THE SPICE OF LIFE | CHEF MANEET CHAUHAN

When it comes to seeing our favorite chefs in an array of culinary shows, we always enjoy seeing Chef Maneet Chauhan as she is passionate about her food, always dresses the part, and has an array of restaurants on our list when we head to Nashville!

We took the time to sit down with Chef Maneet to find out about her culinary background, the first dish she created, her Morph Hospitality Group, how she approaches adding more restaurants to her portfolio, being a TV personality, her work on Food Network and more!

ATHLEISURE MAG: What was the dish that made you realize that you loved food?

CHEF MANEET CHAUHAN: It’s called aloo paratha. It is a potato-stuffed flat bread, cooked in ghee until it's crispy and served with homemade butter. My mom made it for me when I was young, and it was love at first bite.

AM: What was the first dish that you remember cooking?

CHEF MC: Matar paneer. It's Indian cottage cheese cubes in a spiced curry with green peas. I was in 7th grade and cooked dinner for my parents.

AM: When did you realize that you wanted to be a chef?

CHEF MC: I was in 9th grade and my older sister was completing her undergrad. I used to meet her on campus and bring food with me. I then figured out I was the most popular kid on campus. That's when I realized this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

AM: Tell us about your culinary journey in terms of where you trained and kitchens you worked in prior to opening your Nashville restaurant.

CHEF MC: I did my undergrad in India at Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration (WGSHA) and then came to America to study at The Culinary Institute of America. I worked at restaurants in Philadelphia, Cherry Hill, Chicago and New York before opening my own business.

AM: How would you define your style of cooking?

CHEF MC: I consider my style of cooking to be global with a foundation of Indian flavors and techniques.

AM: What led to you opening Chauhan Ale and Masala House and why did you want to open this in Nashville?

CHEF MC: Nashville has such an incredible audience and such a diverse flavor palette that I really wanted to do something that had not been done before here. Chauhan Ale and Masala House is my love letter to Indian cuisine and Nashville - it's Indian food served with a southern flair.

AM: Tell us about what we can expect from this restaurant in terms of the cuisine and ambiance?

CHEF MC: It's a really fun restaurant and encompasses both traditional and modern India, with a very healthy dose of the South. That's in terms of both the decor and the food. There is a lot of fun and whimsy in the menu and in the space.

AM: Since opening Chauhan Ale you have the Morph Hospitality Group- can you tell us about each of the eateries?

CHEF MC: There is Chauhan Ale and Masala House, which is modern Indian mixed with a southern flair, The Mockingbird which is Americano with a retro vibe to it and then eet is fast casual in Disney Springs.

AM: Tell us more about eet by Maneet Chauhan is at Disney Springs in Orlando, Florida.

CHEF MC: eet shows the best flavors of Indian in a very approachable manner, so think chicken tikka masala pizza.

AM: How do you go about deciding what restaurant to open where?

CHEF MC: I think it’s a combination. First is learning what we'll need for a space, second is figuring out if we have the right talent and third is determining what we are passionate about. If we are passionate about a particular concept or a particular idea, then that’s what we stick to.

AM: In addition to being a restaurateur, you are a best selling cookbook author with your first book Flavors of My World: A Culinary Tour Through 25 Countries, followed by The Journey, and more recently in 2020 Chaat - why has it been important for you to share your culinary point of view in this medium?

CHEF MC: I think being a chef is a lot like storytelling. You tell a story on a plate of food, and it’s the same story that I want to tell people through words and written medium. It's just a visual treat, for example the photos for Chaat we took in India. I like creating that excitement for people.

AM: What is the creation process for you with your cookbooks and are there plans for releasing another?

CHEF MC: There’s always plans for more! With cookbooks it truly is a group effort. I work with an editor and a co-author and they help give the book direction, because I have a lot of ideas!

AM: For years, we have enjoyed seeing you on Food Network whether you are a guest judge, competing, or hosting your shows! What led to you adding TV Judge/Host to your portfolio?

CHEF MC: It wasn’t something that I set out to do, but I got the opportunity then realized how much I enjoyed it. That's why I do it. I love to connect with people through the medium of television.

AM: When you're judging, what's your approach or formula when you are considering a dish or is there a competitor that sticks out to you?

CHEF MC: I think for me it has to be a combination of everything – the competitor has to show the right technique, develop flavor and show who they are and their culinary point of view on the plate. Those are the things I look for when I’m judging.

AM: You're the only 2X winner of Guy Fieri's Tournament of Champions, what does that mean to you?

CHEF MC: It means that lightning can strike the same place twice! I’m very proud of it. It seems like a validation for my entire life of working hard and putting my heart and soul into what I do. It was a very surreal moment and I’m very grateful that it's proven I've chosen the right career!

AM: When you were competing in this show, was there a chef that you looked forward to going up against?

CHEF MC: I have realized the toughest person I can go up against is me myself.

AM: Everytime that we see you on air, we always enjoy seeing your accessories as well as your ensemble as a whole, clearly you have an interest in fashion - will we ever see you create a line or collaborate with someone?

CHEF MC: If I get the opportunity, why not!

AM: You have had a number of accolades from being a James Beard Award winner, breaking glass ceilings throughout your career, and being about presenting your point of view through cooking, what does it mean to you?

CHEF MC: Each and every time that I get an accolade it builds my confidence in who I am as a person, and it also pushes me to do much better. It's validation I was meant to do this.

AM: How do you balance having a successful career while also having a family and being a mother?

CHEF MC: Balance is a myth. You just make the best of whatever you are doing.

AM: Are there any projects that we should keep an eye out for that you would like to share?

CHEF MC: Just keep an eye out!

AM: We like asking our favorite chefs about their 9CH3FS ROUTIN3S that highlights 3 key things that you must have, do, and enjoy for your Mornings, Afternoons, and Night as a chef.

CHEF MC: That’s a tough question because every day is a very different day for me. My morning ritual after I get up is I have my chai, and then I take a few minutes just to figure out what my day will be like and how I want to conquer it. What I love about my life is no two days are the same. If I’m filming it’s a different day than if I'm home.

IG @maneetchauhan

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | PG 80 Jessica Sloane | PG 82 + 85 Amelia J Moore Photography | PG 86 Maneet Chauhan |

Read the MAR ISSUE #112 of Athleisure Mag and see THE SPICE OF LIFE | Chef Maneet Chauhan in mag.

FARM TO TABLE | LE JARDINIER WITH CHEF ANDREW AYALA

We always enjoy an elevated dining experience from some of our favorite and soon to be favorite restaurants. When you have the opportunity to enjoy a restaurant outside of its normal setting, that takes the experience to another level. We sat down with Chef Andrew Ayala who is the Executive Chef of Le Jardinier a Michelin starred restaurant. We wanted to know more about his culinary background, restaurants he trained in, how he came to this restaurant, what Le Jardinier is like when you're dining there, and dishes we need to keep in mind.

In addition to the restaurant, we wanted to know more about his participation in Outstanding In The Field which takes place in a number of cities around the world by pairing sustainability, fine dining, and philanthropic partnerships/initiatives. These dinners are outside with no walls or borders that are indicative of a traditional restaurant space. The latest one will take place on Aug 29th on Governors Island where Chef Andrew Ayala along with his Pastry Chef Salvatore Martone at Le Jardinier. This meal will take place outdoors with an anticipated attendance of 150 people. Guests will enjoy a cocktail party followed by a multicourse meal. They will also get to know more about the host for this night's event, Billion Oyster Project.

We wanted to know more about how Chef Andrew Ayala connected with the team, why he enjoys participating and why this event is so important. We're also excited to enjoy this phenomenal meal to see the culinary meets sustainable initiative come together.

ATHLEISURE MAG: What was the first dish that you ate that you realized that you fell in love with food?

CHEF ANDREW AYALA: Thanks to my mom, I ate countless amazing things as a child, but I didn’t realize it at the time. When I was a bit older, I went on a trip with my parents to Mazatlan, Mexico during summer vacation. There, I had my first ‘Machaca” – a dried salty beef that is popular in the north that is paired with eggs for breakfast or other dishes. I remember this dish was when I became conscious of pairing salty, sweet, and sour and balancing a meal. That experience was really impactful for my love of cooking.

AM: When did you realize that you wanted to be a chef?

CHEF AA: I was introduced to the world of food and cooking from a very young age by my mother, who worked as a butcher for over 35 years. In high school, I began cooking at a small local restaurant, where I started learning the ropes of restaurant operations. Once I completed high school, I enrolled in audio engineering school, but I quickly realized that it did not fulfill my passions the way the restaurant world once did. I made the decision to leave engineering and enroll in Le Cordon Bleu.

AM: Where did you train and what have been kitchens that you have worked in?

CHEF AA: I trained at Le Cordon Bleu California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, where I was born and raised. Prior to joining The Bastion Collection in 2017, I worked at Restaurant DANIEL and Per Se, both located in New York City. Before moving to NYC, I worked at a number of restaurants on the West Coast including Chez TJ, Campton Place, and the restaurants within the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay.

AM: Tell us about the Bastion Collection which you joined in 2017 and why did you want to join this restaurant group?

CHEF AA: The Bastion Collection is an international restaurant group that has been awarded a total of nine Michelin Stars since 2019. Our team consists of award-winning culinary experts that operate a variety of concepts including Bar Bastion and Le Jardinier in New York; Le Jardinier and L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon in Miami; Le Jardinier, Tavola and Leonelli in Houston; Le Jardinier, L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, Stettler & Castrischer and Le Comptoir in Geneva.

In 2017, I joined The Bastion Collection because I was so impressed by the group's dedication to excellence and innovation within the culinary industry. I also knew that joining the Bastion Collection would mean working alongside and being mentored by the group’s Culinary Director, Chef Alain Verzeroli, who continuously sets the standard for outstanding leadership and has taught me so much since I started.

AM: You are a founding member of the Michelin-starred L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon and became Chef de Cuisine in 2019 at Le Jardinier and shortly after, gained a Michelin star only 5 months after opening! What does it mean to you to be a Michelin starred chef?

CHEF AA: I feel thrilled that Le Jardinier has continuously been honored with such a prestigious accolade, it’s certainly an accomplishment and privilege that every chef dreams about. We have been awarded a Michelin Star for every year we have been open. Of course, it could not have been done without the sheer talent and work ethic of our entire team. As a leading member of the team, it has been a rewarding experience to reflect on my career as a chef and become a mentor for my own team.

AM: Tell us about the restaurant and what guests can expect when they come in to dine?

CHEF AA: Le Jardinier is a culinary experience that celebrates French culinary technique, and is shaped by fresh seasonal offerings and impeccable fine dining service. Every plate featured on our menu celebrates the seasons and is complemented by our extraordinary dessert and pastry program from Chef Salvatore Martone.

We are located in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, so we always aim to serve as an escape from the bustle of the city. It’s important to our team to create a serene atmosphere, where our guests can get a sense of calmness, away from their busy lives. Overall, every element of Le Jardinier comes together to craft a holistic and unforgettable experience for each and every guest.

AM: For those coming in for lunch, what are 3 starters that you suggest that we should enjoy when dining with family and friends?

CHEF AA: For guests dining at Le Jardinier for lunch, I always like to recommend starting the meal off with something light and refreshing, especially during the latest heatwave. Three starters I would recommend include our staple burrata dish, which is made fresh and paired with new accompaniments each season. During summer, the dish features sweet cherries, heirloom tomatoes, bee pollen and basil seeds. The second starter that I would recommend for lunch is our heirloom tomato gazpacho, topped with sourdough croutons and fresh basil. Lastly, for those looking for a meat option, I would recommend our crispy pork belly that is served alongside watermelon, cilantro oil, ginger and toasted peanuts.

AM: For an entree, what are 3 entrees that we should have in mind when coming in for lunch?

CHEF AA: Three lunch entrees that I would recommend include our must-try staple Carolina gold rice risotto, which changes each season to feature the most fresh ingredients possible. The Carolina gold rice risotto dish encapsulates the rich summer flavors by featuring fresh charred corn, grilled broccoli and mimolette. For those looking for a seafood-forward dish, our Maine lobster roll. This dish is the epitome of summer, served on a fresh, toasted brioche with pickled chili and Thai basil. Lastly, our grilled Montauk bass for a light, feel good meal. The dish features a fresh, premium grilled Montauk bass with summer squash and a lemongrass emulsion.

AM: In terms of dessert, what are 3 dishes that we should think about the complete our meal?

CHEF AA: For dessert, I would recommend guests complete their meal with the strawberry flower pot, which includes strawberry mousse, lemon curd, biscuit Joconde and avocado ice cream. This dessert is not only delicious, but breathtakingly photogenic. Second, our summer peach, which is a fresh roasted peach with almond crunch, vanilla chantilly, thai basil sorbet and cherry coulis. Lastly, our signature dessert at Le Jardinier, the Valrhona Guanaja dark chocolate crémeux with salty caramel sabayon.

AM: For dinner, what are 3 starters that we should have in mind?

CHEF AA: For dinner at Le Jardinier, some starters I would recommend include our fresh and flavorful Spanish octopus, which is served with green olives, romesco, haricot vert and smoked paprika. For something on the lighter side, we offer a delicate dish of heirloom melons with Jonah crab, mint and elderflower vinegar. Another wonderful option on our starter menu is succulent Maine scallops with chermoula spiced cranberry bean ragout and thai basil, which is perfectly seared to a golden crust with herbal brightness that lifts the dish.

AM: For our entrees, what are 3 that we should have in mind?

CHEF AA: First, the Ora King Salmon, which is served with smoked chili butter, bok choy, pickled gooseberries and lovage oil. For those looking for something outside seafood, I would recommend our ricotta caramelle with garlic scape pesto, Jimmy nardello peppers and sunflower seeds. For a fresh, summer-forward dish that’s perfect for sharing, I would recommend the grilled dover sole with summer squash, lemongrass emulsion and thai basil.

AM: Can you tell us about 3 cocktails that you suggest that we should enjoy?

CHEF AA: We are thrilled to have expanded our portfolio in 2023 with the addition of Le Jardinier’s sister concept, Bar Bastion. The bar is situated above the restaurant, where we have a menu of refined-yet-playful cocktails that nod to the seasons, along with bar snacks made by our culinary team at the restaurant. Our current beverage menu is a wonderful selection of summertime sips that include cocktails like Touch of Sunshine, which is made with tequila, dry curacao, mandarin shrub, lime and agave or the Gin O’Keefe composed of gin, freshly made blueberry lavender syrup and lemon juice, which produce a soft, purple O'Keefe-esque hue, both aesthetically and flavorfully pleasing.

At Le Jardinier, the beverage program also features seasonal cocktails like the Sunset Sipper, which includes tequila, watermelon juice, Cointreau, cilantro and lime juice. Spritzes are also having a moment and we have a great one at Le Jardinier – the Lampone Spritz made with Cachaca, raspberry puree, creme de mure, prosecco and club soda.

AM: Currently, there is a Summer focused menu that is available at Le Jardinier, what can you tell us about the kinds of ingredients that we can expect when coming for the fall?

CHEF AA: For fall, we’re excited to use pumpkin, chestnuts, apples, and spices. I love using apples from New York State – they are some of the best out there and have so many different varieties. I go to Hope Farms every year and bring back as many apples as I can.

AM: You have also supported the development of Le Jardinier in Houston and in Miami, what does that involve?

CHEF AA: Yes, I am very involved in the larger Le Jardinier brand and work directly with all locations. I was deeply involved in openings of each location and the menu development, and we now all stay in close contact to continuously collaborate and innovate. I am often in Miami and Houston working in the kitchens alongside the chefs of each location. We put a lot of emphasis on mentorship at The Bastion Collection. I benefited greatly from working alongside Chef Alain and now, as Executive Chef, I am a resource for all of the chefs within the Collection in addition to Chef Alain.

AM: We are looking forward to attending Outstanding In The Field when it comes to Governors Island this month. You had the opportunity to participate at this culinary event earlier this year in Miami. How did you get connected to this event and why did you want to be part of it?

CHEF AA: Yes! We did our first dinner with Outstanding in the Field this past January in Miami at Paradise Farms. The collaboration with OTIF came together quite organically as we share a deep commitment to ethical and local sourcing. When we heard about their events and their mission, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to combine forces in working to connect diners with the land in a culinary event that is as beautiful as it is delicious.

AM: What are the synergies that exist between Le Jardinier and OITF?

CHEF AA: We work very hard to source our ingredients locally and responsibly at Le Jardinier and share the same mission as OITF of connecting diners with what they are eating and where it comes from.

AM: With the upcoming event being days away, what kinds of preparation go into creating this kind of menu and how many people are estimated to be at this outdoor dinner?

CHEF AA: We’re expecting over 150 people at the event. When thinking of the menu, we really wanted to showcase New York’s bounty and classically New York dishes. We will be doing our interpretation of hot dogs for canapes and then will utilize the amazing ingredients New York has to offer. As we’re next to the Atlantic Ocean, there’s plenty of seafood to choose from, and we have so much great produce from upstate and Long Island.

AM: Logistically, what are the challenges of making a meal like this outside versus in a full kitchen?

CHEF AA: There are a lot of elements that make cooking outdoors challenging – from unpredictable weather, to using cookware we don’t use day to day, to not having the full range of equipment we are accustomed to. It makes for an exciting project that requires some out-of-the-box thinking. It takes a lot of prep and planning on our end to make it all seamlessly come together.

AM: What are the Summer ingredients that will be on this menu?

CHEF AA: We will be using tomatoes, corn, summer squash, eggplants and potatoes, all from New York.

AM: What will be some of the purveyors and farms that will be used to source this meal and how do you shop locally to make all of this come together?

CHEF AA: We are bringing in a number of local purveyors that Le Jardinier works with regularly including Norwich Meadow Farms, and Crescent Farm.

AM: In terms of seasonality in NY versus Miami, what is the difference when we're looking at the Summer and then the Fall?

CHEF AA: Local sourcing is at the heart of what we do, and it’s endlessly interesting to me to embrace the unique flavors of the surroundings in each location. In Miami, we have direct access to the Florida Coast for snapper, fluke and shrimp. We source a variety of fresh produce that stands out in Florida like lemon balm, green peppers and cucumbers. In New York, we use local microgreens and source our seafood off the coast of Long Island in Montauk.

AM: What do you want guests to walk away with after attending and enjoying this meal?

CHEF AA: We are excited to partner with OTIF on our collective mission to educate the public about the food they consume. Curating a menu for their event at Governors Island is an opportunity to engage with a broader audience and inspire a deeper appreciation for the origins of food, fostering a connection between consumers and the sources of their meals. We hope people leave with a closer connection to the ingredients that are on their plate.

AM: For those of us that want to take elements of these experiences into our own rooftops, decks, or backyards what are some tips that we should keep in mind when creating a chic dinner party?

CHEF AA: Use what’s in season! Go to a local farmers market and see what’s available that appeals to you. Now that we are in August, there is a bounty of fresh ingredients to use like corn, tomatoes, stone fruit, and zucchini. It makes for a highly delicious meal that is sure to impress your guests, and you are able to support local farmers.

IG @andaroo_ayala

@lejardiniernyc

@thebastioncollection

@out_inthefield

@billionoyster

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | PG 132 - 137 Le Jardinier | PG 138 - 143 Outstanding in the Field/Adrian Blackwell

Read the AUG ISSUE #104 of Athleisure Mag and see FARM TO TABLE | Le Jardinier with Chef Andrew Ayala in mag.

OUTSTANDING IN THE FIELD ON GOVERNORS ISLAND

We always love an immersive culinary experience where we enjoy great dishes as well as getting to know about an event or focus that will allow us to see the impact of our attendance long after a great meal is enjoyed. We’re excited to share that you have the opportunity to enjoy Outstanding in the Field on Governors Island on Aug 29th at 3pm. Executive Chef Andrew Ayala and Executive Pastry Chef Salvatore Martone from Midtown’s Michelin-starred French Restaurant, Le Jardinier by the Bastion Collection will have a one-of-a-kind meal that is not to be missed! This dinner’s guest oyster farm is Fishers Island Oyster Farm, the guest winery is Hermann J. Weimer Vineyard, and the guest beverage producer is Mountain Valley Spring Water.

We love that there are various components that bring this event together and as you can still get tickets to this event, here is some background. Outstanding in the Field is known as a roving restaurant that takes place in a designated city on a certain date where there are no walls. Many restaurants that we have interviewed within our issues are so proud of how they source their ingredients from purveyors, farmer’s markets etc. Since 1999, this organization arrives with their long tables in fields, orchards, and seashores - this is because this is where the harvested ingredients come from that will be part of your meal. They have done this in 50 US States as well as 24 countries in the world. The ability to truly connect farm to table and to showcase and celebrate those who labor to feed us is important.

PHOTO CREDIT | Adrian Blackwell

PHOTO CREDIT | Adrian Blackwell

In their effort to connect with local chefs, farmers, and artisans to create these unique experiences, it’s no wonder that the chefs of French restaurant, Le Jardinier will be participating this year! Executive Chef Andrew Ayala participated in the Miami ideation this past winter to showcase Florida’s produce and we’re sure that he will find inspiration for what the Northeast provides in the summer and sourcing seafood off the coast and experimenting with peak season ingredients.

The event will kick off with a cocktail hour and then will have a multi-course meal and the Manhattan skyline will serve as a backdrop on Governors Island which is only accessible via ferry. Tickets are still available for $425/pp.

This event is also in partnership with the Billion Oyster Project, an organization that engages local students and youth volunteers to restore New York Harbor’s lost oyster reefs. 

We’re looking forward to attending this event and will have details on it as well as interview with in our AUG ISSUE #104 which drops on Aug 30th.

Read the lastest issue of Athleisure Mag.

IN THE KNOW | MICHELIN GUIDE

When we're thinking of where to eat and to stay, we're always looking for superb recommendations! The MICHELIN Guide is one of the most revered resources when it comes to finding a number of restaurants and hotels that you can enjoy in your desired city whether you're a local or traveling! We were honored to chat with them to know more about how this Guide from 1900 began in France; evolved; the criteria for restaurants and hotels that are included; who their Inspectors are; and the difference between being recognized versus receiving Stars and Keys!

We're so pleased that we got to find out this and more from the incredible team at MICHELIN who values the importance of focusing on your customer and seamlessly sends their teams in to evaluate the hard work that is done by restaurants and hotels that could be given honors.

ATHLEISURE MAG: The MICHELIN Guide was created in the 1900's. What is the correlation between MICHELIN Tires and the creation/purpose of this Guide?

MICHELIN: The story of the MICHELIN Guide began in 1900. At that time, before it became the international benchmark for restaurant and hotel guides, it was a 400-page guidebook containing practical information for travelers. It was given to motorists free of charge; its aim being to facilitate their travels and develop mobility. It started in Clermont-Ferrand in central France in 1889, when brothers Andre and Edourard Michelin founded their eponymous tire company, fuelled by a grand vision for the French automobile industry at a time when there were fewer than 3,000 cars in the country.

In order to help motorists develop their trips – thereby boosting car sales and in turn, tire sales – the Michelin brothers produced a small guide filled with information for travelers such as maps, information on how to change a tire, where to fill up on petrol, and for those looking for a respite from the adventures of the day, a listing of places to eat and to stay for the night!

For 2 decades, this information was available at no cost! That was until Andre Michelin arrived at a tire shop to see his beloved guides being used to prop up a workbench. Based on the principle that “man only truly respects what he pays for,” a brand new MICHELIN Guide was launched in 1920 and sold for 7 francs.

For the first time, it included a list of hotels in Paris, lists of restaurants according to specific categories, as well as the abandonment of paid-for advertisements in the guide. The brothers also recruited a team of mystery diners, now called restaurant inspectors as we know them today, to visit and review restaurants anonymously.

In 1926, the guide awarded stars for fine dining establishments and they were initially marked with a single star. In 1931, the hierarchy of zero, one, two, and three stars were introduced and in 1936, the criteria for the starred rankings were published.

The MICHELIN Guides now rate over 30,000 establishments in over 30 territories across three continents and more than 30 million MICHELIN Guides have been sold worldwide since. Due to the foresight of the founding Michelin brothers, the company maintains its mission and relevancy that it has had since 1900 to make driving, tourism, and the search for unforgettable experiences available to all.

AM: Can you tell us about the MICHELIN Guide Inspectors and what are the qualities or background that you look for in terms of finding those individuals who contribute to the Guide?

M: These former hospitality professionals all have at least 10 years of experience, which ensures that they have a precise and technical knowledge of the field. They also receive two years of training in the MICHELIN Guide’s methodology, which is based on objective and universally deployable criteria.

The team, which includes local and international inspectors, are fully capable of evolving in international gastronomic scenes and finding the best talents. MICHELIN Guide Inspectors enjoy complete independence in choosing the restaurants they visit. Only their knowledge of the local gastronomic scene – through research, monitoring and documentation – enable them to find their way around.

No one can tell the difference between a regular customer and a Guide Inspector. Their identity, when they are visiting, and where they are all kept secret. They pay their own bills, just as any other restaurant-goer.

Consistency is very important when awarding MICHELIN Stars, so we need to be sure that the customers will receive the same high standard of cooking whenever they visit. Various Inspectors will visit throughout the seasons: for lunch as well as for dinner, both at the weekend and during the week. We try to eat as many dishes as possible over the course of the year, as we do need to try as much of the chef’s food as we can. We have to be sure that all the dishes that come out of the kitchen are of a consistently high standard. Sometimes we eat alone, sometimes in pairs, and occasionally even as a group. Once several inspectors have eaten at a restaurant, they can discuss their experiences as a team in order to make a final decision.

AM: Do the Inspectors work throughout the year to visit restaurants and hotels around the world?

M: Yes, the MICHELIN Guide selection is provided annually, based on the anonymous and independent dining & travel experiences of the inspection team, and they are re-evaluated each year.

AM: In looking at the US, The MICHELIN North American Guide first launched in 2005 starting with New York, Chicago debuted in 2011, Washington DC followed in 2017, California started with San Francisco in 2008 and it was statewide in 2019, in 2022 Miami/Orlando/Tampa, FL launched, Toronto joined in 2022 along with Vancouver, and both Colorado and Atlanta launched last year! How do cities in the US that have yet to be included go about getting MICHELIN's attention for their restaurants and hotels to be considered for inclusion?

M: The MICHELIN Guide inspection team is always evaluating new destinations for the Guide, around the world. MICHELIN decides whether to have its anonymous inspectors conduct a destination assessment. Once all the conditions are present to highlight the quality of the culinary scene in a given city, region or country, the MICHELIN Guide begins its process. Only the inspectors, based on their expert research, choose destinations.

AM: We have had the pleasure of interviewing a number of chefs that have received MICHELIN stars. Can you tell us about what each star means and what the criteria is?

M: A MICHELIN Star is awarded to restaurants offering outstanding cooking.Any restaurant of any style and cuisine type can qualify for a Star. We take into account 5 universal criteria: the quality of ingredients, the harmony of flavors, the mastery of techniques, the personality of the chef as expressed through the cuisine and, just as importantly, consistency both across the entire menu and over time.

One MICHELIN Star is awarded to restaurants using top quality ingredients, where dishes with distinct flavors are prepared to a consistently high standard.

Two MICHELIN Stars are awarded when the personality and talent of the chef are evident in their expertly crafted dishes; their food is refined and inspired.

Three MICHELIN Stars is our highest award, given for the superlative cooking of chefs at the peak of their profession; their cooking is elevated to an art form and some of their dishes are destined to become classics.

If the restaurant is currently in the MICHELIN Guide then they don’t need to apply for a Star, as all restaurants in the guide are re-assessed regularly. If we feel that the cooking at a restaurant is no longer at the same level that it was, then we would not re-award the Star the following year. Any restaurant can ask us to consider them for inclusion in the MICHELIN Guide and we love receiving recommendations from our readers too.

AM: We know that the first star came in 1926 and between 1931 and 1933 there is the 3-star system. Do you think that there will be a point where an additional star may be added to the system?

M: At this time, we don’t have news to share about the star system being extended.

AM: We talked about the MICHELIN Star. What is the difference between a Green Star and a Bib Gourmands?

M: The Green Star is our newest award. It was introduced to the MICHELIN Guide France in 2020 and is now featured in every country covered by the MICHELIN Guide. It is awarded to restaurants that are role models when it comes to sustainable gastronomy.

The Bib Gourmand is our award for great value, and highlights simple yet skillful cooking at an affordable price. (But we should also say that we are looking for a high standard of cooking just for a restaurant to be recommended in the MICHELIN Guide).

AM: Why do MICHELIN Guides have different times that they are awarded in terms of destination?

M: The MICHELIN Guide distinctions are awarded annually for each destination. The selections are revealed at different times throughout the year based on event planning, which is done in partnership with MICHELIN and the destination marketing organization.

AM: What advice would you give to a young chef?

M: There are three things:

• Great cooking starts with great ingredients, so use the best produce you can find – whether that’s a tomato or a chicken.

• Take pleasure in cooking for your customers, rather than cooking to try and win awards.

• Eat out as much as you can, but also eat your own dishes – sometimes it’s not until you’re halfway through a dish that you realize it’s not quite right.

AM: The MICHELIN Key is a new distinction that is available to hotels! Can you tell us more about this and on Apr 8th the first Keys were announced for hotels in Paris, when will they be announced for other guides like those in the US?

M: The latest addition to the MICHELIN Guide accolades is the MICHELIN Keys which highlights establishments in the Guide’s hotel selection offering the most exceptional stays. The first selection of MICHELIN Keys were awarded in France with a selection team that is based on anonymous stays or visits, independent of existing labels, tourism stars, and pre-established quotas. The MICHELIN Keys are becoming a new international benchmark for travelers helping them to find accommodations that stand out for their unique hospitality concept, distinctive character, warm welcome and very high level of service. These hotels can be booked on its digital platforms.

In this very first list, 189 hotels and ac commodations, among some 600 establishments already recommended by the MICHELIN Guide France, are honored with 24 Three MICHELIN Keys, 38 Two MICHELIN Keys and 127 One MICHELIN Keys.

Just like the famous Stars, that, in the MICHELIN Guide restaurant selection, indicate establishments offering the best culinary experiences, the Keys reveal accommodations in the Guide’s hotel selection that offer the most outstanding stays. They are a new benchmark for travelers, qualifying the experiences in broad terms, rather than focusing solely on amenities.

One MICHELIN Key: A Very Special Stay – This is a true gem with its own character and personality. It may break the mold, offer something different or simply be one of the best of its type. Service always goes the extra mile and it provides so much more than similarly priced establishments.

Two MICHELIN Keys: An Excellent Stay – Somewhere truly unique and exceptional in every way, where a memorable experience is always guaranteed. A hotel of character, personality and charm that’s run with obvious pride and considerable care. Eye-catching design or architecture, and a real sense of the locale make this an exceptional place to stay.

Three MICHELIN Keys: An Extraordinary Stay – It’s all about astonishment and indulgence here – this is the ultimate in comfort and service, style and elegance. It is one of the world’s most remarkable and extraordinary hotels and a destination in itself for that trip of a lifetime. All the elements of truly great hospitality are here to ensure any stay will stay long in the memory and hearts.

France is the first country to unveil its honorees of 189 establishments. After France, the MICHELIN Keys were announced on Apr 24th for the United States (Atlanta, California, Chicago, Colorado, Florida, New York, and Washington DC.) Spain followed on Apr 29th, following with Italy on May 7th, and Japan on Jul 4th.

AM: You can also book hotels through the MICHELIN Guide, why should we do this here when we are organizing our next trip?

M: All of the MICHELIN Guide hotel recommendations can be found free of charge on the MICHELIN Guide website and app. On these digital platforms, all of the recommended hotels can be booked at the best available rate. To assist travelers throughout their stay, the MICHELIN Guide also provides a concierge service offered by a team of travel experts, employed by the MICHELIN Guide.

AM: Last fall, there was a MICHELIN Guide Ceremony that took place in Tribeca for New York, Chicago, and Washington DC to celebrate restaurants and professionals on one night! Chefs were invited to see if they received a Star. Will there be a ceremony this year that is like this?

M: The MICHELIN Guide selections are awarded annually for each destination. We don’t have news to share on the the format of the ceremonies for New York, DC or Chicago at this time for 2024.

AM: The MICHELIN Guide App is really informative in terms of seeing those restaurants that have varying distinctions or simply being recognized/listed, having access to articles, being able to book hotels/connect to restaurants etc. As we continue to navigate 2024, will there be additional offerings on the app for users to be able to enjoy or utilize?

M: You can stay tuned to our website guide.michelin.com for information about any new features regarding the apps. Updates will also periodically be available via the app store as they are released.

IG @michelinguide

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | PG 114 One White Street/Gary He | PG 116 MICHELIN

Read the APR ISUE #100 of Athleisure Mag and see IN THE KNOW | MICHELIN GUIDE in mag.

ATHLEISURE LIST | CUCINA 8 ½

We love a classic NYC experience and you'll find it when you head to Midtown at Cucina 8 ½ opened in 2021 and was formerly the home of Brasserie 8 ½ where you will descend into the restaurant for your next meal. In changing the space over, it was redesigned by fashion designer Cesar Galindo who was inspired by the high fashion crowd of 5th Ave as well as the timeless elegance of Old New York with the sweeping staircase. The interiors combine jewel tones and nature hues that can be seen from open seating as well as tufted booths with curtains that can close for privacy.

The team is excited to have Chef Sam Hazen who has worked at a number of restaurants, and is most known as the Executive Chef for 11 years at TAO where he crafted its menu that highlights the combination of different Asian cuisines. He will revamp Cucina 8 ½’s menu items and add to its extensive offering.

For lunch with family and friends, we suggest 3 appetizers that you should try: Insalata Verde – Gem lettuce, aged ricotta, marcona almonds, Meatballs – whipped ricotta, tomato, basil, constini, and Tonno – tuna tartare, sicilian oil, spicy aioli, fett’unta.

For your entrees for this midday meal, we suggest: Sterling Caviar Omelette – lemon mascarpone, baby greens, caviar, Chicken Milanese – Tuscan potato, arugula, and Grilled Salmone – Olivada, charred trevisano.

For dinner, we suggest their Caesar Salad (prepared table-side), Polpo Alla Griglia – Grilled octopus, celery hearts, sicilian oregano, and Raviolo Al’ Uovo – Farm egg, ricotta, black truffle as options for appetizers.

For your main meal, you should have your eye on the Branzino – Shaved fennel salad, citrus mint, Prime Ribeye for 2 36 OZ – Puttanesca vinaigrette, grilled filone bread, and Chicken Parmesan (served tableside) – bianco di Napoli tomato, basil, fior di latte mozzarella.

To end your meal, think about sharing Orange Olive Oil Cake – Crema Chantilly, Seasonal Selection of Gelato & Sorbet, and Tiramisu – Espresso-soaked lady fingers, mascarpone cream.

These classic cocktails are perfect to pair with your meal whether it's a Negroni, Limoncello Spritz, or a Cosmopolitan.

If you're still thinking about your NYE plans, Cucina 8 ½ will be open for dinner on New Years Eve and will have specials for the night and live music. They will be closed on New Years day.

CUCINA 8 ½

9 W 57th St

NY, NY 10019

cucina812.com

IG @812newyork

PHOTO CREDITS | Liz Clayman

Read the DEC ISSUE #96 of Athleisure Mag and see ATHLEISURE LIST | CUCINA 8 ½ in mag.

ATHLEISURE LIST | RUA THAI BAR

Rua Thai opened in July 2023 in Brooklyn. Thailand is known for its floating markets, where vendors offer food, handicrafts and souvenirs from traditional wooden boats afloat on khlongs (canals). Chef and co-owner Kornpon Theeraumpornkul grew up in the province of Ratchaburi in central Thailand, home to Damnoen Saduak, one of the largest and most famous floating markets in the country. Rua (rowboat in Thai) pays homage to the markets and his family, who sold food at the market.

Chef Kornpon's grandmother taught him most of the family recipes. He enjoyed modifying the recipes to create something new and to have his family try them for feedback. When he came to the US, he worked in the kitchen alongside many skillful chefs at Prem-On, one of the most famous Thai restaurants in New York at that time. Later he became the head chef at one of the most popular Thai restaurants in New York called Yum Yum. He worked for about 20 years in New York restaurant industry before opening Rua Thai.

Ingredients and spices that are indicative of Thai cuisine are Thai chili, white pepper, and lemongrass.

3 Appetizers we suggest to try are the Shrimp Donuts served stacked on a sugarcane stick, RUA Fresh Summer Rolls with beautiful edible flowers, and Crispy Calamari with their signature egg yolk seafood mayonnaise dipping sauce.

3 Entrees that we suggest are: Mama Tom Yum Grilled River Prawns served over sauteed tom yum flavored ramen noodles; Fish Curry Custard with butterfly pea rice, and Pla Tod Numpla crispy whole branzino with mango salad.

We added Kanom Jeen Rice Vermicelli a perfect rice for summer with curries and other dishes. Thai Fried Rice and Basil Fried Rice also go well with many dishes.

Cocktails are created by one of the co-owners Dolporn Thongneam and a bartender. We suggest trying Chom Bueng is made with whiskey with a touch of lemongrass and homemade honey syrup, it is smoked and served covered to be unveiled at the table - it brings the experience to the next level.

Pak Tho, a watermelon mojito, is a thirst-quenching cocktail that’s great for the summer, the watermelon makes it very refreshing.

Suan Pueng is a cocktail created to pair with Thai food, it has a gin base and a hint of basil which goes very well with gin.

To complete your meal and to end with something sweet, we suggest Mango Sticky Rice, Coconut Pudding, and Chocolate Lava Cake.

RUA THAI

204 Smith St,

Brooklyn, NY 1120

ruathai.com

IG @ruathainyc

PHOTO CREDITS | Michael Tulipan

Read the AUG ISSUE #92 of Athleisure Mag and see ATHLEISURE LIST | Rua Thai Bar in mag.

THE ART OF THE SNACK | GOA NEW YORK

This month's The Art of the Snack takes us to Goa New York, an Indian restauran that takes our taste buds to another level with their savory dishes! We had the chance to catch up with Chef/Owner and Restaurateur Hemant Bhagwani who has opened a number of restaurants in Canada! With Goa New York, he brings his vision of Indian food here in NY for us to enjoy. We wanted to find out more about his culinary background, how he got into the industry, opening Goa, and what we can expect when we come in with our friends and family for an amazing meal!

ATHLEISURE MAG: Can you tell us about your background and culinary journey?

CHEF HEMANT BHAGWANI: I was born in India and got my hotel and culinary management degree in Switzerland. I then put my learning to use in Sydney and Dubai, getting involved in every stage of a restaurant from start-up operations to turning around struggling ones to taking successful ones to new heights. I landed in Toronto in 2000 and launched my Canadian career. After adding a professional sommelier certification to my qualifications, I decided to set out on my own in an effort to get Indian cuisine the recognition and respect it rightfully deserves. Since 2002, I have opened 57 restaurants.

AM: You are a celebrated Indian chef/chef restaurateur in Toronto and have opened a number of restaurants in Canada. Why did you want to open your first U.S. project?

CHEF HB: I have long wanted to bring my style of Indian food to the U.S., and I am very excited to start with New York City. This is truly where it's at! Getting Indian food recognized for its range, flavors, variety, and array of ingredients is what I have always strived towards. The logical next step for me after Canada was the U.S.

ATHLEISURE MAG: You're known for channeling the vibe of Goa. Can you tell us about this and what that means?

CHEF HB: In 2017, feeling burned out from many years in the restaurant industry, I sold my company and took a six-month sabbatical. I spent those six months in Goa, where I fell in love with the place, the culture, and most importantly the cuisine. Goa is not just a place. It's a vibe. It's colorful, vibrant, and pulsating with energy. It's unlike anything and any place else! Goa is India's happy place or as I call it the 'Miami' of India.

AM: You launched Goa New York in Tribeca in Feb, from an ambiance standpoint, what can diners expect when they are coming for their next great meal?

CHEF HB: Goa New York is a luxurious space that draws its inspiration from nature as its palette. When you step through the doors, you are greeted by the sight of two peacocks that were custom designed for the space. Whimsically, we call them Melody and Mayura (peacock in Hindi). As you continue further inside, you will see our interpretation of the Tree of Life, inspired by the century-old banyan tree in Arambol, Goa. The wallpaper is also evocative of nature scenes with flora and fauna. We aim to combine the ambiance with exquisite food and drink offerings, and music, to bring a sublime experience every time.

AM: What ingredients and spices are associated with Indian cuisine?

CHEF HB: Indian cuisine is actually many, many different regional cuisines. But religion also plays a role in how the same dish might be prepared. Broadly speaking, and just to name a few spices, Indian cuisine uses turmeric (also recognized worldwide now for its health benefits), cumin, coriander, garam masala, fenugreek, asafetida, and Indian red chili powder (which is brighter and hotter than paprika), as well as ingredients such as cinnamon, bay leaf, mace, nutmeg, fennel seeds, carom, cloves, mustard seeds, curry leaves. What my restaurants specialize in is using locally available high-quality ingredients and giving them the traditional Indian treatment. The result is what you will experience when you visit Goa New York.

AM: Your menu reflects your culinary journey across the world. Why was it important to bring this modern, playful, and interactive take to the food that is offered here?

CHEF HB: One learns from one's travels! I have been traveling, learning, and evolving since I left India right after high school. Along the journey, my skills have been honed, my repertoire has expanded, and the learning continues, of course. This is the very reason I am here, to bring MY take. That includes the modern aspect, and the playful and interactive take. I believe that when you come to my restaurant, you are my guest as much as you would be at my home so you get to have the full benefit of my experiences around the world.

AM: What are 3 appetizers that you suggest that we should have when we come in?

CHEF HB: I recommend the Shrimp Balchao Toast Tiger Shrimp in a spicy tangy spicy sauce, red radish, prawn chili oil, on Japanese milk bread toast; Goan Style Slaw Goan Salad with 16 ingredients, green chili, salted star fruit, and plum dressing; and Hamachi Ceviche Coconut Broth, kokum dressing, crispy puffed rice, and chili salsa.

AM: What are 3 entrees that we should have with friends and family?

CHEF HB: Great for friends and family are the Goan Prawn Curry with okra, drumsticks, coconut, kokum, dried mango, Portuguese chili-garlic oil; Pork Tenderloin Sorpotal an essential pork curry from Goa, slow cooked, with caramelized onions, roasted kohlrabi curry; and Laal Maas 8-hour slow-cooked, bone-in goat leg in Rajasthani red chilies. I also recommend the Butter Chicken because I do think we make the best butter chicken in NYC - it's charcoal smoked.

AM: What are 3 sides that we must have?

CHEF HB: Some of our great sides include the House Baked Sourdough Poi Bread which we serve with a choice of chorizo butter or balchao butter; Shakuti Chicken Pao white chicken massaged with coconut and then cooked in a spicy tamarind curry, served with pao bread; and the Rawa Fish Fry with granulated wheat chili crisp, pickled red cabbage, green chili chutney. The chicken and fish are listed as appetizers, but I love to have them as sides! The portion size is perfect to add as a side to any dish.

AM: In terms of cocktails, what are 3 that we should have?

CHEF HB: The Goan Paradise a classic Goan-Portuguese cocktail from the 1920s with coconut feni (Goan spirit), fresh lime juice, spicy syrup smoked on the table; Kokum Margarita with Ginjo-shu tequila curry leaf, lime juice, kokum salt, agave nectar; and the Goan Shandy with ginger wine, ginger cordial, lemon juice, wheat beer, ginger matchsticks - are all great options!

AM: Dessert is a great way to end a meal, what are 3 that we should share with friends and family?

CHEF HB: I recommend the crispy Jalebi Rabdi, which we serve with Moscato; Bebinca Goan layered coconut cake paired with sherry; and the Cumin-chocolate Fondant with tawny port.

IG @goanewyork

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | Michael Tulipan

Read the JUN ISSUE #90 of Athleisure Mag and see THE ART OF THE SNACK | Goa New York in mag.

SERVING UP SELF-CARE | SLOANE STEPHENS

As we close out 2022, we're already thinking about what we're going to do in the New Year personally and professionally! In the midst of all this activity, we need to take time and to enjoy the moments along the way!

This month's cover is Grand Slam US Open 2017 Champion, Sloane Stephens. She has made impressive moments at the French Open, Australian Open, Wimbledon and a number of matches and won an ESPY for Top Female Tennis Player in 2018 and because of her philanthropic work with the Sloane Stephens Foundation, she was nominated and a finalist for the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award in 2019.

We have had the pleasure to connect with her in previous issues, but this month, we're talking about her upcoming tennis season, self-care and what she does while traveling! She definitely knows a thing or two about juggling a busy schedule while also taking the necessary time that she needs.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We had the pleasure of interviewing a few years back and then right before the US Open, you took time out of your schedule to share your 63MIX ROUTIN3S with us about what you do Morning, Afternoon and Night. With the season starting Jan 1st, what are the weeks like for you between now and the start of the season whether it’s training, relaxing, enjoying the holiday season, etc?

SLOANE STEPHENS: I’ve had one of the best off-seasons I’ve ever had this year! I started out by freezing my eggs at Kindbody. I’ve wanted to freeze my eggs for a while and the timing was finally right to commit to the process. From there, we went to Iceland to celebrate Jozy’s birthday and spent a few days as a family at the Retreat Hotel at the Blue Lagoon getting spa treatments and soaking in the hot springs. Iceland is only a 5 hour nonstop flight from Boston, so it was an easy trip! The day after Thanksgiving, we left for Africa. We went on the most incredible safari in South Africa at Londolozi and saw a gorilla trek at Virunga National Park. This was my first trip to Africa and I cannot wait to go back. I’m now back in Boston doing a training block with my trainer before heading for a tennis training block in Cabo through Christmas. From Cabo, I’ll fly directly to Auckland, NZ to begin the season!

AM: What tournaments are you looking forward to this year?

SS: Red clay is my favorite surface, so I always look forward to the European clay court season in the spring, which culminates at Roland Garros. As an American, any time I can play on US soil is extra special, so I’m looking forward to playing at Indian Wells, Miami, the US Open, and a new tournament in Austin.

AM: What is your routine before and after your matches?

SS: Before I play, I usually eat some pasta and a piece of lean protein like a chicken breast or piece of fish. I typically go into the locker room and put my headphones in and spend some time thinking and mentally going over the match plan I outlined with my coach the night before. About 30 minutes before my match, I’ll break a light sweat on a stationary bike and go through some fitness drills to make sure I’m starting the match with quick feet and dynamic movement.

After the match, I’ll do a quick cool down and shower before handling any mandatory media commitments. Once I’m done with that, I’ll either get a massage on-site or go back to my hotel and get some treatment from my physio. Depending on the time of day, I’ll then head out to dinner and prepare for the next day.

AM: How important is recovery to you after working out or after a match? What are the kinds of things that you do after these activities?

SS: Recovery is a critical piece of both the fitness and recovery process. Cooling down and taking the time to stretch and flush out muscles is really important for recovery and preparing for the next day and next match.

AM: Many of our readers are balancing hectic schedules – you got married at the top of the year to Jozy Altidore, an international soccer star – how do you make sure you give time to yourself, being with your husband and family?

SS: I make a lot of effort to have a very structured schedule and communicate my boundaries and commitments to my team. When it’s family time, it is family time and the phone is away. When it’s time to train, I’m training. When it’s time to work on my Foundation or on my outside businesses and investments, I’m fully there. I’ve also learned the things that bring me the most joy and fulfillment and prioritize those activities. When I’m home and able to spend time with my family, I take advantage of every single second of that time we’re together.

AM: In your sport, you spend a lot of time traveling 40+ weeks of the year! You kick off the season in Australia with the Australian Open. Also via your IG feed, you travel for fun – you’re South African trip looks amazing! How do you make your spaces feel like home when you’re traveling?

SS: I try to keep some consistent products and activities in my routine so that I can rely on those consistencies no matter where I am. A super easy way to do this is with bringing a candle from home - I find that having the same scent is really grounding and helps me feel in control of my environment.

AM: When it comes to choosing what hotel you like to stay at and to help our readers that may be planning their next trip, what are the things that you look for?

SS: For most tournaments, there is an official tournament hotel, so I just stay wherever I need to. In some cases, like in Paris and New York where there are endless options, we get to pick our own hotels. I love to stay at The Langham in New York and Hotel Vernet in Paris. I love when a hotel has a good breakfast, it’s just one less decision to make in the day. I also love great showers and friendly concierges.

AM: In terms of your suitcase, what are some of the important things that are must for you to pack so that you have your necessities as well as options for the unexpected?

SS: The most important thing in my suitcase is my passport. If I have my passport, I can pretty much figure everything else out as I go! Of course, I also need my tennis racquets to do my job! I travel with a lot of skin care products because I love the sense of calm and order that a consistent routine brings.

AM: What are some of your travel hacks that have proven to work for you that we should know?

SS: I cannot overstate the importance of hydrating during travel. The entire travel experience is really drying - the plane air is dry, hotels can be dry, the change in climates can be tough - it’s a lot. Hydrating inside and out helps your body adjust to new situations and new timezones and it is so simple to do. I think a lot of people are hit with a double-whammy when it comes to dehydration because they’re drinking a lot of caffeine to try and stay awake during travel or they might be having some alcoholic beverages while they’re away, and both of those things are also really dehydrating on the body, so it’s all the more important to hydrate.

AM: Do you have anything that you do before, during or after hopping on a flight whether it’s a beauty process, self-care, etc?

SS: I’ve started wearing WHOOP’s new Blue Light Glasses to avoid disrupting my circadian rhythms with too much screen time - it makes a huge difference when I’m trying to sleep the next night. I also try to get up and walk around on the plane to keep the blood flowing and prevent blood clots or feeling super stiff when I land.

AM: When you arrive in your designated city, whether it’s for work or fun, what are the things that you look for in terms of restaurants, activities and shopping that you want to explore?

SS: When I was first starting out on tour, I rarely ventured out. I stuck close to the hotel and always went back to the same restaurants. There are already so many variables at play when traveling for work and needing to compete, so I never wanted to risk an upset stomach or having any sort of issues. Now that I’ve been traveling to the same cities for 15+ years, I have a great mix of my tried and true staple spots but have also really enjoyed researching and trying new spots. I think being locked down during Covid made me appreciate the incredible opportunity I have to travel the world and made me look forward to getting back out and exploring.

AM: Do you have separate beauty routines for daytime versus night time?

SS: Yes! I wake up and drink a huge glass of water. I brush my teeth and then wash my face with a gentle cleanser like the iS Clinical Cleansing Complex. I sleep with various moisturizing layers, so I don’t want to take that all off and dry myself out again. I usually head right to practice or training, so I put Neutrogena sunscreen on my face and sometimes I’ll use the Dr. Barbara Sturm Anti-Pollution Drops under my sunscreen. I sweat pretty much every day and am always wearing sunscreen, so I like to do a body scrub in the shower at night to scrub that all away and feel like I’m going to bed super clean. For the record, I love piping hot showers, the hottest the dial will turn - boil me!! After I get out of the shower, I layer on the moisturizers - I start with a lotion and then will layer a body oil on top if I’m feeling extra ashy in certain spots. I go through the same routine every day and it helps my body and mind recognize that it is time to start unwinding and preparing for bed. None of the products I use at night have any energizing scents like eucalyptus or lemon verbena - it’s all fragrance free. If I want a relaxing scent, I’ll turn on a diffuser or light a candle. I always travel with diffusers or candles.

AM: How important is mental health and self-care to your training and state of being whether you’re working in your sport or just being out and about?

SS: There is an undeniable link between mental health and physical well-being. Both parts have to be working in harmony. Tennis as a sport inherently requires a lot of mental energy - it’s just you out there and everyone is looking at you, so I find that taking care of my mental health is just as important as how I take care of my body. It is encouraging to see this sort of discourse make its way into more mainstream conversations and I hope that more people are encouraged to find the practices, tools, and therapies that help them.

AM: Why does the wellness space mean so much to you and what can you tell us about your new brand that you are launching next year as we know you may not be able to say too much!

SS: The wellness space is so important to me as both an athlete and as a woman. I've always loved to try new products and am constantly in pursuit of the best ways to take care of my skin and body. I will be venturing into the wellness space myself next year, so stay tuned!

AM: We know how important The Sloane Stephens Foundation is to you. Are there new projects or initiatives that you are focused on that you would like to share?

SS: Thank you for asking! The Sloane Stephens Foundation is actually celebrating our 10 year anniversary in March 2023 - I cannot believe it’s been 10 years! I wanted to use tennis as the vehicle to keep kids in school, keep them healthy, and keep them physically safe. Tennis has given me so much in my life but I know that it can feel very unapproachable, especially to people from under-resourced communities who might not be able to afford the equipment or coaching, or to underrepresented communities where they might not see a lot of players that look like them. I sought out to change that. We work with over 15,000 kids each year across the Compton Unified School District and provide tennis, academic, mental health, and financial literacy programs. One of the things I’m most proud of us that almost all of our coaches are actually graduates of our programs who have decided to come on as staff members while they pursue their college degrees. It’s very much a big family and it feels very sustainable to have programs designed and implemented by the community and for the community.

IG @sloanestephens

@sloanestephensfoundation

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | FRONT COVER + BACK COVER, PG 28 9DRIP Courtesy of Sloane Stephens | PG 16 - 19, 22 + PG 82 9PLAYLIST BNP Paribas Open | PG 21 John Cordes/Icon Sportswire | PG 25 Masha Maltsava | PG 26 Federico Pestellini/Panoramic/Icon Sportswire |

Read the DEC ISSUE #84 of Athleisure Mag and see SERVING UP SELF-CARE | Sloane Stephens in mag.

BRINGING THE SMOKE WITH B-REAL

For our cover story this month we caught up with B-Real, from the ground-breaking hip hop group, Cypress Hill. Legendary for his pioneering music and being an ambassador and activist for the use and legalization for cannabis, we delve into the iconic sound of Cypress Hill; his new solo album ‘Tell You Somethin,’ produced with Scott Storch; the magic behind his cult hit ‘Dr. Greenthumb;’ the history of Insane OG and creating and expanding his industry-leading Dr. Greenthumb's Cannabis Dispensaries; creating Phuncky Feel Tips; his G Pen and Stündenglass Gravity Hookah collabs; cannabis and culinary; working out on the road and more!

ATHLEISURE MAG: Looking back on all the times we listened to Cypress Hill, and it’s amazing to think, we’ve had all these different emotions – happy, sad, parties, chilling, raging it’s just crazy – how is it to produce music to hit all those different vibes?

B-REAL: I mean, it’s pretty natural cuz we were pretty much just going by what we were feeling and we were experiencing. So there were times we were joyful, happy, clowning around like young men and stuff like that. Other times we were frustrated, angry - so I think we captured all those type of emotions and being that we’re stoners we also caught that laid back stoner vibe, so I think it was really organic as we were being who we were and we just happened to capture the vibe of regular kids growing up in Los Angeles, and sort of being the bullhorn for these different vibes and situations and scenarios that we were living through that others were living the same thing and could relate to. So I think that’s why its had an impact the way that it did and everybody had some sort of feeling for we were doing and I think that was the connection that we touched on those connections that anyone has been through.

AM: So you’re going on tour with all of these festivals, how is it performing live in these post Covid times?

B: It’s interesting, different because of the protocols and stuff like that. You’ve got to be safe and responsible and also accountable. And at the same time, it’s great, you’re back in front of a crowd and you’re getting a connection, getting a reaction from the music and the energy and all of that stuff and people have so much of that energy built up from the last 2½ years and they try to find any way to letting it go and blowing off some of that steam, so I think that this was helpful toward people trying to get that. At the same being an honest person that gives a shit about people, it’s also kind of scary because we’re going to some of these places where we don’t know what the venue policy is and how protected are the people, that is the one thing that concerns me. But in terms of getting out there and playing in front of people, and seeing that happiness, that crazy unbridled energy – it’s definitely a great feeling.

AM: So you have this new solo album ‘Tell You Somethin,’ produced by Scott Storch, with great featured artists, like Ty Dolla $ign, Rick Ross, Krayzie Bone, Berner and more, what went into the album and what made the sound and vibes about it?

B: Well you know originally I wasn’t planning to do a solo album. I had so much on my plate with my projects with Berner, because him and I are constantly putting out albums together; Cypress Hill obviously ‘cause we’re working on our next album - our last album in fact; and I also had Prophets of Rage going; as well as the group that I have with Xzibit and the other cat named Demrick named the Serial Killers. So I just had so much on my plate, I didn’t think that trying to fit in another project was going to be conducive to my schedule and what not. But we were doing one of my Smokebox interviews, it’s an interview in a CadIllac, in one of my low rider cars, and us smoking out and boxing out the car, just having the car, just having a conversation, not necessarily an interview. But Scott Storch was down at my studio for this - and as many artists do - we were like ‘oh we should do something.’ And we’ve known each other a long time, and our lineage dates back to Philly, way back when he was an intern at Ruffhouse Music which was the label which we were first signed to. So we go way back, and we talked about it. When artists do that sometimes you know they have full intention of working together, and other times they’re full of shit! And Scott was not full of shit, he hit me up and said ‘hey man why don’t you come down and lets vibe out,’ and all of the sessions that we had were vibe outs. He would never have one beat ready, like a folder, that’s how it is these days, producers will give you folders with beats and then you pick’em. With Scott and I, I went to his house, everyday we would have a session and we vibed out, smoked out, and thought OK if we were here what would the vibe be like and he would sort of tinker with stuff, and then we would get ideas from that and then we would just build each song based on the vibe and the idea and what not. So it was really organic the way it came out man - every song was written and produced from scratch. And I haven’t had a chance to work on an album exactly like that in a long time. You know the last Cypress Hill album ‘Elephants On Acid’ was sort of like that. We’ve always worked like that, like never really worked like take these beats and go from that, a couple times we might have done that, but primarily our vibe is let’s go to the studio and create from scratch and see what the vibe is and so it was refreshing to get back to that sort of thing in a world of folder transfers and file transfers, and shit like that. You know it just felt good to be in the studio and being produced by the producer. It's a very different sound for me in terms what people are used to hearing me on as it relates to hard core hip hop with Cypress Hill and Serial Killers and stuff like that. The stuff I do with Berner is close to what I’ve done with Scott, but this is a venture out of my own. So, we felt really good about it. It took a while to put this album out because I have so much shit going on, but I was very, very excited to put it out and glad when it finally came out, I thought it never would and shit it took so long.

AM: Yeah sometimes it feels like life goes so fast, and sometimes it’s like paint drying right?

B: Yeah, because when we were working on this album I had all this other stuff scheduled out, and it pretty much had to wait before I knocked all of that schedule down, before I could actually put it out there. I don’t like to shortchange or shortcut anything I’m working on so I didn’t want to bring something in the middle and cut that project in half. I’ve done that and it's sad when you’ve got a good project going on and you cut it cuz you’ve got to rush something else out because you have a fucking timeline. So I just threw that out the window, and I’m going to finsh all of my obligations, and then put this out so I can give the particular attention I can give it for this particular piece. So I did that and right now I’ve had these Cypress Hill shows, so I haven’t had time to do my own shows, but I know that will come over time, and as the album is building some momentum and the songs are building momentum, when it’s the right time, I’ll go out and do some shows and what not.

AM: So you had some great collabs with it and around 4/20 this year. You gave out a download to Mother Mary, and then did some NFTs around it. How is it to be in the intersection between music, cannabis and technology?

B: Well it’s cool. You know the position that we’re in, in terms of all 3 of those platforms. We're just trying to stay ahead and keep pace with what we want to do, in terms of our growth in the cannabis industry, and maintain our position in the music industry, and forge forward in technology cuz that’s where it’s all going. Technology has a lot to do with both worlds right now. And you know we've got a pretty fucking cool and efficient team so we’ve been managing to stay ahead.

AM: Back in ‘91 you dropped ‘Stoned Is The Way of the Walk,’ on your debut album Cypress Hill – had never heard something like that before – and then Black Sunday with ‘Hits From The Bong, ‘Legalize it,’ ‘I Want to Get High..’ what was the process in putting out those benefits to cannabis in the liner notes and starting to champion use and legalization of cannabis from all the way back then?

B: Well you know on our first album we were putting out our vibe: this is who we are, this is what we believe in, and we believed strongly in cannabis legalization and all that stuff so the first album was sort of the set up with ‘Stoned Is The Way of the Walk’ and ‘Light Another.’ And as we start gaining momentum groups like NORML started getting wind of who we are and offered us spokeswork and being ambassadors to the movement, and that led to meeting up with High Times and doing the High Times cover and creating a long lasting friendship with my man Steve Bloom, and getting information, and eventually we would meet Jack Herer, who opened our eyes to everything, and because of the things we learned from him, and him being our mentor in the cannabis world, we took information from his book ‘Emperor Wears No Clothes,’ and applied some of that information in our liner notes on that album. So he was a big influence on us and his knowledge was basically what carried us trough and took us to the next steps of being advocates and activists. So we were much more educated about what we were talking about and what we were trying to accomplish in terms of turning people on to it. So we owe a whole lot to Jack Herer, yeah, so it was basically his knowledge that inspired us to put that sort of information on the Black Sunday album.

AM: So on the 4th album you dropped ‘Dr. Greenthumb’ and it became a huge underground concert anthem with your community. What was it like to go in that morning to write the lyrics so quickly, and from an entrepreneurship lesson what it means to stay true to your vision when partners or labels might try to steer that off course?

B: Well that song was destiny when I look at it now. You know at the time I thought well this is a great beat and some things just.. so I had written a sketch for a radio show that we were doing previously to making that album. Bobo and myself were working at 92.3 The Beat, and we wrote this sketch, and it was basically an infomercial type sketch which obviously makes the album, we eventually make that the intro for the song. But when I got to the studio and I heard that beat. Boom the theme Dr. Greenthumb just hit me and I started writing right away, I think it was like 10 in the morning I got to the studio. and Muggs knew I that was going to the love that beat, so he left the reels up and gave the engineer instruction to play me that song immediately when I walked in. So I started working on it before anyone got there, I was probably done writing it in 45min and done dropping it in 1 hour 30 min, or something like 1 hour 15min. And I remember specifically Sony hearing that and thinking it was great, but they wanted me to change the lyrics and make it not about weed and make it more like ‘Insane in the Brain.’ And I said, no we already got an Insane In The Brain, this song is what it is and we’re not going to change it. And they were like ‘alright, well I don’t think we’re going to get much radio on it, it’s a great song, but radio still isn’t playing weed songs.’ And I said well, you know I guess that is just a chance we’ll have to take. And the record company didn’t know the song was going to be a cult anthem or one of those underground anthems, they had no clue and thought it would be just a waste of a song. And it became one of our biggest singles in Europe, and then it trickled down here to the States. It never really caught on the radio, but when we played this song live, it would give the same energy off as an Insane In The Brain. Like people would just go nuts for it. It became one of our main anthems. And fast forward to now, California is now a medical state, now I that thought would be a cool brand name for me to come into the cannabis market. Which was my intention all along. And I thought to myself if Cypress isn’t going to come into it right now, then I’ll come into it as Dr. Greenthumb, and because of the music and the familiarlity of our fans as cannabis users, it was sort of a no brainer. It sort of took us a while to get momentum, because we’ve always been in cultivation, and the cannabis stuff, and but now we had brand to put what we were producing behind and that’s where it all started from - that song, bringing it into the cannabis industry, and making it my brand.

AM: You’re dropping Dr. Greenthumb dispensaries all over California, tell us about the team behind it, the mouth watering flavors, and especially the journey behind the potent and tasty Insane OG?

B: I think our team’s been together since ‘94-95. My partner Kenji Fujishima and I, we sort of started off together in the cannabis lane, learning how to grow and stuff like that. Me being on the road all the time, I couldn’t put as much time into the grow out as he did. So he became our master cultivator. Now for a couple years we sort of separated, and I started doing Jet Fuel with another partner, but that eventually went away as we had creative differences of where I thought the brand needed to go and things like that. They went and did their own thing. And Kenji and I fortunately had been partners in BREAL TV forever, since we started the platform, with livestreaming and doing some of the first podcasts before they were called podcasts. Kenji and I have had a long history. So when we both were free from obligations we had had with other people, we decided let’s partner back up, make the Greenthumb brand bigger, and call our strain brand Insane as a tribute to Cypress Hill and what not. So we’ve been together cultivating probably 25 years or so and we were maybe one of the first 6-7 guys in Southern California that had the OG Kush cut, which was to become one of the biggest strains in Southern California, and maybe even the world for a time, because it was so sought out and highly touted as the best cannabis in the world, up until maybe 10 years ago where all the exotic flavor blasts started happening, OG was the premier flower, and we were one of the ones that had it, and Kenji being one of the best at it, he produced some of the best Kush in Southern California for a long time, so our reputations as cultivators and ambassadors were constantly on the rise. So we’ve just been putting it together, piecing our team together little by little, getting the right guys that can represent, our company, our brand, our strains. So far we’ve accomplished Phase 1, and we’re rolling up to Phase 2.

AM: It’s a Big Phase 1! Congrats on everything. How many dispensaries do you have now in Californina?

B: Right now we have 7, we just opened in San Diego and we’re looking at a few other spots now. But the main objective is that after we get the spots that we feel are most important here in California, the next step is getting into the other cannabis friendly states, like Michigan, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Nevada, Oklahoma - everywhere that we can possibly plant a flag, we feel we’re going to do great. So locking down California is Phase 1, Phase 2 is now going into the different states that we can plant that flag and give that California experience.

AM: New York is stubbornly turning around. East Coast definitely needs some West Coast Love. Eventually we’ll be there..

B: Yeah I mean frankly it surprises me, you know, being New York has been in the forefront of so many things, in terms of entertainment, fashion, culinary - mostly everything - and for it to be one of the last on the cannabis train, that’s just crazy, especially when you think about it that High Times was based out of NY, and they do a lot of cannabis events, Central Park even, I remember doing those small clubs at Wetlands and stuff like that, so it’s a trip that NY is so far behind, when you’d think they’re so progressive they’d be in front of it. Even in California, to have Colorado legalize before us, that was crazy. But it all eventually comes around, because I think you know, the powers that be that run the state see the revenue stream that cannabis creates, and they’re waiting to see how the other states do, and how they work it and if it’s successful, and how they can implement it without upsetting their conservative voters or religious voters.

AM: Tell us about the Phuncky Feel Tips, how long did it take from coming up with it to putting it out there.

B: Phuncky Feel Tips, I created maybe 3-4 years before they actually came out. I was doing a deal with Roor.de for a licensing deal to create two lines of glass with Cypress Hill, one being an expensive collection line and the other one being a more affordable line. And as we’re doing that, I happened to be in Amsterdam and we were on tour, and were rolling in front our hotel, or maybe Greenhouse, I can’t exactly remember that part.. but we were rolling up, and I love smoking joints with the tip, but those paper tips were killing me, for me I looked at them in frustration, and I said why the fuck hasn’t anyone ever made any glass tips for joints or blunts. And I thought OK when I get home I’m going to call my glassblower friends that I know and make prototypes and try to put these out. Being that I was already doing a deal with Roor, I presented to them as we’re already doing this bong deal. And at first - they were reluctant as never doing something like that or if people would buy them. I said I didn’t care if people would buy them, I want to do them, and I know that people will buy them, and I knew from my experience once we made my first prototype, because I made a prototype from a different glassblower, and then I presented it. So I had at least a few weeks of R&D with it, and I was like I need to make more prototypes, because I’m not smoking another joint without one of these, and I knew if that happened to me then it was going to happen to others. So I had the prototypes made and I sent them to him in Germany. They made their prototypes, which were better than the ones I had made, and we agreed those were going to be the ones that went to market. And we put them out and it was slow going at first. It was a new product, and people were like what the fuck were these. How do you use them, how do you roll with them, how do you stick your joint in them? And people didn’t get you put them in the joint, not in that you put the joint in the tips. But once they caught! And I mean they went – you know! And now there is a collector community that collects all our custom color coordinated tips like baseball cards - I never thought that would be happening. I thought we’d sell some tips and people would have a different smoking experience, but they went beyond that. And that was great. And now to see people that have knocked off the product, and see them everywhere now, even though it’s kind of shitty, that people knocked our idea off and put it in their products. It goes to show you we’re ahead of the game. And we still make these tips and we’re ahead of everyone at that. It shows you my theory that once people smoke with a smoking tip they weren’t going to go back. Now these days people are spoiled.. your average smoker that isn’t necessary educated about the tips, they’ll smoke those paper tips because that’s all they know - but once they get a hold of a Phuncky Feel Tip it’s over! I remember when it first started catching, there were certain glassblowers like ‘oh man, you didn’t create that, it’s been in the market forever.’ And I was like ‘OK find one, show me one, I issue a challenge to any of you motherfuckers, that is not wood, that’s not plastic that predates my tip..' And not one of them could do it, and they were just mad because someone that didn’t blow glass created something they could’ve easily done. And then after the fact that I’ve brought it out, you’d have all these guys went and made some tips because of me, because some were glassblowers and they could do that, but I've never gone after them, whatever they do, people are going to put it on my back anyway and will say that’s B-Real's idea, that’s the Phuncky Feel tip, and I never took too much offense to it, I just say I’ve had a great idea, here it is!

AM: Speaking of glass we saw the Dr. Greenthumb’s x Stündenglass Gravity Hookah on your IG because we check it out. It looks so elegant and smooth. Tell us about that partnership and what it’s like to use that.

B: Oh man, Seth Rogan was the first guy that they filmed with it and he blew it up and I think that they realized they had something there. And I think their idea was to get it in the hands of real celebrities that smoke weed and have influence. And I think they were working with G Pen, and I was working with G Pen on some of our Dr. Greenthumb's X G Pen collaborative products, like the Dash and the Connect and the Roam and while we were talking about that they were like what about doing a collaboration with Stünden. And I was ‘like yeah sure, send me over a sample of the product and let us fuck with it, and see.’ And if I like ‘I’m definitely down, but if I don’t like it I’m not gonna do it because I’m not going to put my name on shit that I would not use.’ So they send it over, and we immediately start fucking with it, but we’re not fucking it with flower, because you know I stopped hitting glass bongs a long time ago, just because I feel like at some point the hit gets stale, and I don’t want a stale hit ever, so I stick to smoking the joints. So what we did was we took one the connects that we have and we adapted it on to the Stünden because they had an adapter for that. We were using the Stünden for concentrate as opposed to flower, it was so awesome, that actually became part of our Dr. Greenthumb podcast where there’s a portion of the show, it was so awesome, and actually became part of our Dr. Greenthumb podcast where there’s a portion of the show where the last half hour where we take questions and comments and shoutouts from the fans, and a lot times they’ll be like we want 3 flips from B-Real, meaning they want me to hit that Stündenglass and take 3 hits of the glass and that became a thing, and when we started highlighting that type of shit on our podcast people started running to our dispensaries to buy those Stündenglass, we could not keep them in fucking stock. People use it with flower, I’ve seen Wiz Khalifa use it with the flower, but for us we use it for the concentrate, and it fucking works amazing. If anybody was going to do it, I would recommend to do it with the concentrate, do it with the connect, and it’s lovely. Bobo, he hit the first record with them, he hit 10 flips. One of our other guys did 15 flips and one of our other co-hosts did 20 flips and stuff like that. It’s devastating, but it’s a cool experience, people love that shit and they love seeing people testing their metal trying to do like 10-20 flips. I’m good at 3.

AM: Yeah 3 looks like a good start, definitely!

B: 3 is a good start..

AM: We cover a lot in food, from clean eating and meal prep, to fine dining and splurges. We loved the show Bong Appétit on Viceland that you hosted in ‘19, it was groundbreaking. What’s your take of cooking with cannabis, and edibles in general.

B: I think it's awesome. Because it gives people that may be a little intimidated by smoking it, a chance to have the experience through culinary. A lot of the people that aren’t educated in the cannabis world, that maybe are curious, it was the perfect show for them as they can find ways to infuse. You can infuse any meal, you can infuse any dessert, any app, and that show was sort of like a guideline to doing that. Since then there have been like 3 other shows that have knocked that show off that are doing relatively the same thing. But I think shows like that is important, whether it’s us doing it, whether its Kelis doing it, or whoever else - it’s educating people, and showing people a different way. Because not everybody wants to smoke, it's kind of loud when you're smoking joints or blunts or bongs, Its loud, bongs. Its loud, and some people are more lowkey than that and so you have a significant amount of people would rather do edibles and this is one way they can create their own edibles if they have any culinary skills, or at least to know they can find it somewhere, that there are meal prep places that can infuse food whether its CBD full spectrum or just THC. So I think shows like that are important, the lifetime that they last on the air that’s subjective. I think we got caught up with Vice while they were in a transitional period. I think that they needed more room for their news platform and what not. So Bong Appetit didn’t get brought back, but it was great while it lasted. I had fun with Vanessa and Miguel, they’re great people. Vanessa sometimes comes and co-hosts on Dr. Greenthumb podcasts and all that stuff, so we still stay in contact. And we’re constantly talking about maybe creating another show somewhere down the line, but more I think dinner party conversational style rather than competitive cooking and stuff like that. That was fun to see people doing that. but I think there is a bit of conversation to be had and a little bit more education to be spilled out there if you would do a dinner party style, but we’re working on it..

AM: In the age of Covid and smoking, and vaping, it’s more important than ever to elevate your workout and wellness game, what kinds of things are you doing to workout - are you hitting the gym, doing stuff at home, or doing more adventure fitness outside?

B: That’s a part of my culture, it’s a part of me. I’ve made that to be part of my daily ritual. Like I pray everyday, I work out. Like I smoke everyday, I workout. Because realistically doing what we do in terms of performances, it's always a high energy show and we’re always trying to give 110%. And so you got to stay in shape for that. And just trying to stay in shape for ourselves, for our families, trying to be as healthy as possible - maintaining a proper diet and workout schedule and stuff like that to keep healthy and fit, and to put the right fuel in our system - and the fact of smoking cannabis the way we do, is also therapeutic and healing benefit from that. So you know, I think that’s one of the reasons we’re still able to do it on the level we do, performing at a festival, a small club or an arena, of whatever - we're always ready for it. Because we always maintain to keep busy, to keep active. Now in our fucking 50s, we’re watching what we put in our bodies, sure we still have a good time and splurge now and then. But we’ve always been guys in terms of Cypress Hill that were into sports and competing, like we’d play a lot basketball and football back in the day. Sen Dog and Muggs played a lot of baseball; Muggs and I trained in martial arts and boxing, so we’re constantly finding ways to keep busy, training and keep ourself active – besides from performing on the stage because that’s a workout itself – but we workout to do that just like an athlete works out to play their perspective sport. So we feel like that is really important. And what I’m glad to see is a lot of golden era rappers, start to get in the gym, take care of themselves, investing the time and energy and putting it back in their bodies. I see Method Man’s fucking workout grind, crazy. Jim Jones always had a crazy workout grind. Action Bronson, I gotta tip my hat to my bro, because he’s working his ass off these days. It’s great to see guys like that taking care of themselves like that man. And us, at Cypress Hill, we’ve always maintained to do that, it’s part of our culture, it’s who we are. When we are on the road, we’ll all meet up at the gym and get our pre-show workout or day-off workout, and then back on the grind. We don’t stop, it’s important to us. We wanna be fit, we don’t want to be those dudes that are huffing and puffing and can’t complete the show, you know!

AM: It’s been real fun to catch up today! Is there any news or teasers on the upcoming Cypress Hill album?

B: Yeah, we’ll be popping that off in March of next year. We have one of the singles from that album coming out pretty soon. We released ‘Champion Sound’ early for the MLB video game, but there’s another one coming called ‘Open Your Mind,’ and we look forward to people hearing that, and I believe we are going to make the video to that pretty soon cause its going to be the lead single and what not. There's much more music ahead of me, I have so much more coming out in the next year and a half it’s crazy, but you know it’s all paced.

AM: Well that’s great – Congrats again on everything! The entrepreneurship lessons for people that you give - of just being yourself, doing something different, working in a big market, doing what you love - those are huge lessons for everybody!

B: Yeah I mean the one thing that anyone should take away from this is you get what you put into it. If you go halfway, all you’re going to do is go halfway. If you put it all in, and go all in, and dedicate yourself to it, you can get wherever you want to go! Obviously, you’ve got to have talent, and a little bit of luck, and a whole lot of faith, that you will do it - but you have to put the work behind it, and when it’s the time, you meet the right people, the doors open up, you go through that door, and it’s all about what you do from there. You know you can take yourself as far as you want to go. So I would just say to anyone, believe in yourself, believe in what you’re trying to do, and go at it 110%!”

IG @breal

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | Front Cover, PG 18, 21, 30/Insane OG BTS | PG 16, 22, 33 + Back Cover Eitan Miskevich | PG 24 G Pen | PG 27 Pedro Garcia | PG 28 Kenji Fujishima | PG 30 Insane Cookies/Justin Mcivor |

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Read the SEP ISSUE #69 of Athleisure Mag and see Bringing the Smoke with B-Real in mag.

THE ART OF THE SNACK | SUSHI GINZA ONODERA

As we begin to transition from the summer to the fall season, we have new restaurants that are launching as well those that are reopening as we continue to emerge from the pandemic. We chat with the new Head Sushi Chef Takuya Kubo of Sushi Ginza Onodera.

ATHLEISURE MAG: Tell us about your culinary background and how it led to you to Sushi Ginza Onodera.

HEAD SUSHI CHEF TAKUYA KUBO: After I graduated from high school, I worked at Sushi Dai Akasaka Keizan in Tokyo, Japan, which is considered one of the best in Japan and internationally acclaimed. I spent five years there before moving to another sushi restaurant, then, after 2 years, to yet another in Roppongi in Tokyo to continue to learn and gain experience. After that, I returned to Sushi Dai as the executive chef and worked there for 10 years. By then I thought that after having worked in Japan for many years, I would like to try my sushi skills in other countries, especially the U.S. I decided to challenge myself and went to Los Angeles, where I found Sushi Ginza Onodera, and started to work there, later becoming the executive chef at Sushi Ginza Onodera in Honolulu, Hawaii. After about two years there, I came to New York City to reopen the restaurant here – it had been closed for a year during the pandemic. We reopened for service in late March 2021.

AM: When guests come in for lunch, what are 3 options from the menu that you suggest?

HSC TK: We have three lunch menu options at $100, $150 and $200. Each omakase is a little different and meant to provide an experience the guests are looking for. For example, for guests who would like to focus on Nigiri sushi, the $150 menu is the best option as it offers the most Nigiri pieces. But for those would like to enjoy a fuller, more elevated experience, the $200 menu is the way to go.

AM: For your omakase only dinner menu, can you share why you only offer this and what it is for those that may not have experienced this?

HSC TK: An omakase tasting menu is the best way to experience seasonal ingredients in peak condition by trusting the chef to serve what’s best at the moment. Fish and seafood are as seasonal as vegetables and other ingredients, and we select the best seasonal ingredients available when we prepare the omakase. All the fish and seafood is hand selected at the Toyosu market in Tokyo, and flown from Japan to New York three times a week. Each ingredient has its season when flavor and taste are both perfect and I want our guests to enjoy the best of the season - that’s why we only offer omakase.

AM: What can guests expect when they come to dine at Sushi Ginza Onodera?

HSC TK: Guests at Sushi Ginza Onodera can expect an authentic Japanese experience and meal, as well as ambience.

Nearly all our fish is aged in the traditional Edomae style – Edo is the ancient name for Tokyo – before being served to customers. While Americans often think of the best sushi as being the freshest possible, Edomae sushi making uses the aging process to preserve the fish, develop umami flavors and create a more tender texture. Rice is equally important to the Edomae style and our rice is mixed with two different types of red vinegar, one dark and one light, which gives it a brownish hue.

Once guests enter the restaurant, the first thing they will see is the sushi counter made of hinoki wood. This might be the longest and largest size hinoki counter in New York City. Almost everything at the restaurant is from Japan. Not only is the fish flown from Japan, we use serving dishes that showcase Japanese traditional styles like Bizen-yaki, pottery with unique un-glazed finish, and Arita-yaki porcelain, prized for their elegant painted designs. Guests can enjoy the harmony of the food with the dishes it’s served on.

AM: What sake pairings do you suggest when enjoying your menu?

HSC TK: We offer a sake pairing to accompany the omakase. Generally, sakes in the pairing are dry; however, we do pair Junmai Daiginjo with some of our appetizers such as Toro with sea urchin or Abalone. For rich flavors, an off-dry sake pairs very well.

AM: When you’re planning your menu, what are the items that you like to offer and how does seasonality play into this?

HSC TK: Seasonality and the weather are what I focus on when planning a new Omakase menu. The omakase menu should match the weather, whether it’s hot and cold, the food should reflect it.

AM: You are a Michelin star restaurant. How important is it to have this distinction?

HSC TK: Michelin stars are an indicator of quality and consistency for guests. For us, it is important to do our best every day in order to live up to the standards that Michelin has set worldwide for excellence.

AM: You recently re-opened, what are you looking forward to as we continue through the summer and being to transition in the fall and holiday season?

HSC TK: Generally in autumn, Japanese food is abundant. I look forward to sharing the season’s bounty with our guests and hope they enjoy it.

IG @sushiginzaonoderanyc

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | Sushi Ginza Onodera

Read the SEP ISSUE #69 of Athleisure Mag and see The Art of the Snack | Sushi Ginza Onodera in mag.

5 BEST SKI RESORTS IN THE USA FOR FAMILIES

Skiing is gliding on snow by means of specified transport has known to be a competitive winter sport activity. The number of Skiers has been increasing with time and families visit different regions for a stay at Ski resorts in the United States of America. The US Department of Homeland Security offers travelers from all around the world follows an application procedure ESTA Application to apply for travel authorization either for an individual or a group of people. This application can significantly be retrieved from the ESTA check.

After the travel authorization process is completed, to make it easy for families who are looking for a winter holiday at Ski Resorts, five best ski resorts are listed below:

Beaver Creek Resort (Colorado)

Beaver Creek conveys an unrivaled mountain trip experience, where everything is dealt perfectly and is idealized so you can concentrate on getting to know each other in the most ideal manner. Its upscale displays, top of the line boutiques, jewelry stores, apparel offerings, and premium cabin choices surpass even the best standards followed by cookie time, first track, ice skating, signature events, Haymeadow Part and etc.

Rooms and codons of the resorts are designed with wooden furniture and tranquil autumnal color schemes can provide accommodations to about eight guests. Beaver Creek Mountain is eminent for its shocking excellence and inviting environment, giving access to each degree of skier. It also delivers your rentals at your resort room with a free delivery service.

Heavenly Mountain Resort (California)

There aren't a lot of spots on the planet that can call themselves "grand" and pull off it. Fortunate for us, California's Heavenly Resort satisfies its name all around. The fresh snow powder and rough mountainside in Lake Tahoe are holding on to make this present winter's family ski trip the best yet. The choices at Heavenly are endless. It offers 1,600-foot dives in the twofold dark jewel gullies or the most preposterous tree skiing in North America. Heavenly is all about a superior method for being as one. All things considered, the most ideal route for loved ones to meet up is to the mountain together. The winter activities involve tubing and mini-tubing i.e. about 500 feet long, scenic gondola ride, ridge rider mountain coaster.

Park City Mountain Resort (Utah)

Park City Mountain Resort has the entirety of the elements for an ideal family vacation. The mark kids ski school limits classes to only five kids, making for loads of customized consideration. The winter activities include Flying eagle zipline, the Viking yurt, snowmobile tours, sleigh rides at canyons village and more.

The incline's most minor skiers can take on the Signature 3 Program, with only three kids, matured 3-1/2 to 5 years of age. When the children are exhausted from their 2 75-minute sessions, it's inside for artworks, perusing and playing on the indoor wilderness exercise center. While the children appreciate ski school, grown-ups can discover the 3,300 acres of land of fun spread out more than 7 cold pinnacles and 9 dishes.

Whiteface Lodge (New York)

As host of the 1980 winter games, the Lake Placid locale has 6,000,000 sections of land pressed with facilities made for snowy fun. There's snow-capped skiing at Whiteface with the best vertical drop east of the Rockies.

At that point, the whole family can appreciate ice-skating, bounce sledding and antiquated toboggans. Explore the cold sections of land on cross-country skis or snowshoes or hitch a ride on a quick-moving dogsledding visit. It offers both off-site activities such as swimming, sports courts, fishing, ice skating rink, and movie theatre and on-site activities such as downhill skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, ice fishing, and skating and etc.

Bretton Woods (New Hampshire)

Found high in New Hampshire's the White Mountains, Bretton Woods is the state's biggest ski region with 101 trails and dales and four landscape parks. A surprising expansion to the open-air fun is the mountain's broad shade visit, made up of a few treetop zip-lines and suspension spans. The key services of Bretton wood skiing activities like alpine, Nordic, racing, wood clubs, etc. Bretton Woods offers wide-ranging services and facilities like  SPA, skincare, nail care, fitness, massage, body, and bath.

Visit Bretton Woods, New Hampshire's biggest ski territory with 464 sections of land of skiing and snowboarding on 63 trails and 35 dells! Ten lifts, including the new Bretton Woods Skyway 8-Passenger Gondola and four fast quads, cause your ride up the mountain to nearly as fun as the ride down. On the off chance that there's snow falling, odds are we have it - or we can make it with snow-production on 92% of our trails. Furthermore, on the grounds that you'll need to remain on our inclines until after dim, we additionally offer evening skiing and riding.

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

STYLE FILES: SS19

Read more from the Sep Issue of Athleisure Mag and read Style Files: SS19 in mag.

THE DENIM FACTOR

The global denim business is a $100 billion dollar industry and is a staple in our wardrobe. We had the chance to talk with Andrew Olah and his daughter Emily Olah, who are luminaries in their industry. Together with their team, they run a series of businesses that further the denim industy from Olah, Kingpins (which we attended earlier this summer) and Denim Days. We sat down to find out about the upcoming Denim Days taking place this fall.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We enjoyed checking out Kingpins and are looking forward to Denim Days in NYC this fall. We look forward to being media partners this year. Tell us about your backgrounds and how it led to where you are now.

ANDREW OLAH: Well we’re really excited to talk with you about Denim Days! Let me share a little about me first. I’m second generation in the textile sales business so early on I kind of changed it and switched to denim. We’re from Canada and we used to do every kind of fabric.

I grew up in jeans and in the 60’s, jeans weren’t so accessible and they didn’t have any connotation of any kind of social position. In my culture they did, but not in the rest of the world. I couldn’t wear my jeans - some schools wouldn’t allow you to wear them etc. So it’s all I wore and when I got to represent companies that made denim or corduroy I loved it because I knew that I could wear it – how could you not wear what you were selling? Even in the denim industry back in '97 when I was thinking of moving to NYC, I had to think about it because I would have had to wear a suit.

Eventually, we moved the business to fabrics in denim. I worked for the first denim mill ever outside of the United States which was a really lucky job. It was an Italian company – the Italians impacted the denim industry really really early on being the first ones to use denim in non-traditional shapes. In the American history of denim if you look at vintage pictures, it’s all workwear related and very traditional styles.

The Italians were the first ones to say, let’s make a sexy top, a sexy dress etc. I don’t know if you have ever heard of a company called Fiorucci that’s what they did – fashion tops and fashion bottoms in weird shapes. No one had ever heard of that or thought of it in America really. Obviously there were no fabrics in the United States to do that and when people were sourcing they realized it was cheaper for them to make that shirt outside of the US and to do it in Asia so this started to happen there and this started the denim industry in Asia. The Italians impacted the industry because they  enlarged what was seen as a jeans industry by the shapes and the sizes and by women's wear.

The second job that I got was to work with a Japanese company. Again, the Japanese have a huge impact on the jean industry globally – I’m talking about global business and not just American. So the Japanese recreated vintage. Their emulation of vintage was better than the original vintage. It’s like someone copying a Mustang from ’65 and making it 10 times better than the original one and yet looking the same – that’s kind of what they did. They’re obsessed with the components and application so their obsessions make them uncompetitive. They have their own cache. So the company moved to NY in ’98 and we wanted to meet customers and we already had 20-30 customers but we wanted 70 so we started Kingpins as a tradeshow because we wanted to meet more customers and have them come in, hand out their business cards and say hello. When we first stated in the beginning, we used to do personal introductions to everybody because the shows were small.

Kingpins started in 2004 and we never even charged anyone for it, it was just a party and we did it for 2 or 3 years, until 2007 when the recession hit, and we switched the business model to being for profit and now Kingpins is the largest tradeshow in the industry for supply chain – not to boast and quite accidently. It was never our aspiration but it just happened. Our Amsterdam show is really really huge.

AM: And why Amsterdam?

AO: We picked Amsterdam because the community in Amsterdam loves jeans. The late mayor of Amsterdam was a believer in jeans and he felt it was the business for his city. They did a study and they found that Amsterdam had more jean brands per capita than any other city in the world. Which is easy when you have a population of 700,000 – a little more difficult if you’re a city like Tokyo, Istanbul, Sao Paulo* or LA even. That was their mantra and the fact is the fact that that is their business in Amsterdam. They have a lot of brands there and they made it their business to celebrate that to go with what was working for them and to try to get brands in this vertical to move there because they have an industry. They have the culture there and the population loves it there!

Do you ever notice that when we’re there people wear more denim there then here?

EMILY OLAH: Oh yeah 100%.

AO: It’s kind of weird because we’re jeans people and you go there and everyone is wearing jeans. Even in hotels the people working in the hotels and the restaurants - even the uniforms are jeans or denim! It's kind of weird whe you first see it. When we first went there, we stayed in this brand new boutique hotel and ever since people wore jeans and even their aprons were denim!

But anyway, we decided to do it in Amsterdam and there was also the issue of the House of Denim – have you heard of that?

AM: NO!

AO: Over the course of my career, of 40+ years I was frustrated that there wasn't a school for those in the denim trade. We all got jobs and we had to just learn o the job, but there ws no place to learn outside of that.

I have produced a class on jeans for 14 years at FIT which is known as the Capstone Course and they're preparing for their 5th year anniversary. Recently it was announced that there would be a New Jean School in Milan - so this is the start of a big difference in our industry as we grow up!

Now the House of Denim in Amsterdam started the first jeans school in 2012. They're also planning on putting a laundry in the city so that people can wash their jeans.

So in doing our supply chain tradeshow Kingpins there, they said that they wated to do a festival known as Denim Days which led us to doing it there.

What we didn't realize was how many people all over Europe and Turkey and other countries liked Amsterdam and loved shopping there. They loved going there and being their for inspiration. It was an amazing decision.

AM: So Emily, before we delve into Denim Days, how did you get into the denim industry?

EO: I went to college for biology. I was not a good student so I went and had various jobs. One day I got a phone call from my father and his friend – they were in a taxi. He said I needed to go to Portugal and learn the business with our family friend. I had to get my life together, learn Portuguese in 6 weeks if I was serious. I said yes. I packed up my life, learned Portuguese in 6 weeks (I went to language school 4-5 days a week) and moved there about 6-8 weeks after.
I worked in a garment factory and worked in our friend’s shirt factory. I worked in every department learning each component of it together through it’s complete process. I had to make a garment where the pattern was made by me, sewn by me, finished by me and it had to be approved before I could work from the office.

AO: They wouldn’t let her out of the factory until it was approved.

EO: I was failed like 20 times. I sewed my finger, it was like your sleeve is a centimeter shorter then the other sleeve, try again So I eventually passed my production sewing job and I started
working in the office.

AO: Who were your customers?

EO: My customers were Paper Denim, Burton Snowboards, AG and Marc Jacobs. So I had the American market and the factory that I worked for was a boutique factory so we did small runs. We did all kinds of products and not just shirts – it was shoes, bags, sweaters etc. In Portugal, all of the factories around us did small run production so I would just have to drive in a 50km radius to go to factories that did any kind of production. And then when I was ready to leave from Portugal I had been working with Rogan for awhile and got an internship with them here in NY.

AO: At that time, he was one of the most renowned designers in the industry.

EO: He was growing his business really quickly and there was this small staff of like 6 people when I went there as an intern. They had me running to midtown to check on their garment factory and whether their production was going ok and in 2 weeks they were like, “we have this new brand and we want you to run it.” I was like, “really ok”. They said, “it’s a really big opportunity, we’re going to do jeans and t-shirts. Production is already set you just have to deliver the goods.”

AO: And that was Loomstate.

AM: Oooo we love Loomstate wow!

EO: I did all of the product development and the production. Jared who works here now, also worked there and developed the sales. That’s how I got started in the business.

AM: Wow everyone loved their jeans and the shirts were great! So how did you make your way here?

EO: So I worked for several brands in the premium area on the production side. I eventually moved to LA because a lot of them were there and I wanted to come to NY. I had an opportunity to work for the factory that I stated with and that brought me back to NY and I worked out of the Olah office. That’s sort of the beginning.

AO: A few key things happened that led to her being at the Olah umbrella. We never hired her.

EO: Yeah his business partner hired me.

AO: True, what happened was she was working with AG and Rock and Republic and then she moved back to NY to work with the Portuguese guy that she started with and we paid her salary because they weren’t going to pay her enough so we said there are things to do around the office and she had her own world and it had nothing to do with me so I thought that that was cool. Then he and I had some issues and the relationship got funky and one day when the relationship ended, she had no job, but was in our office. So we tried to see what she could do to justify her being her.

My partner kept telling me that she was really smart and I was glad to hear that, but I didn’t think about it.

EO: And now 11 years later, here I am haha.

AM: So what do you do here?

EO: So our business is segmented into 3 areas and I straddle all 3 in an operational way, but I spend most of my time in the events world like Kingpins and Denim Days.

AM: So how will Denim Days this year be different then Denim Days last year?

AO: One thing that we will do which is different is that we are changing the speaking. We had people speak last time. The day before we did Legends. But this year we will have something everyday on Sat and Sun all day long so the speaker element will be amazing.

EO: Right like speakers and workshops that will be engaging to the consumers that come in and it won’t be on a separate day. Quite honestly, our Legends last year were a bit more B2B. The access to the attendees will be a lot greater this year.

AO: If you come in and feel what’s going on, it will all be in one big room. It’s going to be much better this year!

EO: I think 2019 will be a big evolution because we are going to move Denim Days to be the same week as Kingpins so it allows us to have denim events for 6 days in a row as opposed to being segregated.

AO: Then it will be a proper festival because it will be 6 days in a row with B2B and B2C.

EO: It will be a lot more dynamic that way and will engage a lot more people.

AM: What made you want to introduce Nashville to Denim Days?

AO: They asked us. But they have started the Nashville Fashion Alliance* and the NFA people are nice and their arguments for the fashion industry to move there to me is compelling. They remind me a lot of Amsterdam.

EO: Yeah their local government is very similar to Amsterdam.

AO: Yes you have access to the mayor, the Senate, Senators, the governor – there is a whole level of community. When you have academia, politics and commerce mix, it’s like the perfect moment. It’s like nirvana – it doesn’t happen here, but when it happens, everyone is on the same page. All the people are not competitors you’re doing the same thing and it becomes a community. Amsterdam has nailed it – accidently – but they are in this status and if they don’t screw it up, it’s brilliant. Nashville sees it and is trying to create it and I believe that they will. Then they have the music industry and so when they came to us, we said yes. They said they would help us with the media. Little cities in many ways are the future. So it’s interesting for us.

AM: So what trends are you seeing in denim that we should keep an eye out for fall of this year and more specifically for Spring 19?

EO: It’s about fiber and performance.

AO: The biggest thing – everyone wants something special. In the old days, if you wanted something special it was about having the Jordache name on it and that was something special.

EO: And that was enough.

AO: I remember I had a friend telling one of the Hilfigers at the time that they should just sell their label at the checkout counter because you have all the same jeans. So Polo could be $5 for the label and Tommy could be $6 and this one is $10 and Levi’s could be $3 and you just stick it on because it’s all the same stuff. That’s the history of the jeans business.

Exceptional jeans products right now – I think that everyone makes exceptional jeans products so then the issue is what is the company like. Everlane has done really really well with jeans and they’re not a jeans brand – but they have done well. It’s about the company and what’s
inside it and most of all how it fits and performance. Performance is everything and that means that you have to step out and find new ways of doing things.

EO: I completely agree. People know more about the product and want to know more about it. They have to have a reason for its existence and it just can’t be another piece that’s lined up
on the shelf. Something in it that’s different than something else and that’s outstanding.

AO: Like, when you go to Selfridge’s. The jeans shop is huge and there isn’t one sign but the brand name – what is that? That is like having this table with bananas and then saying, which one do you want? This one is $105, this one is $98, this one is made in LA – I mean really? They’re bananas!

AM: Just so our readers are clear, in addition to having your tradeshow within the supply chain - Kingpins as well as a festival denim show - Denim Days; you also work with brands that want to become denim brands?

AO: Yes, we have 3 actual business models. In addition to the shows, we develop fabric and then we sell the fabric. That division would help small brands that we believe in. Scott Morrison he was doing Paper Denim – we helped him with that. We’re happy to help those that are looking to get into the business - to a point. You can give someone food, but you can’t help them chew it!

PHOTOS COURTESY | Olah Inc.

Read more from the July Issue of Athleisure Mag and see The Denim Factor in mag.

COCHON555 2018

Catch up on last year's Cochon555 2017 which we were proud media sponsors of

For the second year in a row, Athleisure Mag is honored to have been the media sponsors of Cochon555 when it arrived in NYC earlier this month! This fun competition pairs 5 chefs x 5 heritage pig farmers x 5 wineries/cocktails to create a series of dishes for attendees to enjoy.
In addition to NYC, there are a number of other cities to participate and when the chef is crowned, they represent their city in the ultimate showdown!

We chatted with one of the participating chefs, Chef Fabian Gallardo of La Esquina. We wanted to know why he participated this year, the importance of Cochon555 and of course to get the scoop on his eateries.

ATHLEISURE MAG: What are some of your favorite things about this competitive event?

CHEF FABIAN GALLARDO: I like that it helps farmers promote their amazing product.

AM: Do you regularly compete in food competitions?

CFG: Yes, Dan's Montaco, Cochon555, LA Food and Wine - that's not a competition event, but it's a lot of fun.

AM: For Cochon555, how did you decide what to prepare and what strategy goes into making these selections for New Pork City?

CFG: I utilize as much as I could to use all of the pork. I like to bring the pork's natural flavors.

AM: How important are competitive events such as Cochon555 and accompanying charities such as Piggy Bank for the culinary community and heritage breed pigs?

CFG: It's really important because as chefs, we can be ambassadors and promoters of heritage breed pigs. Great quality translates on a great final product.

AM: Do you have any personal messages about sourcing foods and products responsibly?

CFG: If you source the food from the farmer or breeder, they will help you out by giving you tips on what is becoming on season or what is on point at their farms.

AM: What inspired you to become a chef?

CFG: I like to learn about different cultures through their food.

AM: We've seen La Esquina's numerous locations as we're always looking for great places to get a taco! Are there any off-menu secrets our readers would love to know about?

CFG: We keep some specials at the brasserie, but the one that you should get off the menu is the Cochinita Pibil.

AM: What was the inspiration behind creating La Esquina and should we keep our eye open for additional locations?

CFG: The inspiration behind La Esquina was Urban Mexican Street Food. Whilst Mexico is very often associated with beautiful beaches, stunning views of paradise and tropical vibes, there is
that other side of Mexico, the grungy rock and roll Mexico City. No sombreros or gabanes here! Just pure leather and electric guitar, but with a Mexican twist. La Esquina has opened up two
new locations in just under a year and a half and there's no stopping us. Stay tuned!

But I think that Chicago is one of the greatest cities in the world. We have world class museums, the lakefront is spectacular and we live across the street from one of the greatest beaches that you could ask for – 6 months a year and then food! We own a handful of restaurants there.

“Our flagship location is made up of several different restaurants. Our famous store front is a Mexico City style taqueria, we have a sit down Cafe and the secret ;-) underground brasserie.”

— CHEF FABIAN GALLARDO

AM: What is the difference between the Flagship and the Taquerias?

CFG: Our flagship location is actually made up of several different restaurants. Our famous storefront is a Mexico City style taqueria, we have a sit down Cafe and the secret ;-) underground brasserie. The Taquerias around the city are outposts of our famous storefront. Midtown, Upper East Side and Brooklyn have a lot of the same delicious food; tacos, quesadillas, tortas and basic sides, but they have a more causal atmosphere, and they also have drink specials! The Cafe is the comfortable in between which contains a couple of more additions to the menu. The Brasserie is strictly fine dining, with a rustic and cozy feel. While it contains some of the items on the taqueria menu, there are slight alterations adding an extra touch to our most well known recipes. You are just going to have to try them all!

AM: What are some of your favorite things to eat and drink personally?

CFG: Tacos obviously! I love French food, Italian food, Thai food and Alta California Cuisine.

AM: Do you listen to music when cooking and hosting? What are some of your favorites on your playlist?

CFG: Yes! When I am prepping food, I enjoy listening to Sigur Ros and Bob Marley. While I entertain it's Rock & Roll, 60's, 70's and 80's.

AM: Who are some of the chefs and restaurant that have inspired you?

CFG: Chef Walter Manzke, he is my mentor. He gave me the opportunity to run one of his restaurants and I learned a lot from him. He will always push you to be better every day. Restaurants that inspired me are Republique, Carlos Salgado's Taco Maria (any Taco Lover
should go there), Rays Garcia's Broken Spanish and Jesse Gomez and Jose Acevedo's Mercado, Jeremy's Fox Rustic Canyon. There are some more, but I will list two pages haha.

AM: How do you give of your time? Do you have charities/philanthropies that you participate in?

CFG: We like to give back to the community and we try to do one or two charity events per month. On Feb 10th, we will be at Our Town's Art of Food at Sotheby's.

Read more from the Feb Issue and see Cochon555 2018 in mag.

GET ALLANIZED

We're always on the hunt for the next best item to add to our vanity and Laura Geller when it comes to highlighters, is always in our rotation. Recently, we just saw the launch for Alannized and we wanted to know more about the product and where this collaboration came from. Martine Williamson, President & GM, Laura Geller New York shares, "It started when we noticed that Alannized was featuring our Gilded Honey Illuminator often on his social media channels. He really grabbed our attention with the looks he created, particularly his mesmerizing highlighter application - which meshed seamlessly with Laura's background. Sharing a love for highlighting is where this kit came to life. The relationship took off from there and we've been collaborating on projects both small and large ever since."

For those who may not be familiar with Alan from Alannized, he always shares the importance of beauty is a one size fits all across his social media. His followers know that not only does he love his highlight and lipgloss, so the collaboration that was created with the brand was one that was natural. "I was super involved in my collaboration with Laura Geller New York. From product selection to packaging! It's been an amazing experience to see such an amazing brand believe in my vision and to trust me with carrying out such an amazing collaboration. I wouldn't trade this experience for the world!" This beauty influencer has been dedicated to showcasing how beauty has become a part of his everyday life and believes that being Alannized means, "being able to express myself creatively through makeup, and being able to do what makes ME happy."

Check out the Jan Issue of Athleisure Mag

THE GEM OF MIAMI

With the holiday season upon us, we wanted to share one of our favorite luxury jewelry designers with our readers. Our Style Director has included pieces in shoots in this publication and we sat down and talked with Miami based, Buddha Mama which is created by Nancy and is also designed by her daughter Dakota. The brand is the perfect mixture of fine jewelry, dramatic pieces and wellness. We found out about how they are inspired to create luxe pieces, what they do during Art Basel that took place earlier this month and how they give back.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We've been fans of the brand for years, but tell us how Buddha Mama was created and what are the inspirations behind the pieces?

BUDDHA MAMA: My mother Nancy started stringing Mala’s for her local Buddhist center to help raise funds and it sort of took off from there. To this day we still donate a portion of monthly proceeds. The inspiration comes from everywhere, travel definitely has a strong influence on our collections. Different architecture and symbols appreciated in other cultures, these are things that inspire us to keep creating and share what we love.

AM: Who is the Buddha Mama girl or boy?

BM: We never really know how to answer that question. It seems like it can be just about anyone, whether you are drawn to the beauty of a mandala pendant because you know of the
meaning or you just appreciate the piece. I wouldn't say we have one specific client, there's certainly a range of people we've come across.

AM: How do you decide what pieces are a part of each of the collections that are in the line?

BM: Depends on the collection. Some pieces are placed in certain collections due to gemstone colors, others are specifically created - such as our Lantern pieces for the lantern collection. Our auspicious collection is by far our largest, with everything from mandalas to flowers, skulls and cross pendants.

AM: What charity/philanthropy are you involved in?

BM: We donate a portion of proceeds to Kristi House in Miami, which is a center for sexually abused and trafficked women and children. As well as Tibet House in New York.

AM: During Art Basel, do you do anything in conjunction with this event?

BM: Usually Nan and I are pretty busy creating new collections for the COUTURE Show in Vegas but we always attend at least a few Basel events. Miami is always a blast in December and we try to enjoy as much of it as we can!

AM: How important is Art Basel to the Miami scene?

BM: It’s incredible. One of the main areas for Basel is called Wynwood and it’s literally unrecognizable from just a few years ago. I feel that Art Basel is important because Miami has always had an art and graffiti scene- maybe not like New York but it was always present. To
now watch it expand and get its recognition, it’s great.

AM: With the holidays coming up, what can we look forward to in terms of great gifting options from the brand?

BM: We have a daintier collection that is great for gifting! Also of course our special one of a kind pieces are always a hit.

AM: Where are your favorite places to eat, grab a cocktail and to do yoga/meditation in Miami to keep on our radar?

BM: Macchialina’s on the beach for great Italian. River Oyster Bar in Brickell for amazing food and drinks. For yoga we’d have to say Dharma Yoga Studio in Coconut Grove.

Read more from the Dec Issue and see The Gem of Miami in mag.

NERVO YORK

We end our year the way we began it - with NERVO, but this time, in addition to our interview, we hung out with them right before their Lavo NYC show to shoot the International EDM DJ duo. Liv and Mim have been traveling, DJing around the world, releasing new  music and continuing to connect with their fans.

We brought them to Grammy winner and music icon, Desmond Child's home (we have an exclusive interview with Desmond following this interview), which was the perfect location for this shoot. We talked with them about what they're up to, who they've been working with, where they'd like to perform, their upcoming show for NYE at the W in Miami and what festivals you'll see them in during 2018.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We kicked off the year with an interview with you ladies and it's only fitting that we close it with you as well as you're gracing our Dec cover - what has been a snapshot of this year from what you were up to personally, musically, - whatever you wish to share.

NERVO: We have had a year of absolute madness. Lots of great things going on that we just need to pinch ourselves sometimes. We also are just doing our best to keep our heads above water and enjoy the little moments you know… We think all touring artists or just busy people, in general, are the same. There’s a lot of pressure mixed with a lot of adrenaline filled moments. It can be a lot sometimes!

AM: You ladies are multiple threats as you're DJ's, producers, songwriters, composers, models, brand ambassadors, etc., so it was only fitting to have you shoot in Desmond Child's home
- can you share some of your projects that you did this year or next year?

N: Tell us about it - Desmond Child is a total legend. What an honour to be shooting in his home! Love how we decked his house out.

So… We released a bunch of music this year, including a few collabs - one with New York based band Sofi Tukker and some others with more dance artists like DVBBS and Danny Avila, Oh, and then there’s the collab we wrote with Cheif Keef which was pretty special! We have been touring mainly Europe for the summer, but we also have our residency at Omnia in Las Vegas, which gets us over to The USA about 16 times a year.

We have a bunch of new songs in the works which we are focusing in on now. Quarters 4 and 1 are always for making new music and that means touring a bit less.

AM: What's the process like when you're creating your music and how is it different when you're creating something for another artist?

N: We’re more relaxed when we make music for others or even for a collaboration. Something about it being less pressure. When it’s your own record suddenly you feel like people are going
to hate on you if they don’t like it. It’s a part time job blocking out that noise!

AM: How do you go about finding inspiration for upcoming projects?

N: We are constantly inspired. To be honest we don’t have enough time to not be inspired. We have so many unfinished ideas that we just need an extra 2 days a week to finish. We must be
ADHD or something.

AM: What is a NERVO Christmas like - do you make it home to Australia for the holiday, do you guys cook and what gifts are you looking for this year?

N: It’s pretty low key and is the same every year. We have a huge lunch in our family home in Melbourne, then we all go to our Aunty Mary and Uncle Max’s home for more food, and then we
eventually pass out around 10pm with belly’s so full that we couldn’t dream of eating dinner! Leftovers are eaten for the next 4 days or so. We are Italian/Australian so there’s always SO
much food!

AM: This NYE, where are you playing and what about 2018 makes you excited to ring it in?

N: We are playing Miamiiiiiii! At the W Hotel. We can’t wait!! Miami is just the best for New Year's Eve. We think we might hang around a few days and have some beach time and Cuban food.

AM: What's on your playlist at the moment that gets you up and moving?

N: Massively inspired by what Jax Jones is doing at the moment. Sampling Booka Shade and flipping it into a 2017 anthem! Go JJ!

AM: Where are some festivals/cities that you'll be hitting this year that we can expect to see you performing at?

N: We are playing Tomorrowland in Belgium again. Always a yearly highlight! We are also playing Creamfields in South America. And of course, everyone can catch us at Ushuaia in Ibiza and Omnia/Hakkassan in The USA for our residencies.

AM: What is a gig that you would like to do ie. Super Bowl Half Time show, that you have yet to be asked to do but want to check off your bucket list?

N: Probably Coachella. It’s such a great festival and one of the only ones we have never been asked to play at. We don't think they like us. ha! Maybe we're too bubbly or mainstream or
something... We dunno. But we have been to the festival and it's such a great vibe. Always perfect weather.

AM: You're rocking a lot of fun styles throughout our Dec cover shoot, but what is your personal style when you head out to play a set for NYE versus when you're hanging out?

N: We like to dress things up when we play a gig. We love body suits, lycra, face jewels, creepers, teased up hair, more is more. When we are hanging out we’re a lot more chilled and casual - for example we are loving the Fenty clothes that we wore in the shoot for our travel/studio days!

AM: You guys travel a lot, what are your 3 musts that you take with you no matter what city you're rocking in to feel like you're at home?

N: Iijin snake skin silver and gold shoes (for Liv), Hairspray (for Mim), and our laptops (for both of us).

AM: The Winter Olympics are coming up and we're fans of curling, what teams/sports are you cheering for?

N: Ooohh we’ll have to check it out!! We do love to ski so that’s something we would like to watch. Does Australia even have a team? If Australia is competing then we would have to go for
them but if they don’t then we would go for Italy because that is where our parents were born :).

NERVO YORK CREDITS

COVER + PG 14 | FENTY X PUMA Blocked Track Jacket + Blocked Taped Track Pant | OUTDOOR VOICES Sport Bra | FENTY X PUMA AnkleStrap Sneaker | FENTY X PUMA Monday Cap | FRAME Le Original Patch Jacket |

FENTY X PUMA Hooded Zip Front Leotard | FENTY X PUMA Printed Bra | RUBEN GALARRETA Legging Harness |

PG 16 | BLACK MILK Fatale Dress | LAGOS JEWELRY Black Beaded Caviar Bracelet | ARTISTS' OWN Wrapped Bracelet, Charm Bracelet, Watch + Hat |

PG 19 | MCM Shearling Bag | ARTISTS' OWN Bra, Shorts + Scarf |

PG 20 | SPLENDID Racerback Turtleneck Sport Bra | ELIZABETH ACKERMAN Palazzo Palm Pants | DIANA ROSH FUR Olive + Blue Fur Coat | LOVE KNITZ Hat |

PG 21 | DIANA ROSH FUR Multicolor Coat | HAT ATTACK Arm Warmers | MIRA RAE Velvet Leggings | MCM Shearling Hat |

PG 22 | ROMPLY Blush Wrap Romper | HAT ATTACK Hat | LAGOS JEWELRY Ring | ARTISTS' OWN Bra |

PG 25 | ROMPLY Navy/Gold Tapestry Romper | NINA JEWELRY Swarovski Bangle | MCM Polke Backpack in Starry Eyed Bunny | ARTISTS' OWN Marcher Jacket |

Athleisure Mag readers know that a number of our shoots take place in luxury apartments that have yet to be released to the public or are being sold. We tend to maintain the privacy of the homeowners; however, this shoot was perfectly aligned as it took place at Grammy-winning and Emmy-nominated songwriter/producer Desmond Child's home!

He is one of the most accomplished hit-makers, having written and produced more than eighty Billboard Top 40 hits spanning five decades including "Livin' On A Prayer”, “You Give Love A Bad Name”, “I Was Made For Lovin' You”, “Dude Looks Like A Lady”, “Livin’ La Vida Loca,” and “Waking Up In Vegas.” From Aerosmith to Zedd, his genre-defying collaborations also include Bon Jovi, KISS, Motley Crew, Joan Jett, Cher, Michael Bolton, Cyndi Lauper, Ricky Martin, Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Garth Brooks, Meat Loaf, Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, Sia, Mickey Mouse and Kermit the Frog, selling over 500 million records worldwide as well as downloads, YouTube views and streaming plays already in the billions. His upcoming autobiography LIVIN' ON A PRAYER: BIG SONGS BIG LIFE with David Ritz is scheduled for release the Fall 2018. Desmond Child was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008 and serves on its Board of Directors as well as the Board of ASCAP. In 2012 he co-founded the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame and serves as its Chairman/CEO. He is also Chairman of The Fountains of Musica Foundation, who’s mission is to complete Alan LeQuire's aquatic bronze masterpiece MUSICA located at the entrance to Nashville’s Music Row.

ATHLEISURE MAG: It was an honor to shoot in your beautiful home and NERVO was very excited to see that they were in your apartment. Please share with our readers about how you got into the music business and whom you have worked with.

DESMOND CHILD: My beautiful mother, the late Cuban poet and Bolero composer Elena Casals, was always writing her romantic and soulful songs at her old upright piano on the dairy farm in Hawthorn, Florida, where I was born in 1953. At that time, I didn’t know that most people don’t write songs as a natural expression of the ups and downs of ordinary life. I would sit on my mother's lap at the piano and bang out long unrepeatable classical sounding improvisations. As soon as I could sit upright, she would make me play for her bohemian friends sitting around on the floor smoking and drinking during the Mad Men era when that was actually still good for you.

Not being able to afford a gift, I wrote my first official pop song titled “Birthday Blues” at the age of 15 in 1968 as a birthday tribute to a beautiful girl I was trying to impress named Laura
Stern. After that, I never looked back and kept writing songs all the way into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, where I was inducted into in 2008. That only took 40 years. ;)

ATHLEISURE MAG: Your home is awesome and there were so many elements that were amazing, but we all enjoyed your piano - when did you decide that you would have these notable talents sign your piano, and are there signatures that you have yet to get, but still
want to have in there?

DC: It was a random day, and I was walking down 57th Street, and when I got to the Steinway showroom, I looked through the window and saw this gorgeous Steinway D lit up like it was on a stage. I went in, sat down at it, and it seemed to just play itself. I ended up buying it on the spot, but I had to put it in storage for 2 years while my apartment was being renovated. When the time finally came to move-in the piano, I had to hire a crane to lift it up on its side in a massive wooden crate and slip it through the living room window.

It was an incredible feat that tied up Fifth Avenue traffic and pissed-off a lot of people.

As soon as I started doing writing sessions with top stars or important visitors, I would ask them to write their names in the piano along with the date. It started to get crowded in there and some names are completely unrecognizable, so I guess I will have to create a map of the stars to keep track of them all.

These are the names I would love to have in the piano: Joni Mitchell, Sir Elton John, Aretha Franklin, Jennifer Hudson, Sade, Imogen Heap, Paul Stanley & Gene Simmons, Beyonce & Jay Z, Steven Tyler, and Joe Perry.

AM: Are there projects that you are working on that you can share with us?

DC: I am just putting the finishing touches on my auto-biography - LIVIN' ON A PRAYER: BIG SONGS BIG LIFE with David Ritz. I hope to release in the fall of 2018.

AM: What is currently on your playlist?

DC: I only play two records ever… AMOROSO by Jaoa Gilberto, produced by my dear late friend Tommy LiPuma, and Sade’s epic LOVE DELUX. Over the past 5 years I’ve added Concha Buika’s
rare but exquisite albums. Any other music I hear is by accident.

AM: With New Years Eve just around the corner, what's the perfect playlist that we should be creating to celebrate the end of 2017 and the start of 2018?

DC: Any of Amy Grants 5 Christmas albums. Amy is my husband Curtis’ favorite artist of all time…. It just ain’t Christmas without Amy Grant.

We enjoyed finding out more about Desmond Child and his home which is currently on the market. We sat down with Louise Phillips Forbes of Halstead properties to find out more about 1215 Fifth Avenue #8CD as well as the neighborhood it resides in.

ATHLEISURE MAG: There are so many great aspects to this apartment, from its layout to the INCREDIBLE views of Central Park - what can you tell us about this property?

LOUISE PHILIPS FORBES: What’s not to envy in this exceptional home?! It’s a full-floor combination apartment with panoramic views of Central Park that are breathtaking year-round, and an abundance of custom designer details like art-deco moldings and Venetian plaster walls. The grand and expansive formal living room is an entertainer’s dream with four large picture windows (manufactured by Hope's) facing west, high-beamed ceilings and a statuesque
wood-burning fireplace. Plus, the spectacular views carry through to the formal dining room. A peaceful retreat, the master suite also showcases the Central Park views and features superbly crafted built-ins and an oversized walk-in closet that resembles a luxury boutique. You can escape to the spa in the elegant Vitrolite tile and Terrazzo master bathroom with a deep soaking tub, double sink vanity, walk-in steam shower, and heated floors. But it's the park views that will transport you to another world. A culinary delight, the eat-in chef's kitchen is the heart of the home with an open design that includes a substantial casual dining/living and media area. Kitchen highlights are the sophisticated Terrazzo countertops, abundance of pantry storage cabinets, and high-end appliances. A coveted laundry room holds the side-by-side and full-size Miele washer and Asko dryer with a sink and storage. To top it off, there is a new state-of-the-art Lutron lighting system and Crestron integrated surround audio system with built-in
speakers all through the apartment. Two oversized bedrooms and a second full bathroom complete the home with through-wall AC's in every room and great closets throughout. It’s pretty close to perfect!

AM: What amenities are offered in this building for residents?

LFP: A pre-war treasure, the Brisbane House at 1215 Fifth Avenue was developed and built in 1928 by distinguished journalist and columnist for Hearst newspapers, Arthur Brisbane, and designed by the renowned architectural firm Schultze & Weaver. The beautiful 16-story limestone-and-caramel-brick building boasts an elegant lobby and full-service amenities, including 24-hour doorman, live-in superintendent, private courtyard, fitness area, central
laundry room, personal storage, bike storage, and pet-friendly attitude.

AM: Tell us about the neighborhood that is directly around this building and what neighborhood is this considered?

LFP: A premier residence nestled near Carnegie Hill, this elegant gem is conveniently located across from Central Park and along Museum Mile with easy access to world-class exhibits at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Guggenheim Museum, and the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, among others. Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue
beckon with high-end boutique shopping and fine art galleries, plus there is an abundance of distinguished restaurants, charming cafes, gourmet grocers, supermarkets, Equinox Fitness
Club, the 92nd Street Y, and many popular retail destinations.

AM: For those that are interested in purchasing this unit, how can they find out more information?

LFP: It would be very easy to call this stunning apartment home given the grandeur of the rooms, designer details throughout, and abundance of Central Park views! To schedule an appointment, simply contact me directly and I will be happy to give you a private tour and discuss the purchasing details. You can reach me via email at lphillips@halstead.com or at 212-381-3329.

AM: Where can readers find out about additional properties that you represent?

LFP: Visit my website and click on the tab for “My Listings”. You can view pictures, 3D floor plans, and videos along with detailed descriptions of each property I’m working with from
downtown to uptown. The available homes range from a three-bedroom loft apartment in Tribeca to a 6-story grand townhouse on the Upper East Side.

Read more from the Dec Issue and see NERVO YORK in mag.

COCHON555

We Chatted with Chef Chris Szyjka as he had recently joined to participate in legendary cooking classic, Cochon555. 

When we entered Cochon555, New Porc City 2017, we were instantly swept away into fierce competition for whole pig cooking. Brooklyn, New York marked the first stop for this multi-city battle, where the ultimate champions will be crowned in the Grand Cochon in Chicago later this year. 

Cochon555 is an intense event for top chefs to celebrate heritage pigs one bite at a time. Created in 2008 as a response for a lack of educating of heritage breed pigs, this ‘nose-to-tail’ competition is dedicated to supporting family farmers and educate chefs and diners about the agricultural importance of utilizing Old-World livestock. Mom and Pop, farm-to-table, BBQ and Michelin Star restaurants are all worked with and share one core value: they source products responsibly. 

The Sunday afternoon event was an epic culinary experience featuring heritage breed pork dishes of all kinds with chef-crafted tastings, along with 40+ types of boutique wines, craft cocktails and artisanal brews. On its eighth year, the Cochon555 US Tour is aligned with modern day good food movement – notable chefs, barrier breaking women and men, artist-like butchers, spirited bartenders and brazen pastry talent. Together the ticketed educational event showcases are enjoyed and shared, building a space for safer, honest food. A portion of all sales benefit The Piggy Bank Charity, helps family farmers with a foundation to gift heritage breed pigs in exchange for business plans. It supports existing farmers requiring genetics to diversify bloodlines or rebuild herds as a result of disease or natural disaster.

The inaugural NYC event, New Porc City featured five chef entrants: Chris Szyjka, Chefs Club By Food & Wine (Heritage Foods USA Old Spot pig); Nicole Gajadhar, Saxon & Parole (with Spring House Farm Large Black pig); Ryan Bartlow, Quality Eats (with Dogpatch Farm Mulefoot pig); Greg Baxtrom, Olmsted (with Autumn's Harvest Farms Berkshire pig); Aaron Hoskins, Birds & Bubbles (with The Piggery Mulesoft pig). Indeed, Chef Chris rendered valiant efforts. Chef Nicole from Saxon and Parole took the NYC prize and moved closer to victory. Each made narratives and tasty preparations that enticed and captured our senses. 

In our upcoming feature, see Chef Chris preparing the final touches to his menu. Chef Nicole Gajadhar’s full menu and winning feast (with piggy banks, festive carnival tents, flying cotton candy pigs bearing her name and all). Also we have a glimpse of Chef Ryan Bartlow with ‘Quality Cochon’ coat, bringing out a full deli-style creation in all of its glory. We have a moment from the Punch Kings challenge, where Bryan Schneider, from Quality Eats dropped inherently award-winning cocktails, served in shiny gold trophies and find Kool Keith enjoying judging festivities. We see the Somm Smackdown and winner Nicole Hakli from ACME taking the win and DJ Lord from Public Enemy scratching some beats on the 1's and 2's. Our set ends with a dramatic frame of a whole heritage pig being artfully butchered and auctioned for charitable causes by Erika Nakamura and Jocelyn Guest from White Gold Butchers, and a nod toward Williamsburg’s Weylin Hall glorious ceiling, constantly delighting us all evening. 

Read more from the Feb issue as well as the full Cochon555 in mag feature.
 

GOOD MORNING, MICHAEL

Michael Strahan is a true New York icon. We had the pleasure to chat with him about his new athleisure line, MSX by Michael Strahan; where we can see him next; and how he remains on top. We also caught up with Stuart Billingham, JCPenney Creative Director for Men's Private Label for more on the collection.

ATHLEISURE MAG: - Stylish active lifestyle sounds like a great ethos for you, you’re always looking good on-the-go – what’s an average day like for you?

MICHAEL STRAHAN: There really isn’t an “average day” for me. Every day is so different, especially during different seasons. For example, during football season, I’m traveling from New York to Los Angeles for NFL on FOX. On days that I’m on Good Morning America, I wake up around 5:30am. My afternoons are always different. Sometimes I’m taking meetings with my management and production company, SMAC Entertainment and other times I’m doing activities that I enjoy, like playing golf! I’ve been spending a lot time working on my athleisure line MSX and my clothing line Collection by Michael Strahan.

AM: When did you first decide to jump into a companion line for Collection by Michael Strahan?

MS: I had a lot of fun creating Collection by Michael Strahan with JCPenney and I realized that in addition to great tailored pieces, men also need comfortable, stylish clothes that can be worn anytime. MSX by Michael Strahan is inspired by my active lifestyle and provides men trendy, functional pieces that can be worn everywhere. I call it my EveryWEAR for everywhere. And best of all, it's all priced for a great value. I'm really excited to be part of what's happening in the overall athleisure movement and I'm excited for the future of MSX.

AM: Why do you think athleisure wear has become such a movement?

MS: The way people are living these days has changed. People are on the go much more than ever before. Wearing a comfortable, yet stylish tee and pants is not for lounging, it's for living! To be able to go throughout your day and not feel over or underdressed in any situation is crucial and that's where athleisure comes in.

AM: “Everywear for everywhere,” that’s catchy, what assortment does MSX currently offer?

MS: The line offers a wide range of clothes for every part of life. The chino pants are one of my personal favorites because they can easily go from the office to the golf course. Also the Henley three button shirts, the v necks and an assortment of short options. 

AM: What is it about MSX by Michael Strahan that makes it optimal for workouts and tackling tasks of the day after the studio/gym?

MS: The breathable fabrics are made to keep you cool and comfortable all day, when they are paired with the no-chafe stitching you’ll stay comfortable the entire day.

AM: Style, comfort and performance are key for activewear, what advanced technology and comfort features does MSX by Michael Strahan have?

MS: Every piece in the line has hidden details. We have the no-chafe seam details to keep you comfortable while you are moving or the UV protection so you will be protected all day long. My favorite details are the secret pockets. For example, I’m a golfer so I wanted the chino pants to looks stylish, yet be functional. We kept the left back pocket open so you can easily slip in your golf glove between swings and included a zipper on the right back pocket to keep valuables like wallet and phone.

AM: What are some of your must-haves that you keep in your secret pockets?

MS: I keep all the essentials in my pockets - money clip, keys, and sometimes my phone…when it’s not missing! haha

AM: Run us through some of your favorite routines when you’re in the gym. Have you carried over a lot from those grueling football practices? Do you take any studio classes to round out your training?

Pictures of Michael Strahan in athleisure attire, courtesy of JCP

MS: I usually work out for an hour 5/6 days a week. I don't do the same workout I did as a football player. Now I do exercises that are more conducive to mobility and flexibility. I still lift weights, but the exercises and amount that I lift are definitely different.

AM: What are some of the jams or artists that are your go-to’s for your workout playlist? Anything new you just started listening to?

MS: I listen to Bill Wither’s “Lovely Day” every morning before work. It’s the best way to start the day! I’m a creature of habit. I like to work out to Hip-Hop. Whatever's hot I listen to.

AM: How do you stay on top of daily nutrition, what are some of you favorite meal combinations and snacks that keep you lean and mean? What is that one irresistible treat item that you just crave and enjoy?

MS: I eat a lot of fish, chicken and turkey and fresh vegetables without the butter and other things that add sneaking calories into my diet. I have protein smoothies and hard boiled eggs along with nuts as well. I have a weakness for chocolate in any form so I do crave chocolate chip cookies and ice cream, but I only indulge occasionally.

AM: You are an inspiration for work ethic across the board, what does “being 100% present” mean to you?

MS: It means waking up happy and putting your best foot forward each and every day. A good friend of mine always says “dress shoes.” It makes me laugh, but I like the meaning behind it because it’s about “putting your best foot forward…and if you’re going to do that, you should literally be putting your best foot forward". I have to remember to put away the phone and stay in the moment. That's a hard test for everyone in this age of technology, but it really helps you to stay present if you can do it.

AM: Your best-selling book, “Wake Up Happy: The Dream Big, Win Big Guide to Transforming Your Life” shares a lot of personal stories and advice for personal ambitions and going from good to great. What is a tip or two to be on top of one’s game and keep on track in active lifestyle?

Photo (P.41) courtesy of Jerry Coli. Photo

MS: I draw upon the power of positive thinking often. Developing a routine always helps to keep you on track. And most of all, just remember to encourage yourself and give yourself a break if you need it. Don't be so hard on yourself if you're not perfect because none of us are.

AM: Hello Stuart, thanks for joining us. Tell our readers a bit about your background and how you came to be Creative Director, Men’s Private Label at JCPenney.

STUART BILLINGHAM: I have been in the industry for 15 years, both in the European & US markets, working on a variety of product ranging from surf/skate, outdoor, heritage and fast fashion. JCPenney was an amazing opportunity for me to work with a highly talented team and immerse myself in a number of different lifestyles through the amazing private labels exclusive to us here, including Arizona, Xersion and of course MSX by Michael Strahan.

AM: What are some of the lines that you have been able to create with personalities?

SB: MSX by Michael Strahan was the first line I have had the opportunity to collaborate with a major personality like Michael, so this idea of working with someone who had a strong idea that they wanted to bring to life was super exciting. 

AM: How did the collaboration with you and Michael Strahan come about and what is the process that goes into creating a line such as this?

SB: JCPenney and Michael have been working together on our suiting line, COLLECTION by MICHAEL STRAHAN so it felt natural to find something to balance that – with MSX we wanted comfort and performance attributes, but we didn't want to make it feel like a performance line. We want guys to wear it everyday, to integrate each piece into their lifestyle.

(P.142/143) courtesy of Frank Jansky/ZUMA Wire

AM: How was it to work with Michael?

SB: Michael was heavily involved in the design process and showed so much foresight when it came to the product. He has great vision and is obsessed about the details like I am, so we had fun geeking out over new ideas.

AM: What are some of the inspirations behind the line?

SB: This is Michael Strahan’s second apparel line with JCPenney and we pulled inspiration from his personal style and his active lifestyle as a father and one of America’s most recognizable athletes and media personalities.

AM: We hear Michael says “everyone should get one of each,” where is a good place to begin to jumpstart their wardrobe with some core essentials?

SB: The true core of the collection comes in our performance jersey styles. Anyone can build on our tees offered in crew neck, V-neck or sleeveless muscle, all with our no-chafe seam details and quick drying technology, so you will be comfortable all day. We also have great layer-ups in fleece and 4-way stretch fabrications that offer great outfitting capabilities.

AM: What are additional styles that will be in future collections?

SB: Together with Michael, we are continuing to evolve the line with new product, and have some very exciting things coming for the MSX collection for Fall 16. Stay tuned.

Photo (144/145) courtesy of Lev Radin.

ATHLEISURE LIST: UPLIFT STUDIOS

Uplift is a (women-only) fitness studio and female society that offers signature group fitness classes, specialized personal training, and a unique social community. Their philosophy is pretty simple, but powerful: in everything they do, they are devoted to the power of "US". They create an environment where strong women empower, inspire, and connect with each other, through fitness and in all areas of life.

Leanne Shear is the co-founder of Uplift. Before conceiving the idea for Uplift, Leanne was a professional writer and the author of 'The Perfect Manhattan and Cocktail Therapy: The Perfect Prescription for Life’s Many Crises,' and her writing has also been featured in The Nation, The New York Times, New York, Glamour, Maxim, and Men’s Health, among others.  Leanne graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania and received a Master’s degree in Women’s Studies and Cultural Politics from New York University.  

Uplift offers five signature classes: Endurance, Power, Strength, Sculpt, and Uplift Express, which is a sampling of the other four formats. They offer personal training tailored specifically toward a range of female demographics. The studio also hosts a number of events including retreats, day trips, career panels, love/dating  events and nutrition workshops to name a few.

Uplift was on the top of the studio fitness game for amenities from the very beginning. In its full-scale NYC studio, they offer a range of beauty products, complimentary filtered water, coffee, tea, and post-workout refeuling snacks, and often  work with strategic partners to provide juices, nutrition bars and other goodies. The LA studio is providing similar offerings.

The studio will launch a new line of apparel in early July centered in "US"/aka the Uplift Studios moniker ("FocUS on the Good"). They will reintroduce their hugely popular muscle tee with the phrasing "Strong Women Uplift Each Other".

In addition to the NYC location, they also recently opened a second studio on the left coast in the heart of West Hollywood.

UPLIFT STUDIOS FACTS

LOCATIONS:

8254 Melrose Ave LA, CA
24 West 23rd St 2nd Fl NY, NY

STUDIO OFFERINGS: 

They offer personal training tailored specifically toward a range of female demographics.