On today’s episode we welcome Benjamin and Max Goldberg the co-owners of Strategic Hospitality in Nashville. The brothers operate and run properties all over Nashville including Merchants, The Patterson House, The Catbird Seat, PinewoodSocial, The Band Box located in First Tennessee Park, Bastion, Henrietta Red, Downtown Sporting Club, and The Party Line. In a very short time Strategic Hospitality has grown into a nationally recognized organization and pre-COVID employed nearly 500 people. In...

On today's episode - an interview with Dan Meiser and Chef James Wayman partners in 85th Day Food Community, a restaurant group in Mystic Connecticut that employs over 100 people and encompasses Oyster Club, Grass & Bone, and Engine Room. Oyster Club has earned regional and national attention, having been named the “Best Upscale Restaurant in CT” by the Connecticut Restaurant Association and one of the “Best Oyster Bars in America” by Travel & Leisure Magazine. We talked extensively...

Chefs Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken are the owners and operators of the Border Grill restaurants which they began in 1985. They also operate BBQ Mexicana, a fast casual concept with two Las Vegas locations, and Socalo which opened in late 2019 in Santa Monica. Mary Sue serves on the boards of both Share Our Strength and the James Beard Foundation and she was previously selected to join the U.S. State Department on the American Chef Corps to promote diplomacy through food in Pakistan,...

In 2005, just months after they graduated from Kendall College of Culinary Arts in Chicago, Christine Cikowski and Josh Kulp founded Sunday Dinner Club a sort of dinner party-ish experience that has grown into a community dining space holding multiple dinners per month. In 2013, after eight successful years of running their sort of underground concept, they decided to open their first true brick and mortar restaurant launching Honeybutter Fried Chicken in Avondale Chicago. The restaurant...

In this episode, more stories from chefs and owners still processing what has happened to their businesses since the emergence of COVID-19. Stories of worry about the future and the hope for survival. Stories of energizing the industry to come together and fight for its own existence.

Across the nation, restaurants, bars, and cafes sit dark and quiet. Owners are unsure if they will ever be able to re-open and hundreds of thousands have lost their jobs as millions have self isolated at home. This week on The Line, hear from several chefs and restaurant owners from around the nation in their own words about the last week of their personal and professional lives and the impossible and life changing decisions they’ve had to make during the evolving COVID-19 crisis. Stories...

On today's special 100th episode of theLINE welcome Chef Alon Shaya. Born in Bat Yam just south of Tel Aviv, he moved to Philadelphia as a young boy and had a tumultuous childhood filled with anger rebellion and a lack of direction. With the help and guidance of his high school culinary arts teacher Donna Barnett, he found his calling. After working in both Italy and the United States Chef Shaya has quickly garnered acclaim for his cooking in New Orleans. He has been nominated for five James...

Chef Victoria Blamey changed course, leaving her college in Chile and enrolling in Culinary school. After graduating, she worked at some of the top restaurants in the entire world, including Mugaritz, The Vineyard at Stockcross, and Interlude. After moving to NYC she worked at Atera and Corton, as well as at Il Buco Alimentari. Deciding it was time to forge her own path and culinary identity, she revitalized Chumley's and received a glowing 2-star review from the NY Times. Now as executive...

On today's episode we welcome Jay Wolman the executive chef of LaLou in Prospect Heights, a recently opened restaurant. Jay has come up through some of the most important kitchens in New York and on this episode he shares his experiences working extensively in the Tarlow family of restaurants as well as working at Hart’s and King in Manhattan. He draws culinary inspiration from French, English and Italian cuisine and works heavily with produce he buys right down the road at the greenmarket.

Today on theLINE we’re talking about restaurant projects big and small, expensive and... less expensive with today’s guest Jake Leiber. He is the chef/partner along with chef Aidan O’Neal at Greenpoint bistro Chez Ma Tante which opened a few years back to rave reviews. Chez Ma Tante received a 92 from NY Magazine, two stars and a critics pick from Pete Wells in he NYTimes and 4 stars from Robert Seitsma on Eater. After their success at Chez Ma Tante, they recently joined up with Jon Neidich...

Today's episode features Moonlynn Tsai, co-owner of Kopitiam. After working in the Bay and LA restaurant scenes she moved to NYC in 2018, partnering with chef Kyo Pang to invigorate the new larger version of Kopitam. The restaurant, located on the Lower East Side of New York, received a 2018 James Beard Semifinalist nomination for Chef Pang, a 2018 critic pick from Pete Wells in the NYTimes where he called it “almost unfailingly terrific” and in 2019 the restaurant was named a Bon Appetit...

Chef Katie Button, the chef and co-owner of two restaurants in Asheville, North Carolina: Cúrate Tapas Bar and Button & Co. Bagels, was born in South Carolina and raised in New Jersey. Chef Button has worked for Jose Andres and Ferran Adria at elBulli before returning to the South to open up her restaurant Curate in 2011 with her husband Felix. The restaurant and Katie have received tons of accolades: she was a finalist for the James Beard Rising Star Chef Award in 2014, and a nominee for...

Santiago Perez was born in Mexico City. He received a chemical engineering degree and then somewhere along the way decided investment banking was the right fit. At the age of 29 he was working at UBS in NYC and decided he wanted to open up a restaurant. Cosme, now open for 5 years has only increased in popularity as time goes on, increasing the fame and influence of chef Enrique Olvera and catapulting chef Daniela Soto-Innes to chef stardom. In 2017 they opened Atla, both chefs now partners....

Chef Daniel Burns is responsible for helping develop aspects of the culinary programs through research and development for arguably the two most influential chefs in the world Rene Redzepi and David Chang at Noma and Momofuku respectively. He was raised in Halifax and received degrees in mathematics and philosophy at Dalhousie University and went on to work at some of the most influential restaurants in the entire world. Before working as the head of research and development for the Momofuku...

Today's guest is Chef Charlene Santiago executive chef at Canal Street Oysters, the newly opened American oyster bar which is owned by the restaurateurs behind The East Pole, East Pole Fish Bar, and Pizza Beach. Charlene is almost a lifelong New Yorker having arrived here from the Philippines when she was 5 years old. Her path took her to the French culinary institute and then she put in some serious time in NYC kitchens working alongside some tremendously talented chefs like Terrance Brennan...

My guest today is Nick Bognar, who is the chef and owner of Indo, the modern Asian restaurant in St. Louis. Indo combines styles of mainland Southeast Asia, joining Nick’s Thai background and formal Japanese training. At just 27, Nick was nominated for the James Beard Foundation Rising Star Chef of the Year for his transformation of his family’s restaurant, Nippon Tei. He opened Indo in June 2019.

While taking French classes at the University of California-Berkeley, Whitney Otawka responded to an ad for a waitress position at a local French creperie. Although she didn’t get the waitress job, she was hired into the two-person kitchen and her culinary career began. Raised in the mojave desert in Hespiria California her family struggled financially and she dreamed of becoming an egyptologist. Over time in Oakland and San Diego she began to actively pursue and culinary career. She’s worked...

Today's Guest Seadon Shouse grew up in a small fishing village in rural Nova Scotia. As a young boy he loved seafood and would go out harvesting wild mussels and go fishing for mackerel in front of his house. Chef Shouse has worked in multiple states opening up concepts and has spent a lot of his career working in large restaurant and hotel groups including the Myriad Restaurant Group, the W hotel, Carlton Hotel and at Glenmere Mansion in Chester NY. In 2015 he rejoined the W Hoboken to ...

Today’s guest is John Stage the owner of Dinosaur BBQ with 8 locations across NY, NJ and Connecticut. Dinosaur BBQ has a line of rubs and sauces available nationwide and the cookbook John released in 2001 has sold over 175k copies. Dinosaur Bar-B-Que started as a mobile popup in 1983 at the Harley Rendezvous in NY, a motorycle meetup and then in 1988 went brick and mortar on Willow St. in Syracuse NY. Today on the show we’ll talk about how it all began with a 55 gallon drum sawed in half,...

On Today's episode of theLINE - Henry Rich of Oberon Restaurant Group that encompasses 7 different operations - restaurants, bars, catering and managing events spaces. Henry is an entrepreneur and climate activist from Brooklyn, New York. He opened Rucola, June, Fitzcarraldo, and Metta; which has now re-opened as Rhodora Wine Bar. He he has also opened The Comissary at the Metrograph, Nowadays a sprawling outdoor/indoor DJ party, and he organized the vegan food program at Public Records....

Today's guest is Chef Chris Jaeckle. He spent 7 years with USHG with Tabla and Eleven Madison Park. He was the sous chef at Morimoto and also worked alongside Michael White at Altamerea group as CDC of Ai Fiori when it was awarded a Michelin Star and three stars from the NYTIMES. In 2013 he launched his own restaurant partnering with Zach and Jeffrey Chodorow, an italian restaurant in the west village called All’onda. But he didn’t stop there. He also opened Uma Temakeria in chelsea and...

Born in Texas, Claire Sprouse has bartended, managed, and consulted at some of the country's most well-known and awarded cocktail institutions in Houston, San Francisco and New York City. After studying art history in college and working in galleries, she began to bartend in Houston and found her calling. She has worked at ABV, Rickhouse and consulted on Bywater along with her business partner Chad Arnholt. Along with Arnholt in 2013, they formed Tin Roof Drink Community. Through their 25+...

If world exploration and travel experience provides a solid foundation for culinary inspiration, today’s guest has prepared and then some. Throw a dart at a map and it’s a good chance you’ll hit a place my guest has visited or even lived in. Clarice Lam was born in Canada and in her travels as a professional model she has been to over 280 cities, has lived in 13 cities in 11 countries on 4 continents. After her ten year modeling career, she attended Le Cordon Bleu in Italy and The...

Today’s guest is chef Katie Jackson co-chef and partner at the award-winning restaurant Hart's in Brooklyn, as well as the recently opened wine bar, The Fly which has a short but sweet menu centered around rotisserie chicken. On the episode we'll be talking about self editing your dishes, opening a new location in an expanding restaurant group, staffing, the stresses of the job and finding your leadership voice. It's HRN's annual summer fund drive, this is when we turn to our listeners and...

On Today's Episode Chef Jordan Terry sits down to discuss growing up in Florida, obtaining a degree in Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Florida, moving to NYC to pursue his culinary career and ending up at Major Food Group. He now is the executive chef for Dirty French on the lower east side. Chef Jordan’s responsibilities span every aspect of the restaurant, from managing the kitchen team of 70 and spearheading new dish R&D to overseeing budgets, finances, food and...