Podcast appearances and mentions of roy yamaguchi

Jason Evans of SilverShark Media speaks to Isaac Bancaco, VP of Operations for Koholā Brewery.  In this podcast Isaac talks about his first culinary inspirations, his favorite dish to make with his grandmother, his career path in the culinary industry, what he learned from mentors like Ming Tsai and Roy Yamaguchi, evolving his career beyond the role of an executive chef, how the restaurant industry prepares people for any career, how he splits time within different parts of the business, how he approached the menu design, the value of working with successful business leaders, challenges the restaurant industry has been going through both nationally and locally, the importance of treating employees well, what to expect at Koholā on February 9th for the Super Bowl, and some of his favorite things he'd recommend for Saquan Barkley or any guest to Koholā to order off the food menu.   

At 21, Troy Guard left community college in San Diego to return to Hawaii, his birthplace, where he mentored under Roy Yamaguchi, celebrity chef. Guard recounts, “I started in the pantry, worked my way through the kitchen, and over the next eight years opened restaurants with him [Yamaguchi] in Tokyo and New York City.” At 38, Guard opened his first restaurant in Denver. “I knew the culinary side of the business pretty well,” says Guard, “but I had to quickly learn financial management and people development.” Today, Guard is the owner and chef of the 12-restaurant TAG Restaurant Group. The company describes its eight concepts as ranging “from a bubbly breakfast joint, HashTAG, to the quick-casual Bubu, to the show-stopping modern steakhouse, Guard and Grace, and everything in between.” In this episode, Guard explains how building the right team and delegating responsibilities became the foundation of his business expansion. "Today we successfully operate TAG Burger Bar, TAG Raw Bar, Sugar Mill Bakery, Los Chingonas Taqueria, and Guard & Grace Steakhouse because of the team we developed and the modifications I made to my role.” Guard recommends that operators who wish to grow their concepts follow three steps: First, place yourself in the role that fits you best. Second, fire yourself from other responsibilities to allow the right person room to perform them. And third, implement systems and procedures for consistency.  Trust your people but place your faith in the systems. Guard envisions a bright future for the TAG Restaurant Group. "Our short-term priorities include a focus on implementing appropriate technologies that improve operations while continuing to emphasize the guest experience."

Chef Jason Peel is the Executive Chef and Owner of Nami Kaze, a Modern Izakaya and Sushi Bar and has had an extensive career in Hawai'i's culinary scene, teaching at Kapi'olani Community College, working alongside chef Roy Yamaguchi and as the Executive Chef for the Hawaii Food and Wine Festival. Chef aka "Friend" Peel was recently honored as a semifinalist for the prestigious 2024 James Beard Awards. In this episode, we talk about Chef's journey through the culinary world and his approach to cooking, leading and investing in the next generation of Hawai'i chefs. Title Sponsor: www.cpb.bank Airline Sponsor: www.hawaiianair.comRecorded at Central Pacific Bank's "Friendship Floor" - a coworking space dedicated for CPB's remote and hybrid employees to work and collaborate Connect with Chef Jason: https://www.instagram.com/namikaze www.namikaze.com Connect with Andrew and Kolby: www.uncuthawaii.com https://www.instagram.com/uncut_hawaii https://www.instagram.com/kolbymoser https://www.instagram.com/_andrewtran #uncutpodcast #uncuthawaii #hawaiicreators #hawaiipodcast #podcastersofinstagram #podcastersofinstagram #spotifypodcast #newpodcast #applepodcast #hawaii #podcast #hawaiilife #hawaiian #luckywelivehawaii #podcasts #podcasting #podcaster #madeinhawaii #oahuhawaii #hawaiinei #mauihawaii #hawaiiliving #podcastshow #podcasters #podcastlife #podcasthost #podcastaddict --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/uncuthawaii/support

We're in Hawaii this week — at least Nancy is — and we talk about everything from native fruits to Spam, one of the few foods in the world that Ruth has never eaten. Ruth talks about the Zen of pie making, Nancy gives a shout out to two of her favorite kitchen utensils and Laurie waxes poetic about why Jonathan Gold fell in love with the island. Leaving Hawaii we discuss why failure in the kitchen is a good thing. Then it's on to the politics of pesto — along with a handy little trick to make it better — even if you're not doing it by hand. Three Ingredients is a reader-supported publication. To receive posts with bonus material, including recipes, restaurant recommendations and podcast conversations that didn't fit into the main show, consider becoming a paid subscriber.Our favorite mortar and pestleNancy has shown up at the cooking class she's conducting in Hawaii with just two treasured pieces of equipment. First and foremost is her beloved mortar and pestle, which is so heavy she's asked her assistant Juliet to pack it in her suitcase. It's one originally made for pharmacists and Nancy is so fond of hers that she sometimes buys extras to give to her friends. In fact, she gave one to Ruth years ago and Laurie has had one for decades too.What makes it so special that all three of us have it in our kitchens? Nancy says that while a rougher molcajete is right for guacamole, she loves the smooth surface of her unglazed ceramic mortar and pestle for making mayonnaise, aioli and especially pesto, which she never makes in a food processor. Laurie found this description on the British Museum website that describes why the original Wedgwood & Bentley mortars were considered superior to marble “for the purpose of chemical experiments, the uses of apothecaries, and the kitchen”: “These mortars resist the action of fire and the strongest acids. ... They receive no injury from friction. They do not imbibe oil or any other moisture. They are of a flint-like hardness, and strike fire with steel.”Nancy also loves her trusty Microplane. But then, who doesn't? It pretty much changed life in the kitchen, as John T. Edge explained in this 2011 story for the New York Times.Note that in our bonus post for Episode 3, available to paying subscribers later this week, we share the recipe for Nancy's caprese salad, which is on the cover of “The Mozza Cookbook,” plus a pie recipe from Nancy's new baking book “The Cookie That Changed My Life” and a mini podcast all about salt.Thank you for reading Three Ingredients. This post is public so feel free to share it.A proper luauNearly every year Nancy participates in the Hawaii Food & Wine Festival, founded by chefs Roy Yamaguchi and Alan Wong. It's an event that grew out of Cuisines of the Sun, which Associated Press writer Barbara Albright once described as “the ultimate food camp.” Nancy happened to be cooking at Cuisines of the Sun the year that Laurie took Jonathan to Hawaii for the first time. Until that trip in the late 1990s, Laurie had only experienced the food of tourist Hawaii and thought that the island destination would be a place where Jonathan could take a vacation from thinking about food in a serious way. Boy was she wrong. When they arrived on the Big Island they were invited to a luau that was unlike any Laurie had ever experienced. Held at Hirabara Farms run by Kurt and Pam Hirabara, who were pioneers in the Hawaii regional cuisine movement, the music, dancing and especially the food — all rooted in Hawaiian culture — were enchanting. There wasn't a grass skirt in sight. After that trip, Jonathan was smitten. Here's an excerpt from a story he wrote for Ruth at Gourmet in 2000 describing that party:There may be a prettier acre than Kurt and Pam Hirabara's up-country farm on the island of Hawaii, where the damp, mounded earth and skeins of perfect lettuces glow like backlighted jade on a wet afternoon. But when the sun comes out and the mist melts away, and through a break in the clouds suddenly looms the enormous, brooding mass of Mauna Kea, the loftiest volcano in the world, it's hard to imagine where that prettier acre might be.Three hours before chef Alan Wong's luau at Hirabara Farms, a party celebrating the relationship between the chef and the army of Big Island growers who supply the Honolulu restaurant that has been called the best in Hawaii, the tin roof of the Hirabaras' long packing shed thrums with rain, and the thin, sweet voice of the late singer Israel Kamakawiwo'ole slices through the moist mountain air. Wong's kitchen manager, Jeff Nakasone, trims purply ropes of venison into medallions for the barbecue, and pastry chef Mark Okumura slaps frosting on a stack of coconut cakes as high as a small man. Lance Kosaka, who is the leader at Wong's Honolulu kitchen, arranges marinated raw crabs in a big carved wooden bowl. Mel Arellano, one of Wong's colleagues from culinary school and something of a luau specialist, reaches into a crate and fishes out a small, lemon-yellow guava.“I've got to eat me one of them suckas,” he says, and he pops the fruit into a pants pocket.I nibble on opihi, pricey marinated limpets harvested in Maui, and try to gather in the scene. Two of Wong's younger sisters stir a big pot of the gingery cellophane-noodle dish called chicken long rice; Buzzy Histo, a local kumu hula—hula teacher—crops orchids, exotic lilies, and birds-of--paradise brought over from the farmers market in Hilo. A cheerful neighbor, Donna Higuchi, squeezes poi from plastic bags into a huge bowl, kneading water into the purple goo with vigorous, squishing strokes until the mass becomes fluid enough to spoon into little paper cups. She giggles as she works.“Some people like poi sour,” she says. “I like it frrrr-rresh. Although most people would say I'm not really a poi eater. I like it best with milk and sugar—it's really good that way.”Her friend stops measuring water into the poi and wrinkles her nose. “Don't listen to Donna,” she says. “You try your poi with lomilomi salmon.”If you're hungry for more, here's an article Jonathan wrote for Food and Wine Magazine, when he visited the islands with Roy Choi. And here's the L.A. Times story about poi that Laurie talks about in this episode. Poi is a food that most visitors to Hawaii rarely experience in the way it was intended to be eaten. “The mush you might have been served at a hotel luau,” she wrote, “was almost certainly not aged, and probably served plain, which is the rough equivalent of eating potatoes mashed without butter or cream.” Or, as Victor Bergeron, aka Trader Vic, once wrote, “Americans do not appreciate food which is too far out.”Devil in a white can Ruth, Nancy and Laurie all remember Underwood Deviled Ham with great fondness from their childhoods. Surprisingly, this is the entire ingredient list: Ham (Cured With Water, Salt, Brown Sugar, Sodium Nitrite) and Seasoning (Mustard Flour, Spices, Turmeric).It turns out that it's a very old product. The William Underwood Company began making it in 1868 (soldiers ate a lot of deviled ham during the Civil War), and the company's logo was trademarked two years later making it the oldest extant American food trademark. And what about that other ham in a can, Spam? As described on the Hormel website, it's made from six ingredients: “pork with ham meat added (that counts as one), salt, water, potato starch, sugar, and sodium nitrite.” We talk about Spam musubi (Spam and sushi rice wrapped with nori), which has been popular in Hawaii for decades — Jonathan called it “the real soul food of Hawaii” in this review of the now-closed Monterey Park restaurant Shakas.Ruth may not be a Spam fan, but our musubi talk prompted her to bring up one of her favorite nori seaweed-wrapped snacks, onigiri. We thought you might like to make your own onigiri. Here's a recipe from Serious Eats. For more recipes, including one prompted by Ruth talking about the zen of pie making — spending time with her rolling pin makes her very happy in the kitchen — check back later this week for this episode's bonus post for paying subscribers with a new mini podcast. Get full access to Three Ingredients at threeingredients.substack.com/subscribe

This episode was recorded and released in Feb 2021.   Who is Shep Gordon? You've probably heard the popular phrase "Chefs Are The New Rockstars" — you can thank Shep for that.  He's the visionary who brought chefs like Roger Vergé, Emeril Lagasse, Wolfgang Puck, Roy Yamaguchi and Daniel Boulud to the mainstream and coined the term “Celebrity Chefs.” Coming from a colorful life as a music manager to artists like Alice Cooper, Luther Vandross, Blondie and Teddy Pendergrass to name a few, Shep brought his show business know-how to the culinary arts where he singlehandedly paved the path for chefs to become today's cultural icons. If you've seen him in the beloved 2013 documentary Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon, directed by Mike Myers, his persona is no different in this episode. Being the phenomenal storyteller that Shep is, he shares personal stories about some of today's most iconic chefs before their heydays, what he saw in chefs that encouraged him to create a highway for them to have a better life, and his own journey with food.     For more info on Shep Gordon: https://bit.ly/3PoAowZ     Follow Shep on Instagram: https://bit.ly/4498fOS     Follow On The Pass: http://bit.ly/3Kvgm1n     Follow our Host, Gabriel Ornelas: http://bit.ly/3YS964b     Read Gabriel's Articles: http://bit.ly/3SnOsGG     Lets work together! Get in contact: www.gabrielornelas.com

Highly skilled, culinary master chef Jon Matsubara is "feasting" on his exciting win on Food Network's "Alex vs America"! The owner of "Feast" restaurant in Manoa Valley has been cooking since 1997. He started as a dish washer for Chef Roy Yamaguchi, then learned from the best chefs in New York. Matsubara excels in elevating Hawaii comfort food using locally grown ingredients. He shares what went on behind the scenes of the hit cooking TV show, his journey to becoming a successful top chef and offers advice for those looking to get their big break in the culinary industry.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Troy was born in Hawaii. His family goes back five generations in Hawaii and was among some of the first missionaries to arrive on the islands. He started as a 14-year-old dishwasher in Maui and eventually worked his way up to a sous chef working with his mentor, Chef Roy Yamaguchi. Hawaiian culture emphasizes “ohana” which means family. Troy has worked hard to embrace that same family atmosphere in his restaurants. It's difficult to maintain a restaurant culture as a restaurant grows. Owners often find themselves having to choose between managers who are a good cultural fit but underperform as managers or vice versa. Taking care of guests is critical and is the foundation of any restaurant's success. Troy's vision for TAG Restaurant Group changed during COVID. His new steak restaurant in Houston opened three months before COVID and struggled in 2020 and 2021, but rebounded in 2022 to become a successful location today. Quotes “(When it comes to ingredients), I was taught early on working in California, Hawaii, New York and Hong Kong that you utilize what you can from where you're from.” (Troy) “Authentic and real. I think everyone can see when something is genuine. We try to hire people who are genuinely hospitable. Even if they don't know how to cook but they have a good attitude and want to, we like those types of people.” (Troy) “The days of people staying for 10 plus years are probably long gone.” (Troy) “Pay is, of course, one factor, but it's not THE factor.” (Joseph) “Our core values are passion, imagination, courage, caring, humility, harmony and ownership. That's what I want to see in people. I want to give them ownership to do what they think is best.” (Troy) “It's really tough to foster a culture when you spread out (to multiple locations).” (Joseph) “Two weeks in (at my first restaurant), we were $40,000 in the hole. My investors said if you don't change we'll have to close. The second month we lost $20,000. The third we broke even. And the fourth – I swear to God – we made $40,000. We made an $80,000 swing in four months by just focusing and working together. ” (Troy) “Marketing can get people to visit once. It's the restaurant's job to get them to come back.” (Joseph) Transcript 00:00.81 vigorbranding Everyone today I'm joined by chef troy guard from tag restaurant group which you're going to learn all about if you're not already familiar. Um Troy say hello give a little bit of backstory. 00:11.84 Chef Troy Guard good morning good afternoon good evening whatever time we're listening to here. It's March Seventeenth St Patrick's day and I'm just chilling in my marketing's ah my marketers' room right now. So talking to Joseph in the. Excited to be on board. Thanks for having me. 00:29.77 vigorbranding Awesome! Well Troy so you grew up in Hawaii um, which it's islands that I absolutely love and now you find yourself imp possibly the complete opposite. You're a mile up in the air in Denver. 00:35.91 Chef Troy Guard Um, you know. 00:42.93 vigorbranding Um, what led you to Denver from Hawaii and and how have those roots from the islands influenced your cooking and your outlook on life. 00:50.48 Chef Troy Guard Yeah, thank you so yup board on the islands we're 5 generations of being in Hawaii even though we're white where you know some of the first missionaries to come over there which is kind of cool. Um, great stories back there. Um I left when I was. You know, 21 and just kind of just went all over the place and it's funny now that you just said that that I never even kind of realized I knew I traded the ocean for the mountains but being at sea level and then a mile up. That's pretty crazy and it's the first first place. Anywhere in my life that I was landlocked I've always lived by an ocean. So I've been here 21 years now so the last twenty one years no ocean but it's kind of cool I get to go on vacation to the ocean. So ah, I'm actually going to Malley on Wednesday I can't wait and it is my happy place. 01:42.64 vigorbranding I love it. It's it's hard not to dis not to love? Ah Hawaii um I haven't gotten to maui I haven't gotten to Kawai I've only been to a wahoo. Um, but. 01:44.98 Chef Troy Guard So yeah, um. 01:49.89 Chef Troy Guard Um, they're all beautiful. They're all different and I think they're all very very special magical. 01:56.76 vigorbranding Yeah, yeah, and you pick up a little bit of local slang while you're there too. So I believe you're a howly and um and you make food that is very ono. Yeah. 02:01.83 Chef Troy Guard Yep, that's for sure I got picked on all the time I got you all? yeah oh no odo delicious um yeah I got picked on all the time because I was the little white kid over there. So um, yeah was it's pretty different, pretty crazy. Um, but I love it. I love the international flavors of Hawaii filipino Japanese Chinese ah polynesian american so it was pretty cool and the funny thing was I don't think I had a casadia ah so I was like 15 I mean we had like. 02:36.47 vigorbranding Um. 02:37.40 Chef Troy Guard That seasoning taco mix and stuff like that. But I just never really ate mexican food I I can't remember a mexican restaurant on Hawaii that I went to. 02:46.12 vigorbranding Yeah, it's wild. Um, the the food there is amazing and so for those haven't really thought about it or haven't been to the islands the influences make a lot of sense because Hawaii it's about what 5 hours off the coast or 3 hours off the coast of ah of California but it's 5 hours away from Japan and some of the other ones. 02:57.82 Chef Troy Guard Um, yep. 03:03.40 vigorbranding And then the weirdest thing that I found is they get a huge influx of estonians in the summertime which which is like such a weird thing. Um, yeah, very odd, but ah, suffice to say you you move over into the states or into the mainland I should say you're up in Denver. 03:08.68 Chef Troy Guard Um, oh nice it is yeah it sounds different. 03:23.15 vigorbranding How do you take the the love and passion and that influence culinarily speaking and and how have you used that to create these concepts within the tag group restaurant family. 03:32.11 Chef Troy Guard Yeah, great question. So I think years and years ago. Um, as you know, growing up as a kid a lot of stuff wasn't that fresh I can't remember like fresh brostel sprouts you had carrots and onions. But. Not the things that we are really accustomed to now you go on the whole foods and it's like I am even you know we have safeways. Whatever. So um I always was was taught early on working in California Hawaii New York even Hong Kong you know you utilize what you can where you're from so obviously in California it's a great season all year round. But in Denver like springtime coming up. We're going to get peas and ramps and asparagus. We'll have that too in California but they could have it more readily available. But. I like being in Denver I like the seasonality of a lot of things and we try to get about I mean as much as we can and I would say sometimes up to 80% of anything that are is on our menu comes from Colorado which I think is pretty cool. 04:36.19 vigorbranding Is that is that something that you're continuing as you branch out of Colorado I know that you're in Houston now and. 04:43.56 Chef Troy Guard So then when we go to Houston we want to use products from Houston so they're a little bit different over there. We might even have to adjust the ah recipes tweak them a little bit. But yeah, that's what we do and then I want to use our what I call continental different continents different flavors different cooking techniques. And I might want to bring in a hawaiian fish or Paca Paca I want to might bring in some japanese fish or some chinese spices and to kind of give it that twist I feel like America is a melting pot and it's so international now and Houston is one of the biggest international cities. It is fantastic down there. But I love those bold flavors those ingredients and to take you know a simple dish and just tweak it a little bit I think that's kind of fun. 05:32.70 vigorbranding I love that so I did mess up and and talk about the tag restaurant group family. So one of the words that you use from the island is ohhanna and Ohhanna essentially means family but it means I think more. It's a bigger definition. That's really hard to pin down in english. Um. 05:41.16 Chef Troy Guard Um, oh Hanna yes, do. 05:49.92 vigorbranding Especially when you talk about your staff in the yohanna. That's there. So what? what part does that play in the company culture. How do you foster this and people who haven't maybe had the Hawaiian experience. Um, and yeah, how how do you bring that out. 05:58.93 Chef Troy Guard Um, yup, so yes, oh Hanna means family in hawaiian if you haven't been to Hawaii. It's hard to really understand but I take it even like Mexico when you go down there they hug they kiss. Um. Hawaii's hug and kiss how you doing aloha means actually hello and goodbye. So um, it's kind of cool and we work with 450 employees I feel like we're a big family a big o hana because sometimes we spend forty plus hours here sometimes more than we do at ah with our families. So at home. So we're 1 big ohanna and if anybody needs any support. Anybody needs any help we you know we want to be great leaders and managers but also a great family if if anybody needs to lean on someone. 06:33.88 vigorbranding A. 06:50.65 vigorbranding Yeah, and I think in in this in this state that we're in this industry um in the struggles that we have ah finding new talent keeping great talent How how have you seen this this embracing because a lot of people say oh we're part of the family and then it comes time to scrub though, get baseboards and you don't really feel very family-like at that moment. 07:04.64 Chef Troy Guard Um, so. 07:08.80 vigorbranding Um, how do you put that out into the world in a way that feels honest and authentic and um, how has that played a role in this growth of tag restaurant group. 07:18.17 Chef Troy Guard Yeah, great too I I'll be 52 in a month and every year I think I get a little wiser a little bit more experience. Um I think ah when I sometimes say oh everyone doesn't like this or everyone does this. Ah, of course not everybody so let's just take a hundred people. There's probably about 5% that are the bad apples but sometimes a bad Apple can spoil the bunch so we try to focus in on more of the positives. But um, that's. 07:43.60 vigorbranding A. 07:55.49 Chef Troy Guard What we're trying to do in the restaurant business is work together. Um, now I got sidetracked Can you repeat that question I just lost my train of thought I apologize. 08:03.48 vigorbranding Yeah, yeah, well, it's no and I totally I threw that in as a ringer I think um when we see this idea of family manifest ah out there. How do how do you make sure it feels authentic and real and and what role has that played in. Ah. 08:17.70 Chef Troy Guard Yeah, so authentic and real I think everyone can see someone who's genuine if someone is kissing my ass or you know doing it just to do something you know that we we try to hire people who are genuinely hospitable. 08:18.86 vigorbranding The success of tag. 08:35.73 Chef Troy Guard Great smiles wants to do things even if they don't know how to cook but they have a good attitude and want to we we like those type of people. So and then as far as um, moving forward I think covid has changed a lot I mean everybody knows it. It changed a lot of different things. Ah, we just like to be a strong support system I mean the days of people staying for ten plus years are are probably long gone and that's okay, too. But while they're here. We're going to give it our our best. And after they leave I hope they remember all the things that they learn and literally two days ago I had a guy who used to work for me five years ago and just just wanted to reach out and say hey man you helped me tremendously in so many different ways that makes me feel so good. 09:27.38 vigorbranding Um, yeah. 09:29.47 Chef Troy Guard And you know some people don't of course like ah what we do, but most people enjoy the oh Hanna and the concepts and the structure that we have here just just like politics. There's never everyone who really likes something but we always try to do. What's best. 09:44.90 vigorbranding Right. 09:48.71 Chef Troy Guard For our employees and the business. Yeah. 09:51.81 vigorbranding Yeah, that's that's a fantastic path forward because I think a lot of people pin. Ah the the struggles of the industry on pay. You know oh it'ss that we don't pay enough ah restaurants under pay blah Blah Blah You know we've we've had those arguments before um. 09:58.90 Chef Troy Guard So right 2 10:05.16 vigorbranding But I think what you find is pay is of course 1 factor but it's not the factor and usually a lot of it is that interaction with um leadership. Ah, it's really tough I think to foster a culture when you start to spread out to the size of tag and but and and above you know what? I mean. So. 2 3 concepts locations. Not so bad. But when you have to start instilling that middle management. You get torn between that do I have the person who is a hell of an operator but a terrible cultural fit or or the opposite. Um. 10:26.63 Chef Troy Guard Right. 10:36.95 Chef Troy Guard Right. 10:42.20 vigorbranding And and I think if you go the opposite like yeah, you're really fostering that like how do how do you find you meaning you're fostering the culture but man we're flailing and we're not doing Well we can't stay open. Um so how do you build it. 10:49.14 Chef Troy Guard Yeah, so yeah, just took Ah yeah, just took out of my wallet here I made this I don't know if you guys can see it very well. Yup I'm going to explain it. Yep. 10:58.97 vigorbranding Um, ah let me are you going to explain it Otherwise I can okay, cool. Great. 11:02.75 Chef Troy Guard So at the top. It says our business perspective and then it says the vision you have to have a vision at work and so when we're coming to work. Of course we're doing it because we need to get paid and pay our bills but let's have a meaning to why we're coming so the vision. Tag is a celebration of the unexpected. You never know what's going to happen today. Someone calls in sick um, the dishwasher goes down you name it I've been there. It's happened. How do we put ourselves in those situations and it gets stressful that restaurants are stressful. And there's a lot of moving pieces. A lot of curveballs. So then the first thing is culture like we just talked about if you don't have the culture. You're not going to be successful. Everybody has to buy into what we do and again I'm going to say 95% of all our employees buy into what we do. Even if they're there for three months or 3 years they like what we do and they might have to leave for other different reasons. But that's okay or we might have to give them a new job somewhere else too. But the culture is number one next there are core values so we're coming to work and why are we doing this and. 12:08.40 vigorbranding A. 12:17.57 Chef Troy Guard Ah, core values passion imagination courage, caring humility harmony and ownership. So in one sense of the word when I sat down thirteen fifteen years ago before I opened my first restaurant like That's what I want to see in people I want to give them the ownership Joseph. You're a server that's the guest and the like something I'm giving you ownership to do what you think is best. Don't give away five hundred bucks but let's do something genuinely that's going to take care of. This situation and guess we care for each other I'm very passionate about my work you have to have imagination. So all these core values are great and then the last one is systems. So then we got all the systems in place and then once you do that? Our results are great food, great service and great finance. So. Out of all that money was the last when I was first coming up. That's all I thought about was money like because if I don't make money I'm going to lose but I had it all wrong I had to do the culture the oh Hanna and um, if that is. 13:33.17 Chef Troy Guard On on number 10 everything else should fall in the place. So. 13:38.78 vigorbranding Yeah I love it having that little reminder card is a nice touch I have 1 in my wallet that I put in there five years ago it just has 1 sentence. It just says what if you're wrong. It's just ah, it's just a reminder you know. 13:41.81 Chef Troy Guard Like. 13:51.10 Chef Troy Guard Um, nice I Love that I love that there's you know. 13:54.83 vigorbranding Like because especially if you have bold convictions and you really believe in something it isn't a challenge in a meaning you are wrong just to hey don't forget like what if you're wrong, just think about that other side. Yeah, um, but you did you talked about ah thirteen fifteen years ago um let's hop back there. So um. 14:02.60 Chef Troy Guard Yeah, exactly I like it. 14:14.10 vigorbranding Ah, around that time is when you opened your first ah concept and you're about a month into this idea of tag restaurant group and things weren't going well investors came a knock in and said hey man you got like two weeks that we're done how how did that feel. 14:18.50 Chef Troy Guard Yep. 14:23.71 Chef Troy Guard Yep. 14:27.53 Chef Troy Guard Yeah. 14:31.90 vigorbranding How did you overcome. 14:34.56 Chef Troy Guard Kind of like what your sentence says in your wallet. What if I'm wrong. So um I like to share my stories like that I'm pretty open I don't like to say I'm great when I'm not doing great or I'm I'm not doing great and you're great. So. 14:51.50 Chef Troy Guard I tell that story a lot of my investors tell it to a lot of different people too because I thought I was a great chef and I was but I didn't know everything that else that went on with it and there's a lot of moving pieces in this business. So. I focused in on the food instead of really being the leader that I needed to be in the restaurant so two weeks into it. Yeah, we lost we already were $40000 in the hole. It's like geez that's a lot of money troy how are we going to make that up I had you know too many people in the kitchen too many people on the floor ordering too much wine. Ordering too many high-end ingredients so we brought it all back in and we worked together as a culture the second month. Yeah, my investor said hey if you don't change. We're going to have to close the second month we lost 20 Grand so we were moving in the right direction. The third we broke. Even. 15:41.40 vigorbranding Um. 15:45.73 Chef Troy Guard And the fourth I swear to god we made $40000 so we made a $80000 swing in four months by just focusing and working together. 15:57.45 vigorbranding Yeah, but that's amazing. Um, it's fantastic I Think a lot of businesses suffer that from that where you have a leader who's passionate about the craft and because I'm passionate about the craft because I'm good at what I do therefore success. 16:08.53 Chef Troy Guard Um, to write? yeah. 16:13.10 vigorbranding Like yeah but you're missing so many other things that go into success. Especially it's the same sustained success as well. Um, and I love the story because it was so rapid and was such a turnaround because I think when you're that myopically focused on just the 1 thing if I build it they will come. Um. 16:26.75 Chef Troy Guard Right. 16:30.81 vigorbranding You can turn around things quite fast and I think what we see in restaurants large and small um multi-unit in single unit is a lot of Uberris and a lot of ah arrogance in that. Well it can't be all the things that I do it has to be something else. It's marketing. Let's fix marketing. It's like well. 16:45.31 Chef Troy Guard Right? see? yeah. 16:50.39 vigorbranding You know marketing is going to get someone to come there. Maybe once? um and I said this to a client a while back. That's right? Yeah I said that on a client call a few years ago it didn't go over very well but I stand by it I would say it all over again and that is we can get them to come there. 16:52.78 Chef Troy Guard Yeah, like yeah you marketing is going to get him in there. But what are you going to do to get him back right. 17:09.40 vigorbranding It's your job to get in the comeback and if they don't come back. No amount of marketing can finagle them back. You know, especially if it was a terrible experience. You know. 17:11.70 Chef Troy Guard Um, yeah, no, you're absolutely right? I always say the 4 walls. Um I'd rather do and you can ask anyone in the company. When we first start out I rather do 50 great covers a night than 100 sloppy because I want to blow those 50 away and then we can grow from there. So ah, we we hold the reservations we hold we pace things out. Because again numbers are great and I want to make a lot of money. Um, because we're we're in ah um, a business for profit. We're not a charity and so we need to make money but we have the first build a foundation and that's ah ah, taking care of the guest. 18:05.24 vigorbranding Yeah I love that and so that that kind of gets into another thing I wanted to open up which is this foray into Houston um, as well as the total footprint. So I think you have a total of 12 locations right now. 18:10.84 Chef Troy Guard Um, oh excuse me. 18:18.27 Chef Troy Guard Correct. We used to have more but um, we lost a couple in Covid and also a couple leases ran out and we we were negotiating and then my whole vision changed during Covid right? You know I was going to do this. 18:31.96 vigorbranding Um, yeah. 18:35.91 Chef Troy Guard This path. But now we're doing this path which before I think we had 8 or 9 concepts now we have 4 so I wanted to go an inch wide and a mile deep before I was a mile wide and only an inch deep which isn't bad but I want to grow the most successful concepts that have legs. And so going down the Houston our first one out of state was a steakhouse I mean Houston you would think no brain or right steak and but there's a lot of good stakeeak down there. A lot of great competition so we had to be on our a game and ah unfortunately three months after reopen covid happened. So. 19:02.85 vigorbranding Um, a. 19:13.87 Chef Troy Guard All those dollars spent in training and marketing and building the restaurant just down the tube. So you know we struggled like everybody. Um for that year so 20 and then 21 we were building it back up, but it's still covid's up and down. And then 22 january I think I remember covid hit hard again, but we had a great year a solid team and touching the tables and working those 4 walls I remember doing fifty covers a night now they're doing three hundred covers a night by taking care of the guests and working together. Um. 19:51.60 vigorbranding Yeah I love that um across the board. It's funny so much change in Covid But what didn't change was landlords and their idea of what the value of the space was is still happening. Um, yeah, so a lot of places closed not because they were doing bad but. 19:59.90 Chef Troy Guard Right now. It's crazy. 20:07.16 vigorbranding Quite simply because nothing changed on that level everything else changed but nothing changed there. 20:08.61 Chef Troy Guard I would say 90% so nine out of ten eight out of 10 landlords were really helpful and good and there's always that 1 or 2 just like I said that 95 and five percent. Not everyone's gonna do what they should or shouldn't do and it's just a bummer right? cause. 20:26.23 vigorbranding Um, yeah. 20:28.36 Chef Troy Guard Covid wasn't anyone's doing you know, come down on me if I don't pay the rent because I'm not being successful but you can't get mad at me for Covid you know what? I mean? yeah. 20:39.20 vigorbranding That's right, Yeah, it's really tough, especially when we're all in it together. Um I Also love the idea that you you took the It's a really difficult move to to shrink by design you know, ah for those that have ever gotten a haircut they call it a health cut. You know you chop back a couple inches because you need to grow longer. 20:56.25 Chef Troy Guard Yep. 20:56.34 vigorbranding Um, but so often I see um what ah I would consider tag a hospitality group hospitality groups. They with good reason are absolutely enamored with creating new Concepts I'm enamored with creating new Concepts which is why I started vigor as a branding agency I Love creating new Concepts but with each one of those. 20:59.60 Chef Troy Guard Yeah. Yeah. 21:11.53 Chef Troy Guard Um, it's awesome. Yeah. 21:14.94 vigorbranding You have you have to have your own marketing budget. You have to have unique processes because you kind of stem from the same hub but still like you have to make it unique like ksad diaz as you said earlier are not the same mistakes and all of that. So how have you wrangled that together. How have you ensured that when you do create a new concept. Um, it is coming from that same heart the Ohhanna heart. But. 21:21.96 Chef Troy Guard You hope. 21:32.55 Chef Troy Guard Um, yeah, you know it's it's everything is challenging but what I've learned and it took me a while to learn again is no matter what business we're in. It's about the people. 21:34.54 vigorbranding Manifests effectively. 21:49.38 vigorbranding Um, yeah. 21:51.32 Chef Troy Guard We all have to work together for the common goal. So I'm a very creative guy. That's why imagination is 1 of our core values and I like to create it. But then I got to the point I think where it's like all right now. Let's focus. On some of these great creative concepts that I've come up with and and our employees embraced it and made it awesome now. Let's take some of those they were all awesome for different reasons but tag was me it was chef driven. Um. I couldn't I mean I could duplicate it but not really that was that was everything of me my my heart my sleeve my tears everything and everyone that worked there made it amazing but without tag I couldn't have done these other concepts and so growing growing the. The tag it and getting back to your question I got off but going from 8 concepts or 16 restaurants down covid let us do that I I looked at covid as they gave us lemons I'm in lemonade right? so. 22:51.12 vigorbranding No your front. Yeah. 23:06.90 Chef Troy Guard Um, we reassessed what we were doing. We're all moving so fast that we forgot to step back and really take a look at what we had and so I could have kept tag open I could have kept tag Burger bar open I could have kept a lot of things open. But. 23:19.11 vigorbranding Um. 23:25.33 Chef Troy Guard I said let's take the four best like I worked for Roy Yamaguchi he only opened 1 restaurant for 2030 years now he's branching out and doing 3 4 or 5 different concepts. We I did it differently I branched out first. He didn't um, but that's where I learned a lot working with him growing. Not being able to be in 1 spot all the time. Ah and bringing the culture to each environment. That's what's going to make it special because everybody can make mistakes how are we going to make ours more special. It's I feel. It's with our people. 24:01.68 vigorbranding Yeah, so that's that's a good point. We you mentioned like the multiple footprints so um, creating new Concepts that are evocative of the area or this unique brand moment. Um, again, a lot of fun and you see a lot of hospitality groups that do just that. Um. 24:04.50 Chef Troy Guard Um, oh. 24:17.75 vigorbranding But when you start to go multi-unit. There are the optimizations that you mentioned but a new challenge arises which is how do you prevent it feeling going to use the C word like a chain you know which can have really you know it basically feels devalued. It's like oh well this is. 24:28.40 Chef Troy Guard Yeah, yeah, yeah. 24:36.30 vigorbranding This is also in Denver. It's also in l a it's also blah blah blah. So it's not unique to my neighborhood. How do you? How do you ah work around that. 24:38.71 Chef Troy Guard Right? But yeah I think when I was younger and more cocky I thought chains chains sounded terrible but as I've gotten older I think chains can be good. Um. The consistency the product, the culture. So um, let's just say let's pick a che maybe wolfgang puck or something. He's a chain but I know when I hear and see that name I have a certain quality or. Um, it's going to be a certain value to me even Mcdonald's I mean everyone says they don't like it but it's consistent I don't I don't eat it a lot but I have kids and of course I go to Mcdonald's but at least you know what you're getting and that's what I appreciate about chains is the consistency but you. 25:31.23 vigorbranding And. 25:34.50 Chef Troy Guard You have to be careful because then I see them cutting um, cutting standards or cutting things that made them that great right? So um, we never cut on. 25:42.27 vigorbranding Um, yep. 25:49.65 Chef Troy Guard The value of the plate the product I'm not going to buy a cheaper fillet mignon or a cheaper chicken just to make more money I'm going to try to give the best product I can a best value and we know how much everything has gone up since Covid to so it's been very challenging and in a delicate process to. 26:02.80 vigorbranding Yeah. 26:08.98 Chef Troy Guard I can't just up the menus all the time. What we do is we up it a little bit but we then work on something else on the p and l that we have to get better at whether it's instead of Joe's Joseph's coming in at one o'clock every day we're going to bring you at 151 and if you do that with 50 employees that adds up a lot. Okay, so you losing a few minutes here and there we're going to make it up another way. So um, and how we make it up is we put a service charge on on our checks for three point 5. 26:30.79 vigorbranding Um, yeah. 26:44.89 Chef Troy Guard And 60% goes to the house which myself to offset and everything right? So I don't have to raise the prices and we know like chemicals and gloves and everything just went up and then 40% we gave to the back of the house. Um because they needed a little bit more. 26:49.10 vigorbranding Um, yeah. 27:02.38 Chef Troy Guard The front of the house got it because when we raise our prices they get more tips. So um I think it worked out really really well that way. 27:08.65 vigorbranding Yeah I love that I think those those little changes can have such a big impact I think people forget that because they think everything has to be cataclysmic these monumental shifts to make monumental change and it's like no actually just little habits little. 27:17.39 Chef Troy Guard Right. 27:24.40 vigorbranding Little turning of the knob that doesn't devalue. It only increases value like all those things. It's good to hear that as a reminder for those that knew it but forgot it and it's good for those that don't know it to hear it. It's like actually it's just usually in the details. You know as they say um. 27:32.59 Chef Troy Guard Um, yep. 27:37.86 Chef Troy Guard Correct yep and I love looking at numbers before I was just food food food and I didn't care about the numbers. But you know like I said at tag if I didn't know the numbers. We're gonna fail just like I ask everyone. You know what's in your bank account. Of course you do so you got to know the restaurant too. What are your numbers. How much food am I bringing in today. How much if I bring in a hundred dollars worth of food. What do I need to do in gas per um, you know ppa and things like that. So um. 28:15.10 Chef Troy Guard I like to think we're tag university too. We we sit down once a month and go over the p and ls we sit down once a week and have manager meetings we sit down once a quarter with every manager in our restaurant group and we even fly them up from Houston so we're all together. As an ohna and working together like hey, how'd you get 20% man I keep getting 25. Let's connect and figure out the best way you know? So um, yeah, it's it's fun. It's cool and we have to. We have to take care of the guest but we also have to see all the other things that go on in the restaurant light bulbs. Why is the restaurant. This is a but 1 for me, we open at 5 but every light in the restaurant is is on at Nine Zero a m when everyone comes in like we don't need that it sounds silly. 29:09.30 vigorbranding Um, yeah, no, no, it does it. 29:10.81 Chef Troy Guard But every little thing every little thing adds up I'm a big stickler on um, the environment and waste like you should see like these are your papers that I printed out but later on I'm going to use it on this side. 29:24.56 vigorbranding Right. 29:26.62 Chef Troy Guard And anybody that has to print something we use recycled papers. So it takes an extra second to do what's right? And that's what we try to do? yeah. 29:34.83 vigorbranding Yeah I love that no the lights thing cracks me up because I'm in an I'm in an ongoing battle with the misses on that and I think every day I sing Teddy Pendergrass to her like turn off the lights especially during the day I'm like we we have beautiful windows we have plenty of light. 29:45.93 Chef Troy Guard Yeah, yeah I like it right I Love it exactly Yes I love it. You know. 29:53.95 vigorbranding Like you know and it's not that I'm a cheap case. It's just like but but why like you know it's better for you. Natural light is better for you anyway. 30:03.77 Chef Troy Guard Think our society gets a bad rap like everybody I feel needs a little love right now. Everyone's complaining or angry about stuff and we got to help the environment too and I have my four eight year olds and 13 year old like we're we're somewhere like dad look at that trash and they'll pick it up because. We've worked together to learn that stuff and we got to make the environment a better place. So so. 30:22.54 vigorbranding Yeah, absolutely love it. What what's next for you and tag restaurant group. What what can you tell me like get us excited about the rest of the year in 2024 yeah yeah 30:35.11 Chef Troy Guard Yes, 2023 is already flying by right? It's going to be April first in just a few days. Um, we've been working really hard with during covid so um, like I said we took a step back to reassess everything. And really focused on um, the foundation. Our people um making sure our recipes our daily duties all that kind of stuff and now we're ramped up to really hit it hard. So. We signed the deal a few days ah or a month ago to open our second hashtag we're working right now on 2 more hashtags that'll be open 24 probably we want to open 4 more hashtags in 2 years We're working on a garden grace. Um, possibly. In Dallas or another city right now we're we're in negotiation so that'll be hopefully next year and the boobooos and lo are gonna wait ah wait lo she is a boobo are gonna wait another year while we focus on these 2 but we're still working on those in the background but those are the 2 that we're going to focus on first and then we're going to um, spend more time on the quick casual boobo and we call badass mexican los chingones. 31:57.10 vigorbranding Oh yeah, absolutely lot I'm very familiar with Los Chiing goess. Um, we ah so when when I owned vigor we profiled that very heavily because we opened and created my neighbor Felix believe it or not yeah so yeah, so I'm good friends with the. 32:01.90 Chef Troy Guard 2 32:11.12 Chef Troy Guard Oh right on cool francois all hose is Jose is Jose up felix still okay, yeah, but he was there a long time. Yeah, he's cool. 32:16.16 vigorbranding Chef ah jose ah I love fran while I won't say we're friends but I don't think so no, he's he's stepped away but ah, really good friends with Jose yeah, he's great guy. Um, anyway, so next time I get to Denver I'll have to see you. 32:29.51 Chef Troy Guard Um, right on. 32:31.10 vigorbranding Ah, final question worst question in my opinion because it's so tough to answer but I will make you answer it if you had 1 final meal. What would you eat and where and why. 32:40.86 Chef Troy Guard Nice. That's a great question. Hopefully it's not for a long long time. So I haven't really thought about it. But my favorite thing is ah a grilled ribye steak. On charcoal because ah, growing up literally we ate on a grill five 6 days a week. My dad would barbecue something fish meat. Whatever and it'd probably be some type of rice I ate rice every single day. I like a little bit of teriaki sauce and butter drizzled over that nice steak when it comes out and I love what? What first time I went to Hong Kong like the way they cooked vegetables blew me away I always thought you know you got vegetables and you throw them in the saute pan and you cook them. They blanched everything or steamed everything and the color came out so bright. All that chlorophyll. So I love choice some I like crunchy vegetables and it's like a chinese broccoli. Um, maybe a little bit of kimchi or some hawaiian pokey and I'm a. 33:31.43 vigorbranding Um. 33:46.90 Chef Troy Guard Cours like guys simple and I would do that and I would probably have to do it on the ocean in Hawaii right. 33:53.28 vigorbranding Absolutely love it Man That's a fantastic answer. Um, thanks for being such an open book and generous with your time. A lot of insights in here I can't thank you enough. So best of luck to you in the future. 34:04.58 Chef Troy Guard Yeah, thanks for having me Joseph I can't wait to ah continue to listen to your podcast man. 34:08.17 vigorbranding Thanks.

Will Knox is "Mr. Restaurant." He's back, and boy does he deliver! In this episode, Will interviews the legendary Chef, Michael McCarty, owner of the ICONIC Santa Monica Restaurant "Michael's." Chef Michael CREATED the Californian Cuisine menu trend that so many have tried to emulate. Michael's kitchen has been ground zero training for the best-known chefs in the world. His restaurant in New York City, also called Michael's, is comparatively youthful at a mere 30 years old. Michael's served as the springboard for an uncanny number of celebrity L.A. chefs: Jonathan Waxman, Mark Peel, Nancy Silverton, Roy Yamaguchi, Sang Yoon, Ken Frank, and Brooke Williamson all got their start here. You don't want to miss this episode by Will Knox, Mr. Restaurant! Michael's Website Santa Monica - http://www.michaelssantamonica.com Michadl's Website New York - https://www.michaelsnewyork.com On Social - Follow Michael's! Michael's on Instagram - @michaelssantamonica Michael's on Facebook -https://www.facebook.com/michaelssantamonica/ On Twitter -https://twitter.com/msantamonica

Jason Evans of SilverShark Media speaks to Isaac Bancaco, Executive Chef at Pacific'o on the Beach.  In this podcast Isaac talks about his early culinary influences, how he decided to pursue a career in the culinary industry, working with highly regarded chefs like Ming Tsai & Roy Yamaguchi, his experience being on Iron Chef on the Food Network, what brought him back to Maui, the importance of consistency for a restaurant, the process of designing a menu, working with owners Louis Coloumbe and Michele & Qiana DiBari, winning the Aipono Chef of the Year award in 2014, traits he admires in fellow chef of the year winners and peers Kyle Kawakami/Perry Bateman/Jeff Scheer/Sheldon Simeon, working through the industry impacts of the pandemic, and what to expect at Pacific'o including details on a few of his favorite dishes.

The future of seafood might be in San Diego. Not in Point Loma or Oceanside, but in a bioengineering facility in Sorrento Valley. From a single cell, BlueNalu is growing toro—bluefin tuna belly, the prize delicacy of most high-end sushi—in a perfectly hygienic bioreactor that looks like the giant stainless steel structures in the city's top breweries. Their goal is creating world-class seafood without the need for fish. In turn, transforming a limited and unpredictable resource (seafood) into an unlimited and predictable one. Today on HHH, we talk to CEO Lou Cooperhouse. It's part of our month-long focus on people in San Diego doing inspiring work in the green space (our “Environment Issue” of San Diego Mag is out now). “The issue today is that wild-capture fisheries in general have been flat for decades, but bluefin tuna is such a loved, prized product that we all really enjoy,” says Cooperhouse. “It's the wagyu of the sea. That's what BlueNalu is all about—high-sensory, culinary quality seafood. But really making this delicious and accessible to all. Because right now it's loved, but it's not available to all.” It's not a fly by night thing. BlueNalu has been funded to the tune of $84 million so far—most of that raised by Bloom8, an investment group focused on raising money for businesses that, if we're wide brushing, are focused on saving the planet. The long list of BlueNalu investors includes chefs and celebrities (Roy Yamaguchi, DJ Axwell of Swedish House Mafia) and some of the biggest names in the global business (Sumitomo from Japan, Griffith Foods). Entire countries and governments across the world have their eye on BlueNalu's toro. What BlueNalu does is called cell-cultured seafood. Biologists and bioengineers have learned how to grow the meat—real meat, grown from a real, non-GMO cell from a real fish, using only natural ingredients—without the fish itself. What years ago seemed like a dystopian future joke—”lab grown meat”—is looking more and more like a very real and good option. It's the fascinating story of modern technology and science trying to solve a major global dilemma (feeding a planet while not depleting the oceans of seafood). This science has been around since 2103 (hamburger, grown in a Dutch lab by Mark Post). But until now no one's been able to scale it—make it fast enough and affordable enough to be a viable option. BlueNalu and their investors think they've done it. There is plenty of work ahead of them, including approval from the FDA (cell-cultured proteins are currently not approved in the US—Singapore is the only country in the world to approve them so far). It's a massive, growing industry, with major players backed by the biggest pockets in the world, and various celebrities (Leonardo DiCaprio is behind Mosa Meat). BlueNalu thinks they're a couple years away from being on menu at restaurants across the world. Of course there are questions. Will it taste the same? Can they make it affordable enough to help people of all socioeconomic strata (a pound of cell-cultured seafood costs significantly more than wild-caught seafood)? What is their own environmental footprint? And how will it impact the fishing families and industry? For Two People Fifty Bucks, David takes back his “no good lasagna in San Diego” remarks after trying Alexander's on 30th; sticking with the theme Troy says you should sit on the patio and order the baked rigatoni and baked brie with garlic at their parent restaurant, Old Venice; and Lou raves about the A5 Wagyu at Animae—unsurprising for a man whose future lies in the wagyu of the sea. See you all next week.

Jon Matsubara is a famous chef here in the islands. He is the creator of the original "Hawaii Lobster Roll," and talks to Jon and Devon about working for Roy Yamaguchi and Alan Wong, living in New York, and doing business during the pandemic. Find Jon on Insta: @feast808 Find Kyle's designs here: https://www.hilifeclothing.com/ Find Devon Nekoba here: https://kumu.com/ Find Jon here: https://www.teamyamasato.com/ Visit Kupukupu Landscaping: https://www.kupukupulandscaping.com/ Love watching HI*Sessions? Well, now you can join our Patreon community and directly impact our ability to continue making great videos like this one. For as little as $1/mo. you'll get early access to our content as well as cool exclusive stuff for the Patreon community. Visit http://www.patreon.com/hisessions and sign up today! Make sure you subscribe to get notified when we release new videos! Follow HI*Sessions: http://hisessions.com http://www.facebook.com/hisessions http://twitter.com/hisessions

The Eating House 1849 pays homage to Hawaii's vibrant culinary heritage, using what was available from local farmers, ranchers, foragers and fishermen. It's here that award-winning Chef Roy Yamaguchi blends these two worlds: the easy ambiance and simple flavors of a plantation town with bold modern cuisine.

Now the Executive Chef of the HFWF. The host for this show is Jay Fidell. The guest is Colin Hazama. The Hawai‘i Food & Wine Festival has announced the appointment of Chef Colin Hazama as its new Executive Chef. HFWF was founded by two notable Hawai‘i chefs—Chef Roy Yamaguchi & Chef Alan Wong—to promote Hawai‘i's local culinary talent and agricultural bounty. Born and raised in Hawai‘i, Colin Hazama has cooked in fine dining from San Francisco to Hawaii, as well as leading Waikiki's landmark Royal Hawaiian hotel. A James Beard nominee for Rising Star Chef in 2010, he was named in PBN's Forty Under 40 in 2015 and awarded the 2018 Chef/Restaurateur of the Year by the HLTA. The ThinkTech YouTube Playlist for this show is https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQpkwcNJny6mAjbhHpq-LyAm9pcuN3zJ Please visit our ThinkTech website at https://thinktechhawaii.com and see our Think Tech Advisories at https://thinktechadvisories.blogspot.com.

At the turn of the century, Rocco DiSpirito and Troy Guard were both executive chefs in New York City. DiSpirito was turning heads at the adventuresome Union Pacific, and Guard was cooking his interpretation of Roy Yamaguchi’s Asian-fusion cuisine at Roy’s restaurant at the World Financial Center. Their careers took different paths. DiSpirito went on to be a cookbook author and TV personality, among other ventures, and Guard built an empire of restaurants based in Denver that currently includes Guard and Grace, a steakhouse with locations in Denver and Houston, TAG Burger Bar, Big Wave Taco, a fast-casual concept called Bubu, a gastropub called FNG, a breakfast place called HashTAG and a five-unit Mexican concept, Los Chingones. Thanks in part to the machinations of entrepreneur James Park, currently the CEO of Korean wing concept WingWok in Denver and operating partner of the venture-capital Savory Fund, but also involved with projects with Guard and DiSpirito, the two chefs are collaborating on a couple of charity dinners in the Mile High City next week. On June 14 they will do a dinner at the RiNo location of Los Chingones, with proceeds going to We Don’t Waste, which works to reduce hunger and as well as food waste in Denver. And then on June 15 they’ll be at Guard & Grace to raise money for victims of the Marshall Fire that devastated Boulder County at the beginning of the year. The two chefs recently discussed their plans for the dinner, as well as DiSpirito’s upcoming book.

In today's episode, I talk to Honolulu native, Chef Chris Kajioka. His French-Japanese inspired restaurant Miro Kaimuki and his more casual concept Papa Kurt's have quickly become popular local institutions in Hawaii.  You'll hear him share his passion for Japan, his experience attending the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, and what it was like coming up next to some of the greatest chefs in the business. He shares his unique Japanese-Hawaiian culinary influences and reveals his favorite food spots in Honolulu. What we learned from chef Chris Kajioka Where the name Miro Kaimuki originated (3:11) The concept behind the menu (4:49) His experience in culinary school (5:56) Why the discipline at CIA was good for him (7:37) Why he prefers to hire cooks with no experience (9:03) What it's like to work with Thomas Keller (10:57) The important role Roy Yamaguchi played in his career (13:22) The city he can't stop returning to (18:08) The Japanese influences in his food (18:28) The flavors he's infusing with his Dashi (19:39) Why the menu at Miro is vague (21:51) Where to find the “best” bread in the country (22:55) A peek into his creative process (24:14) What makes Hawaiian food stand out (25:55) Why ingredients matter (26:47) Why technique wins over creativity (27:20) The list that shaped his career (30:29) What longevity can teach you (31:26) The challenges he faced during the pandemic (33:33) Where the name Papa Kurt's comes from (35:33) The secret ingredient that gives their mayo a punch of flavor (38:05) A restaurant tour of Honolulu (38:58) His kitchen pet peeve (43:24) A goal he's aiming for one day (44:08) Series of rapid-fire questions. Link to the podcast episode on Apple Podcast  Links to other episodes in Hawaii Interview with chef Sheldon Simeon Conversation with chef Roy Yamaguchi Conversation with chef Jean-Marie Josselin in Kauai #gallery-1 { margin: auto; } #gallery-1 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 25%; } #gallery-1 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-1 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */ Ahi Brioche/ Taro Paillasson with aged maple, Kaluga caviar by chef Chris Kajioka Kusshi Oyster, seaweed mignonette by chef Chris Kajioka Panisse Spanish octopus. saffron. by chef Chris Kajioka Butternut squash. black sesame. urfa. golden raisin, and sourdough. salted butter. “za'atar” at Miro Click to tweet The older I get, the more I'm inspired by Japan. I'm Japanese and I've been traveling there now off and on for about eight years, pretty religiously.
 Click To Tweet I always think that the only time that you really grow is when you're uncomfortable.
 Click To Tweet I hire on attitude. And that's pretty much it. We can teach people the basics, we can teach them skills. You can't teach a good attitude.
 Click To Tweet The way we print our menu is very vague. Normally we just state a protein and a few flavor profiles. It doesn't lock us into a specific ingredient necessarily. If a farmer grows only so much, then that's what we'll use, and then we'll change it. That flexibility is really what has made the restaurant a little bit more dynamic.
 Click To Tweet If you don't start with good ingredients, no matter what you do to it, it's not going to work out.
 Click To Tweet This generation wants instant gratification. They want to work in five different places in five years, and then open their own restaurant when they're 26. You're building a resume, but you're not really becoming a good cook. Click To Tweet Social media Chef Chris Kajioka Instagram Facebook

Chef Roy Yamaguchi knows it takes great people to make great food. The celebrity chef and multiple restaurant owner found success by focusing on his belief in creating a culture of warmth and hospitality. The focus of Roy's food empire is on a foundational question: What can you do for people today that's above and beyond?  WHAT DID YOU LEARN on Restaurant Influencers, sponsored by Toast (@Toasttab)? Please subscribe and leave a review. https://restaurantinfluencers.media

Chef Roy Yamaguchi knows it takes great people to make great food. The celebrity chef and multiple restaurant owner found success by focusing on his belief in creating a culture of warmth and hospitality. The focus of Roy's food empire is on a foundational question: What can you do for people today that's above and beyond?  WHAT DID YOU LEARN on Restaurant Influencers, sponsored by Toast (@Toasttab)? Please subscribe and leave a review.

Make sure to follow the show so you don't miss upcoming episodes!Past guests on Guy Kawasaki's Remarkable People Podcast: Dr. Jane Goodall, Salesforce CEO Mark Benioff, Netflix's Dream Home Makeover stars Shea and Syd  McGee of McGee Studios, Daniel Pink, Tiny Habit's author BJ Fogg, Dave Evans author of Designing your Life, The Artist's Way author Julia Cameron, Entrepreneur and host of Smart Passive Income PAT FLYNN, Seth Godin, Hollywood director Jon M. Chu, indie author Hugh Howey, Rich Benoit of Rich Rebuilds, Dr. Robert Cialdini, Mark Manson, Martha Stewart, Brandi Chastain, Star of Netflix's Skin Decision Dr. Sheila Nazarian, Luvvie Ajayi Jones, Dr. Sinan Aral, Scott Galloway, Canva CEO Melanie Perkins, iJustine, Kristi Yamaguchi, Chef Roy Yamaguchi, Celebrity Chef Andrew Zimmern, Gary Vaynerchuk, Sir Ken Robinson, Steve WOZ Wozniak, Ariana Huffington, Wee Man of Jack Ass fame, Margaret Atwood, Stephan Wolfram, Dr. Phil Zimbardo The Stanford Prison Experiment, and new remarkable people each Wednesday!

Make sure to follow the show so you don't miss upcoming episodes!Past guests on Guy Kawasaki's Remarkable People Podcast: Dr. Jane Goodall, Salesforce CEO Mark Benioff, Netflix's Dream Home Makeover stars Shea and Syd  McGee of McGee Studios, Tiny Habit's author BJ Fogg, Dave Evans author of Designing your Life, The Artist's Way author Julia Cameron, Entrepreneur and host of Smart Passive Income PAT FLYNN, Seth Godin, Hollywood director Jon M. Chu, indie author Hugh Howey, Rich Benoit of Rich Rebuilds, Dr. Robert Cialdini, Mark Manson, Martha Stewart, Brandi Chastain, Star of Netflix's Skin Decision Dr. Sheila Nazarian, Luvvie Ajayi Jones, Dr. Sinan Aral, Scott Galloway, Canva CEO Melanie Perkins, iJustine, Kristi Yamaguchi, Chef Roy Yamaguchi, Celebrity Chef Andrew Zimmern, Gary Vaynerchuk, Sir Ken Robinson, Steve WOZ Wozniak, Ariana Huffington, Wee Man of Jack Ass fame, Margaret Atwood, Stephan Wolfram, Dr. Phil Zimbardo The Stanford Prison Experiment, and new remarkable people each Wednesday!

On today's episode, Andy shares with us the honor of sitting down with renowned chef Roy Yamaguchi, as he shares his story. Roy shares his experiences from coming to the United States for the first time to attend culinary school, starting his first restaurant in Los Angeles, and finally creating Roy's in Hawaii. Listen in as Roy shares with Andy, as well as the rest of us, his passion, his mission, and his hopes for the future. Show Highlights: How HomeEc sparked Roy's culinary path The moment he decided to commit to cooking and pursue Culinary school in America Roy shares his first experience of New York compared to living in Japan The reason Roy went with his gut on opening his restaurant in Hawaii, when everyone told him not to What Roy took away from Cheers and the influence that played in creating his restaurant Roy shares the value of having a team and the importance of everyone having a voice Why sometimes you've got to let ideas marinate The difference in what makes a great Chef versus what makes a great Cook How social media has helped Roy personalize his guests' dining experience How Roy manages to balance his work and personal life Resources: Roy Yamaguchi Roy's Story Roy's Fish & Seafood Cookbook Roy's Feasts from Hawaii Cookbook Roy's Hawaii Cooks Cookbook Roy's Twitter Roy's Facebook       

Garrett Mukogawa began his culinary career at Citrus in Hollywood under the tutelage of Chef Michel Richard while he attended the CSCA Culinary School in Pasadena California. He then ventured out to Maui to complete his culinary schooling by attending an internship at Roy's Kahana Bar & Grill. Upon finishing his internship he was asked to remain on staff, thus beginning his Roy's career. After 5 years in Maui Garrett then did a short stint at Canlis in Seattle Washington. Upon returning to California he returned to Roy's and joined Roy's La Jolla where he spent the next 5 years in the San Diego area. Garrett then transferred up to the Roy's Downtown Los Angeles where he spent a little over a year at the helm. After his time at the LA Roy's Garrett wanted to add even more to his repertoire and worked under Italian Chef Celestino Drago at his Enoteca Drago location in Beverly Hills. Garrett then returned to his roots and joined the Roy's Hawaii team. Where he is now the Corporate Chef for all of Roy Yamaguchi concepts in Hawaii. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FOLLOW US ON Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wherehawaiieats/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wherehawaiieats/ #csca #culinary #roys #RoyYamaguchi

Troy Guard has been contributing to Denver’s culinary scene for decades, and for the past 12 years, since he opened TAG restaurant in the city’s Larimer Square, he has been his own boss. His empire has grown to include Guard and Grace, a steakhouse with locations in Denver and Houston, TAG Burger Bar, Big Wave Taco, a fast-casual concept called Bubu, a gastropub called FNG, a breakfast place called HashTAG and a Mexican concept, Los Chingones, which opened its fifth location about 60 miles north of Denver in Fort Collins, Colo., in June. He’s also working on a food hall where he’ll be brewing his own beer and serving Sicilian pizza and upscale hamburgers, among other things, as well as Tiny Giant Sushi in Denver’s Highlands neighborhood (which has opened since this interview was conducted). Raised in Hawaii, Guard was mentored for many years by chef and restaurateur Roy Yamaguchi, getting his first executive chef job at the turn of the century at Roy’s World Financial Center in New York City. That restaurant failed to thrive and he ultimately resettled in Denver, working for chef and restaurateur Richard Sandoval before striking out on his own. The past year-and-a-half has been hard for Guard just as it has for everyone else. Before the pandemic he had 623 employees; now he has 225. He closed his flagship restaurant, TAG, for many reasons, including to redeploy his staff to different restaurants, and put FNG on pause to regroup the staff and reconceptualize the kitchen. Guard recently discussed how he has coped with all the changes, how he keeps his staff excited, and what his plans are for the future. “Everyone loves to eat out but no one wants to work in [restaurants] anymore,” he said. “We’ve got to keep it fun and exciting.”

Host Anne Lee heads over to Roy Yamaguchi's flagship restaurant, Roy's Hawaii Kai, and enjoys a delicious meal made by the renowned Chef Roy Yamaguchi himself. Then she indulges in a traditional Kaiseki meal at Nanzan Giro Giro with Owner of Wilson Home Care, Shelley Wilson. Chef Yoshi serves up a unique kaiseki meal. The dishes are artfully prepared, using seasonal ingredients. They may appear small, but the meal consists of six or nine courses. It is a true culinary experience. Culinary pioneer and Roy's founder Roy Yamaguchi was born in Tokyo. It was while visiting his grandparents on Maui that he had his first taste of seafood bought fresh at seaside piers — fond memories that would shape his future career. At 19, he graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in New York as a master chef and moved to Los Angeles where he served as executive chef at La Serene. After gaining invaluable experience in LA, Roy decided it was time to head closer to his roots. He moved to Hawaii and opened the first Roy's in 1988 in Hawaii Kai, O'ahu. He has since opened 10 different restaurants across O'ahu, Maui, Kauai, and Big Island. Roy Yamaguchi is regarded as an international culinary visionary and the creator of Hawaiian fusion cuisine. His numerous accolades include the prestigious James Beard Award. Roy has also hosted six seasons of the television show "Hawaii Cooks with Roy Yamaguchi," seen in more than 60 countries, and has published three cookbooks. For more information on featured guests and restaurants, visit wherehawaiieats.com.

Underground Tel-Aviv Stands For Quality Music Only! Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/underground.telaviv/ Follow us on FaceBook: www.facebook.com/UndergroundTelAviv 'All Starts' is the 1st release on Maccabi House, including 7 tracks by the label's favourite artists plus new promising names to follow. Tracklist: 1. Roy Yamaguchi - Renne 2. Millero - Ketema 3. Mita Gami,Mosko - Come Say Love 4. Rene - Star Trek 5. Dor Danino - Lieverd 6. Danya _ Lit - Acitate 7. Rina - Time Files Release Date: August 20th, 2021. Label: Maccabi House. Pre-Order: https://www.beatport.com/release/all-stars-01/3432017 Follow Roy Yamaguchi: https://soundcloud.com/user-975555579 Like Roy Yamaguchi: https://www.facebook.com/roy.yamaguchi.5 Follow Roy Yamaguchi On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/royyamaguchi/ Follow Maccabi House: https://soundcloud.com/maccabihouse Like Maccabi House: https://www.facebook.com/maccabihouse Follow Maccabi House On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maccabihouse/

Katie Chin is a celebrity chef, award-winning cookbook author, spokesperson, food blogger and the Culinary Ambassador to the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation. Katie has had a cooking show called “Double Happiness” with her mother Leeann, has appeared on TV shows like “The Real” and “The Today Show,” and written five cookbooks including her latest — “Katie Chin's Global Family Cookbook” filled with internationally-inspired recipes your friends and family will love.    Read more about Katie Chin. Learn more about The Passionistas Project. Full Transcript: Passionistas: Hi, and welcome to the Passionistas Project Podcast, where we talk with women who are following their passions to inspire you to do the same. We're Amy and Nancy Harrington. And today we're talking with Katie Chin, a celebrity chef award-winning cookbook, author spokesperson, food blogger, and the culinary ambassador to the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation. Katie has had a cooking show called "Double Happiness" with her mother Leeann, has appeared on TV shows like "The Real" and "The Today Show" and written five cookbooks, including her latest "Katie Chin's Global Family Cookbook" filled with internationally inspired recipes your family and friends will love. So please welcome to the show Katie Chin. Katie: Hi everyone. Passionistas: Thanks so much for being here today, Katie, we're thrilled to have you. What's the one thing you're most passionate about? Katie: The one thing I'm most passionate about is honoring my mother's culinary legacy, because everything I know about life in cooking, I learned in the kitchen from her. Passionistas: Talk about how you came to that place, where you wanted to honor her legacy through food. Katie: We have to go all the way back to 1956. When my mother immigrated from China, from Guan Jo China, to Minneapolis, Minnesota of all places, she didn't speak any English. She was making 50 cents an hour as a senior. But she always loved to cook. She couldn't even find fresh ginger at the market at the time, but she improvised. She grew bok choy in our garden and somehow whipped up these gourmet Chinese stir fries. Even though our family had no money. One day, she decided to throw a luncheon for some sewing clients in the 1970s. And they were blown away by her cuisine because back in the day, they only had to chop suey each domain and they had never tasted authentic Chinese cooking. So, they encouraged her to start teaching classes to cater. And one thing led to another, she became very popular as a caterer, but bear in mind, she didn't even have a car. She had to take the bus. Okay. But her popularity continued to soar. And one day she hooked up with a socialite and the socialite wanted to open a restaurant with my mother. So, the socialite happened to be friends with the owner of the Minnesota twins and the owner of the Minnesota twins was friends with Sean Connery. What like that's crazy. So, what happened is Robert Redford was in town, directing ordinary people in Minneapolis and Sean Connery came to visit. And somebody threw a party and my mom was catering it. So, both Robert Redford and Sean Connery were at this party and I served them dumplings. Okay. I was a little girl, but I served the dump legs and my knees were buckling and I'm like, ah, anyway, Sean Connery decides to invest in my mom's restaurant too, which is unbelievable right in Minneapolis. Oh my God. And so, once word got out that Sean Connery w seven was investing in my mom's restaurant. There were lines around the block and it was quite a quite elegant restaurant. She opened more and more restaurants. Now I'm in high school at the time. And I barely saw my mom. She literally was sleeping on the cats. She worked so hard, but she opened more restaurants and more restaurants. And by the late eighties, my mother had over 30 years. So general mills, uh, bought my mother's company and made her head of this division, this restaurant division at general mills. Now bear in mind. My mother never even went to high school and had been making 50 cents an hour as a senior. So, it was a remarkable story, really, for anybody, any woman, any minority, but really anyone with a dream, but she was also quite philanthropic. She served on several boards. She was on the board of the Minnesota Vikings and the Minnesota twins, but had never even been to a game. She spoke on the steps of the white house. She met the Clintons, just unbelievable, but she became this huge star. Anyway, she ended up buying it back cause she didn't like what they were doing to her food. And she went on to create a chain with over 50 locations, which still exists. Our family's not affiliated anymore, but it's called Leeann Chin. Okay. So, I grew up working in my mom's catering business in our tiny basement in Minnesota. And while all the other kids for ice skating or at the mall, we were frying chicken pieces gritting our teeth, but we knew something magical was happening to her. I just vowed to never work in the food business and to get the hell out of Minnesota, it was freezing cold, no offense to Norwegians or Swedish people, but there was, it was not diverse at the time. We were like the only Asian family for miles. So anyway, I left, I went to school in Boston. You guys, I went to BU actually, and then I moved to LA and worked in the entertainment industry for 14 years. And I was just so busy if I had forgotten how to cook. And while I thought I was making my mother proud. I had actually done the opposite because I had forgotten how to cook. And I think because in so many Chinese American families, you're supposed to become a doctor, a lawyer, a professor, and all my siblings are those things. And I did something that was so radically different. It forced me to work even harder to be successful. So, they wouldn't worry about me, even though they had no idea what I did. So anyway, long story short, I decided to throw a dinner party one night. I kept calling my mom asking her questions because I forgot how to do everything. And she was like, this is ridiculous. So, she got on a plane with frozen lemon chicken. She showed up on my doorstep. She cooked the whole meal, but she let everyone think that I had cooked it because she was just that kind of mom. So meanwhile, she opened my fridge and found only champagne and yogurt, completely mortified. And she set out to teach me how to cook again. So, she kept flying to LA and teaching me and my friends how to cook. And they're like, oh my God, you guys make this look so easy. You should do a book together. And I was like, we should do a book together. So, I got us a book deal, but then I realized that I was lacking. Passion and meaning in my life, even though my career was very good to me, I was in a very unhappy marriage. So, I just decided to completely change my life. And I quit my job as a senior VP at Fox. And I left my husband on the same month. Now I don't recommend doing all those things in one month's time, but first of all, I didn't have kids. So, I felt like I had the luxury to do so. And I also felt like, if not now, then when like life is social. So, I just did a complete 180 and she and I came together. We did the book together. We had a catering business together called double happiness. We had a show on PBS together called double happiness as well, which was a mother daughter cultural cooking show, but she hated to be on TV. So, she really focused on the cooking. So, I had to do most of the talking, so I'd go. Okay. So, if you don't have Asian hot sauce, you could use Mexican hot sauce right now and she'd go. No. So she was hilarious without trying to be hilarious. She was totally the straight man, but so funny and charming because of it. But anyway, we had lots of wonderful culinary adventures together, going to China for the food network and going on the today show a bunch of times it was truly a gift because finally coming together as adults, she opened up to me and told me a lot about her life in China and all of the hardships she endured. Passionistas: Tell us a little bit about your entertainment industry career. What did you do? And did you have a passion for it in the beginning? Katie: I just fell into it. I wanted to move to New York city and work in advertising like that girl. That was my dream. I wanted to be Marla Thomas, but what happened is I was, my boyfriend went to school at brown. So, I was working at a radio station and Providence, and the Warner brothers rep walked in. And we started chatting and being from Minneapolis, I didn't know anything about the entertainment industry. So, he was like, oh yeah, I represent Warner brothers and bubble lives. Like, why don't you comment for me? And I'm like, what people get paid to do that. So anyway, I was the on-campus rep for Warner brothers, and then I moved to LA and I do, you know, Nancy Kirkpatrick, Amy? Yes. Yeah. So Nancy was my boss when I worked for Warner brothers in college. And then she got me a job at a PR firm called climate Feldman, which became climate and white. So, I worked in PR when I first moved to LA, but then I realized PR wasn't really, for me, I'm more of a promotions person. So, then I went to Orion and I was a consultant, but I didn't drive to take [the bus and cabs and I lied and said, I could drive. You do what you gotta do. So then from a Ryan, I went to Disney. And then I was a manager of national promotions, and then I set up a college internship program, much like the one I participated in at Warner brothers for Disney flew all over the country, hiring interns. What a great job when you're like 25. Oh my God. So much fun. Then I got promoted and worked in national promotions at Disney. Then I left and went to Fox when I was a director of TV promotions. There. Then I got promoted. Well, see, I never wanted to stay in it. I didn't ever want, I didn't want it to move to New York. I didn't want to stay in LA and I'm on my third marriage. My life is an open book. I'm just going to tell you everything. So it was, I got married when I was 23, which is really idiotic and then he was gay. So we got divorced obviously. And so, I was going to move to New York, but I was just kept getting promoted and I'm like, why don't I keep getting promoted anyway. So, then I became a senior VP of synergy. When I was like 29. And then I ended up moving back to Minneapolis to run my mom's company for a year, which was a mistake. I won't go into that, but I came back and where she worked at universal rose had a promotion there. Then I went to an agency. Then I went back to Fox and that was my last studio job. Passionistas: So you must've been ready for a change when that moment came in your life, because those are exhausting jobs. None of those jobs are nine to five jobs. Katie: It's one thing. If you're very passionate about your career and you have this incredible, uh, stress in your life, but when you feel dispassionate and there's that incredible stress, it really is harmful to your body, your mind, body, and soul. And I felt like it just wasn't worth it. It just, it was very hard to face the studio. Exactly. Chairman of the studio, the unbelievable pressure that you're under people don't realize you guys do. And that feeling in your pit of your stomach. So, I was just like, I just saw this as like a chance to escape. I really felt like I needed to escape my life, but being like the good Chinese American girl, that I was, everything looked perfect on paper that was really living a lie because I wasn't feeling passionate about my career, but then also was not happy in my marriage. So, I just feel so lucky that a lot of people don't have the luxury to escape their circumstances. Passionistas: Let's talk about that moment where your mom flew out and helped you with the party. What did that mean to you that she did that. And how did that really start to trigger this renewed interest in food? Katie: I was surprised that she did it, but then she was so amazing in that way. Like it was amusing to me that she did it and I of course wanted to bring her out into the dining room. She was, and it was about saving face is very important in Chinese culture. And I think she was just like, I don't want them to think that you can't cook. So, you just do that. I would have stay back here. A lot of Chinese people express their love in interesting ways, non-Western way. If I did well in school, she would make a special dish. You would get a whole steamed fish and black bean sauce. If I came home with all BS, I get pork. Tell me if I got a promotion at work, she would, her secretary would send me a product purse typed by the secretary to Katie, from mom. Congratulations. It was no love. Proud of you. Love you anything. So very subtle actions of love. So ,coming out to do that was an expression of love. My renewed interest in cooking really came more from at first it was my business acumen because my friends were reacting to this. You guys are such a cute team. You make such a great team. You two together, you could really do some great stuff together. You should do a book. You know what I'm saying? I started to see a mother daughter culinary brand. That's the first thing I saw it, wasn't conscious to me. Wow. I can really now get to know my mom. I was like, Ooh, this is cool. This is like a giant big mound of putty and I'm going to shape it and I'm going to build this brand. It's going to be great. So, in the beginning, I wasn't really that into the food part. I was like front of the house. I'm going to get us gigs on TV. I'm going to develop a series. And so what ended up happening is my mother was doing most of the work and I was the front man. And so, this went on for a while and my mother was very wise and she, after we had our catering business for a couple of years, she announced that she was going to Europe with her friend, Denise for three months. But we had all these catering gigs lined up and I was like, what? Huh? What are you talking about about it? So, she left me to my own devices cause she knew it was the only way I was gonna. So, I figured it out and I added some things. Like I modernize some of the recipes and then she came back with, she didn't like it because I changed a couple of things that we got it. We only had two fights because she passed away. About 13 years ago. One was, I changed an at a mommy recipe and I used to Haney instead of peanut butter, she got mad and drove away. Very passive, aggressive. Didn't really say anything. She's like Chinese peanut butter always best gets in the car. Yeah. Another time right before we went on the today show for the first time with Ann Curry for Chinese New Year. So, it's customary to serve a whole fish to symbolize abundance because the word for abundance in Chinese is in hominine abundance means fishermen's abundance, but also a whole chicken with the beak and the tail, the head in the beacon, the tail to symbolize unity, family unity, and a favorable started finish. So, my moms, you have to have a whole chicken on the set. Mother, we cannot show a whole chicken with the head and the feed and everything on national television. And then she, we were staying with my sister at San Francisco and I'll never forget. She slammed… my mother never slammed the door. Like she was just raised in such a way that she wasn't allowed to scream or be aggressive or violent in any way, but she slammed the door. I slammed the door. And then my sister Jeanie was like, and I know what she was thinking. She was like, how could I have raised such a white daughter, such a why low. That means that white ghost, that's a derogatory term against white people. How could I have raised such a white daughter in her mind? Sure. That's what she was thinking. Anyway, I went out because we got on the conference call with the producer and I was like, I'm just wondering, we typically show a whole chicken and the producers. We cannot show that on national television. And I wasn't like, yeah, I won or anything like that. I was like, in my heart, I knew I was right. So, it was just interesting dynamic, but it was for the most part, very respectful. And like I said, the biggest gift is in those quiet moments when we were cooking together, she would open up and talk to me more like a friend. And tell me about my God being in an arranged marriage, meeting your husband 10 minutes before you get married to them. So many crazy things that happened to her. Passionistas: Tell us a little bit about your first television show together. Katie: It was called "Double Happiness." it was on PBS and because of my marketing background, I, and I just wanted to, you know, say this because a lot of people, particularly when they decide to begin, become an entrepreneur and to pivot and try something new, it's scary. They don't know how they don't know what to do, where to turn. And I think you just have to grow some balls sometimes and just ask for things. And then what's the worst thing that can happen. A person rejects you or they say, no, you're not going to die. You just move on. So, I was like trying to figure out the best distribution channel for us. We had pitched Food Network, they passed. They didn't think a Asian show would fly, which I think is ridiculous. But I was like, PBS seems like. Starting point. So, I just did some research and I found a producer based in Hawaii on the internet. She had produced a Roy Yamaguchi show and Charlie Trotter show. So, I just found her number and called her up and I was like, Hey, my name's Katie. My mom was his famous chef owned a restaurant chain. I'm coming to Hawaii. Do you want to get together for coffee? And she said, yes. So sometimes it's as simple as that. So, I think sometimes just the stars aligned. Oprah said luck is when preparation meets opportunity. And I think it is so true. So anyway, she had gotten Kikkoman to fund Roy Yamaguchi. She still had a contact there. So, they happened to have money left in their budget. They needed to spend. So, this rarely happens in a life, but we basically made the phone call and had the funding. In two weeks. We worked closely together. We shot 13 episodes in 10 days, time in Hawaii, which was fantastic. And it was challenging because I had never done TV before. And as, as you guys know, like getting up and doing a PowerPoint presentation for a bunch of executives is one. Being on television with your mom who doesn't like to say anything is another thing. I actually tricked my mom and forced her to train with my acting coach, but I told her we were going to get manicures and we pulled up to his house. She's like, where are we? I go, we're not getting manicures. We're trading with my, I take killers. So, we go and he was adorable. My acting coach was a lot like Billy crystal, like his personality, very warm and loving and so funny, but we're working with him and he's like, okay, Leanne. So, you know, what you're making right now is three ingredients. So, you can't keep your head down. It's a pretty easy recipe. You got to look up, you got to look up. Okay. And then as I've mentioned, my mother never really touched me or said, I love you. We just, she wasn't raised to hug. So, at the end of our first trial segment, he was like, yeah, got to put your arm around your daughter. At the end of the sec, she looked at me, she goes, do I have it? It was challenging for me and learning how to do TV. Isn't really something you can practice. You can try, you can work with a media coach, particularly live TV. You can't get better at it unless you're actually doing it. So, I'll say it was hard in the beginning and then we had a blast doing it. And honestly, cause I'm working on the solo show. I hadn't looked at any of the footage because it's just too painful. So, I'm planning to incorporate some of it. I've been watching some of the clips. This was years ago. We did this in 2004. It's been many years, but it's very difficult to watch and not get emotional. Passionistas: [We're Amy and Nancy Harrington and you're listening to the Passionistas Project Podcast and our interview with Katie Chin. Check out her blog filled with delicious recipes and get a copy of her latest book "Katie Chin's Global Family Cookbook" at chefkatiechin.com. And look for Katie during the 2021 Passionistas Project Women's Equality Summit being held virtually on August 20th through August 22nd. Katie is taking part in the AAPI panel called Kitchen Table Talk and the AAPI Community on Sunday, August 22nd at 2:00 PM. Pacific 5:00 PM Eastern. Later that evening, we will present The Passionistas Persist Awards to Margaret Cho and Dr. Jane Goodall. Our producing partner, Selena Luna will have an intimate conversation with Margaret Cho and we'll chat with our hero, Dr. Jane Goodall. For details, go to ThePassionistasProject.com/2021summit. Now here's more of our interview with Katie. You've written five cookbooks. So, tell us a little bit about where you draw inspiration from when you're writing a cookbook and what that process is like. Katie: The first book I did with my mom and all honesty. She did most of it because of my, I told you I was still actually working at box and then she had passed away. So, I had to really not rely on her platform or her name. And so, the next book I did was 300 best rice cooker recipes. And I had to test 300 recipes in different rice cookers. So, I had all these different testers coming in and out. What I draw my inspiration from travel. Cause I've been fortunate. I've traveled to many different countries. Most of my friends happen to be children of immigrants. I think we just birds of a feather. So, I've been so privy to so many wonderful meals cooked for me by my friend's parents. And eating out just pre COVID, obviously, and also pre- I have 13 year old twins now, but so I didn't eat out a lot when they were younger and LA were so, you know, fortunate, cause there's so many awesome restaurants and such a diversity of exciting food and so many different mashups happening. I just try to draw inspiration mainly from my friends and their parents. Also, what I see on TV and I just try. Also, as a mom more recently. So, my most recent cookbook, the Global Flavors cookbook, I think because kids have grown up watching the Food Network, watching Top Chef, making food on TikTok, their parents being able to travel, being able to take their kids to foreign countries. I think today's families in the US have a much more open and sophisticated palette than our generation. And whereas back in the day, if you went to a mini mall, oftentimes you just find pizza and donuts. Now you're likely to find Pokemon or an empanada shop. I just felt like people wanted a resource to replicate some of those flavors at home in an easy way, not requiring a million trips to an ethnic market using their everyday pots and pants. So, I'm always, I love to eat. I'm here in Vegas right now. Passionistas: You did a special for the Food Network and then you traveled to China with your mom. Can you tell us about that experience and what was it like going there with her and experiencing that? Katie: It was really awesome to be able to go back to not only been to China a couple of times, but wow. To meet her family and because of the cultural revolution, you know, she didn't see her family for 30 years. So, I can't speak Chinese, which made it challenging obviously. And they would just start laughing at me and I know enough to say hello, how are you? Nice to meet you. But they would just point at me and laugh at me, but this is one of the most memorable parts of the trip. So, we were tending to celebrate my mother's birthday at her brother's apartment and her family in particular. And I think this is quite common in China. The purpose of sitting down to eat is to eat, not to speak. Like, you're not like having conversations. You're just eating the point is to eat, not to make like chat. So, the producer who happened to be Chinese American, she was like, okay. And there's like a whole pig. They're like, it's like a big, huge banquet of food. And there's probably 14 of us around the table. She said, it's really important that when the cameras start rolling, but you guys are really gregarious talking about the food, cooking your glasses. So, I go over to my mom. I'm like, mom, they want us to sip of a, I go, can you tell them to do that? And she goes, oh, they're not going to do that. I was like, okay. So, I go back to the producer. I'm like, you really not are equipped. They're not capable of doing that. She was like, okay, that's fine. But if they can just look excited and clink their glasses without talking, you do the toast, they click their glasses and then they dig into the food gregarious. I'm like, okay, I think they can handle it. My mom tells them that. Between how to sign. I'm like, okay, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We're here to celebrate somebody translating. And then I do the toast and then they all sit there like this. Cause you can you imagine how bizarre and foreign all these cameras are rolling. And they're just like that. So that was pretty funny. Then we went to the world's largest floating Dim Sum restaurant it's called Jumbo in Hong Kong. And we're back in the kitchen with the dumpling master. He's teaching me how to make the delicate fold on the hard gal in the kitchen was rolling. He's teaching me, my mom, mom says, why are you so slow? But it was always out of love. That was like, thanks mom, but so wonderful. Full to be there with her. And also, again, just being there, she told me a story while we were there. That after world war II, the Japanese mafia were still threatening. A lot of the neighborhoods there that if they didn't get, get paid off, they would bomb different communities. So, my mother's father owned a grocery store. She was 12 at the time and my mother was a tomboy. So, she would deliver 50 pound bags of rice in the back of her bike. She was really a master of the Abacus. So, she had all these skills, but because she was like a tomboy, she had the least value. So the Japanese threatened to bomb and I guess her family and a bunch of the neighbors decided to leave just in case they bombed, but they didn't tell my mom. So, my mom came home from school and realized everyone had evacuated except for a couple of the employees. And I said, oh, the family decided to go to another village in case the Japanese bomb. And she realized in that moment that she had been left behind to die, but they needed somebody to stay behind just in case they didn't. So, she was there, she told me, eating dinner with the employees by candlelight she'd play Mahjong with them. And the day she would restock the inventory of the canned goods, things like that. And then three weeks later, her family came back, but they didn't even acknowledge what happened. She woke up and she said, her mom just said, get your other sisters ready for school again. So, she did that. But in that moment, she realized her life had no value in the family. And I think that's what really motivated her to work hard, to not look back to overcome. And so, her way, her survival system was all about push your feelings down, move forward and be efficient. So, we all inherited a bit of that, but through therapy, my brothers and sisters,because that's not healthy either, but she did say because my father was also emotionally abusive. If your daddy had been a supportive husband, I probably would never have done all these, all of these things because she was raised to be a contented housewife and just cook and clean and raise children. But I think that's just who she was as well. Like glass half full. I'm just gonna look at this as a gift, like in a way I would never have done all of this. He was the person that he was. Passionistas: What did you personally take away from hearing that story? Did it affect you moving forward? Katie: I think I had a lot more, I think respect for my mother, even though I was a full adult by that time, I think I, I had to grow up a little bit too, instead of relying on her, to do everything, spending so much time with her during this period and learning about that. Cause she was a person that never complained. She just never complained about it. And she rarely had a bad thing to say about people, too. I think she really taught me also coming out of the entertainment industry, the gossipy and complainy, it's both those things. So, I think it really helped me to understand her a little bit more. Like when I got divorced second time, you know, she picked me up from the airport, you know, and I was crying and she was like, you know, you should really not cry so much. It's inefficient. I was like inefficient, but I realized she couldn't help. It that's, she would never have survived unless she had that attitude. So, I try to have some compassion for that, but also important for me to break the cycle for my own children, because I don't want my daughter to think it's okay to go around life, not crying cause it's inefficient. Right? The not complaining part. That's something I'm really trying to it's not doing successfully that way. Passionistas: So speaking of your, your children and especially your daughter, you've carried on the tradition of filming, cooking shows with relatives. So, tell us about what you did during the pandemic with your daughter. Katie: So I have a catering business called Wok Star Catering, and I obviously had to pivot and we have a home in Lake Arrowhead. So, we decided to skip town for about seven months. So, when it started, I was so bored cause I had to get bored easily. I just thought, oh, why don't we do a live streaming cooking show? I had done a few here and there with some friends. I mean, she's pretty, gung-ho about things, so she's okay. And it just started out something to do and something to get some friends involved and have guests on the show via Zoom. And so, we started doing it three times a week, and then we got sponsors. Then we got all these people interested in being on the show and it became a thing and we have a pretty loyal following and we have friends helping us out, like all him straight. And my brother now is actually part of the crew, too. So, it just became so fun for her and I did it to do together. And what was so beautiful for me was to watch her evolution being on camera because she's a dancer. So, she's used to performing, but in the beginning, she was pretty shy and then she just, I don't know, large and in charge and. My husband just pointed out in the show with your mom, she would criticize you and correct you the whole show. And now my daughter does that to me. So, I just can't get your break. I get it. I got it for both EDS because Beck is very like type a, I think she'll be a producer. Not necessarily like on-camera talent. She's just very, don't forget to do this, mommy. And don't forget to do that. Mommy, you didn't add the soy sauce. Talk about the giveaways. It's been really fun because she now takes charge. Like I intentionally try to remember during the show to just turn it over to her, Becca, take it away, tell everybody what to do next. And I also think this generation of kids doing TikTok and growing up, being on YouTube, they're not as self-conscious about being on camera has been really great. And she has all these fans, like people just want to see Baca. This complete stranger was like the nibbler, Becca is the nibbler. Cause she's always taking bites of food. She doesn't realize she's doing it. This has become a thing, hashtag the nibbler. And we actually have merchandise that says Hashi, the nibbler that we're selling and also a Becca rocks. That's been just so really a lot of fun and adorable to do. And then since then she joins me when I do these monthly TV segments for bloom TV, for national pediatric cancer. So, we cook along with a pediatric cancer warrior along with the host of the show. And also trying to teach her about philanthropy [and it's just a great way to do it. And also to build her confidence. Passionistas: Do you think you have a particular trait that has helped you succeed? Katie: My friends have said this. I do think I have.  like, I, I really try to see the good in people and I really try to have fun. And I think that what has really been helpful to me are my friendships with other women. And the network of women that I felt because a favorite quote of mine is for every successful female entrepreneur entrepreneurs, there's five other successful female entrepreneurs that have her back. And I think that there's a stereotype of successful women being bitches and too aggressive. And I've found that to be not the case, maybe once in a blue moon, but most of the women that I encounter that are entrepreneurs or even in my career, really just try to help each other out. So ,during COVID, what happened is a friend of mine and I, she runs a PR firm. We decided to start a virtual women's game night and it was just like a handful of us. So, we were playing Taboo on Zoom, but all of a sudden this magical thing happened more and more women started to join this chat. And very few of them actually played the game. It became a drawing game, but it became this community of women in this chat, sharing advice, lifting each other. Cheerleading. Like I would see something, this might she's on the chat. She's a documentarian just saw that she was doing a fireside chat. I put it in the chat. Then everybody started to do that for each other political commentary. Where are we on my eyebrows plug? Like everything under the sun. And as a result, I can't tell you how many of these women have gone on each other's podcasts, become friends. Lifting each other up. And we finally, and so many of them hadn't actually met in person. We finally had to get together two weeks ago, you guys are going to have to join. We hired a DJ, we dance for five hours straight. It was so phenomenal, but the whole point wasn't to let's network and see what business comes of it. But it just all happened so organically in that. And I think I'm just really proud of how did that I didn't set out to, for that to happen, but it did happen and it continues to grow and it's just been so fulfilling for me. Passionistas: Thanks for listening to our interview with Katie Chin. Check out her blog, filled with delicious recipes and get a copy of her latest book "Katie Chin's Global Family Cookbook" at chefkatiechin.com. Please visit ThePassionistasProject.Com to learn more about our podcast and subscription box filled with products made by women owned businesses and female artisans to inspire you to follow your passion. Sign up for our mailing list and get 10% off your first purchase. And get your tickets now for the 2021 Passionistas Project Women's Equality Summit featuring Katie Chin on the Kitchen Table Talk in the AAPI Community panel on Sunday, August 22nd [00:34:00] at 2:00 PM/pacific 5:00 PM and The Passionistas Persist Awards featuring Margaret Cho and Dr. Jane Goodall on Sunday, August 22nd at 5:00 PM/pacific 8:00 PM. Eastern. For details, go to the ThePassionistasProject.com/2021Summit. And be sure to subscribe to the Passionistas Project Podcast, so you don't miss any of our upcoming inspiring guests. Until next time, stay well and stay passionate.

Chef Roy Yamaguchi is the Pioneer of Asian Fusion. Born and raised on a U.S. Army base in Japan, Chef Yamaguchi discovered his love of cooking through a home economics course in high school. A young Chef Roy made roast turkey, and his school counselor was so impressed that he encouraged him to consider cooking as a career. Chef Roy graduated from Culinary Institute of America and he soon created his own identity and style of cooking by showcasing the Japanese cuisine of his upbringing combined with the techniques and flavors of French cuisine. Join Margaret McSweeney and Chef Jaime Laurita on this Kitchen Chat to discover the taste of Aloha with Chef Roy's favorite childhood taste memory and his favorite dish to make in his own kitchen today.

Jerry Moss is a titan in the music industry. He, along with his partner Herb Alpert, was responsible for finding and signing some of the most influential artists ever to record music. Listen in as he talks about his early life, how he got started in the industry, and shares so many amazing stories about his time scouting for talent.  To say that Jerry's influence in finding and promoting his artists changed the face and sound of music would be a gross understatement. He is responsible for signing artists such as Joe Cocker, Humble Pie and Peter Frampton, The Police and Sting, Janet Jackson, The Carpenters, Carole King, Quincy Jones, and the list goes on and on. By relying on his gut instincts, listening for impactful lyrics, and looking for great performances, he found some of the most iconic acts in rock and roll. Have you heard of Soundgarden? Styx? Nazareth and Bryan Adams?  His long standing presence in the industry is not just a happenstance of fate. He and Herb made it a point to build their business with integrity first. They took care of their artists, respected the creative process, and made working with them a treat rather than a hardship. Andy and Jerry dig deep into generations of the world's musical past to discuss the changes in the industry, the glory days of music, and what made Jerry finally decide to leave the business behind. Listen to the end to hear about Jerry's foray into horse racing and what it felt like to win the Kentucky Derby. If you love and respect the history of music, then you will not want to miss this episode.  Show Highlights: [00:22] Learn a bit of history about Andy's guest, music icon Jerry Moss.  [02:25] Jerry discusses growing up in the Bronx, New York in the 1930's and 1940's. [03:33] What motivated Jerry to go into the music industry and how'd he get his start?  [06:59] Jerry shares what his style was in promoting artists and why integrity was so important to him. [09:23] How did Jerry and Herb begin their partnership and become so successful?  [13:16] Learn the secret sauce between Jerry and Herb that helped them stay friends and business partners. [16:17] Where did Jerry's ear for music come from?  [18:44] Jerry shares how he and Herb split up their responsibilities in the business. [21:35] How did festivals and rock and roll change Jerry's sense of their label and the artists he wanted to sign? [27:10] What was Jerry looking for when he was looking at an artist?  [30:10] A&M created some big names in music. What did it feel like when they took off on their own success?  [32:18] Learn the philosophy Jerry and Herb stuck to when growing and evolving their business. [33:56] Why did Jerry specifically look for “performers” when signing new talent?  [36:11] Jerry shares why he enjoyed finding international talent.  [37:33] Listen as Jerry reminisces about finding and developing Peter Frampton's sound.  [40:14] What was it like to work for A&M after he and Herb sold to PolyGram? [43:26] Jerry shares why he jumped back into the scene after leaving PolyGram and winning his fight against prostate cancer. [45:26] Dream big! [46:40] Hear about Jerry's experience with The Carpenters. [48:33] Did Jerry experience any fear when building the business?  [50:39] Jerry sounds off on several artists that he worked with from The Police, Sting, Carole King, Sheryl Crow, Janet Jackson, and Cheech & Chong. [01:03:18] Andy and Jerry discuss their love of Maui and Shep Gordon. [01:04:00] Hear Jerry's thoughts on the future of music. [01:06:15] What drew Jerry to thoroughbred racing?  [01:07:18] Jerry shares the philanthropic organizations he is working with and how you can help. [01:09:58] How does Jerry define success?    LINKS & RESOURCES   Follow The Music Makers:    Sponsor: Kushner Entertainment    Jerry Moss:Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2006 Inductee   Mentioned during the interview:Roy Yamaguchi on Extraordinary Ordinary People Remote Area Medical - Stan Brock The Music Makers podcast theme song was written and produced by Andy Kushner with help from the rhythm section and horn players of the band, SoundConnection: Elliot Jefferson, Lamonte Silver, Keith Hammond, Roy Lambert, Joe Herrera, and Craig Alston.