Podcasts

Segment One: Show Preview with Executive Producer & Co-Host Andy Harris
Segment Two: Chef & Author Deborah Madison with her Memoir, An Onion In My Pocket Part One
Segment Three: Chef & Author Deborah Madison with her Memoir, An Onion In My Pocket Part Two
Segment Four: Chef Lincoln Carson of Merite Bake Shop and Coast Range Restaurant, Solvang Part One
Segment Five: Chef Lincoln Carson of Merite Bake Shop and Coast Range Restaurant, Solvang Part Two
Segment Six: Al Mancini, Food Staff Writer, Las Vegas Review-Journal
Segment Seven: Robert Schueller, Melissa’s “Prince of Produce,” with the Produce Trends Forecast for 2021
Segment Eight: Co-Host Chef Andrew Gruel of the Slapfish Restaurant Group with “Ask the Chef”

Happy New Year and brighter horizons in 2021. …We’re previewing the show with Executive Producer & Co-Host Andy Harris.

“Chef Deborah Madison’s new memoir, An Onion in My Pocket – My Life With Vegetables is from the celebrated author of Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and 13 other cookbooks. (Described as “The Queen of Greens” by The Washington Post.) It’s a warm, bracingly honest memoir that also gives us an insider’s look at the vegetarian movement.” “Thanks to her beloved cookbooks and groundbreaking work as the opening chef at Greens Restaurant in San Francisco, Deborah Madison, though not a vegetarian herself, has long been revered as this country’s leading authority on vegetables.” We’re walking the local Farmers Market with Chef Deborah Madison.

When we last spoke with Chef Lincoln Carson he had just launched (as Chef & Partner) the ambitious Bon Temps Los Angeles restaurant located next to the Firehouse Hotel in the Arts District adjacent to Downtown Los Angeles. Unfortunately the critically acclaimed Bon Temps was an early victim of COVID 19’s devastating impact on the dining scene in Los Angeles. Fortunately it’s been a busy year for Chef Lincoln nonetheless. In November Lincoln launched the Merite Bake Shop in Boise, Idaho. It’s a virtual kitchen- bakery located at Crave Collective under the umbrella of Crave Delivery. Chef Lincoln, a resident of the Santa Ynez Valley, is now back in California to launch the Coast Range Restaurant in Solvang. It’s a premier seafood and steakhouse with a spacious patio and the Vaquero Bar (with a separate menu.) At Coast Range Restaurant Chef Lincoln will focus on the menu for the Lunch Café and daytime pastry program. Chef Lincoln joins us with rolling pin in hand.

One of our most reliable sources of accurate restaurant news in fabulous Las Vegas is Al Mancini, who is a staff writer for The Las Vegas Review-Journal covering food, restaurants and other aspects of entertainment. Al has been working the Vegas food scene for 19 years. He was one of the creators of the popular, and widely referenced, Eating Las Vegas restaurant guidebook series. Al joins us with Part 2 of his quarterly update on the Las Vegas dining scene. He’ll give us an insider’s overview of what’s new including the food and libations at the Circa Resort in Downtown Las Vegas and local food personality Jolene Mannina’s Vegas Test Kitchen on Fremont Street. Al will also remember visionary entrepreneur Tony Hsieh who is credited with reviving the (now vibrant) dining scene in Downtown Las Vegas.

Our resident produce authority, Robert Schueller, (also known as the Prince of Produce) is the long-time Director of Public Relations for Melissa’s (World Variety) Produce. This will be the 14th year he’s provided the list of “Top Ten Specialty Produce Items” as determined by real sales figures. Robert joins us to share the always anticipated list. It’s no surprise that the ultimate comfort food, Melissa’s Dutch Yellow Potatoes, ranks in 1st place. This is actually the 10th year for this distinction. Next Saturday Robert returns to present more of his “Produce Trends Forecast for 2021.”

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 regularly 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 which is a genuine (and growing) concern. New (controversial) restrictions for restaurants are now in place for Southern California for the balance of the year (and possibly longer) as we continue the all-important Holiday dining season. Chef Andrew updates us on the early progress for the grass-roots, “86 Struggle” campaign to benefit local out-of-work and struggling restaurant wooers. Our thoughts turn to festive Holiday entertaining at home. Chef Andrew to the rescue as he continues his series of genuinely useful Holiday cooking tips. How do you prepare and cook the ultimate Standing Rob Roast? 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!

“Chef Deborah Madison’s new memoir, An Onion in My Pocket – My Life With Vegetables is from the celebrated author of Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and 13 other cookbooks. (Described as “The Queen of Greens” by The Washington Post.) It’s a warm, bracingly honest memoir that also gives us an insider’s look at the vegetarian movement.”

“Thanks to her beloved cookbooks and groundbreaking work as the opening chef at Greens Restaurant in San Francisco, Deborah Madison, though not a vegetarian herself, has long been revered as this country’s leading authority on vegetables.”

“She profoundly changed the way generations of Americans think about cooking with vegetables, helping to transform “vegetarian” from a dirty word into a mainstream way of eating. But before she became a household name, Madison spent almost twenty years as an ordained Buddhist priest, coming of age in the midst of counterculture San Francisco. In this charmingly intimate and refreshingly frank memoir, she tells her story—and with it the story of the vegetarian movement—for the very first time.”

Madison’s “insightful memoir” (The Wall Street Journal) is “a true delight to read as she uncovers her love for all real foods, peeling off layer by layer like an onion, recounting her own personal, culinary, and gardening experiences” (Lidia Bastianich).

“From her childhood in Big Ag Northern California to working in the kitchen of the then-new Chez Panisse, and from the birth of food TV to the age of green markets everywhere, An Onion in My Pocket is as much the story of the evolution of American foodways as it is the memoir of the woman at the forefront. It is a deeply personal look at the rise of vegetable-forward cooking, and a manifesto for how to eat well.”

“Deborah Madison is the award-winning author of fourteen cookbooks, including The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and Vegetable Literacy. Her books have received four James Beard Foundation awards and five awards from the IACP; in 2016 she was inducted into the James Beard Foundation Cookbook Hall of Fame. She lives just outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico.”

We’re walking the local Farmers Market with Chef Deborah Madison.

When we last spoke with Chef Lincoln Carson he had just launched (as Chef & Partner) the ambitious Bon Temps Los Angeles restaurant located next to the Firehouse Hotel in the Arts District adjacent to Downtown Los Angeles. Unfortunately the critically acclaimed Bon Temps was an early victim of COVID 19’s devastating impact on the dining scene in Los Angeles.

Fortunately it’s been a busy year for Chef Lincoln nonetheless. In November Lincoln launched the Merite Bake Shop in Boise, Idaho. It’s a virtual kitchen bakery located at Crave Collective under the umbrella of Crave Delivery. It’s delivery and takeout with premium breakfast pastries and decadent desserts.

Chef Lincoln, a resident of the Santa Ynez Valley, is back in California to launch the Coast Range Restaurant in Solvang. It’s a premier California costal seafood and steakhouse with a spacious patio and the Vaquero Bar (with a separate menu.) Lincoln’s partners are Chef Anthony Carron (800 Degrees and Top Round) and Chef Steven Fretz (Top Round and Church Key.)

At Coast Range Restaurant Chef Lincoln will focus on the menu for the Lunch Café and daytime pastry program.

Chef Lincoln joins us with whisk securely in hand.

One of our most reliable sources of accurate restaurant news in fabulous Las Vegas is Al Mancini, who is a staff writer for The Las Vegas Review-Journal covering food, restaurants and other aspects of entertainment. Al has been working the Vegas food scene for 19 years. He was one of the creators of the popular, and widely referenced, Eating Las Vegas restaurant guidebook series.

Al joins us with Part 2 of his quarterly update on the Las Vegas dining scene. He’ll share an insider’s overview of what’s new including the food and libations at the Circa Resort in Downtown Las Vegas and local food personality Jolene Mannina’s Vegas Test Kitchen on Fremont Street. Al will also remember visionary entrepreneur Tony Hsieh who is credited with reviving the (now vibrant) dining scene in Downtown Las Vegas.

Our distinguished, resident produce authority, Robert Schueller, (also known as the Prince of Produce) is the long-time Director of Public Relations for Melissa’s (World Variety) Produce. This will be the 14th year he’s provided the list of “Top Ten Specialty Produce Items” as determined by real sales figures. Robert joins us to share the always anticipated list.

It’s no surprise that the ultimate comfort food, Melissa’s Dutch Yellow Potatoes, ranks in 1st place. This is actually the 10th year for this distinction.

Next Saturday Robert returns to present more of his “Produce Trends Forecast for 2021.”

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 regularly 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 which is a genuine (and growing) concern. New (controversial) restrictions for restaurants are now in place for Southern California for the balance of the year (and possibly longer) as we’re in the all-important Holiday dining season.

Chef Andrew updates us on the early progress for the grass-roots, “86 Struggle” campaign to benefit local out-of-work and struggling restaurant workers. It’s gaining attention nationally.

Our thoughts turn to festive Holiday entertaining at home. Chef Andrew to the rescue as he continues his series of genuinely useful Holiday cooking tips. How do you prepare and cook the ultimate Standing Rib Roast? We’ll “Ask the Chef.”

Podcasts

Segment One: Show Preview with Executive Producer & Co-Host Andy Harris
Segment Two: Chef & Author Deborah Madison with her Memoir, An Onion In My Pocket Part One
Segment Three: Chef & Author Deborah Madison with her Memoir, An Onion In My Pocket Part Two
Segment Four: Chef Lincoln Carson of Merite Bake Shop and Coast Range Restaurant, Solvang Part One
Segment Five: Chef Lincoln Carson of Merite Bake Shop and Coast Range Restaurant, Solvang Part Two
Segment Six: Al Mancini, Food Staff Writer, Las Vegas Review-Journal
Segment Seven: Robert Schueller, Melissa’s “Prince of Produce,” with the Produce Trends Forecast for 2021
Segment Eight: Co-Host Chef Andrew Gruel of the Slapfish Restaurant Group with “Ask the Chef”