Podcast appearances and mentions of magnolia grill

It used to be that food trucks were incubators for emerging talent, but the last few years, with real estate prices skyrocketing and a pandemic rocking everything, that's not always the rule. Caitlin Schumacher isn't an emerging talent -- she's an established powerhouse in the culinary scene. She grew up in Chapel Hill, NC and graduated from UNC with a French degree, but after she started working at Magnolia Grill, she fell in love with the energy of the kitchen and decided to pursue her pastry passion. From there she worked at the beloved 20th Century Cafe in San Fran and most recently 6 years as Executive Pastry Chef at FIG in Charleston, that is, until she got the chance to buy a food truck last summer. She's opened Girl Next Dough, a new business venture on four wheels with her dad John McCormick. She's crafting breakfast and bakery dreams, from country ham and parmesan puffs, to fresh bagels, lemon blueberry danishes, and apple buns.

Would you like to be wealthy? Listen closely to Chef Ben Barker's wisdom and you will be rich with stories of humility, North Carolina history and family values. Chef Ben Barker is literally a living legend of NC, he has won the for best chef in the southeast and has been nominated six times. His restaurant Magnolia Grill was the epicenter of North Carolina Cuisine for decades. The coolest part of Ben’s story goes beyond the man. Ben’s wife is also a James Beard award winner for Outstanding Pastry Chef in 2003. On top of all their success, the Barkers are still in the game as they are intimately involved in their son Gabe’s restaurant . Join us in Carrboro, NC where we sat down to chat with the Godfather of North Carolina fine dining.

  In this episode with Gail Hopps-Page, we discuss getting out of your comfort zone, how gail got her start in the restaurant business, being the best you can be in any given moment, building on your experience if you have no formal culinary education, why people burn out in the restaurant industry, identifying key employees, investing in key employees, embracing food values, keeping it simple, not taking short cuts, always moving forward, teaching what you know, replacing yourself, regulations limiting small farmers, subsidies, certain etiquette when sourcing from local farms, and the importance of food culture.  Gail Hobbs-Page spent 26 years as a professional cook, working in restaurants including Magnolia Grill and the Fearrington House, both in North Carolina, and Hamiltons' at First & Main, in Charlottesville. Eventually, the restaurant business burned her out. Today Gail is the Owner, Farmer, and Cheesemaker at Carmont Farm located just outside of Charlottesville, NC.

"Happiness lies at the edge of your comfort zone." I read this quote from Gail Hobbs-Page of Caromont Farm and knew immediately I had to talk with her. Welcome to Episode 32. Here is a chef, cooking for 25 years, contemplating her next move in the food world back in 2007. Gail's decision? To take up goat farming and make cheese. Cooking is in her DNA, but cheesemaking is not. So how did she get here? And why did a simple request for goat cuddling suddenly go viral and make national news, including The Today Show, threatening to overrun her small farm with thousands of folks wanting to give a kid a hug? We talk about all of that. Her experience growing up on a 3rd-generation farm in North Carolina. Learning to cook under the tutelage of southern cooking icon Edna Lewis (yes, THAT Edna Lewis), as well as Ben and Karen Barker of Magnolia Grill in Durham. How she's passed on the lessons she learned to the next generation of chefs, including Loren Mendosa at Lampo who continues to garner well-deserved accolades. People hear, "Goat farm..." and they imagine Heidi, cavorting in the Swiss Alps. But this is WORK. Farming plus the real chemical science of cheesemaking. Pair that with the costs of running a business, building an online presence, and navigating new, stricter regulations and you begin to see to be a cheesemaker you've got to be creative just to stay afloat. How? The emerging industry of agritourism is one way. Farm tours, goat cuddling, and cheesemaking classes not only alleviate the cost of business, but help bring back skills on the verge of extinction. Back in the day every household knew how to preserve milk. By offering knowledge, Gail Hobbs-Page is thankfully mentoring an ever-growing circle of students. What does it mean to be a mentor? Why do folks want to hug goats? What important component is missing in our lives when there is such a strong need to see where our food comes from? Why is the terroir of cheese probably the most important aspect? Does the discussion of gender inequality in the kitchen need to continue? Or should we just get to cooking because it's what we love and why we signed up for this journey in the first place? We didn't come to any conclusions, but sure had fun traveling down that particular rabbit hole. We cover a lot of ground in this episode so settle in. You're in for a real treat! SHOW NOTES - Links to items discussed within the episode: Chefs With Issues - an important project on the mental health of folks in the industry by food writer Kat Kinsman The Problems with Food Media that Nobody Wants to Talk About - an important article by First We Feast Why Women Don't Get the Respect in the Kitchen - Edible San Francisco tackles the issue The Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis Bill Neal - NYT article on his life Hottest Cheesemakers in America - Harper's Bazaar recognizes our own Nadjeeb Chouaf Silky Cow Dairy - where Gail sources her milk Albemarle Ciderworks - what Gail uses to brush her Red Row cheese Fast Food Nation - Wow. Just wow. There's a reason Richard Linklater is my favorite director Polyfaces - Joel Salatin offers up a better way This episode is sponsored by In A Flash Laser Engraving.

Master of pits?    Nathan sits down with Jeff Miller owner of Luella’s Bar-B-Que for the 33rd episode of the Finding Asheville podcast. They chat about growing up in Iowa City, Iowa, how he fell in love with cooking, what he learned from James Beard Award winner Ben Barker when he was cooking at Magnolia Grill in Durham, NC, whether North Carolina barbecue is really up to snuff with the rest of the country, and why finding a quiet moment is really the key to living a healthy life.

DG Martin interviews Karen Barker - Sweet Stuff: Karen Barker's American Desserts Drawing on years of professional experience as well as memories of cooking and baking from her New York childhood, in her all-new recipe book, Sweet Stuff, Karen Barker starts with the fundamentals, offering advice on selecting key ingredients, suggestions for essential kitchen equipment, and even tips on ways to fit dessert-making into the busiest of schedules. As the award-winning co-owner of Durham's acclaimed Magnolia Grill, Barker shares the tastiest tricks of the trade and tempts your taste buds. In this mouth-watering special episode of Bookwatch, Barker reveals how she creates some of the signature delights that make Magnolia Grill one of the best-known restaurants in the Carolinas-and Gourmet Magazine's 11th best restaurant in the country.