On the Fly by tablehopper
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Top 10 On the Fly by tablehopper Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best On the Fly by tablehopper episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to On the Fly by tablehopper for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite On the Fly by tablehopper episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Laurence Jossel: Nopa
On the Fly by tablehopper
04/13/20 • 19 min
Our first episode is with Laurence Jossel, the executive chef/co-owner of Nopa restaurant, who shares with us the adaptations and adjustments he’s making to keep operating right now. He talks about how they structured Nopa's takeout model, their grocery box with Tomatero Farm, how they’re managing customer safety, Nopa’s involvement with the SF New Deal initiative, and shares the secret to his amazing fried chicken.
@nopasf
Two-Top:
1. Kirimachi ramen kit
2. Golden Gate Restaurant Association
On Facebook
If you’re reading this in a podcast service, you can access the actual links in our episode notes at ontheflytablehopper.buzzsprout.com.
If you’re a Bay Area business or individual and want to be featured in On the Fly, please fill out the form at bit.ly/ontheflyguest.
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Introducing On the Fly by tablehopper
On the Fly by tablehopper
04/13/20 • 3 min
Marcia Gagliardi of tablehopper.com is launching On the Fly, an almost-daily podcast featuring interviews with San Francisco Bay Area chefs, restaurateurs, and other members of the hospitality industry as they fight to adapt and survive during the coronavirus pandemic. In each episode, we'll listen to their stories: how are they pivoting, what’s working, and how we can help, along with inspiring stories of how the industry is rallying to feed many communities in need.
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Jennifer Bennett: Zazie
On the Fly by tablehopper
05/06/20 • 44 min
Today’s episode is with Jennifer Bennett, an owner of the 28-year-old Zazie in Cole Valley, a San Francisco Legacy business well-known for its eggs Benedict, legendary home fries, and the kindest staff, as well as its progressive business practices. (She is also the owner of Lovina in Calistoga.) Early this year, in January of 2020, after owning Zazie for 15 years and working there for 20, Jennifer sold the restaurant to three long-time employees, although she remains a 25-percent owner and oversees the business.
But when the shutdown happened, she sprang into action like a two-hundred-percent owner, fighting hard for her 38 employees, and draining her 401K, maxing her home equity loan, and selling her life insurance policy to do anything to help keep the business afloat. After hemorrhaging all available funds, and with takeout business just not covering what they needed in order to operate and make payroll, they made the hard decision to temporarily close Zazie.
But 10 days later, a Covid miracle of miracles happened, and they just received a PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) loan, enabling them to reopen and be able to pay their employees. On the day of our interview, it was Zazie’s reopening day, with a new online menu for takeout, and new kits for Mother’s Day. Jennifer shares with us her perspective on navigating this brutal business experience, as well as some plans and ideas about what the future of reopening Zazie for dining could look like. As one of our city’s most progressive restaurateurs, this interview is one to listen to.
Zazie, https://www.zaziesf.com, 941 Cole St., San Francisco
Two-Top:
1. Izzy’s Steaks, https://www.izzyssteaks.com; Feed Frontline Hospital Workers GoFundMe: https://www.izzyssteaks.com/izzys-feeds-frontline-hospital-workers.
2. The Melt, https://www.themelt.com; Melting Hearts for Hospitals: https://www.themelt.com/mh4h-2020.
If you’re a Bay Area business or individual and want to be featured in On the Fly, please fill out the form at bit.ly/ontheflyguest.
Support the show (http://www.venmo.com/Marcia-Gagliardi)
Charles Chen: Basuku Cheesecakes
On the Fly by tablehopper
01/12/21 • 76 min
This episode of On the Fly by tablehopper is with Charles Chen, the creator behind the wildly popular Basuku Cheesecakes. I was beyond thrilled to be able to interview Charles—he’s been a restaurant consultant for some rather high-profile food businesses here in the Bay Area, including Tartine Bakery, Stonemill Matcha, and Maum in Palo Alto, but has managed to maintain a pretty stealth profile—by design. I call him the restaurant ninja, so it was a real pleasure to be able to learn more about his deep restaurant background, his journey, and where it all began.
But what's really fascinating, and actually quite incredible, is hearing about this extremely involved and complex experience developing this Japanese-inspired, Basque-style cheesecake and trying to scale the business to meet the ever-growing demand for what has become one of the hottest culinary items of the pandemic.
When you hear everything Charles has gone through to even make 16 cheesecakes in his home oven, to all the schlepping and adjustments he’s had to make to bake them in other restaurant kitchens, you’ll quickly understand why they’re so hard to procure; and you’ll have so much appreciation for everything that went into that dreamy, creamy, tangy cheesecake when you finally get your first bite. Be sure to listen through to the very end for details on how to get one. We also have a fun lightning round of other tasty things to go track down as well, including ice cream, pie, and burgers in the Bay Area.
I want to thank all of you for listening in—this is our 22nd episode since launching On the Fly by tablehopper in April 2020. None of this would be possible without our producer extraordinaire, Lola Yen, and you. We’re going to take a little season break, and will be coming back soon. Be well.
Basuku on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/basukucheesecakes/
If you’re a Bay Area business or individual and want to be featured in On the Fly, please fill out the form at bit.ly/ontheflyguest.
Jay Foster: Visionary Chef and Entrepreneur
On the Fly by tablehopper
06/22/20 • 54 min
This episode of On the Fly is with Jay Foster, a well-known San Francisco chef and restaurateur, who has been feeding us with heart and intention in his authentically cool and soulful establishments for the past 18 years. From his early days at Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack and Blue Jay Cafe, to 13 years running the beloved and greatly missed Farmerbrown, Jay has been a champion for the diverse and vibrant San Francisco we are, or should I say were once known for being.
Jay has fought hard for the disappearing Black San Francisco, and now he’s part of its list of casualties: he’s one of our few Black chefs, and with the closure of Farmerbrown and his most-recent project in the Fillmore last fall, Isla Vida, we’ve lost one of our city’s few Black restaurateurs. Jay has been trying to take a break from the grind of disadvantaged ownership and work for others for a change, utilizing his years of experience and knowledge and well-honed skills. In a city where upper-level restaurant managers and executives are a valuable asset, in our interview, you’ll hear his discouraging experience that further revealed a racist system designed to undervalue him.
What is a San Francisco without Black executives, and Black-owned restaurants, and diverse places for the community to gather? What happens when our keepers of the flame, of our city’s African American heritage and traditions and cuisine and vibrant history, are continually being blown out? As you listen to this interview with Jay Foster, you’ll hear his firsthand account of what happens when we don’t do enough to protect and uplift the Black community, culture, business, and heritage, and support equity, equality, opportunity, and visibility.
Articles mentioned in the podcast:
Bloomberg: Black Business Owners’ Ranks Collapse by 41% in U.S. Lockdowns
Bon Appétit: Running Restaurants in San Francisco Made Me Rethink Everything I Thought I Knew About Success
https://www.bonappetit.com/story/chef-jay-foster-closing-restaurants
Two-Top:
1. La Cocina Catering: lacocinasf.org/cater. Black-owned businesses include A Girl Named Pinky, Boug Cali, Crumble and Whisk, Healing Kitchen, MexiQ, Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement, Peaches Patties, Pinky and Red’s, Teranga Life, and Zella Soulful Kitchen.
2. Bayview Bistro Box: bayviewbistrosf.com
If you’re a Bay Area business or individual and want to be featured in On the Fly, please fill out the form at bit.ly/ontheflyguest.
Reem Assil: Reem’s California
On the Fly by tablehopper
09/22/20 • 64 min
This episode of On the Fly by tablehopper is with Reem Assil, the chef and owner of Reem’s California, both in Oakland’s Fruitvale and now in San Francisco, which opened just days before the stay-at-home order in March. It’s already hard enough to open a new restaurant—in this case, San Francisco’s first Arab bakery—but Reem and her team have managed to adjust and persevere during the many challenges of these past six months.
I’ve wanted to speak with her on the podcast about a multitude of things, from what it’s like to launch a restaurant in the first month of a pandemic, to the many adjustments they’ve had to make along the way, to hearing about her experience working with initiatives like SF New Deal. It took a little time for an even bigger reason for me to interview her to be revealed, and that is to talk about the future of restaurants, especially after these six months of upheaval, reckoning, and the growing desire to seek racially just, sustainable, and equitable business models—which is crucial since some of the most marginalized people in our society make up a large part of the restaurant industry workforce.
Reem is well-known as an activist, and worked for a decade as a community and labor organizer prior to starting her career in food. She has always cared deeply about her workers, and workplace culture, and how her business relates to the community at large, and now she is exploring how to build a worker-owned model that will fit her many criteria, and the specific needs of her workers, and what does leadership look like in a collective structure.
At the heart of it all, Reem’s was launched to be an expression of Arab hospitality, and she talks about how they try to do it through take-out and Friday night meal kits. We also take a walk through the pastry case, and just wait until you hear about the workers’ wreath (take a look at @tablehopper on Instagram for the goods, but trust me, you really need to enjoy it in person, not just with your eyes and ears).
Reem’s California: www.reemscalifornia.com (Instagram: @reemscalifornia); 2901 Mission St., SF; 3301 E. 12th St. #133, Oakland.
Additional links:
New Yorker video: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/video-dept/a-san-francisco-baker-on-what-hospitality-looks-like-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic
SF New Deal: https://sfnewdeal.org
If you’re a Bay Area business or individual and want to be featured in On the Fly, please fill out the form at bit.ly/ontheflyguest.
Geetika Agrawal: La Cocina
On the Fly by tablehopper
04/24/20 • 30 min
Today’s episode of On the Fly is with Geetika Agrawal, the program director of La Cocina, an incredible nonprofit business incubator dedicated to supporting working-class food entrepreneurs—primarily immigrant women and women of color—in building successful food businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area. Geetika works closely with La Cocina entrepreneurs to support their businesses and leads growth initiatives for the organization.
She talks about the dramatic impact the coronavirus has had on all their talented entrepreneurs, from their catering businesses to their brick-and-mortar locations, and some of the adaptations they’ve made, including the brilliant weekly La Cocina Food Box they recently launched. Geetika shares details with us about the much-needed financial aid the La Cocina Emergency Relief Fund is providing to 58 La Cocina businesses while federal relief remains elusive.
Please be sure to visit bit.ly/lovelacocina for a continually updated list of all the La Cocina businesses and what they’re serving for takeout and delivery, their hours, links to their gift cards, GoFundMes, and more. You can also find links to the relief fund and food boxes and more in the episode notes. These businesses have fought so hard to get to where they are, thank you for supporting them, and La Cocina, in any way you can.
Updated list and links to La Cocina businesses: bit.ly/lovelacocina
La Cocina Emergency Relief Fund (to provide their entrepreneurs with cash payments to cover basic expenses): https://lacocinasf.org/relief-fund
La Cocina Food Box (menu goes up on Saturdays!): https://lacocinasf.org/foodbox
Two-Top:
1. Hamano (SF): www.hamanosushi.com, @hamanosushi.
2. Miss Ollie’s (Oakland): www.realmissolliesoakland.com, @missolliesoakland.
If you’re a Bay Area business or individual and want to be featured in On the Fly, please fill out the form at bit.ly/ontheflyguest.
Vinny Eng: SF New Deal
On the Fly by tablehopper
10/19/20 • 64 min
This episode of On the Fly by tablehopper, our twentieth, is with Vinny Eng, a community organizer and founding member of SF New Deal, and a well-known figure in the hospitality industry for his previous twelve years of service at Bar Tartine, Tartine Bakery, and the Manufactory as a general manager and wine director. Anyone who knows Vinny, or is fortunate to work with him, or call him a friend, will always be struck by how heart-centered his approach to everything is.
Vinny sprung to action in looking out for immediate ways to help neighbors in need as soon as the state of emergency was issued, and has been an immeasurable help and force with SF New Deal and the people it serves with dignity, as well as the local restaurants it partners with, providing an important source of consistent revenue, especially when considering the shortcomings of a PPP program that excluded many and has been exhausted, and that further federal aid has stalled.
He looks at everything holistically, with awareness of the many touch points and nuances behind who grows our food, and prepares it, and serves it, how the very people who make food and eating possible often go unseen and are unsupported during this difficult time, and how we have access to food—or don’t, and how different communities eat, and what they need.
In our conversation, we talk about ways you can help show support—for our community, for our restaurants, and the hospitality industry as a whole, and it’s not just about directing resources to meet the needs of this moment, although that helps too. Foundational to his approach is that if we solve for those closest to harm, we solve this for all of us. I always leave a conversation with Vinny with more insight, and knowledge, and compassion than I had before, and I hope this episode helps bring expansion for you in some ways as well.
And there’s a fun moment at the end, when Vinny surprises me with a lightning round of questions about some of our favorite takeout and treats right now.
SF New Deal: sfnewdeal.org , @sfnewdeal
Impact report: sfnewdeal.org/impact-report
Lightning round:
Ritu Indian Soul Food: ritusf.com, Tilak: tilaksf.com, Eat Salty Sweet: eatsaltysweet.com, Stonemill Matcha: stonemillmatcha.com, Miss Ollie’s Cookshop at Elda’s: eldasf.com/#MENU, Kantine: kantinesf.com, Nopa: nopasf.com.
If you’re a Bay Area business or individual and want to be featured in On the Fly, please fill out the form at bit.ly/ontheflyguest.
Laurie Thomas: GGRA
On the Fly by tablehopper
04/14/20 • 23 min
Our second episode is with Laurie Thomas, executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association and a San Francisco restaurateur behind Rose’s Cafe and Terzo in Cow Hollow. We ended up recording this episode on the fly, truly, because of the big news that recently dropped from San Francisco Mayor London Breed. She has placed a temporary 15-percent cap on the often-excessive commission fees charged by third-party delivery apps to restaurants, which can reach up to 30 percent or more. We discuss the Mayor’s decision to help support San Francisco restaurants with this order (and through other ways), talk about some of the confusion surrounding the use and terms of these delivery apps, and Laurie shares additional thoughts about the massive challenges our restaurants are currently facing.
Two-Top:
Details of the Restaurant Workers Relief Program:
• Meal pickup address: alaMar Kitchen at 100 Grand Ave in Oakland.
• Meals will be distributed by contactless curbside pickup: Wed–Sun 4pm–6pm, first come, first served, as funding allows. Please pull up in your car on Valdez St. Walk-ups are also welcome.
• Everyone must show some identifying paperwork to prove recent employment at a restaurant. A paystub will suffice in most cases.
Updates: @alamaroakland
2. Fiorella and Bi-Rite Market: Pay It Forward Tuesdays
Every Tuesday at Fiorella’s Richmond (2339 Clement St.) and Russian Hill (2238 Polk St.) locations, they will hand out 100 free meals to healthcare workers, members of the restaurant industry (including the farmers, purveyors, and drivers who continue to provide food to restaurants), and grocery store workers. The meal is a choice of pizza (margherita, mushroom, or pepperoni) or pasta (cacio e pepe or pomodoro) from Fiorella, plus a fresh seasonal salad from Bi-Rite. At pick up, proof of employment is requested (current badge or paystub from March or April) for those currently employed (or recently laid off).
Orders can be placed in person or over the phone at 415-829-7097 for pickup at the restaurant’s Russian Hill location, or 415-340-3049 for the Outer Richmond, 4:30pm–9pm every Tuesday.
Updates: @fiorellaitalian and @biritesf
If you’re reading this in a podcast service, you can access the actual links in our episode notes at ontheflytablehopper.buzzsprout.com.
If you’re a Bay Area business or individual and want to be featured in On the Fly, please fill out the form at bit.ly/ontheflyguest.
Jesse Ziff Cool: Flea Street and the No-Tipping Model
On the Fly by tablehopper
08/28/20 • 48 min
This episode of On the Fly by tablehopper is with Jesse Ziff Cool, the chef and restaurateur known for her Flea Street restaurant in Menlo Park, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, an incredible achievement, as well as operating Cool Cafe on Stanford’s campus. Jesse is an early trailblazer in the organic food and sustainable agriculture movement, opening the country’s first organic restaurant in 1976, and continues to share her deep knowledge and culinary experience as an author, educator, consultant, and community activist.
Her visionary ways have not stopped, however, and in response to the pandemic, she has completely restructured her restaurant’s compensation model. We talk about her newly launched Heart of House, which creates a more equitable structure and fair pay for her employees by offering an alternative to tipping (an outdated practice that is racist, sexist, and ageist, among other things) and instead has her team share a service charge—called a gratitude—that is distributed equally and fairly to all hourly workers.
It’s so inspiring to hear from Jesse about how things have changed internally at the restaurant, starting with a boost in morale, which is especially needed during these challenging times. As restaurants are looking ahead to implementing structural changes that need to be made industry-wide, this interview will hopefully inspire and educate. Thank you for listening.
Flea Street: www.cooleatz.com (Instagram: @flea_street)
To reach Jesse, her email is [email protected]
Meals of Gratitude: mealsofgratitude.org
Articles:
Racist History of Tipping: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/07/17/william-barber-tipping-racist-past-227361
Chef Amanda Cohen on How the No-Tipping Movement Will Survive: https://www.grubstreet.com/2020/07/chef-amanda-cohen-on-no-tipping.html
If you’re a Bay Area business or individual and want to be featured in On the Fly, please fill out the form at bit.ly/ontheflyguest.
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FAQ
How many episodes does On the Fly by tablehopper have?
On the Fly by tablehopper currently has 24 episodes available.
What topics does On the Fly by tablehopper cover?
The podcast is about Restaurant, Hospitality, Covid19, Podcasts, Coronavirus, Arts, Bay Area, San Francisco and Food.
What is the most popular episode on On the Fly by tablehopper?
The episode title 'Introducing On the Fly by tablehopper' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on On the Fly by tablehopper?
The average episode length on On the Fly by tablehopper is 43 minutes.
How often are episodes of On the Fly by tablehopper released?
Episodes of On the Fly by tablehopper are typically released every 5 days, 1 hour.
When was the first episode of On the Fly by tablehopper?
The first episode of On the Fly by tablehopper was released on Apr 13, 2020.
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