The Perfect Bite

Your fusion of food and entrepreneurship, The Perfect Bite brings you inspiring conversations with chefs, restaurateurs, CPG brand founders, food tech founders, and more in the food and beverage industry, highlighting their experiences and how they've cooked up something new. From emerging brands to established business owners, you'll learn from the best entrepreneurs in food, beverage, hospitality, and agriculture about how they started their businesses, what problems they're solving, the tough times they've overcome, and their best advice for entering these industries or starting your own business. We end each episode with the world's best and hardest question: What is your perfect bite?

The Perfect Bite is a arts podcast hosted by Sarah Perkins, with 81 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Sarah Perkins hosts The Perfect Bite, a arts show with 81 episodes published.

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  Episode #80

  Black Lagoon's Erin Hayes and Kelsey Ramage on Spooky Cocktails

  Oct 1, 202656 min

  They rented a cursed venue in Toronto with a leak and a fire alarm. They put everything they had into it. And by the end of the first week, there was a line around the block. Erin Hayes and Kelsey Ramage are the co-founders of Black Lagoon, now in its sixth year, a Halloween-themed immersive cocktail pop-up experience running across 34 locations in North America every October. Erin came from the Chicago cocktail scene, where she led the programs at J. Parker, Three Dots and a Dash, and Lost Lake as the city became the cocktail destination it is today. Kelsey came from Vancouver and London, where she became a sommelier, helped build the award-winning bar program at Dandelion on London's South Bank, and launched Trash Collective, a sustainability-focused pop-up concept that was doing pop-ups before anyone else was doing pop-ups. They became best friends through shared circles, shared aesthetics, shared music taste, and a shared obsession with Halloween. When Kelsey pulled the ripcord in 2021 and said "I rented a venue, we're doing this," they had no idea what they were building. Six years later, Black Lagoon is a handpicked network of 34 award-winning bars across North America, with custom glassware designed by Chicago artist Kisira Hill, a strong non-alcoholic menu that has been there from the beginning, and a community of cocktail enthusiasts, goth kids, fashion kids, and spooky community members who come back year after year. In this special Halloween-themed episode of The Perfect Bite, host Sarah Perkins sits down with Erin and Kelsey for one of the most joyful and genuinely fun conversations of the season. From growing up in households without wine to bartending at Disney World, to building the Chicago and London cocktail scenes in their formative years. From a cease and desist from Dolly Parton's lawyers on Kelsey's COVID delivery service Dolly Trolley, to The Dungeon bar in New Orleans where they threw their first party together at Tales of the Cocktail and knew they were going to work together forever. From the year they hand-picked their first bar operators to a portfolio of events that now runs year-round including Krampus Cove, Goth Girl Summer, Sad Girl Swim Club, and Y2K Splash Zone. The chaos is the fun. That is their new motto. And after hearing this episode you will understand exactly why. In this episode, we cover: Erin growing up without a food or drink family and discovering hospitality at age 14 working at a cafe called Grumpy's Kelsey's mom getting into canning and food preserving while Kelsey discovered food and drink after leaving home Erin doing the Disney College Program at Disney World, learning to bartend, and never leaving the industry since age 19 Kelsey starting at a nightclub in Toronto that was also a supper club, becoming a sommelier in Vancouver, and moving to London to work at Dandelion on the South Bank The difference between Canadian drinking culture and London hotel bar culture where they would leave cocktails in hotel rooms on check-in Erin building the cocktail programs at Perennial Verant with chef Paul Verant and Matty Eggleston, then Three Dots and a Dash and Lost Lake with Paul McGee The girl mafia of Chicago bartenders coming up together: Liz Pearce, Mia Leach, Julia Momose, Jossie Erde de Oliveira, and the legacy of The Violet Hour Kelsey's Trash Tiki and Trash Collective: a sustainability-focused pop-up concept that was doing pop-ups before everyone else Kelsey opening Supernova Ballroom in Toronto, a massive sparkly disco bar, five months before COVID shut everything down The Dolly Trolley: Kelsey's COVID delivery cocktail service that sold mixed drinks to-go before it was legal and received a cease and desist from Dolly Parton's team Erin's role as a global advocacy lead for a whiskey company during COVID and keeping her nine brand ambassadors employed How they met through Trash Tiki pop-ups and shared circles, throwing a party together at The Dungeon in New Orleans during Tales of the Cocktail The first Black Lagoon in 2021 at a cursed venue in Toronto with a leak and a fire alarm and a line around the block by the end of the first week Handpicking bar operators who are as excited about decorating and the cocktail menu as Erin and Kelsey are: Rob Roy, Nickel City, Yacht Club among the first How Black Lagoon works: a lookbook that venues use as inspiration, a cobweb wall feature, a little graveyard, and custom glassware with Halloween colors Custom glassware designed by Kisira Hill out of Chicago: an octopus witch, a bone temple, a new coupe this year, all made with Tiki Farm Fall and tropical flavor inspiration: pumpkin, pear, baking spice, plus a nod to lagoon with tropical cocktails, in the Halloween color palette of orange, green, purple, and red Now in 34 locations across North America with many repeat venues in their fourth and fifth years The Columbus Ohio location at Citizens Trust The non-alcoholic menu that has been strong since day one and the Gen Z concept of zebra striping: alternating alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks Why Black Lagoon resonates beyond cocktail enthusiasts: goth kids, fashion kids, the spooky community, people in suits stopping by after work Their portfolio beyond Black Lagoon: Krampus Cove (dark Christmas pop-up), Goth Girl Summer, Sad Girl Swim Club, and Y2K Splash Zone pool parties in Los Angeles Planning for next year's Black Lagoon starts before the current year is over: sourcing glassware, scouting venues, logistics Filling their own cups: Kelsey's therapy and gym and pole classes, Erin's obsession with live music and drag shows and her new dog "I'm not a perfectionist. I'm a get it donerist." — Kelsey's philosophy on building Built entirely without outside investment, from the ground up Find Erin, Kelsey, and Black Lagoon: Black Lagoon locations + timing: blacklagoonpopup.com and @blacklagoonpopup on Instagram Bad Witch Events (pool parties): @badwitchevents on Instagram Krampus Cove: @krampuscovepopup on Instagram Subscribe to The Perfect Bite podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube! You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and sign up for our newsletter !

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  Episode #79

  In the Mood to Bake with Alex George of Lily P Crumbs

  Sep 24, 202658 min

  She named her brand after her geriatric dog. She started her Instagram account while in chemotherapy and called it Cooking with Cancer. She photographed her own cookbook in her parents' basement with the help of her mom's mahjong friend Karen, a hobby photographer in her 70s who ended up with photos on the back cover of the finished book. And she has never once paywalled a recipe because she learned to bake from bloggers who were generous enough to share everything for free. Alex George is the founder of Lily P Crumbs and the author of In the Mood to Bake, a cookbook that comes out September 29, 2026 and is as warm, whimsical, and genuinely joyful as everything else Alex has ever made. The brand is named after her beloved dog Lily P, who lived to 21 years old. The cookbook is a love letter to nostalgia, creativity, and the belief that knowing the rules is just the beginning of knowing how to break them. In this episode, host Sarah Perkins sits down with Alex to chat growing up in the 90s Googling baking recipes on the one family desktop, majoring in public policy and interning on Capitol Hill, becoming a TV news reporter in Tennessee who filmed herself, to being diagnosed with a rare cancer at 22. From starting a baking Instagram account in the hospital to slowly and methodically building Lily P Crumbs over nearly a decade, through multiple jobs and a graduate degree and a COVID lockdown she had just emerged from a year of chemotherapy to experience. To a cookbook deal she almost did not pursue until her best friend Sam told her she would regret it forever. This is a conversation about baking as a love language, about building something slowly and with your whole heart, and about what it means to decide that if you are lucky enough to get more life, you are going to do everything you were too scared to do before. In this episode, we cover: Growing up in the ‘90s and early 2000s and the dawn of baking bloggers like Sally's Baking Blog and Cupcakes and Cashmere The one family desktop, waiting for her brother to finish playing Backyard Baseball, and Googling how to make a cupcake A middle school layered brownie cake for her best friend's brother's graduation that she genuinely thought she invented Majoring in public policy at college, interning on Capitol Hill, and gravitating toward storytelling and journalism Becoming a TV news reporter who filmed herself, set up her own satellite, and walked in front of the camera all at once Being diagnosed with a rare cancer at 22 while working in Tennessee and choosing to come back to Philadelphia for treatment at Penn Baking for her doctors and nurses during chemotherapy and starting an Instagram account called Cooking with Cancer Changing the name to Lily P Crumbs after her 21-year-old geriatric dog and getting her ServSafe certification The bag of cookies someone thought were dog treats because of the illustration of Lily licking a cupcake Stamping the back of every bag with "Not for canine consumption, humans only" Doing wholesale through a sandwich shop in Philadelphia and New Jersey Coming back to news as a freelancer, then moving to PR, then grad school, then finally committing to Lily P Crumbs full-time The moment she started posting real thoughts about cookies and people started following along The public spreadsheet ranking cookies by texture, effort level, and her personal analysis Being too afraid to show her face on camera for the first five videos and the moment that changed Getting approached by a publisher and the imposter syndrome that almost made her say no Her best friend Sam telling her she would regret it forever and the decision that followed Sam being on the cover of the cookbook (her thumb) after being called away from the nail salon as an emergency hand model Photographing the entire cookbook herself in her parents' basement after learning from her mom's mahjong friend Karen in her 70s What makes recipe development for a cookbook completely different from developing recipes for the internet The riffs sections: mix-and-match guides that help readers find their own baking voice The through line of In the Mood to Bake: whimsy, nostalgia, and knowing enough about the rules to break them Standout recipes: pumpkin ginger ice cream sandwiches, apple cider blondies that taste like apple cider donuts, Pop-Tarts in hot fudge sundae and brown sugar cinnamon, and recreated Philadelphia Cream Cheese Cheesecake Bars The discontinued snack section and a Ben and Jerry's flavors series Why she has never paywalled a recipe and the philosophy behind keeping everything free Revenue streams: food blog with monetized ads, brand partnerships, and the cookbook Book tour: New Jersey, Connecticut, Washington DC, Arkansas, San Francisco, and virtual events including a Milk Street Boston cooking class The Frenchtown New Jersey cookbook club where everyone makes a recipe and brings it potluck-style The cookie swap in New York where followers finally became real people Advice for founders and creators: trying is not cringey, it is cool, and the only person you have to answer to is yourself Find Alex and Lily P Crumbs: Website: lilypcrumbs.com Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook: @lilypcrumbs Cookbook: In the Mood to Bake, available September 29, 2026 wherever books are sold Subscribe to The Perfect Bite podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube! You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and sign up for our newsletter !

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  Episode #77

  Ashok Selvam on Ravenous and the Food Media Renaissance

  Sep 10, 20261h 1m

  About six weeks after winning the James Beard Jonathan Gold Local Voice Award, Ashok Selvam was laid off from Eater Chicago. He had been there for over a decade. He was the only full-time staff member. His fingerprints were on every single story, every headline, every post. And then his supervisor sent a message asking him to check his email. What happened next is one of the most genuinely exciting food media stories of the past year. Ashok Selvam is a co-founder of Ravenous, a worker-owned independent food and culture publication that launched May 1st, 2026, built by five journalists who collectively decided that the future of food media did not have to look like what they had just left. Alongside co-founders Jaya Saxena, Amy McCarthy, Courtney Smith, and Francis Dumlao, Ashok has spent the past year building something that sounds deceptively simple: a publication where the writers own the work, get paid fairly, write what they actually care about, and push each other toward better stories without a publisher filtering the results. In this episode, host Sarah Perkins sits down with Ashok for one of the most wide-ranging and honest conversations about food media, journalism, and what it actually means to build something from scratch after a career-defining moment of change. From a South Indian household on the northwest side of Chicago where his physician parents cooked in creative and improvisational ways, to newspaper journalism at Syracuse in the era of paste-up and Xacto knives. From covering happy hour legislation and building chicken wing maps at Eater, to the morning of August 6th, 2025, when he went to the gym, logged in to check assignments, and got the message asking him to check his email. This is a conversation about identity, independence, what happens when your greatest asset is your flexibility and that flexibility is taken for granted, and how five journalists decided that the price of great journalism is a lot cheaper than going without it. In this episode, we cover: Growing up on the northwest side of Chicago with South Indian physician parents who cooked creatively and improvisationally A dad who made his version of fried rice with basmati rice and ground beef A mom who made a mystery chicken marinated in yogurt and paprika that may have had Goan Portuguese origins The comfort food outside the immigrant household: Carson's Ribs and his son who now calls it "the rib store" Deciding on newspaper journalism at Syracuse much to his parents' chagrin, including paste-up duties and Xacto knives The slow burn romance with food writing as a vehicle for covering Chicago and bringing people together Being a six foot two left-handed Brown guy in Chicago food media and how standing out became an asset Starting as a freelancer at Eater Chicago, staying part-time just under the benefits threshold, and eventually becoming deputy city editor Being the only full-time staff member at Eater Chicago while his fingerprints were on every single story The happy hour legislation story that opened his career and his relationship with sources like Bill Jacobs at Piece The mandatory advertorial problem  The James Beard Jonathan Gold Local Voice Award win and the Malort shot he took backstage in front of Padma Lakshmi The warning signs before August 6th: Big layoffs in 2024, being asked to cover Detroit and the Twin Cities, being told to feed the app, not write stories The morning of August 6th 2025: the gym, the log-in, the email, the Slack, the goodbyes Why his son's reaction to the news was the thing he was least prepared for Colleagues already plotting with a code name: Chomp Chicago, named after the fictional Eater stand-in from The Bear The Zoom meeting where Amy and Jaya expected Ashok to be the local journalism purist and were relieved when he was not The five who committed: Ashok, Jaya, Amy, Courtney, and Frances Ravenous launching May 1st with a story in Defector about women-owned sports bars and a headline Ashok is particularly proud of What Ravenous is not: no maps, no roundups, no Substack, no Eater 2.0 What Ravenous is: essayists, reporters, food culture writers who push each other toward better and deeper stories Frances's marketing and social media expertise and why that skill is as important as any editorial voice Blue Sky as a surprisingly strong platform for their audience The subscriber and sponsorship model, what funds actually go toward, and why libel insurance is on the list The Vatican restaurant story: two Chicago restaurant owners working with Pope Leo to open outside Vatican City The bagels and private equity story, the cheese enchilada ode, the Japanese baseball sushi push pop The difference between wearing the editorial hat and the sales hat and knowing when to switch Erick Williams of Virtue reminding Ashok he needs to be better at promoting himself The one-year fundraising campaign and what it means to ask for support without apology Advice for founders: you cannot compartmentalize when you are building something, and you always have to be a salesperson no matter what The Ravenous shirts his son wore to the Obama Center and why that moment meant everything Find Ashok and Ravenous: Website: weareravenous.com (subscribe free or paid, Sunday and Wednesday newsletters, stories Tuesdays and Thursdays) Instagram: @feedravenous LinkedIn: Ravenous Ashok on Instagram: @shokdiesel Email: ashok@weareravenous.com Subscribe to The Perfect Bite podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube! You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and sign up for our newsletter !

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  Episode #76

  Jaju Pierogi: 10 Years of Polish American Pride and Dumplings

  Sep 3, 202658 min

  Their grandfather worked at his Polish deli until he was 87. Their uncle is 75 and still running it. Nobody in the family told them the business was a good idea. And that didn’t stop Vanessa and Casey White from building one of the most beloved Polish American food brands in the country. Vanessa and Casey White are the co-founders of Jaju Pierogi, a Polish American frozen pierogi brand they started in 2016 from their grandfather's handwritten deli recipes, scaled through New England farmers markets and brewery pop-ups on $70 Amazon griddles, grew through a COVID meal kit delivery service that hit 2,000 orders in six weeks, and have now brought to Whole Foods nationwide, Fresh Market, and upcoming Target locations in the Midwest. For those who didn’t grow up having these delish bites, pierogi are Polish dumplings. Jaju is their grandfather's name in Polish. His legacy lives on in every bag. In this episode, host Sarah Perkins sits down with Vanessa and Casey for one of the most honest, funny, and genuinely moving CPG founder conversations The Perfect Bite has ever had. From growing up on a boarding school campus in Western Massachusetts eating endless buffets while their mom's kielbasa was the most requested dish at every gathering, to scaling a frozen food business without a single dollar of outside funding, to walking away from Shark Tank rather than take a deal that did not work for them. From the pineapple and cheese pierogi that their grandfather's deli loved but the market did not, to the gluten-free pierogi and the skillet meal coming next, this is a conversation about legacy, grit, community, and what it actually looks like to build something real over ten years. In this episode, we cover: Growing up Polish-Irish American on a boarding school campus in Western Massachusetts where their parents were not particularly great cooks A mom whose kielbasa was the most requested dish at every summer gathering on the Cape A grandfather who worked at his Polish deli until he was 87 and whose handwritten recipes launched an entire company Going to their grandfather's store to get those recipes and discovering that a handful of salt means something very different when the hand belongs to your grandfather Working in the deli from middle school on Saturdays where Vanessa got blamed for every mistake Casey at Bentley studying business while Vanessa studied Italian and French  The gap in the Boston pierogi market that kicked everything off Starting on a kitchen table scaling 500-pierogi recipe trial and errors down to 40 and handing them to friends in Ziploc bags The deli in Beverly, Massachusetts that let them rent the space on Sundays as a kitchen Selling out 40 boxes of pierogi in an hour at their first farmers market and writing down everyone's name and address to hand deliver the rest Building the brand at New England breweries on two four-foot tables and $70 Amazon griddles COVID: a Google Form for pierogi meal kit delivery that went from seven expected orders to 275 by Tuesday morning and 2,000 deliveries over six weeks Purchase orders quadrupling overnight as people stocked their freezers during lockdown Going national at Whole Foods and building out regional distribution before ever touching outside funding Appearing on Shark Tank: the application process, the boot camp prep, pitching at 5:30 PM after being there since 11 AM, and walking away without a deal Mr. Wonderful saying potstickers and pierogi are the same and why that upset everyone The ongoing challenge of educating a national audience about pierogi while competing with the surge in Asian frozen food options Unit economics, the reality of retailer fees and slotting costs, and why sustainable beats unicorn The Mrs. T's comparison: $60 million in annual sales and 70 years in business is a completely valid version of success The skillet meal coming next: pierogi, kielbasa rounds, and sauteed onions in one bag Gluten-free pierogi now available Launching in 298 Target locations in the Midwest Vanessa turning 40 and planning a pierogi party trip to Berlin with friends from their community Casey's pride: hearing "Jaju" used as shorthand, knowing his grandfather's legacy lives on Advice for founders: test the concept while keeping your day job, and understand you will mop the floors Find Vanessa, Casey, and Jaju Pierogi: Website: jajupierogi.com Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook: @jajupierogi Available at Whole Foods nationwide, Fresh Market, Big Y, New Seasons, PCC, Yokes, New Leaf, Lazy Acres, Harmons, and many more co-ops and regional stores Coming soon: 298 Target locations in the Midwest Merch available on the website Subscribe to The Perfect Bite podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube! You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and sign up for our newsletter !

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  Episode #75

  Avishar Barua on Agni, Joya's and Honoring Columbus

  Aug 27, 202654 min

  Just because a dish is well executed does not mean it has to feel stuffy. And just because you have culinary school training and a Michelin-starred kitchen on your resume does not mean you cannot dedicate your career to making dining the most fun part of someone's day. That is exactly what Avishar Barua is doing in Columbus, Ohio. And Columbus has never tasted better. Avishar Barua is a two-time James Beard Award semifinalist and the founder of Agni and Joya's, the two Columbus restaurants that make up Serious Fun, his restaurant group built around one beautiful and completely genuine philosophy: that serious hospitality and joyful dining are not opposites. They are the point. Agni is a tasting menu experience in the Brewery District where you can find a happy meal course and keeps candy at the bar. Joya's is a fast casual spot in Old Worthington where the chicken sandwich is messy and magnificent. Both feel like home. That is entirely on purpose. In this episode, host Sarah Perkins sits down with Avishar for one of the most wide-ranging and genuinely joyful conversations The Perfect Bite has ever had. From a Bengali American childhood in Columbus where he survived entirely on candy and his mom's strategically disguised rice balls, to a pre-med track at Ohio State that gave way to an organic chemistry A and a culinary epiphany. From a stage at Mission Chinese Food under Danny Bowien where he bought salt and vinegar chips for a dish and thought he was being hazed, to an unpaid stage at WD-50 where he got his ass kicked daily and then got hired. From a legendary taco at Service Bar that landed him in Food and Wine and on Top Chef Season 18, to the quiet, patient decade of building something in Columbus that honors the city, its immigrant restaurants, and its people, rather than trying to be New York. Columbus is Columbus. That is his whole philosophy. And it is more than enough. In this episode, we cover: Growing up Bengali American in Columbus surviving on candy, junk food, and his mom's strategically disguised rice balls The first memory of food he actually loved: Chinese food and chow fun noodles Discovering cooking in college out of necessity: a foil pan, chopsticks as a roasting rack, and a library cookbook Combining his biology and psychology degrees into a way of thinking about food and people His brother's restaurant Eight: his first kitchen, where mac and cheese was made with bechamel and pot roast was actually burgundy braised short rib The Columbus State ACF chef apprenticeship that let him work and learn simultaneously The Mission Street Food cookbook that inspired him to pack up and move to New York Staging at Mission Chinese Food under Danny Bowien: buying salt and vinegar chips for a dish and thinking he was being hazed Mission Chinese Food getting shut down by the Department of Health  Walking down Clinton Street and into WD-50, sitting at the bar alone, and getting a bonus dessert course The unpaid two week stage at WD-50 and getting hired despite not being the fastest or most technically precise cook Being at WD-50 for their James Beard Award, the Gelinaz 10-year anniversary dinner, and their closure Returning to Columbus, joining Middle West Spirits and Service Bar The cheesy brisket crunch taco: a Taco Bell inspired dish made with paratha that landed in Food and Wine and got him on Top Chef Season 18 His TED Talk about the tacos Why he believes Columbus chefs who blame their city for poor staff are simply not doing their job Honoring the strip mall restaurants he grew up going to: Mi Li, Quang, Main Moon The philosophy behind Agni: a tasting menu that includes a happy meal course and keeps it fun Joya's: a fast casual spot built around genuine hospitality in a space with a lot of seats Bengali adda: the culture of hospitality that informs how both restaurants treat their guests What Serious Fun might do next: wholesale production, white labeling, more halal and pescetarian-friendly menu items Being a James Beard Award semifinalist in both 2024 and 2025 and what that means for Columbus Advice for founders: good things take time, the worst decisions are the ones made under pressure Find Avishar, Agni, and Joya's: Agni : 716 South High Street, Brewery District, Columbus. Wednesday through Sunday 5 PM to 11 PM. Reservations recommended. Walk-in bar seating available. Joya's : 657 High Street, Old Worthington, Columbus. Open six days a week. Instagram: @avishar , @dineatagni and @eatatjoyas Restaurant group: Serious Fun Subscribe to The Perfect Bite podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! Want to watch the entire episode? Head here to our YouTube! You can follow us on social media @perfectbitepod and sign up for our newsletter !

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