Podcasts
Hour One: Dragonfly Parking, Katie Chin, Gelson’s Kitchen
Hour Two: Gelson’s Kitchen, Jon McPherson
Segment One: Show Introduction with Executive Producer & Co-Host Andy Harris
Segment Two: Valet Parking Revealed with Dragonfly Parking’s Brad Saltzman
Segment Three: Katie Chin, Celebrity Chef, Spokesperson and Award-Winning Cookbook Author
Segments Four and Five: Gelson’s Kitchen with Corporate Executive Chef Tony Dang
Segments Six and Seven: Carter Creek Winery, Johnson City, Texas with Winemaker Jon McPherson
In today’s unsettled restaurant universe the guests’ experience with the valet parker at the entrance can set the scene for the entire evening’s dining experience. It can be positive or, unfortunately, decidedly negative. Brad Saltzman of Dragonfly Parking is a hospitality veteran who operates one of the premiere, hospitality-oriented valet parking services in greater Los Angeles. He has overseen the valet parking service at Nancy Silverton’s acclaimed Osteria Mozza in Hollywood since the beginning. (What more of an endorsement could you possibly ask for?) Brad joins us to discuss the valet parking experience at it’s absolute best.
Our guest, Katie Chin, is a celebrity chef, award-winning cookbook author, spokesperson, food blogger and the Culinary Ambassador to the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation. We’re talking about National Cookie Day and Katie shares a recipe for one of Challenge Butter’s Signature Holiday Cookies. It’s cookies for a cause benefiting National Pediatric Cancer Foundation.
Our guest, Tony Dang, is the Corporate Executive Chef for the 27 Gelson’s stores in Southern California. Every location has a Gelson’s Kitchen where shoppers can get everything from fresh coleslaw to full meals mostly prepared in the onsite kitchen. On offer are full Hanukkah and Christmas meals or all the components available separately. There are also a variety of chef-created meals to-go. Most stores even have an onsite sushi chef. Chef Tony personally conducts interactive cooking classes and demonstrations as well as cooks for in-store wine-paired dinners.
“Carter Creek Winery, located in the heart of Texas Hill Country and owned by the Carter family, earned six prestigious awards at the 2025 Vine2Wine International Wine Competition sponsored by the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo (FWSSR), held October 18-20, 2025.”
Their founding winemaker, Jon McPherson, is a distinguished second -generation winemaker (the son of pioneering Texas winemaker Clinton “Doc” McPherson and the brother of McPherson Cellars’ Kim McPherson) and the McPherson Family still plays a leading role in contemporary Texas winemaking. Jon McPherson is our guest to pull the cork on all this is Johnson City’s Carter Creek Winery.
All of this and heaping helpings of extra deliciousness on this week’s not-to-miss show!
In today’s hectic restaurant universe the guests’ experience with the valet parker at the entrance can set the scene for the entire evening’s dining experience. It can be positive or, unfortunately, decidedly negative. Brad Saltzman of Dragonfly Parking is a hospitality veteran who operates one of the premiere, hospitality- oriented valet parking services in greater Los Angeles. He has overseen the valet parking service at Nancy Silverton’s acclaimed Osteria Mozza in Hollywood almost since the beginning. (What more of an endorsement could you possibly ask for?) Brad joins us to discuss the valet parking experience at it’s absolute best.
“Brad likes to characterize himself as “Chief Guestologist.” Guestology (according to Brad) is the art of anticipating and exceeding guest expectations, and it has been in his blood since his first job as a teenage host in Beverly Hills. As a third-generation Angeleno, hospitality is truly part of his family legacy, and Brad has carried that tradition of service throughout his 30 plus year career. Brad’s family owned Simon Drive Ins in the 1940’s and Mile Lyman’s, a fine dining restaurant in Los Angeles.”
“Our guest, Katie Chin, is a celebrity chef, award-winning cookbook author, spokesperson, food blogger and the Culinary Ambassador to the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation.”
We’re talking about National Cookie Day and Katie shares a recipe for one of Challenge Butter’s Signature Holiday Cookies. It’s cookies for a cause benefiting National Pediatric Cancer Foundation.
Our guest, Tony Dang, is the Corporate Executive Chef for the 27 Gelson’s stores in Southern California. Every location has a Gelson’s Kitchen where shoppers can get everything from fresh coleslaw to full meals mostly all prepared in the onsite kitchen. On offer are full Hanukkah and Christmas meals or all the components available separately. There are also a variety of enticing chef-created meals to-go. Most stores even have an onsite sushi chef.
Chef Tony also conducts interactive cooking classes and demonstrations as well as cooks for in-store wine-paired dinners.
The newest Gelson’s will be opening in January in Toluca Lake. It’s a pocket market with a walk-up window for coffee and breakfast, seating for lunch and an indoor and outdoor fine wine and tapas bar.
“On a warm summer morning in July 1951, two boyishly enthusiastic young men wrote the stirring first paragraph of an ongoing and endlessly appetizing story, as they cut the ribbon on the very first Gelson’s supermarket. The Burbank store may have been distant in miles but not in spirit from founders’ Eugene and Bernie Gelson’s parents’ Iowa grocery store, where the boys learned the importance of exemplary customer service — which to them meant giving every last person who walked in the door the very best in quality, selection, and value.”
“Carter Creek Winery, located in the heart of Texas Hill Country and owned by the Carter family, earned six prestigious awards at the 2025 Vine2Wine International Wine Competition sponsored by the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo (FWSSR), held October 18-20, 2025.”
Their founding winemaker, Jon McPherson, is a distinguished second-generation winemaker (the son of pioneering Texas winemaker Clinton “Doc” McPherson and the brother of McPherson Cellar’s Kim McPherson) and the McPherson Family still plays a significant role in contemporary Texas winemaking.
“The competition, judged by a panel of wine professionals and sommeliers, attracts wineries interested in the important Fort Worth market. It celebrates the diversity of grape varieties and terroirs across the globe, with a “Texas twist” that emphasizes the state’s distinct winemaking regions.”
“Carter Creek Winery received a coveted Platinum Award for its Carter Creek Chenin Blanc, Texas High Plains 2023. Gold Medals were awarded to Carter Creek Sangiovese, Texas High Plains 2023, and Carter Creek Primitivo, Texas High Plains 2023. Silver Medals were earned by Carter Creek Sparkling Tempranillo Rosé, Texas High Plains NV, and Carter Creek Estate Red, Texas Hill Country 2023. The Carter Creek Tempranillo, Texas High Plains 2023 received a Bronze Medal.”
“Carter Creek Winery Resort & Spa is a luxury retreat in the heart of Texas Hill Country in Johnson City, Texas. Set amidst rolling hills and vineyards, it features 78 luxury villas, two tasting rooms, an outdoor pavilion hosting live music, Old 290 Brewery & Restaurant, a 24-hour fitness center, a spa, a heated seasonal outdoor pool and 16,000 square feet of flexible meeting and event space. It is an award-winning winery offering some of the region’s top varietals, and it’s the only winery in the region with an onsite microbrewery serving craft beer.
Jon McPherson is our guest to pull the cork on all this is Johnson City’s Carter Creek Winery.
Podcasts
Hour One: Dragonfly Parking, Katie Chin, Gelson’s Kitchen
Hour Two: Gelson’s Kitchen, Jon McPherson
Segment One: Show Introduction with Executive Producer & Co-Host Andy Harris
Segment Two: Valet Parking Revealed with Dragonfly Parking’s Brad Saltzman
Segment Three: Katie Chin, Celebrity Chef, Spokesperson and Award-Winning Cookbook Author
Segments Four and Five: Gelson’s Kitchen with Corporate Executive Chef Tony Dang
Segments Six and Seven: Carter Creek Winery, Johnson City, Texas with Winemaker Jon McPherson
