Best Culinary Characters Unlocked Podcasts (2025)

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Katz’s Deli owner Jake Dell with the inside story of the 137 year-old American institution and having Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal back to re-do their famous movie scene 39:47

12h ago39:47

39:47

Often cited as America’s best deli, Katz’s has been a lower East Side institution in New York for more than 137 years this month. Owner Jake Dell’s father and uncle bought the deli from the original Katz family in 1988. Jake joined in 2009. He refuses to change anything about the customer experience there—from the ancient decor to the scratch made …

1
Small town chef and restaurant owner Cara Tobin on her nomination as America’s best restaurateur in the upcoming James beard awards 39:14

7d ago39:14

39:14

Cara Tobin got her first restaurant job at the age of 17 by lying about her cooking experience in the job interview—she had none at all. In the years that followed she went to culinary school, graduating number one in her class, then worked her way up the cooking ladder at several restaurants before falling in love with Eastern Mediterranean cuisin…

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Executive Chef André Bienvenu on his quarter century at the legendary Joe’s Stone Crab and his unexpected second chapter as a restaurant owner 36:48

14d ago36:48

36:48

Chef André Bienvenu spent more than a quarter-century as executive chef at America’s highest grossing independent restaurant, Joe’s Stone Crab in Miami Beach. He considered that the pinnacle of his long career and was looking ahead to retirement, but those plans changed dramatically. Given an unexpected opportunity to partner on a new restaurant, h…

1
Food & Wine Best New Chef Karyn Tomlinson on her invention of “Grandma Chic” cuisine 42:20

21d ago42:20

42:20

Named a Food & Wine Best New Chef for 2024, Karyn Tomlinson has won raves for her restaurant Myriel in St. Paul, Minnesota. Her menu, combining elements of French, Nordic, and Midwestern cuisines has been dubbed “Grandma Chic.” A major advocate of local, seasonal cooking, she sources all her ingredients from local farms, which she visits every week…

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CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED - DIEGO SANCHEZ – EP 37 38:22

29d ago38:22

38:22

After coming to the United States from Peru in his teens, Diego Sanchez found a sense of belonging in restaurant kitchens. He cooked under some of the world’s greatest chefs before striking out on his own and now owns his own restaurant on the Jersey shore, 39 Degrees North in Manahawkin, NJ—a diner he has reimagined his way, adding items like hand…

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CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED – MARY NGUYEN – EP 36 29:19

1M ago29:19

29:19

Chef Mary Nguyen grew up in a Vietnamese immigrant household in Denver, went on to work as an investment banker, then decided to make a major career change—into the world of food. She began by working three culinary jobs at once, and becoming one of America’s first female sushi chefs, before opening the first of several restaurants in her hometown,…

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CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED - JOHN FRASER – EP 35 41:55

1M ago41:55

41:55

Michelin star winning chef John Fraser worked for Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Thomas Keller, and in some of the most storied restaurants in France, before opening a restaurant of his own and then continuing to build a culinary empire. He has won Michelin stars at two different restaurants, including the vegetarian Nix in New York city. His restau…

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CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED – SHEILA AND DUFFY WITMER– EP 34 34:44

2M ago34:44

34:44

Sheila and Duffy Witmer bought the Pioneer Saloon in Ketchum, Idaho nearly half a century ago. And they’ve kept it a jam-packed favorite ever since, with scores of repeat customers including Clint Eastwood, Sandy Koufax, and Ernest Hemingway’s grandchildren. The menu is beef-heavy, featuring steaks and their legendary prime rib. And scraps from pre…

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CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED –CARLOS GAYTÁN – EP 33 29:16

2M ago29:16

29:16

Carlos Gaytán has earned a Michelin star (the first Mexican-born chef ever to receive one) at two different restaurants. He is noted for combining regional Mexican cooking with classic French techniques. After working his way up from dishwasher in a hotel kitchen, he now owns restaurants in Chicago, Mexico, and recently opened several in the Downto…

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CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED – ADRIAN MILLER - EP 32 38:32

2M ago38:32

38:32

Called the Soul Food Scholar, Adrian Miller is renowned for his knowledge of African American and southern cooking. Author of multiple books, he won James Beard awards for two of them: Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time, and Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue. Yet culinary histo…

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CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED - KATIE BUTTON - EP 31 45:43

2M ago45:43

45:43

Chef Katie Button is a James Beard winner for her Asheville, North Carolina Spanish restaurant Cúrate, which is the flagship of her restaurant group. Button discovered her deep love for food when she was living in Paris, studying for a master’s degree in biomedical engineering. The awakening was so profound that she changed careers, worked for two …

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CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED - CHEFS MELISSA REAGAN AND STEPHEN GONZALEZ - EP 30 42:26

3M ago42:26

42:26

Melissa Reagan and Stephen Gonzalez met at Culinary School in Austin, Texas two decades ago, then followed their own culinary journeys through a variety of restaurants. Today she’s cooking at an upscale restaurant in North Carolina (but by contract she can’t name it) and with supermarkets challenging many restaurants by offering meals cooked on sit…

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CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED – NOK SUNTARANON – EP 29 32:45

3M ago32:45

32:45

Nok Suntaranon remembers eating like royalty growing up inThailand, even though her family was poor, thanks to her mother’s skills in the kitchen. And it’s the food of her childhood that she is cooking at her Philadelphia restaurant Kalaya, named for her mom, which she did not open untilthe age of 50. She had been enjoying life as a housewife but s…

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CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED – CHEF MATT VAWTER – EP 28 40:29

3M ago40:29

40:29

Named the 2024 James Beard Awards best chef in the mountain region, Matt Vawter began his culinary education going to restaurants with his grandparents and being taken into the kitchen to meet the chef. He got his first cooking job at the age of fourteen and worked his way up to big success in his hometown. Born in the Breckenridge, Colorado area, …

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CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED – CHEF VICTORIA SHORE – EP 27 36:40

3M ago36:40

36:40

Victoria Shore grew up in an adventurous culinary family(few American kids fall in love with Basque food but she did) and ended up cooking professionally because she could not get the job she wanted, culinary journalist, without kitchen experience. She’s always loved to cook—she was the kid making French fries in her dorm room—and has now worked he…

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CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED - CHEF MICHAEL GULOTTA - EP 26 42:56

4M ago42:56

42:56

Born and raised in New Orleans, Michael Gulotta began cooking for his family at the age of nine. He grew up to attend culinary school in his hometown, then trained under legendary chefs in Europe, before coming back to N’awlins and opening three restaurants that combine, to varying degrees, Asian, Italian, Cajun, and Creole flavors. He is a five-ti…

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CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED – AMELIE KANG – EP 25 35:22

4M ago35:22

35:22

Amelie Kang grew up in northern China, moved to Beijing, and then to the U.S., where she graduated from the Culinary Institute of America. She worked for Michelin starred chefs, before going on to open the Málà Project in New York, where she offers food as eaten in China, and a more upscale dining experience than the typical American Chinese restau…

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CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED - CHRISTOPHER KIMBALL – EP 24 37:39

4M ago37:39

37:39

Despite never having trained as a chef, Christopher Kimballhas taught millions of Americans how to become better home cooks. He started a magazine devoted to perfecting recipes, turned that into the America’s Test Kitchen media empire, then moved on to found another, Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street, which includes a magazine, a TV show, a podcast…

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CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED – EP 23 – MARISSA GENCARELLI 35:04

4M ago35:04

35:04

Born in Mexico, Marissa Gencarelli was working a corporatejob and had never run a culinary business, when she and her husband opened a Tortilleria in Kansas City. Using traditional methods, combined with creative brilliance, their Yoli Tortilleria won the 2023 James Beard Award as America’s Outstanding Bakery.…

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CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED – CHEF NICHOLAS BAZIK – EP 22 33:01

4M ago33:01

33:01

Budding academic turned touring musician turned chef turned restaurateur, Nicholas Bazik is striving for the top of the culinary world at his new restaurant Provenance, which is shaking up the food world in Philadelphia amid his audacious claim that there’s never been a restaurant like this in that city before, and where standards and equipment are…

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CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED – CHEF MATTHEW GRAY – EP 21 36:36

5M ago36:36

36:36

Chef Matthew Gray’s wild ride through life landed him in paradise. From touring with legendary rock bands in his youth, to studying at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in London, cooking for the stars in Hollywood, reviewing restaurants for Hawaii’s biggest newspaper, running food tours in Hawaii, and now hosting his own podcast, 50 tastes of Gray. O…

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CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED – CHEF BJ DENNIS - EP 20 30:23

5M ago30:23

30:23

Charleston Chef BJ Dennis is a rare voice in the food world,an authority on Gullah Geechee cooking. That’s the cuisine created by enslaved West Africans who were brought to the American coastal south to farm rice. Some Gullah Geechee dishes have become well known, such as shrimp and grits, but others are relatively obscure nationally. Chef Dennis e…

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CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED – THE BUSALACCHI FAMILY – EP 19 40:24

5M ago40:24

40:24

Joe Busalacchi came to America from Sicily as a child and grew up to share his family recipes with a legion of fans through an empire of restaurants in his adopted hometown of San Diego. And it’s truly a family business, with Joe’s sons and nephew helping him continue his passion of serving the food he grew up with. And the menu is full of surprise…

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CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED – CHEF PREETI WAAS - EP 18 36:59

5M ago36:59

36:59

Born in southern India and with no culinary training, Preeti Waas is a two- time James beard award nominee for the Indian home cooking she dishes up at her restaurant Cheeni in Durham, North Carolina. And she says 90 percent of that menu consists of dishes that cannot be found at most Indian restaurants here. She also offers a history lesson on som…

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CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED – GREGORY GOURDET - EP 17 38:18

6M ago38:18

38:18

He’s won three James Beard Awards in a row—Best Cookbook, Best Restaurant, and the 2024 award as Best Chef in the Northwest. He trained at the Culinary Institute of America, was mentored by the legendary Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and cooked various Asian cuisines before opening Kann in Portland, featuring Caribbean cuisine and spotlighting the Hai…

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CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED – ZIGGY GRUBER - EP 16 38:37

6M ago38:37

38:37

Born into a prominent delicatessen-owning family in New York and trained in London, where he worked at a Michelin three-star restaurant, Ziggy Gruber has become deli royalty in, of all places, Texas. His restaurant, Kenny and Ziggy’s New York Delicatessen, is among the very best in the country, serving up a massive menu of traditional deli and Jewi…

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CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED – PAUL SMITH - EP 15 43:07

6M ago43:07

43:07

Classically trained at the Culinary Institute of America, Chef Paul Smith won the 2024 James Beard Award as Best Chef in the Southeast for his work at his 1010 Bridge restaurant in Charleston, West Virginia. It’s the first James Beard Award ever brought home to that state, where Smith was born, then returned after cooking at a wide range of fine di…

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CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED –MARTHA SANDERS HOOVER - EP 14 47:04

6M ago47:04

47:04

After law school and a stint as a sex crimes prosecutor, pregnant with her third child, and with no experience in theculinary business, Martha Sanders Hoover decided to open a restaurant. Now she has a dozen in and around Indianapolis. A pioneer in farm to table, with a deepcommitment to employee happiness, and giving back to the community, she is …

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CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED - CHEF JOHN SHIELDS - EP 13 41:21

7M ago41:21

41:21

Chef John Shields and his wife, Chef Karen Uri Shields, recently won a third Michelin Star for their Chicago restaurant Smyth, while their other restaurant (in the same building) the Loyalist has been cited as serving the best burger in that city. He discusses their journey together, the restaurant in a small Virginia town that put them on the map,…

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CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED - SARAH SIMINGTON - EP 12 34:28

7M ago34:28

34:28

Sarah Simington has changed breakfast forever. She invented Cap’n Crunch encrusted French toast. And Cannoli French Toast. And a host of other breakfast and brunch creations she serves up at her Blue Moon Cafe (and spin-off Blue Moon Too) in Baltimore. Born into a restaurant family, raised—as she puts it—on a diner stool, she brings a rock-n-roll a…

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CHEF DONALD YOUNG - CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED EP 11 35:35

7M ago35:35

35:35

Chicago chef Donald Young won a Michelin star before he turned thirty. Mentored by legendary chef Roland Liccioni, Young earned his chops at a variety of remarkable restaurants, including a stint at a Michelin 2-star in France. Young now stages surprise pop up dinners (diners aren’t told where they’ll be eating until shortly before the meal). He’ll…

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THE 2FOODTRIPPERS - CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED EP 10 38:44

7M ago38:44

38:44

Daryl and Mindi Hirsch met over bagels, discussed his obsession with cheese, and as their relationship grew, they bonded over their shared love of food and got married. Eventually, they made food their jobs, traveling the world (now from their home base in Lisbon) to taste local cuisines and write about their experiences, on their website 2foodtrip…

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JENNIFER JASINSKI - CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED EP 9 31:38

7M ago31:38

31:38

Chef Jennifer Jasinski is a powerhouse restaurateur whose Denver restaurants offer French, Spanish, and seafood menus, and whose cooking has won a James Beard award. She worked for her mentor Wolfgang Puck for years, rising to head chef in charge of dozens of his restaurants before opening her own. She talks about her journey, her passions, and why…

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TONY GEMIGNANI- CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED EP 8 38:44

8M ago38:44

38:44

Tony Gemignani is one of the leading figures in the world of pizza. His pies were just named sixth best in the world by a leading Italian pizza guide. He has won countless international championships and runs a pizza empire from his San Francisco flagship, Tony’s Pizza Napoletana. He talks about all of it, including the pizza he’ll whisk away and r…

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ANNE QUATRANO - CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED EP 7 35:22

8M ago35:22

35:22

Chef Anne Quatrano is the Grande Dame of the culinary scene in Atlanta, where her restaurant empire includes Bacchanalia, which is among the most renowned restaurants in the south. Much of what she serves was grown on her family farm. She has mentored a bevy of rising star chefs and is a major and pioneering force in farm to table cuisine. And a ch…

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DAVID STANDRIDGE - CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED EP 6 40:33

8M ago40:33

40:33

David Standridge, who just won the James Beard award as best chef in the northeast, honed his skills under, among others, legendary chef Joël Robuchon, before opening his own restaurant, The Shipwright’s Daughter in Mystic, Connecticut, where he serves fabulous—sustainable seafood, shellfish, and even kelp! Yes, Kelp. It’s great!…

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DAVID PAGE TALKS WITH CHEF STEPHANIE IZARD - CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED - EP 5 31:10

8M ago31:10

31:10

The first woman to win Top Chef, who also won Iron Chef and was named James Beard best chef in the Great Lakes region, Stephanie Izard has blazed culinary trails in Chicago and Los Angeles. She’s mastered various cuisines, from China to South America, her featured ingredient is goat, and she can still song the happy birthday song from her early day…

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DAN BARBER - CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED EP 4 38:14

8M ago38:14

38:14

He’s got the Michelin stars, he’s got the James Beard Awards, he’s been named by Time Magazine one of the most influential people in the world, and he’s fighting to change what and how we eat. Dan Barber says it isn’t about political correctness; no, you don’t have to stop eating meat; and he explains why flavor is disappearing from the American ta…

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CHRISTINA NGUYEN - CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED EP 3 36:58

8M ago36:58

36:58

Fresh off her 2024 James beard Award as best chef in the Midwest, Christina Nguyen talks with David Page about her path to celebrated restaurateur—growing up in Minneapolis to immigrants from Vietnam; entering the food world with no experience by opening a food truck selling South American sandwiches; turning a notorious strip club into a Southeast…

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Legendary restaurateur Drew Nieporent is David Page’s guest. CCU - EP 2 35:14

8M ago35:14

35:14

Legendary restaurateur Drew Nieporent is David Page’s guest. The New York Times said he may be the last old school American restaurateur standing. Founder of Nobu and The Tribeca Grill (with his partner Robert DeNiro) and dozens more highly acclaimed restaurants, Drew talks about an upbringing that included family visits to some of New York’s best …

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Culinary legend Nancy Silverton is David Page’s very first guest. CCU - EP 1 43:49

8M ago43:49

43:49

Winner of a Michelin star, and James Beard awards for Best Chef, Best Pastry Chef, and Best Restaurant in America, Chef Silverton has been—and remains—a huge influence on California cuisine, artisanal bread, and much more. She talks about her journey, discovering her profession by accident, working with mentors such as Wolfgang Puck, continuously p…

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A sneak peek at our first episode 2:58

9M ago2:58

2:58

A sneak peek at our first episode, dropping August 27th 2024 with legendary Los Angeles chef Nancy Silverton, owner of Osteria Mozza and Pizzeria Mozza, winner of the James Beard Award for Best Chef, Best Baker, and Best restaurant.By Culinary Characters Unlocked

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