Global Flavors

13 mins read

The Universal Sandwich: How Simple Food Conquered the World

October 18, 2025October 20, 2025 Erich Eichstetter0Tagged berlin dining, chef inspiration, chef storytelling, cultural gastronomy, global dining, modern eats, sandwiches, street food, urban gastronomy

Airports feel like a strange in-between place. You’re not quite here or there stuck under bright lights where food seems both necessary and ridiculous. Lines grow long at counters serving […]

7 mins read

The Truth About Curry: Beyond the Myth and Wrong Label

October 8, 2025October 9, 2025 Erich Eichstetter0Tagged chef storytelling, cultural gastronomy, curry, global flavors, indian cuisine, restaurant inspiration, spice culture, traditional gastronomy

The Word That Never Existed Step into a restaurant overseas, and “curry” spreads across the menu like a catch-all term—yellow, hot recognizable. But in India, the word means nothing. Ask […]

Pot Luck Food Talks: Kitchen Stories From Behind the Pass

Two decades on the line leave scars, stories, and a way of seeing the world that doesn’t wash off with the apron.

Pot Luck Food Talks is where the chef lifestyle gets laid bare—raw chef talk, the kind you don’t hear in PR interviews.

Phil & Eric aren’t here to romanticize. They’re here to trade food stories that smell of sweat, butter, and burned fingers. Stories about the beauty and brutality of restaurant culture, the quiet rules, and the loud disasters.

It’s the truth about Michelin Star kitchens, the whispered restaurant secrets, the victories no one tastes but the cooks, and the mistakes that teach more than any school.

If you want sanitized food media, go elsewhere. If you want chef conversations about life, gastronomy, and why flavor is the only compass worth following—pull up a chair.

🎙️ EP161 – Chefs live and die by the prep list. This episode is kitchen discipline: owning your section, juggling a thousand timers, costing without bullshit, and letting go of those ego dishes nobody orders.

🎧 Topics Covered in This Episode:

📋 Night Prep Lists – Building a bulletproof station

🐂 Grab the Bull by the Horns – Taking real control of your section (and surviving clopening)

🗣️ Commies, Demi, CDP – Communication and chain of command that actually works

⏱️ Chefs as Project Managers – Living inside a storm of timers

💻 Apps & Excel – Why most kitchen software still sucks

📊 Costing 101 – Steak, fries, rosemary salt & the hidden percentages

💸 Margin of Error – Airport pricing and not lying to yourself

📈 Dynamic Pricing – When burgers behave like plane tickets

🤝 Front of House Magic – The golden goose and the perfect check

⭐ Dogs, Plow Horses & Stars – Menu engineering for real kitchens

🥔 Buying Better Product – Quality vs. racing to the bottom