Andrew Talks to Chefs

Episode 156: Lisabet Summa (Big Time Restaurant Group); Brandon Jew on AAPI-directed Hate Crimes

Episode Summary

Lisabet Summa of Florida's Big Time Restaurant Group discusses her 40-year kitchen career; San Francisco's Brandon Jew reflects on AAPI-directed hate crimes in the context of his new book.

Episode Notes

She may not be a household name, but Lisabet Summa has led a storied career in the profession she loves as much today as when she first set foot in a professional kitchen. After coming up alongside such luminaries as Norman Van Aken and Charlie Trotter in Chicago, Lisabet moved to South Florida, eventually becoming executive culinary director of the prolific Big Time Restaurant Group. Lisabet takes us through her journey from acting to cooking to her current role overseeing 15 restaurants as well as her continuing commitment to learning and growing, from gardening to milling her own grains.

And in The Line-Up, our  weekly news and commentary segment, San Francisco's Brandon Jew joins us to discuss the alarming rise in AAPI-directed hate crimes in the United States, and how he experiences it as an Asian-American in the Bay Area. We also talk about his new cookbook (coauthored with Tienlon Ho) Mister Jiu's in Chinatown, which has an elevated poignancy in the context of these troubled times.

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