Conversations In Culinary

Chef Matthew Skolarus closes out the season in style — making fresh ricotta ravioli with charred chorizo and corn salsa verde while telling the story of how he got here.A Chicago kid, high school dropout, and self-taught cook who worked his way up to exec chef on Randolph Street, Matt now runs Shorty's, a pop-up smash burger and pasta concept built around his life rather than the grind. The dish he makes tonight — Italian pasta, Mexican flavors — is the love story of his marriage and the seed of Metodo, the restaurant he's been building toward ever since.Host Paul Young gets into all of it: the rondeau moment that broke his ego open, the peanut butter quenelle practice sessions at home, what Chef Doug Salt meant when he shook his plates and said "asses in the seats," and what it actually feels like to chase a title and finally get there.In this episode:Why he walked away from restaurant kitchens after becoming an exec chefThe Italian-Mexican dish concept behind his dream restaurant, MetodoHow his mom's dinner parties built his palate before he ever set foot in a kitchenThe staging moment at a Japanese restaurant that changed his lifeMentors, failure, and learning that cooking is like jazz"There is no greatest" — on the eternal pursuit of craft

Chef Dominique Leach is a pit master, culinary veteran, and Chicago original — and this conversation might be one of the most honest we've had on In Culinary.Recorded live during a cooking demo, Dominique opens up about the stories behind her food: a late aunt whose fish fries raised money for family reunions, a grandmother from Lexington, Mississippi who cooked with her eyes closed and once fed Barack Obama collard greens, and a childhood in Humboldt Park that gave her the soul she brings to every dish.Then she tells the story of the food truck. The Jamaica trip where she blurted out she was launching one. The excitement of going all in. And the night — just months later — she woke up to it burning in front of her home, torched by a Molotov cocktail from someone in her own community.She rebuilt in four months. She kept going. And she's still going.⚠️ Heads up on audio: We ran into some technical difficulties during this recording. The content was too good to sit on, so we made the call to release it as-is. We appreciate your understanding.

Before the series had a name, this was the night it all began.We're throwing it back to Season 1, Episode 1 — the very first In Culinary live event, with the one and only Chef Brian Jupiter.Chef Brian Jupiter — executive chef and owner of Frontier and Ina Mae Tavern in Chicago — sits down with host Paul Young for what would become the foundation of everything In Culinary Conversations is today.Brian takes us from his grandmother's kitchen in New Orleans to a bold ask at age 23 that landed him his first executive chef role. He cooks his signature shrimp and grits live on stage and gets into the real stuff: why the restaurant industry is heading toward another wave of closures, what culinary school debt actually costs young cooks, and why seeing a space first is the only way he knows how to build a concept.A candid, warm, and genuinely funny conversation about food, family, and building something that lasts.Topics covered:– Growing up cooking in New Orleans and his first kitchen job at 15– Arriving in Chicago at 23 and convincing a restaurant to hand him the executive chef role– Coarse-ground grits, Gulf shrimp, and the philosophy behind shrimp and grits– Katrina as "overnight gentrification" and the changing soul of New Orleans– Culinary hero Chef Elliot Roussel and the pride of New Orleans hospitality– Why the restaurant industry needed a reset — and what comes next– TV appearances: Anthony Bourdain's The Taste, Guy's Grocery Games, and more– How Frontier and Ina Mae were both born from a space, not the other way around

San Diego-raised, Chicago-based chef Stephan Sandoval joins us live to make the dish that put him on the map — a Baja-style bluefin tuna tostada built on Japanese knife technique, a scratch-made ancho-morita salsa macha, and three sauces that quietly hit every corner of the palate. Stephan talks about growing up between San Diego and Tijuana, the Japanese and Chinese immigrant influences baked into Baja food culture, why sauces are his real superpower (and his biggest production nightmare), and how mentorship under Rick Bayless shaped the kind of chef — and person — he wanted to be. He also gets into his upcoming concepts Trino and Entre Suenos, and why he's always been an open book in the kitchen. Topics covered:• Butchering a Pacific Baja bluefin tuna loin live on stage• Making salsa macha from scratch — chili selection, the nut debate, and his 4:1 ancho-to-morita ratio• The three-sauce system behind his signature tostada• Baja's Japanese and Chinese culinary influences• Kitchen mentorship, managing people, and the "open book" philosophy• Rick Bayless, The Homecoming, and what's coming next

Meet Our Next Conversation - Pitmaster Barry Sorkin: Where it began...

Check out what the March 26th In Culinary Conversations Spotlight Chef shares about diversity. It all goes down in person on 3/26/2025 at Boelter Chicago.

She's our March 26th In Culinary Conversations Spotlight Chef. Her demo is Catfish & Hush-Puppies and she's going to share her story with us on 3/26/2025 at Boelter Chicago.

On March 26th Chef Dominique will take stage for an In Culinary Conversations. She's going to demo Catfish & Hush-Puppies and here's why she has selected to share this experience on 3/26/2025 at Boelter Chicago.

Unfiltered, Unscripted Conversation with Pit-master Phil Wingo of Porkmafia https://porkmafia.us/ - April 2024 Production by: Pathfinder https://www.yourpathfinder.io/

The Cost of Restaurant Business Now

The whole hog ... how it all started for Chef Brian Jupiter.