The Restaurant Guys
The Restaurant Guys is one of the original food and wine podcasts, launched in 2005 by restaurateurs Mark Pascal and Francis Schott.
With roots as a daily radio show, the podcast features in-depth conversations with chefs, bartenders, winemakers, authors, and hospitality professionals—offering the inside track on food, cocktails, wine, and restaurant culture.
New episodes and vintage conversations because the best stories, like the best bottles, age well. Expect insightful, opinionated, and entertaining conversations about food, wine, and the finer things in life.
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Contact: TheGuys@RestaurantGuysPodcast.com
Episodes
233 episodes
The American Beefsteak: Politics and Excess | Sother Teague
Recorded live at the House of Suze during Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans 2026.Why This Episode MattersDiscover how the American beefsteak became a tool for political organizing in New York and New Jersey.Learn ...
How Prohibition Backfired on America | Daniel Okrent
This is a Vintage episode from 2010.Why This Episode MattersHow a freedom-loving nation came to outlaw the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcohol through a constitutional amendment.Why women’s suffrage, prog...
Restaurant Trends That Don’t Add Up | Inside Track
Why This Episode MattersThe Guys taste ʻŌkolehao, a nearly lost Hawaiian spirit made from kī root, and explore its unusual history and revival.Why Michelin retired its Green Star—and why judging sustainability is far more...
How Classic Cocktails Were Lost—and Found | Ted Haigh
This is a Vintage episode from 2006.Why This Episode MattersHow America’s cocktail golden age flourished from the Gilded Age through Prohibition and how it eventually gave way to highballs and vodka.Why pre-Prohibiti...
Hayman’s Gin: Tradition and Revival | James Hayman
This was recorded on-location at Bar Convent Brooklyn 2026Why This Episode MattersHow five generations of the Hayman family helped shape London gin and why James Hayman sees himself as a guardian rather than an own...
The First Great American Hospitality Empire | Stephen Fried
This is a Vintage episode from 2010.This show was recorded in 2010 and discusses a high fructose corn syrup study in rats. The current human evidence does not support the Princeton rat-study implication that high fructose corn syrup is u...
Hotel Jerome and the Art of Quiet Luxury | Stephane Lacroix
Hotel Jerome general manager Stephane Lacroix shares how Aspen’s historic luxury hotel preserves its soul, builds a culture of service and delivers a guest experience rooted in quiet luxury. Why This Episode MattersWhy t...
Wine, Restaurant Culture and What Makes Great Barbecue | Live from Aspen | Part II
Recorded at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, Mark Pascal and Francis Schott continue their conversations with three people who know how to make complicated subjects feel immediate: sommelier and wine communicator Amanda McCrossin, Master S...
Regional Food, Restaurant Longevity and the Future of Hospitality | Live from Aspen | Part 1
Recorded live at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, Mark Pascal and Francis Schott sit down with four influential voices shaping American food and hospitality. Food & Wine Editor in Chief Hunter Lewis and chefs Claudette Zepeda, Cassidee...
What Does Ethical Food Really Mean? | Jay Weinstein
This is a Vintage episode from 2006.Jay Weinstein, author of The Ethical Gourmet, explains how everyday food choices affect farmers, animals, workers, the environment—and what ultimately ends up on the plate.Why This Epis...
Reviving Gage & Tollner and Reinventing Tropical Cocktails | St. John Frizell & Garret Richard
Recorded live before an audience at Sunken Harbor Club in Brooklyn.Why This Episode Matters Gage & Tollner’s revival shows how a historic restaurant can be preserved without turning it into a museum. &n...
Vineyard 7 & 8 and Spring Mountain Cabernet | Launny Steffens
This is a Vintage episode from 2005.The Restaurant Guys welcome Launny Steffens, co-founder of Vineyard 7 & 8 in Napa Valley’s Spring Mountain District, for a conversation about mountain fruit, terroir, and the pursuit of a more food...
The Natural Wine Debate and the Future of Wine | Ray Isle
Ray Isle returns to The Restaurant Guys nearly 20 years after his first appearance to consider where wine is headed and whether the industry has made something pleasurable unnecessarily difficult.Why This Episode MattersNatur...
Market-Driven Brooklyn Dining Before the Hype | Liza Queen | Preview
This is a Vintage episode from 2005.The Restaurant Guys welcome chef-owner Liza Queen of Queen’s Hideaway, a tiny Greenpoint restaurant where the menu changed with the market, the farmers, the smoker, and whatever was left in the kitchen...
How to Build a Team That Actually Cares | Preston Lee
Hospitality consultant Preston Lee explains how restaurants can build stronger teams, earn employee trust and create the kind of human connection that keeps guests coming back.Why This Episode MattersWhy hospitality begins wi...
Jersey Fresh, Local Farmers, and the Flavor of New Jersey | William Walker
This is a Vintage episode from 2005.William Walker of Jersey Fresh joins Mark Pascal and Francis Schott for a conversation about New Jersey agriculture, local produce, farmers markets, and why fresh food tastes different when it does not...
The Ghost of Jerry Thomas Has Notes | AI, Dale DeGroff & the Future of Cocktails
The Ghost of Jerry Thomas Has Notes | AI, Dale DeGroff & the Future of Cocktails Mark and Francis attempt the impossible: an interview with Jerry Thomas, the 19th-century bartending legend who helped write the book on American c...
Julie & Julia Before the Movie | Julie Powell
This is a Vintage episode from 2006.Julie Powell joins Mark Pascal and Francis Schott to talk about Julie & Julia, her year cooking 524 Julia Child recipes, and how a personal blog became a book before food blogging was a ca...
Hamburger America and the Great American Burger | George Motz
This is a Vintage episode from 2006George Motz joins The Restaurant Guys to talk about Hamburger America, his documentary celebrating eight beloved burger institutions and the regional traditions, family pride, old grease, beef,...
David Burke | Jersey Roots and Bold Restaurant Ideas
Chef David Burke joins Mark and Francis at the New Jersey Wine & Food Festival for a conversation about Jersey dining, restaurant ambition, early kitchen life, and the creative ideas that become a chef’s signature.Why This Episode Ma...
Beer vs. Wine: Which Pairs Better With Food? | Garrett Oliver
This is a Vintage episode from 2006Why This Episode MattersLong before craft beer became mainstream, Garrett Oliver was arguing that beer belonged at the fine dining tableThis 2006 conversation captures the early day...
New Jersey Wine & Food Festival at Crystal Springs Resort 2026
About This EpisodeRecorded in person at the New Jersey Wine & Food Festival at Crystal Springs Resort, this special episode features conversations with chefs, restaurateurs, producers and hospitality leaders shaping New Je...
The Next Iron Chef and the Reality of Restaurant Life | Morou Ouattara & Gavin Kaysen
This is a Vintage episode from 2007.Why This Episode MattersBefore celebrity chefs became mainstream brands, chefs like Morou Ouattara and Gavin Kaysen were navigating what television exposure actually meant for serious worki...
The Future of Wine Service | June Rodil
Why This Episode MattersWhat actually makes a great wine pairingHow younger diners are changing wine culture and what that means for restaurantsWhere real wine value exists right now (hint: not where everyone’s loo...
Pinot Grigio Explained: Italian Wine Regions and Labels | Giovanni Barone | Preview
This is a Vintage episode from 2010Why This Episode MattersWhy most Pinot Grigio on the market tastes the same—and how to spot the real thingThe difference between DOC vs IGT wines (and why it actually...