Chef RJ Yoakum is the chef de cuisine at Michelin-recommended Sushi Kozy in Dallas, a kaiseki-inspired omakase restaurant from chef-owner Paul Ko. A 2025 James Beard Award finalist for Emerging Chef, he previously led the kitchen at Georgie in Dallas to its first Michelin recommendation and trained at The French Laundry, Angler, and The Clove Club in London.

He is 32 years old. He has trained in some of the most demanding kitchens in the world. And in this episode, he says that the more successful he became in Dallas, internally he was broken.

• Why four excellent elements on a plate always beat seven mediocre ones, and how learning to edit is what separates mature cooking from the need to prove yourself
• How cooking meat and fish whole on the bone and portioning after service protects yield, improves consistency, and teaches teams to develop real judgment instead of following a timer
• What nobody tells you when you leave a three-star kitchen to lead your own, why the resume gets you in but culture has to be built from zero, and why the army disappears the moment you need it most

André Natera and RJ Yoakum cover the TFL classics that shaped his approach, the asparagus question of when technique serves the ingredient versus when it gets in the way, the mentorship of David Breeden and Thomas Keller and what it actually transferred, the imposter syndrome that followed his success in Dallas, and the leadership lessons that only made sense once he was on the other side of them. The episode closes with his Mount Rushmore, rapid fire questions, and what he is building at Sushi Kozy.

This episode is sponsored by Rational USA. Learn more at https://rationalusa.com

Todd Duplechan and Jessica Maher are the husband-and-wife chef-owners of Lenoir, a MICHELIN Guide restaurant in Austin's Bouldin Creek neighborhood open since 2012. They also formerly owned Métier Cook's Supply next door and opened Boni's Bar, a Spanish drinks and bites concept, in Spring 2026. Todd is a native Texan who trained at The Danube under David Bouley and served as chef de cuisine at the Four Seasons Austin before opening Lenoir. Jessica cooked through the Bouley restaurant family and at Tabla with Floyd Cardoz and Gray Kunz before moving to Austin. They met through the Bouley restaurants and have built Lenoir together for 14 years.

This episode is about the gap between technically skilled and genuinely great, and what it actually takes to close it.

• Why great cooking is built through process, patience, and accumulated experience, and why social media trends actively work against that development
• The foundational cookbook list every serious cook should own, from Ducasse's Grand Livre de Cuisine to Jacques Pépin's La Technique to Paul Bertolli's Cooking by Hand
• How mentorship through observation, athletic team dynamics, and genuine hospitality have kept Lenoir evolving for 14 years without losing what makes it worth returning to

André Natera, Todd Duplechan, and Jessica Maher cover Todd's stage at The Danube, being hired, and the 12-course meal at the pass that changed how he understood professional cooking, how they met through the Bouley restaurant family, what separates cooks who develop into great chefs from those who plateau, and the teamwork and hospitality philosophy that has driven Lenoir's 14-year evolution. The episode closes with rapid fire kitchen gear, the chef Mount Rushmore, and the story behind Métier and Boni's Bar.

Guest

• Todd Duplechan on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/duplechananigans/
• Lenoir on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/lenoiratx/
• Boni's Bar on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/bonisbaratx/

Links

• Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/
• Shop Chef's PSA Merch → https://shop.chefspsa.com/
• Visit Chef's PSA Website → https://chefspsa.com/
• Lead Like a Chef App → https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef

Chef Brian Lewis is the founder and CEO of Full House Hospitality Group and a three-time James Beard Award finalist for Best Chef Northeast, with nominations in 2018, 2022, and 2025. A Culinary Institute of America and Johnson and Wales University graduate, he apprenticed under Jean Louis Palladin, Marco Pierre White, and Eric Ripert before becoming the founding executive chef of Richard Gere's The Bedford Post Inn, which earned Esquire's Best New Restaurant in 2009 and an Excellent review from The New York Times. In 2015 he founded Full House Hospitality Group, which now operates The Cottage in Westport and Greenwich, Connecticut, and OKO in Westport and Rye, New York, with 125 employees across four locations.

This episode opens with a story about a job interview that most chefs would have walked away from. Lewis did not walk away. He secretly prepared an eight-course meal before anyone asked, controlled the entire tasting, and landed the role that gave him what he calls a PhD in opening and operating a restaurant from the ground up.

How he built Full House Hospitality Group around a single principle: only expand when operations can thrive without you in the room

Why empowering teams with genuine autonomy inside defined guardrails is the only leadership model that scales across four restaurants and 125 people

How strategy and psychology replaced technique as his primary tools when he made the shift from chef to CEO

André Natera and Brian Lewis cover the identity shift required when a chef stops being the creative voice in the kitchen and starts leading other chefs to express theirs, the role of kindness as a non-negotiable management standard, navigating reviews and social media pressure across multiple concepts, and the research trip to Japan that preceded the launch of OKO. The episode closes with rapid fire kitchen gear, stocks and dashi minimalism, and the chef Mount Rushmore.

Guest

• Brian Lewis on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/brianlewischef/
• Full House Hospitality on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/fullhousehg/

Links

• Subscribe on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/
• Shop Chef's PSA Merch → https://shop.chefspsa.com/
• Visit Chef's PSA Website → https://chefspsa.com/
• Lead Like a Chef App → https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachef