This Sunday, Nickel City Chef will begin its 5th season with a competition between Nickel City Chef JJ Richert and Chef Michael Obarka from Ristorante Lombardo. After having a fantastic meal at Lombardo’s a couple weeks ago and getting some requests from readers (a first), we knew that we’d have to invite Mike down to the studio. We talked to Mike about his start in the kitchen, working at a country club, the idea of “Italian cuisine” in Western New York and doing some “R&D” in New York City.