Featured Show · San Antonio Podcasting
The podcast from the San Antonio Restaurants community and Flavors of Texas. Hosts Alan Williams and Susie LaFredo get the back story behind some of the best chefs and restaurateurs in South Texas — how the food gets made, and how the business behind it actually survives.
Latest Episode
New Episode · 34:59
Will Tennison, co-founder and co-owner of 375 Social Kitchen, pulls back the curtain on scaling a fiercely independent restaurant inside The Forum at 35 and 1604 — an area dominated by national chains. He walks Susie and Alan through the journey from a zero-revenue catering experiment in 2017, alongside his business partner and chef Chuck, into a multi-phase entrepreneurial run, and breaks down the tactical mechanics of restaurant growth along the way.
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34 conversations with the chefs, pitmasters, bakers, butchers and owners behind San Antonio’s food scene. Catch them on YouTube, or wherever you listen to your favorite San Antonio podcasts.
34:59
Will Tennison, co-founder and co-owner of 375 Social Kitchen, pulls back the curtain on scaling a fiercely independent restaurant inside The Forum at 35 and 1604 — an area dominated by national chains. He walks Susie and Alan through the journey from a zero-revenue catering experiment in 2017, alongside his business partner and chef Chuck, into a multi-phase entrepreneurial run, and breaks down the tactical mechanics of restaurant growth along the way.
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36:17
The show's first-ever three-time guest: Albi Zogaj, the 26-year-old founder behind Albi's Vite Italian Kitchen and Sunny's Brunch. He brings breaking news about his expansion to The Rim, and the conversation turns into a masterclass on decentralized team leadership, experiential restaurant marketing and knowing when to pivot a concept. Albi's Vite has grown from a neighborhood spot into an upscale San Antonio dining staple.
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28:32
Jennifer McInnis, Editor-in-Chief of San Antonio Magazine, joins Susie and Alan at the intersection of media, marketing and the culinary arts. With a career spanning major Texas metros, a WSET Level 2 background in wine and years as a food and drinks editor, she explains what it actually takes for a local brand to cut through the noise in the sixth-largest city in the country — and how the editorial process at a legacy city publication really works.
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49:42
Is your steak 100% hydrated? If you buy meat at a standard grocery store, you may be paying for water rather than flavor. Alan sits down with Matt Levere, head butcher at Pullman Market, for a conversation that goes well past technique — into dry-aging, sourcing, and why the beef most people cook at home tastes nothing like what comes out of a proper butcher's case.
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46:26
Jeffrey Spahn brings 20+ years in fine dining and hotel food & beverage operations, and traces his path from his parents' supper club in Dubuque, Iowa to becoming a cornerstone of the San Antonio dining scene. The conversation goes deep on the psychology of service — how to read body language, and the difference between a misstep and a genuine failure of hospitality.
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37:34
Alan sits down with the legendary Chef Brian West for a deep dive into the high-stakes world of reality television, the complex geography of Texas cuisine, and the case for a revolution in culinary schooling. Along the way: why thorough staff training — soft skills included — and meticulous recipe documentation are what actually separate a restaurant that runs from one that merely opens.
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59:26
Brook and David Richie, founders of Bee's Wellness Cafe at Shavano Park, get into the science of holistic recovery — inflammation, chronic pain and metabolic health. Their story starts with a health scare involving essential tremors, and turns into a conversation about what they built in response. The show's furthest departure from restaurant operations, and one of its most personal.
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34:53
Alvin Garlitos, founder of ZOJAH Burger and Garlitos Capital, talks through the heart behind the smash. Located in San Antonio's Medical Center on Huebner, ZOJAH is the product of a CIA-trained cook applying real technique to a format most people treat as fast food — and Alvin is candid about the business thinking that sits underneath it.
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48:18
Is this the best breakfast taco in San Antonio? Susie and Alan sit down with Priscilla Caballero Estrella and Cassandra Paz, the third-generation owners of the legendary Eddie's Taco House, as it marks 50 years. A conversation about what it takes to hold a neighborhood institution together across three generations — and to keep the tacos worth the line.
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50:19
Is your morning tea actually just tea dust swept off a warehouse floor? Susie and Alan sit down with Leah Flores, the visionary behind LaTEAda, San Antonio's premier tea destination. An education in what separates real leaf from the commodity stuff in the average box — and how she built a high-tea experience around it.
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42:49
What does it mean to cook like you love somebody? Susie and Alan sit down with Chef Kaius, founder of The Chef Kaius Experience, for a deeply personal conversation about food, service, faith, and building a culinary career on your own terms in San Antonio.
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48:05
Chef Anaiya Marie is competing on Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen — and cooking right here in San Antonio at Biga on the Banks under Chef Bruce Auden. Susie and Alan unpack her path from early inspiration to elite kitchen training, and what life in a high-pressure kitchen is actually like when the cameras aren't rolling.
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51:20
If you've heard people talk about The Baked Bird and wondered what makes it worth the line, this one answers it straight from the source. Susie and Alan sit down with Jen and Matt Zdeb, the owners behind one of San Antonio's most talked-about breakfast and brunch operations, on growing from a food truck into neighborhood restaurants.
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50:12
A walk through Pearl with the people who live and breathe it. Alan and Susie sit down with Chef Jeff Balfour, co-founder and executive chef of the Southerleigh group, and Michael Joergensen, VP of Marketing for Pearl, to talk Michelin recognition, approachable fine dining, and why Pearl has become one of the most important culinary destinations in Texas.
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45:09
Step inside The Bread Box at The Alley on Bitters, one of San Antonio's most beloved bakeries and brunch spots. Alan is joined by special guest co-host — and his sister — Jennifer Kitchen, as they sit down with owners Tina and Lucas Kent to talk about building an artisan bread hub in a city that didn't obviously have room for one.
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47:27
Susie and Alan sit down with Dr. Derek Sanchez, owner of Mia Marco's Pizza in Schertz — a physical therapist who became a three-time world pizza champion. One of the show's most improbable career arcs, and a reminder that obsession travels well between disciplines.
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45:23
San Antonio's love affair with handmade pasta gets a new chapter. Alan and Susie sit down with Sean and Virginia Archer, the husband-and-wife team behind Pazzo Pasteria and the new Pazzo's Market + Deli on Nacogdoches Road, now one of the city's most sought-after Italian dining experiences.
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51:21
Susie and Alan sit down with one of San Antonio's favorite pitmasters — Augie Cortez, owner of Augie's Barbed Wire Smokehouse. The untold version of how a San Antonio barbecue icon actually came together, told by the man running the pit.
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51:38
The companion conversation with Augie Cortez, one of San Antonio's most beloved restaurateurs, on how Augie's Barbed Wire Smokehouse became a legend — the decisions, the setbacks and the long hours behind a name locals now take for granted.
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33:40
Alan sits down with Chef Paul Morales, the culinary mind behind Ancient Heirloom Grain Tortillas, to talk tradition, controversy, and why the tortilla is the part of the taco San Antonio argues about most. A flavorful — and occasionally fiery — trip through the city's food scene.
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36:42
What happens when Jewish deli classics collide with South Texas flavors — and land inside a retro diner on Broadway? Alan sits down with Adam Lampinstein, owner and culinary mind behind The Hayden, a genuinely San Antonio answer to a very old question.
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38:01
Susie and Alan sit down with Princ Bashaj, the charismatic owner of Mare E Monte Italian Restaurant in the Medical Center. His story isn't the average restaurant origin tale — born in Kosovo, his life was shaped by war, and what he built in San Antonio is a masterclass in hospitality.
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42:16
Susie and Alan welcome a longtime friend and powerhouse of the local food scene — Kimberly Suta, newly appointed Editor of Flavors of Texas Magazine and founder of Homegrown Chef. A conversation about covering a city's food culture from the inside.
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46:26
A trip to the Mediterranean without leaving San Antonio. Alan and Susie sit down with Mert Tezkol and Muhammet Yilmaz of Selda Mediterranean Kitchen & Bar, one of the most talked-about new restaurants in the city, on bringing authentic Turkish cooking to Texas.
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38:30
Susie and Alan sit down with San Antonio culinary legend Blanca Aldaco, founder and owner of Aldaco's — the Queen of Margaritas herself — for the stories behind one of the city's defining Mexican restaurants.
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42:08
Susie and Alan sit down with Levi Rodgers and Juan Cuellar, the duo reviving a nostalgic pizza empire in the heart of San Antonio. The full story of how Godfather's Pizza came back — taco pizza included.
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45:22
Susie and Alan sit down with Jeremiah Burns, owner of PB&J with Tay — one of only three peanut-butter-and-jelly-themed restaurants in the country, and the only one in Texas. Tucked into the Yard Shopping Center off McCullough, it's proof that a tight enough concept can carry a whole restaurant.
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46:41
Alan and Susie dig into Alamo Biscuit Company's River Walk opening and its unusual 24-hour concept, plus the SAM System — an innovative approach to restaurant service technology. A look at what it takes to run a kitchen that never closes.
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55:54
Susie and Alan sit down with Chef Steven McHugh — the culinary visionary behind Cured at Pearl, six-time James Beard nominee, and author of Cured: Cooking with Ferments, Pickles and Preserves. An hour inside the head of one of San Antonio's most decorated chefs.
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51:08
Alan and Susie sit down with Chef Jean Tardif, the mastermind behind French cuisine in Texas — Tardif's American Brasserie, and now the new owner of The Creek Restaurant in Boerne. He shares his journey from a multicultural upbringing to the art of fine dining, Beef Wellington included.
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47:37
A look behind the scenes of Dashi Chinese Kitchen and Bar, one of San Antonio's hottest Chinese restaurants. Alan and Susie hear from Kristina and Brandon on Szechuan cooking, the Sichuan House connection, and what most diners get wrong about the cuisine.
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38:53
Susie and Alan interview Rick Greenfield and Erin Tireman, co-owners of Smash'd on East Grayson — known for an elevated take on the smashed burger, and for California burritos with a twist. One of San Antonio Restaurants' favorite go-to spots for great eats.
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42:45
Nick Anthony is the heart and soul behind Papouli's Greek Grill. Growing up in a large Greek family, he was immersed in the culture and the cooking long before it became a business — and this conversation traces the line from that family table to the restaurant.
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49:36
The episode that started it all. San Antonio Restaurants interviews April Goess of the Culinary Institute of America's San Antonio campus and Mike Jorgensen, VP of Marketing for Pearl — a conversation about the institutions training and housing the city's next generation of chefs.
Watch episode →Meet the Hosts
Alan Williams co-hosts The More You Know, The Better It Tastes and runs the San Antonio Restaurants community the show grew out of. He's the one asking chefs how the business actually works — margins, staffing, sourcing — and getting straight answers.
Susie LaFredo co-hosts the show alongside Alan, drawing out the personal side of the story: how someone found their way into a kitchen, what they're really chasing, and why a dish matters to them. Between the two of them, guests tend to say more than they planned to.
Recent Guests
James Beard nominees and taco-house families. World pizza champions and head butchers. Magazine editors and food-truck owners who talked their way into a storefront. If they feed San Antonio, they’ve probably sat down with Alan and Susie.
Where It Started
The show didn’t start as a show. It started as San Antonio Restaurants — the Facebook group where locals argue about breakfast tacos, trade recommendations and find the places worth driving across town for. The podcast is what happens when Alan and Susie take that conversation to the source.
That’s why the questions land differently. These are the things the community actually wants to know: why the tortilla matters, what the line cook sees, whether the hype is earned, and what it really costs to keep the doors open in this city.
New episodes are published to the The More You Know, The Better It Tastes playlist on the Flavors of Texas and San Antonio Restaurants channel.
The Facebook group behind the podcast — recommendations, arguments and discoveries from people who eat here every day.
Want to be on the show?
Run a restaurant, a truck, a bakery or a pit in South Texas? The back story is the whole point of this show — come tell it.
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