Chef's PSA

Episode Overview In this solo episode, André Natera breaks down the ten most common and most costly mistakes new cooks make on their first day in a professional kitchen. These are not abstract principles. They are specific, avoidable errors that consistently get new hires off on the wrong foot and in some cases end a

About Jakub Czyszczon Jakub Czyszczon is a chef whose career spans some of the most technically rigorous fine dining kitchens in the United States. He worked at Senia in Honolulu and Sepia in Chicago before joining the opening team at Garrison in Austin, Texas, where he served as Executive Chef. Garrison earned recognition for its

Episode Overview In this solo episode, André Natera breaks down what effective leadership actually looks like inside a professional kitchen, drawing on personal experience building and managing high-performing culinary teams. The episode goes beyond generic management advice to address the specific dynamics of kitchen leadership: how to inspire cooks who are working in high-pressure, physically

About Alex Gonzalez Alex Gonzalez is a fine dining service professional whose career includes work at some of the most technically demanding restaurants in the United States, including Alinea in Chicago, The French Laundry in Napa Valley, and Qui in Austin. He built expertise at the front-of-house level in kitchens where service is not merely

Episode Overview In this solo episode, André Natera makes the case that a messy kitchen is not just an aesthetic problem. It is a performance problem, a sanitation problem, and a morale problem all at once. Drawing on his own experience running high-level kitchens, he explains the direct connection between kitchen cleanliness and the quality

About Chef Gabe Erales Gabe Erales is a James Beard Award semifinalist and one of the most recognized voices in modern Mexican fine dining. He is the chef and owner of Bacalar in Austin, Texas, a restaurant rooted in the traditional cooking of the Yucatan Peninsula, and Ometeo in Washington, D.C. His cooking is grounded

Episode Overview In this solo episode, André Natera identifies ten specific habits that quietly hold back culinary careers, often without the cook even realizing it is happening. Drawing on 27 years of experience hiring, developing, and evaluating kitchen professionals, he breaks down the behavioral patterns that consistently separate the people who advance from those who

About Chef Lorin Peters Lorin Peters is an Austin, Texas native, University of Texas alumna, and the founder of Cookie Rich, an Austin-based cookie company she launched in 2020. She built a decade-long career as a savory chef that included a position as chef de partie at the three Michelin-starred French Laundry in Yountville, California

Episode Overview In this solo episode, André Natera takes a different angle on kitchen leadership by applying universal laws and strategic frameworks to culinary operations. He walks through principles like Murphy’s Law, Parkinson’s Law, and the Pareto Principle and explains what each one looks like inside a professional kitchen, how they shape the decisions chefs

About Chef Aaron Bludorn Aaron Bludorn is a Houston-based chef and restaurateur who built his career in New York before relocating to Texas to open his own group. He spent nearly a decade at Cafe Boulud in Manhattan, rising to Executive Chef under Daniel Boulud, where he earned a James Beard Award semifinalist nomination for