Joiners

The first guest of 2026’s origins might be modest, but the results are anything but. From deciding to cook as a nine-year-old so he didn’t have to eat the same meal every night, to bootstrapping a BBQ restaurant from a single Weber grill (the small version!) into one of the NYT's top 50 restaurants in the country, Chef James Sanders is very much the real deal. His South Side BBQ hotspot, Sanders BBQ Supply Co., is a much-loved gem -- and for good reason. James is obsessive about consistency, patient with craft, and deeply principled about the people and traditions he’s responsible for carrying forward. This week, we talk: being asked to oversee the storied Harold's Chicken franchise, mastering ribs, the plan for the forthcoming Sanders Barbecue Prime (with details about the liquor license), and so much more!

We round out 2025 with Bret Heiar, a true original of the hospitality world. These days, he’s the Wine Director at Avec River North, and he's gearing up to open a new Avec location in Highwood, bringing One Off Hospitality’s wine ethos north to the suburbs. Bret got his start as a teenager slinging fries at I-80’s World’s Largest Truck Stop in Walcott, Iowa, before bouncing through back-of-house gigs, front-of-house service, and eventually discovering a deep obsession with all things wine. Along the way, he lived a vagabond lifestyle, training obsessively in martial arts, hitchhiking on Grateful Dead tour, and bumming around Europe. As one of the city's foremost wine curators, Bret is known for building lists that favor lesser-known regions, older vintages, and unexpected finds. This episode, we talk creative ways to train your palate, the strange world of celebrity rider wine requests, the lost art (and enduring power) of puns, and what it really means to build a wine program with integrity. Plus: squirrels, scooters, grilled cheese philosophy, and plenty more.

It didn’t always seem inevitable that Margaret Pak would end up running one of Chicago’s most thoughtful and distinctive restaurants. She studied statistics, built a long career in finance and analytics, and spent years inside corporate systems where stability and structure were the goal. But alongside that work she fostered a quieter obsession for the culture surrounding food and food service. After a series of career pivots, unexpected layoffs, and some chance meetings with some of the city's more eccentric culinary characters, Margaret began following that instinct into kitchens, pop-ups, food halls, and eventually full restaurant ownership. Curiosity became craft, mentorship, and a deep respect for process: learning knife skills on prep shifts, absorbing lessons from chefs and collaborators, and shaping a truly authentic culinary voice. Today, Margaret is the co-owner and chef behind Thattu, an Avondale restaurant focused on Kerala cuisine, pop-up collaboration, and creating opportunities for emerging chefs., She joins us in the studio to talk through her winding journey, touching on career reinvention, the realities of building a restaurant from the ground up, and what it means to honor tradition while finding your own way forward -- and so much more!

Before he became a hospitality lifer, Paul Abu-Taleb was considering a PhD in History -- he’s the type who could absolutely have ended up teaching undergrads how to think, argue, and spot patterns. Instead, he’s applied that same mindset to restaurants: building places that don’t just serve people, but actually hold communities together. We get into how Paul went from a restaurant-family childhood in Oak Park to a formative chapter in Whitefish, Montana, and back to Chicago to help shape Pilsen Yards. He tells us about taking on the huge project of bringing Beaumont’s back as a real-deal neighborhood restaurant -- including the debut of The Bull Moose, an upstairs steakhouse and cocktail lounge. We’re also talking: what “good taste” means operationally, why some concepts just don’t match their neighborhoods, framing the math of making restaurants work -- and so much more!

Chase Bracamontes grew up chasing triple axels as a competitive figure skater, but these days her rink is the bar and the dining room. She is the former wine and spirits director at The Publican and now partner and beverage director at Chef’s Special Cocktail Bar in Chicago, whose path from junior-elite ice rinks to a Chinese American cocktail bar says a lot about how she thinks about pressure, comfort, and hospitality. She joins us in the studio to talk about how a life defined by competition turned into a career built on creating places people actually want to haunt. This week, we’re talking what defines a cocktail classic, how New York and Chicago hospitality cultures shape the people working inside them, how serving American Chinese food means embracing both the comfort it brings and the conversations it inevitably sparks, and so much more! 

This week, we sit down with Martin Kastner, the award-winning designer responsible for some of the most iconic objects in modern gastronomy. From Alinea’s game-changing serviceware to the now-legendary Porthole Infuser, Martin has spent his career reshaping how we experience food and drink — and the rituals around them. He takes us from his early days as a Czech metalsmith, to conceptual art school, and into a decades-long collaboration with Grant Achatz that helped redefine fine dining. We talk about the origins of his most influential pieces, the importance of “good friction,” designing objects that guide behavior, and so much more.

This week, we sit down with Bailey Sullivan, executive chef of Monteverde Restaurant & Pastificio and a Top Chef: Destination Canada finalist, who seemed almost pre-programmed for a life in restaurants: raised at Goldyburgers, her family’s Forest Park burger joint, and glued to Food Network and Top Chef as a teen. She walks us through a career that runs from early gigs at Noodles & Company and Black Dog Gelato to a formative internship at two-Michelin-starred Acadia, ramen battles at Yusho Logan Square, a trial by fire at Parachute, and an eight-plus-year climb through every rung of Monteverde’s kitchen ladder before taking the top job. Along the way, we talk: what Top Chef doesn’t show you, no-heroes kitchen culture, fugazi tiramisu, and so much more. 

This week's guest is an icon, a chef’s chef, and a tireless culinary educator -- it's not hyperbole to suggest that the entirety of food media as we know it, a food media that respects food and the process of making it as a skill to be fostered and shared, is in his profound debt. Raised in his parents’ restaurant near Lyon, Jacques Pépin went from unpaid apprentice and presidential chef for Charles de Gaulle to redefining American cooking after moving to New York in 1959, even turning down an offer to become John F. Kennedy's White House chef to learn the science and scale of food at Howard Johnson’s. His landmark books La Technique and La Méthode, followed by decades of PBS series from The Complete Pépin to Julia & Jacques Cooking at Home, made rigorous French technique approachable for home cooks everywhere. Now he’s channeling that lifetime of craft into the Jacques Pépin Foundation, which supports community kitchens and culinary job training for people facing barriers to employment -- all while celebrating his 90th birthday with 90 dinners across the country. He calls into the Joiners studio from his home in Connecticut to chew the fat with the boys in a conversation that spans seven-day-a-week apprenticeships in postwar France to dinner parties with Julia Child and James Beard -- including who actually did the dishes. 

This week, we’re enjoying some poured wine (his favorite) with the indefatigable Ken Fredrickson -- Master Sommelier, restaurateur, and founder of High Road Wine and Spirits, whose career runs from Charlie Trotter’s and Spago to Jackson Hole, Denver, Las Vegas, and Chicago’s most intentional wine lists. He went from Idaho ranch kid to the 40th American Master Sommelier in just five years, then bet big on his own programs, built and sold distributors, and kept doubling down on family-made bottles with real stories behind them. He joins us in the studio to talk about what that obsession costs, what it creates, and why he still believes in taking the high road. We're swirling the glass around how to actually train a world-class palate (and why your nose is lazier than you think), the Wild West politics of wine lists, the future of terroir-driven Italian spirits -- and so much more.

This week, we’re thrilled to be joined by Chef Curtis Duffy, the culinary dynamo behind Ever and After. He's earned a constellation of Michelin starts for his meticulous, innovative approach to fine dining, where every dish showcases his obsessive attention to detail and zero-waste philosophy. He has a new book out called Fireproof: Memoir of a Chef, which chronicles his journey from a turbulent childhood in Ohio through the kitchens of Charlie Trotter and Grant Achatz to becoming one of America’s most celebrated chefs. We talk: the philosophy behind his silent kitchen, how he finds inspiration in unexpected places, the hard lessons from Grace that shaped Ever, what it takes to achieve greatness, and so much more!​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

This week we’re joined by Ryan Castelaz -- founder of Discourse (Milwaukee’s boundary-pushing coffee bars) and co-creator of Agency, a reservation-only cocktail lounge known for its made-to-order “dealer’s choice” program (and equally serious non-alcoholic builds). A former opera singer turned flavor obsessive, Ryan went from Door County pop-ups to running one of the Midwest’s most inventive beverage programs, with a best-selling book -- The New Art of Coffee  -- along the way. You can catch Discourse at its Wicker Park residency across from Dove’s -- with a permanent neighborhood spot on the horizon. Expansion plans are percolating, too. Ryan joins us to talk storytelling as a service, why NA belongs at the same table as spirits, the alchemy of flavor science, how to design two-hour experiences in a two-minute coffee world, and so much more.

This week, it’s all smoke and discipline with the pitmaster–entrepreneur himself, Chef Charlie Mckenna. He’s the founder behind Lillie’s Q, known for Memphis in May-winning pork shoulder, as well as his regionally faithful Lillie’s Q sauces and rubs. He tells us about the journey from CIA grad and Michelin-line cook to Chicago barbecue, and what his Air Force family’s “six Ps” instilled in his leadership. Plus: how CPG realities differ from fine dining, how Roux lets him serve his favorite dishes, the secret salsa at Tony’s Burrito Mex, and so much more!

Joe is an Executive Chef, Culinary Director, and Director of Restaurants with SMG x PRG Restaurant Groups, where his reach spans multiple acclaimed Chicago concepts, new ventures at O’Hare Airport, and forthcoming projects across the city. A meticulous craftsman and systems thinker, Joe’s culinary journey has taken him from small-town Illinois to the helm of some of Chicago’s most innovative dining rooms -- including his leadership role at Apolonia, the Mediterranean-inspired restaurant he helped launch with Chef Stephen Gillanders in 2021. From growing up near the Indiana border with a gearhead father and a nurse mother, to learning the psychology of taste at Kendall College, Joe’s story is one of curiosity, adaptability, and deep respect for craft. This week, we discuss how a musician’s mindset shaped his kitchen leadership, what he learned about efficiency and culture from the Hogsalt Group, how Apolonia evolved during the pandemic, and -- don't you know it -- so much more.

This week, we’re firing up the pit with Heather Bublick, co-founder and CEO of Soul & Smoke, alongside her husband and business partner, Chef D’Andre Carter. A writing major-turned-restaurateur with front-of-house and sommelier chops, Heather blends fine-dining rigor with neighborhood warmth to power one of Chicago’s favorite barbecue brands. She joins us to talk about Soul & Smoke’s evolution with D’Andre -- from initial pop-ups to multiple locations -- the three-year Evanston flagship build, and launching an in-house bottling line. We also talk:  scaling a commissary-driven model without sacrificing craft, why resting brisket beats rushing barbecue at volume, building a values-driven beverage program highlighting BIPOC and women-owned producers, and so much more.

This week on Joiners, we’re talking to Chef Rodolfo Cuadros, the executive chef and owner of the critically acclaimed Chicago restaurants Amaru and Bloom. Growing up in Cali, Colombia, before moving back to Queens and then New Jersey, he’s known for his bold, Pan-Latin cooking at Amaru and his award-winning plant-based philosophy at Bloom. Amaru brings together the flavors, history, and passion of Latin America, while Bloom -- named one of the city's best plant-based restaurants -- earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand for its vibrant, vegetable-driven menu. He joins us in the studio to talk about growing up amid both joy and conflict in Colombia, his journey from dishwasher to acclaimed chef-owner, why balance and sustainability shape his cooking today, and so much more!

Since his days as a kid housing full packs of double-stuffed Oreos and torching his tongue with bootleg Chinese Warheads, Chef Josh Kulp has always been chasing big flavors. It makes sense, then, that the moment he and his business partners first dipped their fried chicken in honey butter felt like a huge eureka -- salty, crunchy, sweet, and creamy all at once. That unlikely pairing grew into Honey Butter Fried Chicken, the Avondale restaurant he co-founded with Christine Cikowski that became one of our go-to spots. Josh joins us in the studio to share his side of the genesis and to reflect on his journey -- from underground supper clubs to his newest project, Honey Butter Beach Club, a seafood-forward spinoff opening inside SPF Chicago, the city’s massive indoor pickleball facility. We dig into Josh’s philosophy as both chef and owner, hear what it takes to run an ethical business, reminisce about how we all first crossed paths -- and as always, so much more. 

We complete the holy trinity of Maxwells Trading by sitting down with their Executive Chef, Chris Jung. Born in Korea, raised across Alaska, Jersey, and Virginia, he ditched pre-law for the kitchen and never looked back -- and we’re lucky he did, because his food plays a major role in defining Maxwells’ compelling identity. He tells us all about that journey, from grueling training in Japan and celebrity-filled nights at Mataro to building Maxwells from the ground up with Erling and Josh. This one’s a ride -- we’re talking his grind as a workhorse in a Japanese restaurant, bidet destroyers, almost getting a law degree, and so much more.

This week, we’re nestling into the proverbial PDR at Michael Jordan’s Steak House with Josh Zadikoff, a central figure in the hospitality scene and the guiding force behind Cornerstone Restaurant Group. After earning his degree at the University of Illinois and working his way up -- from assistant manager at SolToro Tequila Grill, to Food & Beverage Manager at Hyatt Regency Chicago, to Assistant General Manager at Michael Jordan’s Steak House in Chicago -- he took the helm in 2018 to oversee a portfolio spanning Michael Jordan–branded restaurants, Chef Bill Kim’s acclaimed concepts like bellyQ and Urbanbelly, and innovative partnerships like Table at Crate. He joins us to talk about working with Michael Jordan, projects in South Korea, new opportunities in the suburbs, and so much more!

This week, we’re thrilled to sit down with the resilient and razor-sharp Thai Dang. A chef who rose meteorically through the fine-dining world -- from cooking under Laurent Gras at L2O to opening his own ambitious restaurant at just 26 -- Thai joins us to unravel the saga of Embeya: the dazzling debut that collapsed into chaos after his business partner disappeared in an international manhunt straight out of a crime thriller. He shares how he and his wife, Danielle picked up the pieces to open the community-driven HaiSous, and how they’ve since grown that into not just a restaurant but a platform for hardcore Vietnamese cuisine, coffee ventures, and incredible wings. Now, Thai’s focusing in on Crying Tiger, a bold new collaboration with Lettuce Entertain You that expands into the flavors of greater Southeast Asia. We’re talking: Thai tea, Vietnamese drive-thru pipe dreams, the highs and lows of a turbulent culinary career, and so much more.

This week, we’re riding into the dog days of ice-cream summer in conversation with Dana Cree — award-winning pastry chef, molecular enthusiast, and the creative force behind Pretty Cool Ice Cream. Serving up about 11,000 frozen delights weekly, Dana crafts everything from ice-cream bars and sandwiches to vegan pops and tricked-out popsicles, all from her flagship shop. With stints at spots like Alinea, Noma, Blackbird, and The Publican — plus James Beard nominations and a Jean Banchet Award — her deep roots as a pastry chef inform her at every step. Inspired by Jeni Britton’s trailblazing spirit, Dana shares what propelled her into the world of ice-cream, what she learned in elite kitchens, the lessons behind the NYT recipe controversy (and the power of three key differentiators), and so much more.