Chef's Story

Thanks for listening to and supporting Chef's Story over the years. As many of you know, on September 16, 2016 we lost our dear friend and host of Chef's Story, Dorothy Cann Hamilton. She, among many things, was one of the most respected culinary leaders in the world. Dorothy founded the French Culinary Institute in Manhattan in 1984, which later became the International Culinary Center. Ask anybody she knew or worked with – Dorothy was a beacon of light. Her uncontrollable smile, her infectious laugh, and her love of life is how we remember her at Heritage Radio Network. As we end the year, we want to reflect on Dorothy's work with us, and share some of her on-air personality with you. Thanks for listening, and Happy New Year.

This week on Chef's Story, host Dorothy Cann Hamilton sits down with Chef Michael Coury, executive chef of OTG Management, a hospitality group that operates more than 200 restaurants and retail concepts in 10 airports across North America. While its competitors often focus on attracting licensed and franchised restaurant brands, OTG maintains full control over almost all of its restaurant concepts, which allows its menus to quickly react to changes in consumer needs. As Concept Chef, Michael sets the culinary direction for the company. He has assembled some of the region’s hottest chefs to lend their talents to OTG’s restaurants. Coury is a graduate of The French Culinary Institute in New York City and attended the California Sushi Academy, working side by side with Master Sushi Chef Toshi Sugiura. Before joining OTG, he taught at Toscana Saporita in Tuscany and worked with celebrity chefs Mario Batali, Todd English, Charlie Trotter, Jacque Torres, and Alfred Portale.Through his creativity, passion, and unique understanding of food, he has earned two stars from The New York Times, published recipes in La Cucina Italiano and has been featured in Italian Cooking and Living magazine.

This week on Chef's Story, Dorothy Hamilton sits down with Chef Ignacio Mattos. The episode was recorded in front of a live studio audience at the International Culinary Center. Born in Uruguay and mentored by South American grilling master Francis Mallman as well as Slow Food legend Alice Waters at Chez Panisse, Ignacio has earned critical acclaim for his signature style of bold seasonal food. Bon Appetit named him a 2012 tastemaker. The same year, his work at Isa in Williamsburg yielded a James Beard Award nomination for Best New Restaurant of the Year. He was also the chef at New York’s beloved Il Buco.

This week on Chef's Story, ICC president Erik Murnighan interviews Chef Douglas Keane. Douglas Keane's interest in cooking developed as a young boy helping his mother in their Michigan kitchen. His desire to get a date in high-school, however, led him to enroll in a culinary class, where he scored the date, but also realized he wanted to cook. Close family friend and renowned hotelier, Stan Bromley, further influenced his desire, encouraging him to enroll at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration, where his fascination for the culinary arts took over. After graduating with a degree that would allow him to work in any hotel of his choosing, he decided to follow his heart to the kitchen. Currently, Douglas operates the Healdsburg Bar & Grill, and earned the title of Top Chef Master in the show's season 5 finale.

This week on Chef’s Story, host Dorothy Cann Hamilton sits down with Ed Hardy, a graduate of the French Culinary Institute and one of Washington D.C.'s top ten chefs to watch in 2016, according to UpOut. Ed tells us all about his upbringing in Richmond, Virginia and the path that lead him to food truck success in the nation's capital.

This week on Chef's Story, host Dorothy Cann Hamilton sits down with CJ Reycraft, a graduate of the French Culinary Institute and Chef/Managing Partner of Amuse, where classic French cuisine gets a modern update. Westfield has become one of three American chefs -- and the first ever from New Jersey -- to be given the prestigious Prix au Chef de L’Avenir (Leading Chef of the Future) Award, by the International Academy of Gastronomy.

This week's very special episode of Chef's Story features an interview with the inimitable Eric Ripert! In addition to his tenure at the world-renowned Le Bernardin, Chef Ripert has recently published the memoir 32 Yolks: From My Mother's Table to Working the Line, which Anthony Bourdain hailed as “heartbreaking, horrifying, poignant, and inspiring,” The episode was recorded at the International Culinary Center in front of a live studio audience, and also includes a Q&A session that followed the interview.

On this week's episode of Chef's Story, host Dorothy Cann Hamilton speaks with Jonathan Gushue. After making a name for himself with award-winning menus, renowned chef Jonathan Gushue traded in fine dining for a wood-fired grill. In December 2015, he opened his first restaurant, The Berlin in Kitchener, Ontario. The restaurant leverages the region’s farming roots and showcases a modern take on central European fare, cooked over a wood-fired hearth. It also serves as a chance to elevate the techniques and styles Gushue has learned throughout his travels in England, France and Japan.

This week on Chef's Story, Dorothy Cann Hamilton interviews Chef Wojciech Modest Amaro. In 2014, his Warsaw restaurant Atelier Amaro was awarded a Michelin Star for the second year in a row, thus becoming the only Polish restaurant to boast such an accomplishment. He is the author of two books: Nature of Polish and Polish Cuisine XXI Century, which in 2010 won the Grand Prix in the category of culinary literature at the International Academy of Gastronomy in Paris. In autumn of 2013 he became chairman of the jury of the TV reality show Top Chef, and in spring 2014 a host of the Polish edition of Hell's Kitchen.

Today's Chef's Story is broadcast from the International Culinary Center in downtown Manhattan! The executive chef of Pearl & Ash, Trae Basore, joins us to talk about his upbringing in the hometown of Walmart – "it still had a very much small town feel to it" – and the main inspiration for his career in food: his grandfather.

On this week's episode of Chef's Story, host Dorothy Cann Hamilton speaks with Chef Tom Douglas. Tom Douglas is an executive chef, restaurateur, author, and radio talk show host. He is known for winning the 1994 James Beard Award for Best Northwest Chef. On May 7, 2012, he won the James Beard Award as Best Restaurateur. He is the author of Tom Douglas' Seattle Kitchen, which was named the Best American Cookbook by the James Beard Foundation and KitchenAid, in 2001. In 2005, he appeared on an episode of the Food Network's Iron Chef America, where he defeated Chef Masaharu Morimoto.

This week on Chef's Story, we profile Chris Himmel, Executive Vice President of Business Development for the Himmel Hospitality Group. The Himmel family owns and operates three of Boston/Cambridge’s most successful and respected restaurants: Grill 23 & Bar, Harvest Restaurant and Post 390 Restaurant. Chris has been a fixture at the restaurants most of his life; first at Grill 23 & Bar, one of the country’s top steakhouses; next at the iconic Harvest in Harvard Square, where New England farmers and product have been the culinary inspiration for over 30 years, and now at the popular Back Bay restaurant, Post 390, known for its “Farm to Post” menus and “Kitchen to Cocktail” program. A graduate of the prestigious Cornell School of Hotel Administration, Chris set his sights on learning from the best in hospitality, training under Danny Meyer and Chef Thomas Keller. Running the three Boston/Cambridge restaurants owned by Himmel Hospitality Group, Chris brings a deep passion for product and hospitality to each of the restaurants.

Billy Allin was born in New York and grew up in Greenwood, South Carolina. His professional culinary career began at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, where he graduated with honors. During his culinary program, Billy spent, first, a couple days a week, then almost every evening, working at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. Billy and his wife Kristin moved to the Napa Valley in 2003, and he worked at The Martini House under Chef Todd Humphries. In 2004, Billy and Kristin moved back to the Southeast. Billy furthered his career at Watershed Restaurant in Decatur, Georgia, where he worked as a Sous-Chef for over two years. In 2006, he began the process of opening his own restaurant, Cakes & Ale, in Decatur. Cakes & Ale is modeled after Billy and Kristin’s basic dining philosophy: cook unassuming food using the highest quality ingredients and serve it in a comfortable and welcoming setting. At Cakes & Ale, Billy and Kristin have created a down-to-earth restaurant where they can express their creativity and passion for great food and drink and the diner and enjoy the experience of a truly delicious meal.

Hiroko Shimbo is an authority on Japanese cuisine who has earned world-wide recognition. She is a chef-instructor at respected culinary schools, a consulting chef to diverse food service industries and a cookbook author based in the United States since 1999. Her associates and clients comprise a domestic and international cohort of renowned food professionals, organizations and companies. Hiroko has written three award-winning cookbooks. Her latest book, Hiroko’s American Kitchen: Cooking with Japanese Flavors, was selected from among 500 books to receive the IACP 2013 Cookbook Award as the best American cookbook of the year. Hiroko’s American Kitchen offers an entirely new perspective on Japanese cooking. Rather providing instruction for preparing authentic Japanese cuisine, the book focuses on a larger audience of cooks by integrating Japanese flavors and cooking techniques with readily available produce, meats and seafood to recreate dishes already familiar to the America table but with unique added appeal.

On this week's episode of Chef's Story, host Dorothy Cann Hamilton speaks with Mark Welker, Executive Pastry Chef of Eleven Madison Park and NoMad in New York City. After graduating from the International Culinary Center, Welker started working at Eleven Madison Park as a line cook, and, under Chef Daniel Humm’s tutelage, he developed a passion for fine dining. Mark was named pastry sous chef in 2009 and was an integral part of developing the restaurant’s bread and pastry program, focusing his attention on local ingredients and classic New York sweets.

On this week's episode of Chef's Story, guest host Erik Murnighan, president of the International Culinary Center, interviews J. Kenji López-Alt, the Managing Culinary Director of Serious Eats, and author of the James Beard Award-nominated column The Food Lab, where he unravels the science of home cooking. A restaurant-trained chef and former editor at Cook's Illustrated magazine, he is the author of the New York Times best-selling cookbook The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science.

On this week's episode of Chef's Story, Dorothy Cann Hamilton speaks with Steven Jenkins of Fairway Markets. Jenkins is credited with having introduced countless cheeses and foodstuffs to New Yorkers (and subsequently, the rest of the United States), and continues to generate remarkable publicity and public awareness for food artisans and artisanal foods – it was actually he who popularized the use of the terms “artisan/artisanal” as well as “cheesemonger.” He is also the author of Cheese Primer.

On this week’s episode of Chef’s Story, Dorothy Cann Hamilton speaks with David Waltuck, who opened the restaurant Élan with business partner George Stinson in 2014. Élan will be closing its doors at the end of this month. Previously, Waltuck was the chef at Chanterelle, which opened in 1979 in SoHo, received various accolades, moved to TriBeCa in 1989, and closed in 2009, just short of its 30th anniversary.  

Tune in for a brand new episode of Chef’s Story as Dorothy Cann Hamilton speaks with Chef Rob Bleifer.  As The Food Network’s Executive Chef, he talks his intriguing culinary journey, the rise of food television, plus thoughts on recently being named the International Culinary Center ’s Adjunct Dean of Food Media.

Tune in for a brand new episode of Chef’s Story as host Dorothy Cann Hamilton is in conversation with Chef Gabe McMackin. Gabe is the Chef and Owner of the Finch. He has 20 years experience cooking in and around New England. He spent time at restaurants like Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Gramercy Tavern, and Roberta’s and worked for Martha Stewart as corporate chef for merchandising. Worked at The Mayflower, Thomas Moran’s Petite Syrah, and had his first job washing dishes and doing prep at The Hopkins Inn, all in Washington Ct. He spent  a good while at Sperry’s in Saratoga, ran his own catering company and did many incredibly interesting things from publishing to roofing to business development for financial services software development companies before finding the space at 212 Greene ave which he thought he could put a small neighborhood restaurant in.  He is focused on creating a living restaurant where all choices we make consider the long term health of the business and the community.