The CHEF Radio Podcast - podcast cover

The CHEF Radio Podcast

Step into the inspiring world of The CHEF Radio Podcast, where chef Eli Kulp sits down with the trailblazers shaping today’s food culture. From hard-earned life lessons in the kitchen to the power of great leadership, Eli dives deep into meaningful conversations with the industry’s top talent. But it’s more than just food—these discussions tackle sustainability, innovation, and the future of our food systems. Prepare to be both educated and inspired by the stories and passion behind each guest as Eli uncovers what it truly takes to make an impact in the culinary world today.
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Episodes

Episode 103: Justin Pichetrungsi of Anajak Thai in LA

What would you say if I told you that a Disney artist, who helped bring animated films to life as well as designed video games and Disney theme park attractions, won a James Beard award this year for Best Chef California? Well, in today's podcast, we welcome Justin in to talk about his highly improbable journey from a first-generation Thai kid who grew up in his parents restaurant to one day leaving his artistic profession to come back to take over after his father had a debilitating stroke. Thi...

Nov 17, 20231 hr 25 min

Episode 102: Author Spotlight - Andrew Friedman of The Dish and Chefs, Drugs and Rock & Roll

How many different individuals go into serving one plate of food in a restaurant? How many people, including producers, delivery personnel, cooks, servers, and porters, does it take to get each singular ingredient of a dish to the table? Maybe that’s not something you ever thought about; however, Andrew Friedman, author of the newly released book titled ”The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food”, spells it out for us in his book and takes a deep dive to help the reader understand h...

Nov 03, 202356 min

Episode 101: Jordan Rubin of Mr. Tuna, Bar Futo and Crispy Gai in Portland, Maine

Do you have dreams of controlling your own destiny rather than waiting in line for your turn to step up in a restaurant owned by someone else? It seems like an obvious question, but maybe it isn’t because not everyone has the same ambition. What you are going to hear here today is the improbable story of a chef who was so driven to be their own boss that he bought a beat-up hot dog cart, shined it up with some stainless steel cleaner, hammered out some dents, and opened Portland, Maine’s first s...

Oct 20, 20231 hr 18 min

Episode 100: Daniel Boulud of Restaurant Daniel, Café Boulud and the Dinex Group

For our 100th episode, we take a road trip to New York City to talk with the legend himself, Chef Daniel Boulud, of Restaurant Daniel, Café Boulud, DB Bistro, and more. In this 100th episode, Eli has the opportunity to ask Chef what it takes to stay on top of the mountain for 30+ years as his restaurant celebrates its own incredible milestone. Chef Daniel graciously opens his dining room up to us as we sit down and talk about the early years that shaped him and the people along the way who mento...

Oct 05, 20231 hr 13 min

Episode 99: Chef Dave Beran of Pasjoli in Santa Monica

What is the biggest moment in your career as a chef? Is it opening your first restaurant? Maybe it's when you receive an accolade that you were always dreaming of, or maybe it's getting a really nice review from your city's food critic. These are all great moments, without a doubt, but I would venture to say that the biggest moment in a chef's career is when they finally start to find their own voice in their food, when all of these past experiences, dishes, and efforts come together in a unique...

Sep 21, 20231 hr 29 min

Episode 98: Chef Ana Castro of Lengua Madre and Acamaya in New Orleans

Success in our business is never a linear path, and it will always be met with unexpected ups and downs that will challenge you at your lowest and enthrall you at your highest. After our guest, Ana Castro of Lengua Madre and the up-and-coming Acamaya, worked in a New York City restaurant with a toxic environment that nearly killed her, she was contemplating leaving the industry altogether and pursuing a career in her family’s line of work as an architect. But, after departing New York City for N...

Sep 07, 20231 hr 52 min

Episode 97: Chef Amanda Cohen of Dirt Candy

It's not every episode that we get to sit down and talk with a pioneer of our industry, and in today's show, we invite Chef Amanda Cohen to sit down and bring her incredible perspective on cooking and life as she reminisces about the vegetable forward journey she has been on over the last 20+ years. In 2008, Amanda opened up Dirt Candy, a groundbreaking vegetarian restaurant that took NYC by storm, and became one of the hottest tickets in town, where curious and passionate guests alike jockeyed ...

Aug 11, 20231 hr 25 min

Josh Sharkey - Chef, Entrepreneur and Founder of meez

Josh Sharkey trained under some incredible, generational chef talent, like David Bouley, like Indian super star chef, Floyd Cardoz, and the Great Gray Kunz, and in doing so, he built up his repertoire and his résumé, so no matter what he did, he would be successful. But after working for these industry titans, he found himself on a new mission. It was after he lost an important notebook that was chock-full of recipes and techniques that he had been taught over the years that he came up with the ...

Jul 25, 20231 hr 12 min

Episode 96: Dominic Piperno of Hearthside

There are so many phases throughout our lives, and restaurants are really no different. Many restaurants start off as one concept and then slowly evolve into what ultimately works best for the business. That evolution might be slow and gentle, barely felt by the guests, or it could be a clean break to start anew. Today’s Guest, Dominic Piperno, a South Jersey native, recently made the life-changing decision to go from an ala carte menu, where he was working 100 hours plus, to a bimonthly, rotati...

Jul 14, 20231 hr 25 min

Episode 95: Ashleigh Shanti of Good Hot Fish

Every once in a while, there are these chefs, where it’s as if they've been hand picked by some sort of celestial chef “being”, that says, “Hey young chef, I know exactly the type of work you’re going to do“, and whether or not you subscribe to divine intervention, one thing we know, when a chef hits at the right time, with the right product and with the right mix of authenticity, storytelling and purpose, that chef can light the world on fire. And today, we we get to hear from one of those chef...

Jun 30, 20231 hr 4 min

Episode 94: Chef Johnny Spero of Reverie and Bar Spero

Being a successful chef is so much more than being a great cook, and once you find yourself in that position, your attention is constantly being pulled away from the kitchen to handle business matters, HR, food costs, scheduling, etc. etc. So with all of these demands, how do you still maintain your creativity, your energy to lead, and your positive state of mind? Well, unsurprisingly, there is no easy answer, but in just a few minutes, you’re going to hear from chef and owner Johnny Spero, of R...

Jun 09, 20231 hr 16 min

Episode 93: Alon Shaya of Saba, Safta and Miss River Restaurants

What happens when your passion meets purpose? Saba is what happens. Saba is Chef Alon Shaya’s flagship restaurant, which was his answer to that question and is the result of his passion for cooking helping him to find his purpose and his voice in food. After spending nearly an entire lifetime suppressing his heritage so that he could feel more acclimated to the American life that his family immigrated to, he discovered his roots in Israel and began cooking with his heart rather than his head. In...

May 25, 20231 hr 35 min

Episode 92: Chef Jeremiah Langhorne of The Dabney & Petite Cerise in Washington DC

James Beard award winning chef, Jeremiah Langhorne, sits down with Eli to talk about his improbable rise to one of the Mid Atlantic’s best chefs and why his work ethic, determination, and resilience are the keys to the success he has had at The Dabney and now at his newest restaurant, Petite Cerise in DC. Chef Jeremiah only had one goal in life, and that was to be a professional skateboarder, but it was when he saw some cooks at a local pizza shop, where he was delivering pizzas, putting food in...

May 11, 20231 hr 36 min

Episode 91: Farmer Lee Jones and Chef Jamie Simpson of the Chef's Garden

So how do you know, as a chef, where you should be putting your energy outside of your normal job description? Because quite often on CHEF Radio, we talk about how chefs have positive impacts outside of the kitchen through great leadership practices, mentorship, fundraisers, and foundations, but maybe one of the single biggest impacts we can make is through our own responsible purchasing and sourcing and teaching the next generation the importance of being stewards of our foodways and food syste...

Apr 22, 20231 hr 24 min

Episode 90: Chef John Shields of Smyth and The Loyalist

What has luck got to do with it? Well, the short answer is absolutely nothing, and when Chef John Shields and his wife, Karen, took a leap of faith and moved to a little-known town in rural Virginia, they had no idea how life-changing that decision would be. It was after a New York Times writer stumbled upon their groundbreaking cooking at the little country inn named Town House in Chilhowie, Virginia, where they were really developing their style of cooking, that their careers really took off. ...

Apr 06, 20231 hr 39 min

Episode 89: Chef Eric Leveillee of Lacroix Restaurant

Do you love a good redemption story? If you do, you're going to want to listen to this podcast because today's guest, Chef Eric Leveillee of Lacroix restaurant, has gone through hell and back to find his success. As someone who grew up in a household with dependency issues, Eric was nearly destined to find himself following the same path. And after years of addiction, he was able to transcend his addiction and become a shining example of what it means to be truly resilient. Now, sober and focuse...

Mar 24, 20231 hr 24 min

Episode 88: Chef Sarah Grueneberg of Monteverde Restaurant and Pastificio

After growing up in Texas and getting her feet wet in the industry, Chef Sarah Grueneberg made the move to Chicago to develop herself further in restaurants that operated at a whole other level. What she found was that she wasn't prepared, and she struggled mightily to find her identity in the kitchen in the new city. After nearly giving up and becoming a flight attendant, she realized that she was meant to cook and that she could only see herself being happy as a chef. Do what makes you happy, ...

Mar 09, 20231 hr 23 min

Episode 87: Adam Richman of the History Channel

As someone who was interested in food from multiple angles at a very young age and who created a reverse flow chart to find out exactly what was the best career choice for them, food celebrity and host of many different popular shows, Adam Richman, is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to all things food. I could tell immediately that this is a man obsessed with, not just food, but the stories of the food and the intrepid souls who created these ingenious flavors, techniques, and methods ...

Feb 23, 20231 hr 48 min

Episode 86: Chef Eddie Konrad of Messina Club

For today’s guest, chef Eddie Konrad of Messina Club in Philadelphia, cooking was not something that was a real focus in his family, and just like the majority of the world, big extravagant meals were saved for the holidays, thus making them that much more special. In between the holidays, dinner was more for sustenance than experience, and with everybody living their busy lives, dinner was mostly made up of whatever was readily available, affordable, and simple. But, as you’ll hear in the sessi...

Feb 02, 20231 hr 14 min

Episode 85 – Chef Katie Button of Cúrate restaurant and La Bodega

Whenever a cook asks me for my advice when they are starting out, I always tell them to find the best chef they can and then just put your head down and work hard for them. This strategy is nearly bulletproof and will almost always pay dividends down the road, even if you don't think so right away. And that's exactly how chef Katie Button, of Asheville, North Carolina, did it when she got her first job working at Café Atlantico in Washington, DC, when José Andrés was early in building his empire...

Jan 20, 20231 hr 49 min

Episode 84 – Chef Caroline Glover of Annette restaurant

For this episode we head out to the Rocky Mountains, where chef Caroline Glover of Annette restaurant in Aurora, Colorado, joins us to talk about her journey, which started as an improbable cook and has culminated in a 2022 James Beard Award for Best Chef. See, what Caroline innately possesses that allowed her to achieve what she has, is an amazing work ethic, and as she says it, while working at the famous/infamous gastropub that started that trend in America, The Spotted Pig in NYC, she “just ...

Jan 05, 20231 hr 11 min

Episode 83 – Chef Evan Rich of Rich Table and RT Rotisserie

If you want to be a great chef someday, you are going to have to put in the time. Period. It’s simply a tough job, and Evan sums it up perfectly. He can pay you $120,000 a year to be a line cook, but it is still going to be hard; you’re going to have to work more than you want to, you’ll still get burned, and you’ll still have a long list. It’s just a hard job. It doesn’t matter if you’re working at the local diner or at the three Michelin starred restaurant; there are a lot of similar tasks tha...

Dec 22, 20221 hr 51 min

Episode 82 - Chef & Writer Kiki Aranita of Poi Dog

Often the words resilience, hard work, and creativity are used to describe the key skill sets required to be successful in this industry. But, there's one more really important skill set that can be easily overlooked, and that would be resourcefulness. Resourcefulness is defined as "H aving the ability to find quick and clever ways to overcome difficulties". In fact, arguably the most resourceful person in the history of our planet is someone whose name has become an adjective when you need a qu...

Dec 09, 20221 hr 41 min

Episode 81 – Chef Jeff Michaud of Osteria & La Via Gaia

Traveling opens up our eyes to other cultures and new cuisines, allowing us to experience the world through a different lens and appreciate what it has to offer. Especially for chefs, learning the history of food and tasting local products can change how we view food. Today’s guest spent years living and working in Bergamo, Italy, which fed his love for Italian cuisine and changed the trajectory of his career. Jeff Michaud, owner of restaurant Osteria in Philadelphia, sits down with host Eli Kul...

Nov 03, 20221 hr 9 min

Episode 80 – Jeremy Fox of Birdie G's and Rustic Canyon

Once an award-winning chef at Ubuntu making acclaimed vegetable-focused food, Chef Jeremy Fox was struggling to deal with his anxiety and imposter syndrome. He spent years stuck in the persona he felt he was expected to be, building a bad reputation along the way. Today, Jeremy joins host Eli Kulp to discuss his past and lessons learned, career highlights, and more importantly, his future. He recalls those early career days, and how his family and education as a chef inspired his food. Jeremy an...

Oct 20, 20221 hr 10 min

Episode 79: Chef Rich Torrisi of Torrisi Restaurant and Major Food Group

If you think back to the early days when you first started in this industry, you'll probably remember fondly some of those early memories of working on the line, battling it out with your fellow cooks and friends, just hoping to get to the end of service without running out of mise en place. But those are the moments that you forged really close bonds with your colleagues as you would finish service, maybe get a shift drink, and then head out into the night in search of something fun to get into...

Sep 29, 202252 min

Episode 78: Chef Eli Collins of a.kitchen + a.bar

All too often, it's the loud, brash, and cocky chefs that snatch the headlines while the truly dedicated, food-obsessed chefs toil away in their kitchens cooking their asses off and calculating every move. In a restaurant world dominated by big egos, Chef Eli Collins of a.kitchen quietly lets his food speak for itself. Eli is what you might call a chef's chef, which means that the admiration and respect he garners from his peers within the industry sometimes outweighs the attention he receives f...

Sep 15, 20221 hr 23 min

Episode 77: Chef Stuart Brioza of State Bird Provisions, The Progress and The Anchovy Bar

Would you believe me if I told you anchovies fell from the sky in San Francisco? Well, that is literally what has happened there, and it couldn’t have been a better omen for our one of our guest's restaurants, The Anchovy Bar. Chef Stuart Brioza was named one of the Best New chefs by Food & Wine magazine in 2003, and is also the founder, partner, and chef of State Bird Provisions, The Progress, and The Anchovy Bar, all of which are in San Francisco. Not to mention a self-appointed chief of t...

Sep 01, 20221 hr 46 min

Episode 76: Chef Christopher Kearse of Forsythia

After sustaining a major life-altering injury, Christopher Kearse, now chef and owner of Forsythia restaurant in Philadelphia, pushed through the odds and graduated college as the valedictorian, while still recovering from his injury, and then pushed himself to work at some of the best kitchens in the country. Not only did he work with some of the best chefs and restaurants, he ended up opening his own restaurant, despite having the odds stacked against him. Injuries aside, Chris’s journey to be...

Aug 04, 20221 hr 24 min

Episode 75: Chef Andrew Carmellini of The Dutch & NoHo Hospitality Group

True passion for cooking cannot be faked. It takes something special to withstand the grueling work and hours while perfecting the craft. The restaurant industry isn’t kind to all, but those built for it, last. It takes a love that will take you around the world tasting everything, talking to chefs and locals, learning the land where the food is grown, tasting, experiencing, and everything in between. Knowing this, the fact that someone can rise out of the ranks and have their hands in 15 differ...

Jul 22, 20221 hr 7 min
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