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 Matters

• David Burke’s career runs through New Jersey, New York City, and a national restaurant footprint, but this conversation brings him back to the Jersey roots that shaped him.
• David, Mark, and Francis dig into the business realities behind restaurant growth, especially real estate, rising costs, payroll, and the value of owning the building.
• The episode looks at how New Jersey dining has changed, from quiet weeknights and liquor-license hurdles to a stronger local restaurant culture.
• David’s early kitchen stories capture a version of restaurant life that was chaotic, skilled, rough around the edges, and completely captivating.
• The conversation shows how a signature dish is born: part imagination, part logistics, part stubbornness, and part “somebody please build me the thing.”

Banter

Mark and Francis open with lab-grown cocoa, chocolate anxiety, and the future of a world where even dessert may need a science department. Mark then shares a Lower East Side fried chicken quest that very much did not lead to fried chicken — a classic Restaurant Guys situation involving food curiosity, one neon rooster, and the internet saving him from a very different afternoon.

The Conversation

David Burke joins Mark and Francis at the New Jersey Wine & Food Festival, where they start by noting that after 20 years of the podcast, David is somehow only now making his first appearance. David talks about running ten restaurants, the ambition that keeps chefs saying yes to new opportunities, and why New Jersey became an important part of his restaurant life after years in New York.

The conversation turns to real estate, rising costs, early dining, and the business advantage of owning the building, something they all see as central to long-term restaurant survival. David also looks back on his Hazlet beginnings, from dishwashing to being dazzled by club sandwiches, sauté pans, salty line cooks, and rock stars moving through the back door.

The final stretch gets into David’s gift for signature dishes, especially the path from a Peking duck idea to clothesline bacon. It is a very David Burke story: big visual concept, practical headaches, custom hardware, and eventually a dish that became so recognizable people copied it around the world.

Timestamps

• 00:00 Mark and Francis open with lab-grown cocoa and a Lower East Side fried chicken misunderstanding
• 06:30 David Burke joins them at the New Jersey Wine & Food Festival
• 09:15 New Jersey restaurants, real estate, and the value of owning the building
• 12:15 David’s Hazlet roots and first kitchen jobs
• 23:00 Signature dishes, clothesline bacon, and big restaurant ideas
• 30:30 Jersey chefs, friendship, and making time outside the work grind

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