Butter in the West Loop was recently named one of the best new restaurants in America by Esquire magazine. Ryan Poli, the 28 year old head chef, has apprenticed in some of the finest restaurants in the world including Le Francais, The French Laundry, and La Broche in Madrid, Spain.

In our culinary podcast (What is a Podcast?), Ryan and I talk about what his last meal would be if he were on death row, what he learned from Thomas Keller at the French Laundry, what it’s like to face the prospect of cooking dinner for Wolfgang Puck, Jean Banchet, Eric Ripert, Christian Delouvrier, Dominique Tougne, and Sebastien Canonne, all on the same night, and more.

If you have Macromedia Flash installed, you can play the file right on this site, below, by pressing the play button. If not, download the file here and play it on your PC or on an MP3 player: Ryan Poli Interview

View the companion article we wrote, recently published in the Chicago Journal: Blue-Collar Butter