Culinary Characters Unlocked

Chef Sue Zemanick on recently winning a Michelin star, marrying fresh gulf seafood with her family’s Slovakian home cooking, and the wonders of caviar on pasta

Sue Zemanick decided she wanted to become a chef when she was fourteen and began cooking professionally at fifteen. Her love of  seafood, nurtured at the Culinary Institute of America, brought her to New Orleans, where she worked at Commander’s palace and Gautreau’s, where she rose from line cook to Executive Chef, before opening her own place, Zasu, creating a menu featuring seafood, global flavors, and multiple variations of the pierogies her grandmother used to make. The night Zasu won a Michelin star she wasn’t at the ceremony—she was working, which she says was a good thing since diners immediately rushed in and the kitchen was slammed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michelin star winning chef Perry Hoffman on returning to his family’s small-town hotel and restaurant where he worked after high school and building a culinary destination town around it

Chef Perry Hoffman and his partners are turning the small northern California town of Boonville into a culinary destination. He grew up in the restaurant business, as a young child helping his grandmother in the kitchen of the French Laundry in Yountville, California, which his grandparents founded, and cooking in his uncle’s Boonville Hotel and Restaurant after high school. He went on to a high-level cooking career, winning a Michelin star, before returning to that hotel in Boonville, earning rave reviews and a Michelin recommendation for the tasting menu he’s offering there. And now he’s expanding, opening a more casual California/Italian restaurant across the street and an ice cream shop, where many of the home-made flavors are created with local fruit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Husband and wife restaurateurs Bethany and chef Dano Heinze on winning a Michelin star at their Charleston restaurant, why it isn’t fine dining, and how they set such a high bar at an affordable neighborhood favorite

Bethany and Dano Heinze recently received a Michelin star for their Charleston Restaurant Vern’s. He’s the chef. She handles front of the house and a superb wine program built around little-known family-owned vineyards. Their innovative seasonal menu features unique presentations of local produce and charcoal-grilled proteins sourced straight from the farm. They’ve been working together for years — first under Sean Brock at the groundbreaking McCrady’s in Charleston, then at the legendary Animal in L.A. Now back in Charleston, they’re making a major impact on that renowned culinary city. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

14-time Michelin star winning chef Ken Frank on pioneering California cuisine, his legendary battles with restaurant owners, and winning a Michelin star 14 times at his own restaurant

Ken Frank was a pioneer in the creation of fresh and local California cuisine as a young chef in Los Angeles. He became famous not just for his food but also for standing up to and calling out restaurant owners he says didn’t live up to his standards. He’s won a Michelin star 14 times at his own restaurant in the Napa Valley, where he’s still in the kitchen five days a week. And he’s become America’s leading truffle chef, with a lot to say about the allure of that fungus and why truffle oil is an abomination.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Food trends for the new year from the woman major corporations rely on for culinary info and insights—industry analyst (and classically trained chef) Maeve Webster

Maeve Webster is the woman big companies rely on to understand what’s happening—and what’s about to happen—in the culinary world. A trained chef and former café owner, she is president of the culinary research firm Menu Matters and in this episode she predicts the next hot cuisine—not one you might expect, explains how restaurateurs have gone wrong chasing trends, why consumers are becoming bored with restaurant menus, and calls for a return to hospitality in the hospitality business at the same time she advises restaurant owners to simply tell some diners, “No, we can’t give you what you want.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices