FoodNetwork Site Search Results

As an avid home cook and successful spice-shop owner, Janet Johnston brings her bright personality and true passion for spices to Food Network in her show, Spice & Easy. Janet shares her deep knowledge of spices and demonstrates the ease of infusing spices and seasonings into everyday dishes resulting in fantastic flavors. Her approachable techniques and ideas eliminate intimidation and prove that spicing things up is both fun and simple. Janet grew up in Hoffman Estates, Ill., outside of Chicago, with her parents and three siblings. She earned an associate degree in 1990 from William Rainey Harper College. She then moved to the city and studied photography at Columbia College and received her bachelor’s degree in 1993. After graduation, Janet worked for 13 years at Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting), starting as an executive assistant and working her way to being a manager on the Internet marketing team. In 2000, Janet met her future husband, Mike, who worked in the spice industry. He ignited her passion for spices and cooking, and they moved to Denver in 2004 to realize their dream: open a beautiful spice shop and build a successful business together. They married in August 2006 and opened their second shop in September in Littleton, Colo. They opened a third shop in Boulder, Colo., in July 2008 and a fourth shop in East Denver’s Lowry Town Center in October 2008, which served as a prototype for their new franchise business. The first franchise opened in November 2009 in Colorado Springs with several more in the works. Janet and Mike manage the overall business every day in addition to constantly creating new spice blends and developing approachable recipes for their customers. In August 2008, Savory Spice Shop was featured on the Denver episode of Food Network’s Road Tasted with the Neelys as a standout local business. Since then, Janet and Mike have appeared on episodes of Paula’s Best Dishes and Down Home with the Neelys to cook up some of their favorite spice-filled delights. Besides cooking and eating, Janet enjoys traveling, antiquing, gardening and exercising including yoga. Janet currently resides in Denver, Colo., with her husband, Mike, and their dog, Bounder. Spice & Easy is filmed in Denver — both in their 100-year-old Victorian home as well as in the original Savory Spice Shop.

In 2014, Gavin Kaysen was conquering New York City. He’d won a Michelin star for his work as chef de cuisine of Café Boulud, and the James Beard Awards had dubbed him a Rising Star. Faced with imminent stardom, he took the next logical step: he moved with his wife and children back to his hometown of Minneapolis and opened his first restaurant, Spoon and Stable. It was a risk that reaped one of the biggest rewards a chef could earn: in 2018 Kaysen won a James Beard Award for Best Chef: Midwest. Why ditch the Big Apple for the Twin Cities? It had something to do with Kaysen’s love for the frenetic, fleeting seasonality of the upper Midwest. "There's something to be said for how you feel emotionally as one season gives way to the next, when it snows, rains, or is sunny," Kaysen says. "I never thought about that growing up here, but coming back, I see that now." At Spoon & Stable, Kaysen might match grilled carrots with a delicate tarragon cream sauce, or serve rainbow trout laced with the earthy punch of a black truffle vinaigrette, blending his hometown sensibility with the classical French training he's received over the past two decades. Starting in 2001, Kaysen worked at Domaine Chandon in Yountville, California; L'Auberge de Lavaux in Lausanne, Switzerland; and the famed L'Escargot in London before becoming executive chef at El Bizcocho in San Diego, where he was named one of Food & Wine's Best New Chefs. Most of all, Kaysen credits Daniel Boulud, the godfather of French cuisine in New York City, for his culinary education. "It was like getting my Master's and Ph.D. with Daniel and his organization," he explains. "When he cooks, it’s all about spontaneity, which I have discovered is how I really thrive, too." Now that he’s back in Minnesota, Kaysen also gravitates toward traditional Heartland dishes—the kind he grew up eating and cooking: "I love the classics. Starting with my grandmother, we always cooked very classical American dishes, like pot roast and chicken." Kaysen's recipes for Panna are delicious updates of these standbys, including roast chicken with charred scallion vinaigrette and homemade waffles with berries. What we love about his dishes is that each one is infused with years of professional experience, while staying anchored to a love of simplicity and good ingredients. Gavin's Restaurants: Spoon & Stable (Minneapolis, MN) Bellecour (Wayzata, MN)