Chef's PSA Podcast

Chef Brian Lewis is the founder and CEO of Full House Hospitality Group and a three-time James Beard Award finalist for Best Chef Northeast, with nominations in 2018, 2022, and 2025. A Culinary Institute of America and Johnson and Wales University graduate, he apprenticed under Jean Louis Palladin, Marco Pierre White, and Eric Ripert before becoming the founding executive chef of Richard Gere's The Bedford Post Inn, which earned Esquire's Best New Restaurant in 2009 and an Excellent review from The New York Times. In 2015 he founded Full House Hospitality Group, which now operates The Cottage in Westport and Greenwich, Connecticut, and OKO in Westport and Rye, New York, with 125 employees across four locations.
This episode opens with a story about a job interview that most chefs would have walked away from. Lewis did not walk away. He secretly prepared an eight-course meal before anyone asked, controlled the entire tasting, and landed the role that gave him what he calls a PhD in opening and operating a restaurant from the ground up.
How he built Full House Hospitality Group around a single principle: only expand when operations can thrive without you in the room
Why empowering teams with genuine autonomy inside defined guardrails is the only leadership model that scales across four restaurants and 125 people
How strategy and psychology replaced technique as his primary tools when he made the shift from chef to CEO
André Natera and Brian Lewis cover the identity shift required when a chef stops being the creative voice in the kitchen and starts leading other chefs to express theirs, the role of kindness as a non-negotiable management standard, navigating reviews and social media pressure across multiple concepts, and the research trip to Japan that preceded the launch of OKO. The episode closes with rapid fire kitchen gear, stocks and dashi minimalism, and the chef Mount Rushmore.

Guest
Brian Lewis on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/brianlewischef/
Full House Hospitality on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/fullhousehg/
Links
Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/
Shop Chef's PSA Merch → https://shop.chefspsa.com/
Visit Chef's PSA Website → https://chefspsa.com/
Lead Like a Chef App → https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef

Chef Jason Dady is one of San Antonio's most prolific restaurateurs, having opened 20 restaurants over 25 years through the Jason Dady Restaurant Group. A San Antonio UNESCO City of Gastronomy Chef Ambassador and Food Network veteran with appearances on Iron Chef Gauntlet, BBQ Brawl, and Beat Bobby Flay, Dady most recently opened Mexico Ceaty, a 25,000-square-foot food hall on San Antonio's River Walk at the Shops at Rivercenter. The concept opened April 20, 2026 and includes eight distinct dining and drinking venues celebrating Mexican and San Antonio food culture, with direct River Walk access.
This episode covers the full operational story behind Mexico Ceaty, from a decade-old idea to 196 employees hired in one week.
How an 18-month lease negotiation, financing setbacks, and a small Houston bank shaped the opening before a single taco was served
How targeted social media ads and structured onboarding placed 196 employees across nine concepts in a single week
Why SOPs and recipes calibrated to the gram are not micromanagement but the only way to maintain standards at scale.
André Natera and Jason Dady cover the Eataly-inspired origin of Mexico Ceaty, the nine concepts inside the space, the transition from chef-operator to CEO, profit margin realities across fine dining and fast casual formats, and the EOS Traction L10 meeting structure that creates leadership accountability without requiring the founder in every room. The episode closes with career advice, the importance of stages as learning rather than labor, and rapid fire chef questions.
Guest
Jason Dady on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/chefjasondady/
Mexico Ceaty on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/mexicoceatysa/
Links
Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/
Shop Chef's PSA Merch → https://shop.chefspsa.com/
Visit Chef's PSA Website → https://chefspsa.com/
Lead Like a Chef App → https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef

Chef Matt Peters is the first American chef to win gold at the Bocuse d'Or, the most technically demanding culinary competition in the world. He trained under Thomas Keller at Per Se and The French Laundry and at Adour Alain Ducasse in New York before spending over a year preparing for the 2017 Bocuse d'Or in Lyon. He is currently Head Coach for Team USA at the 2027 Bocuse d'Or, coaching Chef Vincenzo Loseto and Commis Tyler Higson, and competed this year on CBS's America's Culinary Cup.
This episode is the most detailed inside account of America's Culinary Cup that any competitor has given publicly. Peters does not filter it.
What the sequestering process, point structure, and unexpected challenges like cooking someone else's food actually feel like from the inside
Why precision and technical refinement can work against you on television, and what the criticism that his food was too chefy actually meant
The sauce argument: why Keller-style clean reductions and Ducasse-style fat-emulsified sauces represent two fundamentally different philosophies, and why the choice defines your cooking voice
André Natera and Matt Peters cover the beef stroganoff versus Bocuse-style dish debate from episode one, mental fatigue from the finale curveballs, his honest format critique, the training timeline for Team USA 2027 on the road to Lyon, and where smart product use fits into a scratch cooking philosophy.
Guest
Matt Peters on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/chefmattpeters/
Links Block
Lead Like a Chef App → ⁠https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef⁠
Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/
Shop Chef's PSA Merch → https://shop.chefspsa.com/
Visit Chef's PSA Website → https://chefspsa.com/

Evan LeRoy is the co-owner and pitmaster of LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue in Austin, Texas. A Michelin star recipient in the MICHELIN Guide Texas 2024, number two on Texas Monthly's Top 50 BBQ Joints in 2025, and 2025 James Beard Award Semifinalist for Best Chef Texas, LeRoy has spent nearly a decade redefining Texas barbecue through whole-animal butchery, locally sourced meats, and a cooking philosophy that refuses to treat barbecue as a fixed menu. His debut cookbook, New School Barbecue: Recipes for Next-Level Smoking and Grilling from Austin's LeRoy and Lewis, co-authored with Paula Forbes, is out May 12, 2026.
In this episode, he gets direct about the one thing most chefs with new recognition do not want to admit: the star changed everything, and not all of it in ways that are easy to manage.
What earning and retaining a Michelin star actually does to a barbecue operation in terms of volume, scrutiny, and internal pressure
Why Texas barbecue's dominance as the national formula is creating a copycat monoculture that is hurting the genre
The complete brisket process from trimming for airflow to Dalmatian rub ratios, wood selection, wrapping decisions, and the overnight heated rest
André Natera and Evan LeRoy cover the ways success can quietly destabilize priorities, how portioning precision and pricing realities shift under heightened expectations, and the three-year process behind translating LeRoy and Lewis's restaurant technique into nearly 100 home-cook-friendly recipes for the cookbook. The episode closes with how LeRoy steps away from the pressure and what he is watching in the broader BBQ landscape.
New School Barbecue is available wherever books are sold, out May 12, 2026.
This episode is sponsored by Rational USA. Learn more at https://rationalusa.com
Guest
Evan LeRoy on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/evanleroybbq/
Standard Links Block
Lead Like a Chef App → https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef
Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/
Shop Chef's PSA Merch → https://shop.chefspsa.com/
Visit Chef's PSA Website → https://chefspsa.com/

Phillip Frankland Lee is the co-owner and executive chef of Scratch Restaurants Group, the Michelin-starred hospitality company he operates with his wife and executive pastry chef Margarita Kallas-Lee. The group includes Sushi by Scratch Restaurants, Pasta|Bar, NADC Burger, and Shokunin. Lee is a Top Chef Season 13 competitor, San Pellegrino Young Chef 2015 finalist, Zagat 30 Under 30 honoree, and Food Network record holder for most consecutive competition wins. This is his third appearance on Chef's PSA.
His argument is direct: you can open a restaurant for $10,000 or less, break even in 60 days, and scale that model to 32 locations if you keep the footprint small, the staff lean, and every concept focused on one core product.
How taking over already-permitted spaces eliminates the buildout cost that kills most restaurant openings
Why small tasting-menu formats scale better than large casual concepts and how the math actually works
Where chef inspiration ends and outright copying begins, and why that line matters more now than ever
André Natera and Phillip Frankland Lee cover the organic growth of NADC Burger from free pop-ups to multiple locations, the conversion of a Pasta|Bar location into a 22-seat boutique steakhouse, Lee's open world RPG framework for handling adversity, hard lessons from sharks and risky partnerships, and the detailed debate on homage versus originality in culinary culture. The episode closes with a preview of his upcoming podcast Fire the Board and new Austin-area concepts.

Guest
Phillip Frankland Lee on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/phillipfranklandlee/
Links
Lead Like a Chef App → ⁠https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef⁠
Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/
Shop Chef's PSA Merch → https://shop.chefspsa.com/
Visit Chef's PSA Website → https://chefspsa.com/