We at Andrew Talks to Chefs are delighted to bring you the first in a series of live discussions on the subject of Mentorship in the restaurant industry. The series is brought to you by our promotional partner S.Pellegrino, and each one will  be moderated by Andrew, staged in a different city, and build on the one(s) that precede it. The inaugural examination of this topic took place recently at the Philly Chef Conference and features Erick Williams and Damarr Brown of Chicago's Virtue restaurant. Erick and Damarr discuss their longstanding mentor-mentee relationship, how it's endured across two restaurants and more than a decade, and also how it reflects this essential and unique industry tradition.

Andrew’s next book The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food is now available for preorder! Please consider purchasing your copy/copies in advance and help the book have a great lift-off.

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 news.

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!

Manoella Buffara, also known as "Manu," has owned and operated her own restaurant, the eponymous Manu, in  Curitiba, Brazil, for more than a decade. The restaurant offers an expression of her life and mind in a tasting menu format. This week, she published a book--Manu: Recipes and Stories from My Brazil--that, like the restaurant, is a summation of herself and her cuisine to this point in her journey. While in New York City to celebrate the book's launch, Manu sat down with Andrew at the offices of her publisher, Phaidon, to discuss her migration to professional cooking from an original path toward journalism, her formative time at Noma in Copenhagen, and the story behind her celebrated restaurant, among many other subjects.

Andrew’s next book The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food is now available for preorder! Please consider purchasing your copy/copies in advance and help the book have a great lift-off.

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 news.

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!

In a recent, impassioned social media post, Rob Connoley, chef and owner of Bulrush restaurant in St. Louis, Missouri, lamented the continued unwelcoming environment many queer cooks face in the pro kitchen, and the limited opportunities for advancement and ownership available to even accomplished queer chefs. We invited Rob to return to the pod and expand on his thoughts and observations on this important subject. In this short but textured conversation Rob discusses lingering prejudices, widely perceived barriers to advancement and financing, and the sometimes inadvertent hurt caused even by friends and allies. 

And if you haven't heard it before, be sure also to check out Andrew's recent biographical interview with Rob.

Andrew’s next book The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food is now available for preorder! Please consider purchasing your copy/copies in advance and help the book have a great lift-off.

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 news.

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 Los Angeles last month, Andrew had time for just one pod interview and tops on his list, based on an excellent dinner at their restaurant last fall, were John Hong & Kat Hong, chef-owners of Yangban (yes, they've dropped the "Society" from the name) in DTLA. In this comprehensive conversation, the couple discuss their respective biographies, how they met while working at Josiah Citrin's Mélisse restaurant, then moved to Christopher Kostow's The Restaurant at Meadowood in the Napa Valley, before returning to Los Angeles and opening their own singular place. On the margins of the discussion are thoughts on identity, categorizing cuisine, the perhaps surprising challenges of operating a more casual restaurant, and where this duo's dishes come from. Fascinating, thoughtful stuff here, and we hope you'll check it out.

Andrew’s next book The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food is now available for preorder! Please consider purchasing your copy/copies in advance and help the book have a great lift-off.

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 news.

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!

It's been nearly 2 years since Travis Swikard opened his smash success Callie in his hometown of San Diego, California. Prior to returning to his native state, he spent several years in New York City, several of them as chef of Daniel Boulud's Boulud Sud. Andrew and Travis have been pals for some time, so when he was in NYC in December, Travis paid a visit to Andrew's Brooklyn home to talk about what he's learned as a relatively new restaurant owner, finding his own style after years in the world of fine dining, and his advice to young cooks and aspiring chefs. 

Andrew’s next book The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food is now available for preorder! Please consider purchasing your copy/copies in advance and help the book have a great lift-off.

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 news.

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!

One of the pod's good friends, Chef Dan Kluger (Loring Place, et. al.), joins us today to discuss the genesis and development of his new Greywind restaurant, accompanied by Caitlin Giamario, the project's Executive Chef.  Dan and Caitlin take us through the origin of the restaurant, which opens today, as well as its accompanying components (a bakery, chef's counter, and cocktail lounge), the challenges of opening at the tail end of a pandemic, and some favorite opening dishes. If you are in or near New York City, be sure to check out Greywind (we attended friends and family last week and loved it). 

Andrew’s next book The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food is now available for preorder! Please consider purchasing your copy/copies in advance and help the book have a great lift-off.

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 news.

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!

On this date, the third anniversary of our losing chef Floyd Cardoz to COVID, we remember him and his legacy with his wife, Barkha Cardoz. A few weeks ago, Barkha generously invited Andrew to visit her home, even though they'd never met before, to enjoy a lunch prepared in part with the masalas she and Floyd developed several years ago (and which are still sold by Burlap & Barrell). Barkha shared her own personal journey to the restaurant world, and recalls how she and Floyd met in cooking school in India and were reunited by chance in the United States. She also explains how she's carving out a greater public identity for herself as she moves forward with her life and career. Hope you'll give a listen to this extraordinarily open and moving conversation.

Andrew’s next book The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food is now available for preorder! Please consider purchasing your copy/copies in advance and help the book have a great lift-off.

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 news.

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!

As executive chef of Parcelle wine bar in lower Manhattan, Ron Yan serves a menu informed by myriad cuisines and some of the places where he's lived around the world. In this conversation recorded outside the restaurant in late 2022, Ron describes his initial interest in food and cooking, his gravitation to New York City, and his  experience in a range of New York restaurants, from the glitzy Le Cirque in MIdtown to the smaller and more intimate Jewel Bako and Degustation downtown.

(As you'll hear in the interview, we're still not sure if Ron wants you to check out his YouTube channel, where he did cooking demos during the pandemic, but have a look if you like; they're charming.)

Andrew’s next book The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food is now available for preorder! Please consider purchasing your copy/copies in advance and help the book have a great lift-off.

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 news.

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!

What began as a labor of love for documentarian and former journalist Joanna James--making the documentary A Fine Line, about her mother Val--turned into an organization, MAPP, that supports women in food organizations through mentorship and advocacy. After a recent kick-off event for their coast-to-coast programming and events for 2023 at New York City's Union Square Cafe, Joanna, Val, and three MAPP ambassadors/board members--Mo Carter, Amanda Mack, and Georgeann Leaming--gathered to discuss the organization's genesis, its multi-pronged approach to a variety of challenges that women in the industry continue to confront today, and share a few personal success stories facilitated by MAPP. 

Visit MAPP's website.

Learn about the Conference in Miami, Florida (May 1, 2023).

Follow MAPP on Instagram and/or follow A Fine Line.

Listen to Joanna's conversation with Andrew from 2020.

Andrew’s next book The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food is now available for preorder! Please consider purchasing your copy/copies in advance and help the book have a great lift-off.

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 news.

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!

Thomas Allan, chef of New York City's The Modern, a Union Square Hospitality Group restaurant in the Museum of Modern Art, has achieved a lot in his thirty-five years. A young veteran of Per Se and Eleven Madison Park, and a former Bocuse d'Or competitor, he currently oversees a kitchen that has dependably earned two Michelin stars. In this deeply personal conversation, Thomas details a peripatetic childhood that found him living in England, Canada, and Texas by the time he reached high school; why he chose cooking as a career; and the changes he's made to The Modern's kitchen culture as the restaurant defines itself in the later stages of the pandemic.

Andrew’s next book The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food is now available for preorder! Please consider purchasing your copy/copies in advance and help the book have a great lift-off.

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 news.

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!