Culinary Characters Unlocked

Chef Zak Baker on cooking in Milwaukee the way they really do in Italy

Chef Zak Baker cooks what he calls Midwest Italian and it's unlike anything most folks have ever had before. It began when he first went to Italy and was thrilled by the food, but also surprised. He'd never had anything like it at any Italian restaurant he'd visited in America. He returned to cook in Italy again and again. And that’s what inspires him at his Milwaukee restaurant Ca'Lucchenzo, where he’s serving dishes created with traditional Italian techniques and flavors, but using the best ingredients of the Midwest. It got him named a 2026 James Beard Awards finalist.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Chef Kathy Fang on innovating Chinese cuisine and keeping a family legacy alive

Chef Kathy Fang pretty grew up in her parents’ legendary San Francisco Chinese restaurant, House of Nanking. She tried a career in business but couldn’t escape the pull of the restaurant world. So she returned to her hometown and partnered with her father to open another restaurant, Fang, where she is creating innovative dishes inspired by her childhood favorites, but pushing the traditional envelope of Chinese-American cooking that brings to mind a range of non-traditional influences, even the taste of an In-N-Out burger. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Chef Zach Midgett on why he left the legendary French Laundry to cook in Lincoln, Nebraska

When he was in his teens, Zach Midgett found a refuge from problems at home by working in a suburban Philadelphia restaurant. He started as a dishwasher, fell in love with kitchen life, soon was promoted to cook on the line, and rose to the top of the culinary world when he was hired at legendary chef Thomas Keller’s three-Michelin-starred restaurant in northern California, The French Laundry, where he worked his way up to sous chef.  Then, he made a move many in the food world might find inexplicable—he relocated to Lincoln, Nebraska where, as Executive Chef at Casa Bovina restaurant, he is bringing exquisite, elevated dining to a place where he says one of the challenges is convincing local diners to try something new. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

BONUS EPISODE—2026 James Beard Award Winning Chefs Sarah Thompson, Dave Baren, and Nok Suntaranon

On this special bonus episode, we revisit great conversations with three chefs who just won James Beard awards. Nok Suntaranon’s Thai restaurant Kalaya won 2026 Outstanding Restaurant. Alinea veteran Dave Beran was named Best Chef California for what he’s doing at his L.A. restaurant Seline, and Sarah Thompson won Best Chef Southwest for her cooking at coastal Mexican restaurant Casa Playa in Las Vegas.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Chef Lonie Murdock on reimagining Caribbean cooking with dishes like Oxtail Wagyu and feeding the Obamas

Chef Lonie Murdock learned to cook from her Jamaican grandmother. After years in other professions, she opened a Caribbean popup in Toronto, turned it into a highly successful restaurant with a menu of elevated Caribbean classics, then expanded to Washington D.C, where she’s doing Caribbean with a twist, and where the Obamas dined on date night. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]