Storytime – Inspiring Food, Travel and Cultural Stories to Discover

4 mins read

Raw and Rare: A Steak Tartare Expedition Across Continents

February 15, 2024October 6, 2025 Erich Eichstetter0

My earliest memories of tartare come from Venezuela, where my parents would take me to this restaurants where a waiter at the table served up this finely seasoned, slightly spicy […]

6 mins read

Vietnamese Flavors from Berlin to Paris

December 7, 2023October 6, 2025 Erich Eichstetter0Tagged Asia Stories and Culinary Inspirations – Discover Food, Travel and Culture, Coriander, Storytime Stories – Food, Culture, Lifestyle and Global Experiences, Vietnam

I’ve never been to Vietnam, and I don’t know any famous Vietnamese chefs, except for Nguyen Thi Thanh, the lunch lady. In Venezuela, I grew up around Chinese and Japanese […]

4 mins read

Boston’s Decadence

November 26, 2023October 6, 2025 Erich Eichstetter0

My friends from New York often tell me that I have a liking for Boston because it has a “European feel.” I’m not quite sure how to take that. Boston’s […]

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.

🎙️ EP155 – Phil & Eric are back on The Line: the guests who test your patience, the ones who treat the menu like a suggestion, and the quiet power of saying NO when everyone expects you to bend.

🎧 Topics Covered in This Episode:

👨‍🍳 Back belly, underbelly, and serving up “The Line Pt. 9”

👀 Open Kitchen Reality – Early signs of trouble before the first ticket drops

🔄 Annoying Guests – The one that rearranged the whole dining room

🧾 Off-Menu Madness – When “Can I have this without that?” breaks the system

💸 Partial Refunds, Full Integrity – When keeping your rep means eating the cost

💬 Review Warfare – Turning a 4★ into a 5★ without selling your soul

🧘 Boundaries as Brand – “No soup for you” and other small victories

🥣 The Soup Suitcase – VIPs and their crazy requests 19:16

🧪 Dietary Minefields – Gluten-free, vegan, and the high price of “special”

🚫 Entitlement Kills Experience – How one guest can ruin service for twenty

🗾 Japan’s No-Sub Culture – Why respect tastes better than entitlement