Rethinking Restaurants

Trey Smith, Blake Aguillard, and Drew Delaughter of Saint Germain. (Photo courtesy of Saint Germain)

The restaurant landscape in America is rapidly changing. The pandemic gave a lot of people time to rethink, retool, and redo the way the industry works. On this week's show, we speak with young chefs and restaurateurs who are changing the rules and reshaping culinary culture.

We begin with Chef Mason Hereford, who has earned a reputation for his creative approach to dining, transforming everyday ingredients into sublime dishes. With the emergence of each eatery he has opened since his first successful venture, Turkey and the Wolf, Mason has also broken new ground in his approach to management and restaurant culture.

Then, Chef Serigne Mbaye discusses his approach to operating his fine dining establishment, Dakar NOLA. Serigne is among a growing number of chefs here and around the country who are finding that serving a seasonal tasting menu translates to a better experience for both the restaurant's guests and staff.

And when it comes to rethinking everything, Saint Germain has got it going on. After years of working in the industry, co-chefs Blake Aguillard and Trey Smith and general manager Drew Delaughter set out to run a restaurant their way. The trio offers a 10-course tasting menu to a small number of diners at a time in their renovated shotgun house.

Finally, we travel across the Causeway to meet Anna Watkins and Amanda Birdsong, the dynamic duo currently causing a stir in downtown Covington at Cured on Columbia.