Today, we’re kicking off a new feature on Daily Blender, with the inaugural Quick Spin – a series of condensed Q&As with food and drink folks kicking ass across the country, including restaurateurs, chefs, bartenders, vintners, distillers, farmers, producers, authors, and filmmakers.

I met chef Scott Popovic on my first visit to the Cayman Cookout in 2010. Scott and his always-effervescent colleague, Maggie O’Quinn, were absolutely delightful additions to an already spectacular food and wine weekend, and I was thrilled to see them both again on my visit to this year’s …

And, here it is, folks. The last week of the year. A time for introspection. A time of reflection. A time to open that bottle of wine you’ve been coveting all year. It’s been a long year – for many – both personally and professionally, and I’m feeling all hopeful that the new year will bring a bevy of blessings and wishes.
Here on Daily Blender, I’ve been busy whittling away at the noise and honing in on what really makes this place a favorite destination for food, wine, and spirits …

Chef Michael Chiarello wears a bevy of hats – cook, restaurateur, vintner, businessman, food personality, father, husband – and he does it with aplomb.
Over the last twenty years, the gregarious chef has managed to stake a solid claim in an already-revered mecca of food and wine – California’s Napa Valley. As owner and chef of Bottega, he’s been applauded for his dedication to locality and sustainability, with a cuisine highlighting dishes from his Italian heritage. As a vintner, Chiarello has built his own respected wine estate, cultivating a handful of …

Like many of her peers, Miami chef Paula DaSilva spent much of her formative years in the kitchen. The daughter of two self-taught restaurateurs, DaSilva learned the basics from her parents before taking the path of culinary education post-high school. Now the Executive Chef at 1500˚, located in the hip Eden Roc Renaissance Hotel along the sunny shores of South Beach, DaSilva has been incorporating those early years of inspiration into her menu since the restaurant’s opening last fall. Fresh off the heels of her stint as a contestant on …

Born and raised on Maui, chef Isaac Bancaco embarked on a grand adventure to begin his culinary career. Growing up in a family, and a culture, where food and history are so revered, Bancaco made the early decision to pursue a life on the line. Shortly after high school graduation, the chef departed for Portland to pursue his culinary education at the city’s Western Culinary Institute (now Le Cordon Bleu), finagling an externship at Ming Tsai’s Blue Ginger in Boston and working four years through the restaurant’s kitchen ranks before …

At first sight, chef Eric Faivre was nearly intimidating as he walked toward me during my visit last month to Maui’s Grand Wailea Resort. Amid the empty chairs of the hotel’s central bar, Faivre appeared for the afternoon interview in the ever-recognizable white chef coat and striped pants, his six-foot-plus stature seemingly more Viking-like, of the Nordic or Minnesota variety, than that of a chef. I wondered, as I always do with chefs I haven’t met before, whether he would be disagreeable – stuffy, preoccupied, cranky about being wrangled into …

There was only one person I wanted to talk to during my first visit to the South Beach Wine and Food Festival this past February – restaurateur Danny Meyer. Planned visits to his Shake Shack spots had always been thwarted during my stays in New York, and I had equally yet to make it into Eleven Madison Park or any one of his other oft-lauded fine dining locations. Thankfully, a unique afternoon session had been planned at SOBE where Meyer would be pairing Shake Shack menu items with wines from …

It is always my privilege to speak with the chefs I interview for Daily Blender.
Men and women of all ages who have fallen in love with the kitchen, worked hard to hone their craft, worked tirelessly behind the knife through injury, defeat, hardship, on the path to success. It is an industry of trial, a personal choice of many beneath the toque to prepare, to pursue, to persevere. Some remain on the line for years before retiring, content with the ins-and-outs of the daily meal service. Some choose the path …

Marc Forgione was visibly stunned when he was announced as the winner of last season’s The Next Iron Chef. The 32-year-old, an already accomplished chef, had survived the series by defeating nine other highly-skilled, award-winning competitors, securing his spot on Food Network’s Iron Chef America.
It’s admittedly still sinking in.
“It still hasn’t really hit me that this is all happening,” says Forgione. “I feel very humbled when people in the restaurant ask for my autograph or I’m stopped for a picture on the street. At the end of the day, I …

The story of self-proclaimed wine geek Scott Wright sounds much like the tales of his peers before him who have dabbled in the world of terroir. On a different path, he began his professional life elsewhere, making his way up the corporate ladder until the pull of vineyards and grapes just became too strong. Until the day-in, day-out of a demanding career became uncomfortable. Until it was time to find something more fulfilling.
When I sat next to Scott and his wife and business partner, Martha, at a winemaker’s dinner last …

Admittedly, when my friend, sommelier Brett Feore, shared the details of his latest career move a few years back, I didn’t have much thought on the subject. A bit new to the restaurant world, particularly regarding the happenings of food-forward cities like New York, I was still trying to catch up on the who’s who within the culinary community.
“You know Scott Bryan, right?” Brett said, passing me a press release with details of the new restaurant. “He was in Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential.”
“He was?” I answered, trying to remember bits and …

Like many, I’ve been increasingly intrigued by the ongoing saga of street food. Growing at mind-boggling rates, mobile vendors have sprung up in cities across America, leaving city and state lawmakers scratching their heads and scrambling to enact new regulations, while traditional restaurateurs are left baffled at how to manage the customer ebb and flow due to this increasingly popular sector of the culinary world.
I’ve been most curious about the inter-industry vibes, of course. The ever-evolving, ongoing dynamics of brick and mortar chefs vs. mobile chefs. At first, I had …

I’m surprised when chef Scott Conant addresses me by name at our first meeting. For a moment, I’m a little stunned, standing at the base of the event stage with my hand extended, elevator pitch at the ready. Until he notes my rapid fire ‘tweets’ from the weekend’s events.
Ah, yes. The power of Twitter.
After a formal shaking of hands and an exchange of business cards, along with an appeal for an interview, the surprisingly approachable chef, fresh off his culinary demonstration on this last day of the posh Taste of …

On a resplendent day in June, fresh off the plane from Denver and ready for a weekend of food, wine, and favorite chefs, I make my way to Aspen’s Montagna restaurant for the first interview on my schedule. Located in the heart of the posh Little Nell hotel, staff are hustling and bustling about while some of the bigger names in food (and food journalism) lounge lazily by the pool. Taking a seat on the nearby patio, Montagna’s executive chef, Ryan Hardy, makes his way toward me while shielding his …

Chef Tom Colicchio is more than just a pretty face. Most often recognized due to his stint as judge on Bravo’s Top Chef, Colicchio doesn’t just sit behind a table and critique ill-fated dishes delivered by nerve-wracked cheftestants every day.
He actually cooks in his kitchen.
It’s five o’clock on a Sunday in New York, and the eve of the James Beard Foundation Awards. Colicchio seems calm, cool, and collected as we take a seat in the dining room of Colicchio & Sons, despite being nominated for Outstanding Chef this year. Of …