TAKE AWAY ONLY : Recent Episodes
FreeTime Media
TAKE AWAY ONLY is a podcast about the hospitality industry in crisis. Restaurants, bars, hotels are shutting down. Jobs are vanishing. Everybody is wondering what will happen next. During this series, journalist Howie Kahn looks for answers, talking to hospitality professionals all over the world as they continue to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, civil unrest and more. These are the stories about the people who take care of you. Hit subscribe. Please join us.
For almost 20 years, Kamal Mouzawak, a Beirut-based social entrepreneur and hospitality visionary, has been building bridges in Lebanon through food. He founded the country's first farmer's market, Souk el Tayeb, which has also become important for its advocacy of farmers and for the way it provides public food education. His restaurant, Tawlet, features dishes that have helped Lebanese nationals and travelers alike understand the country's diverse culinary traditions and the stories behind them. Kamal's mission has always been humanitarian in nature and now, facing an unprecedented combination of crises, including the aftermath of August 4th's devastating explosion, he has teamed with World Central Kitchen to make thousands of meals per day for people in need. Listen in as Kamal describes what he's doing in the wake of the blast, shares ambitious plans for the future of Tawlet and Souk el Tayeb and explains why he believes now is the make it or break moment for his city and his country.
To aid in Kamal's efforts please go to:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-rebuild-tawlet-and-souk-el-tayeb-beirut
REPLAY: Honeysuckle's Omar Tate joins us from Philadelphia during an emotional week of protests and racial tension to talk about finding his way as a black chef in America and expressing the experience of blackness through his food. Hear why he interpreted the MOVE bombing on a plate, how he's discovered ultimate autonomy and what $100 bean pies could mean to the future of his cooking and his neighborhood. **THIS EPISODE ORIGINALLY RAN ON JUNE 5th.
Help fund Omar's Honeysuckle Community Center:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/honeysuckle-community-center
Brutus Bakeshop's Lani Halliday and Honey Bunny's Chicken's Jared Howard share how they came to be part of the Black Entrepreneur Series at Maison Yaki in Brooklyn as well their thoughts about allyship, reparations and empathy. Lani's Maison Yaki pop-up kicked off the series with her sensational gluten-free, vegan pastries and savories, including her now iconic pop tart. She tells us why her food matters in this moment and beyond. Currently at Maison Yaki, Jared Howard is cooking fried chicken, biscuits and his take on Mid-Atlantic cuisine in his first ever time running a kitchen at the age of 41. One of these guests has a mysterious, movie-ready backstory you won't want to miss, one has roots in Southern agriculture and both have fascinating takes on how to make their businesses thrive now and in the future.
Instagram:
@lanihalliday @honeybunnyschicken @maisonyaki
Cut loose from her job as the executive pastry chef of a celebrated New York restaurant group, Natasha Pickowicz talks about confronting a new reality of occupational independence and a more personal and familial version of creativity. Plus, what a pandemic can do for a relationship with your parents, understanding burnout, separating identity from institution and Natasha's new initiatives, ranging from activism to building community resources to selling layer cakes and ice cream on summer Sundays at Superiority Burger in Manhattan.
REPLAY: As President of One Fair Wage, Co-Founder of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC United), and Director of the Food Labor Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley, Saru Jayaraman spearheads some of the most important efforts being made to establish restaurants as safer and more equitable places to work. Hear about the millions of workers Saru is fighting for, why the minimum wage is linked to slavery, the myriad problems with unemployment insurance, the service-industry parallels between COVID-19 and 9/11 and why One Fair Wage is essential to providing a better future for workers, employers and consumers. Plus, how to support One Fair Wage's emergency efforts to get money and food to the workers who need it most and the announcement of the organization's new High Road Kitchens program. **THIS EPISODE ORIGINALLY RAN ON APRIL 24TH
https://onefairwage.com
REPLAY: Working nearly every job imaginable in New York City's restaurants and bars, from diners to fine dining, Zak Snyder has learned to live on the economic edge. Now facing serious personal health issues on top of the COVID-19 pandemic, Zak is putting his life on the line to serve his community. **THIS EPISODE ORIGINALLY RAN ON MARCH 26TH
REPLAY: FoodLab Detroit's Executive Director Devita Davison helps small businesses come into existence, leading a dynamic incubator and accelerator program for nearly 200 local members. But what happens when those businesses are all threatened at once? Listen in as Devita gives a dynamic, full-throated and must-hear master class on how to organize, how to generate hope and vision and why Detroit is uniquely positioned to help heal a suffering nation. **THIS EPISODE ORIGINALLY RAN ON MARCH 25. https://foodlabdetroit.com
Lucali's Mark Iacono and Best Pizza's Frank Pinello join us from Brooklyn to talk about reliability, innovation, mortality, compassion, fear and running two of New York City's most iconic pizzerias over the course of COVID-19.
Is building a strong and just communications strategy the secret sauce for an ailing industry? Veteran communications expert Blake MacKay joins us to discuss why getting the message right is more important in this moment than ever before and why it goes deeper than common perception. Plus, where the work of undoing systemic racism starts, learning to hold a moral line in the food world and how selling cheese made Blake a more precise and empathic communicator.
Writer and chef Illyanna Maisonet's blog and accompanying newsletter, Eat Gorda Eat, has been a blessed escape from stay at home life during this pandemic. She writes about the hyper-regionality of Puerto Rican cuisine with depth, sensitivity and authority, so much so that you're transported to places like Humacao or Naranjito, at least for a little while. Illyanna joins us to talk about the endless learning of writing about Puerto Rican food, the brilliance of sofrito ice cubes and where to get the best alcapurrias. We also discuss the vital matter of getting Illyanna's debut cookbook published. Publishers, what are you waiting for?
Check out Illyanna's work and subscribe to her newsletter:
http://eatgordaeat.blogspot.com
In response to COVID-19, Louisville, Kentucky's LEE Initiative has grown rapidly from a 2-person non-profit to a national force, opening 19 relief kitchens in 19 cities. Co-founders Lindsey Ofcacek and Edward Lee join us to talk about taking care of hospitality workers nationwide and continuing to come up with new programs to support farmers, restaurant re-openings and to serve the legacy of David McAtee, a barbecue chef shot and killed by the National Guard in Louisville's West End on June 1. As Louisville continues to make headlines, hear what Linsdey and Edward have to say about fostering community and hope in their city.
To donate to any of The Lee Initiative's campaigns, including the McAtee Community Kitchen, please visit:
https://leeinitiative.kindful.com
San Francisco Chronicle restaurant critic and co-host of the new podcast Extra Spicy, Soleil Ho joins us to discuss what a restaurant critic does during a pandemic and what we now mean by the term "restaurant" anyway.
Disappointed with the work culture in fine dining restaurants, Matt Jozwiak left the world of cooking tasting menus to solve food insecurity in New York City. He co-founded Rethink Food with partner Winston Chiu in 2016. During COVID-19, Rethink's work scaled in remarkable ways, cooking and donating 645,156 meals from March through June while forming key partnerships with La Morada, Ghetto Gastro and Eleven Madison Park. Matt joins us to discuss innovating in the non-profit sector, an upcoming program pledging significant funds to neighborhood restaurants and expanding Rethink to Nashville, San Francisco, New Orleans and more.
Soul Fire Farm's Leah Penniman grows food for people targeted by state violence and impacted by poverty and food apartheid. As those factors became more pronounced during the pandemic, Soul Fire Farm ramped up food production while also teaching an increasing number of people in their community how to grow food for themselves. Leah joins us to talk about her farm's activist mission, reparations, ending racism and injustice in the food system, her book, Farming While Black, the ways she fuses spirituality with social justice and what message the Earth is trying to convey to all of us.
http://www.soulfirefarm.org
Ghetto Gastro's Jon Gray joins us to discuss radical partnerships, feeding the Bronx, ending systemic racism, fighting respectability politics, using storytelling as a tool to dismantle white supremacy, black joy as an act of rebellion, a six-figure T-shirt fundraiser, Ghetto Gastro's Juneteenth plans and much more.
Seattle's Addo restaurant, and its chef-owner Eric Rivera, have moved through this pandemic with maximal creativity, nonstop innovation and awe-inspiring output. Eric joins us to explain how he's using Puerto Rican food, online gaming, time travel, book borrowing, virtual cooking classes and camping, the cuisine of Russia, donated meals, and dozens more ideas and elements to keep Addo thriving. Plus, the future of the restaurant from service to the dish pit, a dissection of Eric's creative process and the ways he's planning to fight for social and racial justice for the long term.
Othón Nolasco and his partners Damian Diaz and Aaron Melendrez at Va'La Hospitality have spent the pandemic feeding undocumented hospitality workers in Los Angeles. Othón joins us to talk about turning anger at a flawed system into an effort to provide food to 660 families a week through their aptly named, growing organization, No Us Without You!
Basbaas founder and In Bibi's Kitchen author, Hawa Hassan and Colonia Verde chef-owner, Felipe Donnelly talk about fellowship, serving their community, using gratitude as a lifeline and summoning the fortitude to show up time and time again.
His business partner died; COVID-19 closed his restaurant; and now, amidst civil unrest in Cincinnati, Christian Gill continues to fight for the safety and survival of Boomtown Biscuits and Whiskey. Christian joins us to discuss leading while mourning, grasping diplomacy through anger, the failures of police and the importance, for him, of doing his best with what he has.
Honeysuckle's Omar Tate joins us from Philadelphia during an emotional week of protests and racial tension to talk about finding his way as a black chef in America and expressing the experience of blackness through his food. Hear why he interpreted the MOVE bombing on a plate, how he's discovered ultimate autonomy and what $100 bean pies could mean to the future of his cooking and his neighborhood.
Finding themselves suddenly out of work, Ramzi Budayr, Tyler Curtis and Mallory Cayon combined their considerable hospitality talents and energy to launch Few For All, a meal kit service specializing in fresh pastas, sauces, cookies and cinnamon rolls. Since launching in March, they've also donated more than 5,000 pounds of their pasta to the LA Regional Food Bank, helping to rally against food insecurity. Hear how they've grown, what they've learned, and how Few For All plans to help protesters as demonstrations grip Los Angeles.
As Navajo Nation's COVID-19 infection rate reached the highest in America, chef Brian Yazzie began a drive to send money, food and other resources back to Dennehotso, Arizona, the community in which he grew up. Hear how Brian plans to help return abundance to his ancestral home through food and farming and how he's feeding Native American elders in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Donate to the Dennehotso Families Covid-19 Relief Fund:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/dennehotso-families-covid19-relief-fund
Millions of children across America depend on schools for basic nutrition. Brigaid's Dan Giusti discusses how to keep meals coming during a time when schools cannot open. Plus, Dan tackles a growing demand to feed senior citizens and advocates for an important piece of legislation, the Universal School Meals Program Act.
After two years of perpetual hustle opening and sustaining Nyum Bai, her Oakland, California restaurant, chef-owner Nite Yun didn't realize the extent of her exhaustion. She's used a period of this pandemic to reset and refocus, to develop new rituals and learn treasured recipes from her mother. She joins us to discuss Cambodian rock and roll, making nom ansom and her ambitious and delicious plans to open a new iteration of Nyum Bai in June.
Iluka's Beau Clugston joins us to discuss working through stress, fear and longing to renovate his Copenhagen restaurant while launching two new concepts during a pandemic.
Long before opening Bywater American Bistro and Compère Lapin in New Orleans, Nina Compton grew up in Saint Lucia, the daughter of the island's Prime Minister. Hear how being raised around politics prepared her for this moment, and her work with the Independent Restaurant Coalition, what it means to cook in a city who understands how to rescue its own, and Nina's ingenious and special plan for reopening Bywater on June 4th.
Julio Barzola arrived in the United States from Ecuador in 1985 and two years later, he opened his first restaurant in Brooklyn, followed by another in Jackson Heights, Queens. His son Xavier arrived in New York from Ecuador in 1991 and began working in the kitchen soon after. For the Barzolas, Ecuadorian restaurants are the family business and 2 years ago, Xavier, now 44, opened Barzola East Elmhurst, set in a part of Queens where COVID-19 has now been diagnosed in 1 in every 24 people. Hear how Xavier's 20-year-old daughter, Arlene, a business administration major at Queens College, inspired her father to stay open through the pandemic and how they adjusted their business model to sustain a community in need.
Did operating his new restaurant in China give Christopher Kostow a blueprint for how to handle his Napa restaurants during a pandemic? What tests of character did he face? What will become of wet markets and the 12 Days of Christmas? And what's going on at the Restaurant at Meadowood with CSA boxes, jelly beans and berries? Christopher Kostow joins us from the newly reopened Charter Oak in St. Helena, California to discuss all this and more.
Shutting down for COVID-19 prompted Sydney, Australia's Josh Niland, to get to work reshaping his innovative seafood restaurant Saint Peter for a different kind of future. Construction is already underway. Seating configurations are changing. His nights in the restaurant will be designed for greater intimacy and his successful and inspired new take away business, Mr. Niland at Home, launched in March, will live on as a meaningful revenue stream. Josh joins us from Sydney for a candid discussion about the cost of perfectionism, the stress of creativity and the pressure of getting the plan right for the next phase of his business--and his life.
Singapore seemed to have COVID-19 in check. The curve was flattening. A resurgence of the virus, however, presents a cautionary lesson for the rest of the world. Teng Wen Wee, managing partner of the Lo & Behold Group, joins us to discuss the emotional ups and downs of running one of his country's premiere restaurant groups throughout this pandemic, the fate of Singapore's treasured Hawker Centers, Michelin 3-star take away from Odette and feeding migrant workers through the Straits Clan Community Kitchen program.
To learn more about Lo & Behold, follow them on Instagram @lobeholdgroup To learn more about Straits Clan Community Kitchen, visit: https://straitsclan.com/communitykitchen And to donate: https://www.giving.sg/campaigns/homeforall-migrants
Anna Dunn began working at Diner in Williamsburg, Brooklyn 15-years ago, lying about being a morning person and ending up working an early shift. Anna stayed on because of the type of community the restaurant has fostered, playing many roles in the Diner universe including editing its excellent magazine, Diner Journal, and working on an upcoming Diner cookbook. When COVID-19 hit, Anna knew her fellow restaurant workers would be extremely vulnerable, so, along with colleagues Kelly Sullivan and Seamus Branch, Anna started a mutual aid organization turned 501(c)(3) called the Service Workers Coalition where over $100,000 has been raised. Anna discusses its formation and speedy evolution plus why it's important to help eradicate shame surrounding the articulation of peoples' needs.
You can learn more about Service Workers Coalition on Instagram at @serviceworkerscoalition and donate: https://ioby.org/project/grocery-stipends.
As New Yorkers settle in for month 3 without a sit-down restaurant meal in sight, restaurateur Gabriel Stulman is both innovating and looking for relief. Will his landlords run him out of business before he even has a chance to re-open? Will personal bankruptcy be on the table, too? Hear how Gabriel is pursuing protective legislation, running a grocery and feeding front line workers, all the while wondering how many of his 9 restaurants will survive the pandemic and the year.
Since opening 33 years ago, London's legendary River Cafe has only closed twice: for six months after a fire and for one day after the death of co-owner Rose Gray. As the restaurant endures this most recent emergency, hear how owner Ruth Rogers and team have designed a new business while sticking to their values, what it means to Shop the River Cafe and how Rogers, with her signature tenderness, is envisioning re-opening. True to form: she's hoping for a party.
From packing and distributing Saturday farm boxes to joining in solidarity for #IRunWithMaud, the leadership at The Grey and The Grey Market in Savannah, Georgia, have made a pact to be present and to do the right thing for their community. Mashama Bailey and Johno Morisano join us to discuss their responsibilities to Savannah, to their industry, to their team and to each other.
After seeing a precipitous decline in restaurants' business all throughout Manhattan's Chinatown and witnessing the xenophobic bullying of Asian senior citizens, Kopitiam's Moonlynn Tsai decided to take a stand for her community. Heart of Dinner, an organization Moonlynn co-founded, brings comfort to seniors in Chinatown by lovingly delivering meals and pantry staples to a homebound population especially vulnerable to COVID-19. Hear what Moonlynn is cooking, who she's collaborating with and how she ultimately intends to keep Kopitiam, and Chinatown, going in the face of both racism and a pandemic.
AskChefsAnything began as an idea to raise money for immigrant workers in New York and soon became a national campaign. Now, on the verge of expanding the auction-based initiative to Philadelphia, Miami, St. Louis, Dallas and Chicago, cofounder Anna Polonsky joins us to discuss strategy and growth as well as the future of her consultancy, Polonsky & Friends. Hear which activists Anna wants to collaborate with, why mission-driven restaurants represent a healthier future, how logos become powerful statements of identity and action and details about the documentary series Anna is working on about gastro-diplomacy in the Middle East, featuring the great Anissa Helou.
Master Sommelier and co-founder of Colorado's Frasca Hospitality Group joins Take Away Only to talk about why storytelling matters in government, making up for lost lobbying time and how restaurateurs plan to get congress to act on their behalf. Plus, the challenges of changing expectations, the health and spirit of Friulian wine makers and what a hospitality legend has planned for a special occasion in a time without restaurants.
What happens to the most social among us when social distancing becomes the norm? Matty Matheson joins Take Away Only to discuss separation anxiety, imposter syndrome and his own deep-seeded need for human contact. Plus, details on Matty's now-delayed dream restaurant in Toronto and what he's trying to achieve with his new Meat + Three pop-up in his hometown of Fort Erie, Ontario.
Nobody runs a restaurant quite like Mei Mei's Irene Li. Her finances are open to the public. Her sense of transparency is radical. Addressing social inequality matters as much as the menu. Hear how these values evolve throughout a pandemic, what Mei Mei's function will be in the coming months and which restaurants, beyond her own, Irene is actively trying to save.
Treats Help brings New York City's best baked goods, from places like Le Bernardin, Mah-Ze-Dar and Ovenly, to its most critical workers. Launched by Melanie Dunea, Anjali Kumar, Judi Wong, Stephanie March and Gail Simmons, the organization supplies much needed cash to local bakeries and restaurants, who in turn make bite-sized delights for hospital workers throughout the 5 Boroughs. Melanie Dunea joins us to discuss the logistics of launching and running the initiative, the virtues of dessert, developing a PPE protocol, and how she's coping by helping.
As Zuni Café's chef de cuisine, Nate Norris oversees one of the most seminal kitchens in San Francisco, a place that's as much a community anchor as it is a restaurant. But what happens when the needs of the community change rapidly and a restaurant is asked to play a greater role? Nate Norris joins us to discuss what actions Zuni has taken, how those actions will shape the restaurant's future, building trust amongst a new and vulnerable audience and what Zuni's plans are for reopening with take away on May 6th.
Being married to a New York City nurse means COVID-19 has impacted every aspect of chef JJ Johnson's life, including the mission of his restaurant, Fieldtrip. Hear about the healthcare workers he's been feeding, the Harlem neighbors he's been meeting and why JJ thinks his business is ready to scale up--and scale now.
Chris Shepherd joins us from Houston to discuss the extraordinary work of his Southern Smoke Foundation, the survival and upcoming evolution of his four restaurants, the restorative power of "page 38 chicken," and finding unexpected relief on a massive scale at his local grocery store.
As Danish society slowly begins to reopen, René Redzepi joins us to discuss living with uncertainty, a new direction for Noma, alternative revenue streams, the reality of profit margins, group mental health, newfound reflectiveness and creativity, a new fund for former employees, preparing for future crises and establishing greater security both for his own family and for the business that represents his life's work.
As co-founder of Whetstone Magazine, host of the podcast Point of Origin and a longtime restaurant worker himself, Stephen Satterfield tells stories about food and the issues surrounding it with inimitable sensitivity, grace and intelligence. On this episode, Stephen joins us to explore what roles stories must take on during and after this pandemic, why empathy is a cornerstone of his work, how restaurants help shape our identity, where he's finding comfort now and what he believes this moment can clarify for workers, diners and anybody with a beating heart.
Cristina Martinez and her husband, Ben Miller run South Philly Barbacoa, one of our greatest and most soulful restaurants, not only for the inimitable lamb barbacoa and consommé that comes out of its kitchen starting at 5am, but for the restaurant's steadfast and rousing defense of undocumented workers. Martinez's story is epic as an immigrant and as a chef. She's now on lawyer number 3 and has spent an untold amount of money in legal fees just trying to get her papers sorted. All the while, Martinez and Miller strive to take care of the undocumented restaurant workers around them by speaking up for their cause and truly giving them visibility--a step many restaurant owners are unwilling to take. Ben Miller joins us on this episode of Take Away Only, post-shift, to continue energetically going to bat for undocumented workers while Christina, who speaks Spanish, completes yet another 15-hour shift to keep Philadelphia barbacoa-rich in the midst of a pandemic.
Formed by refugee and immigrant women in Baltimore in 2017, Mera Kitchen Collective has been built for catering, pop-ups and selling meals at the farmers' market. Mera's members are from places like Syria, El Salvador and Burkina Faso; they specialize in dishes such as saffron-infused charcoal-smoked rice, sorel chicken stew and pupusas. With the spread of COVID-19, the Collective's members decided to change their business model completely. Now, they're cooking their regional specialties for neighbors in need. Emily Lerman and Aisha Alfadhalah of Mera and Irena Stein of partner restaurant Alma Cocina Latina gather to discuss the nature of hunger, serving their community while communicating across cultures and the singular facets of this extraordinary and expanding operation.
Kith/Kin's Kwame Onwuachi talks about joining the Independent Restaurant Coalition, why he identifies with Spider-Man, the glory of unboxing a giant salmon at home, the virtues of service and listening, Eating Clean While Quarantined and managing a sense of anxiety and hopelessness all while fighting to maintain sanity and show his team how much he loves them.
As President of One Fair Wage, Co-Founder of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC United), and Director of the Food Labor Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley, Saru Jayaraman spearheads some of the most important efforts being made to establish restaurants as safer and more equitable places to work. Hear about the millions of workers Saru is fighting for, why the minimum wage is linked to slavery, the myriad problems with unemployment insurance, the service-industry parallels between COVID-19 and 9/11 and why One Fair Wage is essential to providing a better future for workers, employers and consumers. Plus, how to support One Fair Wage's emergency efforts to get money and food to the workers who need it most.
The travel industry accounts for 10% of the global GDP and represents more than one hundred million jobs. According to industry visionary David Prior, travel also supports culture, from museums to celebrations around the world. On this episode of Take Away Only, David blessedly shares some transporting stories, while discussing what happens when communal expressions of culture go on pause. Plus, how to sustain tradition and beauty while isolated, the intensified future of experience-driven travel and how facing adversity can give even the most avid traveler a new sense of belonging and purpose at home.
Eric Ripert has spent almost 30 years in the kitchen of a single restaurant, Le Bernardin in New York City. Shutting it down meant letting go a staff of 180, including some who started at the restaurant when it opened in 1986, 5 years prior to Ripert's arrival. Hear what LeBernardin may look like when it reopens, what challenges Ripert is helping his community face along with City Harvest and what he talks to LeBernardin's co-founder, the inimitable Maguy Le Coze, about on a daily basis. Plus, Eric's meditations tips for troubling times.
When Jen Hidinger-Kendrick's late husband, Ryan Hidinger, was diagnosed with terminal cancer, her Atlanta restaurant community rallied to help the couple. Collective support suddenly seemed critical and the idea of organizing it for others was the idea that launched the Giving Kitchen in 2013 with the aim of providing a variety of aid, financial and otherwise, for hospitality workers facing all sorts of crises. As COVID-19 spreads, the Giving Kitchen is being called on now more than ever. Hear how the organization is dealing with a sudden and extreme surge in demand and how they're responding by helping more people than ever before.
COVID-19 has forced North Carolina chef and restaurateur Ashley Christensen to downsize her company from 280 employees to 28 to 2. Only Ashley and her Executive Director (and wife, Kaitlyn) remain. With 6 closed restaurants and an events business whose bookings have all been cancelled, hear what Ashley is doing to keep her laid off team insured, why she's cut her own salary completely and maintaining a sense of resolve and stability amidst an ever changing landscape of new legislation, draconian loan programs and endless forms to interpret and fill out. As stress levels soar, Ashley reminds us to prioritize kindness and reveals which food she's been cooking at home for the first time in 20 years.
Can a luxury, small-batch tequila company with substantial revenue coming from restaurants and bars survive a global pandemic and subsequent economic disaster? Bertha González Nieves, co-founder and CEO of Casa Dragones, and the first woman certified as a Maestra Tequilera, talks about the safety and health of her teams in Mexico and the United States, what lessons she's currently learning from her 82-year-old mother, how international family dinners held over Zoom have become an anchoring force and the new grant program Casa Dragones has initiated for bartenders whose jobs are no more. Casa Dragones was founded amidst the economic crash of 2008 and Bertha shares her perspective on staying competitive, staying disciplined and staying the course.
José Andrés Zooms in from Nationals Park in Washington D.C., where members of his World Central Kitchen team are joining the organization's global efforts to make millions of meals for people in need. On top of all the emergency cooking, ranging from Yokohama to Madrid to dozens of points between, José discusses America Eats Now, his multi-billion dollar policy proposal aimed at saving society through food. Plus, meditations on preparedness, leadership, activism, global food security and living with the emotional highs and lows of life during this pandemic.
Caroline Glover has kept her restaurant, Annette, just outside of Denver, open with a 5-person crew that feels like family, a radically altered menu, and painstaking safety and sanitation protocols that have helped to establish what she calls, "the Annette quarantine." It all comes at an extreme emotional and physical cost, Glover says. In this candid and moving interview, Glover talks about cooking for a community with PTSD, the importance of testing service workers for COVID-19, finding new ways to connect with customers and discovering a new flexibility in the kitchen. Plus, an unexpected alliance. An unexpected burger. And the continued evolution of the restaurant Glover identifies as home.
Nashville is one of the most tightly knit hospitality communities in the country and even more so now. Julia Sullivan of Henrietta Red and the Party Line talks about taking collective action, facing a pandemic on the heels of a devastating tornado, treading on perpetually vulnerable ground, the saving grace of fajita kits and Arnold's fried chicken, and how a single text thread amongst a dozen chefs turned into a political and fundraising movement for the state of Tennessee.
Marcus Samuelsson has transformed his restaurants in Newark, Miami and Harlem into relief centers, having endured the toughest weeks of his distinguished career. On today's episode, Marcus talks about leading by listening, why running the Red Rooster in Harlem is like call and response in church, the heroes from his restaurant teams and what he misses most during this pandemic. Marcus is an anchor in his Harlem community. Hear from whom he continues to draw the strength to sustain those mighty efforts.
Known as the Rare Tea Lady, Henrietta Lovell would typically be traveling throughout the spring, visiting farmers and buying tea harvests in places like Nepal, Sri Lanka and Malawi. Now, grounded at home in London and with almost all of her restaurant clients closed, Lovell is reframing her business while making sure her farmers, in some of the poorest places on earth, continue to get paid. Plus, the latest on Henrietta's Rare Charity and some of the most interesting tea making and tea buying advice around.
Refettorio Gastromotiva in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, serves sit-down meals with dignity to the food-insecure in its community. With COVID-19 taking away the ability for people to safely gather, Gastromotiva CEO Nicky Gryczka remains committed to those who depend on her and her organization to eat. Hear how Nicky is now distributing tons of food to Brazil's most vulnerable and how her efforts, along with her Social Gastronomy cohorts, are spanning the world, from the streets of New York City to Turkish refugee camps. COVID-19, Gryczka says, will not stop them.
Undocumented immigrants plant our seeds, harvest our crops and make our restaurants hum. Yet, they've been villainized, rounded up and caged. Andrew Zimmern, host of What's Eating America, joins us to discuss why this pandemic is the moment that must change immigration policy for good and why the future of our food depends on it.
Days before the pandemic hit, Kevin Boehm and Rob Katz were celebrating their restaurant group's best first quarter ever and saw a banner year ahead. Now, the fate of their 23 Chicago restaurants is unknown. Hear how those restaurants have nevertheless rallied to feed medical workers and their community while Boehm and Katz have mobilized to fight for their company and their industry's near and long term health.
At Copenhagen's Amass, Matt Orlando has established one of the most significant restaurant sustainability efforts in the world. He's gifted as a chef, but also as a problem solver. Now, facing the most difficult days of his career, Matt shares why the scariest moments for restaurants have yet to begin and why unparalleled open-mindedness, empathy and creativity may pave the path to survival. Fried chicken, he reveals, may be a big part of his future, too.
In terms of government aid, Copenhagen restaurants have it better than most. But that doesn't make closures easy for those out of work. Rosio Sanchez, owner of Hija de Sanchez and Sanchez, both closed during this pandemic, gets vulnerable about staying sane and structured and keeping her restaurants afloat while taking care of her team. Rosio shares how she's learning to trust her gut amidst some of the most challenging conditions she's ever faced and learning to accept what can be controlled and what cannot.
Sqirl and Onda's Jessica Koslow was slated to open a new restaurant this week, the much-anticipated Sqirl Away in Los Angeles. Instead, in conjunction with the Lee Initiative, she's opening a relief center to feed and provide basic supplies and groceries to hospitality workers in need. As Jessica and her team ramp up for an unexpected challenge, hear how she's exercising leadership, what made her break down and the utter importance to farmers of selling thousands of jars of Sqirl's inimitable jam.
Restaurants are Will Guidara's life. He grew up in a restaurant family and started working in a kitchen at the age of 12. It's the only thing he's ever done. Now, with his industry, and his identity, facing an uncertain future, Guidara is spending his days pursuing community and collaboration with unrelenting vigor and unprecedented humility. In this soulful testimonial, Guidara gets to the core of why we need restaurants--and why we need each other.
Until last week, Ellen Bennett was best known for her cheery determination as the founder of Hedley & Bennett, a Los Angeles-based manufacturer of workwear for chefs and home cooks. Now, her factory has been converted to cut and sew masks for medical professionals in dire need of protection. Hear how Ellen modified her business at a breakneck pace, how she's interacting with the medical community and how 25,000-and-counting Wake Up & Fight masks are now making their way into the supply chain.
With a background in risk, Nick Kokonas started writing contingency plans early. Then he wrote a letter furloughing hundreds of employees and cried before taking aggressive measures to attack an unprecedented set of problems. Hear how Kokonas, the CEO and founder of Tock, and owner of five Chicago restaurants including Alinea, is reinventing operations--both physical and digital--to meet the moment for his own staff and for hundreds of restaurants around the world
When Camilla Marcus opened west~bourne, a neighborhood restaurant with a soulful mission, she already had a revolution in mind. Hear how she's channeled her leadership into battling for immediate and lasting government reform at the state and national levels and why such reform is so urgently needed for businesses and 15 million workers across the country in the wake of mass layoffs. Later in the show, Camilla shares how she's hanging on to her west~bourne team by launching an innovative, in-house educational platform.
Greg and Max run Olmsted and Maison Yaki in Brooklyn. It's their dream business. Now, Greg and Max are fighting not only for their restaurants' survival, but for the survival of New York City's 250,000 hospitality jobs. Just a week ago, they formed the New York Hospitality Coalition to unite the city's hospitality businesses and workers in the pursuit of immediate and impactful government relief. Hear how Max, a self-proclaimed former "punk bus boy" and Greg, one of the most exciting chefs working today, are using their talents and their grit to bring a city together and grind their way to a collective solution.
Working nearly every job imaginable in New York City's restaurants and bars, from diners to fine dining, Zak Snyder has learned to live on the economic edge. Now facing serious personal health issues on top of the COVID-19 pandemic, Zak is putting his life on the line to serve his community.
FoodLab Detroit's Executive Director Devita Davison helps small businesses come into existence, leading a dynamic incubator and accelerator program for nearly 200 local members. But what happens when those businesses are all threatened at once? Listen in as Devita gives a dynamic, full-throated and must-hear master class on how to organize, how to generate hope and vision and why Detroit is uniquely positioned to help heal a suffering nation.
In Southwest Detroit, chef George Azar of Flowers of Vietnam has to decide whether a pandemic or a loss of income poses a greater threat to the welfare of his staff. Hear how his team rallied around him to make an unprecedented choice.
Indianapolis restaurateur Martha Hoover has a dozen restaurants, nearly 400 employees and is now on a mission to protect her people and their livelihoods. Hear how she intends to turn extreme vulnerability into a future of greater strength.
As COVID-19 hits Seattle, Canlis restaurant, a 70-year-old institution, makes a radical plan to start over. Third generation owner Mark Canlis shares the story.
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