Joiners

Episode #209 - Justin Lerias of Del Sur Bakery

This week’s guest was sketching out his dream bakery in a high school notebook. That alone might not be too remarkable, but turning those daydreams into one of Chicago’s most talked-about bakeries certainly is. Pastry chef Justin Lerias is the owner of Del Sur Bakery, where Filipino flavors meet Midwestern pastry traditions in creations like longanisa croissants, turon danishes, and toasted rice croissants. His rise, from working at Lost Larson and Big Jones, to baking hundreds of pastries out of his apartment, to opening a bakery with lines stretching down the block, has been remarkably fast. Even more impressive is the humility, humor, and care with which he has handled it all. This episode, we talk about learning pastry without culinary school, producing hundreds of croissants from an apartment kitchen, Malört tea cake, and so much more.

Episode #208 - Chef Richie Farina

This week's guest is Chef Richie Farina, a man who turns food into theater without losing sight of flavor. A Johnson & Wales grad, three-time collegiate ice-carving champion, Moto alum, Top Chef competitor, and host of Carnival Kings, Richie has spent his career reworking familiar pleasures into strange, funny, technically impressive dishes, like Cuban sandwiches as cigars, smoked fish as a riverbed, s'mores toasted at the table, and fair food rebuilt under pressure. He tells us about finding his way from pizza shops and Boston kitchens to Moto, what he learned from Homaro Cantu about making food feel like an event, and why his next chapter is less about chasing stars than finding a life that leaves room for family, creativity, and the occasional dragon's breath puff. We're talking competitive ice sculpture, deep-fried Coca-Cola, Moto's creative process, TV-show sequestration, the decline of three-hour tasting menus — and so much more!

Episode #207 - Stephen Sandoval of Trino, Diego, and Entre Sueños

This week, we sit down with Chef Stephen Sandoval for a globetrotting whirlwind tour through a career that spans McDonald’s franchises in Southern California, Michelin-starred kitchens in the Bay Area, wood-fire cooking in Argentina, classical Mexican cuisine in Mexico City, and some of Chicago’s most celebrated restaurants. Stephen is a tour de force who’s worked alongside the likes of Rick Bayless, Stuart Brioza, and Albert Adrià, and his newest restaurant, Trino, is a deeply personal steakhouse concept inspired by Northern Mexico, Spain, Argentina, and the classic Chicago dining tradition. He joins us to talk through mastering seven different live-fire cooking techniques in Mendoza, the philosophy behind Baja Med cuisine, staging and cooking across three continents, and the long, winding road toward opening his dream restaurant concept, Entre Sueños -- and so much more.

Episode #206 - Chef Andrew Zimmerman

We’ve wanted to have this week’s guest on since we started the podcast. Andrew Zimmerman is one of Chicago’s most respected chefs -- a five-time James Beard finalist and the chef behind Sepia’s remarkable 15-year Michelin star run. In a special episode, we hosted the Gratuity Round live during a dinner at the Stock headquarters featuring Andrew and Jonathan Zaragoza before sitting down with Andrew a few days later to talk about his journey from New Jersey kitchens and punk bands to becoming one of the defining culinary voices in Chicago. This week, we talk: American cuisine and cultural influence, the realities of consistency at the Michelin level, wild restaurant stories involving retirement homes and alleged mobsters, and why hospitality is ultimately about building something worth coming back to -- and so much more.

Episode #205 - Chef Zealand, Food Content Creator

This week’s guest is an enjoyable diversion for us. Chef Zealand started cooking as a teenager, learning almost entirely through curiosity, YouTube, and trial and error before graphic design school, COVID, and a few hard pivots pushed him toward kitchens for real. He went from cooking in a senior living facility to grinding on the line at a suburban tavern, all while quietly building the voice and format that would turn him into one of the internet’s most approachable food creators. He joins us to talk about learning by doing, leaving restaurants earlier than planned, the strange jump from Snapchat cooking lessons to millions of followers, and what happens when the thing that saved you becomes the job. This episode, we talk: Alton Brown’s six-hour spaghetti sauce, butter noodles with cottage cheese and cinnamon sugar, the tomato soup video that changed everything, the terror of brand-approved music -- and so much more!

Episode #204 - Zubair Mohajir of Lilac Tiger, Sarima, & Mariela

This week's guest is Chef Zubair Mohajir -- and he's got a lot going on. A former finance guy who found his calling in the kitchen after the 2008 crash, Zubair has since built one of the most compelling culinary identities in Chicago, rooted in the idea that food is migration made edible. He's the force behind Lilac Tiger, the Coach House, and Mirra -- and this summer, he's opening three more: Mariela, Muhājir, and Bobo. He joins us to walk through all of it, in a conversation that covers growing up between Qatar and the southwest suburbs, his mom's legendary garage catering operation, staging at Alinea with zero experience, why a 927-year-old duck recipe from medieval Islamic Spain is one of his signature dishes -- and so much more! 

Episode #203 - Megan Marshall of Edible Chicago

This week, we’re sitting down with Megan Marshall, the publisher behind Edible Chicago, whose work starts from a simple but expansive belief: food is never just food. It’s access, labor, sustainability, culture, policy, pleasure, and community, all in conversation with each other. After years moving through food, hospitality, and food systems work, she took over Edible Chicago with a vision to broaden the city’s food conversation beyond chefs and restaurants. She comes to the studio to tell us about building a free print publication in a difficult media landscape, championing Chicago and the Midwest as essential parts of the national food story, and using storytelling to make people more aware of the systems behind what they eat. This week we talk: composting and city buy-in, why Chicago belongs at the center of the food systems conversation, the strange world of USDA checkoff program, why perfectionism may not be the point when it comes to building a more sustainable food culture -- and so much more! 

Episode #202 - Noah Sandoval of Oriole and All Well

This week, we’re joined by Chef Noah Sandoval, the chef behind Chicago’s two-Michelin-starred Oriole and one of the more instinctive voices working in tasting menus today. An army brat with a Navy SEAL dad, Sandoval dropped out of high school, started washing dishes, and worked his way up through kitchens in Virginia and Chicago without much of a plan beyond getting better. He never really chased stars -- but they found him anyway. He joins us to talk about the early days, building Oriole from the ground up. Plus, an extended cameo from Chef Larry Feldmeier, to tout their new project, All Well, which just opened on April 22. We talk: cooking microwave cakes as a kid, learning under some of Chicago’s most intense kitchens, why he doesn’t overthink opportunities, balancing precision with instinct, what it actually takes to run a two-star restaurant, and why chasing a third might not be worth it -- and so much more.

Episode #201 - Lee Wolen of Boka

This week, we're sitting down with Chef Lee Wolen, the quietly pragmatic leader behind some of Chicago’s most enduring kitchens, whose approach to food rejects gimmick in favor of clarity, restraint, and great product. Equal parts craftsman and operator, Wolen has built a reputation not just for consistency at Boka, but for cultivating teams that grow with him. He joins us in the studio for a wide-ranging conversation that spans early days in Cleveland, the realities of working inside temples of fine dining like Eleven Madison Park and El Bulli, and the shift toward something more grounded -- restaurants that prioritize flavor, longevity, and people over spectacle. We also get into what’s next, including expansion into Nashville and the continued evolution of concepts like Alla Vita and GG’s Chicken Shop. We talk: physically removing a guest mid-service, the hidden cost of chasing three Michelin stars, why “real food” is winning again, how building careers for the people around you might be the most important work a chef can do -- and so much more.

Episode #200 - Sujan Sarkar of Indienne

This week, we’re joined by Chef Sujan Sarkar, the chef and owner behind Chicago’s Michelin-starred Indienne and a growing group of restaurants that includes Nadu, Sifr, Swadesi, and Baar Baar. As he puts it, he’s a systems man first and a chef second, which makes a lot of sense once you hear the story: from hotel management school in India, to Michelin-starred kitchens in London, to working at McDonald’s just to study its systems, to launching side hustles like Oyster Boys and Gastronomy Guys while climbing the culinary ladder.