Tag Archives: Marco Island

Top Chef’s Gerald Sombright


Episode 012- Top Chef cheftestant, Gerald Sombright is a regular guy who made his bones in the professional cooking world, not by flashing a degree from a fancy culinary school.  Instead, he worked his way up from the bottom rung of the kitchen hierarchy.

On this episode, he takes us on his food journey, working his way up from restaurant work in Saint Louis to being Chef De Cuisine at Ario in Marco Island, Florida to being a  contestant on what is arguably the best cooking competition show on television, Top Chef.

He’ll give you the inside scoop on what it’s like to be on the show and how he almost didn’t make it past the application phase, but for his Indiana Jones-like determination.  You’ll also find out his biggest challenge and what he would do differently if he were to do the show again.  Note: The Top Chef Season 14 finale is on Thursday, March 2nd.

Also, if you listened to Episode 011 of Guys and Food, you know that I was on a  pie kick during the last week (Psssst– I still am).  It had me looking at some of my pie cookbooks.  I was intrigued by a few different recipes for maple pie.  Many of these recipes call for the darker and robust tasting Grade B maple syrup. When I asked the folks on one of my Facebook food groups where one might be able to locally source the harder to find Grade B syrup, I was told that the ABC grading system for maple syrup no longer exists.  Just like everyone gets a trophy these days, so too, all maple syrup is now Grade A.  Here is an article explaining the new grading system and how to distinguish one type of maple syrup from another.

Remember, if you are an interesting food guy (or you know one), find out how to become a guest on Guys and Food!

What Would Harry Potter Eat?, Blue Apron Test Drive, Celebrating a Milestone, and Other Musings


Episode 010- It’s a milestone tenth episode of the podcast! Thanks to you if you’ve taken the time to listen to any of the Guys and Food podcasts or read any of my blog posts.  This is truly a labor of love and I appreciate your help in building the Guys and Food community.

There are lots of ways to connect:

  • Go to the contact page.
  • Email info@guysandfood.com
  • Leave a message on the listener line:  716-427-GUYS (4897)

I will  tell you about my recent trip to Florida.  This included a few days at Universal specifically to spend time at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  We ate at The Three Broomsticks and The Leaky Cauldron, two British pub-like places.  Interestingly, the food defied my expectations.  Considering the throngs of people these establishments serve, the chow was delicious and served in a timely fashion.

You will also hear my reflections on two drinks inspired by the Harry Potter books, Butterbeer and the lesser known Pumpkin Juice.  There is a recent interview in Bon Appetit with the guy behind the Harry Potter themed food at Universal, Steve Jayson. The recipe for Butter Beer is secret ( I know because before I saw this article, I tried to pry it from the public relations folks at Universal) but there are plenty of people on the internet who have their own take on how to make it.  

After that, we drove to our usual winter getaway, a place called Marco Island.  We normally lay around, read, go to the beach, and eat.  It’s a very causal time on the island but every year my wife and I go to a fancier place that serves classic French cuisine called The Island Cafe.  My lovely bride and I use this meal as our little romantic getaway together.  This time, however, we decided to take my mother-in-law and our ten-year-old son.  I will talk about his experience eating escargot and mussels for the first time.

After we got home, we caught up on our food show viewing including the finale of The Great American Baking Show.   You’ll recall that in episode 004 of the podcast, I made my guess on who I thought was going to win.  SPOILER Alert–I will let you know who won and how close my guesses were to being correct.

During Christmas, our friends gifted us Blue Apron. We had the delivery of two meals this week, Hosin Chicken Steam Buns with broccoli and marinated carrots and Mexican-spiced Beef and Rice Casserole.  I will weigh-in on the experience.

Finally, I’ll tell you about the interviews that are coming up in future episodes!


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