Alpana Singh, Master Sommelier and host of "Check, Please!"
Alpana Singh is the owner of Terra & Vine, the host of “Check, Please!” and is a master sommelier. At the time she earned that title, she was the youngest woman ever to achieve it and is still the only South Asian to claim it. In this episode, we discuss what it was like working at Everest at 23 years old, coming up in the wine world as a person of color and how that population is still under represented in wine. Singh shares her thoughts about reopening restaurants in the wake of COVID-19, shifting part of her restaurant to open a retail wine shop and how humor plays a big role in her approach to wine.
Ina Pinkney, The Breakfast Queen of Chicago
It's the final episode of Season 1 so we called in the big guns: Ina Pinkney, the legendary restauranteur known as "The Breakfast Queen" who served Chicago the most important meal of the day for 30+ years from her spots in Lincoln Park and the West Loop. Learn how she got her start, her battle with polio as a young child, how obsessing over the details helped her stand out (33:00), her brief foray into local politics and civic engagement (47:03), how she helped get the citywide smoking ban passed (52:00), fun stories from her life like dancing with Fred Astaire (1:00:35) and her advice for restauranteurs (01:05:00, seriously though listen to this if you own a restaurant or plan to one day). Thank you all for listening to Season 1!