RED Episode #128: A Conversation with Chef Art Smith 

RUN

This week we complete the RunDisney Virtual Race Series with the Haunted Mansion 5K!  Yes, we talk about the weather, but we are also without the medals, so we can’t wait until they arrive!  It was a different summer race series because we couldn’t travel up to Walt Disney World to do it, but for Aimee, working from home now, it was a chance to get outside and get some fresh air ahead of the afternoon summer showers.  For Dana, it was motivation to get his running done on a long work weekend.  

This week, we are connected to Walt Disney World and running amazing races virtually because we had the honor and pleasure of talking with Chef Art Smith!  He has two amazing restaurants at Disney Springs, but he has also run marathons and took us on his storied running journey as we talked with him.  Although he hasn’t run a race at Walt Disney World, he was in the Magic Kingdom College Program, now known as the Walt Disney World College Program, in 1981.   We recorded this interview in the third week of April 2020, when we would have been running the Rival Run Weekend at Walt Disney World. Chef Art helped us bring a little bit of Disney home!

EAT

Chef Art Smith has appeared on the Food Network on shows like Chopped and is famed for being Oprah Winfrey’s personal chef.  He has also authored books like Back to the Table as well as Kitchen Life: Real Food for Real Families and Back to the Family.  Chef Art Smith is a two-time James Beard Foundation award winner with restaurants in Chicago, Atlanta, Orlando, Washington, D.C., and many more.  He’s been on television shows like Top Chef Masters and The Today Show.  Talking with him about his amazing restaurants and amazing southern comfort food made our mouths water!

DRINK

Chef Art Smith has some incredible beverages at his restaurants.  He has Moonshine at  Homecomin’ in Disney Springs and we really want to get to his Atlanta restaurant, Southern Art and Bourbon Bar, for some amazing bourbon-based cocktails, too, when it reopens.  It was great to get a little bit of the story and inspiration behind some of the signature cocktails at his restaurants.  

He is also generous in giving back to the community.  He started Common Threads, an organization that teaches families the joy of healthy cooking.  This summer, they are even having a virtual summer camp for kids with activities they can do at home.  

Chef Art Smith was so generous with his time.  We can’t thank him enough for spending time with us and inspiring us with great stories from his own running and life as an award-winning chef.  

THAT’S A WRAP!

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