The Line

While taking French classes at the University of California-Berkeley, Whitney Otawka responded to an ad for a waitress position at a local French creperie. Although she didn’t get the waitress job, she was hired into the two-person kitchen and her culinary career began. Raised in the mojave desert in Hespiria California her family struggled financially and she dreamed of becoming an egyptologist. Over time in Oakland and San Diego she began to actively pursue and culinary career. She’s worked both coasts from California to Georgia. Along the way she’s worked for chefs such as Hugh Acheson and Linton Hopkins and staged at Per Se and Le Bernardin. She appeared on Season 9 of Top Chef and just released her first cookbook The Saltwater Table: Recipes from the Coastal South.

Join Heritage Radio Network on Monday, November 11th, for a raucous feast to toast a decade of food radio. Our tenth anniversary bacchanal is a rare gathering of your favorite chefs, mixologists, storytellers, thought leaders, and culinary masterminds. We’ll salute the inductees of the newly minted HRN Hall of Fame, who embody our mission to further equity, sustainability, and deliciousness. Explore the beautiful Palm House and Yellow Magnolia Café, taste and imbibe to your heart’s content, and bid on once-in-a-lifetime experiences and tasty gifts for any budget at our silent auction. Tickets available now at heritageradionetwork.org/gala.

Photo Courtesy of Whitney Otawka 

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Today's Guest Seadon Shouse grew up in a small fishing village in rural Nova Scotia. As a young boy he loved seafood and would go out harvesting wild mussels and go fishing for mackerel in front of his house. Chef Shouse has worked in multiple states opening up concepts and has spent a lot of his career working in large restaurant and hotel groups including the Myriad Restaurant Group, the W hotel, Carlton Hotel and at Glenmere Mansion in Chester NY. In  2015 he rejoined  the  W Hoboken to  open  and lead  the  kitchen  of  Halifax,  a concept  inspired  by  his experiences  growing up in Nova Scotia and his passion for North Eastern farm and coastal cuisine. In 2017, Halifax which has become a Hoboken favorite earned a three star review of “Excellent” from New Jersey Monthly Magazine. As a bi-coastal executive chef and owner, he also leads the kitchen at Timbercove resort in Northern California.

Photo provided by Seadon Shouse Bread and Butter PR

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Today’s guest is John Stage the owner of Dinosaur BBQ with 8 locations across NY, NJ and Connecticut. Dinosaur BBQ has a line of rubs and sauces available nationwide and the cookbook John released in 2001 has sold over 175k copies. Dinosaur Bar-B-Que started as a mobile popup in 1983 at the Harley Rendezvous in NY, a motorycle meetup and then in 1988 went brick and mortar on Willow St. in Syracuse NY. Today on the show we’ll talk about how it all began with a 55 gallon drum sawed in half, what partnering with the Soros family did for the business both positive and negative, how having a consumer packaged goods line can impact a brick and mortar restaurant and how to survive for 30 years in the restaurant business.

Photo courtesy of Brent Herig Photography

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On Today's episode of theLINE - Henry Rich of Oberon Restaurant Group that encompasses 7 different operations - restaurants, bars, catering and managing events spaces. Henry is an entrepreneur and climate activist from Brooklyn, New York. He opened Rucola, June, Fitzcarraldo, and Metta; which has now re-opened as Rhodora Wine Bar. He he has also opened The Comissary at the Metrograph, Nowadays a sprawling outdoor/indoor DJ party, and he organized the vegan food program at Public Records. Prior to opening restaurants, Henry co-founded and managed Oral Fixation Mints, a specialty manufacturing and distribution company that he sold in 2010. In 2018 all of Oberon groups projects went carbon neutral. Rhodora Wine Bar which just recently opened has taken this several steps further with the goal of being a zero waste restaurant.Today on the show we’ll be talking about Henry’s first projects, what he did before becoming a restaurateur and what it takes to create a zero waste restaurant.

Photo Courtesy of Daniel Kreiger 

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Today's guest is Chef Chris Jaeckle. He spent 7 years with USHG with Tabla and Eleven Madison Park. He was the sous chef at Morimoto and also worked alongside Michael White at Altamerea group as CDC of Ai Fiori when it was awarded a Michelin Star and three stars from the NYTIMES. In 2013 he launched his own restaurant partnering with Zach and Jeffrey Chodorow, an italian restaurant in the west village called All’onda. But he didn’t stop there. He also opened Uma Temakeria in chelsea and gotham west market. When it opened Uma was the nation’s first fast-casual style eatery featuring fresh, customer designed temaki which is a cone-shaped “hand roll” sushi. But in 2016 All’onda shuttered after about two years being open. And in 2018, Uma Temakeria shuttered both locations. Jaeckle who was named Eater’s 2014 New York City Chef of the Year now runs Kitchen Connect Consulting which focuses on menu development for several concepts ranging from French Brasserie's, Latin Taqueria's and Airport Dining and for All'onda Dubai. Today we’re going to discuss working alongside some of the finest chefs in the world, branching out on your own, when to make the difficult decision to shut down and how to launch a consulting business.

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Born in Texas, Claire Sprouse has bartended, managed, and consulted at some of the country's most well-known and awarded cocktail institutions in Houston, San Francisco and New York City. After studying art history in college and working in galleries, she began to bartend in Houston and found her calling. She has worked at ABV, Rickhouse and consulted on Bywater along with her business partner Chad Arnholt. Along with Arnholt in 2013, they formed Tin Roof Drink Community. Through their 25+ years of combined hospitality experience and pursuit of unique collaborations, they tackle the issues of sustainability within the industry. As leaders in this conversation, Tin Roof was honored with the industry’s first ever “Sustainable Spirit” award and the 2017 “Golden Spirit” educator award, both presented by Tales of the Cocktail. In 2019, Sprouse opened her first bar, Hunky Dory in Crown Heights, Brooklyn which has a full kitchen and serves food until 1am. On today's episode we talk about her consulting work, finding her footing in Houston, the challenges of being the managing partner, how to find a space and how to secure a liquor license.

Photo courtesy of Anjali Pinto.

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If world exploration and travel experience provides a solid foundation for culinary inspiration, today’s guest has prepared and then some. Throw a dart at a map and it’s a good chance you’ll hit a place my guest has visited or even lived in. Clarice Lam was born in Canada and in her travels as a professional model she has been to over 280 cities, has lived in 13 cities in 11 countries on 4 continents. After her ten year modeling career, she attended Le Cordon Bleu in Italy and The FrenchCulinary Institute in New York. After school she spent time at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery and Jean-Georges Spice Market, She then went on to be the head chef at the Chocolate Room, the Brooklyn dessert restaurant that held one of Zagat’s highest ratings, a 28. In 2012, Clarice launched The Baking Bean, an oven-to-door bakery specializing in all-natural desserts and confections based in Brooklyn, NY. Today we’ll be talking about the high pressure world of pastry perfectionism at the world’s top restaurants, starting your own business and we’ll try to get her to decide what her favorite food city in the world is. Clarice welcome to the show.

Photo by Evan Sung

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Today’s guest is chef Katie Jackson co-chef and partner at the award-winning restaurant Hart's in Brooklyn, as well as the recently opened wine bar, The Fly which has a short but sweet menu centered around rotisserie chicken. On the episode we'll be talking about self editing your dishes, opening a new location in an expanding restaurant group, staffing, the stresses of the job and finding your leadership voice.

It's HRN's annual summer fund drive, this is when we turn to our listeners and ask that you make a donation to help ensure a bright future for food radio. Help us keep broadcasting the most thought provoking, entertaining, and educational conversations happening in the world of food and beverage. Become a member today! To celebrate our 10th anniversary, we have brand new member gifts available. So snag your favorite new pizza - themed tee shirt or enamel pin today and show the world how much you love HRN, just go to heritageradionetwork.org/donate

Photo Courtesy of Heidi's Bridge

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On Today's Episode Chef Jordan Terry sits down to discuss growing up in Florida, obtaining a degree in Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Florida, moving to NYC to pursue his culinary career and ending up at Major Food Group. He now is the executive chef for Dirty French on the lower east side. Chef Jordan’s responsibilities span every aspect of the restaurant, from managing the kitchen team of 70 and spearheading new dish R&D to overseeing budgets, finances, food and labor costs.

It's HRN's annual summer fund drive, this is when we turn to our listeners and ask that you make a donation to help ensure a bright future for food radio.

Photo by Noah Fecks

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Just like his father Eli Zabar, Oliver Zabar got into the business. He went to NYU where we majored in Operations at The Tisch School for Hospitality and Sport management and during college he spent time working with Steven Greenberg and Michael Stillman at The Butter Group. Upon graduating he stayed in NYC and began to work for his father. It was then that Oliver pitched his own ideas for the family brand and developed the concept for Eli’s night shift, a daytime cafe that transforms into a bar in the evening. He recently opened Devon, a cocktail bar located on the lower east side. Oliver is also working on a bakery that will open on the LES next door to Devon. On today's episode we’ll be talking about growing up as part of a NYC culinary power family with that famous last name and how it can help or hurt you, mentorship in NYC and find out how his new concepts are coming along.

Photo Courtesy of Carla Vianna of Eater

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