Tinfoil Swans

Food & Wine’s longest-serving editors in chief, Dana Cowin and Hunter Lewis, invite you into a revealing conversation about the history and impact of the Best New Chefs accolade since it started in 1988. From the early days of scouting talent with notebooks and stringers to today’s rigorous process shaped by mentorship, community, and culture, they share behind-the-scenes stories, heated debates, and the unforgettable moments that have defined the program — and American dining — for nearly four decades. Plus, can you beat them in a chef trivia quiz? Meet the 2025 F&W Best New Chefs For more info visit: foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers – not Resy – and do not constitute professional business advice." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Food & Wine editor in chief Hunter Lewis shares the untold story behind the magazine’s iconic Best New Chefs list and reveals the 2025 class. From the intense debates that shape each year’s BNC decisions to the lessons he’s carried from his days as a three-sport "prep jock," line cook, and local journalist, Lewis reflects on the long, strange trip that led him to the helm of Food & Wine. Along the way, he opens up about why he still calls himself a "glorified home cook," his upcoming cookbook, his brush with Anthony Bourdain, how he approaches leadership, and the future he sees for restaurants in America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From poring over cast-off food magazines in a Brooklyn laundry room to opening a New York restaurant at 25 and being nearly undone by a single New York Times mention, Edward Lee has lived through the exhilarating highs and bruising lows of the kitchen. On this episode, he goes deep about the worst lunch service of his life, how moving to Kentucky after 9/11 gave him the space to make mistakes and grow, and why revealing his Korean name on Netflix's Culinary Class Wars became one of the most important moments of his career. He also shares how he’s working to banish plastic from restaurant kitchens, why bartenders deserve more protection than they often get, and what he's hoping to teach his daughter about her Korean heritage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Samin Nosrat has changed the way so many of us think about food, cooking, and connection. You may know her as the bestselling author of Salt Fat Acid Heat, her joyful Netflix series of the same name, or her wildly popular podcast Home Cooking. But in this conversation, she goes far beyond recipes. Samin opens up about growing up as a book-loving outsider with a very particular notion of cool, the early fan mail she wrote, the lessons she learned in the fires of Chez Panisse, the unexpected weight of fame, and why more than ever, she sees food as the most precious gift we can give one another. She also shares stories from her newest book Good Things, the weekly dinners that ground her, how her journaling habit came in handy decades later, and her secret connection to a particular puppet. See more about the episode on foodandwine.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You know Regina King from her decades of extraordinary performances — from her teenage roles on the sitcom 227 and the movie Friday to Watchmen, The Leftovers, The Boondocks, If Beale Street Could Talk, and so many more. But a conversation at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen showed a different side of the Oscar-winning actress: the daughter, the sister, the mother, the cook, the traveler, the dreamer, and now the wine entrepreneur. She revealed how as a kid, she and her sister would put on performances, reciting poems and doing one-act plays. She talked about her grandmother's pound cake recipe she has framed on her wall, the extraordinary way her mom cooks vegetables, and the freedom she found traveling solo in France. And she opened up about her son Ian, and his unique talent for finding beauty in the most mundane things — bringing new life to forgotten objects, going barefoot and in shorts in the winter, and finding so much joy in a glass of funky wine. With her new endeavor — an orange wine named for him, MianU — she's connecting with Ian, and sharing the gift of him with the world. Settle in, pour yourself a glass of something special, and take a moment to notice the light. For more info visit: foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

2025 Food & Wine Game Changer Ayesha Curry is such a surprise of a human being. On paper, it's natural to wonder how someone can be an actress, cookbook author, restaurateur, founder of a skincare line and lifestyle brand, winemaker, and co-creator of a foundation that helps kids get fed in a million different ways. But as soon as she starts talking, it's easy to see that she's just always been this way. Live onstage at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, Curry rewound the game tape to her childhood in a family where her Jamaican-born mom would make meals big enough to feed the whole neighborhood, her move to Los Angeles as a teenager where she had to figure out how to feed herself, her early days as a blogger, and the Food Network star who embraced her with open arms. She also opened up about the vital work her and her husband Stephen Curry's foundation Eat. Learn. Play. does for kids in Oakland, finding her place in the wine world, and the kind of old person she wants to be. For more info visit: foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

"Queer Eye" and "No Taste Like Home" star Antoni Porowski joins Tinfoil Swans live at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen for a heartfelt and humorous conversation about identity, vulnerability, and finding meaning through food. He opens up about his path from actor and caterer to TV host and storyteller, the emotional layers of cooking, navigating fame, and the gentle art of knowing when to leave the party. Along the way, he shares reflections on therapy, self-care, family dynamics — and what turning 40 taught him. For more info visit: foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Growing up in a military family, Tristen Epps moved around a lot. But no matter where he was living, Friday nights were sacred. He got to dress up, go to a restaurant, not order from a kids menu, and feel like he was getting to know the place he was living — for now. At home, when his mom taught him to scramble an egg, he was mesmerized by the alchemy; one simple ingredient could transform into so many things. It's that wonder and curiosity that transformed him into the leader, visionary, and Top Chef winner he is today. He joined Tinfoil Swans at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen to talk about his mission to “un-colonize colonized food,” the freedom he feels cooking in Air Jordans, why it's important to him to celebrate oxtails with Michelin-level finesse, and his belief that cooking has power to correct history. For more info visit: foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Growing up in Oklahoma, school was not Chris Shepherd's thing. Traditional classrooms just aren't the right fit for some brains — but it turned out that restaurants were. In junior college, he picked up a job as a dishwasher at a sushi restaurant and on the day the tempura guy didn't show up, his culinary journey began. The 2013 Food & Wine Best New Chef took time out from his extremely busy travel schedule to talk about finally finding his calling in the kitchen, the Disney cookbook that lives on a pedestal in his home, and the ingredient he just can't stand. Then his powerhouse wife Lindsay Brown joined to talk about why they founded the game-changing Southern Smoke to help restaurant workers in crisis, how 20 free therapy sessions can change a restaurant worker’s life, and the two-word question that makes all the difference. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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2001 Food & Wine Best New Chef and Stretch Pizza impresario Wylie Dufresne joins Tinfoil Swans to talk about his job lording over the ice truck at the New York Renaissance Festival, how team sports inform his work ethic, what the heck molecular gastronomy actually is, and why the pursuit of the perfect pizza dough has him so fired up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

2022 Food & Wine Best New Chef Ana Castro and her sister and business partner Lydia Castro are powerhouse duo behind New Orleans' beloved Acamaya. They're not just redefining contemporary Mexican cuisine — they’re reshaping what it means to lead with vulnerability, resilience, and fierce sibling love. In this conversation they dive deep into their shared childhood in Mexico City, parallel journeys through grief and healing, and the epic road trip that led them to create one of the most emotionally resonant and culturally rooted restaurants in the country. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In our debut episode, Food & Wine's executive features editor Kat Kinsman spoke with the one and only chef Guy Fieri. He's become a household name as a restaurateur, cookbook author, host of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, Guy's Grocery Games, Tournament of Champions and more smash-hit shows — and in recent years, as a mega-philanthropist who has raised millions for first responders and hospitality workers. But before all that, Guy was just a kid with big dreams and a Kool-Aid stand in a small town in California. Kat and Guy chatted about how he hustled enough cash to send himself to high school in France, the thing Emeril Lagasse said that gave him chills, his adventures as a flambé captain, and the most defining moment of his career so far. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

25 years ago, James Beard Award-winning chef and Top Chef alum Karen Akunowicz received a compliment from a Food & Wine Best New Chef that changed her entire career path. On this episode, she opened up about her journey from musical theater kid and hardworking diner waitress to acclaimed restaurateur, the power of embracing her queer identity, the heartbreak of a dropped dessert, her enduring love of Houston's, and the importance of visibility for the next generation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dr. Jessica B. Harris is a scholar of the African food diaspora, an award-winning and prolific writer, a gifted storyteller and speaker, a teacher, and an icon to many. But what gets lost sometimes is that she's a person, first and foremost — one whose bookishness as a kid made it hard for her to connect with other kids. One raised by two artists whose dreams had to be deferred to make a living in New York but who supported their daughter's aspirations to be onstage. One whose curiosity and itchy traveling feet led her to explore the world and examine how the threads of many cultures wove together to end up on our dinner plate. She joined Tinfoil Swans to talk about being an outsider, her new book "Braided Heritage," about being Anthony Bourdain before Anthony Bourdain, and what it's like to live inside a mountain of cookbooks. For more info visit: foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You have a favorite Matthew Lillard film or TV performance. It might be SLC Punk, the Scream franchise, Scooby Doo, Hackers, She's All That, Twin Peaks: The Return, or the new Stephen King and Mike Flanagan movie The Life of Chuck. He's been working in Hollywood for over 30 years, and has a reputation for being kind to fans. But connecting with people is exactly why he got into acting as a kid — the community that comes from putting on a play together and hashing it all out at the diner afterward. It's what drew him to Dungeons & Dragons, and then a spirits company celebrating fantasy and horror fandoms. Lillard joined Tinfoil Swans to talk about growing up not fitting in, the thrill of finding your people, the punk rock high school movie he directed, his wedding cheese wheel, and so much more. For more info visit: foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Season 3 of the smash hit FX/Hulu show “The Bear” roared to life just days ago, but Will Poulter (the actor who plays fan-favorite Luca) and 2014 F&W Best New Chef Dave Beran had been prepping for weeks. Poulter — like his co-star Jeremy Allen White — staged with Beran at his Santa Monica restaurant Pasjoli to learn how to accurately portray a professional chef onscreen. The lessons went so well, Beran says he’d hire Poulter as a cook — even despite a messy mishap with a pastry bag. The two dished all about getting kitchen culture right on and offscreen, what it takes to be at the top of your craft, and the pure magic of a great restaurant service. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The first food memory Curtis Stone has is getting in trouble for eating too much butter. Then again, the Australian chef and TV host has never been one for restraint. Once he realized he wasn't going to be a professional athlete, he went to work for Marco Pierre White — notoriously one of the most hard-driving chefs of all time, then hosted 140 episodes of Take Home Chef, and then back into the fray, opening restaurants on his own without investors. The brand new James Beard Award nominee joined Tinfoil Swans to talk about his ham bathroom, the exhilaration and exhaustion of running a restaurant, how he wooed his wife — the actress Lindsay Price — with whiskey, the naked prank Joel McHale played on him, and so much more. For more info visit: foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Hawa Hassan was five years old, she was living in a refugee camp in Kenya. By seven, she was resettled in Seattle with a few other refugees from Somalia, and waiting for her family to join her. Then the political climate changed, and she came to realize that they were never coming; she was on her own. The thing to know about Hawa Hassan is that she will always find the light in any situation, and use it to guide the way forward for others. The author, host, entrepreneur, and chef joined Tinfoil Swans to talk about her stunning new cookbook celebrating the lives of refugees, surviving as a kid far away from the world and family she'd known, how Doritos shaped her life, and the scent that transports her to her mother's kitchen. For more info visit: foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Romy Gill puts in the work — always. Growing up in India, the chef, TV host, and author dreamed of being a cricket player and directed all her effort into that — and into lightly fibbing her way into her neighbors' homes to try different dishes than the ones she ate in her Punjabi household. It's this hunger and curiosity about other people and their foodways that has made her such a beloved presence on the BBC and ITV, as well as amassing a devoted audience for her award-winning cookbooks that explore regional Indian food and the people who keep these delicious traditions alive for generations to come. She joined Tinfoil Swans to talk about her passion for teaching, her evolving relationship with perfection and anger, dealing with dyslexia, and the celebrity she's dying to take on a train trip. For more info visit: foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices