Claim OwnershipCulinary Characters Unlocked
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© Culinary Characters Unlocked
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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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When Michelin recently awarded its first stars in the American South region, Chef Sam Hart’s Counter- was the only North Carolina restaurant to receive one. Hart got into the food world later than most after a career in advertising, but he has made up for lost time. His first job out of culinary school was at the legendary Alinea in Chicago. Now, at Counter- he is forging a unique culinary path, with menus based on a wide range of themes such as modern art, fast food, and even mental health. And he spends all of his profits feeding those who are food insecure.
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1Classically trained chef Danielle Sepsy got the name The Scone Queen when she first began selling her home-made scones at the age of 13. And the recipe she created for them launched a baking and media empire. Her bakery, The Hungry Gnome, making scones, muffins, cookies, a Nutella infused banana bread, and more, now supplies more than 300 businesses including Jet Blue, as well as online customers nationwide, with more than 15,000 items per day. She has made numerous television appearances, her online videos have received millions of views, and she is eager to share the secrets of baking at home—she says anyone can do it!
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Andy Doubrava and Tiffani Ortiz do things their way, re-defining fine dining with a menu that ranges from antelope to candied seaweed to the ultimate chicken wing and a deep commitment to wasting nothing. They turn scraps and leftovers into key elements of remarkable dishes that have earned them a Michelin star and a tie for best restaurant in the country from “The Infatuation” for their cooking at Nashville’s The Catbird Seat. Before settling in there, they crisscrossed the country, hauling a trailer
full of cooking supplies and staging pop-up dinners in more than thirty states.
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Unable to afford culinary school, Dave Beran finally got a break when a fine dining chef in Chicago took a chance on him. He quickly soared in that city, rising to Chef de Cuisine at Grant Achatz’s legendary Alinea, then becoming Executive Chef at Next when Achatz opened that restaurant. He went on to open two restaurants of his own in Los Angeles and over the course of his career has won two Michelin stars and two James Beard Awards.
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The tables are turned on Culinary Characters Unlocked Host David Page. This time he is a guest on someone else’s podcast. He is interviewed by Tubby podcast host Alan Zweig about loving food but fighting the weight control battle.
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Chef Sarah Thompson says cooking for others, even as a teenager, always brought her joy. When she was a sophomore in high school, she decided it would be her career. After the Culinary Institute of America and a stint at Michelin-starred Marea in New York, she learned Mexican cooking at Cosme, the most celebrated Mexican fine dining restaurant in America. Now she’s in Las Vegas, doing a unique coastal Mexican cuisine at Casa
Playa, featuring seafood, an assortment of massive meals to be shared by the table, and a totally-from-scratch masa program, with tortillas made to order.
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Ashwin Vilkhu’s Master’s thesis was a roadmap to get his family into the restaurant business by opening Saffron in New Orleans. He and his father were named semi-finalists for the 2025 James Beard award as Best Chef South for their cooking there, marrying Indian cuisine with New Orleans favorites. And now they’ve added a second restaurant just down the street, The Kingsway, where as Executive Chef he’s combining New Orleans cooking with a range of other Asian cuisines. Both spots received recommendations in Michelin’s first guide to the American south.
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Sue Zemanick decided she wanted to become a chef when she was fourteen and began cooking professionally at fifteen. Her love of seafood, nurtured at the Culinary Institute of America, brought her to New Orleans, where she worked at Commander’s palace and Gautreau’s, where she rose from line cook to Executive Chef, before opening her own place, Zasu, creating a menu featuring seafood, global flavors, and multiple
variations of the pierogies her grandmother used to make. The night Zasu won a Michelin star she wasn’t at the ceremony—she was working, which she says was a good thing since diners immediately rushed in and the kitchen was slammed.
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Chef Perry Hoffman and his partners are turning the small northern California town of Boonville into a culinary destination. He grew up in
the restaurant business, as a young child helping his grandmother in the kitchen of the French Laundry in Yountville, California, which his grandparents founded, and cooking in his uncle’s Boonville Hotel and Restaurant after high school. He went on to a high-level cooking career, winning a Michelin star, before returning to that hotel in Boonville, earning rave reviews and a Michelin recommendation for the tasting menu he’s offering there. And now he’s expanding, opening a more casual California/Italian restaurant across the street and an ice cream shop, where many of the home-made flavors are created with local fruit.
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Bethany and Dano Heinze recently received a Michelin star for their Charleston Restaurant Vern’s. He’s the chef. She handles front of the house and a superb wine program built around little-known family-owned vineyards. Their innovative seasonal menu features unique presentations of local produce and charcoal-grilled proteins sourced straight
from the farm. They’ve been working together for years — first under Sean Brock at the groundbreaking McCrady’s in Charleston, then at the legendary Animal in L.A. Now back in Charleston, they’re making a major impact on that renowned culinary city.
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Ken Frank was a pioneer in the creation of fresh and local California cuisine as a young chef in Los Angeles. He became famous not just for his food but also for standing up to and calling out restaurant owners he says didn’t live up to his standards. He’s won a Michelin star 14 times at his own restaurant in the Napa Valley, where he’s still in the kitchen five days a week. And he’s become America’s leading truffle chef, with a lot to say about the allure of that fungus and why truffle oil is an abomination.
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Maeve Webster is the woman big companies rely on to understand what’s happening—and what’s about to happen—in the culinary world. A trained chef and former café owner, she is president of the culinary research firm Menu Matters and in this episode she predicts the next hot cuisine—not one you might expect, explains how restaurateurs have gone wrong chasing trends, why consumers are becoming bored with restaurant
menus, and calls for a return to hospitality in the hospitality business at the
same time she advises restaurant owners to simply tell some diners, “No, we can’t give you what you want.”
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Mariena Mercer Boarini invents 300 cocktails a year as Master Mixologist for Wynn Resorts, North America. She supervises the drinks programs at nearly 40 venues at Wynn’s flagship in Las Vegas, treating drinks as culinary creations, collaborating with chefs to match drinks with specific dishes, and often employing incredible molecular gastronomy techniques. She explains some of her best loved cocktails, how and why mocktails are exploding, what’s hot now and what to expect in the future, and talks about her time as a "Tequila Goddess" and wining an international mixology championship.
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Born in Jamaica, now living in Buffalo, NY, Chef Darian Bryan has elevated
Jamaican cuisine to the fine dining level at his restaurant, and through his
work as a private chef. He has also amassed a roster of Buffalo Bills NFL
players including MVP Qquarterback Josh Allen as clients, as an in-home private chef, preparing ready-to-heat meals, and as a special event caterer. He is engaging, entertaining, and an inspiration—from a childhood of poverty without electricity or running water to a first job in America at Denny’s, to shining in culinary school, to successful chef and restaurateur.
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Eater Editor-In-Chief Stephanie Wu is probably the most influential
person in American food. She was raised in the Taiwan capital of Taipei, one of the world’s great food cities. After college in New York, she began a meteoric magazine career that now sees her in charge of the editorial content at Eater, which just celebrated its 20th anniversary, and has grown from a single blog focused on dining in New York to an online culinary juggernaut with a national edition, multiple city editions, and a host of related media ventures. She sees her mission as helping Americans find their next great meal and this episode is filled with unique knowledge, insights, and predictions about every facet of American dining that only she can provide.
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Chef Jordan Rubin got into sushi by accident when the sushi chef’s
assistant didn’t show up for work at the restaurant where he was making salads. From there, he’s worked his way up to owning his own sushi restaurant, Mr. Tuna and being named a 2025 Best New Chef by Food & Wine. That climb began when he turned a hot dog cart into a sushi cart and began peddling sushi and sashimi on the streets of Portland, Maine. He says he wants to offer something for everyone – including untraditional flavors and sushi burritos—while focusing on the freshest, highest quality, sustainable seafood prepared in the most traditional Japanese way.
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Matt Rebhan is the third-generation owner of his family’s Alpine Steakhouse and Butcher Shop in Sarasota, Florida. And a master of making the turducken – a turkey stuffed with a chicken, stuffed with a duck, which runs circles around a plain ol’ turkey for Thanksgiving. He first got national exposure for his turducken on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives back in
2007 and now sells hundreds each holiday season. He’s also got plenty to say about red meat – what to buy and how to cook it – and the challenges of the restaurant business today.
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A Michelin starred brewery! Cousins Jared Rouben (a graduate of both
culinary school and brewing school) and Jeremy Cohn, a Wharton business grad, began by opening Moody Tongue Brewing in Chicago, then expanded into restaurants. The one they run above their brewery, featuring a hyper-seasonal tasting menu with a beer pairing for each course, has earned a Michelin star. And their sushi restaurant in West Palm Beach, Florida got a Michelin Guide recommendation.
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Growing up in a military family, Chef Amy Mehrtens explored new tastes in
various places around the world. She trained at the Culinary Institute of America, then worked her way up to Sous Chef at the legendary Commander’s Palace in New Orleans. She is now Executive Chef at Copper Vine in NOLA, where she is expanding her repertoire beyond traditional New Orleans standards and going beyond the dining room to cater to guests at the newly opened inn attached to the restaurant.
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Northern Ohio native Vinnie Cimino is reinventing traditional
midwestern cuisine as “modern grandma” cooking at his Cleveland restaurant Cordelia. His signature dishes include a box of pull-apart
smashburgers topped with Kool-Aid pickles, steak tartare done as an homage to the Galley Boy cheeseburger at famed local chain Swensons, corned beef reimagined as corned lamb, and deep fried saltines, a throwback to his grandmother’s past in Alabama.
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This was such a fun read! I love how the article treats chefs and food lovers as “culinary characters,” each with their own quirks, passions, and signature flavors—it really brings the cooking world to life. The idea that food reflects personality makes me appreciate the creative side of cuisine even more. Personally, I think watching real chefs in action—seeing their energy and style—adds another layer to understanding these characters. Have you ever watched any cooking shows or food documentaries on Photocall TV online that reminded you of the personalities described in this piece? https://photocalltv.online/
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