Top Chef Winner Richard Blais Didn't Need Another Obsession…Pickleball Found Him Anyway
Dinks On Tap: The Happy Hour Pickleball PodcastShow Notes
It turns out the distance between a Michelin-starred restaurant and a pickleball court is shorter than anyone expected, especially when the person crossing it is already wired for pressure, creativity, competition, and just a little bit of chaos.
This week, Casie and Lauren sit down with Chef Richard Blais, a chef, entrepreneur, author, television personality, and newly declared aspiring pickleball influencer. What starts as a conversation about how he found the game quickly becomes something bigger: why pickleball has a way of sneaking into your schedule, your friendships, your competitive wiring, and, if you are Richard, possibly your next business pitch.
Richard brings the same curiosity to the court that made him such a recognizable force in food. He talks about learning the game from his wife, Jazmin, and discovering that pickleball, beyond the cardio, gave him a new social life, a new outlet, and apparently, a new reason to talk to himself in the car about dinking patterns.
We talk about:
Why Jazmin is the real origin story behind Richard’s pickleball obsession
What tournament nerves have in common with cooking under pressure, and how that shapes his pickleball mindset
How he talks himself through competitive pickleball moments without losing the fun
Why great chefs and great doubles partners both need practice, trust, and a plan
The line-call philosophy every player should probably adopt
Why pickleball friends can feel surprisingly important when the rest of life is built around work
What Richard thinks clubs are still figuring out when it comes to food, hospitality, and the post-game hang
Why he has strong feelings about players who only drive the ball, and what that says about pickleball strategy
The fine line between helpful feedback and becoming the person no one wants coaching them mid-match
How rec pickleball, court confidence, and pickleball culture all collide once people start taking the game just seriously enough
And the celebrity foursome that somehow turns into a full pickleball fan fiction scene
Somewhere in this conversation is the thing pickleball people know but rarely say out loud:
It is not just the game that gets you.
It is the group texts, the partner dynamics, the small rituals, the style points, the competitive spirals, the questionable line calls, the post-game food, and the strange joy of finding yourself fully invested in something you once thought was just a casual hobby.
Settle in and press play. This one’s for anyone who has ever picked up a paddle and accidentally found a whole new world.
Cheers,
Casie and LaurenDinks on Tap
Let’s keep the conversation going!
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Website: dinksontap.com
For those wanting to fortify their mental game on the court, check out Lauren’s Mental Caddie offerings on her website or book a Chemistry Call.
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More from Dinks On Tap: The Happy Hour Pickleball Podcast
How did a game three grown men made up on a badminton court, because a 13-year-old was bored, turn into the thing your group text runs on? We found the kid who complained, and he still can’t believe it either. In this episode, we get into our summer vault, full of conversations, stories, and a little pickleball drama we never got around to airing. We sat down with Frank Pritchard, the bored kid himself, who can answer “When was pickleball invented?” because he was there when his dad, Bill Bell, and Barney McCallum made up the game on Bainbridge Island. We also cover Picklr’s Chapter 11 filing and the “is pickleball dying” headlines that followed, Genie Bouchard’s paddle-tap walkout and what it says about pickleball etiquette, and why the drinks after play keep the pickleball community together. You’ll learn: Why it's called pickleball, and the Pritchard family member who came up with the name A firsthand account of who invented pickleball, from the teenager whose complaining started it What the original pickleball paddle was made of, and which founder designed it The pickleball history most players don’t know, including how scoring and serving used to work Why Frank took a 30-year break from the game, and what brought him back What Picklr’s Chapter 11 filing means for your local club, according to the general manager of the Picklr in DFW How the pickleball business can struggle while the number of people playing keeps growing Why Genie Bouchard skipped the paddle tap, and whether we think she was justified How we won a tournament this summer by giving a screaming team a taste of its own medicine
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