MEET THE MAKER is a series of digital shorts featuring authentic and innovative culinary artisans. This series enters a world of handmade artistry with intimate footage and personal narrative. Viewers hear each story in the craftsman's own words, bearing witness to candid musings on creativity, fear and following a dream.
A steam ship laborer by trade, Skip Steele developed his recipes while traveling the world. After retiring, he opened Bogart's Smokehouse in 2011 and quickly earned culinary buzz, as well as he title of Zagat's #1 BBQ restaurant in America. Skip is proof that a simple man can achieve big dreams and that there's no substitute for dedication and hard work.
After abandoning careers as a chemist and attorney, Scott Carey opened a third-wave coffee shop in south St. Louis. His stubborn and meticulous dedication to roasting seasonal beans and delivering the perfect cup of coffee has earned local and national attention, but the story that drives his determination is even more compelling.
Tim Puchta is a sixth generation winemaker working and living on the same land his Bavarian ancestors settled. Tim's passion for his craft and commitment to his family heritage tells a timeless story of America against the backdrop of the pastoral vineyards of central Missouri's wine region.
Growing up in the projects of New Orleans, Simone Faure was a little girl with big dreams. This is the story of her ambition, creativity and the exodus from her hometown as a Katrina refugee that led her to start over in St. Louis and open her own shop, La Patisserie Chouquette.
One of Food and Wine’s best new chefs, Kevin Willmann and his wife opened Farmhaus in 2010. Rooted in his German heritage and generations of family farming, the restaurant takes great care to feature the bounty of food grown locally in and around the St Louis community.
Amy Marcoot is a seventh-generation dairy farmer who, along with her sisters, turned their family operation into a creamery that sells some of the most renowned farmstead cheeses in the Midwest.
