Don't Forget to Bet on Yourself

Dear Pros,

You've got Erika this week. I'm returning to some semblance of a routine after back-to-back trips to Chicago (congratulations to my test kitchen colleague Liz Mervosh on her James Beard win in the Home Cooking category!) and Aspen, Colorado, where I experienced my first-ever Food & Wine Classic. Like a wedding weekend, it was all a blur in the moment. Now, I'm basking in the aftermath with iced coffee, a half-unpacked suitcase, and an incredible slew of video dispatches from our social team to relive the action.

My mornings started with marmot sightings along hiking trails and caffeine by way of celebrated chef Gregory Gourdet's Kann Coffee. From there, the eating and drinking schedule was stacked. I forked bites of gooey apple bread pudding at 1990 F&W Best New Chef Nancy Silverton's cooking demo, snacked on milk bread spread with chicken liver mousse and a dollop of strawberry-sumac jam from the talented folks at Los Angeles' Bar Etoile, and chased it with Champagne. I managed to snag a scoop of crab curry with pickled peppers from 2025 F&W Best New Chef Phila Lorn, downed more Champagne and caviar-topped fried chicken nuggets at a seminar led by sommelier Victoria James and executive chef SK Kim from the fried chicken hot spot Cocodaq, then knocked back a brilliant dinner spread from Nok Suntaranon of 2020 F&W Best New Restaurant, Kalaya, which was transported to Aspen from Philadelphia for a Thursday night party.

In between all that, chefs and restaurant owners were gathering for discussions and lively debate on the state of the industry. One of my favorite moments of the Classic was the Leader Labs — a new addition to the Resy American Express Trade Program by F&W Pro this year — where hospitality pros gathered in small groups for intimate conversations with industry leaders like award-winning branding expert Anna Polonsky and Sheila Johnson, the CEO of luxury hotel company Salamander, co-founder of BET, and 2025 F&W Mentorship Award winner.

A theme that kept emerging from the discussions was self-confidence and trusting your gut. Polonsky encouraged vulnerability as a pathway to authentic storytelling and guided participants away from hopping on trends just to keep up with the competition. James London, the chef-owner of Charleston favorite Chubby Fish, chimed in to say that he now writes a full play in collaboration with his architects and designers before a new restaurant opening as an exercise to convey creative vision in a shared language.

Lindsey Brown, the co-founder and executive director of the Southern Smoke Foundation, along with her husband, 2013 F&W Best New Chef Chris Shepherd — a man who makes my liberal use of exclamation marks in text messages look tame in comparison — encouraged us to turn belief in our own ideas into action. "If you're not willing to stand at the edge of the pond and jam a foot into the water, the wave will never start," Shepherd said.

Join me next time! We're headed to Charleston from November 13 to 15, and early-bird tickets are on sale right now. In the meantime, keep an eye out for more Pro recaps and dispatches from Aspen in the coming weeks.

Take care,
Erika