esquire best new restaurants

Gregory Gourdet has had quite the year: HIs new restaurant Kann opened in Portland, Oregon; his cookbook Everyone's Table won a James Beard Foundation Award, and Kann was named the best new restaurant in the nation by Esquire. While in New York City last month to attend Esquire's celebration, Gregory swung by Andrew's Brooklyn apartment for a free-ranging conversation about his long and winding path to the professional kitchen, his years working with Jean-Georges Vongerichten, his hard-won sobriety, and how a Top Chef challenge helped him conceptualize Kann. 

Andrew Talks to Chefs is a fully independent podcast and no longer affiliated with our former host network; please visit and bookmark our official website for all show updates, blog posts, personal and virtual appearances, and related news.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:

Andrew is a writer by trade. If you'd like to support him, there's no better way than by purchasing his most recent book, The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food (October 2023), about all the key people (in the restaurant, on farms, in delivery trucks, etc.) whose stories and work come together in a single restaurant dish.

We'd love if you followed us on Instagram. 

Please also follow Andrew's real-time journal of the travel, research, writing, and production of/for his next book The Opening (working title), which will track four restaurants in different parts of the U.S. from inception to launch.

For Andrew's writing, dining, and personal adventures, follow along at his personal feed.

Thank you for listening—please don't hesitate to reach out with any feedback and/or suggestions!

It was no small feat for Esquire magazine to identify a class of 2020 for its Best New Restaurant List in the midst of a global pandemic. But Jeff Gordinier, in collaboration with his colleague Kevin Sintumuang, managed to pull it off in style with a celebration of what's new in American restaurants that launches today. Jeff sat down with Andrew to discuss why Esquire decided to produce a list this year, how he and Kevin pulled it off, and what they were seeking in restaurants and chefs to trumpet in this unusual time.

Please consider supporting Andrew Talks to Chefs via our Patreon page–pledge $10 or more per month and gain access to bonus, patron-only episodes, blog posts, polls, and more. 

Andrew Talks to Chefs is a fully independent podcast and no longer affiliated with our former host network; please visit and bookmark our official website for all show updates, blog posts, personal and virtual appearances, and related information.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:

Andrew is a writer by trade. If you'd like to support him, there's no better way than by purchasing his most recent book, The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food (October 2023), about all the key people (in the restaurant, on farms, in delivery trucks, etc.) whose stories and work come together in a single restaurant dish.

We'd love if you followed us on Instagram. 

Please also follow Andrew's real-time journal of the travel, research, writing, and production of/for his next book The Opening (working title), which will track four restaurants in different parts of the U.S. from inception to launch.

For Andrew's writing, dining, and personal adventures, follow along at his personal feed.

Thank you for listening—please don't hesitate to reach out with any feedback and/or suggestions!