“Athens – Food Stories, Love: A Cookbook is New York Times bestselling author Diane Kochilas’s latest cookbook. It features 150 recipes and explores all of the greatest dishes from Greece’s most-visited city. Everyone’s favorite Greek chef, Diane Kochilas, is back with a cookbook dedicated to exploring the food of Athens. Diane has lived in Athens for thirty years and has been witness to the enormous social and culinary changes all around her. To navigate the city’s gastronomic scene today is to discover a city overflowing with new creative energy in its kitchens and myriad of international ingredients in its markets.” We catch Diane Kochilas stateside and she joins us.

“Known for shaping L.A.’s Italian dining scene through Alimento and Cosa Buona, acclaimed chef and restaurateur Zachary Pollack’s Cosetta in Santa Monica is spacious, airy and welcoming, reflecting the evolution of Pollack’s cooking. Subtle, evocative, and layered with dimension while celebrating vibrant Southern California seasonality within the restaurant’s versatile food and beverage menus, Cosetta is an Italian restaurant that is as thoughtful as it is approachable, wholly Californian and shining with Pollack’s culinary vision.” Restaurateur and Chef Zach Pollack takes a break from his busy kitchen to join us.

“There’s just something about a new pair of jammies that says ‘cozy and safe’ to kids, and Huntington Meats is, once again, doing their part to make sure nightly bedtime rituals like fresh pajamas will provide a reassuring and peaceful good night to in-need children this holiday season. Huntington Meats sister shop Farmers Market Poultry will also be participating in the drive. The two shops offering quality products are coming together to participate in the 5th annual Holiday Kids Pajama Drive to take place the entire month of November organized by proprietor/organizer Jim Cascone. The goal is to collect 300 plus pairs of pajamas for distribution to the Union Rescue Mission in downtown Los Angeles.” Master Butcher Jim Cascone joins us with all the specifics.

“This year marks a decade of delicious Thanksgiving celebrations at Maple Block Meat Co., and the beloved Culver City smokehouse is once again serving up its signature 100% peach wood–smoked turkeys and all the classic sides that Angelenos have come to crave.

For 10 years, Maple Block has been at the heart of Los Angeles’ Thanksgiving tables—providing quality, wood-smoked holiday meals that bring friends and families together. From its signature whole turkeys to new Friendsgiving options for groups and offices, Maple Block continues to make Thanksgiving easy, authentic, and irresistibly good.”

Co-founder Daniel Weinstock joins us to carve the peach wood-smoked turkey.

For our concluding segment at 11:45 a.m. our own Chef Andrew Gruel, the menu-maker behind the full-service Calico Fish House (located in the Sunset Beach area of Huntington Beach) provides another timely and informative “Ask the Chef” segment where he responds to listeners’ thoughtful inquiries. As a paying guest you’re dining at a restaurant and something goes wrong. As a savvy diner what are the best ways to try and resolve the issue with as little hassle as possible? Chef Andrew has some informed thoughts…

All of this and heaping helpings of extra deliciousness on this week’s not-to-miss show!