Food Network Obsessed

Stephanie Izard, the GOAT of the Chicago Food Chain, on Competing Against Friends

Episode Summary

Award-winning chef, restaurateur and creator of several food lines, Stephanie Izard takes us on a culinary exploration of entrepreneurship.

Episode Notes

Award-winning chef, restaurateur and creator of several food lines, Stephanie Izard takes us on a culinary exploration of entrepreneurship. On a mission to create pleasant and inviting experiences for her diners, she’s opened seven unique restaurants in Chicago and LA that bring international flavors to upscale, casual dining tables. She shares the inspiration behind her goat-themed endeavors and the influence her travels to Peru, China and Taiwan had on her Cabra and Duck Duck Goat dishes. The Iron Chef and Top Chef winner reflects on her experience going head-to-head with friends on cooking competition shows, comparing the unpredictable and exciting atmosphere to her carefully contrived restaurants. Stephanie reveals where her passion for food came from, the secret to packing punch into each plate and how she’s curated her fearlessly fun persona that network fans and restaurant regulars love.  

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Episode Transcription

Jaymee Sire:

Hello, hello and welcome to Food Network Obsessed. This is the podcast where we dish on all things food with your favorite chefs, food influencers, and food network stars. I'm your host Jamie Sere, and today we have an Iron Chef with us to talk about her creative process and what all of her establishments have in common. She is a celebrated Chicago restaurateur James Beard Award winner and a competitor on this season of Tournament of Champions. It's Stephanie Iard. Stephanie, welcome to the podcast. Is it cheesy to call you the goat of the Chicago Food Scene?

Stephanie Izard:

? I think that's become my new nickname around, or at least our restaurants and other places. So yeah, do it.

Jaymee Sire:

All right. The greatest of all time. Joining us here on Food Network. Obsessed, of course, you Own Girl and the Goat in both Chicago and La Duck, duck, goat and cbra. What is the story behind your goat affection, I guess .

Stephanie Izard:

my last name actually. So we say Iard in my family, but it's ARD in French. So it's a mountain goat from the PI Mountain. So if you look up Iard Mountain Goat, you'll see a picture of this. It's more like a goat antelope that lives in the PI Mountains. Oh wow. I found that out a few years before opening Girl in the Goat and I was like, oh, that seems like a good thing to center everything around. And then my friend drew the goat that has now become our beacon and is on everything that we do and it just became like our little theme.

Jaymee Sire:

I love it. And I, I've had the pleasure of dining at a couple of your restaurants and there is often goat on the menu as well, correct?

Stephanie Izard:

Yeah, definitely at Girl On the Goat after we were getting ready to open and I was like, maybe we should have goat on the menu, . I had never cooked it before and definitely didn't know how to source it. We found a couple of farmers and did some taste tests and now after years of working with it, I feel like we've really figured out and we use all the different parts and you can get whole goat legs, whole goat shoulders, we do the belly of the shanks, just everything. But it took a little getting used to, it's not as fatty as their friend. The Pig

Jaymee Sire:

. Well, girl In the Goat was your first restaurant, which opened in 2010 in Chicago's Restaurant Row. If there was a vision board for Girl in the Goat back in your planning phases, what would've been on it?

Stephanie Izard:

So I was actually, and I had my first restaurant before that, it was called Sy, when I was like 27, but that was 20 years ago, so we don't need to go that far back. Okay. , we can, but, so for the goat restaurants, girl in the Goats, first the, I had met my business partners, Kevin Ba and Rob Katz, and we were driving around in their car just looking at neighborhoods and talking about the restaurant and we had already decided we were gonna do something together, but Kevin's like, wait, we never asked you like what restaurant? What kind of restaurant do you wanna open ? And I said, I said I wanna open the Drunken Goat. And that was the original plan. But the Drunken Goat meaning sort of, it's upskill casual, but you can still come in every day and it's meant to be, I always kind of envisioned, um, one of those big long tables in Europe, like in Spain and or France or Italy mm-hmm. ,

Which I've not really spent that much time in, but I envisioned these really happy people sitting around a big table with all this wine and food and they're just loving life. And so we have two big tables like that at both of the Girl and Goat restaurants where we do see that happen with folks that come in with large parties. But that's what I want everyone's experience to be like lots of food on the table, just having a grand old time and elevated food. And we take it as seriously as high-end restaurants, but meant to be in a more casual atmosphere. And you can just come in on Tuesday cuz you're hungry.

Jaymee Sire:

Yeah. Why is that important to you to, to kind of have that communal atmosphere for your guests?

Stephanie Izard:

I just think it's fun. I've, I've always been a fan of shared plates and of course now I think that's almost everywhere. It's almost mm-hmm harder to find not shared plates maybe, or maybe just cuz I order sh and share it wherever I go. , maybe it's just for me in my life, but I think it's just so much more fun to get to share plates and try so many different flavors. And that's just the way I think about food. So I want, when someone comes into my restaurant and they're, oh, I came to your restaurant last night. The first thing I asked them was, did you have fun? Like, that's the most important thing I want them to take away. I would hope that they had like, like the food, but they don't ask them a million details. And I'm, hopefully they had good service, but if all of those things came into place and they had fun, it's sort of, that's what we're looking for.

Jaymee Sire:

Absolutely. I think if you have all those things, you're hopefully having a good time as well. Yeah. What do your initial phases of kind of conceptualizing a restaurant typically look like?

Stephanie Izard:

Things just kind of pop into my head randomly. It's kind of how I go through life, I guess. , I, we were at Girl in the Goat one day and I was down in the basement and all the bread makers were coming in there at like 4:00 AM and there's like flour everywhere and our butchers are everywhere. And it was just very crowded. I was at my tiny table making specials for the day and I was like, ah, we should just open another restaurant with like a little bakeries. We get the breadmakers out of here and it can be called Little Goat and it'll be so cute. And we ended up opening Little Goat, that was one. It was more the supersized goat ginormous, which we're getting ready to open the second rendition of it very shortly, but it just kind of popped in my head that day.

Same at Duck Duck Goat. We were doing a dinner upstairs at Little Goat in our private event space and I had made a bunch of Chinese inspired food and it was just so fun. And the next day I asked my partners to meet up, I was like, I kind of wanna open a Chinese inspired restaurant . And they're like, yeah, let's do it. So it's just things pop into my head and then we start to dive in and either go traveling to explore to get inspiration or just, you know, spend like a year working on the menu and such.

Jaymee Sire:

Where have you traveled that has maybe turned into a dish at one of the restaurants or into a restaurant? You know, concept itself.

Stephanie Izard:

I mean, for Duck, duck Goat, we went to mainland China and Taiwan for a total of about a month, which, you know, is, uh, that's just scratching the surface. It's a very large place to visit. But got a really good glimpse into the culture, got to do a lot of traveling around and just eating and eating and eating. So when we were in China, we would eat like six meals a day, filling that lazy Susan with like 12 dishes and just, it's like, you eat and then plan, where are we going to eat next? So just get as much inspiration as possible. And then I came back and spent, um, a year while I was pregnant with my now six year old son, teaching myself how to make all of our, we make like 12 different doughs a day. So I taught myself how to make slap noodles and lo maye noodles and all the different dumpling wrappers and things like that. So it's a lot of exploring first and then, and then working on what, what I saw. And then Peruvian restaurant. So we have CBRA in both Chicago and Los Angeles at the Austin Hotels. So we went to Peru for two weeks to Lima [inaudible]. We of course went up to Picchu, which don't bring your three year old. That's a whole nother story. . Um, that's the worst. But the food I can only imagine.

Jaymee Sire:

Yeah.

Stephanie Izard:

, oh my gosh, everybody in every language is saying, why is there a three are doing? I know, I know.

Jaymee Sire:

I could barely walk up those steps like as a, just myself. So I can't imagine hauling a child as well.

Stephanie Izard:

, yeah, I was grasping him for like dear life, but the Lima was one of my mo it's one of my most favorite cities. Like soon as we got there, just the, the feeling that everyone gives you, there's just so much joy. Everybody's so bright in there and welcoming and like, the food's so bright, it's like all that lime juice and refreshness that you get from a ceviche is like what you feel by the people that are just welcoming you into restaurants and just into everywhere. I just love it.

Jaymee Sire:

Yeah, I completely agree. It was a, a very friendly place. And, and, and as you mentioned, the ceviche there is like unmatched anywhere. I'm curious, you, you say you kind of just go with whatever pops into your head. Are you like a pen and paper person or do you have like a million notes in your phone where you're kind of just jotting things down? ,

Stephanie Izard:

I'm still trying to figure it out. So I try to do the phone thing. Usually I'll jot it down at like, if I'm on expo or if jut just anywhere, I'll jot down notes on a scrap piece of paper and then I take a picture of it and then I'll just scroll through my phone. But then I end up with something, I'm like, what does that say? Because I have terrible handwriting. So there's never been a great answer. I, my brain is all over the place all the time. I think it's just my way of being. And so when I try to get organized, it doesn't work. So I just, I just roll with it.

Jaymee Sire:

Do you prefer to work alone in those instances or do you kind of rely heavily on collaborators as well?

Stephanie Izard:

It's, I'm very happy to say that it's now gotten to the point where I collaborate with my chefs. It took, now that I have about seven restaurants, if we are six restaurants and then we had a bakery, it's just became a lot. I was doing most of the menu work myself, some with my chef Jan as we were opening new restaurants. But when new dishes were arising, just kind of doing those myself. But now I have, all of my chefs have been working with me for so long that they get the flavors that I enjoy or they kind of get my way of cooking and it's now become their way of encroaching food as well. So we can work on dishes together so much more. When I'm traveling between Chicago and la I'll go back to Chicago and my team at cbra, chef Drew is like, Hey, we made this dish, you wanna try it?

So we'll taste it and then I'll give some feedback and we'll work through any way to adjust it a little bit. Or like, Hey, I think it needs this crunch. I always say it needs crunch , but usually now they put on crunch cause they know I'm gonna say that . So we just kind of work through it together and it's such a weight off my shoulders. And it's also just awesome to see just the talent of all my chefs and sous chefs and it's fun to let them play around too. So it's interesting. I think it's, I got to that point, I was like, oh, now I'm like the old lady and now I do this . Now my chefs help. It's great.

Jaymee Sire:

No, I think it says a lot, you know, that you have so many chefs that have stuck with you for so long and it, it seems like it's kind of become a family. And if you, if anybody's listening and hearing that background noise, Stephanie's actually sitting in one of her restaurants as she does this interview just showing how much you are probably in those restaurants all the time. What is your strength when it comes to opening a new restaurant?

Stephanie Izard:

Ooh. I mean I think it all lies in with the people that you surround yourself with. I think we've been so fortunate over time to build that family. And now it's sort of, I feel like you kind of start to open new restaurants just because your team wants a new challenge, . So you're like, okay, well that he's already been the CDC for some time. What's the next level? I guess we'll just open another restaurant. Which that, you know, that's not something I can continue for forever. But continuing to find great people and just promoting from within makes it possible for me to own or open restaurants in multiple cities and feel good about not being able to be there all of the time. I'm definitely in mm-hmm. a restaurant all the time when I'm not doing events and such work more than probably, I don't know, work a lot like, like so many people in the industry. Like everybody in the industry does. But I trust, you know, I'm sitting here in LA right now at Girl and The Goat, tomorrow's Valentine's Day. So just getting ready for that. But I know that my teams in Chicago are good getting ready for their big Valentine's Day nights too, so I don't worry about things anymore, which is awesome.

Jaymee Sire:

Even though all of your restaurants are unique to, you know, whatever concept or or cuisine that you're focusing on with them, what are some elements that you ensure are present at all of your establishments?

Stephanie Izard:

Yeah, I think you can definitely tell that they're all like brothers and sisters. The restaurants. I think part of it is what I had mentioned before about just you feel a fun vibe when you walk in. Mm-hmm , you should feel very welcome as soon as you walk in the service is paying attention to detail by making sure that everybody, when your drink is almost done, are you ready for a drink? All of those sort of things. But at the same time, not making it feel stuffy and making it feel very much like the, the person that's helping you. They're guiding you through an experience and that they're, you know, they're your friend for the night. They're just making it fun. And then with the food, everybody, you know, a lot of people ask me about my food style and I find it to be such a hard question to answer. And we do have food from all over the world and some of the restaurants are honed in on certain cuisines, but it's always gonna be sort of in your face flavor. You're definitely not gonna be tasting something that isn't bold and leaving you just kind of like, you know, whoa, that, that definitely had a lot of flavors. So I think that's what ties it together.

Jaymee Sire:

What are some things that you know now that maybe you wish you knew when you were in your first years of Girl in the Goat?

Stephanie Izard:

? Gosh, the first years of Girl in the Goat, I blocked so much out of memory. Just, uh, I remember like the, the walk-in cooler going down and it just, the first, the first night of service, my chef Jan and I were standing on the line and my original, my restaurant before that that I opened when I was 27 s was 60 seats. And it was just very small. You know, the most that we ever did cover Wise was probably, I don't know, 150 people. So Girl in the Goat the first night we're open, we do like 350 people and now we'll get up to, you know, 500 or so. But we were like, what's going on? So the tickets just start flooding in and both of us look at each other. We're like, well this isn't working. We need to figure out a different system here. So I, but in reality I wouldn't wanna tell myself anything or I don't, I wouldn't wanna know anymore because we kind of had to figure it out, I think. Mm-hmm. Each time something came up that was a little different than we were used to or all the problems that we had to solve, as much as I would want to go back and help my then self and, you know, maybe it would cause a lot less stress. I wouldn't, we wouldn't be at the place we are now. And I know that sounds very cliche, but it's true. You kind of have to, your restaurant gets better and stronger as you kind of figure out how to solve all these human problems.

Jaymee Sire:

Yeah. And and maybe you wouldn't have even wanted to to, to go into it if you knew all of the different challenges that were, were ahead.

Stephanie Izard:

It's true. , I was just talking to someone last night, I was like, the restaurant industry, what are we doing you guys ? But it's, you know, it's like, it's also a strange addiction to it. You know, you're, I would open a new restaurant, like when I opened Little Goat, I was flipping pancakes from 6:00 AM until close, like every day for the first few months cuz we're so short staffed. Wow. And it was a little bit of a nightmare and I was like, Ugh, remind me, don't ever let me ever up a restaurant again. . And then, you know, a couple years later here I am, I'm like, oh we're gonna open a Chinese inspired restaurant duck dot goat. So it's, you just get sort of like, as soon as something starts to feel like it's a little bit smooth, you're like, let's do this to ourselves again.

Jaymee Sire:

Yes. You're just glutton for punishment.

Stephanie Izard:

. Exactly.

Jaymee Sire:

You also created a green bean sauce at Girl In the Goat that really became kind of a cult favorite, was so sought after that you created your own sauce line, this little goat. What is the process of, you know, kind of developing and testing a condiment and then scaling it for, you know, commercial use?

Stephanie Izard:

Yeah, it was definitely a learning curve. I think the CPG world are packaged, good world is so different than having restaurants. So it started off as something we just packaged with. We found somebody that was a co-packer, that food scientist that takes your recipe and they test and make sure it can be on the shelf and all of that. And we were just selling it at Girl On the Goat. And then we went to a food show and we thought, this is kind of cool. This could actually be a brand that we could grow. So since then, over the past few years we've red out the packaging, made it super bright, we've expanded the line, we have five sauces, some spices, we have these everything crunches, which are, I would say I use crunchy things on everything in the restaurant. So they're like a puffed rice sort of topper that has different spices in it.

And then this past summer we launched our chili crunches, which are very different than other chili crisps out there. There's like fresh master chips that we crunch up and put it inside each jar. But it was just figuring out, we just built a manufacturing facility to, to make that particular one. Cause nobody would make the master chips by hand like we do. So it's been a learning curve and it's very exciting. I, you know, it's this growing company and I just promoted one of my team members to the CEO so he can just make decisions without me. And I mean, we still talk about it, but it's just somebody to run the company because it's actually turned into a, instead of a little side gig, it's actually like a big gig, which is super fun.

Jaymee Sire:

That's awesome. How often do your restaurant customers ask you about your TV appearances? ?

Stephanie Izard:

It kind of depends on, it's so funny. I'll have a night where, you know, only one or two people come up to me and then there's nights where I'm like, wow, I best look really good tonight. Does my butt look getting in these pants because everybody's coming up to me tonight. I mean, in Chicago it's, it used to be, it was a culmination of like top chef, iron Chef, you know, food Network, all of those things. And just Chicagoans because everybody in Chicago is just so proud of anybody that's from Chicago and out here in LA I was like, oh, nobody will come up. It's like LA people don't talk to famous people or whatever. I call myself fake famous, but, but I had a few people come up to me last night and it's great. I think it's, you have the, you know, you go out and do these amazing things, which I just love doing TV because I love doing television.

It's not even, I don't think about it bringing guests into the restaurant. So, although of course that's, I'm, you know, a big perk of it. I just love doing television. I think it's another side of me that I didn't realize was there until I did Top Chef so many years ago. But it's really fun having people from different walks of life, depending upon which thing they watched and you know. Mm-hmm. It's funny, people coming Top Chef is 15 years ago and there's still people like, oh my God, you were a favorite. I'm like, oh my gosh, that was so long ago.

Jaymee Sire:

Stephanie Izard:

Crazy. I'm so old.

Jaymee Sire:

It is crazy. Coming up next, Stephanie discusses earning the Iron Chef title and how her past Food Network competitions compared to being on the new season of Tournament of Champions. Well speaking of television and Iron Chef, you earned that Iron Chef title back in 2017 during the premier season of Iron Chef Gauntlet. After winning that first challenge, I remember you, you kind of became the one to beat. So what is the key to success in a competition like Iron Chef?

Stephanie Izard:

Oh, I mean Iron Chef Gauntlet, I remember just being so nervous because I, it was going back and doing a competition again after having won Top Chef. And I didn't want it to be like, they're like, oh I guess she's not a top chef anymore. You know, I was like, , I have to do well. So it was every time they have us in this like fake elevator thing that we were walking out of to start each episode, we'd just be back there and I'm like, you know, like we're sweating. We're all talking. We're like, what are we doing to ourselves, you guys? But I always go into those things and just try to just make something fun. Just try to have fun. I remember I was talking to Chef Choda who is on tour Toman Cha with me as well. Mm-hmm , he and I were just talking about it because we just, we've been friends ever since and we were reminiscing about some of the things I made and he seems to remember more easily some of the things I made than I did. I think I kind of just blocked it out of memory. But it was some things that I made, I had just kind of made these random things that I tried for the first time. Like chicken, liver, mose, ice cream, like who makes chicken liver mo ice cream in the middle of a challenge where you're like, Hey, I think that this might just be such a great idea to do right now. So I feel like I kind of, I cook as though I'm not scared to lose, you know, like just kind of make something crazy and just go for it. Mm-hmm. , but, but at the end of the day, you know, hopefully it pays off.

Jaymee Sire:

Yeah. I mean and and then that last challenge, I mean you had to go up against Bobby Flay Morimoto and Michael Simon. Obviously not an easy feat. So how do you like maintain that confidence and focus when you are in a situation like that?

Stephanie Izard:

Yeah, I remember, I mean I can bring myself back to the feeling I was having before cooking against Morri Moto because I decided to put them each with the, what they were best at. So going, putting yourself into a fish challenge with Morimoto is like really not the greatest idea in the world. But I was like putting cheese against Morimoto, that just seems weird. So I figured if I was gonna go down, I was gonna do it, like giving them the best ingredients. But yeah, Morimoto into the kitchen and it's like, you know, I was like freaking out a little bit. I've met him before, but just going head-to-head in that battle and knowing that this is what I needed to sort of overcome. 

Jaymee Sire:

Why? I mean why did you play it that way though? Because you know, I mean Peppers and Bobby Tilefish and Morimoto Cheese and Michael Simon. Is it just like that competitive feeling of wanting to, you know, beat them at something that they are good at?

Stephanie Izard:

Yeah, you might as well. You know, if you're gonna, if you're not gonna win, then it's like you didn't because you gave them their best ingredients. But then overcoming it while giving them their best ingredients just feels even better.

Jaymee Sire:

And then after receiving the Iron Chef title, you actually went on to compete as one of the five chefs on Iron Chef Showdown where I was lucky enough to be the floor reporter on. And obviously as we've covered, you were, you were known for taking a lot of risks on both shows. You mentioned the, the, the chicken liver, moose ice cream. I got to try a Teresa ice cream if I remember correctly, during that battle. So, uh, have you always been a risk taker like that?

Stephanie Izard:

Yeah, I mean it kind of became my bit, I feel like, on Iron Chef to always make an ice cream. Yeah, the ribeye rib ice cream was like my favorite. I actually served it at the restaurant for a little while, but beef so expensive. But Ribeye and ice cream is delicious. It was. And we did a, we even did a bonito ice cream for like the tuna challenge. Yeah, it's fun. I mean, and when I was on Iron Chef as an Iron Chef, I would think to myself, when we're like talking about what are we gonna make? Like is this iron cheffy enough? That's how I think about things. And I still use that term. It means something that's, you have to like push the envelope a little bit. You have to do something a little bit out there. Iron Chefs don't just make chicken and dump. I can't think of something that simple. There's nothing simple about cooking whatever. There can be areas and , but you have to do something a little bit unique I think, to really be an Iron Chef and just make it kind of something that maybe the Challenger is not ready to take that risk and that kind of helps you overcome.

Jaymee Sire:

Did you take that same approach on Tournament of Champions?

Stephanie Izard:

Yeah, I mean Tournament of Champions, it's so crazy going back into battles I guess, or cooking with other chefs after being out of that for so long I've been so focused on my restaurants. Like going back into the kitchen, I was like, Ooh, there's these butterflies again of that same feeling of when I was on Koler on On Top Chef or on Iron Chef, I mean every Iron Chef battle afterwards I would duck down under the table and like almost cry for a few minutes cause it was so hard. That same feeling and the same feeling of excitement. And I think with Tournament Champions, the crazy thing is that there's a couple of chefs that I met for the first time there, but for the most part, all friends were all friends, but yet we're there to like duke it out in battle. So it's this crazy thing where you have huge respect and for all of your friends around you and you maybe you think you know their food, but once you get into cooking challenges, people's food like comes out a little bit differently and everybody just, it's rowing to watch anybody's cooks because it's amazing what people can do in 30 minutes.

Jaymee Sire:

Which has been the, I guess, the toughest challenge on TV so far? As far as the different shows because you have competed on so many different arenas.

Stephanie Izard:

Wow. I mean all of them, you know, there's nothing, there's nothing easy about it. And I hope, I think that that's portrayed when people watch it on tv, but it's really hard to know what I think people at home are think you and they're watching us battle, like do they think, oh, these people cook every day and they make it look so simple. And I think sometimes if you watch certain chefs, and I can think of certain moments where I was doing something where I was like, oh, I think I just lookeded pretty badass and made that look easy. , but it wasn't. So I think it's just you're cooking at like top speed. You're having to come up with ideas in literally seconds of what you're going to make based on something that someone just throws at you. And you know, and Tournament champions, you've got Guy Fietti who's like, who knows what's going up in his brain and he's throwing crazy stuff your way and or the randomizer gets to pick it all. So you never know what's gonna happen in like literally seconds to figure it out. And that's the, that's what makes it so challenging.

Jaymee Sire:

Had you met Guy before Tournament of Champions?

Stephanie Izard:

Yeah. Over the years, I think just being at different food festivals and we're kind of have always been in the same circle, but definitely filming this show. I think all of us, some of chefs known him better from doing the show for a number of years, but he's such a welcoming person and befriend everybody. He is very supportive of the industry and supportive of all the chefs and he has this over to his house to, you know, just hang out and get to know him and I think make it all more comfortable and super fun and yeah, just, I knew him from afar and now I know I'm much more close and an amazing person.

Jaymee Sire:

And as you've mentioned, there were some familiar faces on this season. We actually talked to Chef Choda last week and he was very thankful of you kind of, you know, taking him under your wing and making him feel a little bit more comfortable. But was there any, anybody there that intimidated you?

Stephanie Izard:

Oh, I mean, everyone in different ways. You know, Tiffany who had just won last year and Monique is always intimidating because she's, I mean, she's just amazing in the kitchen. Yeah, I, I don't know, I don't think there's anybody that wasn't intimidating. It's sort of anyone's game. You put 32 amazing chefs into one arena or one kitchen and it's like anybody who's having a good day that day can win that battle.

Jaymee Sire:

How, how much do you engage in Trash Talk or do you not?

Stephanie Izard:

? I'm not good at Trash Talk. I think, I don't know what Choda and I did just before filming Two-Man Champions, we did Grudge Match, which was super fun to do because I think it got my feet wet, a little bit of cooking again in the challenge setting, supposedly to Choda had to grudge against me for beating him on Iron Chef Conlan . But neither one of us can even, I mean, you talk to him, neither one of us can even make an evil face for more than 10 seconds . And so we just kept laughing at each other. They're like, wow guys, this grudge seems really serious. . So yeah, I'm not good at trash talk, I just start giggling, but once you get into bed it's like kind of taking seriously. But I have to like laugh my way through it too because cooking, you know, I do it because it's fun.

Jaymee Sire:

Yeah, I mean, speaking of being in that competition and, and things being thrown at you, let's talk about the randomizer. How does your brain work when you see, you know, like the little wheels kind of starting to slow down in each category?

Stephanie Izard:

I mean, I'm having post-traumatic stress by you, just us just talking about the randomizer. I think for so many weeks after the competition, I'm like, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. It's, it's nerve-wracking, you know? And I think because there's no way to have any idea what the randomizer is going to do. The good thing is you can't prepare in whatsoever. You have no idea what's gonna happen. So if you try to have like dish ideas in your head or something and the Randomizer pulls up something that will in no way work with that, then you've just made it worse for yourself. So in, in that way I'll say thank you Randomizer for making it so random that I can't even possibly think of this ahead of time, but no thank you Randomizer for pulling up, you know, these random ingredients where I'm like, Ugh, I've never even touched that before , or that's my least favorite ingredient. Or there's new things added, like, oh, you have to spin this again or do that again or move that over to the left and pick this one. And you never really know what's gonna happen. So yeah, I genius idea on that, the network and guys' minds for coming up with that being part of this competition. I think it's that among so many other things that make it one of the most, I mean, if not the most, like, fun competition to watch and to engage with and to be part of because it's just, it's crazy.

Jaymee Sire:

It, it is super crazy and, and like you said, there's so many components. You've got the randomizer, you've got blind judging, you know, it's all about kind of leveling that playing field and seeing really who can, you know, cook the best food under that pressure without giving away any spoilers. Yeah. Can we expect any upsets this season?

Stephanie Izard:

Oh, for sure. I think that's what the show's all about, you know, and like I said, it's kind of, I'm trying to like think back through all of the battles that I got to watch. I think it's really anyone's game and it's what guy said to us before going to it, for those of us who had never done it before, he is like, there's no losers here. You know, it's like getting to be one of the 32 chefs that there makes you already, we're all very successful in our world and like, we're all great competitors, but that Randomizer puts something up there and you never know. And then there's a blind judging and I'll say sitting in a trailer with a TV on watching the judges taste your food and you can't communicate back. It's like, it's just the worst the worst part of it. The most stressful part of it. Because you're like, I'm like, Hey, hey you, I know you. Hey, hey friend. Oh, you can't see me? Oh, you're tasting my food . Oh, you don't like it? Oh, you did like it. Oh, I can't tell what's going on. Um, , it's, it's so hard to watch that part. But again, another genius component in the show is that because the chef community is so tight, like we all know those chefs, we hang out with them at parties at South Beach, like we're all friends. So with making it blind, it helps keep it just nice and even keeled.

Jaymee Sire:

Would you do anything differently looking back?

Stephanie Izard:

No, you know, I'm like already looking forward to next season. I think it was definitely one of the most fun experiences I've ever had, I think between just being in like the kitchen and running around and just getting to know a new kitchen and just be getting that sort of that nervous feeling and just getting excited and just kind of seeing what I can like pull out of myself between that. And then also we all stayed at a hotel together and it's like Chef Camp . Um, that was so fun. We were there for a couple of weeks and you know, you're, we're hanging out at the hotel during the first week. There's a lot of like promotional stuff filmed and like, we're all like a little bit less stressed out. Like 10 of us went to a movie together when you to a movie with like 10 adults. That's so fun. We all went out to dinner, like we just kind of hung around the hotel, went in the hot tub, like when do you get to do that? None of it was almost like a weird set of vacation. And I told my restaurants, I'm like, I'm very, this is very serious, so I cannot talk to you right now. Um, so I, it was almost like I was on vacation and then they see pictures of me like hanging out with my friends at the movies and they're like, oh, this looks really hard Stephanie. I'm like, it is, it is. I promise I just gimme some time. But yeah, I, over the last few months between that and some other stuff I've started doing with the network, I was texting Joe Soo a couple days ago and I said, you know what I'm so thrilled about is just getting to spend more time with you and all of our chef friends now. It's sort of, it makes me feel like I have more of that community. Sometimes you feel you're in your restaurants and of course I love my teams and people in my normal life, I guess, but your chef friends from the show are, you have a connection that is so different and it's so great to spend time together and yet to just talk and hang out. All

Jaymee Sire:

Right. Big question. What, what movie did you guys go to?

Stephanie Izard:

We went to, oh my gosh, what is that movie called? Oh, the Menu. So it's hilarious. Oh, nice.

Jaymee Sire:

, what did you just like?

Stephanie Izard:

Well, it's, so there's 10 of us at the menu. The only other three people in the theater are these three locals who when they saw us all stand up at the end they're like, oh my gosh, we are sitting behind you guys this whole time. Like, how funny is that?

Jaymee Sire:

That’s hilarious.

Stephanie Izard:

And then the next night we went to a very high end restaurant in Sonoma that looks like the menu when you walk in. And I was like, oh my gosh, we're here . But it's funny, I mean, I thought we thought we were going to a horror film and like br who's from the show, like, she's like, I love horror films. I was like, we're gonna watch a horror movie. And then it starts going and I'm like, oh, this is hilarious. And it's making fun of so many of the things that I also make poke fun at in super high end dining. So I thought it was hilarious.

Jaymee Sire:

Yeah, I agree. I I thought of it more as like a dark comedy than, than really a horror film.

Stephanie Izard:

Oh, for sure.

Jaymee Sire:

, you, you kind of mentioned next year when you were talking about tournament champions. So safe to say we can see you back.

Stephanie Izard:

Oh, definitely. You know, and I think this was doing Tournament and Champions was sort of my step back into doing more TV in general. Like I said, I love it so much and I had taken a little hiatus to make a child and open more restaurants, . So now that the restaurants, I always think I'm, I'm like, there's so many of them. I can't be at all of them at the same time. So if I'm away and I trust everybody, everybody's running them really well. So I have more time to go and do the things that I love, which is television. So hopefully I'll just see more and more things from me on Food Network too.

Jaymee Sire:

All right. Well we are definitely looking forward to seeing more of you on the network as well. And this has been so great catching up and chatting. We are going to finish things off with a little rapid fire around and then we have one final question for you. All right. Well speaking of your son Ernie, what is your favorite way to spend time with him?

Stephanie Izard:

My favorite way to spend time with Ernie is art projects. I like to bust out my new gun a lot.

Jaymee Sire:

Love it.

Stephanie Izard:

You do lots

Jaymee Sire:

. All right. Kitchen tool you cannot live without?

Stephanie Izard:

Oh, I'm so simple. But probably my microplane.

Jaymee Sire:

Okay.

Stephanie Izard:

I like that. It's for my cheese pe. Lots of cheese for

Jaymee Sire:

Your cheese. . What TV show are you watching right now?

Stephanie Izard:

Last night I just started watching You. I’m behind.

Jaymee Sire:

Oh, okay. Yeah. Oh, so you were not on the new season?

Stephanie Izard:

No, I'm still start. I just started so I got kept up at the very beginning.

Jaymee Sire:

Okay. Yeah, I just actually started the brand new season last night, so We'll, we'll, we'll debrief after you've gotten caught up , what is your astrological sign and do you relate to it?

Stephanie Izard:Stephanie Izard

I'm a Scorpio and I never, I don't think about it that much, but when people ask me my sign and they're like, oh yes, this makes sense. I'm like, what is that supposed to mean?

Jaymee Sire:

You're like, is that a compliment or?

Stephanie Izard:

It's a little bit of both

Jaymee Sire:

Favorite things to do in Chicago?

Stephanie Izard:

Oh gosh. I mean when anybody comes to visit the architectural boat tour is awesome.

Jaymee Sire:

I've always heard that that's like the best thing.

Stephanie Izard:

So agree. It sounds so like kind of corny to say that, but there's even one you can drink beer on, which that's fun. Okay. But you get to see the whole city and learn about the architecture while sipping on a beer. And it go on a beautiful day of course. But it's awesome.

Jaymee Sire:

All right. I know it's on my list. I feel like everybody I know from Chicago has set the exact same thing. So everybody, next time you go to Chicago, sign up for that. All right. Your go-to snack.

Stephanie Izard:

Ooh gosh. I mean to eat a lot of Cheezits, I really do.

Jaymee Sire:

I love Cheezits .

Stephanie Izard:

They’re so good.

Jaymee Sire:

They're so good. Yeah, they're the best. All right. Pantry staples you always have on hand. 

Stephanie Izard:

Fish sauce, things become more apparent over time. Fish saucers, Thai seasoning, which is sort of a Thai version of like a soy sauce and soy sauce I guess I just have everything that just adds a ton of flavor. And hon Dashi, which me and Chota have to like fight over if there's only one kashee

Jaymee Sire:

In the . What is hon dashi?

Stephanie Izard:

In the room? Khi. It's a little powder that you can make into dashy broth. Oh. But we grind it up and use it as a seasoning and we add into spice mixes. Oh yeah. It's got a little friend Ms. G inside of it, which makes it delicious. Oh, of course. And I'm speaking of that then qpi mayonnaise, I mean, oh

Jaymee Sire:

Of course of course. Advice for an aspiring entrepreneur.

Stephanie Izard:

Ooh. I guess when I think about it's just take risks, I don't know. And maybe some people they like to assess risk. Risk. I don't assess anything, I just kind of go for it and see what happens. ,

Jaymee Sire:

I think that sounds like you do that in everything as we've just discovered throughout this interview.

Stephanie Izard:

That’s true.

Jaymee Sire:

Okay, final question. And this is not rapid fires. You can take as long as you want on it. And that is what would be on the menu for your perfect food day. So we wanna hear your breakfast, your lunch, dinner, dessert. You can travel time, travel, eat these meals with whoever you want. There's no rules. You can just gallivant around the world for your, your favorite foods.

Stephanie Izard:

Oh my gosh. Well this is great. I mean, I would say for breakfast, I would wanna go back to Chengdu. When we were in China's in the Chean province, there's a little stall next to our hotel that just had these amazing pork dumplings with just this chuchu spice sort of simple sauce on it. And that's what you have for breakfast. I don't understand. I mean I, I like eggs and I like pancakes and things like that, but I'd much rather have dumplings for breakfast and noodles for breakfast. Like why do we have to have breakfast foods and dinner foods? But I was there with a bunch of people from my team. I, I would do that all again. I love traveling to other countries with chefs from my team. I'm actually trying to put together a group trip to possibly Tokyo with all of my CDCs chef dines so that we can just go and wow. Eat together and talk about food together and just experience it. It's so fun traveling with people that love food as much as with an next person lunch. . Well, I mean, I was talking about how I would want to go, you know, just sit at like this giant table in Europe with all of my family and friends and whatnot. I would love to do that. And I would love to. My mom actually passed away. Um, gosh, I guess it's almost been, it's been about eight years. But she was a, she's why I cook. She was an amazing cook and I was cooking with her all growing up. Our mandarin pancakes and mushu that we have at Duck, duck Go are actually like my mom's mandarin pancake recipe. And she just cooks things from all over the world. Oh my gosh. And that's why I love things from all over. But being able to go with her and my, my grandfather who I had never got to meet and just sort of like, I would love it to be my relatives that I didn't get to really pick their brains about what it was like, you know, back when they were kids and just kind of learn more about their lives. But also they, my family loves food. Like going out to eat with anybody on my mom's side of the family is like, they'll order the entire menu and they just love everything. So. And they love to drink wine. Oh yes, they do. So we would just . It would be amazing. We're sitting in like Italy at some big table and we're just ordering all this food or spa anywhere and just a huge table with all the food that we could possibly have in wine. And we'd probably end was staying there until midnight even. We started at lunch and then dinner. Gosh. I mean one of my favorite things to do for dinner, and this is so simple, is going out to sushi with Ernie. He likes Suji. Su doesn't, well he doesn't eat raw fish so , but he loves, he's just a, a rice and soy sauce. He was in my stomach when we opened Duck duck goat. So I say that the reason all he wants to use rice and soy sauce is because that's all he ate inside of me. But he has gotten to a point where he'll have rice inside of seaweed and like the little sesame seeds and I can get him to try Salmon Row, which is awesome cuz it's so salty. He loves salty things. Oh. Um, but it's just our date night and I love it. It's sort of, I don't, I work so much and I travel so much that my time with Ernie is so important to me and it's so precious to me, and I want him to, I like taking him out to dinner because he just gets used to that being things going out to eat is my favorite thing to do. So he gets that. He, the other day I got a salad at, we found this little sushi place called WA that's just like, it's in our neighborhood and we go in now and they're like, oh you guys are here. Do you want, they look at Ernie and they're like, do you want the little apple juice and your special rolls? And he just gets excited And then I got a salad the other day and he's like, mommy, that is so beautiful. . How did they do that? And he loves like looking at plating of food and he, when he comes to Girl in the Goat with his dad sometimes, he'll, the other night it was like ex-husband Gary and Ernie and his brother came in and Ernie's like making them snacks on Lenan. He was like putting sauce and like building up these things and making it garnished and then handing it out to them. Oh my gosh. Which was so cute. I just love him interacting with food. I don't want him to be a chef cuz it's too crazy. But , if he wants to, that's fine. But I like that he's starting to interact with food more and it's so cute when he loves, it's like, it's so beautiful. I'm like, oh I love when you say that word. It's about food. It's awesome.

Jaymee Sire:

That’s so sweet. Are you having dessert or are you not a dessert person?

Stephanie Izard:

Oh we, yeah, we always have dessert. It's funny, when I was growing up, if I remember once my friend Sue came over and she took my dad's last apple pie that was in the cupboard and he, I have never seen someone get so upset and I'm kind of that way about dessert too. So it was Ernie, it's kind of crazy . I mean just her I'd honestly probably just be, that's when I wanna be on my couch cuz I wanna be in my stretchy pajama pants. Love. And like we don't, even, the ice cream doesn't always make it into a bowl. Of course not. It's the point of wasting getting a bowl dirty. And I, and I don't understand those tiny little pints , what is that all about? So we just grab, we just grab like the half gallon of ice cream and Ernie and I just sit there with two spoons and just eat ice cream is like, it should just be part of every day. I think it just makes everybody happy.

Jaymee Sire:

Oh my gosh, I love that. That sounds like an an epic food day to be honest. I love that you incorporated all of the important people in your life as well as your love for food. So thank you so much again for taking the time to chat with us at Best of Luck. We're looking forward to seeing you in action. And on turn, no champions.

Stephanie Izard:

Thanks Jamie. Good chatting with you.

Jaymee Sire:

You can catch Stephanie's battle on T O C this Sunday at eight seven Central on Food Network and Discovery. Plus make sure to follow us wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss a thing. And if you enjoy today's episode, please rate and review. We love it when you do that. That's all for now. We'll catch you foodies next Friday.