Frank Castronovo and Frank Falcinelli (aka "The Franks") have been operating a collection of restaurants in Brooklyn, NY, for many years now, starting with their Frankies Spuntino and including past classics such as Prime Meats and current joints like Frank's Wine Bar, Frankies Pantry & Bottle Shop, and F & F Pizzeria, all on the same block in Carroll Gardens. The Franks are also participating in S.Pellegrino's (our promotional partner) inaugural Destination Dining series, in which pairs of restaurants on the East and West Coasts exchange dishes for one week each. 

For more about Destination Dining, see the recent article about the program on Fine Dining Lovers.

Please consider supporting Andrew Talks to Chefs via our Patreon page–pledge $10 or more per month and gain access to bonus, patron-only episodes, blog posts, polls, and more. 

Andrew Talks to Chefs is a fully independent podcast and no longer affiliated with our former host network; please visit and bookmark our official website for all show updates, blog posts, personal and virtual appearances, and related information.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:

Andrew is a writer by trade. If you'd like to support him, there's no better way than by purchasing his most recent book, The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food (October 2023), about all the key people (in the restaurant, on farms, in delivery trucks, etc.) whose stories and work come together in a single restaurant dish.

We'd love if you followed us on Instagram. 

Please also follow Andrew's real-time journal of the travel, research, writing, and production of/for his next book The Opening (working title), which will track four restaurants in different parts of the U.S. from inception to launch.

For Andrew's writing, dining, and personal adventures, follow along at his personal feed.

Thank you for listening—please don't hesitate to reach out with any feedback and/or suggestions!

Barbara Sibley came to New York City from Mexico in the early 1980s and fell in love with the restaurant industry thanks to time working at the storied La Tulipe in Greenwich Village. Today, she owns and operates La Palapa, an authentic Mexican restaurant, and is creative director of Holiday Cocktail Lounge, in the East Village. Barbara and Andrew caught up recently in the garden behind Holiday Cocktail Lounge and discussed a wide range of industry, and non-industry, subjects.

Please consider supporting Andrew Talks to Chefs via our Patreon page–pledge $10 or more per month and gain access to bonus, patron-only episodes, blog posts, polls, and more. 

Andrew Talks to Chefs is a fully independent podcast and no longer affiliated with our former host network; please visit and bookmark our official website for all show updates, blog posts, personal and virtual appearances, and related information.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:

Andrew is a writer by trade. If you'd like to support him, there's no better way than by purchasing his most recent book, The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food (October 2023), about all the key people (in the restaurant, on farms, in delivery trucks, etc.) whose stories and work come together in a single restaurant dish.

We'd love if you followed us on Instagram. 

Please also follow Andrew's real-time journal of the travel, research, writing, and production of/for his next book The Opening (working title), which will track four restaurants in different parts of the U.S. from inception to launch.

For Andrew's writing, dining, and personal adventures, follow along at his personal feed.

Thank you for listening—please don't hesitate to reach out with any feedback and/or suggestions!

For our money, there's no better writer in the food realm today than John Birdsall. In his new book The Man Who Ate Too Much, a biography of James Beard that commingles the icon's life story with a history of both America's relationship with food and queer life in the United States. John spent five years researching and writing the book, producing a brilliant and moving work. We invited John on the pod to discuss the life of this little understood figure, John's writing process, and topics related to John's work and Beard's life.

Please consider supporting Andrew Talks to Chefs via our Patreon page–pledge $10 or more per month and gain access to bonus, patron-only episodes, blog posts, polls, and more. 

Andrew Talks to Chefs is a fully independent podcast and no longer affiliated with our former host network; please visit and bookmark our official website for all show updates, blog posts, personal and virtual appearances, and related information.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:

Andrew is a writer by trade. If you'd like to support him, there's no better way than by purchasing his most recent book, The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food (October 2023), about all the key people (in the restaurant, on farms, in delivery trucks, etc.) whose stories and work come together in a single restaurant dish.

We'd love if you followed us on Instagram. 

Please also follow Andrew's real-time journal of the travel, research, writing, and production of/for his next book The Opening (working title), which will track four restaurants in different parts of the U.S. from inception to launch.

For Andrew's writing, dining, and personal adventures, follow along at his personal feed.

Thank you for listening—please don't hesitate to reach out with any feedback and/or suggestions!

David Kinch and his Manresa restaurant team are at the center of the new documentary "A Chef's Voyage," about the time they spent in France, collaborating on meals with the chefs and kitchens of three venerated restaurants. David discusses the movie and some topics it raises, and reflects on the loss of Pierre Troisgros, who died last week.

And Matt Sartwell, managing partner of the fabled Kitchen Arts & Letters bookshop in New York City, takes us inside their decision to launch a GoFundMe campaign, and how it's ensured the store will continue on despite these challenging times.

Please consider supporting Andrew Talks to Chefs via our Patreon page–pledge $10 or more per month and gain access to bonus, patron-only episodes, blog posts, polls, and more. 

Andrew Talks to Chefs is a fully independent podcast and no longer affiliated with our former host network; please visit and bookmark our official website for all show updates, blog posts, personal and virtual appearances, and related information.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:

Andrew is a writer by trade. If you'd like to support him, there's no better way than by purchasing his most recent book, The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food (October 2023), about all the key people (in the restaurant, on farms, in delivery trucks, etc.) whose stories and work come together in a single restaurant dish.

We'd love if you followed us on Instagram. 

Please also follow Andrew's real-time journal of the travel, research, writing, and production of/for his next book The Opening (working title), which will track four restaurants in different parts of the U.S. from inception to launch.

For Andrew's writing, dining, and personal adventures, follow along at his personal feed.

Thank you for listening—please don't hesitate to reach out with any feedback and/or suggestions!

Akhtar Nawab grew up in one of a handful of Indian families in Louisville, Kentucky, before setting his sights on the pro kitchen and New York City. After thriving in kitchens such as Gramercy Tavern, he made a name for himself as a chef in his own right, eventually opening his Alta Calidad in Brooklyn, among other restaurants. Akhtar recently saw his first cookbook, Good For You: Bold Flavors with Benefits--published so we asked him on the pod to talk about his book, career, and life as a chef-restaurateur in 2020.

Please consider supporting Andrew Talks to Chefs via our Patreon page–pledge $10 or more per month and gain access to bonus, patron-only episodes, blog posts, polls, and more. 

Andrew Talks to Chefs is a fully independent podcast and no longer affiliated with our former host network; please visit and bookmark our official website for all show updates, blog posts, personal and virtual appearances, and related information.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:

Andrew is a writer by trade. If you'd like to support him, there's no better way than by purchasing his most recent book, The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food (October 2023), about all the key people (in the restaurant, on farms, in delivery trucks, etc.) whose stories and work come together in a single restaurant dish.

We'd love if you followed us on Instagram. 

Please also follow Andrew's real-time journal of the travel, research, writing, and production of/for his next book The Opening (working title), which will track four restaurants in different parts of the U.S. from inception to launch.

For Andrew's writing, dining, and personal adventures, follow along at his personal feed.

Thank you for listening—please don't hesitate to reach out with any feedback and/or suggestions!

Friend of the pod David Nayfeld, one of our favorite recurring guests, has launched his own podcast, The Main Ingredient with David Nayfeld, cohosted and produced by Manny Jimenez (aka Manny J) . David checks in from San Francisco to talk about his new show, why he launched, it some of his first guests (including Dominique Crenn and Gwyneth Paltrow). And, of course, he and Andrew can't help a little shop talk along the way.

If you enjoy this episode of the show, check out our earlier conversations with David:

Episode 61: David Nayfeld & Angela Pinkerton

Special Report #36: David Nayfeld on the Changes that Need to be Made

Please consider supporting Andrew Talks to Chefs via our Patreon page–pledge $10 or more per month and gain access to bonus, patron-only episodes, blog posts, polls, and more. 

Andrew Talks to Chefs is a fully independent podcast and no longer affiliated with our former host network; please visit and bookmark our official website for all show updates, blog posts, personal and virtual appearances, and related information.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:

Andrew is a writer by trade. If you'd like to support him, there's no better way than by purchasing his most recent book, The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food (October 2023), about all the key people (in the restaurant, on farms, in delivery trucks, etc.) whose stories and work come together in a single restaurant dish.

We'd love if you followed us on Instagram. 

Please also follow Andrew's real-time journal of the travel, research, writing, and production of/for his next book The Opening (working title), which will track four restaurants in different parts of the U.S. from inception to launch.

For Andrew's writing, dining, and personal adventures, follow along at his personal feed.

Thank you for listening—please don't hesitate to reach out with any feedback and/or suggestions!

We are delighted to share our first-ever guest-hosted and curated episodes of the pod. In a 2-episode special report, educator and former chef Scott Alves Barton moderates 4 conversations among Black professionals in food. Two of the panels comprise Black chefs, one features four writers and editors, and one features two chef-farmers. Our hope is that taken together, this report helps foster a greater understanding of, in Scott's words, "what it means to be Black and professional in food." For our Black listeners, we hope these conversations resonate with you and reflect and amplify your own experiences and perspectives. 

Part 1 aired on our prior episode.

Scott's guests for this, part 2, of this series are (in alphabetical order) Kimberly Brock Brown, Dr. Cynthia Greenlee, Dr. Jessica B. Harris, Todd Richards, Jamila Robinson, and Ellen Sweets.

If you enjoyed this episode, you might enjoy these other Andrew Talks to Chefs conversations:

A Talk about "The Talk"

Chef Russell Jackson

Chef Douglass Williams

Chef Edouardo Jordan

Ashtin Berry

Chef Erick Williams

Chef Roze Traore 

Chef Milton Abel II

Alicia Matthews

Chef Mashama Bailey (part of our Philly Chef Conference Special, 2019)

Chef Alexander Harris

Chef Tanya Holland

Chef JJ Johnson 

Please consider supporting Andrew Talks to Chefs via our Patreon page–pledge $10 or more per month and gain access to bonus, patron-only episodes, blog posts, polls, and more. 

Andrew Talks to Chefs is a fully independent podcast and no longer affiliated with our former host network; please visit and bookmark our official website for all show updates, blog posts, personal and virtual appearances, and related information.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:

Andrew is a writer by trade. If you'd like to support him, there's no better way than by purchasing his most recent book, The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food (October 2023), about all the key people (in the restaurant, on farms, in delivery trucks, etc.) whose stories and work come together in a single restaurant dish.

We'd love if you followed us on Instagram. 

Please also follow Andrew's real-time journal of the travel, research, writing, and production of/for his next book The Opening (working title), which will track four restaurants in different parts of the U.S. from inception to launch.

For Andrew's writing, dining, and personal adventures, follow along at his personal feed.

Thank you for listening—please don't hesitate to reach out with any feedback and/or suggestions!

We are delighted to share our first-ever guest-hosted and curated episodes of the pod. In a 2-episode special report, educator and former chef Scott Alves Barton moderates 4 conversations among Black professionals in food. Two of the panels comprise Black chefs, one features four writers and editors, and one features two chef-farmers. Our hope is that taken together, this report helps foster a greater understanding of, in Scott's words, "what it means to be Black and professional in food." For our Black listeners, we hope these conversations resonate with you and reflect and amplify your own experiences and perspectives. 

Scott's guests today are (in alphabetical order) Aneesha Hargrave, Adrian Lipscombe, Joe Randall, Jonny Rhodes, Ashleigh Shanti, and Omar Tate.

If you enjoyed this episode, you might enjoy these other Andrew Talks to Chefs conversations:

A Talk about "The Talk"

Chef Russell Jackson

Chef Douglass Williams

Chef Edouardo Jordan

Ashtin Berry

Chef Erick Williams

Chef Roze Traore 

Chef Milton Abel II

Alicia Matthews

Chef Mashama Bailey (part of our Philly Chef Conference Special, 2019)

Chef Alexander Harris

Chef Tanya Holland

Chef JJ Johnson 

Please consider supporting Andrew Talks to Chefs via our Patreon page–pledge $10 or more per month and gain access to bonus, patron-only episodes, blog posts, polls, and more. 

Andrew Talks to Chefs is a fully independent podcast and no longer affiliated with our former host network; please visit and bookmark our official website for all show updates, blog posts, personal and virtual appearances, and related information.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:

Andrew is a writer by trade. If you'd like to support him, there's no better way than by purchasing his most recent book, The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food (October 2023), about all the key people (in the restaurant, on farms, in delivery trucks, etc.) whose stories and work come together in a single restaurant dish.

We'd love if you followed us on Instagram. 

Please also follow Andrew's real-time journal of the travel, research, writing, and production of/for his next book The Opening (working title), which will track four restaurants in different parts of the U.S. from inception to launch.

For Andrew's writing, dining, and personal adventures, follow along at his personal feed.

Thank you for listening—please don't hesitate to reach out with any feedback and/or suggestions!

The coastal town of Mystic, Connecticut, boasts an emerging culinary scene, and chef James Wayman is at its center, helming Oyster Club, as well as the hybrid butcher shop-restaurant Grass & Bone and Engine Room, a bar--all in partnership with proprietor and fellow cook Dan Meiser. Andrew and James recently sat down for our first in-person interview since the lockdown began in March, and it was a total joy.

Please consider supporting Andrew Talks to Chefs via our Patreon page–pledge $10 or more per month and gain access to bonus, patron-only episodes, blog posts, polls, and more. 

Andrew Talks to Chefs is a fully independent podcast and no longer affiliated with our former host network; please visit and bookmark our official website for all show updates, blog posts, personal and virtual appearances, and related information.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:

Andrew is a writer by trade. If you'd like to support him, there's no better way than by purchasing his most recent book, The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food (October 2023), about all the key people (in the restaurant, on farms, in delivery trucks, etc.) whose stories and work come together in a single restaurant dish.

We'd love if you followed us on Instagram. 

Please also follow Andrew's real-time journal of the travel, research, writing, and production of/for his next book The Opening (working title), which will track four restaurants in different parts of the U.S. from inception to launch.

For Andrew's writing, dining, and personal adventures, follow along at his personal feed.

Thank you for listening—please don't hesitate to reach out with any feedback and/or suggestions!

Friend of the pod Kelly Fields, whose desserts at Willa Jean restaurant in New Orleans have captured the national imagination, just launched her first cookbook, The Good Book of Southern Baking. Kelly joins Andrew to talk about the book's mix of classic and idiosyncratic recipes; Kelly's philosophy that savory cooking and baking aren't as different as many believe them to be; and some favorite dishes in the book (in addition to her legendary chocolate chip cookie).

For more about Kelly, listen to our original, biographical interview with her from 2019.

Please consider supporting Andrew Talks to Chefs via our Patreon page–pledge $10 or more per month and gain access to bonus, patron-only episodes, blog posts, polls, and more. 

Andrew Talks to Chefs is a fully independent podcast and no longer affiliated with our former host network; please visit and bookmark our official website for all show updates, blog posts, personal and virtual appearances, and related information.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:

Andrew is a writer by trade. If you'd like to support him, there's no better way than by purchasing his most recent book, The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food (October 2023), about all the key people (in the restaurant, on farms, in delivery trucks, etc.) whose stories and work come together in a single restaurant dish.

We'd love if you followed us on Instagram. 

Please also follow Andrew's real-time journal of the travel, research, writing, and production of/for his next book The Opening (working title), which will track four restaurants in different parts of the U.S. from inception to launch.

For Andrew's writing, dining, and personal adventures, follow along at his personal feed.

Thank you for listening—please don't hesitate to reach out with any feedback and/or suggestions!