The Food Lens Podcast

S2 Ep. 4: All in the Pam-ily (with Pam & Chris Willis)

Ever wonder what it would be like to grow up in a glamorous NYC hotel? Or down on the farm? Pam, the gregarious, fashionable front of the house, and her husband Chris the creative but exacting chef, create the Alchemy that is Pammy’s in Inman Square, Cambridge. Exciting, yet approachable, this elevated Italian-American spot is a reflection of the couple who run the show. We dig into “Pam-ily” dynamics, the unsung beauty of fresh flour, and the emotional pay-off of running a neighborhood restaurant.

 

Weeknight dinner stress is cancelled! Catherine's company, not just co., helps you get a healthy, delicious meal done fast with their modern pantry staples, plus easy recipes for you on those evenings you aren't hitting the Boston restaurant scene. Use code TFL20 to receive 20% off your order. 

 

 

Thank you to our season two sponsors, Winestyr and Image Unlimited Communications. 

S2 Ep. 3: No Wine Snobs Allowed with TJ & Hadley Douglas

The husband wife duo behind The Urban Grape in Boston’s South End are all about making wine culture more accessible: They take the pretension out of wine talk by making everyone who walks into their store feel welcome. They classify bottles “progressively,” in a unique system that prioritizes finding wine you’ll love. They champion small producers. We chat with the couple about work and family life, running a woman/black-owned wine shop, and why trends won’t dictate what’s on the shelf at UG.  

 

Don't miss our upcoming Galentine's Day Party at OAK Long Bar + Kitchen on February 13^th from 6-9PM. Join us for a night of sipping, snacking, and sweets to celebrate the ladies – all while supporting Women’s Lunch Place, a local charity that helps homeless women. For more information, click HERE. We hope to see you there! 

 

 

Weeknight dinner stress is cancelled! Catherine's company, not just co., helps you get a healthy, delicious meal done fast with their modern pantry staples, plus easy recipes for you on those evenings you aren't hitting the Boston restaurant scene. Use code TFL20 to receive 20% off your order. 

 

 

Thank you to our season two sponsors, Winestyr and Image Unlimited Communications. 

S2 Ep. 2: Getting “Saltie” with Boston Restaurateur Kathy Sidell

The hospitality business is in Kathy Sidell’s blood. The restaurateur’s father, banker and restaurant backer Jack Sidell, and her sister, Stephanie, of Stephanie’s on Newbury, both inspired her to get in to the game. In this episode, we chat about her career as a female restaurateur, the genesis of Saltie Girl, her new potato chip venture, and the importance of not taking no for an answer.

 

Don't miss our upcoming Galentine's Day Party at OAK Long Bar + Kitchen on February 13^th from 6-9PM. Join us for a night of sipping, snacking, and sweets to celebrate the ladies – all while supporting Women’s Lunch Place, a local charity that helps homeless women. For more information, click HERE. We hope to see you there! 

 

 

Weeknight dinner stress is cancelled! Catherine's company, not just co., helps you get a healthy, delicious meal done fast with their modern pantry staples, plus easy recipes for you on those evenings you aren't hitting the Boston restaurant scene. Use code TFL20 to receive 20% off your order. 

 

 

Thank you to our season two sponsors, Winestyr and Image Unlimited Communications. 

S2 Ep. 1: JuanMa Calderón & Maria Roundeau Know How to Throw a (Dinner) Party

When friends say, “You should open a restaurant!” just because you throw a great dinner party, they are usually wrong. Not in the case of JuanMa Calderón & Maria Rondeau whose Somerville restaurant Celeste started as a supper in club in their Cambridge home. We sat down with the couple to hear how a filmmaker and an architect with no prior experience in the industry opened one of the hottest spots in town, and how they plan to keep the party going.

*NOTE (26:53): The duo's newest concept in Vermont is slated to open in Spring 2020.

 

Don't miss our upcoming Galentine's Day Party at OAK Long Bar + Kitchen on February 13^th from 6-9PM. Join us for a night of sipping, snacking, and sweets to celebrate the ladies – all while supporting Women’s Lunch Place, a local charity that helps homeless women. For more information, click HERE. We hope to see you there! 

 

 

Weeknight dinner stress is cancelled! Catherine's company, not just co., helps you get a healthy, delicious meal done fast with their modern pantry staples, plus easy recipes for you on those evenings you aren't hitting the Boston restaurant scene. Use code TFL20 to receive 20% off your order. 

 

 

Thank you to our season two sponsors, Winestyr and Image Unlimited Communications. 

 

Trailer: Season Two of the Food Lens Podcast

Molly & Catherine are back for seconds, and we hope you’ll join! In season 2 of The Food Lens Podcast, the co-hosts sit down with a fresh batch of Boston restaurant industry insiders to talk food, family, business, and travel. Want to know what’s up with the tinned fish trend? Who grinds their own flour and comes out in defense of “meat glue”? How to cut through the BS when buying wine? Well, you’ll just have to tune in to find out.

Bonus Episode: Molly Ford & Sarah Jesup: Research, Eat, Sleep, Repeat

Molly Ford and Sarah Jesup founded The Food Lens back in 2016 and have been heading up efforts to curate Boston’s best online dining and drinking resource ever since. Molly (a San Diego native) and Sarah (originally from Vermont) met at Boston University in 2008 while pursuing degrees in journalism and hospitality, respectively. The pair then spent time eating their way around the globe, always searching for the best hidden gems, from taquerias in Mexico to shawarma spots in Istanbul. Their “restaurant bible”—a Google doc chronicling top meals eaten at home and abroad—was the blueprint for what would later become TFL. They still love to travel, but call Boston home: Molly lives in Fenway with her boyfriend, while Sarah and her husband live in Beacon Hill with their three dogs. They both enjoy working out and eating out, in pretty equal measure

 

 

In this bonus episode, Catherine sits down with co-founders and BFFs Molly and Sarah to tell TFL’s origin story, and reveal what goes in to curating guides to the best food and drink in Boston.

S1 Ep. 9: Tiffani Faison Has her Head and Heart in the Restaurant Game

Tiffani Faison compares working in restaurant kitchens to playing “the weirdest sport on earth”. If the popular and critical success of her ever-expanding Big Heart Hospitality Group is any indication, it’s fair to say she’s winning. With the opening of Sweet Cheeks in 2011 and Tiger Mama in 2015, followed by the bar Fool's Errand in 2018 and the upscale Italian-American spot Orfano in 2019, she's played a major role in transforming the Fenway neighborhood into a dining destination. Faison didn’t grow up tugging on a grandmother’s apron strings, she got a peek at the chaos of kitchen life working as a busser for Todd English, and felt an inexplicable tug to jump into the game. We talk about getting crushed learning to cook on the line, how she ended up in sports bar-filled Fenway, and why declining to open her “Look at me I’m a Big Deal Chef,” restaurant was the best decision ever. 

S1 Ep. 8: Irene Li Knows Basic Business Knowledge is Power

Irene Li isn’t afraid to talk about privilege (especially her own), share her profit and loss statements with every employee, or disclose how difficult it can be to run a successful restaurant. Li is a chef and restaurateur who walks the talk. Hearing how she and her team are working to make careers at Mei Mei as sustainable as the food, is downright inspiring. We’ve always loved Mei Mei for their addictively delicious take on Chinese-American food; now we can’t get enough of Li’s unique perspective on the business of hospitality. 

S1 Ep. 7: Building Pizza Boxes and Character, in the Kitchen with Juan Pedrosa

Juan Pedrosa knows that with food, and hospitality, it’s all about how you make people feel. From after-hours family meal at a the Greek pizza place where he started his career (as a pre-teen), to wowing guests with “Viper Chops” and flaming cocktails at Yvonne’s, Pedrosa puts in the work, to share the love. Hear the surprisingly heart-warming story of how he got fired, what went in to reimagining Locke-Ober as Yvonne’s, and a behind the scenes take on building out COJE’s newest hot spot, Mariel.

S1 Ep. 6: Restaurant Partnership, AKA Platonic Marriage (with Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette)

These two. How do they keep the magic alive in kitchens like Coppa, Toro, and Little Donkey? We ask Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette to dish on their partnership, and try to figure out the alchemy that produces our favorite hamburguesas, sopressatta pizzas, and porron parties. Spoiler alert: it’s a unique combo of brutal honesty, respect for creativity, a shared love of breakfast..and a dash of improv.