Chef and Dario founder Joe Rolle joins Tim on Niver Niver Land for a raw, funny, and deeply personal conversation about food, survival, craft, and what it takes to keep a restaurant alive. Joe traces the path from growing up as a punk rock and skateboarding kid in a small town, working brutal days in his father’s logging business, struggling through school, addiction, ADHD, dyslexia, and eventually finding his way into kitchens. What started as a search for direction became a life in restaura...
Jul 3
1 hr 19 min
Chef, author, restaurateur, and MAJC co-founder Matt Jennings joins Tim on Niver Niver Land for a wide-ranging conversation about what it really means to grow, fail, rebuild, and keep serving the hospitality industry in a new way. Matt’s career has taken him from acclaimed restaurants like Farmstead in Providence and Townsman in Boston to writing, consulting, coaching, and now to building MAJC, a hospitality platform focused on culture, hiring, retention, and training, and on helping restaura...
Jun 12
1 hr 12 min
This week on Niver Niver Land, we sit down with Amari Collins, also known as Vin Dealer, a wine personality and cultural force helping reshape how people experience wine. Through humor, energy, and complete authenticity, Amari has built a platform that challenges the traditional gatekeeping of wine culture and replaces it with something far more human. In this conversation, we talk about wine as identity, breaking down exclusivity, building community through hospitality, and why people are cr...
May 1
49 min
Brandon Hoy, co-founder of Roberta’s Pizza, joins Tim on this episode of Niver Niver Land after discovering a clip of Tim talking about how different (and more difficult) the restaurant industry feels today compared to a decade ago. That moment sparked a deeper conversation. In this episode, Tim and Brandon talk about: what it actually takes to run a restaurant right now how trends and consumer behavior have shifted the mindset required to stay in the game long-ter...
Apr 17
1 hr 7 min
Chef-owner Abe Gessesse of Hyacinth in St. Paul joins Tim on this episode of Niver Niver Land for a conversation about what it really takes to run a restaurant today. Abe took over Hyacinth in 2023, having been the first-line cook hired when the restaurant opened in 2018, eventually becoming its chef-owner and earning a James Beard semifinalist nomination shortly after taking the reins. In this episode, Tim and Abe talk about the realities behind restaurant ownership, including: the dif...
Mar 6
1 hr 11 min
We bring this episode to you today with a heavy heart. Following the tragic killing of Renee Good by ICE officers and the subsequent unrest unfolding across Minneapolis and the country, we debated whether now was the time to share this. We chose to move forward because hospitality is, at its core, the story of our community. To understand where our city is going, we have to look at the spaces where we’ve gathered, worked, and lived for the last thirty years. This is a reflection of the social...
Jan 14
1 hr 23 min
This episode of Niver Niver Land features a high-energy live recording from the Falling Knife Brewing Company taproom, where host Tim Niver sits down with the duo behind the Wrecktangle Pizza empire: Jeff Rogers and Breanna Evans. Recorded in December 2025, the conversation dives into the messy, beautiful, and often hilarious reality of running a rapidly expanding restaurant group while maintaining a partnership. From their rise from food hall startup to national acclaim on Good Morning Amer...
Jan 2
1 hr 13 min
NiverNiverLand is sponsored by Land O’Lakes Foodservice. You might be familiar with Land O'Lakes Butter and cheese in the grocery aisle, but did you know they also sell dairy products specifically developed for use in foodservice kitchens? If you're a chef or operator in the industry, check out their offerings like Extra Melt® cheese sauces, shreds, and loaves - providing creamy, melty, crave-able appeal for your menu from smashburgers to baked mac and cheese to signature queso…and so much m...
Dec 12, 2025
1 hr 20 min
NiverNiverLand is sponsored by Land O’Lakes Foodservice. You might be familiar with Land O'Lakes Butter and cheese in the grocery aisle, but did you know they also sell dairy products specifically developed for use in foodservice kitchens? If you're a chef or operator in the industry, check out their offerings like Extra Melt® cheese sauces, shreds, and loaves - providing creamy, melty, crave-able appeal for your menu from smashburgers to baked mac and cheese to signature queso…and so much m...
Nov 28, 2025
26 min
Ed Porter is a creative storyteller who moves fluidly between the worlds of food, music, and media. Born in Mount Vernon and raised in The Bronx, Ed’s journey took him from the kitchens of acclaimed restaurants like Aquavit, Café Beulah, and Sweet Ophelia’s to the screen, where he appeared on Guy’s Grocery Games (Food Network) and Netflix’s Pressure Cooker. He trained at the Culinary Institute of America, but his foundation was built earlier: in music. That early passion still informs his per...
Nov 7, 2025
1 hr 32 min
Load more