Heaping Spoonful
Arts & Culture Podcasts
"Heaping Spoonful" is a twice-monthly conversation with restaurateurs, chefs, growers and others who have helped generate the legends associated with eateries across the Mid-South. The team at Ben E. Keith is proud to sponsor this adventure with the goal of preserving the stories that have helped cultivate an amazing food scene across the Mid-South.
Location:
United States
Genres:
Arts & Culture Podcasts
Description:
"Heaping Spoonful" is a twice-monthly conversation with restaurateurs, chefs, growers and others who have helped generate the legends associated with eateries across the Mid-South. The team at Ben E. Keith is proud to sponsor this adventure with the goal of preserving the stories that have helped cultivate an amazing food scene across the Mid-South.
Language:
English
Episodes
Rusty Mathis, GM of Ben E. Keith Mid-South Division
2/6/2024
Heaping Spoonful began as an idea -- and a name -- created by Rusty Mathis, general manager at Ben E. Keith Foods Mid-South Division. And after nearly 100 episodes, the podcast series ends with an interview with Rusty, who tells listeners about his background and how BEK works to differentiate itself in a crowded marketplace.
Duration:00:34:21
Wendy Schay and Jill McDonald of The Croissanterie in Little Rock, AR
1/16/2024
Wendy Schay and Jill McDonald tell listeners how a friendship forged as students and then instructors at culinary school led to selling their wares at farmer's markets, then from a food truck and today at The Crossainterie, a popular restaurant in West Little Rock.
Duration:00:37:50
Gilbert Alaquinez Regional Chef of Hanks Brokerage Inc.
12/5/2023
How can a career lead from washing dishes to having three home freezers full of top-quality meat -- and not visiting the butcher counter for at least two years? Tune into Heaping Spoonful and let Chef Gilbert Alaquinez tell you how that happened to him.
Duration:00:43:33
Chef Shane Henderson of Ben E. Keith Mid-South in North Little Rock, AR
11/22/2023
When most people think of what a food service company like Ben E. Keith does, warehousing and delivering food is certainly at the top of the list. But having an executive chef like Shane Henderson on staff to help customers in almost countless ways is also part of the equation. And Chef Shane came upstairs from his demo kitchen to tell listeners all about it.
Duration:00:37:05
Mary Laws of RP Tracks in Memphis, TN
11/7/2023
Mary Laws, owner of RP Tracks in Memphis, called the hotline to tell listeners how her restaurant/bar has cultivated a great vibe and loyal clientele with a menu that mixes classic meat-focused apps, sandwiches and main courses with lots of creative "animal-friendly" (vegetarian) dishes that has helped it thrive for more than 35 years.
Duration:00:25:25
Coby Smith of CARTI in Little Rock, AR
10/3/2023
Coby Smith tells Heaping Spoonful listeners how he parlayed his experience as a chef to focus on health care facilities, including some national media coverage he got for the ramen he featured at one spot that became the rage. Today he's thrilling patients, families and staff at CARTI, a Little Rock-based cancer care facility. And, yes, he still prepares THE ramen from time to time.
Duration:00:25:10
Meredith Chapuis and Chef Dylan McClure of For the Love in Northwest Arkansas
9/19/2023
Meredith Chapuis, one of the three founders, and Chef Dylan McClure tell listeners how their For the Love nonprofit in Northwest Arkansas doesn't just feed hundreds of food-insecure people each week but also helps build community and create the connections that help people find new opportunities to improve their lives in multiple ways.
Duration:00:30:16
Scott Rains of Table 28 in West Little Rock, AR
9/5/2023
Scott Rains dropped by to talk about how his skills, his menu and his restaurant -- Table 28 in the Burgundy Hotel in West Little Rock -- have progressed over the 10 years he's been the executive chef there.
Duration:00:39:57
Payne Harding of Cache in Little Rock, AR
8/15/2023
Payne Harding, executive chef and owner of Cache in downtown Little Rock, tells listeners how a tighter focus on high-end but straightforward Southern cuisine and building and maintaining a strong team has helped his restaurant continue to improve over its 10 years in a very high-profile location.
Duration:00:43:54
Tracy Brown and Clay Caffey of Coy's Southern Eats in Bryant, AR
8/1/2023
Tracy Brown and Clay Caffey of Coy's Southern Eats dropped in to tell us about the rebirth of one of the iconic restaurant brands in Arkansas history -- Coy's Steak House -- and where that might lead beyond the spices and other products, they're selling online.
Duration:00:28:46
Rich Cosgrove of Whole Hog in North Little Rock, AR
7/18/2023
Rich Cosgrove says great food and service are givens in the restaurant business -- that it's the "enchantment" his team dishes up that differentiates Whole Hog North Little Rock from other restaurants.
Duration:00:30:25
Brandon Douglas of Mug's Cafe, Mylo's and Leiva's in Central Arkansas
7/4/2023
Brandon Douglas tells our listeners the plans his team has in the works for Mug's Cafe Little Rock, Mug's Cafe North Little Rock, Mylo's Coffee and Leiva's, their four premier coffee shops in the Little Rock metropolitan area.
Duration:00:28:48
John Mabry of Vacari in Corinth, MS
6/20/2023
John Mabry called the Heaping Spoonful hotline to tell listeners how his path from college to the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York to culinary school in Avignon, France, to his next job in the kitchen at a five-star hotel in Miami eventually led him to the small city of Corinth, Mississippi, where his three establishments are all stars on the local dining scene.
Duration:00:47:41
Joshua Garland & Fatima Alvirde of Best Cafe & Bar in Hot Springs, AR
5/16/2023
Chef/owner Joshua Garland and director of operations Fatima Alvirde talk about the amazing success they've had with Best Cafe and Bar in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and how excited they are about their next project, DONS Southern Social, a true "speakeasy" down to its hidden entrances.
Duration:00:33:35
Jamie and Rob Gaston of Copper Mule Table & Tap in Bryant, AR
5/2/2023
Jamie and Rob Gaston explain how wanting a local, "niche" restaurant choice in Bryant led them to open Copper Mule Table and Tap, which has more than doubled in size in its two-plus years in business and soon will add a second location in the Heights Neighborhood of Little Rock.
Duration:00:41:35
Jordan Wright of Wright's Barbecue in Northwest Arkansas
4/18/2023
Jordan Wright tells listeners how his first bite of truly transcendent beef brisket – smoky, totally tender and juicy and just mind-blowingly awesome -- at a legendary Texas restaurant ignited a fire that has led him to open three very successful Wright's Barbecue restaurants in northwest Arkansas with a fourth on the way -- this time in his hometown of Little Rock!
Duration:01:00:24
Denis Seyer of the famed Jacques & Suzanne
4/4/2023
Denis Seyer, a Frenchman, had never heard of Little Rock or Arkansas when he agreed to become a chef at Jacques and Suzanne, which opened atop the tallest building in the state in 1975. Forty-eight years later he tells Heaping Spoonful listeners about the amazing culinary journey he has traveled in his more than 60 years in the business.
Duration:00:32:33
Doug Wood of Catfish Charlie's in Monroe, LA
3/21/2023
Doug Wood's grandfather and uncle owned popular restaurants when he was a kid, but it was his seven years selling point-of-sale systems to more than 300 eateries that gave Doug the background to make solid decisions in how he would operate Catfish Charlie's, which under his 15 years of ownership has become a landmark hotspot in Monroe, Louisiana.
Duration:00:33:13
Kyle Carson of The Grumpy Rabbit in Lonoke, AR
3/7/2023
Kyle Carson, executive chef at The Grumpy Rabbit, told Heaping Spoonful about how rekindling a relationship with renowned chef James Hale led him to this outstanding restaurant in the small town of Lonoke, Arkansas, and how he and his kitchen team keep things fresh and fun -- and the people coming back again and again.
Duration:00:30:23
Dan Kovach of Copper Grill and Capers in Little Rock, AR
2/21/2023
Dan Kovach dropped by the Heaping Spoonful studio to tell listeners how working as a server at the legendary and lamented Cajun's Wharf in Little Rock almost a quarter-century ago started him on the path to owning two of the city's most popular restaurants -- Copper Grill and Capers.
Duration:00:44:22