Chef's PSA

Episode Overview In this solo episode, André Natera reflects on what the first experience of being an executive chef is actually like, and what he wishes someone had told him before he took on the role for the first time. The reality of an executive chef position is significantly different from how most sous chefs

Episode Overview In this solo episode, André Natera takes on one of the most persistent debates in professional cooking: which matters more, creativity or technique? His answer is direct and grounded in experience rather than theory, and he also shares the specific method he uses to generate and develop creative ideas in his own work.

Episode Overview In this solo episode, André Natera draws on his experience working across three very different culinary environments to break down what actually distinguishes them: restaurants, hotels, and country clubs. Each has its own culture, its own demands, its own career trade-offs, and its own relationship to the craft of cooking. Most cooks end

Episode Overview In this solo episode, André Natera breaks down the main causes that make a kitchen go down during service. Every experienced chef has lived through a truly catastrophic service and most of them can trace the collapse back to a handful of root causes that appear consistently across different kitchens and contexts. Understanding

Episode Overview In this solo episode, André Natera gives practical advice for cooks who are working toward the sous chef role: what to do to prepare, how to get noticed by the chef above you, and what to actually expect when you get there. The sous chef position is one of the most misunderstood transitions

Episode Overview In this solo episode, André Natera explains where the idea for Chef’s PSA came from and why he started it. The show exists because there was a gap: culinary professionals at every stage of their careers needed honest, direct, experience-based guidance that the industry was not providing in a format that was actually

Episode Overview Is culinary school actually worth it — or is it an expensive detour you don’t need? In this solo episode, Andre Natera gives an unfiltered take on the culinary school debate. He breaks down who should go, who should skip it, what you actually learn in school versus what you learn on the

Episode Overview In this solo episode, André Natera tackles one of the most annoying questions a chef gets asked: what’s your specialty? He explores why this question frustrates experienced culinary professionals, what it reveals about how the general public misunderstands the breadth and depth of a serious chef’s skill set, and why the expectation that

Episode Overview In this solo episode, André Natera covers both sides of the cooking interview: how to prepare for one as a candidate and how he recommends they be conducted by the chefs running them. Most cooking interviews are poorly designed on both ends. Candidates show up without thinking seriously about what they are being

Episode Overview In this solo episode, André Natera shares his direct experience with food critics during his time as a chef in Dallas, Texas. Being reviewed by a food critic is one of the most high-stakes and psychologically loaded experiences in a chef’s career, and most chefs handle it without ever fully understanding what it