Chef Scott Linquist joins Katie Metz and Jacqueline Coleman on The First Seating to explore how American perceptions of Mexican food have evolved during his more than 35 years in professional kitchens.

Scott traces his journey from classical French restaurants and the Culinary Institute of America to Border Grill, Dos Caminos, COYO Taco and Xico Cocina de Fuego. He explains why upscale Mexican cooking was once labeled “Southwestern cuisine,” why Americans have traditionally expected Mexican food to be inexpensive, and what that assumption overlooks about the cuisine’s regional diversity, demanding techniques and extensive history.

The conversation also explores the extraordinary rise of COYO Taco, the risks involved in leaving a successful corporate restaurant career, the difficulty of operating chef-driven restaurants in Miami, and Scott’s decision to build Xico around wood-fired regional Mexican cuisine and locally sourced ingredients in Asheville.

Scott also discusses Mexican cuisine’s growing Michelin recognition, shares recommendations for exploring Mexico City beyond its most fashionable restaurants, and joins Jacqueline for a practical conversation about pairing Mexican food with wine.

Tasting menus promise discovery, storytelling, and a chance to experience a chef’s point of view. But somewhere between the fifteenth course and the fourth hour, dinner can start to feel like an endurance event. We ask whether tasting menus still deliver the joy they promise—and what makes one genuinely fun.

In this episode of First Seating, Katie Metz and Jacqueline Coleman examine the tasting menu’s place at the center of modern fine dining. They discuss the appeal of surrendering control to a restaurant, discovering unexpected flavors, and experiencing a chef’s story through a carefully constructed meal.

But when does the experience stop being fun? Katie and Jacqueline explore tasting-menu fatigue, overwhelming portions, lengthy explanations, theatrical presentations, and the uncomfortable moment when a restaurant’s story begins to distract from its food. They also consider whether omakase, New Nordic cuisine, French-Japanese fusion, and other fine-dining trends have made tasting menus feel increasingly formulaic.

The conversation also addresses creativity, authenticity, Michelin’s emphasis on a chef’s personality, the changing restaurant scene in Las Vegas, and tasting-menu prices that can approach the cost of a rent or mortgage payment.

Finally, Jacqueline shares her strategy for choosing an unexpected bottle when dining with someone who thinks expensive Napa Cabernet is always the answer.

Should you order the wine pairing with a tasting menu—or would you be happier choosing a bottle yourself?

In this episode of The First Seating, Katie Metz and Jacqueline Coleman explore one of fine dining’s most expensive and consequential decisions. They explain what you’re actually paying for with a wine pairing, from the sommelier’s expertise and knowledge of the menu to the opportunity to discover wines you might never select on your own.

Katie and Jacqueline also compare two very different Michelin-starred experiences: a disappointing pairing at Arzak in San Sebastián and a thoughtful, highly personalized pairing at Acquerello in San Francisco. Along the way, they discuss pour sizes, pacing, palate fatigue, vegetarian pairings, tiered pairing options, and whether experienced wine drinkers are better off ordering by the glass or bottle.

Most importantly, they share practical advice for working with a sommelier—including why you should always be candid about your preferences, how much you want to drink, and what you’re comfortable spending.

Subscribe to The First Seating with Katie Metz and Jacqueline Coleman for thoughtful conversations about fine dining, tasting menus, wine, restaurant hospitality, and the experiences that make a meal memorable.

#WinePairing #FineDining #TastingMenu #Sommelier #FoodPodcast

When does a restaurant become more than a reservation—and become the reason for the trip? On this episode of First Seating, Katie and Jacqueline explore destination dining, anticipation, opportunity cost, and what makes a meal worth building travel around.

Katie and Jacqueline explore what happens when a dish or wine simply is not for you. From cauliflower and celery root to tasting-menu etiquette and disliked wine pairings, they ask how diners can stay open-minded without pretending—and what great hospitality looks like when nothing is technically wrong, but the experience still misses.

In the first full episode of First Seating, Katie Metz returns to the story of the first major dining experience she chose entirely for herself: a solo dinner at a twelve-seat, two-Michelin-star restaurant in Washington, D.C. She arrived a little nervous. But as the evening unfolded, solitude became a direct line into the kitchen, and her curiosity drew her into an increasingly personal exchange with the people creating the meal. Years later, she cannot remember every course. She remembers choosing the dinner, the connection she felt, and the sense that something had shifted.

Using that night as a starting point, Katie asks why cost, acclaim, and technical brilliance are such unreliable predictors of which meals remain vivid. She explores the three forces that shape a dining memory: what the diner brings, what the restaurant creates, and what life attaches to it afterward. The result is a reflection on anticipation, hospitality, solo dining, and the mysterious way a meal can become far more than the sum of its courses.

In this short pilot, Katie Metz pulls up a chair and introduces First Seating, a podcast about extraordinary dining and everything that gives a meal meaning beyond the plate. She shares the questions that inspired the show—from what Michelin stars promise to why hospitality can feel generous or rehearsed—and explains how travel, place, anticipation, value, and memory shape the way we experience restaurants.

Katie also previews the four kinds of conversations ahead: big questions, field reports, conversations, and thoughtful debates. First Seating is not a ranking show or a test of sophisticated taste; it is an invitation for first-time tasting-menu diners, seasoned restaurant travelers, and anyone curious about why restaurants matter. The episode closes with a glimpse of Episode 1 --- the solo dinner that started a much bigger question.