Show Introduction with Executive Producer & Co-Host Andy Harris

“The newly opened Bacari Long Beach is a Venetian-inspired small plates restaurant featuring Mediterranean-influenced dishes created by Chef Lior Hillel. It’s the 10th restaurant of Bacari Restaurants / Kronfli Brothers, a family-owned, growing group of restaurants in Southern California. Alongside inspired small plates, Bacari offer a rotating curation of small-production wines and eclectic beers, unique craft cocktails & mocktails, and are also known for their one-of-a-kind 90-minute open bar special. The Bacari Long Beach team provides warm hospitality in a comfortable, indoor dining room marked with rustic mediterranean decor.” Guests will feel like home when dining at the new Bacari Long Beach. They welcome but do not require reservations. Unusually (for a busy restaurant) they gladly accommodate walk-ins and large parties, even on busy nights. Co-founder Robert Kronfli joins us.“Now in its eleventh year with award-winning chef Suzanne Goin and restaurateur Caroline Styne, Hollywood Bowl Food + Wine promises exceptional dining for visitors to the iconic venue. Goin and Styne’s culinary history has defined Los Angeles tastes since 1998 when they opened Lucques, their legendary first restaurant. At the Hollywood Bowl, California-inspired offerings are available at three full-service restaurants and three marketplaces as well as the Terrace and Garden Boxes, which can be ordered a day in advance. Four-time James Beard Foundation award-winner Goin’s vibrant new summer dishes pair beautifully with the exceptional wine and beer programs curated by Caroline Styne, also a Beard Foundation winner for Outstanding Restaurateur. Overseeing the broad range of dining options serving Hollywood Bowl Food + Wine’s thousands of nightly guests is Executive Chef Erik Lopez.” Award-winning Restaurateur Caroline Styne joins us to uncork all that is Hollywood Bowl Food + Wine.“Chef Chris Yang (2024 James Beard Award nominee for Best Chef: California) of Yang's Kitchen launched a tea and kombucha brand called Joimo late last year. Joimo was born from a simple observation: Better tea makes better kombucha. Built on Taiwanese tea traditions, it starts with the finest single-origin oolong tea, handpicked from the high mountains of Taiwan. Chris didn't start out as a tea lover and was experimenting with making kombucha using a SCOBY bought on Amazon years ago while opening Yang's Kitchen. Unbeknownst to him, the gifted tea leaves he was experimenting with were expensive and intended primarily for a traditional tea ceremony. But the kombucha was delicious, and Joimo was born.” Co-Founder Rinna Lee joins us with a refreshing Joimo Original Strawberry Kombucha in hand.“Celebrity Chef Katie Chin is an award-winning cookbook author, spokesperson, food blogger and the Culinary Ambassador to the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation. She joins us to talk about her uplifting one-woman show, “Holy Shitake.” Katie’s acclaimed one-woman show, “Holy Shiitake! A Wok Star is Born,” is back locally for a one-night encore at Pico House in DTLA on Thursday, July 16th as a benefit for the Chinese American Museum. Reception to follow with libations and Dim Sum provided by Chef Katie’s Wok Star Catering team. Get ready to be blown away by the talents of Chef Katie Chin.  Filled with pathos and humor, “Holy Shitake! A Wok Star is Born” written by Katie and produced by Paul Hemstreet, chronicles Chef Katie Chin’s journey as a Chinese American girl growing up in Minneapolis in the 1970s where she was raised by her remarkable mother, seamstress turned restaurateur, Leeann Chin.”
Our own Chef Andrew Gruel, the menu-maker behind the full-service Calico Fish House (located in the Sunset Beach area of Huntington Beach) now joins us with his timely and informative “Ask the Chef” segment where he responds to listeners’ thoughtful inquiries. Beef prices are on the rise yet again. Chef Andrew shares his insights for lesser known cuts of beef that represent great value. Also, what’s the best value in seafood right now? We’ll, of course, “Ask the Chef.”