Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Chef's PSA Podcast
| Titre | Date | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leslie Brenner on Restaurant Criticism, Chef Ego, and the Review That Changed My Career Ep. 229 | 06 nov. 2026 | 01:03:12 | |
Leslie Brenner is the founder of Leslie Brenner Concepts, a restaurant PR and creative direction firm in Dallas, and the former restaurant critic and dining editor of The Dallas Morning News. She also writes the Substack Leslie Brenner on Restaurants. A four-star review made André Natera one of the hottest chefs in Dallas. A later two-star review was, in his words, the worst day of his life. Years later, Brenner and André sit down and discuss their shared history. The other half of the story happened in the kitchen. When she was in the dining room, André’s team cooked two portions of everything she ordered, kept a Leslie Brenner portion of the best fish and steak, and planted someone at the next table to listen. She was booking under fake names on burner phones.
André Natera and Leslie Brenner cover what it was like to cook for a critic, how Leslie’s reviews looked from the dining room and from the kitchen, why she left the critic’s chair for restaurants, her first week in Dallas, the golden years of the Dallas scene, why a city loses something without a critic at its newspaper of record, how modern Texas cuisine took shape, influencers versus critics, what PR really does for a new restaurant, and when a chef should fire a publicist. It closes with Leslie’s plan for her new Substack, Leslie Brenner on Restaurants, on how restaurants can earn press without a publicist, and her last word to André: she is glad she got to say sorry. Recorded in September, before The Dallas Morning News named Sarah Blaskovich its new restaurant critic. GuestLeslie Brenner Concepts: https://www.lesliebrennerconcepts.com/Leslie Brenner on Restaurants: https://lesliebrenner.substack.com/ More Chef's PSA Lead Like a Chef App → https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef | |||
| Jules Cooking: Michelin Kitchens, Gatekeeping, and Why Chefs Must Share Knowledge Ep. 228 | 30 oct. 2026 | 01:02:24 | |
Jules Wiringa is the Dutch chef behind Jules Cooking, which publishes fine dining recipes and technique videos made for chefs. He came up in Michelin-starred kitchens, became a sous chef at a two-Michelin-star restaurant, and has been making cooking videos for 16 years, starting with a pasta dough made with a whisk at age 15. Jules says kitchens still gatekeep knowledge, and he saw it firsthand when a chef threw away a chef de partie’s recipe book after the cook had given two and a half years. He went the other way. Every recipe on Jules Cooking is tested, photographed, filmed, and written out in full, and last year he rewrote roughly 2,500 of them by hand.
André Natera and Jules Wiringa cover recipe gatekeeping, how Jules develops dishes in his head before he cooks them, why he makes recipes for chefs and not foodies, why fine dining starts to look the same, why you should zest down, his start at 15 and a trial day in a three-Michelin-star kitchen, how he spots a good cook in the first second, the tools he will not work without, the flavor lifts he reaches for, Josh Niland, and his advice for young cooks. It closes with a rapid-fire round: Robuchon or Ducasse, Ferran or René, Keller or Achatz, Marco Pierre White or Gordon Ramsay. Guest Jules Cooking Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julescooking/ Links Lead Like a Chef App → https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef | |||
| YOUR STEAK MENU IS BORING | Jess Pryles Ep. 227 | 23 oct. 2026 | 00:54:16 | |
Jess Pryles returns with more meat science. She is a live fire cook, the founder of Hardcore Carnivore, and the author of Prime Cuts, a 288 page guide to choosing, understanding, and cooking meat with more than 100 recipes built cut by cut. She holds a Graduate Certificate in Meat Science from Iowa State University and judged Food Network’s Pitmasters. This time she gets into the parts chefs argue about: what to call a cut, how to salt it, and how far to cook it. Her case starts with the menu. London broil is a preparation, not a cut, and Delmonico has no standard definition, which is how a kitchen can invent a name and get away with it. Then she explains why picanha, duck, and lamb eat poorly when served too rare, and why a chef should cook a duck breast properly instead of asking the guest.
André Natera and Jess Pryles cover who Prime Cuts was written for, the steakhouse menu she wants to see with more breeds, grass-fed beef, picanha, flat iron, and hanger, who should decide how a steak is cooked, why curing salt is pink and what happens if the math is wrong, and what to do when a guest says safe chicken is raw because it is pink near the bone. Guest Jess Pryles Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jesspryles/ Hardcore Carnivore Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hardcorecarnivore Links Lead Like a Chef App → https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef | |||
| Michelin Star in Under Two Months: Chef Christophe De Lellis Ep. 226 | 16 oct. 2026 | 01:03:59 | |
Christophe De Lellis is chef and partner at Mamani in Dallas, a French restaurant with an Italian accent that earned a Michelin star in 2025, less than two months after opening, and kept it in the 2026 guide. Before Dallas he spent 13 years at Joël Robuchon Las Vegas. He arrived in 2010 as a cook who could barely speak English and was running the kitchen as executive chef by 27. He still asks what can come off a dish before he asks what can go on. The Robuchon kitchen he walked into was nothing like the Paris bistros he came from. Asparagus peeled with a paring knife, micro arugula dressed by rubbing oil between the fingertips, a ruler for the brunoise, and a cook counting the dots on a plate. He says he was hooked right away. Then the executive chef left, his mentor asked if he was ready, and the answer he got was no, you are not ready, but you are going to have to be.
André Natera and Christophe De Lellis cover why he walked out of a finance program on day one and went to cooking school in Paris, the visa call that came in the middle of a Tekken game, the year he left Robuchon to work for Shawn McClain at Sage at Aria, how a random message from Brandon Cohanim brought him to Dallas, why Mamani is à la carte with 100 seats instead of a tasting menu, how he balances a menu, why he does not want servers telling the chef’s story, and which station he says is the mark of a restaurant. It ends where every episode ends, with the Mount Rushmore, plus the line he would build with Joël Robuchon on the pass. Guest Christophe De Lellis Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christophedelellis/ Mamani : https://www.instagram.com/mamanirestaurant/ Links Lead Like a Chef App → https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef | |||
| Why Chefs Keep Paying for Buildings They'll Never Own? Sarah McIntosh Ep. 225 | 09 oct. 2026 | 01:26:06 | |
Paid partnership with Toast. This episode ends with a sponsored bonus segment on menu pricing, built on data from Toast's Menu Price Monitor and their free Menu Checker tool. Check your menu against the market → https://biz.toasttab.com/us1XN Sarah McIntosh is the chef-owner of epicerie in Austin, open on Hancock Drive since 2012 and running 450 covers on a busy Saturday. She came out of Louisiana, cooked at Bouchon and Ad Hoc, and has spent 20 years in and out of the Austin industry. Last year she flew to Argentina to cook alongside Francis Mallmann. None of that is why this conversation matters. She is one of the only chefs in the country who has worked out how to own the dirt under the restaurant instead of renting it. In 2008 she bought a house on the east side of Austin for around $219,000 at under four percent interest. Her payment was $600 a month, less than the apartment she had been renting. She still lives in it. It is paid off. During the pandemic it crossed a million dollars. That single piece of math is why she now structures deals where she owns the property and the business, and why when a developer offered her a percentage to recruit tenants for a project down the street from her restaurant, she turned it down and asked for ownership in the development instead. - The ownership structure she learned from Sam Hellman-Mass: buy the property, borrow against it to build, and the investor's money is protected by an asset that outlives the restaurant - What to actually look for in a lease, in her words: MEP, tenant improvement money, triple net, CAM, percentage rent, and why a landlord covering mechanical, electrical and plumbing is the signal that a deal is real - How she writes a proforma on purpose at 60 to 70 percent of what she thinks she will do, in three versions, with someone hired to pick it apart Andre Natera and Sarah McIntosh cover why most chefs put a million dollars into a building they will never own, the difference between leasing and buying when you have no backers, the brokerage math on a commercial deal and why she refuses to get a license, how a 20 year network produces deals that never hit the market, paying 100 percent of staff health insurance instead of raising wages and the staff revolt that followed, being quick to fire before a one person problem becomes a five person problem, and why her empathy has grown to the point that she now hands the firing decision to her team. It ends with the only award she says she needs. Butts in the seats, 450 of them on a Saturday, and a restaurant that is making money Sarah McIntosh on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/sarahmcgrams/ epicerie on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/epicerie_austin/ epicerie → https://epicerieaustin.com Follow Chef's PSA on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/chefspsa/ Bonus content sponsored by Toast. | |||
| They Said His Restaurant Would Fail. 21 Years Later, He’s Still Here. Abraham Salum Ep. 224 | 02 oct. 2026 | 01:02:01 | |
Abraham Salum has one rule he wishes every restaurant would adopt. A friend of his makes everyone pile their phones in the middle of the table before dinner starts. First person to reach for theirs pays the bill. Nobody ever touches their phone. That same instinct for reading a room runs through the whole conversation. Salum opened Salum in Dallas 21 years ago on a block his own realtor questioned and a commercial broker publicly predicted would fail. He ran into him years later. The broker told him he had taken his foot out of his mouth a long time ago.
Andre Natera and Abraham Salum cover growing up between Mexican, Lebanese, Italian, and Spanish grandmothers who all wanted to feed him, running 300 staff across seven restaurants in Cancun by his mid twenties, the kitchen design mistake from opening night that he is still working around two decades later, a storm that punctured his roof and shut the restaurant down for four and a half months, and the two year process of writing his first cookbook, A Spoonful of Everywhere, a project he kept completely secret from his own business partner. It ends where every episode ends, with the Mount Rushmore. Guest salumrestaurant.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/salumrestaurant/ https://www.instagram.com/asalum/ Links Lead Like a Chef App: https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef | |||
| Nick Walker, Are Your Line Cooks Still Loyal To You? Ep. 223 | 25 sept. 2026 | 01:03:36 | |
Nick Walker is an FSR 40 Under 40 chef who oversaw the James Beard nominated Meridian and now leads 11 Whiskey Cake locations across Texas and Florida. He started in a kitchen at 15, under the table, and cut his thumb open on his first real shift when a slamming office door caught his hand mid cut. They poured kitchen whiskey on the wound, duct taped it shut, and he finished service. Why he believes a cook can cook food, but a chef has to manage people and run the numbers, and why so many talented chefs never make that jump The line he still thinks about from a mentor who caught him publicly berating a cook over garnish, telling him to be the sous chef he always wanted Why he says followers do not equal dollars, period, and what actually separates a viral line cook from restaurant success Andre Natera and Nick Walker cover what kitchen culture looked like before HR existed and why some chefs still cannot accept it changed, the real staffing crisis behind restaurants paying 28 dollars an hour and still coming up short, the formula behind a menu item that actually sells versus one built for a chef's own ego, and why Brussels sprouts and hamachi keep showing up on every menu in the country. It ends where every episode ends, with the Mount Rushmore. Guest Links Lead Like a Chef App: https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef Get the Books: https://chefspsa.com/books Shop Chef's PSA Merch: https://shop.chefspsa.com/ Get Episodes Early on Substack: https://chefspsa.substack.com/ Follow Chef's PSA on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chefspsa/ | |||
| Tim Laielli, 1.4 Million Followers, and Next Level Chef. Does He Call Himself a Chef? Ep. 222 | 18 sept. 2026 | 01:02:01 | |
Tim Laielli will not call himself a chef. He is clear about it every time someone assumes otherwise, including his own father, who is one. Eighteen months after posting his first cooking video, Tim was on set cooking against professional chefs for Gordon Ramsay on Next Level Chef. He built Bare Food Tim, over a million followers, without ever working a line, and he explains exactly why. His father worked two jobs his whole childhood and told him constantly not to follow him into restaurants. Tim listened, then found a way to work with food anyway. Three things worth hearing straight from him. Why he thinks most chefs make content for other chefs instead of the person actually watching, which is usually a tired parent looking for dinner ideas, not a technique lesson. The real numbers behind brand deal income, and why capping sponsored content around 10 to 20 percent is the difference between monetizing and losing your audience's trust. And the two paths he tells struggling restaurants to choose between when they want to go viral, an oversized showstopper dish or full personality driven content, because trying to do both at once usually does neither well. Andre Natera and Tim Laielli also get into the friction between chefs and content creators, why lighting matters more than the camera you shoot on, which dishes reliably perform online and which never do, and the moment Tim realized the platform had started driving him instead of the other way around. It ends where every episode ends, with the Mount Rushmore. Guest Bare Food Tim on Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/barefoodtim/ Links Lead Like a Chef App: https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef | |||
| Matt Lambert: The Church of Michelin, the Modern Tasting Menu, and What's Actually Worth It Ep. 221 | 12 sept. 2026 | 01:06:21 | |
Matt Lambert earned a Michelin star at The Musket Room in New York in four months, a goal he'd given himself three years to hit. He describes what followed as treating the star like a religion, the Church of Michelin, and says he's never felt that emotional high again, chasing it in different forms for years after. Why he thinks the tasting menu has lost the plot. The moment he realized every chef on Instagram was making the same tart with a different color, and what he did about it Why moving back to New Zealand after New York hit him harder than the original move to America ever did André Natera and Matt Lambert cover 75 Hard and the 30 kilos he lost once he finally started taking care of himself, winning a major international chef award a week after his brother's funeral and feeling nothing standing on that stage, the moment his own chef de cuisine's face told him he didn't want to be the best anymore, why hospitality matters more than the food itself, and building Return in Auckland as his own answer to what The Musket Room used to be. Guest Links Lead Like a Chef App → https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef Get the Books → https://chefspsa.com/books Shop Chef's PSA Merch → https://shop.chefspsa.com/ Get Episodes Early on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/ Follow Chef's PSA on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/chefspsa/ | |||
| What Working for Jean-Georges Actually Taught Him About Running a Kitchen Bryan Caswell Ep. 220 | 04 sept. 2026 | 01:13:32 | |
Bryan Caswell has cooked inside three very different kinds of rooms. Jean-Georges Vongerichten's kitchen in the early 2000s, where he learned that a quiet, organized kitchen beats a screaming one. Seventeen restaurant openings of his own, roughly half of them his own concepts, from Reef to his new restaurant Latuli in Houston. And, less known, rooms full of policy people deciding how the Gulf actually gets fished.
André Natera and Bryan Caswell cover what it was actually like working under Jean-Georges before he was a household name, why talent alone breaks the moment a chef has to build a kitchen from nothing instead of running an established one, the Gulf Coast bycatch program he pioneered at Reef that's now industry standard, why he hasn't touched red wine in a sauce in over two decades, and his return to Houston with Latuli, his first restaurant of his own since Reef closed. It ends where every episode ends, with the Mount Rushmore. Guest Links Lead Like a Chef App → https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef | |||
| The First Latina to Beat Bobby Flay Breaks Down Her Real Numbers Ep. 219 | 28 août 2026 | 01:01:29 | |
Rosana Rivera runs three businesses under one roof: a bakery storefront, a wholesale bread program, and a catering and events company called Gatheria Studio. Most operators would guess wholesale wins on volume alone. It doesn't. Catering does, by a wide margin, sometimes 30 to 40 percent margins in a good season, more than either of the other two combined at the bottom line. She's also the first Latina chef to ever beat Bobby Flay on television, and the casting process that got her there is worth hearing before you ever get a similar email yourself.
André Natera and Rosana Rivera cover why most influencer marketing for restaurants doesn't move the needle, whether kitchen robotics are actually worth the investment, the one ingredient that wrecks her food cost every single year no matter what, why a bakery's margins are thinner than most chefs assume, and the full breakdown of why her events business outperforms both her storefront and her wholesale account. It ends where every episode ends, with the Mount Rushmore. Guest @chefrosanarivera@chefandthebaker Links Lead Like a Chef App → https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef | |||
| Eduardo Osorio on Moving From LA to Dallas and Becoming the City's Hottest New Chef Ep. 218 | 21 août 2026 | 01:06:31 | |
Eduardo Osorio moved to Dallas from LA less than a year ago. Then Kent Rathbun, Dallas royalty, ate at Meridian and posted about it, and the walk-ins started within days. It's the kind of endorsement that doesn't happen for just anybody. He's built a career on adapting fast. Restaurant Daniel in New York, where a chef corrected his micro-green prep on day one and made it clear there wouldn't be a second warning. Eight months in Jeddah, cooking out of what was essentially a shipping container in 130-degree heat, where he learned the hard way that crossing your legs the wrong way gets you slapped. And now Meridian, where he's building a kitchen that runs on almost none of that old pressure.
André Natera and Eduardo Osorio cover the guest chef dinner series that's turned Meridian into a clubhouse for Dallas's next generation of cooks, the difference between LA, Vegas, New York, and Saudi Arabia kitchen cultures, why his sous chef of fourteen years just walked away from cooking entirely, the influencer economy and why a bad review travels further than a good one, and what it takes to run ten restaurants and two burger concepts at once without losing the plot. It ends where every episode ends, with the Mount Rushmore, and the phrase his entire kitchen shouts when a table sends back a compliment. Guest @chefeduardoosorio https://www.instagram.com/chefeduardoosorio/ Links Lead Like a Chef App → https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef | |||
| Why San Antonio Is Texas's Most Underrated Food City With Enrique Lozano Ep. 217 | 14 août 2026 | 01:03:14 | |
Enrique Lozano is a Chopped champion, James Beard nominee for Best Chef Texas, and executive chef at Aguazul in San Antonio, with roots at Benny Frank's in El Paso and Mija opening soon in San Elizario. He'd been trying to get on Chopped for over a decade before the call finally came, right after his James Beard nomination. His strategy once he got there: cook exactly what he already knew, nothing more ambitious, nothing borrowed. It won him ten thousand dollars and, once the embargo lifted a year later, a wave of business he hadn't planned for.
André Natera and Enrique Lozano cover what it actually takes to build a 100% sustainable restaurant from the ground up at Mija, why a 200-item menu at Aguazul isn't chaos but cross-utilization, San Antonio's quiet run of Michelin recognition, the deep well of chef talent coming out of El Paso, two restaurant closures and the identical tax mistake behind both of them, who actually showed up when things fell apart and who didn't, and whether music belongs in a kitchen at all. It ends where every episode ends, with the Mount Rushmore, and the one addition to his tonkotsu broth that isn't a spice. Guest Instagram: Chef Enrique Lozano Links Lead Like a Chef App → https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef | |||
| He Is The Third Generation To Run One Of NYC's Oldest Italian Restaurants Matthew Cutolo Ep. 216 | 07 août 2026 | 01:03:38 | |
Matthew Cutolo is a third-generation chef at Gargiulo's, the Coney Island restaurant his family has run since 1965 and that has fed Brooklyn since 1907. In 1977, The New York Times gave it three stars, unheard of at the time for a restaurant outside Manhattan. He learned to bake from Mike the Bake, the restaurant's pastry chef of over forty years, who refused to write down a single recipe, including for family. Matthew asked to learn anyway. Mike's answer was, "If you want to learn, you have to watch." For the first two months, Matthew stood at the mixing bowl and watched Mike add ingredients with no measurements at all, a scoop of this, a lap around the kitchen, a conversation with someone else, back to the bowl. Only after two months did Mike start telling him what was actually going in.
André Natera and Matthew Cutolo cover the difference between Italian food and Italian American food and why that argument goes back to Ellis Island, the family's daily 2:30 lunch that nobody is allowed to skip, guys' night and the right way to make a negroni, the meatball debate settled once and for all, sauce versus gravy, dried pasta versus fresh, Parmigiano versus Pecorino, what actually makes a video do well on YouTube versus Instagram, and why toxic kitchens exist in family restaurants too. It ends where every episode ends, with the Mount Rushmore, and the correct cannoli filling. Guest @matthewcutolo Links Lead Like a Chef App → https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef | |||
| The Century Where Food Stopped Being About Food | Bobby Hicks Ep. 215 | 31 juil. 2026 | 01:12:27 | |
Bobby Hicks read roughly 800 mid-century cookbooks to write one, and what he found was not a list of bad recipes. It was the exact point where American home cooking lost its thread. The Great Depression ran into World War II with almost no recovery in between. Two generations of mothers cooked without butter, without sugar, without the ingredients their own mothers' recipes assumed. What did not get cooked did not get taught. By the time the post-war boom arrived with canned soup and boxed everything, and women moved from house labor into factories and still had to put dinner on the table, the chain was already broken. The dishes we laugh at now were what filled the gap.
Bobby Hicks is a food historian, a Next Level Chef season four alum, and the author of Retro Recipes: Vintage Dishes with a Modern Twist from Countryman Press. He shows up with a vintage basting spoon from an estate sale and opens with the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to him in a kitchen. He was telling an extern that onion skin works as a bandage. Mid-sentence, he cut off the tip of his finger. André Natera and Bobby Hicks cover the three books he studied before going on television, why sleep and food were what actually wrecked him on set, the market exercise he still gives private chefs, why he believes you can teach technique but not adaptability, what happens once a publisher wants 100 recipes in six months, twelve years of content advice from before it was a career, and how to order a drink without embarrassing yourself. It ends where every episode ends, with the Mount Rushmore. Guest Retro Recipes Kitchen on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/retrorecipeskitchen/ Links Lead Like a Chef App → https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef | |||
| Toby Archibald The Chef Who Traveled the World to Build One Perfect Restaurant in Dallas Ep. 214 | 23 juil. 2026 | 01:20:28 | |
Chef Toby Archibald is the New Zealand-born chef and owner of Quarter Acre, a Michelin Guide restaurant on Lower Greenville in Dallas. Texas Monthly named it one of the Best New Restaurants in 2023. D Magazine ranked it a Top 5 restaurant. He spent twenty years working through Michelin-starred kitchens in London, Canada, New York, and Australia before opening Quarter Acre in December 2022. His career includes sous chef at The Greenhouse in London, sous chef at Café Boulud Toronto and New York under Gavin Kaysen and Aaron Bludorn, and Executive Chef at Georgie by Curtis Stone. This episode starts in 2006. Toby is 23, backpacking across America, staying in a hostel. He gets a reservation at Restaurant Daniel. Shows up 20 minutes early, gets fitted with a dinner jacket from a room full of them, sits in the middle of the dining room as a solo diner, and has a meal he cannot describe but has never forgotten. That one dinner changed the entire direction of his career, his life, and who he is as a chef.
André and Toby cover the Bocuse d'Or dinner at Kent Rathbun's house where this friendship started, the language barrier at The Greenhouse that forced real learning, the seventh generation charcutier at Café Boulud Toronto who could debone a pig with a spoon, Gavin Kaysen leaving New York a week after Toby arrived, Daniel Boulud pulling out his phone at Toby's farewell dinner to look up Sydney hotels, and what Quarter Acre is and why it is impossible to put in a box. Guest
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| The Food Is a Bonus. Hospitality Is the Point. Chef Geno McWilliams Ep. 213 | 17 juil. 2026 | 01:04:26 | |
Geno McWilliams is the self-taught chef and owner of Lucia's Italian Kitchen in Effingham, Illinois, a 39-seat open kitchen Italian restaurant three hours south of Chicago that has become a destination in rural America. He spent decades as a construction contractor while teaching himself to cook, traveled with more cooking equipment than construction tools, fired pizzas in hotel rooms with an Ooni Koda, and opened Lucia's in November 2020. He is a member of the US Pizza Team and Women in Pizza certified. He attended the Rewiring Hospitality conference in Irvine, California the week before this recording. His biggest takeaway became the central argument of this entire episode: after years of obsessing over the food, the food is not the point. The food is the bonus. Hospitality is what brings guests back.
André Natera and Geno McWilliams cover the wedding dance moment that went viral on social media, reading guests through body language and NLP, the Roman tonda meets New York style pizza hybrid that defines Lucia's pizza, the discovery that French toast originated in fourth century Rome, and the construction contractor financial discipline that gave Geno a foundation most self-taught chefs never develop. The episode closes with his Mount Rushmore of chefs by category, his yellow tape kitchen in honor of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and his tagline: cheaper than a ticket to Italy. Guest
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| Matt McCallister on Getting Sober, Losing His Restaurant, and Why He Is Going Back Ep. 212 | 10 juil. 2026 | 01:01:12 | |
Chef Matt McCallister is the Food and Wine Best New Chef 2014, three-time James Beard Award finalist, and one of a handful of chefs to ever receive a five-star review from the Dallas Morning News. He opened FT33 in Dallas in 2012, followed it with Homewood, and is now opening River Sing, a 24-seat tasting menu restaurant in Fair Park, Dallas, in fall 2026. He has been sober since 2016. This episode is the less glamorous side of the chef world that people do not talk about.
André Natera and Matt McCallister trace the full arc from FT33's peak to Homewood's collapse to getting sober to disappearing from public view to building River Sing. The conversation covers the intervention, the shame of public failure, what forgiveness actually costs over time, and why he is doing it again. River Sing is named after a line in a Grateful Dead song and his lifelong love of fly fishing in the Arizona mountains. It enters through a courtyard garden. It opens this fall. It is 24 seats. Guest
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| Lady Line Cook Finally on Chef's PSA Ep. 211 | 02 juil. 2026 | 01:13:29 | |
Hanalei Souza is the sous chef, author, and content creator behind @ladylinecook, one of the most recognized culinary humor and leadership voices on Instagram with 88,000 followers. She has been in the industry since 2018, has worked at the same restaurant for seven years in a mountain town, and is the self-published author of the kitchen memoir "Nice Work, Boys!" She started making cooking videos on YouTube at age 14, posted with no audience for 11 years, and went viral on Instagram in 2022. She was flown to Texas by commercial kitchen equipment brand Cuchimix, which is how she ended up at Just Push Record Studios in Austin for this episode. The episode was also recorded twice because André forgot to press record the first time. This episode opens with the night a man was literally on fire outside her restaurant. Hanalei grabbed a kitchen fire extinguisher, pulled the pin, chased him down the street, helped save his life, and then went back inside to finish the last three hours of service. That is the opening story. It gets better from there.
André Natera and Hanalei Souza cover the clipboard fear she had as a line cook and why she now runs four of them, why 80 percent of her job as sous chef is still hands on the food, the transition from being everyone's friend on the line to being the person responsible for their stations, and the social media conversation that the culinary world needs to have about what viral actually means and who it serves. The episode closes with her Mount Rushmore of chefs, her Mount Rushmore of culinary content creators, and a shoutout to Cuchimix and the women's chef coat she co-created with Funky Chef. Guest
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| RJ Yoakum on Imposter Syndrome, Meat Cookery, and What Nobody Tells You Ep. 210 | 25 juin 2026 | 01:14:49 | |
Chef RJ Yoakum is the chef de cuisine at Michelin-recommended Sushi Kozy in Dallas, a kaiseki-inspired omakase restaurant from chef-owner Paul Ko. A 2025 James Beard Award finalist for Emerging Chef, he previously led the kitchen at Georgie in Dallas to its first Michelin recommendation and trained at The French Laundry, Angler, and The Clove Club in London. He is 32 years old. He has trained in some of the most demanding kitchens in the world. And in this episode, he says that the more successful he became in Dallas, internally he was broken.
André Natera and RJ Yoakum cover the TFL classics that shaped his approach, the asparagus question of when technique serves the ingredient versus when it gets in the way, the mentorship of David Breeden and Thomas Keller and what it actually transferred, the imposter syndrome that followed his success in Dallas, and the leadership lessons that only made sense once he was on the other side of them. The episode closes with his Mount Rushmore, rapid fire questions, and what he is building at Sushi Kozy. This episode is sponsored by Rational USA. Learn more at https://rationalusa.com | |||
| Todd Duplechan and Jessica Maher on What Makes a Great Cook Ep. 209 | 19 juin 2026 | 01:11:19 | |
Todd Duplechan and Jessica Maher are the husband-and-wife chef-owners of Lenoir, a MICHELIN Guide restaurant in Austin's Bouldin Creek neighborhood open since 2012. They also formerly owned Métier Cook's Supply next door and opened Boni's Bar, a Spanish drinks and bites concept, in Spring 2026. Todd is a native Texan who trained at The Danube under David Bouley and served as chef de cuisine at the Four Seasons Austin before opening Lenoir. Jessica cooked through the Bouley restaurant family and at Tabla with Floyd Cardoz and Gray Kunz before moving to Austin. They met through the Bouley restaurants and have built Lenoir together for 14 years. This episode is about the gap between technically skilled and genuinely great, and what it actually takes to close it.
André Natera, Todd Duplechan, and Jessica Maher cover Todd's stage at The Danube, being hired, and the 12-course meal at the pass that changed how he understood professional cooking, how they met through the Bouley restaurant family, what separates cooks who develop into great chefs from those who plateau, and the teamwork and hospitality philosophy that has driven Lenoir's 14-year evolution. The episode closes with rapid fire kitchen gear, the chef Mount Rushmore, and the story behind Métier and Boni's Bar. Guest
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| Three-Time James Beard Finalist on Building a Hospitality Empire Ep. 208 | 11 juin 2026 | 01:26:07 | |
Chef Brian Lewis is the founder and CEO of Full House Hospitality Group and a three-time James Beard Award finalist for Best Chef Northeast, with nominations in 2018, 2022, and 2025. A Culinary Institute of America and Johnson and Wales University graduate, he apprenticed under Jean Louis Palladin, Marco Pierre White, and Eric Ripert before becoming the founding executive chef of Richard Gere's The Bedford Post Inn, which earned Esquire's Best New Restaurant in 2009 and an Excellent review from The New York Times. In 2015 he founded Full House Hospitality Group, which now operates The Cottage in Westport and Greenwich, Connecticut, and OKO in Westport and Rye, New York, with 125 employees across four locations. This episode opens with a story about a job interview that most chefs would have walked away from. Lewis did not walk away. He secretly prepared an eight-course meal before anyone asked, controlled the entire tasting, and landed the role that gave him what he calls a PhD in opening and operating a restaurant from the ground up. How he built Full House Hospitality Group around a single principle: only expand when operations can thrive without you in the room Why empowering teams with genuine autonomy inside defined guardrails is the only leadership model that scales across four restaurants and 125 people How strategy and psychology replaced technique as his primary tools when he made the shift from chef to CEO André Natera and Brian Lewis cover the identity shift required when a chef stops being the creative voice in the kitchen and starts leading other chefs to express theirs, the role of kindness as a non-negotiable management standard, navigating reviews and social media pressure across multiple concepts, and the research trip to Japan that preceded the launch of OKO. The episode closes with rapid fire kitchen gear, stocks and dashi minimalism, and the chef Mount Rushmore. Guest
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| How to Hire 196 People in One Week: Jason Dady's Playbook Ep. 207 | 05 juin 2026 | 01:00:03 | |
Chef Jason Dady is one of San Antonio's most prolific restaurateurs, having opened 20 restaurants over 25 years through the Jason Dady Restaurant Group. A San Antonio UNESCO City of Gastronomy Chef Ambassador and Food Network veteran with appearances on Iron Chef Gauntlet, BBQ Brawl, and Beat Bobby Flay, Dady most recently opened Mexico Ceaty, a 25,000-square-foot food hall on San Antonio's River Walk at the Shops at Rivercenter. The concept opened April 20, 2026 and includes eight distinct dining and drinking venues celebrating Mexican and San Antonio food culture, with direct River Walk access. This episode covers the full operational story behind Mexico Ceaty, from a decade-old idea to 196 employees hired in one week. How an 18-month lease negotiation, financing setbacks, and a small Houston bank shaped the opening before a single taco was served How targeted social media ads and structured onboarding placed 196 employees across nine concepts in a single week Why SOPs and recipes calibrated to the gram are not micromanagement but the only way to maintain standards at scale. André Natera and Jason Dady cover the Eataly-inspired origin of Mexico Ceaty, the nine concepts inside the space, the transition from chef-operator to CEO, profit margin realities across fine dining and fast casual formats, and the EOS Traction L10 meeting structure that creates leadership accountability without requiring the founder in every room. The episode closes with career advice, the importance of stages as learning rather than labor, and rapid fire chef questions. Guest
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| Bocuse d'Or Gold to America's Culinary Cup: Matt Peters Ep. 206 | 29 mai 2026 | 01:00:24 | |
Chef Matt Peters is the first American chef to win gold at the Bocuse d'Or, the most technically demanding culinary competition in the world. He trained under Thomas Keller at Per Se and The French Laundry and at Adour Alain Ducasse in New York before spending over a year preparing for the 2017 Bocuse d'Or in Lyon. He is currently Head Coach for Team USA at the 2027 Bocuse d'Or, coaching Chef Vincenzo Loseto and Commis Tyler Higson, and competed this year on CBS's America's Culinary Cup. This episode is the most detailed inside account of America's Culinary Cup that any competitor has given publicly. Peters does not filter it. What the sequestering process, point structure, and unexpected challenges like cooking someone else's food actually feel like from the inside Why precision and technical refinement can work against you on television, and what the criticism that his food was too chefy actually meant The sauce argument: why Keller-style clean reductions and Ducasse-style fat-emulsified sauces represent two fundamentally different philosophies, and why the choice defines your cooking voice André Natera and Matt Peters cover the beef stroganoff versus Bocuse-style dish debate from episode one, mental fatigue from the finale curveballs, his honest format critique, the training timeline for Team USA 2027 on the road to Lyon, and where smart product use fits into a scratch cooking philosophy. Guest
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| Michelin Stars, Brisket Mastery, and the Price of Success Ep.205 | 22 mai 2026 | 01:05:15 | |
Evan LeRoy is the co-owner and pitmaster of LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue in Austin, Texas. A Michelin star recipient in the MICHELIN Guide Texas 2024, number two on Texas Monthly's Top 50 BBQ Joints in 2025, and 2025 James Beard Award Semifinalist for Best Chef Texas, LeRoy has spent nearly a decade redefining Texas barbecue through whole-animal butchery, locally sourced meats, and a cooking philosophy that refuses to treat barbecue as a fixed menu. His debut cookbook, New School Barbecue: Recipes for Next-Level Smoking and Grilling from Austin's LeRoy and Lewis, co-authored with Paula Forbes, is out May 12, 2026. In this episode, he gets direct about the one thing most chefs with new recognition do not want to admit: the star changed everything, and not all of it in ways that are easy to manage. What earning and retaining a Michelin star actually does to a barbecue operation in terms of volume, scrutiny, and internal pressure Why Texas barbecue's dominance as the national formula is creating a copycat monoculture that is hurting the genre The complete brisket process from trimming for airflow to Dalmatian rub ratios, wood selection, wrapping decisions, and the overnight heated rest André Natera and Evan LeRoy cover the ways success can quietly destabilize priorities, how portioning precision and pricing realities shift under heightened expectations, and the three-year process behind translating LeRoy and Lewis's restaurant technique into nearly 100 home-cook-friendly recipes for the cookbook. The episode closes with how LeRoy steps away from the pressure and what he is watching in the broader BBQ landscape. New School Barbecue is available wherever books are sold, out May 12, 2026. This episode is sponsored by Rational USA. Learn more at https://rationalusa.com Guest
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| Fancy Chef Calls, $10K Restaurants, and Originals vs. Covers | Chef's PSA Ep. 204 | 15 mai 2026 | 01:33:52 | |
Phillip Frankland Lee is the co-owner and executive chef of Scratch Restaurants Group, the Michelin-starred hospitality company he operates with his wife and executive pastry chef Margarita Kallas-Lee. The group includes Sushi by Scratch Restaurants, Pasta|Bar, NADC Burger, and Shokunin. Lee is a Top Chef Season 13 competitor, San Pellegrino Young Chef 2015 finalist, Zagat 30 Under 30 honoree, and Food Network record holder for most consecutive competition wins. This is his third appearance on Chef's PSA. His argument is direct: you can open a restaurant for $10,000 or less, break even in 60 days, and scale that model to 32 locations if you keep the footprint small, the staff lean, and every concept focused on one core product. How taking over already-permitted spaces eliminates the buildout cost that kills most restaurant openings Why small tasting-menu formats scale better than large casual concepts and how the math actually works Where chef inspiration ends and outright copying begins, and why that line matters more now than ever André Natera and Phillip Frankland Lee cover the organic growth of NADC Burger from free pop-ups to multiple locations, the conversion of a Pasta|Bar location into a 22-seat boutique steakhouse, Lee's open world RPG framework for handling adversity, hard lessons from sharks and risky partnerships, and the detailed debate on homage versus originality in culinary culture. The episode closes with a preview of his upcoming podcast Fire the Board and new Austin-area concepts. Guest
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| How Chaos Builds Great Chefs: Josh Sutcliff on 55 Seventy Episode. 203 | 08 mai 2026 | 01:08:49 | |
Chef Josh Sutcliff is the Corporate Executive Chef and Partner at 55 Seventy, a private members club for wine lovers with locations in Dallas and Houston. A Le Cordon Bleu graduate, CultureMap Dallas Rising Star Chef of the Year, and Zagat 30 Under 30 honoree, his career includes chef de cuisine at FT33, executive chef at Mirador, and stints at The Joule and Knox Bistro. He started washing dishes at 13. Federal agents had just arrested his father. His family was living in a camper. The kitchen gave him stability when nothing else did, and the chaotic, pirate-energy environment he found there never stopped feeling like home. Why consistency and station setup reveal more about a cook than talent ever will How to map a chef career by starting at the end goal and working backward, not forward What the shift from chef to business thinker actually requires when you are scaling new openings André Natera and Josh Sutcliff cover the sports mindset that shaped his approach to kitchen teams, what makes young cooks succeed or stall, his systems for onboarding and standardized recipes, and the long game of reputation and networking in a small industry. The episode closes with the transition from day-to-day cooking to corporate executive chef and what that demands from a leader. Guest
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| From Celebrity Chef to a Bigger Mission. David Bull Episode 202 | 01 mai 2026 | 01:11:37 | |
Chef David Bull is Austin's first Iron Chef America competitor, Food and Wine Best New Chef 2003, two-time James Beard Foundation nominee, and Regional Vice President of Food and Beverage at LaCorsha Hospitality Group. He led the Driskill Grill to three consecutive Austin American-Statesman number one restaurant awards, competed on Iron Chef America in 2006 as the first Austin chef to do so, and has since overseen 16 restaurant and hotel openings with LaCorsha across Texas, most of them historic renovations. He is also co-founder of the Mineral Wellness Center, a faith-based nonprofit in Mineral Wells dedicated to reducing mental health stigma and providing counseling and community resources. This episode covers the full arc: Austin's first celebrity chef, 16 properties, and the decision to walk away from all of it for something bigger.
André Natera and David Bull go deep on the Iron Chef America experience, the operational realities of scaling a hospitality group, the trust required in a business partner before any contract is signed, evolving kitchen culture and mentorship across every staffing level, and Bull's personal decision to step back from fine dining and co-found the Mineral Wellness Center. The episode closes with a preview of his upcoming Restored and Delivered concept in Mineral Wells. This episode is sponsored by Rational USA. Learn more at https://rationalusa.com Guest
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| Brandon Harpster on Cooking Smarter How Technology Changes Everything Overnight Ep 201 | 24 avr. 2026 | 01:10:55 | |
Brandon Harpster is the National Corporate Chef for Training and Events at RATIONAL USA. He trains chefs across the country, runs RATIONAL's culinary academies, and develops cooking programs that translate connected kitchen technology into repeatable, scalable results for working operators. This episode starts with a brunch disaster. A steamship round failed overnight at a country club, no monitoring, no alert, no way to intervene. Harpster uses that story to frame the entire case for connected cooking, and then spends the next hour proving it.
André Natera and Brandon Harpster cover the iCombi Pro, iVario Pro, and iHexagon across real kitchen scenarios including Peking duck skin development, brisket hybrid smoking workflows, zone heating, sous-vide-style cooking, and pasta-in-sauce preset functions. They also discuss what RATIONAL's corporate chef network actually does, how the training academies work, and what a field role in this industry looks like for chefs who want to move off the line. RATIONAL
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| Cooking for 5,000 Before Culinary School Chef Chad Welch Ep. 200 | 17 avr. 2026 | 01:12:40 | |
Chef Chad Welch is an American Culinary Federation Certified Executive Chef and Certified Culinary Administrator, a Jacques Pépin Foundation ambassador, and the executive chef with The Urban Stillhouse, an elevated dining concept with locations in St. Petersburg, Florida and Somerset, Kentucky. Horse Soldier bourbon bottles are formed with steel from the World Trade Center. He did not plan to become a chef. A Navy paperwork error put him in the galley instead of the engine room in 1992, scaling Armed Forces recipe cards to 5,000 portions aboard the USS America aircraft carrier, cutting frozen Cornish game hens on a band saw on his first day at sea, and cooking through storms that sent equipment crashing across the kitchen floor.
André Natera and Chad Welch cover his first post-Navy restaurant job doing scratch pub cooking, his Mexican food upbringing and deliberate choice not to cook it professionally, the classic versus molecular cooking debate, and his work with the Jacques Pépin Foundation. The episode closes with the Horse Soldier Bourbon origin story and career advice from a chef whose entire path began by accident. This episode is sponsored by Rational USA. Learn more at https://rationalusa.com Guest
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| Building a Restaurant Under Pressure With Emmanuel Chavez Episode 199 | 10 avr. 2026 | 01:01:56 | |
Everyone wants the spotlight. Until it actually hits. Andre sits down with Emmanuel Chavez from Tatemo in Houston to talk about what happens when your restaurant gets attention before you’re ready for it. Tatemo went from a tortilla operation to a full tasting menu fast. Recognition came with it. So did pressure. This conversation gets into what it takes to run a tight kitchen with almost no space, how leadership changes when expectations spike, and the mistakes that come with building something in real time. • What early success actually feels like• How to run a tasting menu in a small kitchen• Why leadership matters more than technique Follow Chefs PSA and send this to a chef who thinks they’re ready. LINKS & RESOURCES Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/Shop Chef’s PSA Merch → https://shop.chefspsa.comVisit Chef’s PSA Website → https://chefspsa.comSponsored by RATIONAL USA → https://rationalusa.com | |||
| Emmanuel Laroche on Madagascar Vanilla and Flavors Unknown | Episode 198 | 04 avr. 2026 | 01:10:18 | |
Chef Andre Natera sits down with Emmanuel Laroche, host of the Flavors Unknown podcast and author of A Taste of Madagascar, to explore the global story behind vanilla production and the process of writing a food book. Laroche shares his experience traveling to Madagascar, where roughly 80% of the world’s vanilla is produced, including the realities of hand pollination and the challenges of sourcing ingredients in remote regions. The conversation also covers Madagascar’s broader food ecosystem, including pepper, honey, cocoa, and caviar, and explores why many farmers grow vanilla for export rather than local use. Laroche breaks down his writing process and explains how aspiring authors can move from concept to published book through traditional publishing channels. • How vanilla is grown and why it requires hand pollination• How to write and publish a food book• Why understanding ingredients changes how chefs cook Follow Chefs PSA and share this episode with someone interested in food, travel, or writing. LINKS & RESOURCES Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/Shop Chef’s PSA Merch → https://shop.chefspsa.com/Visit Chef’s PSA Website → https://chefspsa.com/Sponsored by RATIONAL USA → https://rationalusa.com | |||
| Dan Kennedy on Meat, Fire, and Ego | Episode 197 | 27 mars 2026 | 00:55:21 | |
Chef Dan Kennedy spent over 20 years in high end kitchens, most recently as head chef at Pasta|Bar Austin before the concept closed in February 2026. He is now working on Morri, his own concept in Austin. In this episode, Andre Natera and Dan Kennedy argue that social media has replaced technical skill with aesthetic performance, and duck is the clearest casualty.
Kennedy covers proper rendering technique, skin drying and aging, heat control, extended resting, and pre-service prep decisions that determine outcome before service starts. They also cover lamb, octopus, and grilling over binchotan and wood embers, using cake testers and feel over thermometers, and finishing with fat and flaky salt. On tasting menus, Kennedy favors 5 to 9 courses with canapés, cold starters, and two desserts, structured around deliciousness over narrative. The episode closes with reactions to America's Culinary Cup, commentary on Pasta|Bar's closure, and Chef's PSA merch. This episode is sponsored by Rational USA. Learn more at https://rationalusa.com Guest
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| Top Chef Twins Brandon and Jonathan Dearden Ep. 196 | 20 mars 2026 | 01:23:33 | |
Chef Andre Natera sits down with identical twin chefs Brandon and Jonathan Dearden to discuss rivalry, restaurant leadership, culinary school value, and the realities of running profitable restaurants. Both twins competed on Top Chef and built careers in very different directions. Brandon pursued fine dining and stages at elite kitchens, while Jonathan focused on leadership roles and restaurant management The conversation covers lessons from high-intensity kitchens like Alinea, the real value of culinary school, hiring pitfalls with impressive resumes, and how menu engineering helps restaurants stay profitable. They also discuss competing on Top Chef, the importance of building a chef brand online, and how AI tools are beginning to influence restaurant operations. What You Will Learn • The real return on investment of culinary school • What Michelin-level kitchens teach about discipline and systems • How restaurant owners engineer menus for profitability LINKS & RESOURCES Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/ | |||
| Dallas Dining Debate with Josh Sutcliff and Drew Stephenson : Episode 195 | 13 mars 2026 | 01:31:45 | |
Chef Andre Natera sits down with Dallas chef Josh Sutcliff and food commentator Drew Stephenson to unpack the viral debate surrounding the Dallas dining scene. After Drew’s Instagram post sparked widespread reactions among chefs and diners, the conversation expanded into a deeper look at restaurant success, Michelin expectations, and the economic realities of running restaurants in Texas. They discuss the polarizing response to Mamani, why tasting-menu-only restaurants often struggle in Texas, and the operational realities of Dallas restaurants, including large spaces, high rent, and limited kitchen infrastructure. The episode also examines how chefs balance creativity, identity, and profitability while navigating diner expectations, influencer culture, and the evolving fine-dining landscape. Restaurants discussed include Lucia, Sushi Cozy, Petra and the Beast LINKS & RESOURCES Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/ | |||
| The Problem With Tipping Culture : Jam Sanichat Ep. 194 | 07 mars 2026 | 00:58:13 | |
Chef Andre Natera sits down with Jam Sanichat, chef-owner of Thai Fresh in Austin, Texas, to explore how restaurant culture, wage models, and culinary traditions intersect. Jam explains why she eliminated tipping at Thai Fresh and replaced it with a transparent service fee designed to provide stable wages and reduce front-of-house and back-of-house pay disparities. The conversation also traces her journey from teaching Thai cooking classes and selling prepared foods at farmers markets to building Thai Fresh into a full restaurant and cooking school with vegan desserts, gluten-free ice cream, and a sustainability-focused sourcing philosophy. Jam shares how she crowdfunded a memoir-style cookbook through Kickstarter, breaking down the strategy behind a successful campaign including reward tiers, promotional planning, and production timelines. For cooks and chefs interested in Thai cuisine, Jam explains the five-flavor balance that defines Thai cooking and discusses pantry staples like fish sauce, pandan, and curry paste that help create bold, layered flavor. This episode blends restaurant economics, cookbook publishing insights, and practical Thai cooking knowledge for anyone curious about the intersection of hospitality business and culinary tradition. Thai Fresh Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/thaifresh/ LINKS & RESOURCES Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/ | |||
| Most Chefs Shouldn’t Be Owners: James Trees Episode 193 | 26 févr. 2026 | 01:10:52 | |
Most chefs should not open a restaurant. James Trees explains why ownership is finance and leadership, not cooking. From prime cost and food cost velocity to EBITDA, triple net leases, and delivery app traps, this episode is a restaurant business masterclass. If you are thinking about opening your first restaurant, learn the numbers first.
Built for chefs serious about ownership and profit. Follow Chefs PSA and share this episode with a chef who wants to open a restaurant. James Trees Instagram LINKS & RESOURCES Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/ | |||
| No Star Is Worth Your Health: Jake Rojas Episode 192 | 19 févr. 2026 | 01:14:20 | |
A Michelin-trained chef faces thyroid cancer and the real possibility of losing his taste. Chef Jake Rojas shares his diagnosis, treatment, feeding tube recovery, and how the experience reshaped his priorities around health and leadership. From El Paso competitions to three-star kitchens in Las Vegas, this is a conversation about discipline, identity, and why flavor is the only thing that truly matters.
Built for chefs who want longevity, not just accolades. Follow Chefs PSA and share this episode with a chef who needs permission to prioritize their health. LINKS & RESOURCES Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/ | |||
| She Left Finance to Open 2 Restaurants: Laila Bazahm (Ep. 191) | 13 févr. 2026 | 01:00:40 | |
She left finance to open two of Austin’s most talked-about restaurants. In this episode of Chefs PSA, Laila Bazahm explains how fine dining discipline, financial literacy, and cultural awareness shaped her path from Wall Street to restaurant ownership. This conversation is essential for chefs who want to open their first restaurant without guessing their way through funding.
Built for chefs serious about ownership and leadership. ollow Chefs PSA and share this episode with a chef planning to open a restaurant. LINKS & RESOURCES Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/ | |||
| How Chefs Escape Restaurants Without Going Broke : Joey Chavez(Ep. 190) | 06 févr. 2026 | 00:57:28 | |
Restaurant kitchens are breaking chefs. Joey Chavez left the traditional kitchen path to build a private dining business that protects income, health, and time. In this episode of Chefs PSA, Andre Natera breaks down what chefs are never taught about money, pricing, and long-term sustainability. This is a reality check for cooks questioning their future. You will learn
LINKS & RESOURCES Rational → Rationalusa.com Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/ | |||
| Restaurants vs Private Dining with Chef Francis Pascal Ep. 189 | 30 janv. 2026 | 01:02:35 | |
Chef Francis Pascal of Vendador joins André Natera to talk private dining, leadership, contracts, pricing, and the real business behind luxury events. From immigrant roots to building a high-end operation, this episode is packed with practical insight for chefs looking to go independent. If this episode helped you, leave a 5-star rating and follow Chef’s PSA. LINKS & RESOURCES Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/ | |||
| The 'No Recipe' Rule: with Brent Weathers Ep. 188 | 24 janv. 2026 | 01:13:02 | |
Brent Weathers cuts through the 'Instagram Chef' BS to reveal the reality of cooking without recipes. In this episode, André Natera welcomes back chef and content creator Brent Weathers for a conversation that cuts through trends, gimmicks, and recycled food content. They break down cooking without recipes, the pressure of originality, content creation burnout, and the realities most chefs don’t say out loud. From wild dining stories to serious industry talk, this episode blends food, culture, and humor in a way only Chef’s PSA does. Only 5-stars! 🔗 Links & Resources Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/ Shop Chef’s PSA Merch → https://shop.chefspsa.com/ Visit Chef’s PSA Website → https://chefspsa.com/ | |||
| Why Great Restaurants Feel Effortless with Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel Ep. 187 | 17 janv. 2026 | 00:59:18 | |
If this episode brings you value, leave a 5-star rating and follow Chef’s PSA. Great restaurants are designed, not improvised. Andre Natera sits down again with Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel of Birdie’s to break down menu structure, kitchen culture, mentorship, and leadership. They explore why Birdie’s moved to a prefixed format, how structure improved creativity, and what it really takes to build sustainable restaurant teams. This episode is for chefs thinking long-term. Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/ | |||
| How Michelin-Level Innovation Is Actually Built with Jorge Luis Hernández Ep. 186 | 09 janv. 2026 | 01:09:02 | |
If this episode helps you, leave a 5-star rating and follow Chef’s PSA so it reaches more working chefs. Chef Jorge Luis Hernández joins André Natera to break down how innovation actually works inside Michelin-recognized kitchens. From mentorship and iteration to recipe systems and collaboration, this episode focuses on process, not performance. Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/ | |||
| Franck Desplechin: Luxury Hotel Leadership & The Trap of Chasing Titles (Ep. 185) | 02 janv. 2026 | 00:53:01 | |
Is the climb to "Executive Chef" actually worth the sacrifice? Chef and Hospitality Leader Franck Desplechin joins André Natera to dismantle the myth that a higher job title equals more happiness. They discuss the operational and emotional reality of running luxury hotel kitchens:
A crucial listen for Hotel Chefs, Directors of Food & Beverage, and Culinary Leaders questioning their next career move. Links & Resources Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/ | |||
| Philip Frankland Lee: Michelin Systems, Omakase Economics & The Reality of TV Fame Ep. 184 | 26 déc. 2025 | 01:45:33 | |
What is the operational difference between a "good" restaurant and a Michelin-starred machine? Chef Philip Frankland Lee returns to Chef’s PSA to dismantle the romanticism of fine dining and replace it with systems, discipline, and math. We move past the hype to discuss the structural reality of modern kitchens:
A masterclass on systems and long-term strategy for Executive Chefs, Restaurateurs, and Operators who are tired of the noise. Phillip Frankland Lee Instagram Links & Resources | |||
| Mastering Meat Science and BBQ with Jess Pryles Ep. 183 | 19 déc. 2025 | 01:01:04 | |
Don't forget to leave a 5-star rating and follow Chef’s PSA if you want more conversations like this. Jess Pryles joins André Natera on Chef’s PSA for a deep dive into meat science, barbecue, and cooking beef the right way. They cover prime rib technique, dry aging, brisket methods, and what most cooks misunderstand about meat. Jess also shares insights from writing cookbooks, working in the meat industry, and building Hardcore Carnivore into a serious food brand. This episode is practical, technical, and grounded in real kitchen experience. Links & Resources | |||
| Leonard Botello IV: The Truth About Fire, Barbecue, and Mental Pressure Ep. 182 | 12 déc. 2025 | 01:03:20 | |
Barbecue is built on fire, discipline, and pressure. Leonard shares a near-disastrous fire incident, the realities of running a Texas barbecue operation, and why mental and physical wellness are as critical as technique. This episode gives a clear view of what it takes to maintain excellence in one of the toughest culinary crafts. Leonard Botello IV on Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/leo_botello_iv/ Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/ | |||
| Blade Geometry, Steel Science & The Truth About Sharpening (Ep. 181) | 05 déc. 2025 | 01:28:10 | |
Knife work is the foundation of cooking, but most chefs are ruining their edges without realizing it. In this episode, André Natera sits down with Don Smolik (Study The Blade) and custom knife maker Kolter Livengood for a technical deep dive into knife care. They strip away the myths to reveal the science behind a perfect edge:
A technical masterclass for Executive Chefs, Culinary Students, and Knife Nerds who want to stop guessing and start sharpening correctly. Links & Resources | |||
| From Italy to Omaha: Chef Benjamin Maides on Craft, Farming & Tasting Menus Ep. 180 | 29 nov. 2025 | 01:00:38 | |
Chef Benjamin Maides joins Chef’s PSA for a direct look at ingredient-driven cooking, seasonal discipline, and balancing restaurant life with running a farm. From his time cooking in northern Italy to building Au Courant in Omaha, Maides breaks down technique, menu development, cultural lessons, and the realities of operating multiple roles at once. This episode is for chefs who care about real craft and the work required to build a sustainable culinary career. Links & Resources | |||