How Top Chef Pushed Melissa King To Be Her True Self

Radio Cherry Bombe

The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network

Restaurants, 591312, Business, Arts, Food Radio, Interviews, Kerry Diamond, Female Chefs, Radio Cherry Bombe, Entrepreneurs, Society & Culture, Women, Careers, Women In Food, Food, Cherry Bombe Magazine, Talk Radio, Chefs, Restaurateurs

4.6 • 592 Ratings

🗓️ 24 September 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Melissa King is back! The “Top Chef” champion stops by to chat about her debut book, “Cook Like a King: Recipes from My California Kitchen,” and how it’s a roadmap of her life. Melissa got her start as a latchkey kid making meals for her parents, who worked as engineers. She used the microwave until her folks trusted her with the stove, and her mom even gifted her a child-size meat cleaver when she was just eight. Little did they know she would grow up to compete on “Top Chef” twice, and that she would win the title once she learned to embrace the food she grew up with. She credits the show’s Padma Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio, and Gail Simmons with pushing her to “think deeper” about her creations and cook with heart and soul. She and host Kerry Diamond also cover the ceviche dish she created for the Met Gala and the Thom Browne suit she wore on the red carpet; how she makes a living as a culinary creative without a restaurant; and what’s behind the recipes in her new book. Thank you to Square and Ketel One for their support. Learn more at square.com/big Subscribe to our Substack Check out Cherry Bombe on ShopMy Join the waitlist for Jubilee L.A. More on Melissa: Instagram, “Cook Like A King” cookbook Follow Kerry on Instagram

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, everyone, you are listening to Radio Cherry Bomb, and I'm your host, Carrie Diamond, coming to you from New Stand Studios at Rockefeller Center in the heart of New York City.
0:13.7	Today's guest is Melissa King, Top Chef Champion and Cherry Bomb cover star, and now cookbook author.
0:20.4	Melissa's debut book, Cook Like a King,
0:23.3	recipes from my California Chinese kitchen just dropped yesterday.
0:27.4	It's a beautiful book filled with recipes that blend Melissa's background
0:30.4	with a fascinating culinary life that's taken her from cooking for her working parents
0:34.7	when she was a kid, to the Culinary Institute of America in
0:38.0	Hyde Park, to working for Dominique Cren in San Francisco, to the winner's circle at Top Chef.
0:44.2	Melissa is one of our keynote conversations at this weekend's Jubilee Los Angeles, and I am so
0:49.0	excited to listen to that chat. She'll be interviewed by our friend Ellen Bennett of Headley
0:53.2	and Bennett and the show,
0:54.8	Kitchen Glow Up. For those of you coming to Jubilee, I can't wait to see you. Stay tuned for Melissa
1:00.3	King. Today's show is presented by Square. What if your favorite sports bar only showed women's
1:06.7	sports? That's the big idea our friend Jenny Wyn turned into reality in 2022 with the sports bra in
1:13.6	Portland, Oregon. Thousands of fans showed up on opening day, and within eight months, the sports bra
1:19.2	had served fans from all over the country and brought in nearly $1 million in revenue. But behind
1:25.1	the scenes, the tech couldn't keep up. Their point-of-sale system kept crashing
1:29.4	during game days, right when the bar was packed with so many excited fans. That's where Square came in.
1:35.7	Square is the restaurant point-of-sale that helps you manage it all, from one place, payments, staff,
1:41.5	customers, insights, and more. Now, the sports bra runs on Square.
1:46.5	From faster service to better reporting, the team finally has a system that works as hard as they do.
1:52.3	And with Square's help, Jenny is planning to bring the sports bra to cities across the country.
	...

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