It All Started with a Tweet: Southbound Food on 1560 AM The Game -Kick Ass Radio That Tastes Great

I had only been on Twitter about a month when I received a DM (that’s Twitter-speak for a Direct Message) from a guy named Lance Zierlein. (He wanted to do a Stage in the kitchen at REEF (a Stage is when you spend time –unpaid -- in another chef’s kitchen to learn as much as you can about different cooking styles and operations). I’m a big believer in the Stage method of learning and I still do it whenever I get the chance.

At the time, it didn’t click who this guy was but once we started talking, I caught on. Lance, along with his co-host John Granato, has the most popular AM drive- time sports talk show in Houston on 1560 AM, a locally-owned and operated station. (Lance is also a very popular blogger with The Z Report, for the Houston Chronicle. I didn’t even know that independently-owned stations existed in the present day and age of the monster conglomerates. After Lance made it through a busy Friday night service, we set a date for me to come on his show as a judge for the “Late Night Drunken Munchie Throwdown.” My stomach still hasn’t forgiven me for their listener, P.D., who threw down the Ramen, Wolf Chili, Ro-tel, Hot Dog, Cheese, Red Onion and Black Olive gut bomb we experienced. It was the best time I’ve ever had on a radio show -- not a whole lot of structure but plenty of bullshit, right up my alley. Soon after the show aired, comments started streaming in and we both realized that there might be an audience for a relaxed, fun and informative food talk show. And Southbound Food was born.

I feel very fortunate to be a part of such a Bad Ass radio station, and I can’t say enough about the whole 1560 AM The Game crew; they have THE setup that kind of reminds me of the early days of Sports Center (with Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick) when the talent was so damn strong and funny. I recently attended the station’s Mug Awards (kind of like the ESPY awards) where they had real storm troopers, Boba Fett and Darth Vader walking around, Lance did his Rapping Dad routine and Ken Hoffman actually boxed a girl. I laughed out loud the entire time.

The whole vibe of the station is relaxed and Southbound Food is shaping up to be a freak show hybrid of Julia Child and Howard Stern, serving up food and drink with a hefty side of bullshit. Hosted by me and Lance, along with Jenny Wang (from www.imneverfull.com and Houston Chowhounds) and Danny Vara and Franky “The Bull” Bullington (from 1560 The Game), Southbound Food is turning out to be a raucously funny, no-holds-barred roller coaster ride where we cover current events in the Houston food scene, discuss what foodies are talking about (like Top Chef episodes) and bring in leading chefs and restaurateurs as guests (and you should hear what’s being said when we’re NOT talking about food!).

Unlike other talk shows out there, this one’s got a life of its own, walking a straight subject line one minute and careening off into the unbelievable-but-true stories of our lives on the front lines of the cooking world the next.

So far, our guest list has been great with the likes of: Jonathan Jones (Executive Chef, Beaver’s), Randy Evans (former chef from Brennan’s and currently with Haven), Michael Housewright (Block 7 Wine Company), superstar winemaker Heidi Barrett of La Sirena Wines, Gail Simmons from Top Chef, Mike Dei Maggi, Cody Vasek, Robert Hall III, Chris Shepard, and seafood expert Mark Musatto from Airline seafood.

Check out this week’s show a day early on 1560 AM’s podcast site with special guests Tony Vallone, The Fearless Critic Robin Goldstein and featuring a special parody segment where we deliver a healthy right cross to the competition.

Follow Southbound Food on Twitter @SouthboundFood

Visit www.SouthboundFood.com