On today's episode, I am excited to share the audio recording of a live event I recently emceed for HRN. Lessons Learned: Tales from Small Business Owners features captivating stories from four storytellers who opened up about their trials and tribulations in the restaurant business. Sponsored by TD Bank, the event took place at the Tilit NYC Showroom. In addition to introducing our fabulous guests, I sprinkled some of my own stories throughout the night. The first small business storyteller...

On today’s episode, I'm joined by Steven Satterfield, the executive chef and co-owner of Miller Union, a celebrated ingredient-driven restaurant located in Atlanta's West Side neighborhood. The restaurant, which opened in 2009, has become an institution and has been recognized as a top restaurant in America by Eater, Bon Appetit, Food and Wine, and Esquire. Together we talk about opening his restaurant and how he has kept it running smoothly after all these years of operation; growing up in...

On today’s episode I welcome Jeff Byrd and his daughter-in-law Lauren to discuss their restaurant Two Birds Taphouse in Marietta Georgia. The restaurant is truly a family labor of love. Jeff, his wife, his son and Lauren joined forces to open Two Birds in 2016. Jeff was a recently retired attorney and had no previous experience in restaurants or hospitality and from the start took on the massive role of being the day to day operator on site, a job which he continues to this day. Lauren, who...

On today's episode of theLINE, I have the pleasure of presenting an episode of Dyed Green, a podcast about food and culture in Ireland. Hosted by my brother, Max Sussman, and his wife, Kate McCabe, each episode features dynamic conversations with chefs, farmers, scholars, and more - exploring Ireland’s rich culinary history, its dynamic creative culture, and challenging outdated stereotypes. In this episode I got the chance to join Max in interviewing Jess Murphy. Jess is a celebrated chef,...

On today’s episode, I welcome Chef Jae Jung, the chef and owner of KJUN, a Korean-Cajun pop-up currently operating in New York City. A graduate of the CIA, she moved to New Orleans where she became enamored by Cajun cuisine. Since moving to NYC in 2014 she has worked at Oceana, Le Bernardin, the NoMad Restaurant, and most recently as the sous chef of Café Boulud.   In 2021, she launched KJUN as a pop-up operating out of a ghost kitchen, introducing New Yorkers to the exciting blend of...

On today’s episode of theLINE, I welcome Ben Van Leeuwen, the co-founder and CEO of Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, where he leads product development and commercialization. Van Leeuwen has come a long way since the first yellow truck hit the streets of NY in 2008. The company has grown from ice cream trucks to national distribution and brick and mortar locations in New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, with Colorado and Connecticut soon to open. They recently secured an additional round of...

On Today’s episode of the Line, I welcome the co-owners of the Austin, Texas restaurant Birdie’s. Tracy and Arjav moved from NYC to Austin with the hope of building an equitable neighborhood restaurant. Birdie’s is a casual order-at-the-counter spot that serves elevated plates. Tracy, a Texas native, handles chef duties, and Arjav, who was born in New Delhi and grew up in Portland, handles the front-of-house and the wine list. Together they wanted to create a restaurant for the long term...

On today’s episode, Eli welcomes Lauren and Peter Lemos, owners of Wax Paper in LA. With over 30 years of hospitality experience between them, they launched their restaurant in 2015 on a shoestring budget in a shoebox-sized space. Now with two locations of Wax Paper Co., a growing team, and a new restaurant concept called Lingua Franca on the way, Lauren and Peter sat down to share their story of opening a restaurant and truly figuring it all out along the way. If you are an industry veteran...

On today’s episode, Eli is joined by Tara Hankinson and LeAnn Darland, the founders of Talea Beer Co. After several years of planning, fundraising, and overcoming the many roadblocks it takes to get a physical location up and running, they opened the Talea Brewery and Taproom in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in March of 2021. Talea is the only exclusively woman and veteran-owned and founded production brewery (and taproom) in NYC. We discuss balancing work and family, ABV, opening during the...

Chef Todd Richards is an award-winning chef known for his contemporary cooking style rooted in Soul & Southern cuisines. Todd is the founder of The Soulful Company Restaurant Group in Atlanta which includes Lake & Oak Neighborhood BBQ, Soul: Food & Culture, and the upcoming Kuro. He is also the author of SOUL: A Chef’s Culinary Evolution in 150 Recipes and the host of the HRN podcast Soul By Chef Todd Richards. We recorded this episode live at Samesa while Todd was in New York...

This episode features Darren and Charlene Lopez Young, the owners of The Fatted Caf, based in St. Louis. When The Fatted Caf started as a once-a-month popup Charlene and Darren were exploring the dream of so many food entrepreneurs with the goal of opening a restaurant. The COVID shutdown led them to pivot their popups into a company selling Longganisa-style sausages. With the focus now on growing the sausage company, they have big hopes of expansion and growth. sausage that is commonly...

On today's episode of theLINE: Chef Suzanne Barr. Suzanne was previously the Head Chef and a partner at True True Diner in Toronto, Canada, the owner of the popular restaurant Saturday Dinette, and the inaugural chef-in-residence at the Gladstone Hotel. She has participated in the James Beard Foundation Chef’s Bootcamp, been a featured speaker at the Mad Symposium in Copenhagen she was chosen as one of six finalists to present a project at the Women In Hospitality United symposium in New York...

As we mark the one-year anniversary of the pandemic, now is a time to reflect on what we've endured. The audio I'm sharing today was collected in those first weeks of the pandemic, when restaurants, bars, and cafes sat dark and quiet across the nation. Owners were unsure if they would ever be able to re-open and hundreds of thousands had lost their jobs as millions were quarantining at home. You'll hear from chefs and restaurant owners from around the nation in their own words about the...

This is the second in a special series of COVID-focused episodes, showcasing voices from around the country as they reflect on one year of the pandemic. On the first half of today's episode we focus on New York, featuring Caroline Schiff, Patrick Miller, Jessica and Trina Quinn, and Bryan Noury. Then, in the second half, we move to Detroit to hear from Kiki Louya and Lisa Ludwinsky.

One year of COVID. In this first of a special series of COVID-focused episodes reflecting on one year of the pandemic, theLINE is showcasing voices from around the country. On today's episode: Ashleigh Shanti in North Carolina, Angela Garbacz in Nebraska , Alex Raij in Brooklyn NY, Matthew Bell In Tennessee and Julie Horowitz in Manhattan.

On this episode I speak with Zarah Kahn the chef of Botanica, located in Silverlake in Los Angeles.  A self-described farm and produce nerd, Zarah majored in environmental studies and forestry  at University of Washington. Growing up in Seattle, cooking was always part of her family ritual and she was required to cook dinner one night a week for her family.  After working at Delancey & Essex and running the kitchen at the London Plane, she made the decision to move to Los Angeles to...

On today's episode I welcome St. Louis native chef Ben Grupe. Like many traditional chef trajectories, Ben began his career in the industry as a dishwasher. He worked extensively at country clubs and became addicted to competition as team captain for the U.S. Culinary Olympic Team in 2016 and while competing in the Bocuse d'Or, the most prestigious culinary competition in the world. He was recently a James Beard Award semi-finalist (2018) for "Best Chef Midwest." His new restaurant venture,...

On today's episode, I welcome Dario Wolos, founder of Tacombi. After spending 5 years at an internet startup in London, he moved back to Playa Del Carmen and in 2005 purchased a VW bus which became the first location of Tacombi. In 2009 he decided to move Tacombi to NYC, and while biking around NYC he found the spot which is now Tacombi Nolita. With over 10 brick and mortar locations, a production facility in NYC, and a planned expansion in 2022 on the east coast, Tacombi is taking big steps...

On this episode of the Line I am joined by Co-Owner Patricia Howard and her partner and Executive Chef Ed Szymanski about the various versions of their restaurant project called Dame. It has existed as a fish and chips pop-up and has also hosted multiple other chefs during what they called their Sunday Series. Patricia and Ed donated nearly $20,000 in profit to NAACP, Harlem Grown, Hot Bread Kichen and Soul Fire Farm this summer from their various efforts. They are currently open as Dame Deli...

On this episode of theLINE we welcome Ji Hye Kim, chef and managing partner of MISS KIM, a Korean restaurant influenced by her ancestors and by Michigan produce. After graduating from U of M and spending several years working in hospital administration in New Jersey, life brought her back to Ann Arbor where a desire for a career change brought her to Zingerman's. Enduring a 90% pay cut, she worked at various Zingerman’s businesses and with the Rome Sustainable Food Project, as well as running...

On today’s show, I welcome Lucas Sin, Eater Young Guns Class of 2019 and Forbes 30 under 30 and the chef/partner in Junzi Kitchen. Lucas opened his first restaurant when he was 16, in an abandoned newspaper factory in his hometown of Hong Kong with the help of friends and support from his family. While obtaining a degree in the Cognitive Science and English departments, he also hosted a popup out of his dorm and cooked at multiple restaurants in New Haven. In the Yale Entrepreneurial...

On today’s special episode of theLINE, recordings from a single day in May following FIG - a collective of social justice-oriented members of the food community - talking about their efforts to feed people during the COVID-19 crisis. You will hear from one of the founders of FIG about the group came to be and how this food relief program began, a farm partners donating product, a chef who’s own restaurant is closed and is now handling delivery logistics, a catering company that lost all its...

On today’s episode we speak with Nic Jammet one of the three founders of Sweetgreen. The company the three friends started over a decade ago as a simple 500 square foot salad shack in Washington D.C. Since then it has grown to become a powerful brand with over 100 locations and a market value well over 1 billion dollars. The conversation was framed almost entirely through the lens of Pre and Post COVID as we spoke about the early growth of Sweetgreen, partnering with your best friends,...

In this special COVID-19 episode, audio recordings from some of the hospitality frontline workers that are going to work every day to feed our country. In what feels like a constant flow of insurmountable moments when day to day reveals a new crisis, these kitchens are doing what they do best - cooking to feeding communities. Featuring voices from around the country - Samantha Fore in Lexington, Jose Salazar in Cincinnati, Janet Kirker in Chicago, Nadine Bailey-Joyner in Washington D.C.,...