Rocco DiSpirito's been in the national spotlight for so long that many fans don't know how he got there in the first place, or haven't thought about it in years. Andrew and Rocco have known each other since Rocco's first chef position, and in this very personal conversation--the first of 2 parts--they revisit his childhood in Queens, New York; his teenage gigs in neighborhood pizzerias; his training at the Culinary Institute of America and in great kitchens in France and New York; and his rise to the top of the New York City dining scene in the late 1990s. It's a side of Rocco many listeners don't know or haven't heard in his voice, and a great listen. (In part 2, we'll talk about his shift to fitness and healthful eating and his forthcoming Rocco's Keto Comfort Food Diet.)

In our second segment, Vero Beach, Florida chef-restaurateur Scott Varricchio shares the harrowing story of the night his restaurant (Citrus Grillhouse) was destroyed in a fire, and how he made the best of the year when it was being rebuilt--by spending time in such renowned kitchens as Eleven Madison Park and The French Laundry to take his acumen up a notch ... at age 59! A great lesson in perspective and resilience.

EPISODE GUIDE

0 - 8:48  Intro

8:48 - 45:00  Rocco DiSpirito

45:00 - 48:10 Show Notes & Personal Appearances

48:10 - 1:29:40 Scott Varricchio

***LINKS***

Andrew Talks to Chefs OFFICIAL site

Rocco DiSpirito

Rocco's Keto Comfort Food Diet (order a signed copy)

Citrus Grillhouse

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!

Emily Luchetti doesn't much care for age-obsession, or even for slowing down. The onetime Stars pastry chef, who continues to ply her trade in the Bay Area, and to author cookbooks, took a break from recipe writing to collaborate with Erin McHugh on So Who's Counting: The Little Quote Book about Growing Old and Still Kicking Ass. Last summer, Emily and Andrew plopped down in New York City's Madison Square Park and kicked around their similar attitudes towards this sometimes taboo subject, as well as the very specific challenges that face cooks and chefs as they mature, and how to care for themselves and plan for the back-end of their careers, both creatively and physically. There's room on their blanket, so join them for this short, breezy conversation that spins off on a number of fascinating tangents.

LINKS

ANDREW TALKS TO CHEFS official site

Emily Luchetti website

So Who's Counting: The Little Quote Book about Growing Old and Still Kicking Ass

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!

While in New York City to attend the 2nd anniversary celebration of Andrew Talks to Chefs, Modernist Cuisine's head chef Francisco Migoya made time to sit down with Andrew and discuss his singular career.

Longtime listeners might remember that Francisco joined us for a short but fascinating conversation last year from Chef's Roll's Anti Convention in San Diego. On this visit, he and Andrew dive deep into his childhood in Mexico City, his original desire to be an artist, his first kitchen jobs and culinary training in France, and cooking in such traditional kitchens as Brooklyn's River Cafe. They also get into questions of food as art, work ethic, and what his day-to-day life is like at Modernist Cuisine.

If you like what you hear, please tell your chef-fascinated friends, subscribe to Andrew Talks to Chefs (it’s free) on iTunes, Spotify, or Stitcher, follow us on your favorite social media platforms @ChefPodcast, and/or rate or review us on Apple’s podcast store.

Please also subscribe to email updates from Andrew Talks to Chefs to receive new episode alerts and Andrew’s blog posts.

Reminder: Andrew Talks to Chefs is now an INDEPENDENT podcast; please visit our official site for new episodes, Andrew's blog, our catalog of past shows, and to contact us by voicemail or email.

Thanks for listening!

LINKS

Andrew Talks to Chefs official website

Francisco Migoya Chef's Roll Anti Convention interview (referenced in this episode, begins at 2:10:30)

Daniel Uditi and Dan Richer on Andrew Talks to Chefs (referenced in this episode)

Francisco MIgoya bio on Modernist Cuisine

Benno restaurant (graciously hosted us for this interview)

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!

Erick Williams is having quite a year. The chef-owner of Chicago's Virtue restaurant (an Esquire magazine 2019 Best New Restaurant) has seen his labor of love receive a welcome equal to the passion he's poured into it

On a recent visit to New York, Erick sat down with Andrew to discuss his Chicago upbringing, his first career in real estate, his commitment to the kitchen after the the financial crash of 2008, and the development and meaning behind Virtue and its menu. It's a far-ranging and very open conversation with a thoughtful chef who approaches his work with great intention.

If you like what you hear, please tell your chef-fascinated friends, subscribe to Andrew Talks to Chefs (it’s free) on iTunes, Spotify, or Stitcher, follow us on your favorite social media platforms @ChefPodcast, and/or rate or review us on Apple’s podcast store.

Please also subscribe to email updates from Andrew Talks to Chefs to receive new episode alerts and Andrew's blog posts.

***LINKS***

Andrew Talks to Chefs official website

Virtue restaurant website

Esquire's Best New Restaurants 2019

Our interview with Mashama Bailey (referenced in this episode)

Our interview with Dave Beran (referenced in this episode)

Our interview with Paul Kahan (referenced in this episode)

Our interview with Kwame Onwuachi (referenced in this episode)

Thanks to Mermaid Inn for hosting this recording session!!

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!

Jean-Louis Palladin, who came to the United States from France in 1979, was one of the most talented and influential chefs of his generation. From his base in Washington, DC, Palladin, who died much too young in 2001 at age 55, helped forge a network of farmers and purveyors along the Eastern Seaboard, brought an unparalleled artistry and innate gift for improvisation to his cooking, wrote one of the first "coffee table" chef cookbooks, and left his mark on a generation of young Americans, inspiring such then-aspiring chefs as Anthony Bourdain and Thomas Keller.

During a recent tribute dinner at the Watergate Hotel, Andrew sat down with a number of chefs who knew Palladin well: His contemporary and fellow immigrant French chef Jacques Pépin, three chefs who supported him at Jean-Louis at the Watergate--Larbi Dahrouch, Jimmy Sneed, and Jamie Stachowski--and chef of the Watergate's current showcase restaurant Kingbird, Sébastien Giannini.

All of that, plus a bonus conversation with Jacques Pépin about how his hobby of  painting parallels his life in the kitchen.

***EPISODE GUIDE***

0:00 - 7:15 - Intro

7:15 - 27:07 Segment 1

27:08 - 30:42 Mid-Show Break/Housekeeping Notes

30:43 - end Segment 2

***LINKS***

Andrew Talks to Chefs official site

Jean-Louis Palladin NY Times obituary

Jean-Louis Palladin's book Cooking with the Seasons

Jimmy Sneed's blog Product, Passion and Salt

Kingbird Restaurant at the Watergate

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!

A rare, themed episode of the pod. Two chefs and two writers discuss the conceiving, making, and business of cookbooks. Paul Kahan takes us through his new Cooking for Good Times; writer Jamie Feldmar talks collaborating with top chefs like Angie Mar and Naomi Pomeroy; writer and editor Raquel Pelzel talks about acquiring cookbooks at Clarkson Potter and her own Umami Bomb; and chef Rob Newton explains the regional approach to his Seeking the South. 

And on his Toqueland blog this week, Andrew shares his working list of chef categories for the future that's already here.  

***LINKS***

Andrew Talks to Chefs Official Website

Cooking for Cook Times

Jamie Feldmar

Taste and Technique

New Orleans Kitchen

Butcher + Beast

Raquel Pelzel

Umami Bomb

Rob Newton

Seeking the South

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 gathered ten favorite Andrew Talks to Chefs moments from 2019 for a fast-moving, pod year-in-review episode to close out the decade. Tom Colicchio recounts the origins of Top Chef; New Orleans's Kelly Fields shares the hidden meaning in her restaurant Willa Jean's chocolate chip cookie; pastry legend Claudia Fleming recounts her migration from dancing to cooking; Inn at Little Washington's Patrick O'Connell shares the methods he and his team employ to make every guest happy; Preeti Mistry discusses her roots as a theater kid; Kwame Onwuachi talks about the mission of his book Notes from a Young Black Chef; LA'S Genevieve Gergis and Andrew unpack their respective struggles with ADD; and we revisit a conversation with the late Anthony Bourdain ... these and other moments jumped out at us as we thought over the last 12 months, and we wanted to share them in one place before turning the page to 2020.

Thanks for listening and Happy New Year!

EPISODE GUIDE

0:00 - 6:20     Intro

6:20 - 49:15     Segment 1 (Patrick O'Connell, Kelly Fields, Kwame Onwuachi, Preeti Mistry, Tom Colicchio, Anthony Bourdain)

49:15 - 53:40     Show Notes & Updates

53:40 - 1:16:10     Segment 2 (Genevieve Gergis, Claudia Fleming, Jeremy Stephens, Christine Muhlke & Michael Laiskonis)

1:16:10 - end    Outro

***LINKS***

Andrew Talks to Chefs OFFICIAL website

Inn at Little Washington

Willa Jean

Kith/Kin

Notes from a Young Black Chef

Preeti Mistry

Top Chef

Crafted Hospitality

Parts Unknown

Bavel

Bestia

Galatoire's

S.Pellegrino Young Chef Competition

North Fork Table & Inn

Signature Dishes that Matter

Michael Laisonkis

Christine Muhlke

Phaidon

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!

California native Nick Muncy grew up wanting to be an artist, but re-directed that impulse toward the kitchen as a young adult, becoming a pastry chef. After training at restaurants such as Coi and Saisson, he's now pastry chef for Michael Mina restaurant in San Francisco. Somehow he also finds time to write, edit, photograph, and produce Toothache, the magazine he founded. Andrew and Nick sat down while Nick was in New York City, photographing and conducting interviews for issue number 6, which was just recently released.

EPISODE GUIDE

0:00 - 8:15 Intro

8:16 - 47:20 Nick Muncy, part 1

47:21- 49:45 Show notes and housekeeping

49:46 - 1:07:08 Nick Muncy, part 2

1:07:08 - end Outro

***LINKS***

Andrew Talks to Chefs Official Website

Toothache Magazine

Michael Mina restaurant 

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!

Chef Suzanne Cupps stepped out on her own in a big way this week, with her new 232 Bleecker restaurant in New York City. The launch comes after Suzanne's years with Union Square Hospitality Group, as executive chef of Untitled at The Whitney, and before that, a member of the kitchen brigade at Gramercy Tavern. A career-changer, Suzanne also cooked at Anita Lo's Annisa for several years. A few months back, while simultaneously winding down at Untitled, and ramping up at 232 Bleecker, the first full-service restaurant from Dig Food Group, Suzanne sat down with Andrew to discuss her life and career to date, and the evolution of her vegetable-forward style.

EPISODE GUIDE

0:00 - 4:05 Intro

4:05 - 47:15 Suzanne Cupps, part 1

47:16 - 48:29 Show notes and housekeeping

48:30 - 1:23:35 Suzanne Cupps, part 2

1:23:36 - end Outro

***LINKS***

Andrew Talks to Chefs Official Website

232 Bleecker restaurant site

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!

Last month at the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Competition North American regional semifinals in New York City, a soft-spoken chef by the name of Rafael Covarrubias blew the judges away with his Mole-spiced Muscovy Duck dish, which combined the flavors of his Mexican heritage with influences from the work and travels that led him to his current position at Hexagon restaurant in Oakville, Canada. The morning after the competition, Andrew sat down with Rafael to discuss his childhood in Mexico, his path to the professional kitchen, and what made his deceptively simple looking competition dish such a powerful personal statement.

S.Pellegrino is a promotional partner of Andrew Talks to Chefs.

Episode Guide
0 - 4:55 Intro

4:55 - 27:43 Rafael Covarrubias, segment 1

27:44 - 29:02 Show notes and updates

29:03 - 43:42 Rafael Covarrubias, segment 2

43:43 - Wrap up

LINKS:

Andrew Talks to Chefs official Website

S.Pellegrino Young Chef Competition Website

Hexagon Restaurant

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!