Chef Carla Hall, entrepreneur, star of The Chew on ABC, who’s about to open her hot chicken restaurant Southern Kitchen in NYC. How this accountant-turned-model-turned lunch caterer ended up on TV. Why she found herself in tears on her knees in the shower at age 40, plus hamburgers, high school and Match.com.

But first, we have on the line Adrian Moore, author of Inside Chefs Fridges, the book that gives you the insider (literally) peek into what they call the kitchen underwear drawer of greats like Marco Pierre White, Fergus Henderson and Massimo Bottura.

“When I left culinary school, I didn’t want to be known as Carla the Southern Cook.  It was because of Top Chef that I started doing this food that was just calling me… the food that I wanted to eat.” [42:00]

–Carla Hall on WORD OF MOUTH

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WORD OF MOUTH is live from across the Atlantic this week as Leiti is on the line from Berlin chatting with Erin Fairbanks in studio with Steven Satterfield of Miller Union in Atlanta and author of Root to Leaf.  Steven believes in making the most out of the edible parts of the plant, from root to leaf and embodies an authentic approach to farmstead-inspired cooking, incorporating seasonal fresh produce into everyday cuisine. He goes on to share the personal trials and tribulations going on throughout the process of writing the book, and that since he’s been inspired to change the food system in his lifetime. Tune in for more from Steven, his coming up through the industry as well as what’s next for him!

“I hate the term ‘farm to table.’  We call it seasonal cooking.” [13:30]

“Vegetables can be delicious. They don’t have to be cooked to death… theres’ a new style of cooking responding to the fresh harvest.” [15:30]

–Steven Satterfield on WORD OF MOUTH

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We catch up with chef-partner Bo Bech of Geist in Copenhagen at Charlie Bird in NYC one weekend afternoon, November 2015. He’s recently landed into town to start a restaurant here. But first, he’ll host a popup series called The Bride of the Fox that will happen on a boat, in a firehouse, onstage at the ballet, in a chef-friend’s apartment. We’ll talk food and first kisses with this self-professed late bloomer, roadtrips and fundraising tips, that is, the stunt he once pulled to secure a bank loan.

This week on WORD OF MOUTH, Leiti visits celebrity chef, author and Dean, Jacques Pepin at the International Culinary Center. Beloved as Julia Child’s TV counterpart and a game-changer in American cuisine—and French food in America, we get to know this son of a cabinetmaker and a cook. We’ll talk mortality, how he met his wife, painting, petanque parties and the 1950s in Paris. Plus, we’ll preview his new book “Heart & Soul in the Kitchen”—and how this legend cooks at home for close friends and family.

This week on WORD OF MOUTH host Leiti Hsu kicks off thew show on the line with Jenna Zimmerman, TV producer and James Beard Awards judge.  Talking about how she landed her dream job plus career highlights like playing bongos with Matthew McConaughey, she also forecasts the future of food media.  After the break, Mark Maynard-Parisi, partner of Blue Smoke, Jazz Standard, and Porchlight Bar talks landscape architecture, his love affair with the American South and Manchester, UK in the 80s.

Award-winning Philly restaurateur Ellen Yin behind Fork and High Street on Market. Now, she’s about to open High Street on Hudson, their first non-Philly foray; we’ll get a preview of the much-anticipated opening. And we’ll get to know Ellen the rebellious Asian kid and learn how how landed in resaurants after both business school and the medical industry. Finally, we’ll catch up on partner chef Eli Kulp progress post tragic injuries in the Amtrak crash over the summer…plus how you can help.

WORD OF MOUTH is back this week as host Leiti Hsu shares a clip with her time spent with Anthony Bourdain talking whisky, 3-D printing, and his daughter’s favorite food before welcoming in studio guest Justin Smillie to the show.  Justin shares his path through childhood as well as the New York food scene, having mentored at Jonathan Waxman’s Barbuto where he cultivated his Italian cooking, later incorporating Japanese bases like dashi into the mix.  Currently, his unique style is housed at Upland in NYC and has recently released the book “Slow Fires: Mastering New Ways to Braise, Roast, and Grill.”  Tune in for a great show!

 

“When I really found my soul as a cook was when I started cooking Italian.” [17:15]

“You have to cook the thing you love and the thing you are in touch with. I never put anything on the menu or explore anything that I don’t want to eat myself.  That’s the first portion in making something craveable.” [18:00]

–Justin Smillie on WORD OF MOUTH

The San Francisco restaurateur Anna Weinberg takes us on an adventure as we nosh our way through her nightly rounds to beloved institutions Marlowe, The Cavalier and Park Tavern. We hear about mentor and former boss chef Jonathan Waxman, plus the formidable #fempire, her business partners, the acclaimed chefs Jennifer Puccio and Emily Luchetti. Plus, eggs-eggs-and-more-eggs, pre-trip weigh-ins, how strep throat nearly stopped Anna from meeting her future husband… and how she started out her career as a video jockey.

Chef Mads Refslund, co-founder of Copenhagen’s noma, the world’s best restaurant and now head chef at Acme in Noho NYC. We talk his cookbook in the works on trash cooking and a new tasting menu restaurant. Plus, breaking up with bestie Rene Redzepi, working with prisoners, cooking with Dad, commune-living, and cancer.

First up, chef Eric Bolyard formerly of Eleven Madison Park and now head chef at La Compagnie des vins Surnaturels on his new dinner party discussion Dinner with Dignity with Rachna Govani, founder of Foodstand.

“The future of cooking for me is more going back in time, how we were cooking many years ago. You have to go back to the roots to what this world is.” [41:30]

-Mads Refslund on WORD OF MOUTH

Celebrity chef, restaurateur, immigrant and Catholic, Lidia Bastianich up first on cooking for Pope Francis during his visit to NYC. What does the Pope eat? How do you even decide what to serve him? LIVE in-studio, we’ll welcome three-time James Beard Award winner chef Michael Anthony, at the helm at Gramercy Tavern and Untitled and Studio Cafe at the Whitney Museum. His new cookbook “V is for Vegetables” just came out, which he worked on while recovering from open-heart surgery. We’ll his career start in Japan, his generations-long obsession with garlic and cooking with his three daughters.

“He ate good, he ate deliciously but we watched for fats and calories!” [5:40]

“Can you imagine, the Pope came into the kitchen and we offered him espresso… and when he left he said, “Pray for me.” It was very moving.” [9:00]

–Lidia Bastianich on WORD OF MOUTH

“Depending on the vegetable, like a tomato, the key is not adding a liquid because you want to concentrate flavors and develop intensity through reduction.” [25:00]

–Chef Michael Anthony on WORD OF MOUTH