Hanging out with Andy Baraghani

Andy Baraghani worked his way from restaurant kitchens to test kitchens. Now he’s in control and cooking for himself.

“I’m sorry for all the commotion and dog barking noises, it’s a bit chaotic today,” says Andy Baraghani, the 33-year-old chef and New York Times best-selling cookbook author of The Cook You Want to Be, looking off into the distance, distracted. I’m on Zoom nine hours ahead from a hotel room in Frankfurt. On the other side of the Atlantic, in the Bay Area, Baraghani has just woken up and is currently spending some rare downtime at his parents’ house. He’s wearing a simple gray T-shirt that shows off his biceps and sipping a cup of coffee on the garden terrace. It’s 9:00 a.m., and golden rays start to peek through the lush, leafy trees, lighting his face....