Best Culinary Characters Unlocked Podcasts (2025)

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2025 James Beard Best Chef in NY state Vijay Kumar on bringing a little known southern Indian cuisine to his Michelin-starred restaurant the New York Times ranked #1 in NY 32:24

2d ago32:24

32:24

Born in southern India, a region rarely represented on Indian restaurant menus in the U.S., Chef Vijay Kumar was raised in rural poverty. His culinary aspirations surfaced early and he attended culinary school in India then worked on cruise ships and in restaurants in a variety of locations before coming to the United States and finding a culinary …

1
An Orthodox Jewish Congregation Keeps on (Food) Truckin' in Birmingham 23:34

1d ago23:34

23:34

In “An Orthodox Jewish Congregation Keeps on (Food) Truckin' in Birmingham,” Gravy producer Margaret Weinberg Norman documents the story of JJ’s Sandwich Shop, a glatt kosher deli on wheels operated by the oldest Orthodox Jewish congregation in Birmingham, Alabama. In the Magic City, food trucks are familiar, but both kosher restaurants and authent…

1
Chef Kelly Franz on the challenge of coming home to a legendary Charleston restaurant to take it into the future without discarding its storied past 40:35

9d ago40:35

40:35

Chef Kelly Franz developed her taste for great food growing up in Europe as part of a military family. She made her name during the culinary boom in Charleston, rising to Executive Chef at the storied Magnolias restaurant, which took low country cooking upscale. Now she has returned as Culinary Director to freshen up the menu, mindful that there ar…

1
Southern Cooking Comes to Portugal 25:39

15d ago25:39

25:39

In “Southern Cooking Comes to Portugal,” Gravy producer Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong takes listeners to Porto, the second largest city in Portugal, which anchors the northern region. Porto is famous for its wine and its hearty francesinha sandwiches. But this city of a quarter million people has a food scene whose depth might surprise you. Porto runs the …

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2025 James Beard Awards Outstanding Restaurant co-owner and master sommelier Bobby Stuckey on featuring amazing food from an Italian region few people have ever heard of 40:05

16d ago40:05

40:05

Bobby Stuckey entered the culinary world as a teenaged dishwasherand worked his way up through a range of front of the house positions until he achieved the rarely awarded rank of Master Sommelier and became a multi-award-winning restaurateur. The centerpiece of the restaurant group he co-owns, Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder, Colorado, which holds…

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2025 James Beard Best New Restaurant Award winners Jeanie Janas Ritter and Chef Adam Ritter on combining French techniques with Minnesota ingredients and risking everything to open a restaurant where others ... 48:37

16d ago48:37

48:37

Classically trained chefs Jeanie Janas Ritter and Adam Ritter shared a culinary journey working at great and Michelin-starred restaurants throughout the US and internationally before coming back to their midwestern roots and working in Minneapolis, first for someone else, then taking the risk of opening a place of their own. Their venture, Bûcheron…

1
Portland Chef Cathy Whims on the secrets to cooking in Italy, being tutored by the legendary Marcella Hazan, and helping turn Portland, Oregon into a culinary force 39:43

23d ago39:43

39:43

Chef Cathy Whims was at the forefront of the culinary revolution in Portland, Oregon and decades later she retains that position there. Her Nostrana Italian restaurant continues to dish up the kind of regional cooking truly enjoyed in the small towns and villages of Italy, bolstered by great Oregon ingredients, and her pizza is listed among America…

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We Sure Eat Good When Someone Dies 23:29

29d ago23:29

23:29

In “We Sure Eat Good When Someone Dies,” Gravy producer Caleb Johnson takes listeners back to August 2024, when his extended family gathered inside a Baptist church in Arley, Alabama, to mourn the loss of their matriarch—his grandmother, Celia Sampley. Before the funeral service, the church served lunch for the family, including chicken and dumplin…

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2025 James Beard Best Chef-Texas Thomas Bille on creating great food through the lens of a first generation Mexican American, risking everything on a dream, and rebuilding after losing it all 37:29

1M ago37:29

37:29

Chef Thomas Bille describes his cooking at his suburban Houston restaurant Belly of the Beast as driven by “a love for food that warms your soul and speaks to our ancestors.” A child of Mexican immigrants, Bille grew up with great food – his father was a professional chef and his mother a fabulous home cook – and as a self-described latchkey kid he…

1
Bonus Episode - A visit to Brennan's for the art and theatre of Banana's Foster 21:57

1M ago21:57

21:57

This special bonus episode comes from the folks at Gravy, a production of the Southern Foodways Alliance. Gravy shares stories of the changingAmerican South, and in this episode, producer Eve Troeh takes us to Brennan’s, an iconic restaurant in the heart of New Orleans’ French Quarter, where spectacle and tradition come together over a flambé pan. …

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Pitmaster Ali Clem on winning a Michelin star for her barbecue restaurant, and her remarkable rise from selling her barbecue from a trailer 36:00

1M ago36:00

36:00

Ali Clem says she was shocked when her La Barbecue restaurant in Austin, TX was recently awarded a Michelin star. She was mentored by members of a legendary Texas barbecue family, the Muellers of Louis Mueller Barbecue in Taylor, Texas and married founder Louis Mueller’s granddaughter, LeAnn Mueller. They worked together until Mueller’suntimely dea…

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Virginia Public Schools Serve Indigenous Cuisine 27:32

1M ago27:32

27:32

In “Virginia Public Schools Serve Indigenous Cuisine,” Gravy producer Anya Groner takes listeners to the second annual Indigenous PeoplesFeast at the College of William & Mary. The evening’s menu showcasesindigenous food–foraged wild rice, duck confit, acorn grits, and a four-cornstew. But these dishes aren’t just for enjoying tonight. With the hel…

1
2025 James Beard Award winner Nando Chang on Peruvian-Japanese cuisine, the threat to immigrants in the food world, and how hip-hop changed his life 40:55

1M ago40:55

40:55

The Chang siblings, born in Peru, emigrated to the U.S. as children, and now living in Miami, have locked up the James Beard award for Best Chef South for two straight years. Valerie won last year for her cooking at her Peruvian restaurant, Maty’s. Her older brother and co-owner Nando just won the 2025 award for what he does at his restaurant withi…

1
Chef and restaurateur Nicholas Fanucci on his career at legendary Michelin-starred restaurants and his journey from the top to a food truck to a restaurant of his own 39:56

2M ago39:56

39:56

Born in Cannes, France, and raised in a food-centric French-Italian family, Nicholas Fanucci has run some of the greatest and best-known restaurants in America, including the French Laundry, Bouchon, Le Cirque, Le Bec-Fin, and more. Previously, he worked in Europe at legendary establishments including Alain Ducasse’s Louis XV. The restaurants he ha…

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Culinary Characters Unlocked: Marisa Baggett 39:18

2M ago39:18

39:18

This week, Gravy is excited to share a special episode from a show we think you’ll love: Culinary Characters Unlocked. Hosted by David Page, the creator of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, the show highlights bold food makers whose stories might surprise you. In this episode, we meet chef Marisa Baggett, a Black, Jewish, female sushi chef whose journey…

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Chef Yotaka “Sunny” Martin and her partner/husband on bringing her Thai cuisine to America and, with no restaurant experience, winning the 2025 James Beard Award for Best Chef Southwest 42:21

2M ago42:21

42:21

Chef Yotaka Martin had never heard of the James Beard awards until she was nominated for the 2024 competition. She grew up in a small village in the north of Thailand and has only been in the U.S a few years. But she is well aware now. She didn’t win last year but she was just named the 2025 James Beard Best Chef Southwest for her cooking at the Ph…

1
Planting it Forward in Houston 24:47

2M ago24:47

24:47

While immigration is at the forefront of today’s news cycle,it’s hardly a new issue in Southeast Texas. Since the 1800s, Galveston has been a major port of entry for foreign newcomers. That pattern continues today up Highway 45 in Houston, which ranks among America’s largest destinations for refugee resettlement. While Harris County has many resour…

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Chef and restaurateur Tyler Akin on re-opening his family’s favorite restaurant from his childhood and cooking a world of cuisines 39:15

2M ago39:15

39:15

Acclaimed Philadelphia restaurateur Tyler Akin recreated his childhood memories by re-opening the restaurant where his family celebrated big occasions—the Green Room, in the Hotel DuPont in Wilmington,Delaware. He grew up watching his southern grandmother in the kitchen. He went to law school (his father was a lawyer and later a judge) but dropped …

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Two Michelin star winning chef Suzette Gresham on battling restaurant world misogyny and finding the soul of a cuisine 51:49

2M ago51:49

51:49

Chef Suzette Gresham has been a pioneer in fighting for the place of women in the long-male-dominated world of high-end cooking for forty years. And she’s also one of the greatest chefs working today. She holds two Michelin stars at her San Francisco restaurant Acquerello, where her seasonal tasing menus sparkle with the freshest, often unusual, di…

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What's Brewing in Memphis? 17:14

2M ago17:14

17:14

In “What's Brewing in Memphis?” Gravy producer and reporterBrandi Hunter takes listeners to Memphis to explore what it takes to build acraft beer brand in an industry where less than one percent of breweries areBlack-owned, and systemic barriers continue to limit growth. Kelvin Kolheim, founder of Beale Street Brewing Company, isat the center of th…

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Third generation Seattle restaurant owner Mark Canlis, on keeping the highest standards while remaining fresh after 75 years 38:35

2M ago38:35

38:35

On Food and Wine’s list of America’s top restaurants for 2025, Canlis came in at number two. That, after decades as a Seattle landmark and a nationally known pinnacle of fine dining. It is also a time of great challenge for Canlis – a new Executive Chef; the departure of Mark’s brother, who had been his business partner for twenty years; and the to…

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Michelin award winning chef Julia Momosé on creating the tastes she grew up with in Japan at her Chicago restaurant Kumiko, and the mixology that just won her a James Beard award 41:41

3M ago41:41

41:41

Born and raised in Japan, Chef Julia Momosé developed a respect and love for hospitality watching her mother entertain at home. Her motivation for entering the culinary world was a visit she made to a bar in Kyoto watching the bartender hand making ice spheres for use in drinks. She pursued that newfound passion while attending college in the U.S.,…

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There’s No Business Like Hansen’s Sno Bliz-ness 22:52

3M ago22:52

22:52

In “There’s No Business Like Hansen’s Sno Bliz-ness,” Gravy producer Eve Troeh takes us to New Orleans, home of the sno-ball. In the South you need strategies to beat the summer heat, and ice plays a big role. Street vendors used to shave big blocks of ice by hand and add flavored syrup—a treat that became known as a sno-ball in the Big Easy. In th…

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Classically trained boundary-shattering chef Jordan Kahn on simultaneously holding Michelin stars at two different restaurants, and his singular approach to storytelling through food 53:47

3M ago53:47

53:47

Pioneering chef Jordan Kahn holds Michelin stars at two different Los Angeles area restaurants— two stars at Vespertine, and one star at Meteora. Appropriately, the Michelin Guide calls his rise in the food world “meteoric.” Kahn worked under legendary chefs Thomas Keller and Grant Achatz before striking out on his own, He is known for crafting not…

1
Chef Anita Jaisinghani on creating a wildly successful Indian diner in Houston, Texas 34:41

3M ago34:41

34:41

Chef Anita Jaisinghani grew up in India and, while she loved food, she didn’t make it a career at first. She became a microbiologist, worked in that field when she and her husband moved to Canada, and only decided to enter the restaurant business when they moved to Houston. There, she opened what she describes as an Indian diner, Pondicheri, and in…

1
From Stuckey's to Buc-ee's 26:16

3M ago26:16

26:16

Few companies have inspired more fanatical devotion among Texans than the convenience chain Buc-ee’s. Described by the New York Times as both a “Disneyland of roadside capitalism” and the “through line of America’s second most sprawling state,” its iconic, buck-toothed beaver mascot has been spotted not just on billboards, but on wedding cakes and …

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Michelin star winning chef Laurent Tourondel on his restaurant blowing up on Tik Tok 30:32

3M ago30:32

30:32

Laurent Tourondel is a Michelin star winning French chef who opened an affordable New York steakhouse, Skirt Steak, that became a Tik Tok sensation. Born in Auvergne, France, he has worked all over the world in astoried 40-year career (and even says his time in Moscow was a great culinary learning experience). He has earned a Michelin star, three s…

1
Chef Marisa Baggett on shattering expectations as a female, Black, Jewish sushi chef, and redefining sushi her way 38:06

4M ago38:06

38:06

Marisa Baggett had never seen sushi, never tasted sushi, when a customer asked for it at her Starkville Mississippi café. And that launched her quest to master the age old Japanese culinary tradition, graduating from the California Sushi Academy, and championing creativity that remains true to the fresh and local soul of sushi, such as her southern…

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Oh, Snapper! Mislabeled Mississippi Seafood 27:54

4M ago27:54

27:54

In “Oh, Snapper! Mislabeled Mississippi Seafood,” Gravy producer Boyce Upholt takes listeners to Biloxi, Mississippi—a town that haslong called itself the Seafood Capital of the World. But in May 2024, shocking news hit the community: Mary Mahoney's Old French House, an iconic restaurant, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to misbrand fish and wire fraud…

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Chef Eric Levine on turning Brooklyn favorites like hot dogs and knishes into elevated culinary masterpieces— and on achieving celebrity and success while repeatedly battling cancer 39:15

4M ago39:15

39:15

Chef Eric LeVine was so taken by cooking that before he even attended culinary school, he wrote a letter to groundbreaking chef David Burke at the legendary River Café in New York – and got hired. He credits Chef Burke with setting him on the path to culinary achievement and, after graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, Chef LeVine cook…

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Owner Amy Mills on secrets behind the iconic barbecue restaurant founded by her father, a barbecue legend 43:58

4M ago43:58

43:58

Amy Mills grew up surrounded by barbecue. Her father Mike Mills owned 17th St. Barbecue in Murphysboro, Illinois and was the first pitmaster ever named Grand Champion three times at the “super bowl of swine,” the Memphis in May barbecue competition. Her father passed away a few years back and Amy now runs the growing operation which includes two re…

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Buzzkill: Save which bees? 33:19

4M ago33:19

33:19

Gravy podcast is excited to share a special episode of a new podcast called Buzzkill, from our friends at FERN, the Food and Environmental Reporting Network. Buzzkill explores the dramatic decline of pollinators, including the American bumblebee, whose numbers have plummeted by 90% in just two decades. The series, hosted by Teresa Cotsilos, delves …

1
James Beard award winning chef Alon Shaya on making a splash in new Orleans—not with Cajun or Creole cooking, but with Israeli food—and on becoming a sweet-tea-loving southerner 37:43

4M ago37:43

37:43

James Beard Award winning chef Alon Shaya, born in Israel and raised in Philadelphia, was cooking for his family at the age of seven. When he began getting into trouble as a teen, his high school home economics teacher intervened, getting him his first fine-dining cooking job when he was just 16. He says she saved his life. He went on the Culinary …

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Chef Alycia Wahn Martindale on Michelin recognizing her new Toronto restaurant; cooking Creole, Caribbean, and Latin American flavors north of the border; and why she’s scratch-making her own butter and ... 34:20

5M ago34:20

34:20

Chef Alycia Wahn Martindale is cooking up southern flavors north of the border at Conejo Negro (Black Rabbit in Spanish), the massively popular Toronto restaurant she owns with her husband and their good friend. The menu is a combination of Creole, Caribbean, and Latin American cooking. And she is making everything possible from scratch— bacon, but…

1
The Southern Genius of the Cuban Sandwich 25:54

5M ago25:54

25:54

The Cuban sandwich. If it’s made with ingredients different from someone else’s recipe, you might find yourself in an hours-long argument in the middle of Little Havana. In Miami and Tampa, Florida, restaurant owners, historians, and Cuban Americans recount their own memories of the Cuban sandwich, as well as the story of its origins. In this episo…

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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 37:47

5M ago37:47

37:47

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 …

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Small town chef and restaurant owner Cara Tobin on her nomination as America’s best restaurateur in the upcoming James beard awards 37:14

5M ago37:14

37:14

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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A Muddy Future for Louisiana Crawfish 22:17

5M ago22:17

22:17

In “A Muddy Future for Louisiana Crawfish,” Gravy producer Eva Tesfaye traces the aftermath of the summer of 2023, when a severe drought in Louisiana devastated the 2024 crawfish season. The dry soil and extreme heat killed the crawfish while they were still burrowed underground, meaning when farmers flooded their fields in the fall, they found the…

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Culinary Characters Unlocked Podcasts

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