The meez Podcast

Episoade

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  Sean Josephs: The Sommelier Who Built America's Great Bourbon Bars and now create's a bourbon they pour. 15.09.2026 1h 43min

  Josh sits down with Sean Josephs, founder of Pinhook Bourbon and the new subscription-only Old Joseph's, for a conversation that traces two decades in restaurants and spirits. Sean didn't find the industry until he was 30, after five directionless years in fashion and beauty account management, before landing as a food runner at Tia Pol, the Chelsea restaurant his wife Mani opened in 2004. From there he trained under master sommelier Roger Dagorn at Chanterelle, then went on to build Char No....
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  Janello On Red Sauce Joints, Chicken Parm, And What Makes Them Last 08.09.2026 35min

  #146 Josh sits down with Jason Anello, better known as Janello, at Da Nico on Mulberry Street in Manhattan's Little Italy. Janello is an experience strategist on a mission to bring back dinnertime. That inspired him to create The Red Sauce Map and the Forking Tasty supper club so others can experience dinnertime through his Italian-American lense. They trace how Italian immigration and New World abundance turned scarcity cooking into stacked, saucy, unmistakably American plates, and why chick...
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  Rocco DiSpirito talks technique, content creation, and the path of the modern chef 01.09.2026 58min

  #145 Josh sits down with chef, restaurateur, author, and television pioneer Rocco DiSpirito for a wide-ranging conversation about how dramatically the path of a chef has changed. Recorded at Bar Rocco, the episode begins with Josh realizing that Rocco actually judged a cooking competition he entered 25 years ago, before the two revisit their shared connection to legendary chef Gray Kunz. Rocco traces his own path from earning 50 cents an hour at a Queens pizzeria to culinary school, Europe, L...
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  Revisiting Epic Conversations: Wylie Dufresne of Stretch Pizza, Du's Donuts, Alder, and wd~50 (Part 2) 25.08.2026 43min

  We’re revisiting Part Two of Josh’s conversation with legendary chef Wylie Dufresne, continuing their fireside chat from the annual meez team summit at the Tarrytown Estates outside New York City. After exploring the story and philosophy behind wd~50 in Part One, Wylie tackles some not-so-quick-fire questions, shares the unexpected inspiration behind Stretch Pizza, and takes questions from the audience. Chef Wylie reveals how stumbling upon a Breville pizza oven during the pandemic sparked an...
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  Revisiting Epic Conversations: Wylie Dufresne of Stretch Pizza, Du's Donuts, Alder and wd~50 (Part 1) 25.08.2026 58min

  We’re revisiting one of the standout conversations from the meez Podcast archive. In this episode, Josh sits down with legendary chef Wylie Dufresne for a conversation on creativity, leadership, and the tension between making great art and building a sustainable business. It’s a conversation that remains just as relevant today, and one well worth bringing back for another listen. Chef Wylie Dufresne joins host Josh Sharkey for a fireside chat at the Tarrytown Estates outside New York City for...
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  Revisiting Epic Conversations: John Karangis - Executive Chef, VP of Culinary Innovation Shake Shack 18.08.2026 1h 1min

  Revisiting Viral meez Episodes — we're bringing back one of the most-listened-to conversations in meez Podcast history. This episode originally aired October 31, 2023. Have you ever wondered who is behind all of the new and exciting flavors at Shake Shack? Meet John Karangis, Executive Chef and VP of Culinary Innovation, leading R&D, menu development, and chef collaborations for the brand. John's culinary journey kicked off in the nineties at Union Square Cafe, winding through Pari...
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  Kenny Warner on How AI Models Really Work, Why Clean Data Wins, and the Future of Restaurant AI 11.08.2026 59min

  #144 Josh and Mike sit down with Kenny Warner, VP of Data Science and Engineering at meez, for a conversation that starts with Kenny's unlikely path into tech leaving college after his sophomore year to launch a cause-marketing startup and winds up deep inside the machinery of modern AI. Kenny breaks down what actually happens when a language model reads your data, explaining tokens, embeddings, attention, and inference in plain terms, and why you can't simply point a chatbot at a hundred-mil...
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  From Dishwasher to Restaurant Empire: Cameron Mitchell on Loyalty and Culture 04.08.2026 56min

  #143 Josh sits down with Cameron Mitchell, founder and CEO of Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, to explore the leadership philosophy behind one of the country's most respected independent restaurant groups. Cameron shares the remarkable journey from high school dropout and dishwasher to building more than 100 restaurants, reflecting on the goals he set at 18 years old that ultimately shaped his entire career. Together they discuss why culture always outweighs strategy, the importance of promoting...
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  Drew Nieporent on Nobu, Tribeca Grill, and the Art of the Restaurateur 28.07.2026 1h 3min

  #142 Josh sits down with Drew Nieporent, one of the most influential restaurateurs in American dining and the man behind Montrachet, Tribeca Grill, Nobu, Corton, and Bâtard. Over four decades he opened 40 restaurants and has partnered with some of the world's best chefs, from David Bouley to Paul Liebrandt to Marcus Glocker. Recorded at Nobu Downtown, the conversation centers around Drew's belief that the restaurateur is the director, and the chef, the wine, the service, and the room are the ...
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  Maddy Shannon on 'the Anticipate and deliver' approach, the price of a restaurant meal, and the Ai paradigm 21.07.2026 1h 7min

  #141 Josh sits down with Maddy Shannon, Head of Product Strategy at SpotOn, who has spent her career making independent restaurants more profitable. From a start at Bain, to the business team at The Alinea Group under Nick Kokonas, to the finances at SingleThread Farms in Healdsburg, to a Stanford MBA and now leading SpotOn's reporting, Profit AI, and analytics teams, Maddy sits at the rare intersection of hospitality and product. The conversation keeps circling one idea: great hospitality an...
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  Deirdre Auld On Leading With Curiosity, Not Fixing 14.07.2026 1h 15min

  #140 Josh sits down with Deirdre Auld, CEO and partner of Coda Restaurant Group in Boston, whose portfolio includes SRV, Baleia, Gufo, The Salty Pig, and the soon-to-open Celine. Deirdre traces her circuitous path into hospitality leadership, from an early love of architecture and a stint in private equity to years running restaurants and eventually stepping away to earn a master's degree and a leadership coaching certification from Northwestern. She and Josh dig into the coaching philosophy ...
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  Xavier from OEO on restaurant bookkeepers vs Ai and how to charge corkage fees 07.07.2026 1h 13min

  #139 Josh and Mike sit down with Xavier Mariezcurrena Vega, co-founder of Over Easy Office and ChouxBox to trace the winding road that took him from busing tables as a teenager to running a 400-person back-office operation spanning Philadelphia, Bogotá, and Manila. Xavier shares the story of opening and losing a restaurant in Dallas, the friendship with his business partner Tony that grew out of a failed concept in Philadelphia, and how their shared frustration with messy invoices and unreli...
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  28 years inside Nobu with Chef Thomas Buckley, why Nobu's legacy continues to grow, lasting relationships, and Thomas' $250 Grilled Cheese 30.06.2026 52min

  #138 Josh sits down with Thomas Buckley, Corporate Executive Chef of Nobu Restaurants and one of the key culinary leaders behind more than 60 Nobu locations worldwide. Thomas shares the unlikely path that took him from a vegetarian upbringing in a seaside town in England to some of the world’s most influential kitchens, including The Connaught, Daniel, El Bulli, and ultimately Nobu. Along the way, he reflects on discovering his passion for cooking, learning classical French technique, and how...
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  Jenn Saesue and Chat Suansilphong of Fish Cheeks, Bangkok Supper Club and now Bubs Bakery on Thai cuisine and how to actually make good gluten free baked goods 23.06.2026 1h 6min

  #137 Josh sits down with Jenn Saesue and Chat Suansilphong, co-founders of 55 Hospitality, recorded at Bangkok Supper Club. Chat learned to cook in his father's restaurant in Thailand before the CIA and Colicchio & Sons. Jenn opened her first restaurant at 22 and watched it fail. The two met managing a Thai restaurant group in Hell's Kitchen, then built Fish Cheeks, Bangkok Supper Club, Fish Cheeks Williamsburg, and the allergen-free Bub's Bakery. The thread through all of it: do fewer th...
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  Ming-Tai Huh on Square's 40% layoff, the restaurant tech stack, and the dream of one day quantifying the ROI of marketing. 16.06.2026 1h 13min

  #136 Josh and Mike sit down with Ming-Tai Huh, restaurateur, MIT graduate, former Toast and Square executive, and co-founder of Cambridge Street Hospitality Group. Ming shares the unlikely path that took him from management consulting and technology into the restaurant industry, beginning with a spontaneous decision to open a restaurant after becoming deeply involved in his local Cambridge community. He reflects on his early days at Toast, helping to build foundational products such as online...
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  Why the Best Champagne Comes From Growers, Not the Big Houses. Plus Per Se's Yes vs Noma's No, and working with your spouse. 09.06.2026 58min

  #135 Josh sits down with chef and sommelier Sandia Chang for a conversation that spans 20 years of restaurants on both sides of the Atlantic. From her start on the fish station at Bouley in 2003, to four years at Per Se under Thomas Keller, to a stint at Noma in Copenhagen alongside her now-husband James Knappett, Sandia eventually landed in London where the two opened Bubble Dogs (a champagne and hot dog bar on Charlotte Street) and Kitchen Table, now a two Michelin star restaurant. Along th...
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  Acclaimed actress, Tony award winner and Iron Chef judge Julie White chopping it up with Josh on all things food TV and the best food movies 02.06.2026 1h 30min

  #134 Josh sits down with Tony Award-winning actress Julie White for a wildly entertaining deep dive into the evolution of food television, from the chaotic brilliance of Iron Chef Japan to Chef’s Table, Top Chef, and the modern reality-TV era of cooking competitions. Julie shares behind-the-scenes stories from judging Iron Chef America, competing on Chopped, auditioning to play Julia Child, and her obsession with Great British Baking Show. Along the way, the two unpack why chefs became celeb...
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  Greg Baxtrom on his first cookbook, sobriety, the reality of chef driven restaurants, and the babysitter math of dining out decisions 26.05.2026 1h 3min

  #133 Josh sits down with chef Greg Baxtrom fora a conversation about his newly released book, Nothing Matters but Delicious: A Radically Honest Cookbook released this week. Greg dives into his thoughts on ambition, addiction, mental health, and what success actually looks like after the accolades arrive. Greg reflects on his rise through some of the world’s most influential kitchens including Alinea, Per Se, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, and his breakout success with Olmsted in Brooklyn. He...
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  Is your restaurant you're favorite place to be? Plus authentic is a construct, working with your life partner, and wild stories of pigs in walk-ins 19.05.2026 1h 20min

  #132 Josh and Mike sit down with Todd Duplechan, chef and co-owner behind Lenoir, Dovetail Pizza, and the newly opened Bonnie’s, for a wide-ranging conversation that blends wild kitchen stories with deeper reflections on what it actually means to build a restaurant you love. Todd shares what it’s like to operate multiple concepts on the same block in Austin, the lessons learned from opening a bar for the first time, and how redefining roles, expectations, and service can make a restaurant bot...
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  How Chili's Got Hot Again and the K-Shaped Economy Debate 12.05.2026 55min

  #131 Josh sits down with Michael Jacober for a wide-ranging conversation about restaurant value, shifting diner behavior, and why legacy brands like Chili’s are suddenly feeling relevant again. They unpack the idea of a “K-shaped” restaurant economy, where brands increasingly feel pushed toward either premium experiences or clear-cut value, and debate whether that narrative really holds up in practice. Along the way, they dig into Chili’s surprising resurgence, how simplifying menus and tight...