1. You were kind of ahead of the curve in terms of being a “food influencer.”  Was there a moment early in your career when you knew food broadcasting was exactly where you belonged?

“I’d been on the radio for a long time (in Providence), and in the mid-90s the station came to me and said, ‘We have an idea for a talk show about restaurants and dining out, and we think you’re the guy to do it.’ This was when the restaurant boom was really hitting in Boston and Providence.

“I had been doing talk radio, so I knew how to talk to people and take phone calls, and I adapted to it quickly. People would call in and actually review their favorite restaurants — it was kind of a prehistoric Yelp — and it wasn’t for the faint of heart! We had to take some pretty extreme measures to make sure we had accountability, but it was really interesting, and people started to notice. One longtime listener even called in, practically in tears, and said, ‘You have found your niche.’

“I also admired a host who was doing food-related shows on location, and I thought, ‘I want to be him.’ And I did. I started broadcasting from places like the Mount Washington Hotel in New Hampshire, great restaurants, and food events all over New England. And in a way it was in my blood…my grandfather a line cook at the Mount Washington, so maybe it really was in the genes.”

2. You’ve watched New England’s food scene for decades… what’s the biggest shift you’ve seen, and what challenge do you think restaurants are up against right now?

“Well, the challenges are very similar to the challenge we face every Thanksgiving, with how to pair wine with Thanksgiving dinner…because you have so many different flavors, and you have a cast of characters around your table who are all at different points in their wine-drinking experience.

“I see that happening on the other side of the table in the restaurant industry. As time goes on and sophistication changes, we are not dining out like we used to. It's much more casual now. The fine-dining part of things has really changed. Everything has become more casual, and attitudes have become more casual as well.

“I think we want to guard against dumbing down what we’re doing on the other side of the table just because people aren’t getting dressed up, or haven’t been exposed to the finest wines or many foods. Don’t let that get in the way of giving people a memorable experience. Because the people who feed us and serve us mean the world to us. They have a lot of pride in what they do. Let them serve you, let them create…I worry about the creativity going away as we get more casual.”

3. What foods or dishes are you currently obsessed with?

“If you had asked me three or four weeks ago, I would’ve said saltimbocca! We went through about a week at the Waybury Inn (Bruce’s home base when broadcasting in Vermont) where Chef Antonio was doing saltimbocca everything…chicken saltimbocca, salmon saltimbocca, cod saltimbocca. He put some sage in, some spice profile, some Romano or mozzarella, and it turned it into an entire experience.

“These days, I’m really source-conscious. I appreciate a great supplier and a great purveyor…the people who do seafood, the people who do meat, the people who do produce and vegetables. It’s important to me where things come from.

“I enjoy everything. I’m not someone who will ever turn my nose up…I will never tell anybody not to eat something, and I will never not eat anything. But I’m so impressed, and it makes me so happy, when I know where something is coming from.””

Bonus Pour: What food or drink trends are you excited about in the new year?

“I think here in Vermont, we’re going to play to our strengths. We’re going to be really conscious of where our food is coming from. We’re going to eat local, because eating local is going to make us the exception to all rules. The skyrocketing price of eggs didn’t happen with Vermont eggs. We have so much local food available, so many growers and sources. I think that’s really going to hit its stride in 2026.”