Olive Garden To Olamaie: Chef Amanda Turner On Menus, Autonomy, And Pokémon Wisdom

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

🗓️ 31 July 2023

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Hosted by Kerry Diamond Produced by Catherine Baker and Jenna Sadhu Edited by Jenna Sadhu Music by Tralala, “All Fired Up” Amanda Turner was drawn to kitchen life and wanted to move from front of house at Olive Garden to back of house, but was turned down because she “was a woman and didn’t speak Spanish.” So she headed to culinary school (“out of spite”) and found her calling. Today, Amanda is the chef de cuisine at Olamaie, a fine-dining restaurant in Austin where the menu is reflective of her upbringing, autonomy is prized, and the Pokémon theme song kicks off every service. Amanda joins host Kerry Diamond to talk about her early days at corporate culinary concepts like Chuck E. Cheese, her time in Japan, and working with Olamaie’s chef/owner Michael Fojtasek. She also shares more about her love of gaming and how Dungeons & Dragons factors into one of her pop-ups. Thank you to OpenTable for supporting this episode. Learn more about the Cherry Bombe + OpenTable Sit With Us community dinner series here. Radio Cherry Bombe is a production of The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network. This episode was recorded at 5th Street Studio in Austin. Subscribe to our newsletter and check out past episodes and transcripts here. More on Amanda: Instagram, Olamaie Restaurant, The Fiery Talon pop-up

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, Boys and girls are all fired up.
0:07.0	I'm the founder.
0:09.0	Oh, girls, chicken, breaking, baby, and we're all about it.
0:15.0	Hi, everyone. You are listening to Radio Cherry Bomb, and I'm your host, Carrie Diamond. I'm the founder and editor of Cherry Bomb Magazine, and each week I talk to the most interesting women and culinary creatives in and around the world of food. Today's guest is Amanda Turner, chef to cuisine of Olame Restaurant in Austin, Texas. Amanda is an award-winning chef and such an interesting human.
0:41.1	She started at Olive Garden, front of house, went to La Cordon Blu Culinary School in Austin, out of spite.
0:47.2	She will tell us that story.
0:49.1	She worked in Japan, loves gaming, dungeons, and dragons, and making awesome food.
0:54.4	Not only did I have the pleasure of interviewing Amanda,
0:57.0	but I got to have dinner at Olame.
0:58.8	The other week, we kicked off our Sit With Us series with Open Table at Olame.
1:03.4	It was a beautiful convivial evening,
1:05.3	and I met so many wonderful people.
1:07.5	Thank you to the Olamay team and to our friends at Open Table.
1:10.6	If you'd like to dine at
1:11.7	Olame, you can snag a res through Open Table. After our dinner, we had a few days to run around
1:17.3	Austin, and we stopped by Thai Fresh, Franklin Barbecue, a pisserie, boulangerie, bistro, and bar,
1:23.5	birdies, and the gray market at the Thompson. So much great food, so many great people. I can't wait
1:29.6	to return to Austin. Also last week, we were in San Francisco and hosted the final dinner in our
1:35.4	Sit With Us series with Open Table. It was held at Gail Peerys, Foreign Cinema. Thank you to everyone
1:41.0	who joined us. Gail will be on a future episode of Radio Cherrybaum, so be on the lookout for that. She is a true original. Stay tuned for my chat with Amanda. The latest issue of Cherrybaum's print magazine is now available. Yes, we have a print magazine. Whether you are a print nerd who loves magazines as much as I do, or you're new to the world of
2:02.3	magazines. You should check it out. If you'd like to get the brand new issue, there are two ways.
2:07.1	You can purchase a Cherry Bomb subscription and have it delivered direct to your door four times a
	...

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