himself as a top-flight events photographer. As events and group gatherings ground to halt due to health and safety concerns, Tommy was forced to do the pandemic pivot. He’s temporarily hung up his cameras and photo booths, and fired up the portable pizza oven instead, turning a hobby into a job with the launch of La Sorted's Pop Up...

This episode is a live recording of the Bay Area stop on the virtual tour for our new book, Snacky Tunes: Music is the Main Ingredient, Chefs and Their Music . We were immensely honored to have our friends at Oxfam America as our partners and hosts for this event which featured a lovely, insightful conversation about food, music and activism with singer-songwriter Thao Nguyen of Thao & the Get...

In this very special episode we check in on the global tour of our new book, Snacky Tunes: Music is the Main Ingredient, Chefs and Their Music . This tour stop was a part of WRLDCTY , a global city event bringing together thought leaders, urbanists and city lovers on a single digital platform for three days of conversations, connections and experiences broadcast from leading cities around the worl...

Natalie Hekmat had been working for years to open her natural wine shop, bar and restaurant. During that time she found a spot in Los Angeles’ burgeoning Virgil Village neighborhood, and curated a collection of more than 400 wines from the United States, Europe and beyond. What she couldn’t have planned for was a global pandemic. Despite that epic hurdle, Natalie forged ahead and opened the doors...

As Phaidon’s Executive Commissioning Editor, Food & Drink, Emily Takoudes has been integral in publishing some of the most influential gastronomy works of the last decade, including Regarding Cocktails by Sasha Petraske and Jeremy Fox’s On Vegetables . She’s also been vital in shepherding our very first book, Snacky Tunes: Music is the Main Ingredient, Chefs and Their Music , to bookshelves ac...

In this very special episode we kick off the tour for our new book, Snacky Tunes: Music is the Main Ingredient, Chefs and Their Music . Our friends at L.A.’s premiere cookbook shop Now Serving graciously hosted a panel featuring us and Andy and Briana Valdez of HomeState , moderated by Esquire ’s Food & Drink Editor, Jeff Gordinier. The Valdez sisters contributed to the book, and even gave us...

Julia Bainbridge is a James Beard Award-nominated scribe who’s worked at Condé Nast Traveler, Bon Appétit and Atlanta Magazine . She’s also the creator and host of The Lonely Hour podcast, and chief dancer at Club Bainbridge . Julia joins us to share her new book, Good Drinks , a treasure trove of curated non-alcoholic drink recipes collected from the best bartenders in the world. We dive into the...

While folks might recognize Kenny Gilbert from his turn on season seven of Top Chef, he’s been a critically acclaimed restaurant industry veteran for the better part of two decades. Kenny’s kitchen talents manifested early -- he was cooking his family’s Thanksgiving dinners solo by the time he was 11 -- and over the years he’s helmed the culinary operations at some of the country’s top AAA Five Di...

For the past 20 years, Honey’s Kettle has cemented itself as a Los Angeles institution known for great comfort food, and especially for its delicious hand-dipped, kettle-cooked fried chicken. Vincent Williams, Honey’s Kettle’s chef and founder, started in the chicken business at 17 years old, and has spent decades perfecting not only frying chicken, but also developing his family-owned business. V...

The always nattily dressed Maxwell Britten has long been one of our favorite barmen. We first met him in our halcyon wayback Brooklyn days when we would unwind at Maison Premiere’s bar, slurping oysters accompanied by his expertly made cocktails. Maxwell’s now become an industry activist. As the National Chairman for the non-profit THIRST Group (The Hospitality Industry Reimagined Security Trust)...

Philip Krajeck, the chef-owner of lauded Nashville restaurants Rolf & Daughters and Folk gives us some personal insights into resilience. In early March, he and his crew survived a tornado only to be hit a few weeks later with the health crisis and business uncertainty brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Enduring as best he can, Philip’s managed to keep the lights on and support his commun...

Lisa Colton is the founder and president of Darim Online and Darim Consulting. Her work centers on helping nonprofits and social causes develop opportunities for community building, fundraising and education. Most recently, Lisa helped organize The Great Big Jewish Food Fest , a 10-day, virtual food festival that connected home cooks across America in celebration of Jewish cuisine which featured t...

Rōze Traore maintains quite the balancing act. He’s a personal chef and owner of the eponymous New York City bespoke events company, Rōze Traore, LLC. Prior to that he cut his teeth alongside acclaimed chef Daniel Humm at Eleven Madison Park and the Nomad. In addition to his work in the kitchen, Rōze’s been known to walk the runways, and over the years has modeled for the likes of Nike and Roch...

Rob Levitt is the Chef de Cuisine and Head Butcher of Chicago’s lauded Publican Quality Meats . He discusses with us how the COVID-19 pandemic has compromised America’s meatpacking industry. And though things make look grim at times, Rob shares with us how this crisis can  actually provide the impetus to change the industrial food complex, and why supporting local butchers and farmers is more impo...

In this episode we’re transported to Tulum, the vacation hotspot on the Caribbean coast of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. Taking us there is James Gardner, CEO and founder of GRUPO Gitano . James, a former Wall Street trader turned digital luxury fashion entrepreneur, opened GITANO Tulum, a mezcal bar and kitchen in 2013, and has since expanded with GITANO Garden of Love, a seasonal restaurant and ba...

Opened in Sherman Oaks, CA, in 1956 by Rafael Vega, Casa Vega has long been enthroned as an L.A. dining landmark. Over the years, Casa Vega’s esquites, enchiladas, tacos and margaritas have attracted crowds of diners from all over the world, and its dining room has become a well-known celebrity hangout. Rafael’s daughter Christy now oversees daily operations, and she’s determined to keep the doors...

This episode is all about Bartholomew Jones, a Memphis-based school teacher, hip hop artist, social activist and the founder of Cxffeeblack . With cxffeeblack Bartholomew explores the history of coffee, its deep ties to black culture and its potential for black empowerment. Cxffeeblack also supports and provides opportunities for people of color to create inspiring work. Bartholomew is our musical...

South Carolina is where we meet up with Kevin Mitchell . He’s a man of many talents and titles including Culinary Historian, Chef Instructor at the Culinary Institute of Charleston and South Carolina Chef Ambassador 2020 . Kevin’s a strong proponent for the preservation of Southern ingredients, and is widely known for his expertise on the historical importance and influence of African American cui...

In our continuing series of conversations about the COVID-19 pandemic effects on the food industry, we meet up with Naomi Pomeroy and Robert J. Nelson. Naomi is the James Beard Award-winning chef/owner of Portland’s Beast and Expatriate . Robert is a partner at the national plaintiffs' law firm, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein . The pair are helping lead the charge on #JUSTICEFORRESTAURANTS...