Brad Leone is probably best known for his hit show It’s Alive on bon appétit, a show that introduced the world to his charismatic and endearingly unorthodox hosting style- Think Emeril Lagasse meets some real New Jersey, Golden Retriever energy.
Known as the backbone of the BA Test Kitchen roster at the time, fans would tune in to watch him put his charming spin on all things ‘alive’ and fermented from sauerkraut to sourdough. What truly sets Leone apart though, is his unwavering commitment to celebrating the process over perfection. In a world where staged flawlessness and swap-outs often reign supreme, his willingness to showcase the beauty in imperfection is a refreshing departure.
Where most shows from TV to Tiktok are reminiscent of a tired old Cab-Sauv from your uncle’s attic, Leone’s style feels more like the natural stuff.
So it’s safe to say that the departure seems sweeter than rosé. Or ice wine… grapes? Forget the metaphors.
The point is, coming out of the pandemic, Brad was looking for something with a little more kick; causing him to pack up his knives at BA, and usher in the launch of his own channel in June of this year.
On the brand-new YouTube page, we see Brad doing quintessentially Brad things.
Makin’ it, features his honest-to-goodness passion for all things fermented, escapades in the wild like the ones that filled his NYT bestseller, Field Notes for Food Adventure, and culinary camaraderie, all built around teaching the audience about food.
Local Legends on the other hand, is what Brad describes as a “human show” which highlights people who are “legendary for what they do in their community”.
It seems like to Brad, it’s not just a cooking show or channel; it’s a celebration of life’s messy, beautiful, artistic, unfiltered moments.
And what better way to do “unfiltered”, than on your own page?
Read our conversation to hear about the latest in the Leone-verse below.
Brad Leone sits down with Esquire Middle East
ESQ: This is a wild question to start with but do you remember the first dish you ate that got you excited about the next time you were gonna have that meal? What’s your Anton ego in ratatouille meal just brings you back to being a kid again?
It’d probably be a couple things. I’ll give you one of my dad’s dishes and one of my mom’s. Especially their’s y’know, is always something that’ll bring me back. My mom’s eggplant parm is just wonderful. She always did a really good job with it and it’s just something I always enjoyed and it lingered you know what I mean? We kind of ate it for days and it was even better cold a few days later.
And then my dad, he always made a Jambalaya with shrimp and chicken, and sometimes we would put pheasant in there, and sausage like a smoked andouille. He always took pride in it and did it really well; it was probably the best thing he made and those things always bring me back to those core memories of being a kid and food. It’s amazing how smells [bring you back].
Recently I’ve been having those experience with smells. I was in one of those big stupid stores with my wife the other day and we walk past something and it reminded us both of like, going back to school when you were younger in September.
Having a parent that can throw down in the kitchen is a privilege and I know your dad was really into vegetable growing when you were younger. Is that what shaped your passion in food and do you remember when you really started getting obsessed with it?
I don’t know if I was ever obsessed with it but having them both cook and a small yard garden, I’m sure it put some type of indentation in my mold in some way. I guess the importance was distilled in me of having a meal with your family that you prepare. I try to do that with my kids now you know? We eat dinner together as often as possible.
It’s cool to see you nerd out about stuff like the signature knife collection with Lamson or the little salt box that you made with your buddy J Kenji. Cooking is like a beautiful art form but I feel like there’s some real sticklers in the food world that are particular about stuff to a condescending degree. Is there anything that you do in the quote on quote “wrong” way cause it’s the right way to you?
Probably sourdough bread. I make bread and I go through the ups and downs of doing it but I really love it and I get a great product. But I think I do my well it’s working. So like whenever I think I’m very untraditional maybe in my folding and kneading kind of application, but I think it gets the job done. I think there’s more than one way to skin an orange.
The internet has lowered the barrier to entry where you can enter the culinary space without having to go to culinary school, unless you want to actually work in a restaurant or something. Do you have a fond memory or story or lesson from culinary school that makes you happy that you went?
It opened the door for an internship that eventually led to me getting a job but other than I don’t know, I didn’t really I didn’t really like school. I couldn’t tell you one thing right now that I remember. Other than always having to like, finally make perfect squares with potatoes. That kind of stuck with me. I got it. There was something about that which I enjoyed doing.
But other than that, they show you how to cook something once and then you move on. That’s not how I learned, I don’t think that’s really how anyone learns how to be a better cook. But it opened up a door for me which I guess made it all worth the gamble.
Dubai is known as a food city- I’m Indian and some of the best Indian food I’ve ever had is here, If you want solid pastrami too you can get it here as well as the obviously fantastic Arabic food. For you though, what’s some of your favorite food cities or towns that you’ve been to?
I’ll always love New York. I was just in Chicago that was a great food town. Both Portland- Oregon and Maine are wonderful food towns I’ve had a great time with, LA. Everywhere seems to have their gems you know? Some more than others but yeah, I’m not too picky. Those cities have been great to me, Europe- places I’ve gone in Italy are always awesome.
South America, I still think of those Pupusas. they’re everywhere and they’re wonderful. I can’t get them around here but they were just absolutely incredible. I wish I had one right now.
In the online creator world, you see a lot of people sticking to what works but watching Local Legends, I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that it was really different to the BA stuff. With that show, or the channel in general, can you talk to me a little bit about how the ideas come to you? For example, how’d you end up covering the Marching 100 in New Orleans?
I’ve always been a big fan of music and what I like about [Local Legends] is that I never wanted it to be a food show, you know? I wanted it to be a human show about stories, about people’s passions, and lives and worlds and music or art or food or gardening or whatever. Or fishing, or someone who makes clarinets. Whatever it is, I bet you can find a good story and especially if they’re an interesting and cool person, and not just talented.
But to answer your question more acutely when it came to New Orleans- my editor Emma Hobson pitched the idea. It was the least performing video on my channel, but I love the story. I wish I could do it over because I learned a lot since then. We couldn’t get a lot of the really good parade music on that episode because it was blown out and didn’t sound good; I should have hired a local sound guy. I didn’t want to do a disservice to the band, because they sounded incredible. But other than that, I want to just do different ranges of people’s passions.
Don’t get me wrong I love cooking, and the show Makin’ It is awesome. I love projects and talking to a camera. Having guests on and cooking stuff, fermenting and learning, and that’s a beautiful community. But I really do enjoy going out and making the travel based human shows.
Seems like your show its alive was the catalyst for a lot of people’s pandemic obsessions of fermenting things. Alot of people were making sourdough but if you stumbled upon Brad you were washing jars for a big batch of pickled something. What was your pandemic hobby or obsession what got you through?
Getting out of the city kind of helped. I have two kids and it was a lot, you know? Working from home, you can only do so much. But to answer your question, I was lucky. I had a backyard where I was living before I left the city. I was in Jersey City at the time, and we did a lot of gardening, a lot of vegetables and just like buckets, and planters and stuff like that.
We were fortunate, there was a park that I think it was actually closed, but we would sneak and I would let the kids play. It was weird for everyone, but it could have certainly been a lot worse, that’s for sure.
What are your favorite middle eastern dishes or products?
I love seedless pepper flakes like Maras Biber, they’re oily, they’re not too spicy and they’re just phenomenal. I love most of the breads I’ve had like a good paratha. I’m a sucker for good rice too like Persian rice; Middle Easterners nailed the rice. Za’atar is my favorite its perfect. A nice heavy oregano one with some sesame seeds, little sumac. There’s different variations of it in different regions if I’m not mistaken.
Being on YouTube now you’re a free agent. Are there any collabs you want to do soon that you’d like to call out and put into the universe?
I would love to make another video with Matty Matheson I know he’s a busy fella. But who knows, maybe one day? Binging With Babish– Andrew Rea; we were chatting about doing a video. Anyone! That guy up in Canada, Laurent, were hoping to do something together. I mean, I’m into anyone. Let’s do it. If you got a good story, or a good recipe, or good whatever, it’s open door you know? That’s kind of where I shine, is with other people anyway.
Have you ever thought about your last meal? What would you like to go out on, death row style?
Maybe like a big bowl of Pho or something. Half a gallon of soup with like, a like a pound and a half and noodles. You know, just a ton of shrimp or whatever kind of meat. And just eat it ’till I feel like I’m gonna die and then just just do it.
What’s the best pickle?
You can’t beat a good cucumber man. Not to be ole’ plain Jane, but I love a pickled cucumber. Radishes are good; they smell a little but they are pretty tasty. Onions, ramps, I love a good pickled ramp. Heck, I mean you can pickle just about anything they’re all pretty good.
I’ve been doing these things called autumn olives. I think it might also be called Russian olives but they grow here and it looks kind of like an olive tree, but they have these little bright red berries almost like little olives. They turn red and juicy and they’re delicious. Those pickle they’re really cool.
Watch all of Brad Leone’s new YouTube content here.