She may not be a household name, but Lisabet Summa has led a storied career in the profession she loves as much today as when she first set foot in a professional kitchen. After coming up alongside such luminaries as Norman Van Aken and Charlie Trotter in Chicago, Lisabet moved to South Florida, eventually becoming executive culinary director of the prolific Big Time Restaurant Group. Lisabet takes us through her journey from acting to cooking to her current role overseeing 15 restaurants as well as her continuing commitment to learning and growing, from gardening to milling her own grains.
And in The Line-Up, our weekly news and commentary segment, San Francisco’s Brandon Jew joins us to discuss the alarming rise in AAPI-directed hate crimes in the United States, and how he experiences it as an Asian-American in the Bay Area. We also talk about his new cookbook (coauthored with Tienlon Ho) Mister Jiu’s in Chinatown, which has an elevated poignancy in the context of these troubled times.
Andrew Talks to Chefs is a fully independent podcast and no longer affiliated with our former host network; please visit and bookmark our official website for all show updates, blog posts, personal and virtual appearances, and related information.