Emmy Winner, International Acclaimed Journalist, Executive Producer, Food & Travel Lover, and Creator of the Beloved Show "Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives" David Page takes us deep into the world of chefs, restaurateurs, and everything "foodie" from the nationally and internationally awarded to the locally loved on
Culinary Characters Unlocked
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Ashwin Vilkhu’s Master’s thesis was a roadmap to get his family into the restaurant business by opening Saffron in New Orleans. He and his father were named semi-finalists for the 2025 James Beard award as Best Chef South for their cooking there, marrying Indian cuisine with New Orleans favorites. And now they’ve added a second restaurant just down the street, The Kingsway, where as Executive Chef he’s combining New Orleans cooking with a range of other Asian cuisines. Both spots received recommendations in Michelin’s first guide to the American south.
Sue Zemanick decided she wanted to become a chef when she was fourteen and began cooking professionally at fifteen. Her love of seafood, nurtured at the Culinary Institute of America, brought her to New Orleans, where she worked at Commander’s palace and Gautreau’s, where she rose from line cook to Executive Chef, before opening her own place, Zasu, creating a menu featuring seafood, global flavors, and multiple variations of the pierogies her grandmother used to make. The night Zasu won a Michelin star she wasn’t at the ceremony she was working, which she says was a good thing since diners immediately rushed in and the kitchen was slammed.
- CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED - EP 82
Chef Ashwin Vilkhu on merging New Orleans cooking with the Indian cuisine he grew up with, and then with a variety of Asian flavors, at two Michelin-recommended restaurants at the same time. - EP 82
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Ashwin Vilkhu’s Master’s thesis was a roadmap to get his family into the restaurant business by opening Saffron in New Orleans. He and his father were named semi-finalists for the 2025 James Beard award as Best Chef South for their cooking there, marrying Indian cuisine with New Orleans favorites. And now they’ve added a second restaurant just down the street, The Kingsway, where as Executive Chef he’s combining New Orleans cooking with a range of other Asian cuisines. Both spots received recommendations in Michelin’s first guide to the American south.
- CULINARY CHARACTERS UNLOCKED - EP 82
Chef Ashwin Vilkhu on merging New Orleans cooking with the Indian cuisine he grew up with, and then with a variety of Asian flavors, at two Michelin-recommended restaurants at the same time. - EP 82
Sue Zemanick decided she wanted to become a chef when she was fourteen and began cooking professionally at fifteen. Her love of seafood, nurtured at the Culinary Institute of America, brought her to New Orleans, where she worked at Commander’s palace and Gautreau’s, where she rose from line cook to Executive Chef, before opening her own place, Zasu, creating a menu featuring seafood, global flavors, and multiple variations of the pierogies her grandmother used to make. The night Zasu won a Michelin star she wasn’t at the ceremony she was working, which she says was a good thing since diners immediately rushed in and the kitchen was slammed.
Meet The Host
David Page
David Page is a long-time journalist who reinvented food television when he created Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. He is also an author, having written the award-winning book Food Americana, which explores the creation of American cuisine from the foods of other countries and cultures. Now he’s talking with some of the most important and entertaining figures in the food world on Culinary Characters Unlocked. Previously, Page spent many years in news, producing for both NBC and ABC and covering some of the world’s most important events, (even walking through the Berlin Wall the night it opened).
