The Restaurant Guys

This is a Vintage episode from 2012.

Why This Episode Matters
Chef Paul Virant explains how preservation can extend truly seasonal cooking well beyond the growing season.
Canning and pickling can deepen a restaurant's relationship with local farmers while creating new possibilities in the kitchen and behind the bar.
Preserving peak-season ingredients isn't necessarily cheaper. The value comes from flavor, identity and having something uniquely your own.
From pickled vegetables and aigre-doux to cocktail ingredients, preserves can become ingredients rather than simply condiments.
Banter
Mark Pascal and Francis Schott visit DeBragga & Spitler and get a hands-on look at dry-aged beef at different stages of the aging process. They talk about why properly aged meat costs more, what actually happens to a piece of beef as it ages, and why tasting and comparing things side by side is one of the best ways to learn.
The Conversation
Chef Paul Virant joins Mark and Francis to talk about The Preservation Kitchen and the preservation program that became a signature of his acclaimed restaurant Vie.
For Paul, preserving wasn't simply about opening a jar of pickles alongside a dish. Brines, pickled vegetables, preserved fruits and sweet-and-sour preparations became building blocks in his cooking adding acidity, contrast and unexpected flavor to everything from roasted meats to cocktails.
The conversation explores the practical side of cooking seasonally in places like Chicago and New Jersey, where the growing season doesn't last all year. Paul and the Guys discuss buying directly from farmers, preserving crops when they're at their peak, reducing waste and creating a restaurant pantry that reflects the local harvest long after summer is over.

They also get into the economics. Preserving food takes ingredients, jars, storage and substantial labor, and it often costs more than simply buying a commercial product. The payoff is something different: exceptional ingredients captured at their best, stronger relationships with farmers and food that belongs uniquely to your restaurant.

Also: home winemaking gone wrong, preserving fruit with spirits, using every drop of a pickling brine, and Paul's beer-jam Manhattan made with Goose Island Bourbon County Stout.
Guest Bio
Paul Virant is an acclaimed Chicago-area chef known for his focus on seasonal Midwestern ingredients, preservation and relationships with local farmers. His restaurant Vie earned a Michelin star and operated in Western Springs, Illinois, for 19 years before closing in 2023. Virant currently operates Petite Vie in Western Springs, Vistro Prime in Hinsdale and Gaijin in Chicago.
He is the author, with Kate Leahy, of The Preservation Kitchen: The Craft of Making and Cooking with Pickles, Preserves, and Aigre-doux, originally published in 2012.

Timestamps
00:00 Dry-aged beef and why artisan food costs more
 05:45 Paul Virant on preserving the seasons
 11:30 How preserves become part of the cooking
 15:30 Working with farmers and preserving the harvest
 17:45 Beer-jam Manhattans and unexpected uses for preserves
 25:45 Why preserving isn’t cheaper, yet it’s still worth doing
Info
Paul’s book
The Preservation Kitchen
Paul Virant with Kate Leahy

Paul’s Places (all in Illinois)
Petite Vie 
Vistro Prime 
Gaijin
We're bringing our kitchen to the farm!
Join us at Dreyer Farms in Cranford, NJ for a Table-to-Farm Dinner.
Sunday, September 13 @ 5:30
https://www.stageleft.com/event/91326-table-to-farm-dinner/

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Magyar Bank
https://www.magbank.com/
Stage Left Wine Shop
https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/
Our Places
Stage Left Steak
https://www.stageleft.com/
Catherine Lombardi Restaurant
https://www.catherinelombardi.com/
Stage Left Wineshop
https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/
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Why This Episode Matters
Nicholas Harary explains why he chose to reinvent one of New Jersey’s most acclaimed fine-dining restaurants before the business forced him to.
A surprisingly technical look at what separates great ice cream from mediocre ice cream: butterfat, overrun, and the cold chain.
Nicholas, Mark Pascal and Francis Schott debate whether traditional fine dining is dead or simply evolving.
The conversation turns to Michelin: what its stars mean today, how the Guide’s expansion model complicates perceptions of independence, and why restaurateurs should always focus on the customers in the room.
Banter
Mark and Francis return from Sonoma with stories from Paul Hobbs’ 35th anniversary, smoke drifting across wine country and conversations with winemakers about what actually causes smoke taint. They make it onto Martinelli’s famously steep Jackass Hill where tasting zinfandel grapes directly from vines behind a wine he has loved for decades proves considerably more appealing than actually working a harvest.
The Conversation
Nicholas Harary and his wife, Melissa, opened Restaurant Nicholas in 2000 and spent two decades building it into one of New Jersey’s defining fine-dining restaurants. But Nicholas had already begun another chapter. What started in 2018 as a small seasonal ice cream shop where their kids might work became Nicholas Creamery. On opening weekend, police were directing traffic while Nicholas realized the 300 gallons of ice cream they had made weren’t going to be enough.
That leads to a deep dive into ice cream: why controlling temperature matters, why Nicholas had a freezer truck custom-built, how butterfat and overrun affect quality, and what happens when you melt different commercial ice creams side by side. Nicholas also explains the elaborate process behind flavors such as bourbon barrel-aged coffee chocolate chunk.
Then the conversation moves from ice cream to reinvention. Even after Restaurant Nicholas had its best year, Nicholas could see diners changing. Rather than gradually dilute what the restaurant had been, he closed it and rebuilt the concept as the much more casual Nicholas Barrel & Roost. His philosophy is simple: if your business looks exactly the same five years from now, you may have a problem.
Nicholas, Mark and Francis debate whether the version of fine dining they grew up with is gone and what has replaced it. They ask what gets lost when restaurants begin designing for the camera as much as the diner. Finally, they tackle the Michelin Guide from changing definitions of a Michelin-worthy restaurant to the financial arrangements used to bring Michelin into new markets before Nicholas offers his advice to younger chefs: concentrate on the people inside your restaurant, not the people outside talking about it.
Guest Bio
Nicholas Harary is the chef and restaurateur behind Nicholas Barrel & Roost, Nicholas Creamery and Nicholas Wines. He and his wife Melissa opened Restaurant Nicholas in 2000; during its 20-year run, the restaurant received an “extraordinary” from The New York Times Harary later transformed the space into the more casual Nicholas Barrel & Roost while expanding Nicholas Creamery across New Jersey.
Timestamps
00:00 Sonoma, smoke taint and Jackass Hill
08:08 Nicholas Harary joins the Guys
09:50 How Nicholas Creamery unexpectedly took off
14:40 Why the cold chain matters for great ice cream
17:00 Butterfat, overrun and what you're really paying for
21:05 Jersey flavors and bourbon barrel-aged coffee ice cream
23:30 Why Nicholas walked away from fine dining at its peak
28:25 Is fine dining dying or just changing?
34:45 What does a Michelin star mean now?
42:15 Michelin, Sysco and the appearance of impartiality
Info
Nicholas Barrel and Roost
https://www.barrelandroost.com/
Nicholas Creamery
https://www.nicholascreamery.com/
Nicholas Wines
https://www.nicholaswines.com/

We're bringing our kitchen to the farm!
Join us at Dreyer Farms in Cranford, NJ for a Table-to-Farm Dinner.
Sunday, September 13 @ 5:30
https://www.stageleft.com/event/91326-table-to-farm-dinner/

Subscribe: Restaurant Guys' Regular
https://restaurantguysregulars.buzzsprout.com/
Magyar Bank
https://www.magbank.com/
Stage Left Wine Shop
https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/
Our Places
Stage Left Steak
https://www.stageleft.com/
Catherine Lombardi Restaurant
https://www.catherinelombardi.com/
Stage Left Wineshop
https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/
Reach Out to The Guys!
TheGuys@restaurantguyspodcast.com

You’re hearing a preview of this subscriber bonus episode. Restaurant Guys’ Regulars can hear the full episode, plus other commercial-free bonus episodes, at  restaurantguysregulars.buzzsprout.com .
This is a Vintage episode from 2006.

Why This Episode Matters
Why one of the world's most prized ingredients commands extraordinary prices.
How truffle cultivation began challenging the romantic image of hunters searching the woods with trained dogs.
Why aroma, scarcity and spectacle are as important to the allure of truffles as flavor.
What happens when restaurants get their hands on thousands of dollars' worth of an ingredient that doesn't stay fresh for long.
Banter
Mark Pascal and Francis Schott begin with a tale of New Jersey lobster justice that makes Maine's system of informal fishing rules look positively genteel. A territorial dispute involving lobster pots somehow progresses to gunfire, arson and a neighboring boat unfortunately parked in the wrong slip.
Then, reports of people eating, and even cooking and driving, while asleep lead Mark to identify the true indignity: consuming thousands of calories without even getting to remember the meal.
The Conversation
Food writer Jane Black joins Mark and Francis after traveling through Spain to report on the changing world of truffles.
The romantic picture is familiar: a hunter and his dog wandering through the woods in search of an elusive underground treasure. What Jane found instead were truffle orchards, inoculated trees and farmers trying to turn an unpredictable delicacy into a viable agricultural business.
They explore why truffles became so scarce and expensive, how a former peasant food became one of dining's ultimate luxury ingredients, and why their remarkable aroma may matter more than their actual taste. Jane and the Guys also get into the sensual reputation of truffles, the theater of shaving them tableside and the questionable proliferation of truffle oil.
Then come the cautionary tales: an enormously valuable white truffle purchased at a charity auction that was locked in a safe and allowed to rot, and Francis's considerably more personal horror story about a chef who received thousands of dollars' worth of beautiful fresh truffles—and immediately preserved them in oil.
2026 update: At the time of this conversation, successful cultivation of the prized Italian white truffle (Tuber magnatum) remained elusive. Researchers have since documented controlled production of the species in a French orchard.

Guest Bio

Jane Black is a food journalist who covers food, culture, politics and sustainability. At the time of this interview, she was food editor at Boston Magazine and had written for publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, BusinessWeek and Newsweek International. She later became a staff writer at The Washington Post and co-host of the James Beard Award-winning podcast Pressure Cooker.

Timestamps
0:00 New Jersey vigilante lobster justice
4:35 Sleep eating, Ambien and forgotten calories
7:20 Jane Black enters the changing world of truffles
12:00 How truffles went from peasant food to luxury
15:00 Why truffles smell like sex—and why aroma matters
22:20 The $35,000 truffle disaster, Francis’s truffle tragedy and the future of cultivation

Info
Jane’s article on truffles
“Cultivating a Mystique,” The New York Times (2006) 
We're bringing our kitchen to the farm!
Join us at Dreyer Farms in Cranford, NJ for a Table-to-Farm Dinner.
Sunday, September 13 @ 5:30
https://www.stageleft.com/event/91326-table-to-farm-dinner/

Subscribe: Restaurant Guys' Regular
https://restaurantguysregulars.buzzsprout.com/
Magyar Bank
https://www.magbank.com/
Stage Left Wine Shop
https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/
Our Places
Stage Left Steak
https://www.stageleft.com/
Catherine Lombardi Restaurant
https://www.catherinelombardi.com/
Stage Left Wineshop
https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/
Reach Out to The Guys!
TheGuys@restaurantguyspodcast.com

This is a Vintage compilation from 2010.

Why This Episode Matters

A Real Housewives of New Jersey cookbook introduces one particularly memorable piece of dietary advice: avoid “stripper food.”
“Juicy bits from Joe” require Mark to summon his Nutley Italian accent. Things deteriorate from there. 
A New York Times story about changing bachelor parties sparks a conversation about great food, excessive drinking and what actually makes a night memorable.
Then come the restaurant stories: security deposits, chicken suits, and three unexpected strippers.
The Conversation

Mark Pascal and Francis Schott find the ridiculous side of food, restaurants and the ways people celebrate.
First, a cookbook associated with The Real Housewives of New Jersey offers some reasonable food advice and one rule Mark and Francis are unlikely to forget: never eat anything that could also be a stripper’s name. Cookie, Candy and Cupcake quickly lead to Bambi, Bunny and the question of what Michael Pollan would make of all this.
Then a story about increasingly food-focused bachelor parties gets them talking about why a great meal might be more memorable than the traditional blowout. Naturally, this leads to their own restaurant experience including a three-page rulebook that clearly existed for a reason and a bachelor party that somehow acquired three strippers from elsewhere in the building.

We're bringing our kitchen to the farm!
Join us at Dreyer Farms in Cranford, NJ for a Table-to-Farm Dinner.
Sunday, September 13 @ 5:30
https://www.stageleft.com/event/91326-table-to-farm-dinner/

Subscribe: Restaurant Guys' Regular
https://restaurantguysregulars.buzzsprout.com/
Magyar Bank
https://www.magbank.com/
Stage Left Wine Shop
https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/
Our Places
Stage Left Steak
https://www.stageleft.com/
Catherine Lombardi Restaurant
https://www.catherinelombardi.com/
Stage Left Wineshop
https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/
Reach Out to The Guys!
TheGuys@restaurantguyspodcast.com

This is a Vintage episode from 2010.
Why This Episode Matters
Hardwick, Vermont became an early test case for whether local food and small agricultural businesses could help revitalize a struggling rural economy.
Ben Hewitt challenges the feel-good version of the local food story: What happens when artisanal food creates jobs but remains too expensive for many people in the community?
The conversation explores how small farms can compete through distinctive, value-added products rather than commodity agriculture.
Mark, Francis and Ben dig into questions that remain central to the food system: affordability, farm viability, subsidies, food access and what “sustainable” actually means.
The Conversation
In 2010, Hardwick, Vermont was attracting national attention for an unusual concentration of farmers, food producers and agricultural entrepreneurs. Writer and farmer Ben Hewitt chronicled the town in The Town That Food Saved, but he wasn't interested in presenting Hardwick as a simple local-food success story.
Ben joins Mark Pascal and Francis Schott to examine what was actually happening in this working-class Vermont community from Jasper Hill's approach to artisan cheese and the rise of value-added agriculture to the advantages of diversified farms and shorter supply chains.
The conversation soon gets to the harder question: Can a local food economy truly strengthen a community if the people producing the food can't always afford to eat it? Mark, Francis and Ben debate the economics of small farms, food access, agricultural subsidies and the tension between building viable food businesses and making good food broadly accessible.
They also take on the language of sustainability, the growing concentration of the food and seed industries, and whether a more decentralized food system could create something both economically durable and better connected to the communities it feeds.
Guest Bio
Ben Hewitt is a Vermont farmer and writer and the author of The Town That Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Wired, Men's Journal and other publications.
Timestamps
1:00 Ben Hewitt and the Hardwick, Vermont story
3:00 How food businesses began reshaping a working-class town
8:00 The “agri-preneurial” revolution and Jasper Hill
12:00 Why small farms need value-added products
13:00 The affordability problem with local food
19:00 Farm subsidies and an unequal playing field
23:00 Shorter supply chains and diversified farms
27:00 Food access, Pies for the People and sustainable businesses
35:00 What “sustainable” really means and who controls the food system
Info
Ben’s books
The Town That Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food  
Making Supper Safe
We're bringing our kitchen to the farm!
Join us at Dreyer Farms in Cranford, NJ for a Table-to-Farm Dinner.
Sunday, September 13 @ 5:30
https://www.stageleft.com/event/91326-table-to-farm-dinner/

Subscribe: Restaurant Guys' Regular
https://restaurantguysregulars.buzzsprout.com/
Magyar Bank
https://www.magbank.com/
Stage Left Wine Shop
https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/
Our Places
Stage Left Steak
https://www.stageleft.com/
Catherine Lombardi Restaurant
https://www.catherinelombardi.com/
Stage Left Wineshop
https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/
Reach Out to The Guys!
TheGuys@restaurantguyspodcast.com