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Culinary Characters Unlocked: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Culinary Characters Unlocked
Emmy Winner, International Acclaimed Journalist, Executive Producer, Food & Travel Lover, and Creator of the Beloved show “Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives” David Page takes us deep into the world of chefs, restaurateurs, and everything “foodie” from the nationally and internationally awarded to the locally loved on Culinary Characters Unlocked. New episode every Tuesday.
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- 2 days ago37 min
Chef Star Maye on the path from prison to champion on Chopped
Chef Star Maye has had a remarkable rise through the culinary world. Born in a small Alabama town, this self-described “black, queer single mother” went from a small Alabama town to the U.S. Navy, to prison, where she found a mentor who pointed her to the culinary world, to becoming a celebrated executive chef in Nashville and a champion on the Food Network show Chopped. Her creative southern cooking is groundbreaking, rooted in the concept of food from as close to the soil as possible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 1 weeks ago35 min
Chef Andrew Black on the journey from his grandmother’s kitchen in Jamaica, to the Ritz in Paris, to winning a James Beard award in Oklahoma City
Chef Andrew Black got his first cooking job in his native Jamaica in his teens. That began a stellar career that took him to the Ritz in Paris and the Peabody in Memphis. When he was offered a job in Oklahoma City he sneered, “Where the hell is that?” But he checked it out, liked what he found, and has been at the forefront of a culinary revolution there. Chef Black now owns three restaurants in OKC, including the celebrated Grey Sweater, which he says is built on imagination to take diners on a journey of memorable moments, and where he won the 2023 James Beard award as Best Chef Southwest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 2 weeks ago39 min
Chef Renee Erickson built a restaurant empire from the bounty of the Pacific Northwest
As a child, Chef Renee Erickson would go salmon fishing with her father. And fruits and vegetables came from the family garden. She’s taken that grounding in the fabulous foods of the Pacific Northwest and built a celebrated group of Seattle restaurants that serve up a range of cuisines, heavy on local seafood. She bought her first restaurant at the age of 25, she’s seen all the ups and downs of the restaurant business, and in this conversation, she is brutally candid about the financial challenges facing her and other restaurateurs in today’s tough economy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 3 weeks ago38 min
Chef Zak Baker on cooking in Milwaukee the way they really do in Italy
Chef Zak Baker cooks what he calls Midwest Italian and it's unlike anything most folks have ever had before. It began when he first went to Italy and was thrilled by the food, but also surprised. He'd never had anything like it at any Italian restaurant he'd visited in America. He returned to cook in Italy again and again. And that’s what inspires him at his Milwaukee restaurant Ca'Lucchenzo, where he’s serving dishes created with traditional Italian techniques and flavors, but using the best ingredients of the Midwest. It got him named a 2026 James Beard Awards finalist. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Jun 30, 202641 min
Chef Kathy Fang on innovating Chinese cuisine and keeping a family legacy alive
Chef Kathy Fang pretty grew up in her parents’ legendary San Francisco Chinese restaurant, House of Nanking. She tried a career in business but couldn’t escape the pull of the restaurant world. So she returned to her hometown and partnered with her father to open another restaurant, Fang, where she is creating innovative dishes inspired by her childhood favorites, but pushing the traditional envelope of Chinese-American cooking that brings to mind a range of non-traditional influences, even the taste of an In-N-Out burger. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Jun 23, 202638 min
Chef Zach Midgett on why he left the legendary French Laundry to cook in Lincoln, Nebraska
When he was in his teens, Zach Midgett found a refuge from problems at home by working in a suburban Philadelphia restaurant. He started as a dishwasher, fell in love with kitchen life, soon was promoted to cook on the line, and rose to the top of the culinary world when he was hired at legendary chef Thomas Keller’s three-Michelin-starred restaurant in northern California, The French Laundry, where he worked his way up to sous chef. Then, he made a move many in the food world might find inexplicable—he relocated to Lincoln, Nebraska where, as Executive Chef at Casa Bovina restaurant, he is bringing exquisite, elevated dining to a place where he says one of the challenges is convincing local diners to try something new. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Jun 19, 202642 min
BONUS EPISODE—2026 James Beard Award Winning Chefs Sarah Thompson, Dave Baren, and Nok Suntaranon
On this special bonus episode, we revisit great conversations with three chefs who just won James Beard awards. Nok Suntaranon’s Thai restaurant Kalaya won 2026 Outstanding Restaurant. Alinea veteran Dave Beran was named Best Chef California for what he’s doing at his L.A. restaurant Seline, and Sarah Thompson won Best Chef Southwest for her cooking at coastal Mexican restaurant Casa Playa in Las Vegas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Jun 16, 202636 min
Chef Lonie Murdock on reimagining Caribbean cooking with dishes like Oxtail Wagyu and feeding the Obamas
Chef Lonie Murdock learned to cook from her Jamaican grandmother. After years in other professions, she opened a Caribbean popup in Toronto, turned it into a highly successful restaurant with a menu of elevated Caribbean classics, then expanded to Washington D.C, where she’s doing Caribbean with a twist, and where the Obamas dined on date night. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
About Culinary Characters Unlocked
Emmy Winner, International Acclaimed Journalist, Executive Producer, Food & Travel Lover, and Creator of the Beloved show “Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives” David Page takes us deep into the world of chefs, restaurateurs, and everything “foodie” from the nationally and internationally awarded to the locally loved on Culinary Characters Unlocked. New episode every Tuesday.
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