Introducing “The Build” from Opening Soon

In this episode, Katy talks with chefs Reem Assil of Reem’s California in San Francisco, and Carlo LaMagna of Magna Kusina in Portland, OR, and Magna Kubo in Beaverton. 

Reem is a Palestinian-Syrian chef and activist who was a semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation Best Chef West award in 2018 and ‘19 and a finalist for the Outstanding Chef award in 2022. She won a 2023 IACP award for her cookbook, Arabiyya: Recipes from an Arab in Diaspora. 

Carlo’s restaurants highlight modern Filipino cuisine, and he was named one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs in 2021. He was nominated for a 2022 James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific.

In this episode, Katy, Reem & Carlo talk about redefining success and failure, cultural and family pressures when cooking their food, and how they take care of themselves.

We recorded this episode in collaboration with the Southern Smoke Foundation and Visit Houston. Southern Smoke exists to take care of our own. As a nonprofit founded and powered by current and past F&B workers, they’ve felt the heat of the industry firsthand. Their efforts are dedicated to creating a meaningful safety net of support that doesn’t exist for most people in our world. 

To learn more about their emergency relief and mental health programs, visit their website. 

Reem Assil

Instagram  |  Reem’s California  |  Her book, Arabiyya  | Hospitality for Humanity

Carlo Lamagna

Instagram  |  Magna Kusina  |  Magna Kubo

Southern Smoke

Instagram  |  Get Help  |  Donate

Visit Houston

Instagram  |   Website

In this episode, Katy talks with chefs Ana Castro of Lengua Madre in New Orleans, and “G” Benchawan Painter from Street to Kitchen and Th_Prsrv in Houston. Ana was one of the 2022 Food & Wine Best New Chefs and Lengua Madre was a Bon Appetit 50 Best New Restaurant. G won the 2023 James Beard Award for Best Chef: Texas.

In this episode, Katy, Ana, and G talk about dealing with bad customers and reviews, discussing mental health with family, and the different ways they support their team.

We recorded this episode in collaboration with the Southern Smoke Foundation and Visit Houston. Southern Smoke exists to take care of our own. As a nonprofit founded and powered by current and past F&B workers, they’ve felt the heat of the industry firsthand. Their efforts are dedicated to creating a meaningful safety net of support that doesn’t exist for most people in our world. 

To learn more about their emergency relief and mental health programs, visit their website. 

Ana Castro

Instagram  |  Lengua Madre  |  About her new project

G Benchawan Painter

Instagram  |  Street to Kitchen  |  Th_Prsrv

Southern Smoke

Instagram  |  Get Help  |  Donate

Visit Houston

Instagram  |  Website

In this first episode, Katy talks with chef and co-owner Emmanuel Chavez of Tatemó in Houston. Emmanuel was recognized as one of the 2023 Food & Wine Best New Chefs, and Tatemó was named a finalist for the 2023 James Beard Foundation Award for Best New Restaurant. In this episode, Katy and Emmanuel talk about his journey to quitting drinking, the responsibilities of leading and taking care of your team, and the ways he stays grounded as Tatemó gains more media attention. 

We recorded this episode in collaboration with the Southern Smoke Foundation and Visit Houston. Southern Smoke exists to take care of our own. As a nonprofit founded and powered by current and past F&B workers, they’ve felt the heat of the industry firsthand. Their efforts are dedicated to creating a meaningful safety net of support that doesn’t exist for most people in our world. 

To learn more about their emergency relief and mental health programs, visit their website. 

Emmanuel Chavez

Instagram  |  Website

Southern Smoke

Instagram  |  Get Help  |  Donate

Visit Houston

Instagram |  Website

In this last episode of our 5 Year Reflection miniseries, we catch up with Kiah Fuller, co-owner of Far Out Catering in the Bay Area. Plus, we ask the question of all three of our interviewees: what's your biggest takeaway from the last 5 years? 

In this episode, we catch up with Courtney Moisant, former pastry chef of Manresa Restaurant, pastry consultant, and founder of soon-to-open Gelato Coco. When Manresa Restaurant closed for good at the end of 2022, she decided to leave fine dining for good to start her own thing, a trend that Katy & Rachel explore more in the later part of this episode. 

In this episode, we catch up with Edalyn Garcia. Of the 5 women we interviewed in Season 1, she is the only one still working full-time in restaurants and she's worked her way up to Executive Chef. Plus, Katy and Rachel get some updates on the stats of women working their way up the brigade in restaurants in the past 5 years. Last, we talk about why women chefs don't get as much media attention and funding when they are doing more innovative things to change the restaurant industry. 

The innovators that we mention in this episode: 

• Telly Justice from HAGS in New York
• Reem Assil of Reem's California in San Francisco
• Jenny Dorsey from Studio ATAO

Today's episode is from our friends over at The Sporkful. 

Zahra Tabatabai’s parents grew up in an Iran that would be unrecognizable today. “The pictures I see of my family in Iran in the sixties and seventies, they're in bikinis at the beach, drinking beer,” she says. Now, after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, women are legally required to wear hijabs and alcohol is banned. A few years ago, Zahra became interested in the long history of beer brewing in Iran — a tradition that included her own grandfather. She began brewing her own beer, experimenting with traditional Iranian ingredients like sumac, black lime, and barberries. Now she’s using her company, Back Home Beer, to change the narrative about Iranian people and culture. And one day, she hopes to bring her beer to Iran without fear. Nowruz Mobarak!

The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Nora Ritchie, Tracey Samuelson, and Jared O'Connell.

We have a guest episode this week from our friends at Opening Soon. 

In this season of Opening Soon, we’re undertaking a project we’ve been wanting to do for years. In The Build, we’re going to follow one chef’s journey to open a brand new restaurant as it’s happening. From the moment that they signed the lease until the doors are actually open, you’ll get to witness the emotional highs and the lows, how things go well, how things get delayed; all in real time.  

In this episode, we meet the subject of our series, hear a bit about their food journey so far, and get a sneak peek at what’s coming this season.

Less than $2. That’s how much the Santa Ana Unified school district can afford to spend on one student’s lunch each day. The $14 billion budget of the National School Lunch program stretches thin, and school nutrition workers are often the target of kids’ complaints. Reporter Jessica Terrell explores the cultural figure of “the lunch lady,” and how students and workers lose when bureaucrats focus on cost over care.

This episode includes an annotated transcript with links to sources used in the reporting. This podcast was created by editors at The Counter and produced by LWC Studios. It is made possible by grants from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  

When Katy was working in the Bay Area in her early 20s, she would have given the Michelin Guide 3 stars, because those were the restaurants she felt like she had to work to learn about the most innovative and interesting food. How has that changed?

In this last episode of our fourth season, Katy and Rachel dig into the history, the data, and the money behind the Michelin Guide in the U.S. with help from Krishnendu Ray (professor at NYU) and Beth Forrest (professor at the CIA). By the end of the research, Katy and Rachel had very different ratings for the Guide than what their 24-year-old selves would have given it. What about you?

Guests:

Beth Forrest

Her faculty bio and books

Krishnendu Ray

His book  | His faculty bio

Articles mentioned and other resources:

• Florida’s Tourism Board Will Pay Michelin $150,000 to Rate the State’s Restaurants
• Why California Paid Michelin Guide $600,000 to Cover Los Angeles Again
• The Inspection Process
• Michelin Scatters Stars on New York (2005)
• The Fed-Up Chef
• The Untold Truth Of The Michelin Guide
• The High Price of a Michelin Guide: South Korea, Singapore, and Thailand have spent millions to get their own Red guides
• The History of the Michelin Guide
• How Restaurants Get MIchelin Stars: A Brief History of the Michelin Guide
• The Secret Life of an Anonymous Michelin Restaurant Inspector
• Confessions of a Michelin Inspector