Show 375, May 30, 2020: Show Preview with Executive Producer & Co-Host Andy Harris

Chefs and restaurateurs are honestly the most generous people we know. In times of need they are always the very first in generously giving back and meaningfully supporting their communities. Truly remarkable…Right now as dine-in slowly returns at greatly reduced capacity restaurants urgently need our support to stay afloat. Kindly keep this in mind and please do what you possibly can (as you can afford) to support a community-focused, local restaurant….

As always, we greatly appreciate you being a part of our loyal listening audience. Truly couldn’t do it every week without the enthusiastic encouragement of the foodie community.

“Under the umbrella of Palm Springs Preferred Small Hotels Palm Springs is home to almost 80 extraordinary small boutique hotels of exceptional architectural & cultural diversity. From quaint inns and quietly secluded bungalows to hip and modern poolside-hangouts, they cater to the spectrum of Palm Springs travelers’ tastes. Whether you want to disappear for a couple of days, or dive into the Palm Springs adventure of a lifetime, the visionary hoteliers make it their mission to get to know their guests and create a memorable stay in this distinctly fashionable desert oasis.” With the boutique hotels in Palm Springs poised to reopen and again welcome guests we’re joined by Kimberli Munkres and hotelier and restaurateur Karina Castenda.

Food Network’s Chef Jet Tila is well-known to the “SoCal Restaurant Show’s” listeners. He co-hosted (and co-created) the show for the first 2 years. You’ve seen him on “Iron Chef America” as Alton Brown’s well-informed Floor Reporter, “Cutthroat Kitchen,” “Guy’s Grocery Games,” “Beat Bobby Flay” and many more shows. “Ready Jet Cook – How to Make Pad Thai with Jet Tila” airing on FoodNetwork.com and YouTube was nominated for a prestigious James Beard Foundation Award this year. The series “Ready Jet Cook” is also up for a Daytime Emmy Award. Season 2 of “Ready Jet Cook” is in preproduction. We’re back in the kitchen with Chef Jet.

It’s hard to believe but until fairly recently Hitching Post Wines (made famous in the Oscar-winning 2004 feature motion picture, “Sideways,”) never had a tasting room. That all changed for the better in August of 2018 when acclaimed winemakers Gray Hartley and Frank Ostini debuted a mid-century farmhouse, destination Tasting Room (with the bonus of lunch service delivered from Hitching Post 2) adjacent to Chef Ostini’s prominent Hitching Post 2 Restaurant in Buellton. The Tasting Room is still temporarily on hiatus but Hitching Post 2 has reopened for pick-up and delivery. Hitching Post Wine packages To-Go available, too. We nudge Chef Frank away from his Santa Maria style BBQ grill (lunch is on) to share the details.

“From Los Angeles-based cooking instructor and author of Kitchen Matters, Pamela Salzman, comes Pamela Salzman’s Quicker Than Quick: 140 Crave-Worthy Recipes for Healthy Comfort Foods in 30 Minutes or Less – a cookbook complete with quick, delicious meals and kitchen hacks that make home cooking a breeze. This is the book you will reach for time and again when you need to make something quick but nutritious. Pamela shares an arsenal of cooking class-tested, family-approved, easy, healthful recipes that will have you covered through breakfast, lunch, and dinner – and almost everything can be made in thirty minutes or less.” Pamela Salzman is our guest.

Our own Chef Andrew Gruel of the Slapfish Restaurant Group provides another timely and informative “Ask the Chef” segment where Chef Andrew responds to listeners thoughtful inquiries. Chef Andrew is updating us on the impact of the Covid-19 crisis in the hospitality field and what we, as diners, can do to support the very survival of restaurants. Dine-in is starting to come back but with a lot of new rules. Take-out / delivery when you can surely helps…Of course, the safety of restaurant employees and guests comes first. Takeout packaging is now of concern. Is it finally becoming more green and recyclable? How about affordability ? We’ll “Ask the Chef.”

All of this and heaping helpings of extra deliciousness (with proper Social Distancing) on this week’s not-to-miss show!

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