EXPERIENCE THE TRUE GOLDEN STATE REMOVED FROM TRENDS AND TIME
What if Bourdain had done a deep dive of California for a whole season?
Join 7th generation local and Food Network Finalist
Chef Lee Abbott on a new travel, food, wine, beer, lifestyle TV series, as he shares the California gems, backroads, secret spots, and amazing people he grew up with.
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The bonus is...in every episode he cooks something special inspired by the locals, such as Abalone in Santa Barbara, Wine Sauces in Napa, Trout by campfire on the Kern River, or simply raising a cold one with a killer brewery band.
An Amuse Bouche
Show Open & Cooking Segment
Press Play and Welcome to California
A Typical Episode goes kinda like...
In each episode we feature one Town or Region, plus one specialty food or product, plus one local Beer/Wine/Spirit.
For example: Goleta California we visit a ground-breaking
on-shore Abalone Farm, and the Goleta Red Distillery.
Therefore...
• At the Top of Show, we hit a local restaurant gem as we introduce the Location and a local VIP. We chat about two or three local specialty products.
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• 2nd Segment we deep-dive one of the Artisans, their products, their farms/wineries/chicken coops - whatever! In this example - we go to the ground breaking Abalone Farm!
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• 3rd Segment we pop over to another local specialty location, such as the Goleta Red Distillery, and from the Master Distiller we discover his magic.
• 4th Segment we hit the CA Soul Kitchen and start cookin! What's Chef Lee going to do with the Abalone and what Spirit(s) did he choose to pair the dish with?
• Final Segment we plate - and we EAT!
We Have Distribution!
Food Network has lost it's Soul. True foodies, cooks and epicurean travelers are tired of competition reality shows - they want MEAT on the bone.
Basil & Salt Magazine partnered with Endorphin Films has a distribution Channel on Roku with a global reach of over 80 million active accounts. Plus... Amazon, Tubi, Hulu, and the realm of other streaming opportunities that shall also be added to our distribution in phase 2.
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And positioned as a flag-ship series is... California Soul
The Basil & Salt Channel is launching with powerhouse Chefs in the food world - who also are fed-up with the Food Network format. And, if a viewer arrives to the channel via one Chef... they are introduced to the next one... and the rising tide floats all Basil & Salt boats.
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We are launching along with...
Rocco Dispirito - Italian-American Celebrity
Rocco DiSpirito is an iconic Italian-American New York City Chef, television personality, and highly acclaimed author of fourteen cookbooks, including three New York Times bestsellers. He received the James Beard Award for his first cookbook, Flavor and over the years has garnered endless accolades as a highly respected chef, whose level of success, in and out of the kitchen, is matched by few others.
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He is a content partner on Rachael Ray, and a frequent guest on Good Morning America and Top Chef. He has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Chelsea Lately, The Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and NBC’s The Biggest Loser, and was the first chef to compete on the ABC megahit “Dancing with the Stars”.
Gina Neely - The Art of Entertaining
Gina Neely is Food Network pioneer and icon. She's an American celebrity chef, show host, best- selling author, reality television star, wellness advocate and restaurateur.
Gina's breakout moment happened in 2008, when her cooking show Down Home with the Neelys' became the Food Network's highest-rated series debut. She also appeared as a primetime host of The Food Network's Road Tasted. Gina produced and hosted her own show Chopped with Gina Neely on Magic Johnson's Aspire TV Network. ​
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Her new series Just Gina - the Art of Entertaining shall also be produced for The Basil & Salt Channel by Endorphin Films.
Genise Bullock-Prado - Pastry Chef
And yes... she is Sandra Bullock's sister.​ In her own right, Genise is a talented pastry chef based in Vermont, Bullock-Prado is a frequent contributor to Better Homes and Gardens and Food and Wine, and appears regularly on NPR’s "All Things Considered."
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Gesine is now a pastry instructor at her own baking school in Hartford, Vermont, Sugar Glider Kitchen, and at King Arthur Flour Company.
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She is the author of books, including the memoirs Confections of a Closet Master Baker (2009) aka My Life from Scratch (2010) – dedicated to her mother, and the cookbooks Sugar Baby (2011), Pie It Forward (2012), Bake It Like You Mean It (2013), Let Them Eat Cake (2016), Fantastical Cakes (2018), and My Vermont Table (2023).
Joe Sasto - Innovative Top Chef
As a frequent "go-to" Chef on television, Sasto has appeared on Top Chef, Chopped, Tournament of Champions, The Great Food Truck Race, Beachside Brawl, My World Chef, Dinner Budget Showdown, Wildcard Kitchen, Best Bite in Town, and Today.
Sasto worked at RN74, where he rose from line cook to sous chef. He also worked at Cotogna and Quince, where he managed the handmade pasta program.
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Joe then worked as Executive Sous Chef at Lazy Bear, where he maintained relationships with local farmers, and then worked as Executive Chef at Cal Mare in Los Angeles.
Sasto has a focaccia popup called Luna Focacceria and a puffed pasta snack line called TANTOS. He also teaches virtual pasta lessons.
We're Looking for Partners!
And offering FULL RIGHTS to REUSE & REPURPOSE ANY & ALL ASSOCIATED MEDIA.
As an independent production, vs. Food Network or Travel Channel, our Producers have the enormous benefit of literally being able to GIVE our sponsors all of their media to do whatever they so choose with it.
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From full edited segments, to Social Media clips, to re-editing your own content from the footage, to pulling single frames of raw video for a print campaign, to even requesting certain segments highlighting your brand.
You pay for it - you co-own it.​
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Our Producers are veterans in crafting creative stories to maximize how your brand can have some California Soul. (Oh and YES.... Partner VIPs are welcome on set and can even join in on the fun). We hope you join us at the table.
