Long before he helped build one of Chicago’s most recognizable hospitality groups, David Rekhson was trying to convince his mother that his nightclub was actually a fine-dining restaurant. This week on Joiners, we sit down with the co-founder of DineAmic Hospitality, the group behind Chicago favorites like Siena Tavern, Bar Siena, and Prime & Provisions. David traces his journey from an Ohio kid obsessed with restaurants to the early days of Stone Lotus, where he and longtime business partner Luke Stoioff learned that packing a nightclub and running a profitable business are two very different things. Along the way, he shares stories of an impromptu Tiësto set that lasted until sunrise, an unforgettable culinary trip to Tuscany with Fabio Viviani, and the growing pains of building a hospitality empire through a pandemic and beyond. Plus, knowing when to abandon a good idea, the delicate art of touching tables, why every restaurant could stand to dim the lights a little, oversized pepper mills, and so much more.

Long before he helped build one of Chicago’s most recognizable hospitality groups, David Rekhson was trying to convince his mother that his nightclub was actually a fine-dining restaurant. This week on Joiners, we sit down with the co-founder of DineAmic Hospitality, the group behind Chicago favorites like Siena Tavern, Bar Siena, and Prime & Provisions. David traces his journey from an Ohio kid obsessed with restaurants to the early days of Stone Lotus, where he and longtime business partner Luke Stoioff learned that packing a nightclub and running a profitable business are two very different things. Along the way, he shares stories of an impromptu Tiësto set that lasted until sunrise, an unforgettable culinary trip to Tuscany with Fabio Viviani, and the growing pains of building a hospitality empire through a pandemic and beyond. Plus, knowing when to abandon a good idea, the delicate art of touching tables, why every restaurant could stand to dim the lights a little, oversized pepper mills, and so much more.

Long before he helped build one of Chicago’s most recognizable hospitality groups, David Rekhson was trying to convince his mother that his nightclub was actually a fine-dining restaurant. This week on Joiners, we sit down with the co-founder of DineAmic Hospitality, the group behind Chicago favorites like Siena Tavern, Bar Siena, and Prime &amp; Provisions. David traces his journey from an Ohio kid obsessed with restaurants to the early days of Stone Lotus, where he and longtime business partner Luke Stoioff learned that packing a nightclub and running a profitable business are two very different things. Along the way, he shares stories of an impromptu Tiësto set that lasted until sunrise, an unforgettable culinary trip to Tuscany with Fabio Viviani, and the growing pains of building a hospitality empire through a pandemic and beyond. Plus, knowing when to abandon a good idea, the delicate art of touching tables, why every restaurant could stand to dim the lights a little, oversized pepper mills, and so much more.&nbsp;

Episode #226 - David Rekhson of DineAmic Hospitality

Big question: what if food could change the way kids learn?
Paul Kahan, Matthias Merges, and Jason Hammel decided to find out. What began with a group of Chicago chefs taking over classrooms at a CPS magnet school became Pilot Light, a nonprofit using food to make learning more engaging, relevant, and connected to the world outside school. Today, Pilot Light reaches students and teachers across the country, with programs in 28 states and more than 140,000 students reached.
In this special live episode of Joiners, we sit down with Paul, Matthias, and Jason to talk about Pilot Light’s scrappy beginnings, why chefs make surprisingly good educators, the challenge of bringing change into schools, and what it will take to make food education part of every child’s classroom experience. 
 
And if this conversation gets you curious about Pilot Light, Tim and Danny will be hosting the organization’s Feed Your Mind Gala on November 6. It’s a great night built around some of Chicago’s best chefs, with food, live auction experiences, and plenty of fundraising for Pilot Light’s work in schools. Tickets are still available at feedyourmindgala.org. We get into a little more of what to expect at the end of the episode.

Big question: what if food could change the way kids learn? Paul Kahan, Matthias Merges, and Jason Hammel decided to find out. What began with a group of Chicago chefs taking over classrooms at a CPS magnet school became Pilot Light, a nonprofit using food to make learning more engaging, relevant, and connected to the world outside school. Today, Pilot Light reaches students and teachers across the country, with programs in 28 states and more than 140,000 students reached. In this special live episode of Joiners, we sit down with Paul, Matthias, and Jason to talk about Pilot Light’s scrappy beginnings, why chefs make surprisingly good educators, the challenge of bringing change into schools, and what it will take to make food education part of every child’s classroom experience. And if this conversation gets you curious about Pilot Light, Tim and Danny will be hosting the organization’s Feed Your Mind Gala on November 6. It’s a great night built around some of Chicago’s best chefs, with food, live auction experiences, and plenty of fundraising for Pilot Light’s work in schools. Tickets are still available at feedyourmindgala.org. We get into a little more of what to expect at the end of the episode.

Episode #225 - Paul Kahan, Matthias Merges & Jason Hammel of Pilot Light

It’s a little wild that we made it over 200 episodes without Chef Tony Mantuano on the podcast. The longtime chef and true legend behind Spiaggia and a partner in The Purple Pig, Tony has helped shape Chicago dining for more than four decades, mentoring an extraordinary generation of chefs along the way, including a handful of past Joiners guests. We talk about growing up in an Italian-American family in Kenosha, leaving music behind for the kitchen, the formative year Tony and his wife Cathy spent working throughout Italy before opening Spiaggia, and how that restaurant became both a Chicago institution and an incubator for talent. We also get into The Purple Pig’s new Oak Brook chapter, building a culture people want to stay in, the Calabrian restaurant Tony still has in him -- and so much more.

It’s a little wild that we made it over 200 episodes without Chef Tony Mantuano on the podcast. The longtime chef and true legend behind Spiaggia and a partner in The Purple Pig, Tony has helped shape Chicago dining for more than four decades, mentoring an extraordinary generation of chefs along the way, including a handful of past Joiners guests. We talk about growing up in an Italian-American family in Kenosha, leaving music behind for the kitchen, the formative year Tony and his wife Cathy spent working throughout Italy before opening Spiaggia, and how that restaurant became both a Chicago institution and an incubator for talent. We also get into The Purple Pig’s new Oak Brook chapter, building a culture people want to stay in, the Calabrian restaurant Tony still has in him -- and so much more.

Episode #224 - Tony Mantuano of Spiaggia

Chef David Choi has always been a hustler. As a teenager in St. Louis, he skipped enough school to rack up hundreds of absences while tracking down celebrities at hotels, getting their autographs, and selling them on eBay. A few years later, he worked four jobs to save up for a BMW,  only to sell it and put the money into a beat-up food truck. That truck became Seoul Taco.
Fifteen years later, David has built Seoul Taco into a beloved Korean-Mexican restaurant brand, helped bring Prince Street Pizza to Chicago, and found an entirely new lane creating food for immersive pop-ups built around the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog, Demon Slayer, and One Piece. Through all of it, he’s remained an operator at heart: obsessed with systems, people, hospitality, and figuring out how to make the next thing work.
We talk about learning Korean cooking alongside his mom and grandmother, the chaos of Seoul Taco’s very first service, what it takes to scale a restaurant without losing its culture, delivery-app economics, taking Prince Street to Asia, cooking for BTS, firing an entire staff after an honest-to-god restaurant Royal Rumble, and so much more!

Chef David Choi has always been a hustler. As a teenager in St. Louis, he skipped enough school to rack up hundreds of absences while tracking down celebrities at hotels, getting their autographs, and selling them on eBay. A few years later, he worked four jobs to save up for a BMW, only to sell it and put the money into a beat-up food truck. That truck became Seoul Taco. Fifteen years later, David has built Seoul Taco into a beloved Korean-Mexican restaurant brand, helped bring Prince Street Pizza to Chicago, and found an entirely new lane creating food for immersive pop-ups built around the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog, Demon Slayer, and One Piece. Through all of it, he’s remained an operator at heart: obsessed with systems, people, hospitality, and figuring out how to make the next thing work. We talk about learning Korean cooking alongside his mom and grandmother, the chaos of Seoul Taco’s very first service, what it takes to scale a restaurant without losing its culture, delivery-app economics, taking Prince Street to Asia, cooking for BTS, firing an entire staff after an honest-to-god restaurant Royal Rumble, and so much more!

Chef David Choi has always been a hustler. As a teenager in St. Louis, he skipped enough school to rack up hundreds of absences while tracking down celebrities at hotels, getting their autographs, and selling them on eBay. A few years later, he worked four jobs to save up for a BMW,&nbsp; only to sell it and put the money into a beat-up food truck. That truck became Seoul Taco.
Fifteen years later, David has built Seoul Taco into a beloved Korean-Mexican restaurant brand, helped bring Prince Street Pizza to Chicago, and found an entirely new lane creating food for immersive pop-ups built around the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog, Demon Slayer, and One Piece. Through all of it, he’s remained an operator at heart: obsessed with systems, people, hospitality, and figuring out how to make the next thing work.
We talk about learning Korean cooking alongside his mom and grandmother, the chaos of Seoul Taco’s very first service, what it takes to scale a restaurant without losing its culture, delivery-app economics, taking Prince Street to Asia, cooking for BTS, firing an entire staff after an honest-to-god restaurant Royal Rumble, and so much more!

Episode #222 - David Choi of Seoul Taco and Prince Street Pizza

This week on Joiners, we sit down with Dominique Leach, chef, pitmaster, entrepreneur, and founder of Lexington Betty Smokehouse. Dominique’s story is a wild one: culinary school, Chicago kitchens, legendary mentors, brutal bosses, huge opportunities, hard lessons, and more than a few moments that could have sent her in an entirely different direction. What stands out through all of it is her resilience. She keeps moving, keeps learning, keeps betting on herself, and keeps finding a way forward. We talk about coming up in Chicago’s restaurant world, learning from the people around you, building a business and an identity at the same time, leadership, representation, hospitality, and what it takes to keep going when things get very, very difficult.

This week on Joiners, we sit down with Dominique Leach, chef, pitmaster, entrepreneur, and founder of Lexington Betty Smokehouse. Dominique’s story is a wild one: culinary school, Chicago kitchens, legendary mentors, brutal bosses, huge opportunities, hard lessons, and more than a few moments that could have sent her in an entirely different direction. What stands out through all of it is her resilience. She keeps moving, keeps learning, keeps betting on herself, and keeps finding a way forward. We talk about coming up in Chicago’s restaurant world, learning from the people around you, building a business and an identity at the same time, leadership, representation, hospitality, and what it takes to keep going when things get very, very difficult.

This week on Joiners, we sit down with Dominique Leach, chef, pitmaster, entrepreneur, and founder of Lexington Betty Smokehouse. Dominique’s story is a wild one: culinary school, Chicago kitchens, legendary mentors, brutal bosses, huge opportunities, hard lessons, and more than a few moments that could have sent her in an entirely different direction. What stands out through all of it is her resilience. She keeps moving, keeps learning, keeps betting on herself, and keeps finding a way forward. We talk about coming up in Chicago’s restaurant world, learning from the people around you, building a business and an identity at the same time, leadership, representation, hospitality, and what it takes to keep going when things get very, very difficult.&nbsp;

Episode #221 - Dominique Leach of Lexington Betty Smokehouse

This week we talk to owner and operator <a href='https://www.instagram.com/chefdavidtposey/?hl=en'>David Posey</a>, who could have become a florist, but instead decided to pursue the culinary arts. David attended the Culinary Institute of America before working in some of Chicago's best kitchens. After meeting his future wife and culinary partner Anna, he opened the award-winning, Michelin-starred <a href='https://elskerestaurant.com/'>Elske</a>, a gem in the hospitality landscape. Join us for a delightful conversation that spans food allergies, rye-crust pizza, kitchen drama, and so much more.

This week we talk to owner and operator David Posey, who could have become a florist, but instead decided to pursue the culinary arts. David attended the Culinary Institute of America before working in some of Chicago's best kitchens. After meeting his future wife and culinary partner Anna, he opened the award-winning, Michelin-starred Elske, a gem in the hospitality landscape. Join us for a delightful conversation that spans food allergies, rye-crust pizza, kitchen drama, and so much more.

This week we talk to owner and operator <a href="https://www.instagram.com/chefdavidtposey/?hl=en" rel="noopener noreferrer">David Posey</a>, who could have become a florist, but instead decided to pursue the culinary arts. David attended the Culinary Institute of America before working in some of Chicago's best kitchens. After meeting his future wife and culinary partner Anna, he opened the award-winning, Michelin-starred <a href="https://elskerestaurant.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Elske</a>, a gem in the hospitality landscape. Join us for a delightful conversation that spans food allergies, rye-crust pizza, kitchen drama, and so much more.

Episode #2 - David Posey of Elske

For the inaugural episode of Joiners, we take a peek under the proverbial hood of the creative side of marketing and PR with <a href='http://www.jennaliberman.com/'>Jenna Liberman</a>. Jenna cut her teeth with beloved Chicago restaurant group <a href='https://www.oneoffhospitality.com/'>One Off Hospitality</a> as their first in-house marketing and PR person. After that, she moved on to a full service agency called <a href='https://www.skoogco.com/'>Skoog</a>, where she managed several clients. She eventually spun off of that and started her own agency, <a href='https://www.slowdown.co/'>Slow Down Co.</a>, that provides marketing and PR for hospitality clients. She's also half the brain behind creative agency and not-so-secret society, <a href='https://www.eyeeaters.com/'>Eye Eaters</a>, which she shares with her partner <a href='https://www.eyeeaters.com/team-members/paul-octavious'>Paul Octavius</a>. We talk with Jenna about her career path through the hospitality world and what she's learned along the way.

For the inaugural episode of Joiners, we take a peek under the proverbial hood of the creative side of marketing and PR with Jenna Liberman. Jenna cut her teeth with beloved Chicago restaurant group One Off Hospitality as their first in-house marketing and PR person. After that, she moved on to a full service agency called Skoog, where she managed several clients. She eventually spun off of that and started her own agency, Slow Down Co., that provides marketing and PR for hospitality clients. She's also half the brain behind creative agency and not-so-secret society, Eye Eaters, which she shares with her partner Paul Octavius. We talk with Jenna about her career path through the hospitality world and what she's learned along the way.

For the inaugural episode of Joiners, we take a peek under the proverbial hood of the creative side of marketing and PR with <a href="http://www.jennaliberman.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Jenna Liberman</a>. Jenna cut her teeth with beloved Chicago restaurant group <a href="https://www.oneoffhospitality.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">One Off Hospitality</a> as their first in-house marketing and PR person. After that, she moved on to a full service agency called <a href="https://www.skoogco.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Skoog</a>, where she managed several clients. She eventually spun off of that and started her own agency, <a href="https://www.slowdown.co/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Slow Down Co.</a>, that provides marketing and PR for hospitality clients. She's also half the brain behind creative agency and not-so-secret society, <a href="https://www.eyeeaters.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Eye Eaters</a>, which she shares with her partner <a href="https://www.eyeeaters.com/team-members/paul-octavious" rel="noopener noreferrer">Paul Octavius</a>. We talk with Jenna about her career path through the hospitality world and what she's learned along the way.

Episode #1 - Jenna Liberman of Eye Eaters

In Joiners, hosts Tim Tierney and Danny Shapiro take a casual stroll through the world of hospitality by chatting with its most colorful characters.

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