Rock ‘n Roll Ghost S13 E01 - Celebrity Chef Tiffani Faison (Sweet Cheeks Q, Tournament of Champions III Winner)
Welcome back to the Rock 'n Roll Ghost Podcast. On this week's episode, the Ghost speaks with celebrity chef Tiffani Faison (Partner/Chef in Boston’s Big Heart Hospitality which includes Sweet Cheeks Q, Tenderoni’s, Bubble Bath, Dive Bar and Fool’s Errand, as well as the runner up on the very first season of Top Chef and the winner of Food Network’s Tournament of Champions III).
Faison discusses the changes she and her company have had to make in the wake of the Covid pandemic, including closing a couple of restaurants (Tiger Mama and Orfano’s) and opening three concepts in the food hall at High Street Place in Boston (Tenderoni’s, Dive Bar and Bubble Bath) and the difficulty of the changes coupled with her divorce during the same period of time.
She also talks about her beginnings - not only as an Army brat jumping from base to base with her family and how she got her start in the restaurant business (note: she never went to culinary school, unlike the false information that keeps following her), and how she learned what not to do from terrible restaurant environments.
The conversation also wades into the topic of LGBTQ concerns, a subject that Faison, who identifies as queer, holds close to her heart. She works hard to break down barriers on women and LGBTQ people in the food world, including on food TV. As shown in my introduction, I’m not as eloquent as I expected myself to be, but Faison indicates that at least we’re having the conversation, which is important for everyone to be doing in order to move things forward.
You can see Faison competing to retain her Tournament of Champions title every Sunday on Food Network.
