The Restaurant Guys

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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

Why This Episode Matters
Why wine may not be losing younger drinkers so much as failing to introduce itself to them well
How small, independent producers can offer something industrial wine cannot: place, history and story
Why wine education works better through tasting, comparison and discovery than scores and intimidation
How restaurants, retailers and wine lovers can make wine more approachable to people just beginning to explore it
Banter
Francis returns from the Russian River Valley with a deeper appreciation for Pinot Noir and plenty to say about what he learned. The Guys talk about how tasting wines side by side reveals the differences between vineyards, soils and winemaking choices, why visiting wine country can teach you what books can not and the considerable injustice of Francis losing a toga contest to a baby.
The Conversation
Tony Margiotta, founder of Gladiator Wine Distribution, joins Mark and Francis to talk about wine as culture, place and connection not just what's in the glass.
Tony traces his path from Italian-American family dinners and summers in Molise to discovering small Italian producers whose wines rarely made it to the U.S. That curiosity eventually became Gladiator Wines and a mission to tell the stories behind independent producers.
The conversation then turns to Tony's book Wine in Your 20s and the challenge of bringing a new generation into wine. Tony argues that wine hasn't necessarily lost younger drinkers: it hasn't introduced itself to them well. He and The Guys explore how approachable wines, tastings, good storytelling and less intimidation can help new drinkers discover wine on their own terms.
Guest Bio
Tony Margiotta is the founder of Gladiator Wine Distribution, specializing in independent Italian wine producers with a strong connection to place, culture and tradition. He is also the creator of Gladiator Wine TV and the author of Hidden Gems of Italy and Wine in Your 20s.

Timestamps
00:00 — Russian River Pinot Noir, side-by-side tasting and learning wine through experience
05:00 — Francis buys a real toga—and loses the contest to a baby
09:00 — Tony Margiotta and the philosophy behind Gladiator Wines
11:30 — Growing up with wine, Italian-American family dinners and Molise
17:00 — Why wine seems to taste better in Italy
20:30 — Discovering Italy's small producers and creating Gladiator Wines
22:00 — “Real wine tastes like a place”: story, context and terroir
28:00 — Learning to love wine in your 20s
32:00 — Why younger generations aren't connecting with wine
40:30 — How to introduce new drinkers: approachable wines, tastings and low-risk discovery
44:00 — Backyard vineyards, homemade wine and keeping traditions alive

Info
Tony Margiotta / Gladiator Wine Distribution
Gladiator Wine TV https://www.youtube.com/@GladiatorWineTV
Wine in Your 20s
Hidden Gems of Italy
Stage Left Wine Shop
stageleftwineshop.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

This is a Vintage episode from 2006.
Why This Episode Matters
Erica Renaud explains why heirloom, traditional and open-pollinated seeds matter to agricultural biodiversity.
Mark and Francis share how they worked directly with local farmers to plan crops, commit to purchases and even shoulder some of the farmer's risk.
The conversation connects sustainable agriculture with something more immediate to a restaurant: better-tasting food.
From backyard tomatoes to restaurant purchasing, they explore ways consumers, chefs and farmers can build a closer connection to where food comes from.

The Conversation
In 2006, organic farmer and researcher Erica Renaud of Seeds of Change joined Mark Pascal and Francis Schott for a conversation about something fundamental to the food on our plates: the seed.
Erica explains the differences among heirloom, traditional and open-pollinated varieties and why preserving genetic diversity matters. The discussion moves from seed saving and organic agriculture to the relationship between farmers and chefs—and that's where Mark and Francis bring the conversation directly into their restaurants.
They describe meeting with farmers before planting season to decide what to grow, committing to buy entire crops and sharing some of the agricultural risk. When hundreds of pounds of Jersey tomatoes arrived at once, the restaurants put them across the menu and preserved the harvest so they could serve local tomato sauce in the middle of winter.
For Mark and Francis, the motivation wasn't simply philosophical: the food tasted better. Their argument is that the search for the most sustainably grown tomato and the search for the best-tasting tomato can lead you to the same farm.
Erica also makes the case for growing something yourself—even in a container or small garden—as a way to understand food differently. From teaching children where food comes from to discovering how dramatically one tomato variety can taste from another, the conversation follows food from seed to farm to restaurant to plate.

Guest Bio
At the time of this 2006 conversation, Erica Renaud was an organic farmer and researcher and the Research and Farm Manager for Seeds of Change, working on organic seed production, agricultural biodiversity and programs connecting farmers with chefs and consumers.

Timestamps
00:00 Heirloom seeds, open pollination and preserving biodiversity
04:00 Seed patents, hybrids and who controls the food supply
07:00 Why chefs and farmers should plan together
12:00 Sustainable food often tastes better and everyone should grow something
18:30 Why organic food should start with organic seed
24:30 How consumers can drive demand for better, more sustainable food 
Info
Seeds of Change https://www.seedsofchange.com/
The organization discussed in this 2006 interview has evolved considerably since the original broadcast. The Seeds of Change garden-seed brand is currently part of Green Garden Products and continues to offer seeds described by the company as 100% organic and 100% non-GMO.
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