Bob Sambol, the founder of the Bob’s Steak and Chop House, poses for a photo at the original Bob’s on Lemmon Avenue, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026, in Dallas.
Chitose Suzuki/The Dallas Morning News
Once a month, a group of Dallas’ most successful restaurateurs – from Ray Washburne of M Crowd Restaurant Group to Salim Asrawi of Texas de Brazil – meet for lunch, taking turns dining at each other’s establishments and dishing over work.
As Bob Sambol, founder of Bob’s Steak & Chop House, attended these meetings, sitting beside a different restaurateur each time, he realized the inner workings of Dallas hospitality would make a great podcast. That idea became the foundation of “Rare Conversations,” a podcast and video series that brings together leading restaurant competitors and reveals their tough realities.
“The restaurant business is a lot more than a lot of people think,” Sambol said in an interview. “This is a lifestyle. You work when everybody’s off. You’re off when everybody’s working. There’s a lot that goes into this.”
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How the conversations began
Bob Sambol, the founder of the Bob’s Steak and Chop House, poses for a photo at the original Bob’s on Lemmon Avenue, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026, in Dallas.
Chitose Suzuki/The Dallas Morning News
The first episode was filmed on Sambol’s phone, but he said it looked like it was filmed out of his basement, describing it as “amateur hour.”
He produced different podcasts before, such as “Tales from the Cigar Lounge,” a series about where Sambol interviewed business leaders, but he didn’t find success until “Rare Conversations.”
Knowing the potential of the series, he hired his videographer sister-in-law Mikey Hevr to level up the production.
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“It’s crazy to hear all the different things they had to do and how many times they almost went broke, but they just kept going for their dream,” Hevr said of the restaurateurs in the series. “There’s a lot of harsh realities in there as well. They kind of tell it like it is … so I think it’s very good for entrepreneurs to be able to listen to these podcasts or videos and be able to actually get a real glimpse into how it is.”
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The first official episode aired on YouTube in May, featuring Gene Dunston of Dunston’s Steakhouse. The episode dove into Dunston’s Steakhouse humble beginnings as a hamburger drive-in, which ultimately turned into a powerhouse steakhouse from his unwavering dedication, a common theme among several of the episodes’ guests.
“He goes to the Harry Hines location during the day, goes home, takes a nap and rests, and then goes to work at the Lover’s Lane location at night,” Sambol said in an interview. “My God, that is just unbelievable. He’s a lifer.”
In the year since the series started, Sambol has interviewed several of the leaders behind Dallas’ most notable restaurants, including Javier Gutierrez of Javier’s Gourmet Mexicano and David Campisi of Campisi’s. The series began to gain traction within months, with one video reaching almost 50,000 views on Instagram.
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“I’d say to all of us in Dallas that are operators in hospitality, Bob is a great leader to have,” Campisi said. “Not only does he run a good operation for himself, he shares a lot of wisdom and Bob is the epitome of blocking and tackling in hospitality with his steps of service, the culture he creates. We all emulate Bob in some way.”
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Choosing the guests for the episodes has been one of the biggest challenges in making the series, Sambol said.
He prioritizes inviting independent restaurateurs because he would rather share the more interesting story of the guy who “begged, borrowed and stole” to open a restaurant rather than someone in a major chain’s corporate team, he said.
He said he never expected the series to take off the way it did, from longtime Bob’s customers praising it to people outside of the hospitality industry, from sports to entrepreneurs, asking to be featured.
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“I’ve never been good at anything but the restaurant business,” he said.
Bob Sambol, the founder of the Bob’s Steak and Chop House, speaks to The Dallas Morning News at the original Bob’s on Lemmon Avenue, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026, in Dallas.
Chitose Suzuki/The Dallas Morning News
Bringing unity and revealing unknowns to the hospitality industry
Sambol starts most episodes with the same question: What did you raise your hand and say you wanted to be on career day in 6th grade?
Beginning with this question is intentional — he wants to show that very few of Dallas’ leading restaurateurs originally wanted to work in the hospitality industry.
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Sambol pointed to two guests, Hunter Pond of Vandelay Hospitality Group and Buddy Cramer of Katy Trail Ice House, who both have backgrounds in law before opening some of Dallas’ most iconic restaurants.
“I wanted to be the starting point guard for the New York Knicks,” Sambol said. “That didn’t work out. Then I wanted to be a Secret Service agent. That didn’t work out. When I was 11, my father took me to work at his bar in Manhattan, and here I am.”
While many of the guests are Sambol’s professional competitors to Sambol, he considers them friends and embraces them, saying there is enough business in Dallas for everybody.
Related: Bob, of Bob’s Steak and Chop House, returns to his namesake Dallas restaurant
Samir Dhurandhar, founding chef of Nick and Sam’s and podcast guest, said he looked at Sambol as competition when he first opened his restaurant in 1999. It wasn’t until seven years ago, when Sambol began working for Nick and Sam’s owner Phil Romano, that he began to consider him a friend — so much so, he made his own son work at Bob’s Steak & Chop House before his own restaurant.
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“We are personal friends.We go out, dine out together all the time,” Dhurandhar said. “But more so, I’ve always looked to Bob as a mentor. He’s an amazing host and how he takes care of guests is just amazing. I like going to sit at Bob’s at the bar and watching him.”
In future episodes, Sambol hopes to show how lesser-known aspects, like dealing with linen companies or alcohol distributors, impact a restaurant. He also aims to continue uniting Dallas restaurant owners — his goal for the series since its creation.
“I think it shows the respect I have for them and how we all skin the cat a little differently, but we’re all successful,” Sambol said.