Tinfoil Swans

Chef and writer Lane Regan left Chicago for the remote woods of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and built a life beyond their wildest dreams. They joined Tinfoil Swans for a conversation about sobriety, grief, gender, kitchen culture, finding softness as a leader, and creating Milkweed Inn at the end of nine miles of logging road. Plus: pigs, year-long ferments, and the beavers determined to make life interesting. For more info visit: ⁠⁠⁠foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans⁠⁠⁠ Episode art courtesy of Food & Wine / Lane Regan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nina Compton grew up in Saint Lucia marking time by fruit seasons, dreaming of becoming a chef, and learning to cook alongside her mother and grandmother. The Top Chef fan favorite talked about the intense kitchens that shaped her, why she took a chance on putting goat curry on the menu in New Orleans, the advice that taught her to say no, and her dream of opening a culinary school back home. For more info visit: ⁠⁠foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans⁠⁠ Episode art courtesy of Food & Wine / Kasimu Harris Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Alex Stupak has built a career by questioning what food can and should be. The Empellón chef and restaurateur and 2013 Food & Wine Best New Chef talks about rebellion as a creative force, what pastry taught him about transformation, and why he thinks we all want the cheeseburger right now. He also digs into David Lynch, punk rock, the lessons of a restaurant that broke his heart, the tension between recognition and individualism, and why the restaurants we return to are about much more than what’s on the plate. For more info visit: ⁠foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans⁠ Episode art courtesy of Food & Wine / Evan Sung Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whether she was mixing extra-fancy Kool-Aid as a kid, shaking cocktails at Applebee's, helping people forget their airport anxiety, or teaching a cocktail class, Tiffanie Barriere has always known how to make a drink feel special. The 2024 Food & Wine Drinks Visionary talks about finding her voice as a Black woman behind the bar, the radical hospitality of One Flew South, telling the overlooked stories of Southern drinking culture, and the deeply personal mission behind her new book, Good Spirits: The Joy of Cocktails. For more info visit: foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans Episode Art Courtesy of Food & Wine /Caitlin Bensel Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chef, restaurateur, author, and satirist Eli Sussman talks about growing up in a food-loving family outside Detroit, the painful mistake of giving away his treasured cookbooks, leaving a comfortable career in advertising to start over as a line cook, and the hard-earned lessons of opening his own restaurants, and why he had to change his shirt three times when New York Times critic Pete Wells came to dinner. Sussman reflects on his move to Chicago, finding comedy and belonging in restaurant culture, coaching Dominic Sessa for the Anthony Bourdain film Tony, and his forthcoming satirical business book, Me Chef, You Chef, Oui Chef. Visit foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans for more Episode Art Courtesy of Food & Wine /Eli Sussman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Vikas Khanna was growing up in a small town in India, he was bullied by the other children for wearing braces on his legs and not being able to play like them. But his grandmother and sister saw him for who he truly was: a lion. They brought him into the kitchen, and he roared to life. An extraordinary life at that, where he makes movies, writes books, feeds millions of hungry people, and runs Bungalow — the most watched Indian restaurant on the planet. He joined Tinfoil Swans for a truly moving conversation about grief, the power of people believing in you, why he wants to "unrestaurant" himself, and why he feels driven to feed the world. For more info visit: foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Patrick O'Connell has spent nearly five decades building The Inn at Little Washington into one of America's most celebrated restaurants. At the age of 80, he is finally sharing his story in the memoir, Main, Middle & Gay. In this conversation, he shares the childhood experiences that shaped his lifelong pursuit of beauty, opening a restaurant as half of a gay couple in rural Virginia, finding his place among the misfits and oddballs who gravitate toward restaurant work, earning the trust of the legendary food writer Craig Claiborne, hosting guests including Paul Newman and Barbra Streisand, and why he believes the highest form of hospitality is healing. Visit foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans for more Episode Art Courtesy of Food & Wine /The Inn at Little Washington Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chef and Food Network star Ayesha Nurdjaja shares how one Lidia Bastianich recipe steered her away from law school to the kitchens of Felidia, A Voce, Artisanal, and then her own restaurants Shuka, and Shukette. She opens up about defying her family's expectations, breaking the cycle of toxic kitchen culture, the realities of running restaurants, her new cookbook Mediterranean All the Way, and why her goal is to become a legend. Visit foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans for more Episode Art Courtesy of Food & Wine /Clay Williams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Daniel Patterson and Sarah Lewitinn (a.k.a. Ultragrrrl) went on their first Hinge date, neither of them was in a great place. No one was, really, because it was in January of 2021. Daniel is an acclaimed chef who'd just been through a divorce and couldn't be in his natural habitat of restaurants. Sarah had spent her whole life in the music industry and found herself burned out — not even able to enjoy listening to bands she loved. But that spark between them roared into a fire, and the two of them aren't just married — they have opened a restaurant together in Los Angeles based on the delight they discovered throwing dinner parties together, with him in the kitchen and her creating the musical and hospitality vibes at the dining table. The two joined Tinfoil Swans to talk about their radically different upbringings, finding their driving passions early on, burning out, and how finding one another at a low point helped them fall back in love with food and music. Visit foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans for more Episode Art Courtesy of Food & Wine /Tyler Curtis Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Aaron Franklin, the Hot Luck Festival founder and James Beard Award-winning pitmaster behind Franklin Barbecue, talks about the long road from tinkering with guitars at his grandparents' music shop and playing punk shows to teaching himself brisket on a $99 backyard smoker. He shares stories of the warmth and support of Austin community that helped turn backyard barbecues into a national pilgrimage site, the exhaustion and family strain that came with explosive success, the choice not to become "another cranky barbecue guy," President Obama’s unforgettable visit, and why supporting local restaurants matters more than ever. Visit foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans for more Episode Art Courtesy of Food & Wine /Paul Shirley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With her shows Pati's Mexican Table and La Frontera and cookbooks Treasures of the Mexican Table and Mexican Today, Pati Jinich uses her exceptional empathy, political science background, and fearless curiosity to share the stories of the people living, creating, and cooking all around Mexico, and celebrate our shared humanity. For the Season 2 finale, Jinich joined Tinfoil Swans to talk about learning English by watching Sesame Street, her comfort with being laughed at, cooking nopalitos with eggs, and why now more than ever, she wants to celebrate the beauty of the U.S.-Mexico border. For more info visit: foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Arjav Ezekiel arrived in America at age 12, the first person he met was Simpsons creator Matt Groening. Years later, after navigating life as an undocumented immigrant, he would help build Birdie's in Austin, Texas, into one of the country's most celebrated restaurants. He reflects on the burden of keeping secrets, the people he calls his "guardian angels," why making people feel seen has become the foundation of his work with his wife, Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel, and the color he believes hospitality can bring to people's lives. Visit foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans for more Episode Art Courtesy of Food & Wine /Eva Kolenko Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Over the course of three months, Cybille St. Aude-Tate and Omar Tate met, got married, and started the project of Honeysuckle. It's one of the most ambitious and personal restaurant projects in America right now, with a mission of preserving Black history, honoring Haitian and African American foodways, and creating a welcoming to all space where guests can encounter stories, traditions, and people who have too often been left out of the narrative. The James Beard-nominated duo talks about using art and music as an escape from a hostile world, food as both joy and survival, their responsibility to the ancestors, the luxurious whimsy of a gilded Big Mac, and the power of finding your person. Visit foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans for more Episode Art Courtesy of Food & Wine /Clay Williams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Scott Conant wanted to be a plumber, but getting shut out of a vocational school class set him down a different path. The 2004 Food & Wine Best New Chef and Food Network star reveals the exact dish that convinced him to devote himself to Italian cooking, the emotional fan encounters — from a grieving mother to a man struggling to stay alive — that reshaped how he thinks about television fame, how the best thing he's ever done in his professional life isn't in a restaurant, and why Alex Guarnaschelli calls him the "most human" of the Chopped judges. Visit foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans for more Episode Art Courtesy of Food & Wine /Ken Goodman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

2021 Food & Wine Best New Chef Fermín Núñez grew up moving between Mexico and the United States, never quite feeling like he belonged in either place. He reflects on navigating life between cultures, the years he spent undocumented in America, and why he once went by “Leo” before learning to embrace his own name. He also shares the path that took him from dreams of film school to opening Austin’s acclaimed Suerte, how Anthony Bourdain and a bookstore copy of Kitchen Confidential changed his life, and the lessons he learned from burning sauces, breaking plates, and sneaking into a country club kitchen to land his first job. He opens up about building a healthier restaurant culture, creating community through his legendary Sunday gatherings, and why writing his cookbook Vitamina T felt like honoring the 15-year-old version of himself who never imagined any of this was possible. Visit foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans for more Episode Art Courtesy of Food & Wine /Andrew Reiner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the 10 years since Cody Rigsby joined Peloton as an instructor, the former McDonald's drive-thru worker, backup dancer, and cater waiter's life has changed in unimaginable ways. He's competed on Dancing with the Stars, written the bestselling memoir XOXO, Cody, and built a massive fanbase of indoor cyclists who are as invested in his hot takes on ranch dressing and snacks as they are in his cardio-challenging HIIT and hills rides. In this episode, Cody Rigsby goes deep on anxiety, working in the service industry, the power of brunch, and the correct sauce-to-chicken-finger ratio. For more info visit: foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Australian food icon Donna Hay joins Tinfoil Swans to discuss the evolution of home cooking, the emotional weight of becoming a brand, and why you shouldn't trust bad internet recipes. Plus: Her new cookbook Sunshine, Lemons and Sea Salt, battling nerves, and an Australian food slang crash course. Visit foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans for more Episode Art Courtesy of Food & Wine / Chris Court and Con Poulos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Flavor scientist and Flavorama author Dr. Arielle Johnson charts her path from fashion-focused teen to being the go-to food nerd for Noma and Alton Brown. She unpacks the neuroscience of taste and memory, explains why certain foods trigger powerful emotional reactions (like a potential “Dorito of sadness”), and explores how flavor can be engineered to shape how we feel. Visit foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans for more Episode Art Courtesy of Food & Wine / Dr. Arielle Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

1990 F&W Best New Chef Nancy Silverton recounts growing up craving white bread and sugary cereal while her mother served spanakopita and beef bourguignon, how a college crush led her to a dorm kitchen where she first realized she wanted to cook for a living, the moment at Chez Panisse that defined her food philosophy, her insistence on simplicity over trends, and why even after decades of acclaim, she still feels like an impostor. Visit foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans for more Episode Art Courtesy of Food & Wine / Hexclad Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cooking the Borderlands author and chef Claudette Zepeda opens up about growing up in Tijuana learning English from PBS shows, being told she’d “never make it” as a chef while pushing a newborn in a stroller, and why she relies on her inner "chaos demon." She shares how a trip to Morocco reignited her creative spark, why she and her cooks chant “You’re doing it, Peter” in the kitchen, what it took to survive toxic restaurant culture, and the 160-mile Camino de Santiago walk that helped her process the loss as she rediscovered her childhood self. Visit foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans for more Episode Art Courtesy of Food & Wine / Johnny Miller Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices