JoJo Hernandez worked as a chef at country clubs and fine-dining kitchens, but his culinary heart was always with his family’s Filipino cooking. He began introducing those cherished dishes to the Jacksonville, Florida, community through pop-ups at events, eventually operating a food truck while still helming the stove at his day job. But his lifelong dream was to have a brick-and-mortar restaurant with a menu highlighting Filipino recipes. That dream became a reality in 2023, when, with his wife’s support, he took the plunge and opened Abstrakt Filipino Essence. It’s one of several Filipino restaurants in Jacksonville, which has the largest Filipino population in the state. In fact, Hernandez is co-founder of Jax Filipino Chefs, and every April, the city hosts a Filipino Food Month Trail, guiding residents and visitors to these culinary destinations.He and his wife developed Abstrakt Filipino Essence with the goal of familiarizing diners with the cooking from his family’s culture, but he says it’s 80% authentic Filipino and 20% his own twist, garnered from years of experience working as a chef. Menu items like lumpia, chicken pancit, adobo chicken wings, and pork belly sisig embody his signature style. Listen as chef-owner Hernandez describes how he blends Filipino cuisine with contemporary touches, how his dream restaurant continues to evolve, and why he relishes his role as an ambassador of Filipino culture.
Eric Leveillee is the culinary director of The DeBruce, a 12-roomboutique hotel in the Catskills community of Livingston Manor, N.Y., where he has worked since 2020, offering a seasonal tasting menu as well as regular à la carte service. He spent his formative culinary years in Philadelphia aftergraduating from Temple University with a degree in economics. He started at a Mexican restaurant called El Camino Real, where he fell in love with his waitress and got a job in the kitchen to try to get to know her better. It worked — they’re still married — and Leveillee went on to pursue a cooking career, working at Vernick Food & Drink under Greg Vernick and then heading up the kitchen at Marigold. His next stop was Lacroix at The Rittenhouse Hotel, wherehe worked during the runup to the pandemic and then ended up at The DeBruce. He recently shared his perspective on highlighting theingredients that he sources from the area, buying most of his produce from a farmer within walking distance of the property, as well as the occasional import, such as the Mexican herb epazote that he said goes well with trout.
Christian Nuñez, owner of Buena Vista Restaurant & Barin New York City, was raised in a restaurant family, but he swore he wouldnever get into the business himself. All that changed when he was recruited ata Penn State college career fair by Chipotle Mexican Grill to become a managerin training.He took his Chipotle experience home to his father’srestaurant, helping to turn it around into a profitable enterprise. He changedthe name, introduced a Latino happy hour, and upgraded the venue. But in 2018, Nuñez wanted a place of his own with a moreupscale Euro-Latin menu and sophisticated cocktails. That was the debut of thefirst Buena Vista Restaurant & Bar in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood ofManhattan. This year, he opened two more locations within a few months of eachother — one in the East Village and the other in Murray Hill. A gutsy move tobe sure, but Nuñez has the ambition to grow Buena Vista into a larger restaurantbrand. Each location shares his vision but is slightly different, geared to itsparticular neighborhood through its design, ambiance, and menu mix.Listen as Nuñez shares how he differentiates the menu withinnovative takes on Spanish and Latin cuisine, how he elevates his restaurantswith artistic touches, and hints at his future plans for Buena Vista.Subscribe on Apple Podcasts.Subscribe on Spotify.
Justin Devillier has been running the award-winning New Orleans restaurant La Petite Grocery for around two decades, and he’s about to branch out for the first time.Although born into a Navy family in California, his family has been in Louisiana for generations and he moved to New Orleans in the early 2000s, before every city in the country had an interesting culinary scene, to pursue his career as a chef. He eventually landed at La Petite, as he calls it, and worked his way up through the kitchen and, eventually, bought a majority stake in the restaurant and has been running it with his wife, Mia Devillier, ever since.He won the 2016 James Beard Restaurant and Chefs Award for best chef in the South, but the restaurant was an institution long before that, and it remains one.Now the Devilliers are getting ready to open Daughters Neighborhood Italian about eight blocks away from La Petite Grocery in the space formerly occupied by Upperline Restaurant. It will be an Italian-American place, obviously with a bit of a Creole accent. Devillier recently discussed his approach to running restaurants and his plans for the new restaurant, possibly including a limited daily run of New Orleans’ signature Italian-American food, the Muffuletta sandwich.Subscribe on Apple Podcasts.Subscribe on Spotify.Menu Talk is a collaboration between Restaurant Business Senior Menu Editor Pat Cobe and Bret Thorn, senior food & beverage editor of Nation’s Restaurant News. You can subscribe to it wherever you listen to podcasts.
Don Conner is CEO of Whiskey ‘N Rye with several locationsin California’s Central Coast. The full-service “modern smokehouse” is differentiated by its California-style barbecue, which is a melding of different regional American styles. The restaurant concept is also known for its wide selection of brown spirits, many of which are sourced from local distilleries and are crafted into both classic and inventive cocktails. In 2025, Conner opened ‘Que by Whiskey ‘N Rye, an outpost in the Santa Barbara Public Market that’s a fast-casual version of its older sibling. For both menus, he and his team traveled across the U.S., studying barbecue traditions from Texas and Kansas City to North Carolina, then returned to California to create their own West Coast style. This style relies more on smoking and grilling, with a selection of brisket, pulled pork, ribs, seafood, and scratch-made sides and sauces all infused with smoke. With deep roots in California and the industry, Conner has recently joined the California Restaurant Association as a board member. Listen as he describes how he sets Whisky ‘N Rye apart in the crowded barbecue segment, why whiskey is such a great beverage partner for smoked foods, and his plans for growth inboth fast casual and full-service.We recorded this episode of the podcast at Informa’s CREATE, the conference for emerging restaurateurs, held at the Terranea resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, in July. Menu Talk is a collaboration between Restaurant Business Senior Menu Editor Pat Cobe and Bret Thorn, senior food & beverage editor of Nation’s Restaurant News.