Chef Vanessa Sena is the founder & owner of My Local Chefs a new Hartford-based food-delivery service that wants to be thought of as the “anti-GrubHub or anti-Uber Eats. My Local Chefs launched on July 5th, 2021 with 11 Hartford-area culinary talents ranging from restaurateurs, meal-prep chefs, caterers, food-truck owners, farmers, condiment makers, wellness coaches and shop owners. Deliveries are made twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays. My Local Chefs makes it easy to order home cooked meals and so much more from your favorite chefs! 

Vanessa is a rockstar entrepreneur and boss lady with an incredible story! We sat down together at the lovely Better Half Brewing Company located in Bristol, CT and had some incredible food from BirriaDilla! Seriously, you have to get out to Better Half and say hello to owners Mike & Rachel! They are the real deal! Thank you both so much for having us!

Paul Mannion is the owner of the Green Grunion Food Truck, Mannion has wowed foodies at breweries across Connecticut and at his home base at 100 Mill Plain Road not too far from our studio in Danbury slingin his critically acclaimed San Diego-style burritos. A few years back Paul joined forces with Lisa Tassone (owner of La Zingara and Ecco in Bethel), Chris Sanzeni and Kevin Arrington to open Broken Symmetry Gastro Brewery at the historic railroad station in Bethel. 

I had a blast chatting with Paul in Part #1 which if you haven’t heard yet, pause this right now and go listen their first! However if you have already listened to Part 1 we will now begin from where we left off.

This episode of the show is part number 2, a continuation of my conversation from last week with my good friend, the always wonderful, Lisa Nichols!!

Lisa Nichols is the founder and owner of Bread & Beast Food Photography. She has covered food photography for the biggest chefs in the state as well as Hearst Media, CT Magazine and numerous other publications. Lisa also came to my hometown of Newtown and took the photos for Sweet’N Up Podcast.

If you haven’t listened to part 1 of our conversation definitely pause this and listen there first, but if you already have sit back relax and enjoy part 2 of my 2 part podcast episode, with my friend, an incredible photographer & human, Lisa Nichols!

Scott Rosenberg is a seasoned restauranteur and chef as well as a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. Previously Scott co-owned the infamous Il Bariloto on Main Street in Fishkill Ny for 19 years and is now the new owner of a brand new restaurant located in Fishkills Main Street Plaza, Il Figlio Enoteca.

It was so nice to catch up with Scott & learn about his passion for the industry,his new restaurant Il Figlio & it’s wonderful accents and architecture, his time at the culinary institute, the menu at Il Figlio, managing the covid pandemic and so much more!

Lisa & Glen are the co-owners of Catch A Healthy Habit Cafe located in Fairfield, Connecticut. Catch A Healthy Habit is a vegan cafe that has been a mainstay in the state having been around now for 10 years. Lisa Storch faced off against her younger brother, Chef Matt Storch ( a friend of the show) last year on the Food Network and not only did she defeat him, but Bobby Flay as well on his show - Beat Bobby Flay!

We had a really fun conversation, getting to know Lisa & Glens backgrounds and the forming of Catch A Healthy Habit, what you can expect to find at the cafe, Lisa’s experience on Food Networks Beat Bobby Flay, what it was like growing up with her younger brother Chef Matt Storch, how Glen & Lisa met, what they both enjoy doing in their free time and so much more!