Tinfoil Swans

Patrick O'Connell has spent nearly five decades building The Inn at Little Washington into one of America's most celebrated restaurants. At the age of 80, he is finally sharing his story in the memoir, Main, Middle & Gay. In this conversation, he shares the childhood experiences that shaped his lifelong pursuit of beauty, opening a restaurant as half of a gay couple in rural Virginia, finding his place among the misfits and oddballs who gravitate toward restaurant work, earning the trust of the legendary food writer Craig Claiborne, hosting guests including Paul Newman and Barbra Streisand, and why he believes the highest form of hospitality is healing.

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Episode Art Courtesy of Food & Wine /The Inn at Little Washington

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Chef and Food Network star Ayesha Nurdjaja shares how one Lidia Bastianich recipe steered her away from law school to the kitchens of Felidia, A Voce, Artisanal, and then her own restaurants Shuka, and Shukette. She opens up about defying her family's expectations, breaking the cycle of toxic kitchen culture, the realities of running restaurants, her new cookbook Mediterranean All the Way, and why her goal is to become a legend.

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Episode Art Courtesy of Food & Wine /Clay Williams

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When Daniel Patterson and Sarah Lewitinn (a.k.a. Ultragrrrl) went on their first Hinge date, neither of them was in a great place. No one was, really, because it was in January of 2021. Daniel is an acclaimed chef who'd just been through a divorce and couldn't be in his natural habitat of restaurants. Sarah had spent her whole life in the music industry and found herself burned out — not even able to enjoy listening to bands she loved. But that spark between them roared into a fire, and the two of them aren't just married — they have opened a restaurant together in Los Angeles based on the delight they discovered throwing dinner parties together, with him in the kitchen and her creating the musical and hospitality vibes at the dining table. The two joined Tinfoil Swans to talk about their radically different upbringings, finding their driving passions early on, burning out, and how finding one another at a low point helped them fall back in love with food and music.

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Episode Art Courtesy of Food & Wine /Tyler Curtis

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Aaron Franklin, the Hot Luck Festival founder and James Beard Award-winning pitmaster behind Franklin Barbecue, talks about the long road from tinkering with guitars at his grandparents' music shop and playing punk shows to teaching himself brisket on a $99 backyard smoker. He shares stories of the warmth and support of Austin community that helped turn backyard barbecues into a national pilgrimage site, the exhaustion and family strain that came with explosive success, the choice not to become "another cranky barbecue guy," President Obama’s unforgettable visit, and why supporting local restaurants matters more than ever.

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Episode Art Courtesy of Food & Wine /Paul Shirley

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With her shows Pati's Mexican Table and La Frontera and cookbooks Treasures of the Mexican Table and Mexican Today, Pati Jinich uses her exceptional empathy, political science background, and fearless curiosity to share the stories of the people living, creating, and cooking all around Mexico, and celebrate our shared humanity. For the Season 2 finale, Jinich joined Tinfoil Swans to talk about learning English by watching Sesame Street, her comfort with being laughed at, cooking nopalitos with eggs, and why now more than ever, she wants to celebrate the beauty of the U.S.-Mexico border.

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When Arjav Ezekiel arrived in America at age 12, the first person he met was Simpsons creator Matt Groening. Years later, after navigating life as an undocumented immigrant, he would help build Birdie's in Austin, Texas, into one of the country's most celebrated restaurants. He reflects on the burden of keeping secrets, the people he calls his "guardian angels," why making people feel seen has become the foundation of his work with his wife, Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel, and the color he believes hospitality can bring to people's lives.

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Episode Art Courtesy of Food & Wine /Eva Kolenko

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Over the course of three months, Cybille St. Aude-Tate and Omar Tate met, got married, and started the project of Honeysuckle. It's one of the most ambitious and personal restaurant projects in America right now, with a mission of preserving Black history, honoring Haitian and African American foodways, and creating a welcoming to all space where guests can encounter stories, traditions, and people who have too often been left out of the narrative. The James Beard-nominated duo talks about using art and music as an escape from a hostile world, food as both joy and survival, their responsibility to the ancestors, the luxurious whimsy of a gilded Big Mac, and the power of finding your person.

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Episode Art Courtesy of Food & Wine /Clay Williams

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Scott Conant wanted to be a plumber, but getting shut out of a vocational school class set him down a different path. The 2004 Food & Wine Best New Chef and Food Network star reveals the exact dish that convinced him to devote himself to Italian cooking, the emotional fan encounters — from a grieving mother to a man struggling to stay alive — that reshaped how he thinks about television fame, how the best thing he's ever done in his professional life isn't in a restaurant, and why Alex Guarnaschelli calls him the "most human" of the Chopped judges.

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Episode Art Courtesy of Food & Wine /Ken Goodman

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2021 Food & Wine Best New Chef Fermín Núñez grew up moving between Mexico and the United States, never quite feeling like he belonged in either place. He reflects on navigating life between cultures, the years he spent undocumented in America, and why he once went by “Leo” before learning to embrace his own name. He also shares the path that took him from dreams of film school to opening Austin’s acclaimed Suerte, how Anthony Bourdain and a bookstore copy of Kitchen Confidential changed his life, and the lessons he learned from burning sauces, breaking plates, and sneaking into a country club kitchen to land his first job. He opens up about building a healthier restaurant culture, creating community through his legendary Sunday gatherings, and why writing his cookbook Vitamina T felt like honoring the 15-year-old version of himself who never imagined any of this was possible.

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Episode Art Courtesy of Food & Wine /Andrew Reiner

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In the 10 years since Cody Rigsby joined Peloton as an instructor, the former McDonald's drive-thru worker, backup dancer, and cater waiter's life has changed in unimaginable ways. He's competed on Dancing with the Stars, written the bestselling memoir XOXO, Cody, and built a massive fanbase of indoor cyclists who are as invested in his hot takes on ranch dressing and snacks as they are in his cardio-challenging HIIT and hills rides. In this episode, Cody Rigsby goes deep on anxiety, working in the service industry, the power of brunch, and the correct sauce-to-chicken-finger ratio.

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