In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn is a bi-monthly podcast from Restaurant Hospitality, a sister publication of Nation’s Restaurant News. In the Kitchen features senior food and beverage editor Bret Thorn, who talks with the most innovative chefs at independent restaurants from across the country, discussing their latest menu items, business innovations, trends, and what’s next for culinary experts.
Alex Curley of Palacios Murphy provides insight into running seasonal restaurants
Alex Curley is chief operating officer of Palacios Murphy, a Houston-based restaurant company that got its start with Armandos, a 43-year-old restaurant that occupies the unique niche of serving Tex-Mex food in a fine-dining setting. Apart from opening a couple of restaurants in the village of Round Top, Texas, midway between Houston and Austin, Armandos’ owners basically stuck to the business of running that local culinary institution.
But in the aftermath of the pandemic, they started to explore new possibilities. Now they operate Hotel Lulu in Round Top as well as Italian concept Lulu’s, casual Tex-Mex restaurant Mandito’s, and Popi Burger which serving burgers and sandwiches.
Heading up operations is Alex Curley, who joined the group after a career of working in multiconcept groups including Southern Proper Hospitality and Richard Sandoval Restaurants.
Curley recently discussed the evolution of Palacios Murphy, which now centers a lot of its activity around Round Top, and how to run successful businesses 365 days a year in a town that really only comes to life during festivals.
29 Feb 2024
Chef Gayle Pirie of Foreign Cinema in San Francisco strives to create a haven from daily troubles
Gayle Pirie is the chef and partner, with John Clark, of Foreign Cinema, a dining institution in San Francisco’s Mission District that has been nourishing its guests with Mediterranean-inspired California cuisine, as well as with movies projected on the restaurant’s wall, for the past 25 years.
She grew up in San Francisco and funded her ambitions as an oil painting artist by cooking. From 1985 to 1993 she worked with her mentor, Judy Rogers, at Zuni Café, and then went on to launch a restaurant consulting practice. That was followed by work with Alice Waters at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., as her personal assistant. She joined Clark at Foreign Cinema in 2001.
Pirie takes her role as a “restaurateur” seriously. The word is French for “someone who restores,” and she does that by fostering the success of her employees, local producers, and her community as well her guests.
She is also a pioneer in sustainability practices, including her recent adoption of oil from Spotlight Foods, headquartered not far away in Alameda, Calif., that is derived from algae.
Pirie recently discussed this new oil as well as her approach to running her restaurant and her plans for the future.
9 Feb 2024
Julia Zhu prepares for the opening of the first U.S. location of Grandma’s Home
Julia Zhu is the managing partner for the United States of Grandma’s Home, a chain with more than 200 locations in 60 cities in China, and with its first U.S. location opening soon in New York City’s Flatiron neighborhood.
Zhu is the daughter of one of the founder’s of the chain and she’s heading up the opening.
She was born in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province in China and a city whose cuisine hasn’t been seen much in the United States. Zhu moved to the U.S. at the age of 15 and said she’s looking forward to showcasing the food that she grew up eating and that is hard to find here.
Neither Hangzhou nor its cuisine are well known in the United States, but it is an ancient and beloved city, known for its scenic West Lake and general beauty. In fact, there’s a Chinese saying: “The sky has heaven, the earth has Suzhou and Hangzhou,” Suzhou being another ancient city known for its gardens the next province up in Jiangsu.
Marco Polo reportedly said that Hangzhou was the finest city in the world.
Zhu discussed the cuisine of her hometown and her plans for the New York City restaurant.
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