Renowned Chef DiSpirito to Kick Off Culinary Conversations Series at New Brunswick Performing Arts C

Since the Restaurant Guys launched what might have been the first food-themed podcast on iTunes in 2005, Francis Schott and Mark Pascal have talked with some of the world’s best chefs, bartenders, winemakers and food authors, blending the same ingredients.

Free-flowing conversation, witty banter, fascinating guests and a passion to learn about all things culinary – it’s always been a delicious recipe for the partners and longtime friends who own and operate Stage Left, Catherine Lombardi and the Wine Shop along Livingston Avenue.

Expect a heaping helping of it when they kick off their new Culinary Conversations lecture series with renowned James Beard Award winners, Iron Chefs and Food Network stars. 

Rocco DiSpirito, a chef and restaurant owner celebrated for his outstanding culinary skills, television personality and authorship of 14 cookbooks, will be live on the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center stage with the Restaurant Guys on Friday, March 14.

Future guests for the lecture series that will run through June will include Chef Scott Conant, a two-time James Beard Award-winning chef, cookbook author and TV personality; Alex Guarnaschelli, who has gone from executive chef at Butter Restaurant in New York to host of three prime-time Food Network shows; and Andrew Zimmern, an Emmy-winning and four-time James Beard Award-winning TV personality, chef, writer and passionate global citizen.

If New Brunswick isn’t already known as a food and culture destination, bringing these culinary celebrities – who have millions of followers among them – should help put the city’s name on everyone’s lips and its wide array of food on everyone’s tongues.

Schott and Pascal, who met as Rutgers students living in the River Dorms years before opening Stage Left in 1992, say they are bartenders at heart and bring a bartender’s gift of gab to their (don’t call them) interviews.

“We don’t really want it to be an interview,” Pascal said. “It’s a conversation, and that’s generally how they come out. “

So disarming and engaging is the Restaurant Guys' approach that they can get a guy like TV personality, author and food scientist Alton Brown to ditch his stock answers to oft-asked questions for more thoughtful, insightful ones.

Another thing that is central to Schott and Pascal’s success as restaurateurs and podcasters: They’re on a quest to find exciting innovations and bring them to the people of New Brunswick and beyond.

The greatest example of that is how they brought craft cocktails to New Jersey, where it took other establishments a good 10 years to catch on.

By now, gin gimlets and Kentucky mules are all the rage, but Schott and Pascal were the first to bring over the state line what famed bartender Dale DeGoff was doing in the late 1980s at the Rainbow Room in New York – restoring the luster of drinks of the late 19th and early 20th century by making serious drinks with simple syrup and freshly squeezed juice.

“We learned from Dale and read all these books,” Schott said. “We would buy old books. Dale had a library that he would loan me books from. These books were out of print for years. We learned from those guys and we brought it back here. Our job was always to find cool stuff and bring it to people and put it on whatever level they wanted. That’s what the Restaurant Guys is.”

The upcoming conversation with DiSpirito represents a reunion of sorts for Schott and Pascal.

He was years ago a guest on the Restaurant Guys podcast – which grew out of their longtime show on WCTC-AM 1450 and returned last year after a 10-year hiatus.

Not only did they find DiSpirito informative, he was also responsible for one of the top five meals Schott and Pascal have ever enjoyed, a 21-course tasting menu with 21 paired wines at Pacific Union in New York.

So when NBPAC asked them to create a chef talkback series in the spirit of their podcast and asked them to come up with a guest list, DiSpirito quickly came to mind.

“We had been thinking about getting Rocco to come back on the Restaurant Guys podcast,” Schott said.

“These are all the people that we would have been trying to get on the show anyway,” Pascal said.

“And we were in the process of reaching out to Rocco for the regular show,” Schott continued. “We remembered that meal. It was one of the best meals of our lives. He’s a super nice guy.”

“Super nice guy,” Pascal said.

“Good egg,” Schott said.

The New Brunswick Performing Arts Center’s lecture series featuring Culinary Conversations with James Beard Award winners, Iron Chefs and Food Network stars kicks off March 14 and runs through June. Each evening will feature a moderated interview by New Brunswick's own The Restaurant Guys, Mark Pascal and Francis Schott (Stage Left Steak and Catherine Lombardi). A portion of the ticket sales proceeds will benefit the Elijah's Promise’s Promise Culinary School. Limited VIP tickets are available, including preferred seating and a meet-and-greet/photo opportunity. Guests may add an autographed cookbook to their ticket purchase (while supplies last).

Tickets and more information available at nbpac.org.

Story By: Chuck O'Donnell
Photo By: TAPinto New Brunswick