Jenny Cyr of Live Life Bites never planned any of this -- she was 14 years old washing dishes at a small bakery, and now her protein bites are feeding cancer patients at a treatment center affiliated with Dana-Farber. In this episode, Jenny sits down with Carol to trace the whole path: a Pastry Arts degree from Johnson & Wales, staging in NYC kitchens under Bobby Flay and Todd English, burning out and becoming an art teacher in Hampton, NH, and nine years bartending at 900° in Manchester just to stay close to food.

During COVID, Jenny started selling French macarons out of the trunk of her car -- $1,200 in sales her first December alone. She and her husband Mitch soft-launched Lemon + Lavender Pastries at the Kittery Farmers Market in June 2023, and by 2024 they'd built Live Life Bites, a line of clean-ingredient protein bites that's grown from nine bags at their very first market to roughly 550 bags a week, sold in almost 40 locations across Maine and New Hampshire. Two weeks before this recording, Jenny retired the macarons for good to go all-in on the bites -- including a new wholesale partnership with New England Cancer Specialists, whose “Food Is Medicine” Passion Project sent 200 bites through a treatment center in under two weeks.

📍 Live Life Bites -- founded in Buxton, Maine, sold throughout Maine and New Hampshire (including Exeter, Manchester, Bedford, Portsmouth, and Rye)

🔗 livelifebites.com

Carol Erickson spent nearly 40 years in the hospitality industry as the longtime owner of the Red Arrow Diner before turning her attention to Beyond the Plate with Carol, a New Hampshire-based podcast covering food, restaurants, and hospitality all across New England. Every episode, Carol sits down with the chefs, entrepreneurs, content creators, and everyday people with an interesting New England story to tell -- from family-owned restaurants and food trucks to rising creators like Jenny Cyr. It's not just about the food -- it's about the journeys, the community, and what drives people to go beyond.

This episode is sponsored by Belmont Hall & Restaurant.

Manchester, NH -- family-owned for over 90 years.

belmonthall.net | Instagram: @belmonthallandcatering | Facebook: @belmonthallandcatering

🔔 New episodes drop every Tuesday -- hit SUBSCRIBE and turn on notifications so you never miss one!

Find Beyond the Plate everywhere: linktr.ee/BeyondtheplateNH

0:00 - Intro

0:12 - Welcome to the studio -- meet Jenny Cyr of Live Life Bites

0:51 - Two brands, one story: Lemon + Lavender vs. Live Life Bites

3:16 - Pastry school, Johnson & Wales, and life in Europe

6:08 - Her first wholesale accounts -- a flower shop, then a Portland hotel

6:28 - Why an active, outdoorsy couple built a protein bite instead of a cookie

7:26 - The “ghetto bag” protein bites that sold out in 5 minutes 😂

9:46 - 40 locations, two states -- and retiring the macarons for good

10:18 - Where the name “Live Life Bites” actually came from

11:36 - Staging in NYC under Bobby Flay and Daniel Boulud

17:36 - What “staging” even means -- and bumping into an executive chef 😂

29:46 - This episode is powered by Belmont Hall & Restaurant

31:14 - The new wholesale deal: New England Cancer Specialists

32:19 - “Food is medicine” -- why this partnership hit different

37:40 - From 9 bags to 550 bags a week

38:04 - Cafe Luna and Foley’s -- their first big believers

48:53 - Pushing into New Hampshire: Warrior Yoga, McKinnon’s, Portsmouth

55:20 - Her favorite farmers market vendor (and the drink that started it)

56:28 - The hospitality story: Mel Harrington’s Sunday Supper

1:00:39 - Closing thoughts

Bianca Alicea of Mama Bear's Cookies didn't set out to become a baker. She ran a successful jewelry manufacturing business in Rhode Island with her mother -- then sold everything, packed up her family, and moved to the quiet woods of Sullivan, New Hampshire for a completely different life. When COVID hit while they were still unpacking boxes, Bianca started baking cookies to keep herself sane. Her family got a little sick of being the taste testers. The neighbors loved them. And what started as a small self-serve stand became one of the most talked-about food destinations in the Monadnock region -- a whimsical, bright yellow cookie cottage at the end of a dirt road with a crooked window, a pink door, and no cashier in sight.

In this episode, Carol Erickson sits down with Bianca to talk about building the cottage with her father (who got plenty of questions from neighbors about that intentionally crooked window), changing the entire menu every single week, the "you-vote" menu where her cookie crew picks the flavors, the honor system that runs the whole operation, stuffed cookies, cookie fries, snacking peanut butter jars, her partnership with Feeding Tiny Tummies in Keene, and what it's really like to foster newborns while running a business from home in rural New Hampshire. Plus -- the guilty pleasure meal nobody would expect from a gourmet cookie baker, and the Italian family holiday tradition that shaped everything Bianca does today.

📍 Mama Bear's Cookies -- 1 Paquette Drive, Sullivan, NH 03445

🔗 mamabearscookies.shop | Instagram: @mamabearscookiesnh

Carol Erickson spent nearly 40 years in the hospitality industry as the longtime owner of the Red Arrow Diner before turning her attention to Beyond the Plate with Carol, a New Hampshire-based podcast covering food, restaurants, and hospitality all across New England. Every episode, Carol sits down with the chefs, entrepreneurs, content creators, and everyday people with an interesting New England story to tell -- from family-owned restaurants and food trucks to rising creators like Bianca Alicea. It's not just about the food -- it's about the journeys, the community, and what drives people to go beyond.

This episode is sponsored by Belmont Hall & Restaurant.

Manchester, NH -- family-owned for over 90 years.

belmonthall.net | Instagram: @belmonthallandcatering | Facebook: @belmonthallandcatering

🔔 New episodes drop every Tuesday -- hit SUBSCRIBE and turn on notifications so you never miss one!

Find Beyond the Plate everywhere: linktr.ee/BeyondtheplateNH

0:00 - Intro

0:12 - Meet Bianca Alicea

0:30 - The whimsical cookie cottage

1:07 - The Mama Bear name

1:25 - Why Bianca chose cookies

2:19 - Rhode Island roots & jewelry

2:47 - Christmas after New Year's

3:07 - Moving to New Hampshire

3:38 - Mama Bear's Cookies, Sullivan NH

4:01 - COVID sparked a baking obsession

5:05 - The self-serve cottage idea

5:48 - Building the cottage

6:10 - Carol's first visit

7:03 - Packaging & marketing

8:01 - The crooked window 😂

8:27 - Inside the cottage

9:01 - The mug exchange

10:04 - Peanut butter, milk & post-its

10:41 - Does the honor system work?

11:00 - No bears and no locks 😂

11:45 - Minnesota buys the whole table

12:24 - A week in Bianca's life

13:05 - Stuffed cookies & cookie fries

13:46 - Growing up with Italian bakeries

14:59 - A new menu every week

15:05 - The you-vote menu

16:18 - Sour cherry pistachio flop

16:54 - Dubai chocolate & trends

17:55 - Feeding Tiny Tummies

18:06 - Fostering connection

19:12 - NH Food Bank backpack program

20:58 - How fostering began

21:13 - Moving to NH in 8 months

22:07 - Fostering newborns

22:53 - Seven foster children

23:35 - Belmont Hall sponsor

24:18 - Ordering & shipping cookies

25:00 - A true destination spot

25:43 - Santa's Cookie Cottage 😂

26:18 - The Cookie Crew community

27:03 - Sullivan Country Store

28:04 - Imposter syndrome & winter

29:03 - How to start fostering

29:43 - Fostering: joy & heartbreak

31:23 - Saying yes to one more baby 😂

32:50 - Anything we missed?

33:40 - Packaging & cookie favorites

35:03 - Lightning Round

35:14 - Sweet or savory?

35:21 - Baker or cook?

35:41 - Guilty pleasure: taquitos 😂

36:20 - Four-coffee production days

36:38 - One cookie forever: Biscoff

37:12 - Baking until 4am

37:30 - Best dunking cookie

37:39 - Cookies in three words

37:52 - Favorite New England staple

38:07 - Carol's fish cakes

38:32 - Iggies in Warwick, RI

38:41 - Favorite Keene spots

39:55 - Carol doesn't like breakfast 😂

40:31 - Grandpa Jim's hospitality

41:42 - Everyone is welcome

42:37 - Visit Mama Bear's Cookies

Throwback -- this is Episode 1, originally recorded in spring 2025 and first aired June 19, 2025. Hap's Roast Beef closed in July 2025.

Seventy episodes ago, before Beyond the Plate with Carol had a studio, a logo, or a single subscriber, it had two chairs at a table, a camera Carol Erickson's son set up for her, and that same son sitting across from her. This is Episode 1 -- Carol's very first podcast -- recorded with Tyler Isabelle of Hap's Roast Beef in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, eight days after Tyler and his partner Amanda Long brought home Carol's first grandbaby.

Tyler grew up inside the Red Arrow Diner. He jokes that he was born in the basement, and he worked every job across all four New Hampshire Red Arrow locations -- dishwashing, prep, the line, front of house, manager. In January 2023 he and Amanda took over Hap's, a forgotten sub shop on Lafayette Road with missing ceiling tiles and a lot of history, and spent two and a half years turning it into one of the most talked-about roast beef sandwich spots on the New Hampshire Seacoast.

In this episode Tyler walks Carol through perfecting North Shore style roast beef -- pink and rare, never gray -- and the 1986 Berkel slicer that finally made it right after oven cooking, convection and sous vide all failed. He explains the New England beefer world, a Facebook community roughly 50,000 members deep that will absolutely tell you when your beef is off, right down to napkin count and beef-to-bun ratio. He tells the story of the Hap's bathroom -- the black toilet, the gold fixtures, the murals and fine art, its own scent machine and its own one-song playlist -- and why he thinks every restaurant owner in New England should invest in their bathroom. And he opens up about closing Hap's, becoming a dad, and personally hand-picking Tostimo's Pizza Kitchen out of Seabrook, New Hampshire, to take over the Portsmouth space so the community would be in good hands instead of watching the lease go on the open market.

Hap's closed for good in July 2025, which makes this one a time capsule. Watch it for the story of how a shuttered roast beef shack got its shine back, for a mother and son talking shop as equals, and for the first time Carol Erickson ever hit record.

📍 Hap's Roast Beef -- 2222 Lafayette Road, Portsmouth, NH (the location is now Tostimo's Pizza Kitchen)

🔗 hapsportsmouth.com

Carol Erickson has spent nearly 40 years in the hospitality industry as the owner of the Red Arrow Diner -- four New Hampshire locations, all open 24/7 -- and hosts Beyond the Plate with Carol, a New Hampshire-based podcast covering food, restaurants, and hospitality all across New England. Every episode, Carol sits down with the chefs, entrepreneurs, content creators, and everyday people with an interesting New England story to tell -- from family-owned restaurants and food trucks to second-generation operators like Tyler Isabelle. It's not just about the food -- it's about the journeys, the community, and what drives people to go beyond.

This episode is sponsored by Belmont Hall & Restaurant.

Manchester, NH -- family-owned for over 90 years.

belmonthall.net | Instagram: @belmonthallandcatering | Facebook: @belmonthallandcatering

🔔 New episodes drop every Tuesday -- hit SUBSCRIBE and turn on notifications so you never miss one!

Find Beyond the Plate everywhere: linktr.ee/BeyondtheplateNH

0:00 - Intro

0:23 - Carol's very first guest

1:06 - Where Carol finds new places

1:47 - Born into the Red Arrow

2:32 - Maine, Amanda, and Hap's

3:16 - Who Hap's was named after

4:32 - The year he changed nothing

5:02 - The 1986 slicer

5:47 - Pink and rare, never gray

6:19 - Inside the beefer world

7:34 - Every job at the diner

7:54 - Diner doodles become Hap's doodles

9:01 - You have to see this bathroom 😂

11:12 - Its own scent and its own playlist 😂

12:07 - Invest in your bathroom

13:23 - Becoming a dad

14:52 - Why Hap's is closing

15:54 - Sauces and spice packets

17:22 - Finding the right successor

18:46 - Tostimo's takes Portsmouth

19:38 - You have to start somewhere

20:21 - Carol's first radio show

22:06 - Closing

Deb McCluskey bought one small cafe in Kittery, Maine in 2021. Five years later, she and her son Michael McCluskey run seven restaurants across Maine and New Hampshire -- and she signed the lease on the seventh one without telling him.

Carol Erickson sat down with Deb inside Salty Spirits, the 500-square-foot oyster and cocktail bar in Kittery Foreside with just 14 seats at the bar, to walk through all seven concepts one by one: Lil's Cafe and its famous crullers in Kittery, the Islander Cafe on the water in New Castle, New Hampshire, Stella's Cafe in Dover, June's Cafe in Newmarket, Henry's Bagel and Deli on Route 1, Salty Spirits, and Dudley Street Pizza.

Deb talks about frying donuts alongside her grandmother, washing dishes at 14, the fifteen years she spent working for Michael Landgarten before buying Lil's from him in the middle of COVID, why Henry's has no espresso machine, how an entire raw bar menu gets made in one toaster oven, and the year her son got seriously ill while three brand new restaurants were opening. Carol brings nearly 40 years of her own diner experience to the table, and the two of them land somewhere real about what regulars actually mean to a family-owned restaurant.

📍 Salty Spirits -- 76 Wallingford Square, Kittery, ME

🔗 saltyspiritskittery.com | lilscafe.com | junescafenh.com

Lil's Cafe (Kittery, ME) | Henry's Bagel and Deli (Kittery, ME) | Dudley Street Pizza (Kittery, ME) | Islander Cafe (New Castle, NH) | Stella's Cafe (Dover, NH) | June's Cafe (Newmarket, NH)

Carol Erickson has spent nearly 40 years in the hospitality industry as the longtime owner of the Red Arrow Diner and its four New Hampshire locations, open 24 hours a day. Alongside the diners, she hosts Beyond the Plate with Carol, a New Hampshire-based podcast covering food, restaurants, and hospitality all across New England. Every episode, Carol sits down with the chefs, entrepreneurs, content creators, and everyday people with an interesting New England story to tell -- from family-owned restaurants and food trucks to multi-concept operators like Deb McCluskey. It's not just about the food -- it's about the journeys, the community, and what drives people to go beyond.

This episode is sponsored by Belmont Hall & Restaurant.

Manchester, NH -- family-owned for over 90 years.

belmonthall.net | Instagram: @belmonthallandcatering | Facebook: @belmonthallandcatering

🔔 New episodes drop every Tuesday -- hit SUBSCRIBE and turn on notifications so you never miss one!

Find Beyond the Plate everywhere: linktr.ee/BeyondtheplateNH

0:00 - Intro

0:12 - Live from Salty Spirits

0:54 - Frying donuts with her grandmother

1:21 - Dishwasher at 14

2:52 - The six months she regretted

3:32 - Buying Lil's during COVID

6:47 - How the Foreside grew up

8:58 - The Islander Cafe in New Castle

12:33 - The cruller recipe that never changed

14:36 - Through the kitchen to the bathroom

16:42 - A record store in a bank vault

20:46 - Stella's Cafe and Lilian's middle name

26:34 - June's and the 130-year-old building

31:41 - Belmont Hall & Restaurant

32:30 - Henry's Bagel and Deli

37:37 - Michael's ten-year oyster bar dream

42:28 - One toaster oven, whole menu

43:34 - "No new businesses" 😂

48:04 - Signing the lease in secret 😂

50:29 - Andrew takes over at Lil's

52:05 - Regulars who become family

53:33 - "Do you know my name?" 😂

54:54 - Lightning Round

1:00:25 - The triple vegetable guy

1:04:20 - Closing thoughts

Nick Carnes and Dan Haggerty have close to 40 years in restaurants between them, and they just opened a bar that will not pour you a single drop of alcohol. Without is Manchester, New Hampshire's first fully alcohol-free bar and restaurant, on the corner of Elm Street and Hanover Street across from City Hall -- and Carol Erickson recorded this entire episode of Beyond the Plate with Carol inside it, before the doors officially opened.

Nick Carnes runs Shoppers Pub & Eatery in Manchester and co-owns the Moka Pot and City Club Golf. Dan Haggerty co-owns Industry East and Stashbox with Jeremy Hart, and co-owns the Moka Pot alongside Nick. Without is the first thing the two of them have built together from the ground up, in a small triangular room with one wall of windows -- and it started with a conversation over dinner about a corner spot that went up for sale ten minutes later.

In this episode: why they are trying to retire the word "mocktail," the 99-page training guide behind an 11-drink menu, Hawaiian chef Josh's spam and pineapple arancini and scallion pancake tacos, the tuna poke bombs wrapped in tofu, the 780 tarot cards wallpapered across a five-by-five bathroom, what they say to the people online telling them it will never last, and why both of them believe hospitality is the only thing keeping restaurants alive right now.

📍 Without -- corner of Elm Street and Hanover Street, Manchester, NH

(across from City Hall)

🕒 Opening hours: Wednesday and Thursday 5 to 10, Friday and Saturday 5 to 11

🔗 Instagram: @without_nh

🔔 New episodes drop every Tuesday -- hit SUBSCRIBE and turn on notifications so you never miss one!

👇 Follow Beyond the Plate everywhere:

YouTube: youtube.com/@beyondtheplatewithcarol

Instagram: @beyondtheplatenh

Facebook: Beyond the Plate NH

TikTok: @nhbeyondtheplate

Spotify: Search "Beyond the Plate with Carol"

Carol Erickson spent nearly 40 years in the hospitality industry as the longtime owner of the Red Arrow Diner before turning her attention to Beyond the Plate with Carol, a New Hampshire-based podcast covering food, restaurants, and hospitality all across New England.

This episode is sponsored by Belmont Hall & Restaurant.

Manchester, NH -- family-owned for over 90 years.

belmonthall.net | Instagram: @belmonthallandcatering | Facebook: @belmonthallandcatering

ABOUT BEYOND THE PLATE WITH CAROL

Carol Erickson sits down with the people behind New Hampshire's food and hospitality scene. It's not just about the food -- it's about the journeys, the community, and what drives people to go beyond.

Follow Beyond the Plate:

Instagram: @beyondtheplatenh

TikTok: @nhbeyondtheplate

Facebook: Beyond the Plate NH

YouTube: @beyondtheplatewithcarol

Linktree: linktr.ee/BeyondtheplateNH

Follow Carol:

Instagram: @carolsew24

0:00 -- Intro

0:11 -- Welcome inside Without

0:59 -- Two guests, two past episodes

1:39 -- Sitting inside the finished vision

3:20 -- 27 seats, and Dan's Union Leader line 😂

4:18 -- Where the concept came from

4:49 -- Manchester's 1980s sober bar

6:25 -- "You're insane for doing this"

7:00 -- Answering the internet

9:18 -- Not just juice

10:51 -- 99 pages, 11 drinks

12:43 -- Why they hate "mocktail"

14:19 -- Nowhere to hide the flavor

15:49 -- Running a liquid kitchen

16:49 -- Minimalist vs. eccentric

17:36 -- The food menu

19:38 -- Spam and pineapple arancini

20:44 -- Nobody asked about the food

22:36 -- What you feel walking in

24:45 -- Hospitality is what survives

29:13 -- 780 tarot cards

30:02 -- Carol's son Tyler and Hap's

32:54 -- Shoppers gets a refresh

35:27 -- Industry East and Stashbox

40:37 -- How Nick and Dan met

44:54 -- "It's for sale"

47:06 -- Comedy, music, chess night

51:19 -- Six restaurant guys, one photo

57:15 -- Lightning Round

58:59 -- Guilty pleasure meals 😂

1:06:19 -- Hospitality stories

1:11:31 -- The bathroom tour

Corey Fletcher started out washing dishes at a family-style restaurant in Milford, New Hampshire -- and almost 30 years later, he owns one of the busiest kitchens in downtown Concord. Revival Kitchen and Bar opened on Depot Street in 2016, taking over the space of the shuttered Sunny's Table, and it has been a farm-to-table anchor of the Concord, NH restaurant scene ever since.

In this episode, Corey Fletcher tells Carol about the seared sea scallop dish that has been on the Revival Kitchen and Bar menu since day one, the lobster poutine he put on the menu with total confidence and then didn't taste for a month and a half, and the nine-year run of house-made French macarons that now go out 250 at a time in flavors like blueberry chamomile with Concord Bee Company honey. He also breaks down what black garlic actually is, how he sears a scallop, and why he refuses to charge $44 for swordfish over plain rice.

They get into the hard parts too -- surviving COVID with a takeout deal and Burger and Beer Fridays that families ordered eight and ten at a time, keeping a kitchen team together for five-plus years, and building a beverage program around New England distillers like Tamworth Distilling. Plus Corey's life outside the kitchen: bird hunting, deer hunting, foraging for chanterelles and black trumpets, and an 11-year-old daughter who already helps him portion burgers and pipe macarons.

📍 Revival Kitchen and Bar -- 11 Depot Street, Concord, NH

🔗 revivalkitchennh.com

Carol Erickson has spent nearly 40 years in the hospitality industry as the longtime owner of the Red Arrow Diner before turning her attention to Beyond the Plate with Carol, a New Hampshire-based podcast covering food, restaurants, and hospitality all across New England. Every episode, Carol sits down with the chefs, entrepreneurs, content creators, and everyday people with an interesting New England story to tell -- from family-owned restaurants and food trucks to chef-owners like Corey Fletcher. It's not just about the food -- it's about the journeys, the community, and what drives people to go beyond.

This episode is sponsored by Belmont Hall & Restaurant.

Manchester, NH -- family-owned for over 90 years.

belmonthall.net | Instagram: @belmonthallandcatering | Facebook: @belmonthallandcatering

🔔 New episodes drop every Tuesday -- hit SUBSCRIBE and turn on notifications so you never miss one!

Find Beyond the Plate everywhere: linktr.ee/BeyondtheplateNH

0:00 - Intro

0:12 - Welcome to Corey Fletcher

0:27 - Two dishwashers walk into a studio

1:35 - Elijah's in Milford, NH

1:54 - The culinary vacuum 😂

2:18 - Baldwin's on Elm, Manchester

2:47 - Nantucket, then Concord for good

5:31 - How Revival Kitchen was born

6:01 - Concord's Main Street comeback

6:42 - Building a farm-to-table menu

9:21 - Hunting, foraging, and mushrooms

10:00 - Carol walks in with no reservation

12:36 - Doing the rain dance 😂

13:42 - The copper table problem

14:36 - The scallop dish since day one

16:01 - The lobster poutine confession 😂

17:04 - Value on the plate

18:29 - When COVID hit Revival

19:26 - Burger and Beer Fridays

20:45 - Picnic tables and DoorDash eggs 😂

23:57 - Nine years of French macarons

24:04 - It is not a macaroon 😂

26:16 - Building the late summer menu

30:15 - Black garlic, explained

31:57 - Life outside the kitchen

32:50 - Carol's archery adventure 😂

35:51 - His daughter in the kitchen

36:47 - How he met his wife

37:04 - Private events at Revival

38:16 - The beverage program

41:24 - Lightning Round

44:06 - Best New England classic

47:23 - A hospitality story

49:12 - Closing thoughts

He wanted to be a Disney animator. Instead, Chef Evan Hennessey became the first chef in New Hampshire history to win the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Northeast -- and this year, he opened his fourth venture in Dover.

Carol sits down with Evan right at Stages at One Washington to talk about the whole arc -- from a dishwashing job with no career plan, to staging in some of the country's best kitchens, to building three completely different restaurant concepts and a culinary travel company, all without leaving his hometown.

In this episode:

• What it actually felt like to hear his name called on that James Beard stage

• How he discovered his own foraged ingredient -- a rare "sea truffle" red algae

• The full, very sweet story behind his daughter's cookies, served at the end of every tasting menu at Stages

• A walkthrough of Stages, The Living Room, and his brand-new Mediterranean spot, Topolino

• Why he started "Staging At Stages," a hands-on apprenticeship program for young chefs

Stages at One Washington | 1 Washington St, Dover, NH | stages-dining.com

Subscribe on YouTube, follow us on Instagram and Facebook, and like, comment, and share this episode. New episodes of Beyond the Plate with Carol drop every Tuesday.

This episode is sponsored by Belmont Hall & Restaurant.

Manchester, NH -- family-owned for over 90 years.

belmonthall.net | Instagram: @belmonthallandcatering | Facebook: @belmonthallandcatering

ABOUT BEYOND THE PLATE WITH CAROL

Carol Erickson brings nearly 40 years of hospitality experience as the longtime owner of the Red Arrow Diner to Beyond the Plate with Carol, a New Hampshire-based podcast covering food, restaurants, and hospitality all across New England. It's not just about the food -- it's about the journeys, the community, and what drives people to go beyond.

Follow Beyond the Plate -- find us everywhere: linktr.ee/BeyondtheplateNH

Follow Carol: Instagram @carolsew24

Andy Day built way more than a bar -- he's the owner and chef behind Cask & Vine in Derry, NH, and the founder of both Doire Distilling and Daydreaming Brewing Company, all under one roof.

This week's episode is mixed up a little bit -- we're on location at Cask & Vine in Derry, New Hampshire! Carol sits down with Andy to talk through how a 2010 beer festival turned into an entire craft beverage empire -- and how Andy Day became Chef Andy Day, now in the finals for the Favorite Chef competition hosted by Chef Carla Hall

In this episode:

How a barrel-aged beer at a film festival changed Andy's whole path

Building three completely different concepts under one roof

Andy's entry into the Favorite Chef competition presented by Chef Carla Hall, benefiting the James Beard Foundation

The story behind the Super Duck Three Way sandwich

Keeping his whole team employed through the pandemic

Cask & Vine

1 East Broadway, Derry, NH 03038

caskandvine.com

facebook.com/CaskandVine

If you loved this episode, subscribe to Beyond the Plate on YouTube, follow us on Instagram and Facebook, and like, comment, and share with someone who needs to see it. New episodes every Tuesday, with on-location specials like this one along the way!

This episode is brought to you by Belmont Hall & Restaurant.

belmonthall.net | Instagram: @belmonthallandcatering

ABOUT BEYOND THE PLATE WITH CAROL

Carol Erickson, owner of Red Arrow Diner since 1987, sits down with the people behind New Hampshire's food and hospitality scene. It's not just about the food -- it's about the journeys, the community, and what drives people to go beyond.

Follow Beyond the Plate -- find us everywhere: linktr.ee/BeyondtheplateNH

Follow Carol: Instagram @carolsew24

John Milliard ran the toaster at Pappy's Pizza & Subs when he was just 12 years old. Over three decades later, he owns the place -- and he's carrying forward the legacy of the man who mentored him, founder Ron Pappas.

In this episode, Carol sits down with John at Pappy's on Elm Street in Manchester to talk about buying back his mentor's restaurant, the three-month renovation that brought it into a new era, and what it means to honor someone who changed the course of his life.

They cover:

● The story behind the "Toast Boy" nickname and how it led to ownership

● Ron Pappas's legacy running Pappy's from a wheelchair -- and what it taught John about giving back

● The 2022 purchase and the full-scale renovation that followed

● Pappy's most iconic menu staples, plus the 20-inch pizza eating challenge

● What John thinks Ron would say if he walked through the door today

Pappy's Pizza & Subs

1531 Elm St, Manchester, NH 03101

ilovepappys.com

Subscribe to Beyond the Plate with Carol on YouTube, follow along on Instagram and Facebook, and like, comment, and share this one. New episodes drop every Tuesday!

This episode is sponsored by Belmont Hall & Restaurant -- Carol's family restaurant, now owned by her sister.

[Belmont Hall address / website / social -- confirm exact details before publishing]

ABOUT BEYOND THE PLATE WITH CAROL

Carol Erickson, owner of Red Arrow Diner since 1987, sits down with the people behind New Hampshire's food and hospitality scene. It's not just about the food -- it's about the journeys, the community, and what drives people to go beyond.

Follow Beyond the Plate -- find us everywhere: linktr.ee/BeyondtheplateNH

Follow Carol: Instagram @carolsew24

What's it really like to be 8 years old and growing up outside the walled city of Lucca, Italy -- with a go-kart, a backyard full of chickens, and grandparents who make their own tomato sauce every summer? On this special episode of Beyond the Plate with Carol, Carol sits down with her great-nephew Oliviero -- Oli, as the family calls him -- for a conversation that has nothing to do with restaurants and everything to do with what makes a childhood in Tuscany so special.

Oli walks Carol through a day in his world -- go-kart racing (red, obviously), taking care of his chickens, the treehouse he plays in with his brothers Leonardo and Ludo, and Nonna's homemade tomato sauce that gets them through the winter. He explains the history of Lucca's walled city like a local tour guide, shares what he loves most about visiting Popsy and Nonna in New Hampshire, and answers a full round of rapid-fire questions -- pizza or pasta, racetrack or playground, gelato or cake.

This one is pure family, pure fun, and a reminder of what "beyond the plate" really means -- the people, the traditions, and the everyday moments that make a place home.

🌍 Lucca, Tuscany, Italy -- just outside the historic walled city

This episode is sponsored by Belmont Hall & Restaurant.

Manchester, NH -- family-owned for over 90 years.

belmonthall.net | Instagram: @belmonthallandcatering | Facebook: @belmonthallandcatering

🔔 New episodes drop every Tuesday -- hit SUBSCRIBE and turn on notifications so you never miss one!

Find Beyond the Plate everywhere: linktr.ee/BeyondtheplateNH

Carol Erickson ran the Red Arrow Diner for nearly 40 years before turning her attention to Beyond the Plate with Carol, a New Hampshire-based podcast covering food, restaurants, and hospitality all across New England. Every episode, Carol sits down with the chefs, entrepreneurs, content creators, and everyday people with an interesting story to tell -- and once in a while, that means bringing family into the studio too. It's not just about the food -- it's about the journeys, the community, and what drives people to go beyond.