Chef Brian Lewis is the founder and CEO of Full House Hospitality Group and a three-time James Beard Award finalist for Best Chef Northeast, with nominations in 2018, 2022, and 2025. A Culinary Institute of America and Johnson and Wales University graduate, he apprenticed under Jean Louis Palladin, Marco Pierre White, and Eric Ripert before becoming the founding executive chef of Richard Gere's The Bedford Post Inn, which earned Esquire's Best New Restaurant in 2009 and an Excellent review from The New York Times. In 2015 he founded Full House Hospitality Group, which now operates The Cottage in Westport and Greenwich, Connecticut, and OKO in Westport and Rye, New York, with 125 employees across four locations.

This episode opens with a story about a job interview that most chefs would have walked away from. Lewis did not walk away. He secretly prepared an eight-course meal before anyone asked, controlled the entire tasting, and landed the role that gave him what he calls a PhD in opening and operating a restaurant from the ground up.

How he built Full House Hospitality Group around a single principle: only expand when operations can thrive without you in the room

Why empowering teams with genuine autonomy inside defined guardrails is the only leadership model that scales across four restaurants and 125 people

How strategy and psychology replaced technique as his primary tools when he made the shift from chef to CEO

André Natera and Brian Lewis cover the identity shift required when a chef stops being the creative voice in the kitchen and starts leading other chefs to express theirs, the role of kindness as a non-negotiable management standard, navigating reviews and social media pressure across multiple concepts, and the research trip to Japan that preceded the launch of OKO. The episode closes with rapid fire kitchen gear, stocks and dashi minimalism, and the chef Mount Rushmore.

Guest

• Brian Lewis on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/brianlewischef/
• Full House Hospitality on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/fullhousehg/

Links

• Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/
• Shop Chef's PSA Merch → https://shop.chefspsa.com/
• Visit Chef's PSA Website → https://chefspsa.com/
• Lead Like a Chef App → https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef

Chef Jason Dady is one of San Antonio's most prolific restaurateurs, having opened 20 restaurants over 25 years through the Jason Dady Restaurant Group. A San Antonio UNESCO City of Gastronomy Chef Ambassador and Food Network veteran with appearances on Iron Chef Gauntlet, BBQ Brawl, and Beat Bobby Flay, Dady most recently opened Mexico Ceaty, a 25,000-square-foot food hall on San Antonio's River Walk at the Shops at Rivercenter. The concept opened April 20, 2026 and includes eight distinct dining and drinking venues celebrating Mexican and San Antonio food culture, with direct River Walk access.

This episode covers the full operational story behind Mexico Ceaty, from a decade-old idea to 196 employees hired in one week.

How an 18-month lease negotiation, financing setbacks, and a small Houston bank shaped the opening before a single taco was served

How targeted social media ads and structured onboarding placed 196 employees across nine concepts in a single week

Why SOPs and recipes calibrated to the gram are not micromanagement but the only way to maintain standards at scale.

André Natera and Jason Dady cover the Eataly-inspired origin of Mexico Ceaty, the nine concepts inside the space, the transition from chef-operator to CEO, profit margin realities across fine dining and fast casual formats, and the EOS Traction L10 meeting structure that creates leadership accountability without requiring the founder in every room. The episode closes with career advice, the importance of stages as learning rather than labor, and rapid fire chef questions.

Guest

• Jason Dady on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/chefjasondady/
• Mexico Ceaty on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/mexicoceatysa/

Links

• Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/
• Shop Chef's PSA Merch → https://shop.chefspsa.com/
• Visit Chef's PSA Website → https://chefspsa.com/
• Lead Like a Chef App → https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef

Chef Matt Peters is the first American chef to win gold at the Bocuse d'Or, the most technically demanding culinary competition in the world. He trained under Thomas Keller at Per Se and The French Laundry and at Adour Alain Ducasse in New York before spending over a year preparing for the 2017 Bocuse d'Or in Lyon. He is currently Head Coach for Team USA at the 2027 Bocuse d'Or, coaching Chef Vincenzo Loseto and Commis Tyler Higson, and competed this year on CBS's America's Culinary Cup.

This episode is the most detailed inside account of America's Culinary Cup that any competitor has given publicly. Peters does not filter it.

What the sequestering process, point structure, and unexpected challenges like cooking someone else's food actually feel like from the inside

Why precision and technical refinement can work against you on television, and what the criticism that his food was too chefy actually meant

The sauce argument: why Keller-style clean reductions and Ducasse-style fat-emulsified sauces represent two fundamentally different philosophies, and why the choice defines your cooking voice

André Natera and Matt Peters cover the beef stroganoff versus Bocuse-style dish debate from episode one, mental fatigue from the finale curveballs, his honest format critique, the training timeline for Team USA 2027 on the road to Lyon, and where smart product use fits into a scratch cooking philosophy.

Guest

• Matt Peters on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/chefmattpeters/

Links Block

• Lead Like a Chef App → ⁠https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef⁠
• Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/
• Shop Chef's PSA Merch → https://shop.chefspsa.com/
• Visit Chef's PSA Website → https://chefspsa.com/

Evan LeRoy is the co-owner and pitmaster of LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue in Austin, Texas. A Michelin star recipient in the MICHELIN Guide Texas 2024, number two on Texas Monthly's Top 50 BBQ Joints in 2025, and 2025 James Beard Award Semifinalist for Best Chef Texas, LeRoy has spent nearly a decade redefining Texas barbecue through whole-animal butchery, locally sourced meats, and a cooking philosophy that refuses to treat barbecue as a fixed menu. His debut cookbook, New School Barbecue: Recipes for Next-Level Smoking and Grilling from Austin's LeRoy and Lewis, co-authored with Paula Forbes, is out May 12, 2026.

In this episode, he gets direct about the one thing most chefs with new recognition do not want to admit: the star changed everything, and not all of it in ways that are easy to manage.

What earning and retaining a Michelin star actually does to a barbecue operation in terms of volume, scrutiny, and internal pressure

Why Texas barbecue's dominance as the national formula is creating a copycat monoculture that is hurting the genre

The complete brisket process from trimming for airflow to Dalmatian rub ratios, wood selection, wrapping decisions, and the overnight heated rest

André Natera and Evan LeRoy cover the ways success can quietly destabilize priorities, how portioning precision and pricing realities shift under heightened expectations, and the three-year process behind translating LeRoy and Lewis's restaurant technique into nearly 100 home-cook-friendly recipes for the cookbook. The episode closes with how LeRoy steps away from the pressure and what he is watching in the broader BBQ landscape.

New School Barbecue is available wherever books are sold, out May 12, 2026.

This episode is sponsored by Rational USA. Learn more at https://rationalusa.com

Guest

• Evan LeRoy on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/evanleroybbq/

Standard Links Block

• Lead Like a Chef App → https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef
• Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/
• Shop Chef's PSA Merch → https://shop.chefspsa.com/
• Visit Chef's PSA Website → https://chefspsa.com/

Phillip Frankland Lee is the co-owner and executive chef of Scratch Restaurants Group, the Michelin-starred hospitality company he operates with his wife and executive pastry chef Margarita Kallas-Lee. The group includes Sushi by Scratch Restaurants, Pasta|Bar, NADC Burger, and Shokunin. Lee is a Top Chef Season 13 competitor, San Pellegrino Young Chef 2015 finalist, Zagat 30 Under 30 honoree, and Food Network record holder for most consecutive competition wins. This is his third appearance on Chef's PSA.

His argument is direct: you can open a restaurant for $10,000 or less, break even in 60 days, and scale that model to 32 locations if you keep the footprint small, the staff lean, and every concept focused on one core product.

How taking over already-permitted spaces eliminates the buildout cost that kills most restaurant openings

Why small tasting-menu formats scale better than large casual concepts and how the math actually works

Where chef inspiration ends and outright copying begins, and why that line matters more now than ever

André Natera and Phillip Frankland Lee cover the organic growth of NADC Burger from free pop-ups to multiple locations, the conversion of a Pasta|Bar location into a 22-seat boutique steakhouse, Lee's open world RPG framework for handling adversity, hard lessons from sharks and risky partnerships, and the detailed debate on homage versus originality in culinary culture. The episode closes with a preview of his upcoming podcast Fire the Board and new Austin-area concepts.

Guest

• Phillip Frankland Lee on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/phillipfranklandlee/

Links

• Lead Like a Chef App → ⁠https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef⁠
• Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/
• Shop Chef's PSA Merch → https://shop.chefspsa.com/
• Visit Chef's PSA Website → https://chefspsa.com/

Chef Josh Sutcliff is the Corporate Executive Chef and Partner at 55 Seventy, a private members club for wine lovers with locations in Dallas and Houston. A Le Cordon Bleu graduate, CultureMap Dallas Rising Star Chef of the Year, and Zagat 30 Under 30 honoree, his career includes chef de cuisine at FT33, executive chef at Mirador, and stints at The Joule and Knox Bistro.

He started washing dishes at 13. Federal agents had just arrested his father. His family was living in a camper. The kitchen gave him stability when nothing else did, and the chaotic, pirate-energy environment he found there never stopped feeling like home.

Why consistency and station setup reveal more about a cook than talent ever will

How to map a chef career by starting at the end goal and working backward, not forward

What the shift from chef to business thinker actually requires when you are scaling new openings

André Natera and Josh Sutcliff cover the sports mindset that shaped his approach to kitchen teams, what makes young cooks succeed or stall, his systems for onboarding and standardized recipes, and the long game of reputation and networking in a small industry. The episode closes with the transition from day-to-day cooking to corporate executive chef and what that demands from a leader.

Guest

• Josh Sutcliff on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/jsutcliff/

Links

• Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/
• Lead Like a Chef App https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef
• Shop Chef's PSA Merch → https://shop.chefspsa.com/
• Visit Chef's PSA Website → https://chefspsa.com/

Chef David Bull is Austin's first Iron Chef America competitor, Food and Wine Best New Chef 2003, two-time James Beard Foundation nominee, and Regional Vice President of Food and Beverage at LaCorsha Hospitality Group. He led the Driskill Grill to three consecutive Austin American-Statesman number one restaurant awards, competed on Iron Chef America in 2006 as the first Austin chef to do so, and has since overseen 16 restaurant and hotel openings with LaCorsha across Texas, most of them historic renovations. He is also co-founder of the Mineral Wellness Center, a faith-based nonprofit in Mineral Wells dedicated to reducing mental health stigma and providing counseling and community resources.

This episode covers the full arc: Austin's first celebrity chef, 16 properties, and the decision to walk away from all of it for something bigger.

• Why management agreements protect standards across multiple properties in ways licensing never can
• The lease clauses, CAM charges, and pro forma details that quietly sink most restaurant deals before they open
• Why mental health stigma in professional kitchens is a leadership and retention crisis, not a personal weakness

André Natera and David Bull go deep on the Iron Chef America experience, the operational realities of scaling a hospitality group, the trust required in a business partner before any contract is signed, evolving kitchen culture and mentorship across every staffing level, and Bull's personal decision to step back from fine dining and co-found the Mineral Wellness Center. The episode closes with a preview of his upcoming Restored and Delivered concept in Mineral Wells.

This episode is sponsored by Rational USA. Learn more at https://rationalusa.com

Guest

• David Bull on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/chefdavidbull/

Chef's PSA

• Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/
• Shop Chef's PSA Merch → https://shop.chefspsa.com/
• Visit Chef's PSA Website → https://chefspsa.com/

Brandon Harpster is the National Corporate Chef for Training and Events at RATIONAL USA. He trains chefs across the country, runs RATIONAL's culinary academies, and develops cooking programs that translate connected kitchen technology into repeatable, scalable results for working operators.

This episode starts with a brunch disaster. A steamship round failed overnight at a country club, no monitoring, no alert, no way to intervene. Harpster uses that story to frame the entire case for connected cooking, and then spends the next hour proving it.

• How the iCombi Pro handles delta-T roasting, built-in resting, and consistent brunch egg production at volume
• How the iVario Pro runs overnight stock for better clarity and yield with no one in the building
• How a 15-minute risotto program that requires only three stirs is a repeatable kitchen system, not a shortcut

André Natera and Brandon Harpster cover the iCombi Pro, iVario Pro, and iHexagon across real kitchen scenarios including Peking duck skin development, brisket hybrid smoking workflows, zone heating, sous-vide-style cooking, and pasta-in-sauce preset functions. They also discuss what RATIONAL's corporate chef network actually does, how the training academies work, and what a field role in this industry looks like for chefs who want to move off the line.

RATIONAL

• RATIONAL USA Linktree → https://linktr.ee/rational_usa
• RATIONAL USA Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/rational_usa/
• Chef Brandon's Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/brandon.harpster/
• RATIONAL ChefLine → https://www.rational-online.com/en_us/customercare/contact-us/chefline/ | 866-306-2433

Chef's PSA

• Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/
• Shop Chef's PSA Merch → https://shop.chefspsa.com/
• Visit Chef's PSA Website → https://chefspsa.com/

Chef Chad Welch is an American Culinary Federation Certified Executive Chef and Certified Culinary Administrator, a Jacques Pépin Foundation ambassador, and the executive chef with The Urban Stillhouse, an elevated dining concept with locations in St. Petersburg, Florida and Somerset, Kentucky. Horse Soldier bourbon bottles are formed with steel from the World Trade Center.

He did not plan to become a chef. A Navy paperwork error put him in the galley instead of the engine room in 1992, scaling Armed Forces recipe cards to 5,000 portions aboard the USS America aircraft carrier, cutting frozen Cornish game hens on a band saw on his first day at sea, and cooking through storms that sent equipment crashing across the kitchen floor.

• What Navy galley cooking actually teaches about systems, scale, and pressure before culinary school
• Why the shift from scratch kitchens to convenience products cost the industry a generation of skill
• How the pre-Google era of memorization and mentorship built a different kind of chef, and what that means for anyone training today

André Natera and Chad Welch cover his first post-Navy restaurant job doing scratch pub cooking, his Mexican food upbringing and deliberate choice not to cook it professionally, the classic versus molecular cooking debate, and his work with the Jacques Pépin Foundation. The episode closes with the Horse Soldier Bourbon origin story and career advice from a chef whose entire path began by accident.

This episode is sponsored by Rational USA. Learn more at https://rationalusa.com

Guest

• Chad Welch on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/handthatfeeds/
• The Urban Stillhouse St. Pete → https://www.instagram.com/urbanstillhousestpete/
• The Urban Stillhouse Somerset → https://www.instagram.com/urbanstillhousesomerset/

Links

• Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/
• Shop Chef's PSA Merch → https://shop.chefspsa.com/
• Visit Chef's PSA Website → https://chefspsa.com/

Everyone wants the spotlight.

Until it actually hits.

Andre sits down with Emmanuel Chavez from Tatemo in Houston to talk about what happens when your restaurant gets attention before you’re ready for it.

Tatemo went from a tortilla operation to a full tasting menu fast. Recognition came with it. So did pressure.

This conversation gets into what it takes to run a tight kitchen with almost no space, how leadership changes when expectations spike, and the mistakes that come with building something in real time.

• What early success actually feels like• How to run a tasting menu in a small kitchen• Why leadership matters more than technique

Follow Chefs PSA and send this to a chef who thinks they’re ready.

Emmanuel Chavez on Instagram

LINKS & RESOURCES

Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/Shop Chef’s PSA Merch → https://shop.chefspsa.comVisit Chef’s PSA Website → https://chefspsa.comSponsored by RATIONAL USA → https://rationalusa.com