Mike Lata is Chef/Co-Owner of FIG and The Ordinary in Charleston, SC. A formidable presence in the city’s culinary scene, he won the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Southeast in 2009, and was a semifinalist for Outstanding Chef in 2017 and 2018. Lata’s restaurants have received major accolades of their own, including several James Beard Award wins and nominations and placement on countless national “Best Restaurant” lists.

Roland Passot is a classically trained French Chef. After moving to San Francisco in the 1980s, he opened La Folie in 1988 earning such accolades as a James Beard Award for Rising Star chef, Best Chef in California 2005 – 2007, Best Food and Best French Restaurant in Zagat in 2002, Best French Restaurant in 7x7 Magazine, 4 stars by the San Francisco Magazine, Top 100 Restaurants in San Francisco Chronicle, 4 stars by the San Francisco Chronicle, and one Michelin Star.

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Chef Paul Kahan has become the nationally recognizable face of Chicago chefs. Passionately seasonal, unconventionally creative and dedicated to the inspiration of classical cuisine, Kahan has received international acclaim for Blackbird, avec, The Publican, Big Star, Publican Quality Meats, Nico Osteria, Dove’s Luncheonette, Publican Quality Bread, and Publican Tavern O’Hare. Awarded Outstanding Chef by the James Beard Foundation in 2013 and Best Chef of the Midwest in 2004, Kahan has earned the praise of many who claim him to be one of America’s most influential working chefs.

Chef Michael Voltaggio has established a bold and trendsetting legacy. His influence spans multiple industries, with groundbreaking projects like Vulcania at Mammoth Mountain, Volt Burger at over 40 Live Nation Venues nationwide, and Voltaggio Brothers Steak House at MGM National Harbor in DC, all reflecting his innovative spirit.

Alex Stupak is the Chef and Co-Owner of the Empellón restaurant group in New York City.

Born in Massachusetts, Alex became a scholar of the avant garde and molecular gastronomy movements. He worked as the pastry chef of Clio in Boston with Ken Oringer, Alinea in Chicago with Grant Achatz and wd~50 in NYC with Wylie Dufresne.

With earnest dedication to always doing the unexpected, Alex pivoted away from pastry and these styles of cooking and chose to adopt Mexican cuisine as a perpetual source of creative inspiration.

Alex opened Empellón Taqueria in the west village of Manhattan and has since opened several more restaurants inside and outside the Empellón brand. His approach to cooking focuses on opposing the reductive way people often view different cuisines.

Alex was selected as one of Food and Wine’s Best New Chefs in 2013 and has received multiple James Beard Nominations including one for his book, Tacos, Recipes and Provocations which was published in 2015.

Renee Erickson is a James Beard award-winning chef, author and the chef/co-owner of multiple projects in Seattle, Washington: The Walrus and the Carpenter, The Whale Wins, Barnacle, Boat Bar, Bateau, Lioness, Deep Dive, Willmott's Ghost, Westward, and several General Porpoise Doughnuts and Coffee locations.

​Her new cookbook Sunlight & Breadcrumbs explores the surprising wonder and satisfaction you can find in making everyday food, inspiring us all to cook creatively.  The book highlights the beauty and creativity in making everyday food at home. Renee decided to reconnect with her creativity by painting, taking photographs, making ceramics, and, of course, cooking everything you will find inside its charming pages.

Mark Miller is an American chef, restaurateur, author, global flavor designer/consultant, and culinary thought leader. He is recognized as an early pioneer and developer of the importance of Non -European Cuisines, Ingredients, techniques to the American Culinary Culture, and specifically, one of the founders of Modern Southwestern Cuisine.

Well folks, we are about to celebrate my 100th episode, and over these last four years, the podcast has evolved, so I’m changing the name to better reflect what it’s about.

Hey Everybody! In this episode, I catch up with the one and only Guy Fieri. He shares his journey from a small-town boy with a passion for food to becoming one of the most recognizable faces in America. We dig into how his early experiences in restaurants shaped his work ethic and cooking style, and why he’s always thinking about how he can use his platform to do more. This episode is a great reminder that success isn’t just about what you achieve—it's about how you give back along the way.

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Cindy Pawlcyn, a pioneer in the development of wine country cuisine, is the owner of Napa Valley’s legendary restaurant Mustards Grill. Since Mustards opened in 1983, Pawlcyn has been involved in the creation of many heralded restaurants in the greater San Francisco Bay Area including Fog City Diner, Bix, Roti, Betelnut, Buckeye Roadhouse, Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen, Go Fish, Cindy’s Waterfront at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Mustards Grill-SFO. 

 Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Pawlcyn grew up in an accomplished culinary family where garden fresh ingredients were an integral part of every meal and suppertime was always family time. “My parents raised me to appreciate good cooking,” she fondly says of her mother and father.

 At 13, Pawlcyn was working at a local cooking school and equipment store and helping in her mother’s kitchen. She ran a catering business through high school, and went on to earn a degree in hotel and restaurant management from the University of Wisconsin-Stout. She further augmented her formal training by taking courses at Le Cordon Bleu and La Varenne in Paris.

 Pawlcyn began her career in the kitchen of the Pump Room in Chicago. She went on to cook in various other esteemed restaurants in both Chicago and Minneapolis before moving to California in 1979 to take a job at McArthur Park in San Francisco. In her first experience in a Northern California kitchen, Pawlcyn gained valuable insights into the region’s unique food culture.

 Pawlcyn entered Napa Valley’s burgeoning restaurant culture as the opening chef at Meadowood in St. Helena and from there joined Bruce LeFavour at his acclaimed Rose et LeFavour. Armed with extensive kitchen leadership and regional culinary expertise, she successfully launched Mustards Grill in 1983, her now landmark and legendary restaurant.

 With over 40 years of experience working and living in the Napa Valley, Pawlycn remains intimately involved in the kitchen operations of Mustards Grill, which features its own culinary garden that supplements the locally sourced produce used in many of her dishes. Pawlcyn’s commitment to seasonal inspiration and the use of the region’s bountiful harvests continue to play a major role in the food coming out of her kitchen.

“My father had a green thumb and he taught me a lot about growing produce and instilled a love for fresh flavors,” she says. “Everywhere I have lived, I have had a garden, whether it was a window box of herbs when I lived in Chicago or the large garden at my house. I feel it’s important for freshness and flavor and it brings people closer to their food.”