106 Chef Jackie Page - American Soul on a Plate

A chef’s career can start early, or it can ignite the moment someone finally tells you, “You can do this.” Chef Jackie Page joins us to share the real story behind her Pittsburgh food journey, from years in restaurants to returning to culinary school at 47 with her sister’s help and belief. 

We dig into what Jackie is known for in Pittsburgh catering and private chef work, including shrimp and grits and roasted chicken that falls off the bone. She also breaks down how she plans menus with clients, why buffets can be smarter than plated dinners, and how temperature and timing can make food more enjoyable, not less. 

Then the conversation turns to one of the most meaningful chapters of her career: opening Love Rocks Cafe in McKees Rocks and pivoting during the pandemic to produce meals for the community. We also learn about her work with Table Magazine, Babesburgh, and her growing role in the beer world through Pink Boots Society and brewing education. 

To close, Ana Eats PGH hands us an easy Lawrenceville date night: Pizza Lupo for hot honey perfection, then Millie’s for a cool end to the evening.

Subscribe to The Pittsburgh Dish, share this episode with a food-loving friend, and leave a review so more people can find these Pittsburgh food stories.

Support the show

June 21st, 2026 4:00pm

104 Laura Magone - The Wedding Cookie Table Community

The wedding cookie table is one of Pittsburgh’s most joyful food traditions.  We sit down with Laura McGone, founder of The Wedding Cookie Table Community, to talk about how a simple Facebook page started in 2015 as research for a documentary, and grew into a network of bakers preserving family recipes, cultural identity, and the “cradle to grave” role cookies play in our lives.

Laura challenges the common myth of the cookie table origin story. We also get into why recipe boxes matter, how handwritten recipe cards and imperfect old measurements can still guide us, and how the community helps people recover “lost” cookies just by describing what they remember.

Along the way, we talk record-setting cookie tables, Cookie Table University, and a major cookbook project tied to America’s 250th anniversary, plus the charitable cookie tables the group organizes for causes and communities in need. 

We switch gears to a healthy recommendation from Caleb of Cravings with Caleb (Live Fresh Juicery) and hear a comforting savory craving from Nick of Inside Out Cookie (his mom’s meatloaf, leftovers included). 

If you love Pittsburgh food, baking traditions, and practical tips like how many cookies per guest to plan, hit subscribe, share this with a fellow cookie-table fan, and leave us a review.

Support the show

June 7th, 2026 4:00pm

102 Mike Ambeliotis of Mediterra

We sit down with Mike Ambeliotis of Mediterra Bakehouse and Mediterra Cafe to talk about what it really takes to grow a family business without losing the craft, the standards, or the relationships that built it in the first place. A local bakery that still sells at Pittsburgh farmers markets is also baking bread for Whole Foods across the country, and that tension is what makes this conversation so good.

We go upstream to the ingredients. Mike breaks down their heritage grain work, including Red Fife grown in Arizona, natural pest control with ladybugs, and why milling their own flour gives them control from field to finished loaf. 

Then we spotlight Mediterra Cafe, the thoughtfully designed spaces in Sewickley, Mt Lebanon, Lawrenceville, and Cranberry, plus the in-house pastry program and chef-driven food that turns the bakery’s bread into full meals. 

Later in the show, wine expert Catherine Montest spotlights Ruby’s Wine House, and makes the case for wine flights as the fastest way to expand your palate. From exotic whites to bouquet-forward pours and horizontal flights that compare terroir across regions, you’ll leave with a clear plan for your next night out. 

Subscribe for more Pittsburgh food stories, share this with a bread or wine fan, and leave a review with your favorite loaf or wine flight pick.

Support the show

May 24th, 2026 2:00pm

100 Maddy Hernandez of Pastries A-La-Carte

Episode 100 hits a little different, because the best parts of Pittsburgh food culture aren’t just pierogi, pepperoni rolls, and perfect cookie tables. It’s the way people use food to find each other, support each other, and build something that lasts. 

We're joined by Shayla Penn, who returns to the table to share what’s happened since her early appearance on the show, and it’s a lot: hosting cooking demos & competitions, founding a non-profit, all while her Facebook community Burgh Eats and Treats has grown to nearly 33,000 members. Shayla is truly cooking with fire in our food community. 

Then we go from community power to cookie craft with Maddy Hernandez of Pastries A-La-Carte in Pleasant Hills. Maddy is the lead cookie decorator, and she breaks down what it takes to oversee custom cutouts, weddings, and wholesale at a busy Pittsburgh bakery. She shares the sweet headline you’ll want to repeat: Pastries A-La-Carte is the official bake shop of the Pittsburgh Penguins, with desserts in the suites and beyond, plus the behind-the-scenes systems that keep quality high when the volume is nonstop.

If you like Pittsburgh bakeries, and stories about how local food turns into real connection, you’ll feel right at home here. Subscribe for more, share this with a friend who loves a good cookie, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

Support the show

May 10th, 2026 6:00pm

098 Inside Out Cookie

We sit down with Nick, founder and head baker of Inside Out Cookie, to unpack the double meaning behind the name, what makes these big filled cookies different from anything you grab at the grocery store, and why in-person events and festivals became a turning point.

Nick walks us through flavor development and the realities of small-batch baking at scale, including why Dubai Chocolate became the breakout best seller, and how he keeps costs and quality in check by making pistachio cream from scratch. We also get nerdy about ingredients and freshness: from locally milled flour to packaging choices that make freezing cookies actually work. 

Then the conversation goes deeper. Nick shares how he learned to bake while incarcerated in a federal minimum-security prison, how purpose and community changed his trajectory, and why he’s committed to hiring and supporting others who are rebuilding their lives. 

Plus, we round out the Pittsburgh food talk with a Strip District Vietnamese recommendation for banh mi and pho at Maiku, and a quick, bold curry idea from Priya and Glen of Anar Gourmet Foods featuring eggplant, optional beef, and tangy tamarind.

Subscribe for more Pittsburgh food stories, share this with a friend who loves cookies, and leave a review to help more listeners find the show. What part of Nick’s story stuck with you most?

Support the show

April 26th, 2026 4:00pm

096 Taste Of The Draft, Hometown Coffee, and Curry That Smokes

Food can be fun, but it can also be a funding engine, and Pittsburgh’s NFL Draft week is about to prove it. We sit down with Ann Marie Krautheim, CEO of GENYOUth, to unpack how Taste Of The Draft turns a night of great bites, Steelers pride, and live entertainment into real support for kids who need breakfast to start the school day ready to learn. If you care about Pittsburgh, school meals, or smarter ways to fight food insecurity, this conversation hits home fast. 

Caleb from Cravings With Caleb shares a hometown coffee recommendation and an unexpectedly craveable detail: sweet oak syrup, a warm, woodsy addition that changes how you think about a coffee order. 

Chef Missy Terrell walks us through Jamaican curry chicken with coconut rice, a stovetop, weeknight-friendly recipe built on bold spice, smart technique, and comfort you can share with friends and family. 

Subscribe for more Pittsburgh food stories, share this with a friend who loves draft week, and leave a review to help more people find the show. What part are you most curious about: the charity impact, oak syrup coffee, or the curry method?

Support the show

April 12th, 2026 5:00pm

094 Rob and Al of Robal's Food Truck

A food truck can look like the dream until you’re double-frying fries in a tiny kitchen, guessing crowds at breweries, and trying to pay every bill on time. Rob and Al of Robal's Food Truck walk me through what it really takes to turn a long-running idea into a local success story, and why “working for ourselves” is the point even when it gets stressful. 

We get into the food first because their menu is the hook: the Double Yoi double smash burger, the CBR chicken bacon ranch with house-ground chicken thighs, and loaded fries that are fresh-cut. If you care about scratch cooking, comfort food done right, and the best food to pair with a great Pittsburgh beer, this one is for you. 

We zoom out to the story behind the truck: a friendship that starts in Boy Scouts, two grandmas who shaped their taste and work ethic, and the leap from corporate food life to mobile food freedom. They share how they landed their truck, what they’re learning about selling out versus over-prepping, and where you can catch them at Pittsburgh breweries like Hitchhiker, Trace, Grist House, and Allegheny City. 

If you like the show, subscribe, share it with a friend who loves Pittsburgh food trucks, and leave a review so more people can find us.

Support the show

March 15th, 2026 5:00pm

092 Chef Missy Terrell - Grit To Gourmet

We sit down with Chef Missy Terrell to trace her arc from a pandemic-era kitchen table to Community Kitchen Pittsburgh, a training program that unlocked professional technique, industry mentors, and a calling to serve. Her story is raw and generous, from turning “apple butter” into Tug Butter, and transforming that love into a catering brand and a toolkit for her autistic son to thrive.

Missy shares how real ingredients—think chicken masala with brown rice, bright salads, and fresh berries—can reshape palates, cut stigma in the lunch line, and set kids up for long-term health in Pittsburgh Public Schools. Along the way, Missy talks about learning at scale in commercial kitchens, the power of mentors who “pour in,” and the pride of a child unknowingly loving the meals his own mom helped create.

Missy is now an ACF member earning a Harvard certification in culinary physics, teaching students at Allegheny County Jail to earn food handler cards, and returning to CKP as an instructor to break barriers for the next cohort. We celebrate one of the city’s favorite Lenten fish fry—hello, haddock and from-scratch tartar sauce—and the adrenaline of guest-chef dinners that raise the bar for technique and plating. 

Hungry for hope, grit, and ridiculously good food? Hit play, subscribe for more stories from Pittsburgh’s kitchens, and leave a review to tell us the dish you want to see go scratch next.

Support the show

March 1st, 2026 5:00pm

090 Chef Ken of KCZ Cuisine

What happens when homestyle Chinese comfort meets classical technique and a crash course in high-stakes private dining? We sit down with Chef Ken, owner of KCZ Cuisine to find out how family recipes, a quarter-life pivot, and a relentless focus on hospitality has shaped one of Pittsburgh’s most sought-after private chef services.

We dive into the dishes that define Ken's style: tomato and egg stir-fry that never leaves a family table, glossy soy-braised pork belly, and dumplings by the hundred for Lunar New Year. Ken breaks down hot pot for first-timers as just one of his in-home experiences, all guided by omotenashi, the Japanese idea of wholehearted hospitality.  

Toronto’s food scene igniting a passion that outlived a molecular biology degree, and steered Ken professionally to the culinary arts. After front-of-house work cemented his love of people, culinary school and a rigorous stint at the Rivers Club taught the fundamentals recipes can’t. Then came trial by fire learning: a whirlwind personal chef role for a billionaire in Los Angeles, delivering multi-course lunches and dinners every day. Pressure refined his sourcing, menu planning, and calm under chaos—skills he brought home to launch KCZ Cuisine, serving up personalized meal prep and in-home events today. 

Come for the story, stay for the practical tips—and leave hungry to try something new.

Enjoyed the conversation? Subscribe, share with a friend who loves food, and leave a review to help others discover the show.

Support the show

February 15th, 2026 5:00pm

088 Sarah Loves Yinz

Craving a guide that actually helps you eat, drink, and explore without the guesswork? We sit down with Sarah of “Sarah Loves Yinz” to map real-world ways to support small businesses. Sarah shares how her journey from running restaurant socials to curating regional getaways taught her what works online: fewer, smarter posts; clickable locations; clean tags; and a human voice that makes people feel welcome. 

Then, our wine detour lands at Spill in Bloomfield, a relaxed corner bar pouring rare Italian wines by the glass. Expect generous tastes, gentle questions, and a path to the bottle that suits your palate. Bring your own dinner from the neighborhood and make it a night.

Rounding things out, Diane and Matt from Two Ugly Mugs drop two soul-warming, low-effort recipes: slow-cooker salsa shredded pork over rice and a five-minute shakshuka riff that turns brunch into a win. 

If you’re ready to find new favorites, support the people behind them, and build weekends that feel full without feeling forced, press play. If you enjoyed the show, please follow, share with a friend, and leave a quick review—what neighborhood gem should we feature next?

Support the show

January 25th, 2026 7:00pm

086 Two Ugly Mugs Salsa

A backyard garden harvest and a family united on a new journey—this is how Two Ugly Mugs turned a homemade recipe into a national salsa brand. Diane and Matt Perella trace the steps from hot sauce experiments to a salsa lineup with a habanero base softened by carrots, a clean label with low sodium, and a flavor that wins over heat skeptics and spice lovers alike.

Their journey is packed with real turning points that led from local stores to a footprint across the United States and beyond. We also get a first look at new products—an amped-up hot honey salsa and a bright salsa verde, coming soon.

We broaden the flavor tour with a day trip pick: White Rabbit Cafe and Patisserie in Greensburg, with Sarah of Sarah Loves Yinz. Then culinary pro Tess Monks from Phipps Conservatory shares a soup blueprint that turns whatever is on hand into comfort. 

If you love origin stories, retail strategy, and food you actually want to eat, this one delivers. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves Pittsburgh-made food, and leave a quick review to help more listeners find the show.

Support the show

January 11th, 2026 4:00pm

084 The Tavern on the Square

A crumbling 1849 house, abolitionist lore, and a quest to cook for the next hundred years—this is the story of how Maggie and Matt Noble turned The Tavern on the Square into a living landmark. We sit down inside the restored space in New Wilmington, where original beams meet brand-new wiring, and the elevator isn’t a luxury but a promise that everyone belongs at the table. 

We trace their unlikely route from California kitchens and construction sites to Amish-country sourcing in Western Pennsylvania. Culinary training in Napa taught discipline and seasonality; small-town life sharpened their commitment to scratch cooking. The result is a tavern menu with a conscience: stocks built from bones, sauces fired to order, and a flagship burger made from a single, 100% grass-fed, grass-finished cow raised three miles away. Beloved staples like Korean sticky ribs and crispy-skinned salmon sit alongside pizzas that turn local harvests into a seasonal showcase, and cocktails crafted to slow and savor the evening.

Plan a visit to this historic gem and bucolic community for a delicious experience. Check hours, events, and specials on their website at www.thetavernonthesquare.com and on Instagram at @thetavernnewwilmington. 

If the story resonates, subscribe, share with a friend who loves thoughtful food, and leave a review to help others find the show.

Support the show

December 28th, 2025 2:00pm

082 Tea and a Sweet Treat

In this mini-episode... we trade the 12:30pm coffee surge for a calmer tea routine. Catherine Montest helps to unpack caffeine timing, yerba mate culture, and simple ways to control the buzz. Then we pivot to a bright cranberry loaf suggestion from Baking Across America that pairs perfectly with any afternoon brew.

If you're in the market to grab a cookbook from B. Dylan Hollis as a gift or for yourself, be sure to shop locally at one of our great independent bookstores like White Whale Bookstore in Bloomfield or Woolly Bear Books & Gifts in Carnegie. 

Support the show

December 14th, 2025 7:00pm

080 Dr. Lori - Collectible Cookbooks & More

Looking for the sweet spot where tradition meets the table? We bring together a master appraiser, a wine guide, and a hometown foodie to show how old-school cookbooks, a just-released French red, and a one-pan dinner can turn a chilly weeknight into a warm celebration.

Dr. Lori kicks things off with a collector’s map to the kitchen shelf: early printings of The Joy of Cooking, The White House Cookbook, and first editions from Julia Child, Ina Garten, and Rachael Ray—and why themed and community cookbooks carry both cultural weight and market value. She shares clear preservation tips you can use today and explains how to spot the difference between “well-loved” and “deal-breaker” condition.

We then uncork the season with Catherine Montest, Your Fairy Wine Mother, for an easy primer on Beaujolais Nouveau. Learn why this Gamay-based, fruit-forward red lands each November, how EU designations protect producers and quality, and why Nouveau’s bright cherry-strawberry profile is a knockout with turkey and a welcoming pour for red-wine skeptics. Think of it as a snapshot of the year’s harvest—festive, fresh, and perfectly timed for your holiday table.

Closing things out, Angie Carducci of Angie Loves PGH shares her weeknight sheet pan blueprint: chunky seasonal veg, a reliable starch, and a simple protein like pressed tofu, all tossed with high-quality Arbequina olive oil and finished with local spice blends from Steel City Salt. 

If you love the hunt for a great cookbook, want a crowd-pleasing wine for Thanksgiving, or just need a dinner that practically cooks itself, this one’s for you. Subscribe for more local flavor, share with a foodie friend, and leave a quick review—what cookbook gem, bottle, or sheet pan combo should we try next?

Support the show

November 9th, 2025 4:00pm

078 Chef Barbara Ann, From Farm Fields To Pittsburgh Plates

A private chef who learned pasta in an Umbrian cellar, sold out DC markets with recipe cards, and now feeds Pittsburgh with allergy-aware comfort food? That’s Barbara Ann of A B Kitchen, and her story is a tour of how real-world cooking can be both nourishing and exciting without getting fussy.

We visit the nuts and bolts of Barbara's off-site private chef model: custom meal prep, catering that accommodates varied diets, and partnerships with trusted nutrition pros to align flavor with macros and recovery goals. Her background spans DC restaurant trenches, global travel influences, and seasons on Pennsylvania organic farms. Plus a stint at Whole Foods helped guide what cools quickly, reheats cleanly, and still tastes fresh on day two.

We also venture across town to spotlight Tram’s Kitchen, a cash-only Vietnamese staple where plastic tablecloths hide a kitchen making one of Pittsburgh’s most satisfying bowls of bún bò Huế. Creator Karen Hoang explains why the spicy broth, tender noodles, and “no ambiance, all flavor” ethos make it a must-visit when you want substance over scene.

For a quick home win, Lisa Ray from Hamajack Heat Company drops a three-minute guacamole: one avocado, a spoon of Sublime jalapeño sauce, lime, and salt. It’s the kind of recipe shortcut that we love.

Press play, then subscribe, rate, and share with a friend who loves hidden gems and smarter comfort food. Got a favorite no-frills spot or a go-to weeknight hack? Tell us—your tip might make the next show.

Support the show

October 26th, 2025 6:00pm