Culinary Characters Unlocked

CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED – AMELIE KANG – EP 25

Amelie Kang grew up in northern China, moved to Beijing, and then to the U.S., where she graduated from the Culinary Institute of America. She worked for Michelin starred chefs, before going on to open the Málà Project in New York, where she offers food as eaten in China, and a more upscale dining experience than the typical American Chinese restaurant. Which makes her a pioneer in the movement being called Chinese 2.0.

CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED - CHRISTOPHER KIMBALL – EP 24

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

CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED – EP 23 – MARISSA GENCARELLI

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

CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED – CHEF NICHOLAS BAZIK – EP 22

Budding academic turned touring musician turned chef turned restaurateur, Nicholas Bazik is striving for the top of the culinary world at his new restaurant Provenance, which is shaking up the food world in Philadelphia amid his audacious claim that there’s never been a restaurant like this in that city before, and where standards and equipment are so high that
chefs are clamoring for a job there. And wait ‘til he tells you about his Rolls Royce of ovens!

CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED – CHEF MATTHEW GRAY – EP 21

Chef Matthew Gray’s wild ride through life landed him in paradise. From touring with legendary rock bands in his youth, to studying at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in London, cooking for the stars in Hollywood, reviewing restaurants for Hawaii’s biggest newspaper, running food tours in Hawaii, and now hosting his own podcast, 50 tastes of Gray. Our conversation ranged from the real reason celebrities hire private chefs to the delights of Spam musubi.

CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED – CHEF BJ DENNIS - EP 20

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

CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED – THE BUSALACCHI FAMILY – EP 19

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

CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED – CHEF PREETI WAAS - EP 18

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

CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED – GREGORY GOURDET - EP 17

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

CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED – ZIGGY GRUBER - EP 16

Born into a prominent delicatessen-owning family in New York and trained in London, where he worked at a Michelin three-star restaurant, Ziggy Gruber has become deli royalty in, of all places, Texas. His restaurant, Kenny and Ziggy’s New York Delicatessen, is among the very best in the country, serving up a massive menu of traditional deli and Jewish food, alongside his own take on American favorites such as sushi.