Show 507, January 14, 2023: Show Preview with Executive Producer & Co-Host Andy Harris

“The city-wide 2nd annual Long Beach Black Restaurant Week will take place January 22-29, 2023. Long Beach Black Restaurant Week will be an avenue to bring everyone to the table, from all walks of life, to showcase the city’s diverse Black food scene. Organized by Long Beach Food & Beverage, a California registered 501(c)3 non-profit, Long Black Restaurant Week is an eight day, city-wide event devoted to celebrating African, African American, and Caribbean fare in and around Long Beach. The event also seeks to highlight Black-owned food businesses as well as Black chefs and bartenders.” One of the participating gourmet specialty food products firms in Long Beach Black Restaurant Week is Extraordinary Banana Pudding founded by Toran Grays in La Mesa in 2020. In October of 2021 Toran opened his 2nd Extraordinary Banana Pudding shop on Long Beach Blvd. We’ll meet him.

Brianne Grajkowski’s Cooking with Kids – Fun, Easy, Approachable Recipes to help Teach Kids How to Cook is, perhaps, the ultimate kids’ cookbook for parents to get their children involved in the kitchen. This must-have book features 101 fun, approachable, carefully chosen and easy recipes that will teach kids how to cook simple dishes and drinks for every meal of the day. From smoothies and savory Hawaiian waffles to a salami grilled cheese, chicken quesadillas, pumpkin cheesecake bites, sweet potato fries, and so much more, each kid-friendly recipe includes easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions, helpful visuals, and engaging photography that will help them grow in the kitchen as they learn to use different kitchen utensils and tools.” Brianne Grajkowski is our guest with kid-safe knife in hand.

L.A.’s favorite Peruvian chef, Chef Ricardo Zarate (Causita) is now in Hollywood (in the former Los Balcones space on Vine Street) with the Colibri Peruvian Cantina Pop-Up. “It’s his sophisticated take on rustic Peruvian cuisine highlighting how it balances the opposites of hot and cold, acid and starch, and bright, colorful spices and flavors with mellower ones. Peru’s culinary heritage is incredibly diverse, melding together ingredients and techniques from Africa, Europe and East Asia, and Chef Ricardo celebrates this mélange of global flavors at Colibri Pop-Up.” There is also a menu of intriguing hand-crafted cocktails including the Chica Sour with pisco, Peruvian purple corn, lime, egg white, simple syrup and Angostura Bitters. It’s Dinner only. Chef Ricardo Zarate takes a break from his busy Colibri Kitchen to join us.

Our always on-the-go Social Media and Website Guru, Adam Bell, gets around town and has his eyes out seeking good food. He was fortunate enough to be invited to the premier party in Hollywood for HBO MAX’s Season Two of the acclaimed series, The White Lotus.” Adam enjoyed the festivities (almost as good as a stay in Sicily) but as a foodie in good-standing what made the biggest impression with him was the gift box of French macarons from Sweet Carolina Macarons. Further research was then absolutely in order. The creator of Sweet Carolina Macarons is Carolina Larrea a graphic artist turned artisan baker. After the recovery from COVID she wanted to try something new and had been a serious home baker. Her standout flavors are Strawberries and Cream, Lemon Granache, Chocolate Granache and Chocolate Ganache with a Dulce de Leche heart. Baker Carolina Larrea joins us as our guest with pastry bag in hand.

Our own Chef Andrew Gruel the Founder of Big Parm (New Jersey-style pizza), Two Birds and the soon to launch, full-service Calico Fish House (in Huntington Beach) provides another timely and informative “Ask the Chef” segment where Chef Andrew responds to listeners thoughtful inquiries. In the headlines this week is that Chef Rene Redzepi’s Noma in Copenhagen, one of the most acclaimed restaurants in the world, will close at the end of 2024 because the business model is unsustainable. In California Chef David Kinch’s Manresa, a 3-Star Michelin restaurant in Los Gatos, shuttered at the end of 2022. Is this style of ultra, high-end fine-dining perhaps endangered ? We’ll “Ask the Chef.”

All of this and heaping helpings of extra deliciousness for the new year on this week’s not-to-miss show!

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