Episode 1 – Leia Gaccione on Bobby Flay
Gaccione, 32, grew up in blue-collar Passaic, New Jersey, watching every food show on TV. As a girl, she cooked for her brother and their single mom, later graduated from the New York Restaurant...
View ArticleEpisode 2 – Chef Leia Gaccione, from canned beans to South + Pine’s “Swear Jar”
The Passaic native takes us from her “not glamorous at all” beginnings in food (ramen packets and her grandfather’s “mean” canned baked beans) to the screw-up that sent her to cooking school to the...
View ArticleEpisode 3: Fascino’s Ryan DePersio on Running Four Restaurants
Nutley native Ryan DePersio explains why prices at Fascino, the family flagship, are lower this time of year, and talks about running Nico at NJPAC in Newark, Battello on the Jersey City waterfront and...
View ArticleEpisode 4: Cynthia and Ryan DePersio, Mother and Son Chefs
The DePersios, of Fascino in Montclair, on what they learned from and love about each other. Cynthia, who absorbed cooking from her parents, talks about Ryan’s pre-teen precocity in the kitchen and her...
View ArticleEpisode 5: George Faison on Clean Vs. Commodity Meat
George Faison, co-founder of D’Artagnan and former COO of DeBragga & Spitler, explains why humane treatment of food animals is important not only for their health and well-being but for the...
View ArticleEpisode 6: George Faison on Heritage Breeds and the NJ Situation
George Faison, co-founder of D’Artagnan and former COO of DeBragga & Spitler, says biodiversity isn’t just important for the planet, it’s great for the plate—producing meat that’s more flavorful...
View ArticleEpisode 7: Alan Richman, America’s Most Decorated Food Writer
Alan Richman waxes nostalgic over the Weequahic Diner in Newark, the Atlantic City Boardwalk, replete with Kohr’s Custard, James Salt Water Taffy (except molasses mint) and the iconic Planter’s Mr....
View ArticleEpisode 8: Alan Richman, From Sportswriter to Food Writer
The award-winning food writer considers himself lucky for having “lived through the great era of food in America, and I’m not sure it’s going to continue to get better.” But he sees hope in chefs...
View ArticleEpisode 9: Josh Friedland on Weird, Funny, Snobby (But Real) New Food Terms
Josh Friedland, who lives in Maplewood, rose to secret fame (and the first-ever James Beard Award for humor writing) for his tweets as @ruthbourdain, a wicked mashup of Ruth Reichl and Anthony...
View ArticleEpisode 10: Josh Friedland on his wicked creation, @ruthbourdain.
Josh Friedland talks about creating one of the first and most influential food blogs, the Food Section, and about the mad buzz around his Twitter character, a satirical mashup of the über-elegant Ruth...
View ArticleEpisode 11: Celebrity Chef Amanda Freitag on Her Fear of Cooking at Home
In a swarming restaurant kitchen, Amanda Freitag is always comfortable and in command. But in the tiny kitchen of her Manhattan apartment, she used to break into a sweat—until she figured out three...
View ArticleEpisode 12: Amanda Freitag on her Cedar Grove Girlhood and Behind the Scenes...
In this episode, Amanda Freitag talks candidly about being a judge on Chopped and dispels any notion that the judges decide quickly or go by anything but what’s on the plate. The post Episode 12:...
View ArticleEpisode 13: Scott Snyder on Seafood and His Two New Restaurants
Scott Snyder schools us on seafood—on responsible farming as the key to sustainability and why he prefers cold-water to warm-water fish. He also discusses why Boulevard Five72, a basically New American...
View ArticleEpisode 14: Scott Snyder on his Triathlons and Managing his Diabetes
Scott Snyder says intense exercise also helps keep his diabetes under control and his head screwed on right. Another thing that keeps him sane is his kitchen staff, who have been with him since he...
View ArticleEpisode 15: If You Knew Rosie!
Keeping on top of food trends five days a week for New Jersey Monthly is a second career for Jersey City native Rosie Saferstein, who spent 32 years as a speech pathologist in the Bayonne public...
View ArticleEpisode 16: Rosie, Secrets of a Table Hopper
How to get a rez at a hot restaurant, when a special is worth ordering, what to expect from a good server, and more tips from NJM’s “She Who Knows All” on the 15th anniversary of her essential blog,...
View ArticleEpisode 17: Reuwai (Rhymes With Hooray) Hanewald of Terhune Orchards
Reuwai Hanewald graduated from Princeton University, where she majored in ecology and evolutionary biology, and minored in environmental science. Today that knowledge, combined with her years of...
View ArticleEpisode 18: Reuwai Hanewald on What She Learned From Her Travels
In this episode Reuwai Hanewald speaks about her time in El Salvador and the Ivory Coast and how Terhune Orchards produces robust fruits and vegetables with minimum environmental impact. The post...
View ArticleEpisode 19: Service Expert Eric Weiss
Eric Weiss’s work has taken him across America and Europe. Just after this episode was recorded, he left for Tokyo to spend six weeks training the staffs of one of Japan’s most exclusive private clubs....
View ArticleEpisode 20: Service Expert Eric Weiss and 3,000 West Point Cadets
How did Eric Weiss get into the hospitality field? Well, it began with ocean liners, then being an au pair to a wealthy French family who entertained the Shah of Iran, then shaving truffles at one of...
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Episode 21: Award-winning Food & Drink Writer Jordana Rothman
Quick to spot trends—and able to explain, amplify or deride them in memorable prose—Montville native Jordana Rothman, 32, wrote the book on one of the biggest recent trends, tacos, with famed chef Alex...
View ArticleEpisode 22: Jordana Rothman, Voluptuary
Through her tweets, magazine articles and now a cookbook, Jordana Rothman has proven herself a provocative and fun source of ideas and info on all aspects of gastronomic pleasure. The secret of her...
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