A new era of Pack Your Knives
Some announcements about the show.
It’s been seven years since we launched Pack Your Knives.
Seven years.
I couldn’t believe that fact when Kevin reminded me of it this summer. I went through the archives recently and found out that our first episode was published on December 5, 2017. It’s been seven years, almost to the day. Time flies, indeed.
This past summer, Kevin called me with some news: he was stepping away from the show. This podcast takes a lot of time to do it the right way, and it was becoming harder and harder to carve out that time. I don’t think it was an easy call for either of us. But he reminded me...
“Tom, seven years!”
He’s right. What a run.
I still remember when Kevin and I were jogging around the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles when I asked him – gasping for air – if he had any interest – gasping for more air – in joining me for a Top Chef recap podcast (podcasting is easy; running and talking is HARD). On the horizon was Season 15 Colorado and I had this crazy idea. What if we treated Top Chef like the NBA? I can promise you I had no expectations. Seven years? Hell, we didn’t know if it would last seven minutes. Yeah, what a run.
I wish my friend Kevin nothing but the best. We turned on these mics when we were at different points in our careers, different points in our lives. Things change. As Top Chef taught us, even hosts change. I hope you’ll join me in thanking Kevin for the hundreds of hours and laughs we’ve shared together over the years. Don’t be surprised if Kevin returns here and there. The door is always open.
With that, I have some exciting updates for the new era. We’re revamping the Pack Your Knives enterprise.
A new co-host
First, the new co-host. To find the right candidate to join me on Pack Your Knives, I took notes from Top Chef. You can’t replace Padma. She’s Padma. In the same way, we couldn’t replace Kevin. He’s Kevin.
So we at Count The Dings HQ followed the Bravo blueprint that led them to hire Kristen Kish. For the Pack Your Knives platform, we found a kickass former Top Chef contestant to bring a fresh alumni perspective to the show. And so …
I’m beyond excited to announce that the new Pack Your Knives co-host is …
[dramatic pause]
Eric Adjepong!
We are STOKED. He’s a two-time Top Chef contestant (Season 16 Kentucky and Season 17 All-Stars) and will give us a whole new perspective. Long-time PYK listeners know he’s a two-time guest on our podcast and now he’s officially in the co-host seat. You might also know Adjepong as the host of Wild Card Kitchen and Alex vs. America on the Food Network. When he’s not on TV or on the PYK mic, he’s in the process of opening his own restaurant, Elmina, in DC. And cheering on the New York Knicks, of course.
Needless to say, we have lots to talk about! We recorded our first podcast episode together, which you’ll find at the bottom of the post.
A new contributor
We wanted to upgrade our offerings to our Substack community and couldn’t be happier to bring on the great Carly Levitz as a Pack Your Knives contributor/writer/infographic extraordinaire.
No one digs into the data like Carly. You might remember her from our April episode:
She will be regularly posting her insights right here on the PYK Substack and contributing to the podcast. I can’t wait for you to see what she has cooking up for our PYK subscribers.
It is amazing.
A new way to enjoy
We’ll have more details about this soon, but we will be expanding our video content here at PYK.
Don’t worry, audiophiles: Eric and I will tape a weekly recap podcast just like we have always done at PYK. We also heard input from many of y’all that you would like a video edition of the show and we’re going to roll that out for Top Chef Canada. Heard, Chef!
And yes, you’ll be able to visually see the trembling panic as Eric and I scramble to draft our Top Chef teams this season. (We talk about that on the pod…).
I’m also thrilled to let you know that Eric will be sharing some quick cooking lessons on video as we go along the season. So how DO you prep an artichoke in record time?
Without further ado, our first episode with Eric Adjepong taped (in person!) in New York …
My jaw hit the floor with Eric! WOW! I definitely will miss Kevin, thank you for everything!! Excited for the new season!
Big thanks to Kevin for fantastically entertaining podcasting over the last 7 years (!?!?). I know first-hand how much work goes into creating a podcast, so I appreciate all that the team does. Very excited that Eric will be joining the show--looking forward to the new era of PYK!