Videos

Aug. 27, 2024

Philadelphia Chef Jennifer Zavala on Birria Tacos, Food Media, Her Top Chef Experience and the Ju...

On this week’s show, I speak with Jennifer Zavala. Jennifer is a chef in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is currently doing a pop-up called Juana Tamale out of Underground Arts. We talk about a wide range of topics including her “illegal” tamale business, birria tacos, influencers and bloggers vs reviewers, cooking…

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Aug. 27, 2024

From NFL Cheerleader to Pop-Up Chef - Masako Morishita Brings Japanese Comfort Food to Washington...

On this week’s show, I speak with Masako Morishita. Originally from Kobe, Japan, Masako’s family has owned and operated a bar and restaurant there for 90 years, and food has always been a part of her life, though she never worked as a cook. Growing up, she was interested in…

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Aug. 27, 2024

Pastry Chef and Author Lisa Donovan Talks About Writing Her Memoir, the Restaurant Industry and C...

On this week’s show, I speak with Lisa Donovan. She’s a pastry chef and James Beard award winning writer. She’s helmed the pastry kitchens of some of the most important restaurants in the country, including Husk in Nashville, and has kept her whole life afloat by making, writing on and…

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Aug. 27, 2024

Chef Christina Pirello - Beating Terminal Leukemia Through Diet and Lifestyle, and Building the C...

On the Chefs Without Restaurants podcast this week I have chef Christina Pirello of Christina Cooks. After already losing her mother to cancer, Christina was diagnosed with terminal leukemia in her mid-20’s. Not wanting to undergo traditional treatment for cancer, she ultimately changed her diet and lifestyle, and her cancer…

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Aug. 27, 2024

Pastry Chef Bria Taylor of Killa Cakes on Big Flavors, Being a Self-Taught Baker and Starting a B...

On the Chefs Without Restaurants podcast this week I have pastry chef Bria Taylor. She’s the owner of Killa Cakes, a Washington D.C. area cake business. Trained in graphic arts, Bria has no formal training in baking. In fact, she is completely self-taught. We discuss learning to bake, the process…

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Aug. 27, 2024

Chef and Culinary Instructor April DuBose – Teaching, Nostalgia and the Loneliness of Entrepreneu...

On the Chefs Without Restaurants podcast this week I have chef and culinary instructor April DuBose. She’s currently the culinary director and instructor at Baltimore Outreach Services in Baltimore, Maryland, a nonprofit shelter for women and their children. The culinary arts training program there is eight weeks long, and focuses…

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Aug. 27, 2024

Research Chef Shola Olunloyo of Studio Kitchen - Cultural Appropriation, Staging and Cooking Nige...

This week I speak with Philadelphia chef Shola Olunloyo. Shola has carved out a creative niche in modern cooking instruction as a consulting chef. The Studiokitchen was created as a research and idea space to support his manufacturer partner and client projects. He uses contemporary cooking techniques to create increased…

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Aug. 27, 2024

The Cooking Gene- A Discussion with Culinary Historian, Food Writer and Historical Interpreter Mi...

This week, I have Michael Twitty. He's a food writer, independent scholar, culinary historian and historical interpreter personally charged with preparing, preserving and promoting African American foodways, and its parent traditions in Africa and her diaspora, and the food culture of the American South. Michael is a Judaic Studies teacher…

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Aug. 27, 2024

The Season 2 Trailer for The Chefs Without Restaurants Podcast

Welcome to season two of the Chefs Without Restaurants podcast. I'm your host, Chris Spear. On the show, I have conversations with culinary entrepreneurs, and people in the food and beverage industry who took a different route. They're caterers, research chefs, personal chefs, cookbook authors, food truckers, farmers, cottage bakers,…

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Aug. 27, 2024

Chef Charles Hunter III on Using Social Media and a Blog to Launch His Personal Chef Business

This week we speak with Charles Hunter III. He’s a personal chef, recipe developer and food blogger based in Nashville, Tennessee. He’s the owner of The Salted Table Company, an in-home catering company that prepares meals for backyard weddings, dinner parties, business dinners and more, in the comfort of your…

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Aug. 27, 2024

When Passion Doesn't Pay The Bills - Pastry Chef Ryan Dumapit

On this weeks show I have Ryan Dumapit. He has a degree in pastry arts, and food service management. But Ryan doesn’t have a singular path in the food industry. In fact, he also went to school for IT, and has worked for a point of sale company, as well…

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Aug. 27, 2024

In Pursuit of Better BBQ - Chef Alex Smith

On this week's Chefs Without Restaurants podcast, I speak with chef Alex Smith. While Alex has been in the food and beverage industry for over 20 years now, he’s only spent the last 10 years cooking. He started out in the front of the house, but discovered a passion for…

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Aug. 27, 2024

Pastry Chef Monica Glass on Exploring Opportunities Outside of Restaurants

On this week's Chefs Without Restaurants podcast, I speak with Philadelphia pastry chef Monica Glass. Upon graduating from Penn State, Monica moved to New York City to embark on a career in public relations. But after a brief stint in the corporate world, she realized she felt more at home…

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Aug. 27, 2024

Caterer Sam Hefter Brings the Taco Party to the People

On this week's Chefs Without Restaurants podcast, I speak with Sam Hefter, the chef and owner of Hefter Catering in Kansas City. Sam's catering business focuses on upscale taco bars. We talk about how he came up with that idea, and why he doesn’t think he’s going to expand beyond…

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Aug. 27, 2024

A Discussion with Chef and Food Writer Amethyst Ganaway

On this week’s Chefs Without Restaurants podcast I have Amethyst Ganaway. She’s worked in the food business for more than 10 years, in both the front and back of the house. Besides being a chef, she also does food writing. You can find her work on her website Geechie Gordita,…

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Aug. 27, 2024

On the Farm - A Discussion with Photographer Aliza Eliazarov About Heritage Breed Animals and The...

On this week’s Chefs Without Restaurants podcast I have renowned photographer Aliza Eliazarov. On November 17, she has a book coming out called On the Farm: Heritage & Heralded Animal Breeds in Portraits and Stories. The book invites us to take a closer look at the animal breeds taking center…

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Aug. 27, 2024

Vietnamese-American Chef Tu David Phu Talks About His Upbringing, His E-Commerce Food Store, and ...

On the podcast this week, I have chef Tu David Phu. Tu is a first generation Vietnamese-American, born and raised in Oakland, California. You might know him from season 15 of the Bravo Tv show Top Chef (https://www.bravotv.com/people/tu-david-phu) . He’s also a San Francisco Chronicle Rising Star Chef. Tu uses…

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Aug. 27, 2024

A Conversation with Pastry Chef Kate Holowchik of Lionheart Confections

This week I speak with pastry chef, and self-proclaimed culinary renegade Kate Holowchik. After working her way through some of Boston's eclectic kitchens, she's now finding her personal voice with the launch of Lionheart Confections. Her desserts are a mix of the refined, with a touch of nostalgia. We discuss:…

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Aug. 27, 2024

Mr. Bake - Talking About Sweets, Cooking on TV and Representation in the Food Media

This week I speak with Kareem Queeman, better known as Mr. Bake. He’s the owner and operator of Mr. Bake Sweets, a small dessert studio located in Largo, MD. He’s been baking for 20+ years. In the years that Mr. Bake Sweets has operated, he's done a few television appearances…

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Aug. 27, 2024

25 Years at Crook's Corner Restaurant - A Conversation with Chef Bill Smith

On the show this week, I have chef Bill Smith. Bill was the chef at Crook’s Corner in Chapel Hill, North Carolina for 25 years, before retiring in January 2019. I wanted to talk to Bill about his time working at Crook’s Corner, and what he plans to do now…

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Aug. 27, 2024

Discussing the State of the Catering and Personal Chef Industries with Chef Brendon Hudson of Lil...

On the podcast this week I have chef Brendon Hudson. He’s owner and chef of Liliahna catering company. Brendon was recently voted Best Chef by Baltimore Magazine’s readers poll. We discuss the state of the catering and personal chef business, the rise of the micro-wedding, the Thumbtack platform and more.…

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Aug. 27, 2024

Chef Kimberly Schaub Discusses Being a Research and Development Chef, and Kitchen Culture

On the podcast this week I have chef Kimberly Schaub. She’s spent much of her culinary career in the research and development field, working for companies like Beecher’s Handmade Cheese (https://www.beechershandmadecheese.com/) and Bulletproof 360 (https://www.bulletproof.com/) . She also spent some time with the Modernist Cuisine (https://modernistcuisine.com/) team, and contributed to…

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Aug. 27, 2024

Charging For Your Services, Content Creation and So Much More - A Discussion with Chef Justin Kha...

This is part 2 of a discussion I had with chef Justin Khanna. If you haven't listened to part 1 (https://www.podpage.com/chefs-without-restaurants/the-transition-from-restaurant-cooking-to-the-personal-chef-and-events-business-a-discussion-with-chef-justin-khanna-part-1/) yet, I suggest listening to it first, as this episode jumps right into the middle of our discussion. On the podcast this week I have chef Justin Khanna. He's…

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Aug. 27, 2024

The Transition From Restaurant Cooking to the Personal Chef and Events Business - A Discussion wi...

On the podcast this week I have chef Justin Khanna. He's the co-founder of Voyager's Table, a bespoke event production company. He’s also the host of The Repertoire Podcast (formerly The Emulsion podcast), and has a YouTube channel that has more than 20,000 subscribers. Justin spent a number of years…

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