This week, my guest is Lior Lev Sercarz. Lior is the chef, spice blender, and owner of La Boîte, a spice shop in New York City. He's previously released the cookbooks The Art of Blending, The Spice Companion and Mastering Spice. This week, he released his 4th book, A Middle Eastern Pantry. In this new cookbook he focuses on the everyday ingredients used throughout this vast region, including Turkey, Tunisia, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Armenia, Jordan, and more, as he offers an homage to the pant...
Jun 16, 2023•59 min•Season 4Ep. 197
This week on Chefs Without Restaurants I speak with Ryan Gray and Janice Tiefenbach of Elena, Gia, and Nora Gray restaurants in Montreal. They recently released a cookbook called Salad Pizza Wine. During our conversation, Ryan and Janice shared their insights on the evolving Montreal food scene and how they've embraced change in their own establishments. We discuss the importance of cultivating a healthy restaurant culture for both staff and customers, emphasizing the crucial role of leadership....
Jun 09, 2023•54 min•Season 4Ep. 196
This week I have Krimsey Lilleth. She’s the author of The Cajun Vegan Cookbook, and was the owner of Krimsey‘s Cajun kitchen, the world's first vegan Cajun restaurant. Due to Covid, Krimsey made the tough decision to close her North Hollywood restaurant in Spring 2020. She knew she wanted to share her recipes with her fans so they could re-create their favorite dishes at home, which is what inspired her to write her first cookbook. Last year I released my full episode with her, which can be foun...
Jun 02, 2023•12 min•Season 4Ep. 195
In this episode, I speak with Andre Uribe, a personal chef and the co-owner of Sustainable Meals Oregon. We delve into Andre's journey as a chef and his foray into video and storytelling, which now includes his own audio and video podcast, Chef Therapy. During our conversation, Andre talks about how he crafted his business model, devised a pricing structure, and strategically positioned himself in the market. His culinary enterprise places a strong emphasis on meal prep using locally sourced ing...
May 26, 2023•47 min•Season 4Ep. 194
This week I speak with chef Matt Collins about payment methods and deposits, with a side or horror stories. Whether you work in the food industry or not, if you receive payment for your services, you won't want to miss this. We cover various options for payment methods, including cash, check, Venmo, Zelle, Paypal and Square. We talk deposits: when to request them and how much to ask for. Additionally, we discuss fees and gratuity. Tune in to gain valuable insights and practical tips on handling ...
May 12, 2023•35 min•Season 4Ep. 193
On today's show, I have Nicolas and Stephen Servis, identical twin brothers who founded Servis Events, a private dining service based in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. You’ll learn how the brothers pivoted during the early days of the pandemic to start their business. Nicolas and Stephen's passion for farm-to-table cuisine flourished during their time as chefs de partie at The Mainland Inn, where they tackled full animal butchery, gardening, and more. Later, while volunteering at Quarry Hill Farm, ...
May 03, 2023•49 min•Season 4Ep. 192
Do you or someone you love have a food allergy or intolerance? Or maybe you're a chef who cooks for people and wants to get better at accommodating customers with dietary restrictions. In this episode of Chefs Without Restaurants, Chris speaks with Kayla Cappiello, the author of the new book "Easy Allergy-Free Cooking," about food allergies and how to cook delicious meals that are safe for those with dietary restrictions. Kayla has celiac disease, is lactose intolerant, and is allergic to tree n...
Apr 06, 2023•42 min•Season 4Ep. 191
This week on Chefs Without Restaurants we have chef Kyle Shankman. Kyle is the chef and owner of Speak Easy Supper Club, an exclusive dining experience in the Atlanta area. As tickets for Speak Easy are hard to come by, Chef Shankman also finds a way to feed folks as a private chef and cooking class instructor. A chef for two decades, Kyle has run multiple restaurant kitchens as an executive chef and consultant, taught hundreds of cooking classes for home cooks, been the personal chef to A-List ...
Mar 29, 2023•9 min•Season 4Ep. 190
This week on Chefs Without Restaurants we have chef Kyle Shankman. Kyle is the chef and owner of Speak Easy Supper Club, an exclusive dining experience in the Atlanta area. As tickets for Speak Easy are hard to come by, Chef Shankman also finds a way to feed folks as a private chef and cooking class instructor. A chef for two decades, Kyle has run multiple restaurant kitchens as an executive chef and consultant, taught hundreds of cooking classes for home cooks, been the personal chef to A-List ...
Mar 29, 2023•57 min•Season 4Ep. 189
This week on Chefs Without Restaurants we have Christine Flynn, the proprietor of The Good Earth Winery in Ontario, Canada, and executive chef and partner at iQ Food Co . She recently released her second cookbook, "A Generous Meal." We talk about her culinary background, including her early love of food and cooking, and how her parents' three-bite rule helped her develop her palate. We discuss her cooking style, which she describes as elevated home cooking that is both approachable and affordabl...
Mar 23, 2023•50 min•Season 4Ep. 188
This week I have chef Pailin Chongchitnant, host of the YouTube channel Pailin’s Kitchen, and author of the companion website Hot Thai Kitchen. She recently released her 2nd cookbook, Sabai: 100 Simple Thai Recipes for Any Day of the Week. This episode is a primer on Thai food and cooking. She dispels some Thai food myths, and shares her top five items for stocking a Thai pantry at home. We discuss why she was compelled to write another cookbook, and she shares how she grew her YouTube channel t...
Mar 16, 2023•54 min•Season 4Ep. 187
On this week's podcast, I address the issue of nickel and diming your customers. Instead, I offer the alternative, which is providing an all-inclusive experience. I believe that many costs, such as providing china and linens, or covering travel expenses, should be considered a part of the cost of doing business. If you want to position your business as high-end or luxury, you should figure out your total costs, and give the client one number instead of an itemized bill. What do you think? Hit me...
Mar 08, 2023•6 min•Season 4Ep. 186
I started Chefs Without Restaurants to help other people grow their food businesses. Because I’ve been working as a personal chef for 11 years now, I have a lot of firsthand knowledge about what you can do to grow a personal chef business. I was recently interviewed by meez for their blog about some do’s and don’ts of the personal chef business. If you’re not familiar with meez , they’re an online tool that lets you digitize all of your recipes and keep them in one place. You can easily scale th...
Mar 01, 2023•9 min•Season 4Ep. 185
This week I speak with Bobby Hicks, the man behind Retro Recipes Kitchen, the online video series where he cooks up the good, the bad, and the weird from vintage cookbooks. His videos can be found on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube (all linked below). As a food content creator, we talk about how he came up with the idea, and some of his challenges. I ask him about some of his favorite, and least favorite, recipes he's made. He also discussses his "Antiquated or AI-Generated" recipe experiment. BO...
Feb 22, 2023•1 hr•Season 4Ep. 184
On today’s show I have chef Sam Fore, the Sri Lankan-American chef and recipe developer who’s known for her wildly popular Tuk Tuk Sri Lankan Bites pop-ups. She was recently honored by The James Beard Foundation Awards as a semi-finalist for best chef in the southeast. On today’s show you’ll find out how this former marketer made the jump into the pop-up restaurant world. In 2016, after hosting a number of traditional Sri Lankan brunches at her place, Sam decided it was time to move these gather...
Feb 08, 2023•50 min•Season 4Ep. 183
This week is a follow-up episode with Chef Derrick Fox. You might have heard my full episode with him last week. Derrick went from being a punk rock drummer to cooking on MasterChef season six where he was the runner-up, followed by a season of all-stars. He currently works as a private chef, and is also the man behind the Epic Mega Cookie Co, and host of the podcast A Bunch of Losers. In this short episode, we jump right into the topic of getting paid for chef referrals. Should you ask for mone...
Feb 01, 2023•10 min•Season 4Ep. 182
This week we have private chef Derrick Fox. You'll learn how this punk rock drummer went from playing the Warped Tour to cooking for Gordon Ramsay, Derrick was the runner-up on season 6 of MasterChef, and then returned for all-stars. He's since started a private chef business, the Epic Mega Cookie Co, and a podcast called A Bunch of Losers where he speaks to other non-winning reality show contestants. DERRICK FOX Derrick's Instagram Epic Mega Cookie Co A Bunch of Losers Podcast Derrick's YouTube...
Jan 25, 2023•56 min•Season 4Ep. 181
This week I speak with chef Terence Tomlin for the second time. In 2017, Terence suffered two strokes while working at his restaurant, leaving the right side of his body paralyzed. Despite this setback, Terence has been able to regain much of his strength and has even gone on to compete in Baltimore's Mason Dixon Master Chef Tournament, and winning the seafood competition at The Maryland Foodie Fest. Terence has spent the last few years hosting both private and public dinner parties. Now, he's t...
Jan 18, 2023•35 min•Season 4Ep. 180
On the Chefs Without Restaurants podcast this week I have chef Christina Pirello of Christina Cooks. After already losing her mother to cancer, Christina was diagnosed with terminal leukemia in her mid-20s. Not wanting to undergo traditional treatment for cancer, she ultimately changed her diet and lifestyle, and her cancer went into remission. She’s been cancer-free for more than 37 years now. Christina wanted to share what she’d learned about food and cooking, and Christina Cooks was born. She...
Jan 11, 2023•1 hr•Season 4Ep. 179
This week I talk about working for free. More specifically, I discuss why giving away free food, and doing events for free didn't work out for me. I'm not saying that there isn't a place for it. But before you do an event, I think you need to make sure it's a good fit. Does it make sense to give out free cupcakes at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new car dealership? There are lots of people looking to trade your services for "exposure", but does it actually ever help move the needle from a bu...
Jan 04, 2023•8 min•Season 4Ep. 178
As 2022 comes to a close, I want to thank all of the listeners, guests, and people who have supported this podcast. As I get ready to continue with shows in 2023, I want to know what you want to hear. Please take 5 minutes to fill out this survey. It's only 7 questions and is anonymous. I'm going to use this information to make the Chefs Without Restaurants podcast even better. THE CHEFS WITHOUT RESTAURANTS PODCAST FEEDBACK SURVEY CHEFS WITHOUT RESTAURANTS If you enjoy the show and would like to...
Dec 28, 2022•3 min•Season 3Ep. 177
This is the olive oil episode. This week, I speak with David Garci-Aguirre, the master miller at Corto. This one ingredient probably touches more dishes than any other ingredient except salt. But how much do we know about it? David likes to say that it's the ingredient that farm-to-table forgot. Nobody knows where it came from, who made it, or how it got made. But on this episode, we're going to change that. Did you know that much of the oil on the market is already rancid when you purchase it? ...
Dec 21, 2022•48 min•Season 3Ep. 176
Chef Imrun Texeira is the chef and owner of Wanderlust , a personal chef service based in Toronto, Canada focused on blind tasting menus. Whether you currently have a personal chef business, want to start one, or are any type of culinary entrepreneur, this episode is packed with valuable tips on growing a food business. Imrun’s worked in some of the world's best and most influential restaurants, including Noma in Copenhagen. Most recently, he was named as a recipient of the Top 30-Under-30 Award...
Dec 14, 2022•1 hr•Season 3Ep. 175
On this week's episode, we have chef Nikko Cagalanan. Born and raised in the Philippines. Nikko grew up in a family that loved food. His dad cooked. His aunt cooked. And his grandmother, Mansueta, cooked. Sure, he didn’t always want to be in the kitchen, but food was an integral part of their family. Eventually, he moved to the United States, landing in Massachusetts. Cooking wasn’t his career back then. Nursing was. But, like many of us who feel the kitchen calling us, Nikko decided he wanted t...
Dec 07, 2022•41 min•Season 3Ep. 174
On this week's episode, we have chef Russ Zito. Russ has been a culinary instructor at Johnson & Wales University for 26 years. You might have heard our "What is a Chef" mini-episode. Chef Zito was one of my instructors and my senior advisor when I was a student at Johnson & Wales University. But a lot has changed since I graduated in 1998. I wanted to find out how the school, and the curriculum, have changed (or stayed the same) since I've been gone. He talks about the newer courses and...
Nov 29, 2022•54 min•Season 3Ep. 173
Thank you for three years and 100,000 downloads. This week marks the three-year anniversary of the podcast, and last week we hit 100,000 total downloads, so I thought I'd do something a little different. This is a re-post of the first podcast episode. The show was co-founded with Andrew Wilkinson of Pizza Llama , and back then, Andrew took on much of the hosting duties. He was with the show for the first four months. On the show, Andrew and I talk about the foundations of Chefs Without Restauran...
Nov 23, 2022•33 min•Season 3Ep. 172
On this week's show, we have chef Carla Hall. She was a contestant on Bravo's Top Chef and Top Chef All-Stars. Carla spent 7 years co-hosting ABC’s Emmy award-winning, popular lifestyle series “The Chew”. She's been on multiple Food Network programs, was a judge on Netflix's Crazy Delicious, and is a culinary contributor to “Good Morning America”. She's the author of four cookbooks , in addition to a number of cookbooks put out by The Chew. We discuss her Top Chef experience, and why she wanted ...
Nov 16, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 3Ep. 171
On this episode, we have chef, author, and TV personality Mary Ann Esposito. She's the creator and host of the nationally televised PBS series Ciao Italia with Mary Ann Esposito. The author of fourteen cookbooks, most recently, Ciao Italia: Plant, Harvest, Cook! , Mary Ann has worked beside world-renowned chefs Julia Child, Jacques Pepin, Martin Yan, and countless others. When not filming, Mary Ann can be found giving hands-on cooking classes. Her new book takes the reader on a seasonal home gar...
Nov 09, 2022•42 min•Season 3Ep. 170
This week's guest is Shannon Smith. She’s a cook, teacher, and traveler based in Tulsa, OK. She's traveled to more than 50 countries, meeting and cooking with people, from home cooks to restaurant chefs, while documenting it on her blog. She also uses her travels to teach women how to cook, and helps to finance their businesses using micro-loan programs. Her charity work includes Vizavance, a program that provides eye care to the homeless, as well as Hope Haven Rwanda, a school for impoverished ...
Nov 02, 2022•54 min•Season 3Ep. 169
On this week's "What is a Chef?" episode we have chef Russ Zito. Russ has been a culinary instructor at Johnson & Wales University for 26 years. I asked him what his definition of a chef was, and his response revolved around leadership, mentorship, and exchanging ideas. This segment will not be included in our full conversation which will be released in a few weeks, so subscribe now so you can catch the rest of our conversation. RUSS ZITO Russ's Instagram Russ's Twitter CHEFS WITHOUT RESTAUR...
Oct 26, 2022•11 min•Season 3Ep. 168
