Foodie Interviews

Interviews with food professionals

Virginia Willis

Virginia Willis and I befriended during a press trip to France more than a decade ago. It was an unusual trip that included only one other journalist. We three started in Dijon, trained to Paris and then were let let loose, basically with the company credit card. I recall us savoring a 5-hour multi-course lunch with matching wines at Le Grand Véfour. Since that time I've watched her career soar. She's authored Bon Appétit, Y'all; Basic to Brilliant, Y'all; Okra; Grits and — her just published — Lighten Up, Y'all. This most recent book celebrates the healthy and wholesome side of Southern fare. Virginia now practices what she's preaching.  By following [...]

By |2017-09-03T12:19:05-04:00March 16th, 2015|Foodie Interviews|2 Comments
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Prasad Chirnomula

Nutmeggers have had a love affair with the flavorful culinary creations of Prasad Chirnomula since 2001 when he started Thali, his first innovative Indian restaurant in Connecticut. He continued to change Americans opinion of Indian food by opening four more Thali restaurants each with a unique menu — one in Ridgefield, one in Westport and two in New Haven - an upscale one and Thali Too, a casual vegetarian one on the edge of Yale's campus. Prasad then stepped outside of India to create Oaxaca Kitchen, a Mexican restaurant downtown New Haven. As a local food writer who had become a friend of his, I had to ask why. This artist [...]

By |2017-09-03T13:12:15-04:00March 2nd, 2015|Foodie Interviews|0 Comments
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Richard Grausman

I first became acquainted with Richard Grausman in the 80s when I worked as a copy editor on his first book, At Home With the French Classics (Workman Publishing, 1988), now in it's sixth printing. Like others in the food field, Richard and my paths have crossed more times than I could possibly count. Richard isn't known as much for his cookbooks as he is for C-CAP (Careers through Culinary Arts Program), the national non-profit organization he founded in 1990. This program works with public schools to prepare at-risk high school students for careers in the restaurant and hospitality industry. In 1997, Richard received the President's Service Award, the highest recognition given [...]

By |2017-09-03T12:22:02-04:00February 16th, 2015|Foodie Interviews|0 Comments
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Jacques Torres

At the recent party introducing the new food service at the new United Airlines Terminal C at Newark Liberty International Airport, I bumped into Jacques Torres, fondly referred to as Mr. Chocolate serving some of his chocolate goodies. In addition to his hot chocolate and chocolate pieces, I took one of his chocolate chip cookies, planning to take a bite and then toss it. One nibble and I couldn't!  Yes, they are that irresistible. If you'd like to try them, either bake them using the recipe provided, or stop by at one of his many NYC Jacques Torres Chocolate locations or order them (or any of his other chocolates) online. You [...]

By |2017-09-03T12:21:23-04:00February 1st, 2015|Foodie Interviews|0 Comments
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Michele Scicolone

This week's guest is Michele Scicolone, an award winning food writer, the author of 20 cookbooks, a friend, a Dame (fellow member of Les Dames d'Escoffier) and the recent recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Italian Trade Commission. Michele, queen of slow cookery, had written a number of books on the subject including The Italian Slow Cooker, The Mediterranean Slow Cooker and The French Slow Cooker cookbooks. That's why Craftsy.com (a company that describes itself as providing education and tools to help add creativity to your life) reached out to her to do a 7-lesson “Slow Cooker Cooking School” video series. The series will be available this March. She's [...]

By |2017-09-03T12:23:22-04:00January 19th, 2015|Foodie Interviews|1 Comment
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Rita Jammet

Rita Jammet's name is synonymous with La Caravelle, now her line of champagnes, previously her and her husband André's celebrated iconic French restaurant, which sadly shut its doors in 2004. Rita is also what's referred to as a "Dame" — a member of Les Dames d'Escoffier, a philanthropic society of professional women leaders in the food industry. As a fellow Dame, I've gotten to know Rita and to sip her bubbly at many social and scholarship fund-raising events where she generously donated La Caravelle. I also had the pleasure of sitting with her husband Andrè at a Les Dames d'Escoffier brunch at ilili, her cousin's Lebanese restaurant that I truly enjoy. [...]

By |2017-09-03T12:26:10-04:00December 8th, 2014|Foodie Interviews|0 Comments
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Diane Kochilas

Diane Kochilas' publicist sent me a copy of Ikaria: Lessons on Food, Life, and Longevity from the Island Where People Forget to Die, her cookbook just published last month. I knew of Diane — an  authority on Greek cuisine — but had never met her. I knew that her Glorious Foods of Greece had won the prestigious IACP Jane Grigson Award for Excellence in Research, and that she's the consulting chef at Molyvos, a NYC Greek restaurant near Carnegie Hall that I've dined at before I began reviewing. I learned recently — after reaching out to her to be our Guest Foodie — that she has the Glorious Greek Kitchen, [...]

By |2017-09-03T12:26:12-04:00November 24th, 2014|Foodie Interviews|1 Comment
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Anthony Dias Blue

I feel like I've known Anthony Dias Blue my entire adult life, as I always listened to his WCBS radio (NYC) spot about food and wine. I'd recognize that voice anywhere. In 2001, he received a James Beard Award for the radio spot. His The Blue Lifestyle Minute — as the spot is called — is also heard on KNX (AM) 1070. You might also recognize his name from either Food & Wine or Food & Wine magazines — he was the West Coast Editor of the former, Wine and Spirits Editor of the latter — or from The Tasting Panel magazine or The Sommelier Journal, as he's Editor-in-Chief of [...]

By |2017-09-03T12:28:28-04:00November 10th, 2014|Foodie Interviews|0 Comments
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Dorie Greenspan

I served Dorie Greenspan's decadent make-ahead chocolate-Amaretti torte for a couple of dinner parties after I had interviewed her about Sweet Times, her first baking cookbook. That was in the early '90s when that Fifteen-Minute Magic was her go-to recipe. Since them Dorie's written ten cookbooks and won six James Beard and IACP awards, including Cookbook of the Year twice (for Desserts by Pierre Herme and for Around My French Table). She also wrote the book Baking with Julia. When I spoke to Dorie recently about her newest book, I tried to get her to commit to one favorite from the almost 200 simple sweets in Baking Chez Moi: Recipes From [...]

By |2017-09-03T12:28:50-04:00October 27th, 2014|Foodie Interviews|0 Comments
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Amanda Hesser

It was at the famed Greenbrier Food Writers Symposium where I first met Amanda Hesser; we both were presenters. She was quite young— in her mid 20s — but had already completed her first successful book "The Cook and the Gardener." Since then, I've watched Amanda's career soar — as an author, reporting for the New York Times, as an entrepreneur co-founding Food52 and playing herself in Julie & Julia. Gourmet even named her one of the 50 most influential women in food. Her popular site — that brings together cooks to exchange recipes and ideas and to support each other in the kitchen — won both the James Beard Awards’ [...]

By |2017-09-03T12:30:47-04:00October 13th, 2014|Foodie Interviews|0 Comments
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Seamus Mullen

I bumped into Seamus Mullen at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York City where he was part of Corningware's Fashion Kitchen, demonstrating recipes served in the new colorful CW bakeware. His roasted kabocha squash with pomegranate yogurt was my favorite, but had way too many steps and ingredients to share. I suggest instead you try cooking from Seamus Mullen's Hero Food or stop in at one of his restaurants, serving his inventive modern Spanish cuisine — if you're in NYC or London. There's Tertulia (West Village) or El Colmado (Gotham West Market) in NYC and the just-opened Sea Containers, the signature restaurant in the new Mondrian Hotel (London). This [...]

By |2017-09-03T12:31:06-04:00September 29th, 2014|Foodie Interviews|0 Comments
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Joan Nathan

Like many other people who knew her, I just had to call Joan Nathan to be sure she hadn't missed the Sex and the City episode that included Charlotte using Joan's Jewish Cooking in America to prepare her first Sabbath dinner. You see, Joan is well-known for her award-winning cookbooks about Jewish cooking. In fact, Jewish Cooking in America won both the James Beard Award for the best American cookbook and the IACP/Julia Child Cookbook of the Year Award in 1994. She's still writing and testing, currently busy working on her eleventh book "King Solomon's Table" that will be published Spring, 2016. Joan's won many accolades for her work, including her PBS [...]

By |2017-09-03T12:33:46-04:00September 15th, 2014|Foodie Interviews|0 Comments
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Shari Bayer

I met Shari Bayer about a decade ago when we dined at a client's restaurant. That was soon after she founded Bayer Public Relations, her agency specializing in both culinary and hospitality. That was only the first of many meals together. Shari's latest endeavor is All in The Industry, a Wednesday afternoon live radio show on Heritage Radio Network dedicated to the behind-the-scenes talent in hospitality and restaurants. Since she's traveling, currently at the Hawai‘i Food & Wine Festival, this week's broadcast on Wednesday will be the archived interview with Fried & True's Lee Schrager& Adeena Sussman; she'll be back next week to interview Ben Leventhal, co-founder of Eater. Shari's also making [...]

By |2017-09-03T12:33:48-04:00September 1st, 2014|Foodie Interviews|1 Comment
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Amanda Cohen

When I first sampled chef Amanda Cohen's take on candy from the earth (as she refers to veggies), she was being honored (and cooking) at a Star Chefs' rising star event the Mandarin Oriental in NYC. This past weekend, I again enjoyed her approach to veggies, including the unusual smoked broccoli dog on a homemade bun, while dining at Dirt Candy. That's her New York Times 2-star, 18-seat vegetarian restaurant closing its doors at the end of this month, and reopening this fall in a larger space at 86 Allen Street, NYC. That dining experience is not be be missed when it reopens. If you can't make it, live vicariously [...]

By |2017-09-03T12:36:43-04:00August 18th, 2014|Foodie Interviews|0 Comments
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Jacques Pépin

It was the early '80s when I first met Jacques. I was creating the New Haven (CT) Register's first cooking contest and contacted him — our local food celebrity — to judge it with me. He graciously accepted. That was long ago — before his dozen popular cooking series on public television, which included The Complete Pépin, Jacques Pépin: Fast Food My Way, and Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home with Julia Child; before his cookbooks La Technique and La Méthode were inducted into the Cookbook Hall of Fame, before he was inducted into the Who's Who of Food and Beverage in America and before he received the James Beard [...]

By |2017-09-03T12:36:09-04:00August 4th, 2014|Foodie Interviews|0 Comments
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Michele Bernstein

Adorable Michele Bernstein (better know as Michy) is a James Beard Award winner (Best Chef South 2008), author of Cuisine a Latina (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008) and a Miami restaurateur. If you're ever in Miami, be sure to try her eponymous restaurant when it reopens (6927 Biscayne Blvd) sometime this fall. It's not to be missed. With the restaurant closed for renovations, Michy had the time to provide these enticing food responses to my Guest Foodie queries. Her answers might just might inspire you to cook. Recent Guest Foodie Lee Brian Schrager's go-to favorite dessert for entertaining is chef Michelle Bernstein’s  chocolate bread pudding, a recipe that we've shared.   Which [...]

By |2017-09-03T12:38:21-04:00July 21st, 2014|Foodie Interviews|0 Comments
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Michel Nischan

Michel Nischan is a man of few words, yet lots of action. SONY DSC This two-time James Beard Foundation award winner is Founder, President and CEO of Wholesome Wave, Co-Founder of the Chefs Action Network, as well as Founder and Partner with the late actor Paul Newman of the recently closed Dressing Room restaurant in Westport, CT. A son of farmers who lost their land with the onset of large-scale agricultural practices, Nischan grew up with a deep appreciation for sustainable agriculture and those who work the land. His organization Wholesome Wave  advocates for a healthful, equitable, and more sustainable food system in underserved urban and rural communities. Introducing [...]

By |2017-09-03T12:40:37-04:00July 7th, 2014|Foodie Interviews|0 Comments
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Lee Brian Schrager

You might not be familiar with Lee Brian Schrager's name, but I'll bet you've heard about the festivals he created. He's responsible for both the South Beach Wine & Food Festival and Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival (held yearly in February and October, respectively). He's also a cookbook author, recently announcing the publication of his second cookbook Fried & True: More Than 50 Recipes for America’s Best Fried Chicken and Sides (Clarkson Potter).  We asked Lee to respond to our Guest Foodie questions. His responses follow: Which food product or gadget would you never give up? My favorite kitchen tool is a mandolin that my parents [...]

By |2017-09-03T12:41:22-04:00June 22nd, 2014|Foodie Interviews|0 Comments
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Antoinette Bruno

Antoinette Bruno is the CEO of StarChefs, the online food magazine that's been in existence since 1999. Her organization's advisory board consists of a who's who of our country's "chefdome" including  Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Daniel Boulud, Norman Van Aken, Todd English and Marcus Samuelsson. Antoinette created the Rising Stars Awards, recognizing a need in the industry for professional recognition. Each year StarChefs scours four cities for their top culinary talent — ones who represent the pioneers of contemporary dining in America. The StarChefs.com Rising Stars Revue is a major yearly event on the radar of the culinary who’s-who across the country. (Bite of the Best reported on one of those events) [...]

By |2017-09-03T12:45:16-04:00June 9th, 2014|Foodie Interviews|0 Comments
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Arthur Von Wiesenberger

Arthur and I met when he was touting bottled water. (He still does, click here to check out his site.) We, in fact, were of the fortunate few who got to visit the Italian and French sources for Acqua Panna, San Pelligrino, Perrier and Vittel. That Great Springs Safari was in the days of the over-the-top amazing press trips. Today, Arthur hosts the award-winning weekly television and radio program, Around the World, www.atw.tv, where I'm part of his team. He also hosts the weekly food program Nipper's Table Talk on Cox Television and AM 1290 KZSB, Santa Barbara, www.nippers.com. Which specific food product, ingredient or gadget would you never give up? [...]

By |2017-09-03T12:46:44-04:00May 26th, 2014|Foodie Interviews|2 Comments
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