Tinfoil Swans

Latest Episodes:

Laurie Woolever and the Cone of Silence Apr 22, 2025

Show notes

Laurie Woolever has worked for chefs you've definitely heard of, most notably Anthony Bourdain and Mario Batali. Those two men are notorious for their outsized appetites, but in her new memoir, "Care and Feeding," Woolever gets raw and real about her own insatiable need for drugs, alcohol, and extramarital affairs while navigating the grossness and glamour of the food world in their orbits. She joined the Tinfoil Swans podcast to talk about getting sober, managing complicated men, and the shock of needing spirituality.

For more info visit: foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans

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Roy Choi and the Out-of-Body Emeril Experience Apr 15, 2025

Show notes

Growing up as an immigrant latchkey kid, Roy Choi spent a lot of time wandering the streets of Los Angeles alone, thinking he'd never fit in anywhere. He had a scar on his face from cleft palate surgery, and he thought of himself as an alley cat, slipping through the world unnoticed and he took in every detail of the way people interacted, especially at restaurants. It's this nuanced and empathetic view of humanity that's made the 2010 Food & Wine Best New Chef such a force in the hospitality world. He joined Tinfoil Swans to talk about going through life feeling unwelcome, how that's informed every business decision he's ever made, his new cookbook, and why he sometimes feels like a baked potato.

For more info visit: foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans

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Byron Gomez and the American Dream Apr 08, 2025

Show notes

Byron Gomez and his family arrived in the United States from Costa Rica when he was eight years old, and he was in for the shock of his young life. He spoke Spanish at home, he'd never seen snow or even a winter coat, and he had to find his place in a world that didn't always want him there. But at age 15, he found restaurants. He put in the very hard work, let himself dream, and the success followed. The Top Chef contestant spoke about his path from Burger King to cooking in Michelin-starred restaurants, being a DACA recipient, getting sober, and all the battle scars he earned along the way.

For more info visit: foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans

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Tinfoil Swans Is Serving Up Season 3: April 8, 2025 Apr 01, 2025

Show notes

The award-winning Tinfoil Swans podcast from Food & Wine is back on April 8. We're bringing you even more intimate, informative, surprising, and uplifting interviews with the biggest names in the culinary industry and beyond, sharing never-before-heard stories about the successes, struggles, and fork-in-the-road moments that made them who they are today. In Season 3, you'll hear from icons and innovators like Byron Gomez, Roy Choi, Karen Akunowicz, Vikas Khanna, Matthew Lillard, Romy Gill, Laurie Woolever, Ana and Lydia Castro, Curtis Stone, and others going deep on their joys, inspirations, doubts, and dreams, and what's still on the menu for them. Tune in every Tuesday for a feast that'll feed your mind and soul.

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Encore: Kevin Gillespie and the Restaurant of a Lifetime Mar 25, 2025

Show notes

There's a good chance you know chef and author Kevin Gillespie from his fan-favorite stint on Season 6 of Top Chef or his return on the All Stars Season 20, but the Georgia native's talent can't be reduced to the small screen. His new Atlanta restaurant, Nàdair, is a full-throated love letter to his Scottish heritage — something Gillespie's family had always been made to feel ashamed of. But in the aftermath of renal cancer, doctors begging him to retire, and the loss of multiple family members in the past year, he's put life on fast-forward and opened the restaurant that would make his ancestors proud. Gillespie got raw and real about a childhood split between Appalachia and aristocracy, how facing death has changed his relationship to fear, and what the next chapter holds for him.

For more info visit: foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans

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Encore: Kylie Kwong and the Five Glass Ghosts Mar 18, 2025

Show notes

When chef Kylie Kwong announced that she was going to be shuttering her destination dining spot Lucky Kwong to take on a new role at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, working at the intersection of food, community, and education to honor the people and foods that have made Australian cuisine so distinctive and precious — it made sense. Kwong has always centered humanity in everything she does, including this raw and astonishing conversation about cooking for a first date, valuing the wisdom of elders, finding your way through grief, and so much more.

For more info visit: foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans

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Pati Jinich and the Bedtime Cookbooks Nov 19, 2024

Show notes

With her shows Pati's Mexican Table and La Frontera and cookbooks Treasures of the Mexican Table and Mexican Today, Pati Jinich uses her exceptional empathy, political science background, and fearless curiosity to share the stories of the people living, creating, and cooking all around Mexico, and celebrate our shared humanity. For the Season 2 finale, Jinich joined Tinfoil Swans to talk about learning English by watching Sesame Street, her comfort with being laughed at, cooking nopalitos with eggs, and why now more than ever, she wants to celebrate the beauty of the U.S.-Mexico border.

For more info visit: foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans

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Joel McHale and the Spiced Steak Fantasy Nov 12, 2024

Show notes

You may know Joel McHale from his star turns on beloved shows like Community, The Soup, or Animal Control, his standup special Live From Pyongyang, or as host of House of Villains and Crime Scene Kitchen. Chefs know him from their nightmares — or rather as the menacing chef David Fields on The Bear. He's also a very talented cook, especially in the realm of meat. McHale joined Tinfoil Swans to talk about working at a coffee stand in his teens, crappy tippers, what he thinks about men who don’t do their part in the kitchen, why Robert Smith of The Cure is a genius, and what a joy it was to terrorize Carmy on The Bear.

For more info visit: foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans

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“Bitchy Waiter" Darron Cardosa and the Tipping Conundrum Nov 05, 2024

Show notes

Since 2008, actor and writer Darron Cardosa has been setting the internet ablaze with his pioneering blog "The Bitchy Waiter" — which he has since spun into a rollicking book and stage show of the same name. Darron is also one of Food & Wine's most prolific and popular writers, and in this inspiring and emotional conversation, he shares his feelings about weird customer requests, being a voice for the service industry, his upcoming movie, and why it's so rude to leave a penny tip.

For more info visit: foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans

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Bobby Flay and the Review That Made His Career Oct 29, 2024

Show notes

Bobby Flay has been a fixture on Food Network since the beginning, written 18 cookbooks, and is pretty much a household name. But the thing that gets lost in the sauce is that he's a James Beard Award-winning restaurant chef who changed the restaurant scene in some bold and groundbreaking ways. He joined Tinfoil Swans to talk about his new book Chapter 1, his rules for visitors, being competitive, and why a tiny chef coat made him cry.

For more info visit: foodandwine.com/tinfoilswans

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