This Is TASTE (Aliza Abarbanel & Matt Rodbard)

Tony “Tonx” Konecny is on the show today and we talk about the coffee company he founded with Sumi Ali. It’s called Yes Plz Coffee, and if you’ve listened to this show, you know how much love we have for what Tony and Sumi have built—the bag is part of our show’s logo too, which tells you something. On this episode we talk about how Yes Plz is bringing exceptional blends and single-origin coffees to subscribers each week. It’s a really smart business model, and we get into how it all works, and how, in the end, it’s the coffee fans who win. 

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you.  

MORE FROM TONY KONECNY:

• The Coffee Issue [TASTE] 
• 20 Best Coffee Subscriptions [Bon Appetit]
• This Is TASTE 54: YesPlz [TASTE]

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Rie McClenny is a video host and cookbook author who rose to acclaim in the test kitchen at BuzzFeed, where she hosted video series including Make It Fancy. On this episode, we find out about her journey from Japan to professional kitchens in Los Angeles to YouTube stardom. We also talk about her terrific debut cookbook, Make It Japanese: Simple Recipes for Everyone. We hope you enjoy this conversation. 

Also on the show, Matt catches up with his old friend Evan Wittenberg. Evan is passionate about the Philadelphia food scene, the Netflix works of Phil Rosenthal, Cormac McCarthy novels, and playing the drums. He is also 13. It’s fun catching up with one of our younger listeners to find out what is good.

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MORE FROM RIE MCCLENNY:

• A Japanese Homestyle Meatball Clinches the Comfort Food Crown [TASTE]
• Let’s Make Gyoza [TikTok]
• Phil Rosenthal vs. a 7-Year-Old [TASTE]

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Our Las Vegas week continues! Gina Marinelli is the chef and partner of La Strega, a coastal Italian restaurant charming Las Vegas’s Summerlin neighborhood. She’s worked in Las Vegas kitchens since 2006 for chefs like Michael Mina at Nobhill Tavern and Scott Conant at D.O.C.G. Enoteca, and now she’s doing Italian food her way. Also on the show, we visit Fontainebleau Las Vegas and check out the growing food and drink options at the new opening.

Lastly, it’s our recurring three things segment, where Aliza and Matt discuss the three things they each took away from their exciting week in Las Vegas. 

These very special episodes of This Is TASTE are supported by Las Vegas.

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Our guest this episode is one of our friends in the food podcasting world. Dan Pashman is the creator and host of the long-running podcast The Sporkful. He’s also the author of a great new book, Anything’s Pastable: 81 Inventive Pasta Recipes for Saucy People. In this episode, we talk about his pasta journey, from creating his own pasta shape to rigorously researching the many ways pasta can be cooked outside the Italian vernacular. It’s a great talk with Pashman.

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MORE FROM DAN PASHMAN:

• Everything You Need to Know About Cascatelli [The Sporkful]
• Anything’s Pastable Episode 1 [The Sporkful]
• Are Shallots Bull$#!t?  [The Sporkful]

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Eunjo Park doesn’t necessarily need kimbap, but kimbap most certainly needs her—or fans of kimbap need her, at least. When Eunjo, a veteran of Per Se and the three-Michelin-starred Gaon in Seoul, was opening the first Momofuku restaurant to explicitly focus on Korean food, Momofuku Kāwi, located on the far west side of New York in Hudson Yards, one of the very first dishes she and her boss, David Chang, wanted to focus on was kimbap. And focus she did, which we talk about on this great episode. We also talk about her amazing career, and how she is thinking deeply about modern Korean cooking. We love Eunjo and hope you enjoy this talk.

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MORE FROM EUNJO PARK:

• BLT Kimbap [YouTube]
• One of Momofuku’s Top Chefs Is Leaving the Restaurant Group [Eater]
• Pre-order: Koreaworld: A Cookbook [Now Serving]

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How fun is it having Paul Carmichael in the studio? Paul is the chef of Kabawa and Bar Kabawa, which is part of Momofuku and located in the former Ko space in New York City. Paul is a Momofuku veteran, having served as chef at Má Pêche in NYC and Seiobo in Sydney, Australia. In this episode, we hear about Paul’s career, from wd~50 to his leadership position working alongside David Chang. We discuss what makes a Momofuku restaurant special and about the Caribbean food history that flows through Paul’s menus. We also get the latest updates on the opening of Kabawa, which is one of New York City’s most hotly anticipated restaurants. It was so fun catching up with Paul.  

Also on the show, Aliza has a great talk with Roger Kamholz. A longtime contributor to PUNCH, he’s something of a cocktail world expert, and today he unpacks how he tapped into his mixology knowledge to create Pour Together, a book of imaginative and delicious two-ingredient cocktails. 

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Read More:

• This Is TASTE 376: Momofuku CEO Life with Marguerite Zabar Mariscal
• This Is TASTE 233: Wylie Dufresne
• Momofuku’s First New Restaurant in Years [Eater]

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We’ve been reading Smitten Kitchen for more than a decade now. At its helm is the hilarious and candid Deb Perelman, who joined us on this episode to talk about her favorite mushy carbs, keeping up with reader comments, and whether the Instant Pot is really worth the hype. Later, TASTE Editor in Chief Matt Rodbard shares a personal story about the great Anthony Bourdain.

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For Rachel Karten, “link in bio” isn’t just a social media call to action—it’s a career. The former head of social at Bon Appétit and Epicurious is now a social media consultant and the creator of the newsletter Link in Bio, which dispenses insights and interviews on the cutting edge of social media in food and far beyond. Rachel is my go-to person for demystifying things like the TikTok and Instagram algorithms (well, as much as anyone can), so I’m thrilled to have her on the show to talk about the current state of brand social media, why Instagram matters for restaurants, and much more. 

Also on the show, Matt talks about the first, sold-out, and extremely fun TASTE Travels cookbook trip with author Suzy Karadsheh. They visited Puglia last month and ate a lifetime's worth of orecchiette. Not a bad thing at all.

MORE FROM RACHEL KARTEN:

• Social Media Consultant Rachel Karten on Viral Trends and Social Strategies [Ad Age]
• Lean In or Log Off [Eater]
• Brand Social Trend Report [Link In Bio]

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As the founder of Blue Bottle Coffee, James Freeman has seen the rise of specialty coffee from a very unique vantage point. Freeman joins us in the studio to talk about his company’s influence, as well as where coffee is heading today. We find out about his dream café project in Japan and what excites him most about making coffee at home. We also talk about James’s excellent book, The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee. This is a seriously interesting talk with one of the great characters in the world of food and drink.

MORE FROM JAMES FREEMAN:

• Blue Bottle Studio Opens in Kyoto [Sprudge]
• This Is TASTE 144: Jimmy Butler and Ashley Rodriguez [TASTE]
• This Is TASTE 186: James Hoffmann [TASTE]

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Kiera Wright-Ruiz is a food writer and recipe developer based in Tokyo. She’s the author of the very cute children’s book I Want to Be Spaghetti! and now a debut cookbook, My (Half) Latinx Kitchen. It’s a culinary journey of discovery, blending memoir and lots of recipes connecting Kiera’s Ecuadorian and Korean heritage and the extended family of caregivers from across Latin America who helped raise her. Today, in Aliza’s interview, they dig into what it’s like developing Latin American recipes on the other side of the world, Kiera’s favorite restaurants in Tokyo, and more.

Also on the show, Matt has a fun conversation with Anna Hezel. She’s a writer and the former cohost of this very show, and she has launched (with some friends) a cool new project: Best Food Blog. They talk about some of the memorable stories in Best Food Blog’s young life, and some of Anna’s favorite stories from the early days of TASTE.

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. 

MORE FROM KIERA AND ANNA:

• Ceviche de Camarón [TASTE]
• The Aughts-Era "Foodie" Is Dead [Best Food Blog]
• The New Party Food Aesthetic Is Scarcity [Best Food Blog]
• Let’s Call It Assimilation Food [TASTE]

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Today we have two great conversations with two of our favorite recent cookbook authors. Have you found your way into the world of Suzy Karadsheh and the megapopular YouTube channel and website The Mediterranean Dish? We sure have, and it’s changing the way we cook. Born and raised in the cosmopolitan Mediterranean city of Port Said, Egypt, Suzy grew up just a boat ride away from countries like Italy, Turkey, Lebanon, Greece, and Israel. In this episode, we hear about Suzy’s terrific new cookbook, The Mediterranean Dish: Simply Dinner. 

Also on the show, we have a great talk with Jeremy Salamon. He’s the James Beard Award–nominated chef behind Agi’s Counter, one of our favorite restaurants in all the land. We talk about his life as a young chef, the near-universal praise for Agi’s Counter’s unique approach to modern Hungarian cooking, and his debut cookbook, Second Generation: Hungarian and Jewish Classics Reimagined for the Modern Table. I hope you enjoy these conversations.

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MORE FROM SUZY KARADSHEH & JEREMY SALAMON:

• White Bean Shakshuka [The Mediterranean Dish]
• A Crown Heights Lunch Counter Stirs New Life Into the Nostalgic Egg Cream [Eater]
• This Is TASTE 139: Suzy Karadsheh [TASTE]

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Many of us subscribe to NYT Cooking, the decade-old recipe emporium and offshoot of the venerable New York Times Food desk. This week marks the release of a new cookbook from the New York Times, Easy Weeknight Dinners, and we were thrilled to speak with Ali Slagle and Emily Weinstein, two core members of the NYT Cooking crew. Emily is the editor in chief of New York Times Cooking and Food and the author of the New York Times recipe newsletter Five Weeknight Dishes, which reaches millions of readers every week. Ali Slagle is a cookbook author and a key contributor to NYT Cooking. We spoke with them at a recent live event we hosted at Talea Beer Co. in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

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We’re big fans of Marissa Mullen and super excited to have her back in the studio to talk about the keys to winning the holiday entertaining game (mostly through cheese), and also reveal some details about an exciting trip to France we are planning for next summer. Our latest TASTE Travels has Marissa joining TASTE editor Matt Rodbard for a week of cheese, wine, and castles in Normandy. Limited spots are filling up quickly. Marissa is the author of two books revolving around modern entertaining and the art of the cheese plate. Her latest, That Cheese Plate Wants to Party, is a sharp and highly enjoyable guide to buying cheese for all sorts of occasions, including a solo evening at home. We hope you enjoy this talk.

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We'd love to hear from you.

MORE FROM MARISSA MULLEN:

• TASTE Travels France: Exploring Camembert, Calvados, and The French Countryside [TASTE]
• That Cheese Plate Turns 10! [Ticket link]
• How to Cut Every Type of Cheese [Salon]
• Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Cheddar [F52]

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Lyndsay C. Green is the restaurant critic at the Detroit Free Press, and she is tasked with shining a light on one of America’s most vibrant and also misunderstood food cities. It’s quite the job, and Green, a native of New York City, has embraced the role to its fullest. In this episode, we talk about Detroit’s many diverse neighborhoods and how the city’s food scene was built by immigrants from Mexico, Greece, China, and the Middle East. I ask her about her most recent top ten restaurants list, and we dig into her food writing process and style. It’s really great getting to know Lyndsay, and I hope you enjoy this conversation.

Also on the show, Aliza and Matt talk about what’s interesting and exciting, including the Kreung Cambodian pop-up, the recent Borscht Belt Festival, Jamie Oliver's new TV channel, OddFellows Ice Cream, and save us the plums!

MORE FROM LYNDSAY GREEN:

• My Year in Review as Free Press Restaurant Critic: Accidentally Anonymous [Freep]
• La Cuscatleca Inc. Is Southwest Detroit’s Best Kept Secret [Freep]   
• Detroit’s Street Barbecue Subculture [Freep]

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Today’s interview is so great. Dan Barber is the chef and co-owner of Family Meal at Blue Hill in Manhattan and of the legendary Blue Hill at Stone Barns. He’s also the founder of Row 7 Seed Company, a seed company built by chefs, farmers, and breeders that is pushing the boundaries of modern agriculture. We talk about his Row 7 vegetables, including red Badger Flame beets and the semi-viral produce of the season, Sweet Garleek. We also discuss his day-to-day cooking at Stone Barns and how his aversion to tweezers has led to a philosophy that is both fresh and timeless. I so enjoyed catching up with Dan, and I hope you enjoy this conversation.

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MORE FROM DAN BARBER:

• Dan Barber Feeds the Farm to His Customers [Restaurant Hospitality]
• A New Nutrient-Dense Lettuce [Food & Wine]
• Katz’s Deli Debuts a Vegan Pastrami Sandwich [NY Jewish Week]

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Today on the show we have two great conversations. First up is Molly Baz. With a signature voice and absolutely wild recipe development skills, Molly has won over millions of fans worldwide and she talks about her latest book, More Is More, which taps into the food world’s more maximalist urges. Also on the show is Dwight Garner. Dwight has been a book critic at the New York Times since 2008, and he has now written one of our favorite food books in years (not an exaggeration). The Upstairs Delicatessen is a book about “eating, reading, reading about eating, and eating while reading.” This is completely, 100% Matt’s bag, and Dwight’s style and rhythm had us reading until we were full (and then some). In this extremely fun episode, Dwight shares the book’s origins and digs into some of his most memorable meals and books, and books about meals, and meals…you get the point. 

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What a fun time it is having Max La Manna in the studio. Max is a recipe developer and former NYC and Los Angeles line cook. He’s also big on TikTok and various other social media channels, and we get into what makes a great food video as well as hearing about Max’s journey. We also talk about Max’s new cookbook, You Can Cook This! 

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We'd love to hear from you.  

MORE FROM MAX LA MANNA:

• Sun-Dried Tomato “Meatballs” [official]
• Vegan Tofu Butter Chicken [YouTube]
• 10 Tips For Reducing Food Waste [Veg News]

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Delia Cai is a journalist, the newsletter savant behind the popular Deez Links send, a Vanity Fair staffer, and the author of a great debut novel, Central Places. On this episode, we cover many excellent topics, including her Midwestern upbringing, her thoughts on the state of the Food Internet, and learning about the customs of dining out the hard way. 

Also on the show, international food and travel writer Sylvie Bigar was born in Geneva, Switzerland, and is based in New York City, where we caught up in the studio for this wonderful conversation. We find out what inspired Sylvie’s new memoir, Cassoulet Confessions. We also talk about how cassoulet, a traditionally French stew, has ties to her Jewish heritage. I hope you enjoy getting to know Sylvie a lot better.

MORE FROM DELIA CAI AND SYLVIE BIGAR:

• Is TikTok Turning Fashion into Pure Chaos [Vanity Fair]
• September Stuff [Deez Links]
• It’s Barbie’s World Now. We Just Live Here [Vanity Fair]
• In the Kitchen with Sylvie Bigar [WSJ]

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One morning this fall, Matt found himself in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, seated in the front yard of Edy’s Grocer, the remarkable deli and specialty food shop run by the amazing young entrepreneur Edy Massih, who joins him on the show today. Massih formerly worked as a caterer, and during the pandemic, he took over a storefront and began selling all sorts of delicious foods—all with a modern and exciting point of view. There’s a long list of mezze—Lebanese small plates like baba ganoush, rosy ricotta, and za’atar goat cheese—as well as harissa paste, jams, oils, and packaged spice rubs. It’s a delightful shop, cared for with the greatest eye for detail and deliciousness. We find out how the store began and how its ambitious owner is making things work during this challenging time to be running a food business.

 Additional reading:

• Edy Massih Wants to Be 'the Middle Eastern Martha Stewart' [Grub Street]
• The Dish: Chef Edy Massih on Lebanese roots, new shop [CBS This Morning]
• He Rescued an NYC Deli So He Could Share Lebanese Food With the World [The Manual]

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Mike Lata is chef and co-owner of the restaurants FIG and The Ordinary in Charleston, South Carolina, and one of the most respected voices in Southern cooking. It was really exciting to have Mike into our studio to talk about his journey to opening FIG more than 20 years ago and how he defines Southern cuisine in 2024. It’s so great catching up with Mike, and we hope you enjoy this conversation.

Also on the show it's the return of three things, where Aliza and Matt talk about three things that gets them excited. On this episode: Jim Meehan's new book, The Bartender's Pantry, the new modern Korean diner Kisa in NYC, the amazing pizza at Chicago's Milly's Pizza in the Pan, the summer of granita, hop water is getting even better with St. Elmo and others, and horseshoe crab festival was incredible. 

Got a question, comment, future guest idea, fact to share, fun fact to share, less-fun fact to share? Send us a voice memo and we will listen to it, and may feature your message on the show!

MORE FROM MIKE LATA:

• Eating and Drinking Around Charleston [This Is TASTE; starts at 51:20]
• If You Want to Eat Local Seafood, You Can’t Do Better Than Charleston [FW]
• For Chef Mike Lata, Food Is Good. Really Good [Garden & Gun]

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Sandro Roco is the founder of Sanzo, which has been our go-to flavored sparkling water of choice. We wanted to invite Sandro into the studio not only because we are big fans of his cans of lychee- and calamansi-spiked bubbles. We like the way he runs his business, as well as the story of how he bootstrapped this company in one of the most crowded categories in all of grocery: beverages. We also talk about how he was able to get Jeremy Lin to appear on the Sanzo can. It was so cool getting to know Sandro a bit better. I hope you enjoy this episode. 

MORE FROM SANDRO ROCCO:

• How to Raise $1.3M in Venture Capital with Sandro Roco [YouTube]
• From Nuclear Engineer to Cult-Favorite Seltzer Founder [Eater]

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We’re big fans of Marissa Mullen, and we are really super excited to have her in the studio to talk about her career working in the music industry (she worked at both The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert), but mostly to talk about cheese. She’s the author of two books revolving around modern entertaining and the art of the cheese plate. Her latest, That Cheese Plate Wants to Party, is a sharp and highly enjoyable guide to buying cheese for all sorts of occasions, including a solo evening at home. 

Also on the show we catch up with Daisy Alioto, the co-founder of innovative media company, Dirt, which has been called the "Village Voice of the Internet" (a big compliment). We talk about how food lives and breathes on the Internet, and dive into Web3’s influence on the restaurant industry. Are we ready for a "post-food" reality?

Get your tickets for Matt Rodbard and Daniel Holzman live at the Los Angeles Public Library on April 23.

MORE FROM MARISSA MULLEN: 

• How to Cut Every Type of Cheese [Salon]
• Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Cheddar [F52]
• Death of the Podcast [Dirt]
• A-List Mukbang [Dirt]

FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:

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• instagram.com/daisandconfused
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Andrea Nguyen is back on the podcast to talk about her latest—perhaps even greatest—cookbook: Ever-Green Vietnamese. Andrea is a prolific cookbook author behind favorites like Vietnamese Food Any Day and Into The Vietnamese Kitchen. Her latest book dives deep into Vietnamese food’s rich palate of plants from the land and sea, offering up ingenious recipes for things like homemade vegan fish sauce and a Grand Slam bánh mì breakfast combo. It’s such a fun, craving-inducing conversation, and we hope you’ll enjoy it. 

Also on the show, we catch up with cookbook author Colu Henry to talk about her latest book, Colu Cooks: Easy Fancy Food, and life in Canada.

MORE FROM ANDREA NGUYEN AND COLU HENRY:

• Viet World Kitchen [Official]
• 19 Andrea Nguyen Recipes for Bao, Banh Mi, and Beyond [Epicurious]
• TASTE Podcast 114: Andrea Nguyen [TASTE]
• The Emilia-Romagna Issue [TASTE]
• Easy Fancy Snacks to Impress Your Guests [Vogue]

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There are some restaurants where skipping dessert is just not an option—and if you’re in New York City, Gage & Tollner is at the top of that list. Pastry chef Caroline Schiff has created an all-star lineup of sweets that nod to the chop house’s historic past—it dates back to the late 1800s—while feeling totally fresh. On today’s episode, she shares with Aliza her pastry philosophy, her take on the most iconic desserts in the city, the origin behind her book, The Sweet Side of Sourdough, and more. Caroline is a true pastry wizard, and I hope you’ll enjoy this episode. 

Also on the show, Matt has Ellie Skrzat into the studio. Ellie is an illustrator, director, and the creative force behind much of the visual work we publish on TASTE, including all of the podcast illustrations that pop out in your feed. Some of her favorite guests to draw include Zosia Mamet, Ayo Edebiri, and Bartees Strange. Who does she want to draw? We find out in this run conversation. 

MORE FROM CAROLINE SCHIFF:

• Sourdough Has a Surprising Sweet Side [TASTE]
• Pastry Chef Caroline Schiff Ends Her Day with Sourdough Pancakes [Grub Street]
• A Day at a 143-Year-Old Restaurant With NYC's Most Iconic Desserts [Bon Appetit]
• Best New Chefs 2022: Caroline Schiff [Food and Wine]

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Samantha Irby is a humorist, a TV writer, and the author of an incredible new essay collection, Quietly Hostile. On this episode, we talk about so many things: Chicago pizza, living in Michigan, Bosnian food in Grand Rapids, car wash dudes in Kalamazoo, and what it’s like to write lines for Carrie Bradshaw (as well as give her diarrhea). We have long been huge fans of Sam’s work, and it was a real joy to have her in the studio. I hope you enjoy this conversation.

Also on the show, Aliza and Matt talk about three things they are each enjoying, including the great Las Vegas restaurant Lotus of Siam, hot dogs in New Jersey, monster trucks, Your Pasta, rhubarb all day, Confusion Snacks (our favorite new popcorn), the chicken wing of the sea.   

MORE FROM SAMANTHA IRBY:

• The Person Who Wrote It Is Eating Ramen: Samantha Irby on Writing for TV [LitHub]
• My Taste Is Basic. So What? [Harpers Bazaar]
• TASTE Podcast 123: Ayo Edebiri [TASTE]

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On this episode of the TASTE Podcast, we talk to chef, writer, and activist Jenny Dorsey. Jenny has beat Bobby Flay on Beat Bobby Flay and shown the internet how to make Spam-filled wontons, but she’s also the founder of the nonprofit Studio ATAO, which creates educational tools for food publications and organizations to think inclusively and equitably about their work. We talked about how VR goggles can shift the social dynamics at a dinner table, what makes a good neighborhood restaurant, and the astounding amount of research she put into writing the official cookbook for Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Buy: Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Official Cookbook

Additional Reading: 

• The Virtuous, and Virtual, Activism of Studio ATAO [TASTE]
• Toolkit for Recognizing, Disrupting, and Preventing Tokenism in Food Media [Studio ATAO]

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Deuki Hong is a San Francisco–based chef and restaurant-empire-builder in the making. He’s also the coauthor of Koreatown: A Cookbook. Here he catches up with his longtime collaborator for a wide-ranging conversation. They hadn’t seen each other in a minute! They discuss the exciting state of Korean cooking in America—and how it’s evolved significantly since the book’s release in early 2016. They also discuss Deuki’s first trip back to Korea since he was born. He covered the Olympics for the Today show, and, as he tells Matt, “It broke everything for me, in a good way. I realized I know nothing about Korean food.” Untrue, but the trip was an amazing revelation for the young chef.

Also on the program is Jordana Rothman, restaurant editor of Food and Wine. She and Matt go back a long way, and they discuss the shifts in covering restaurants in the food media world over the past decade. She also discusses the exciting things happening in the restaurant world in lesser-covered cities like Detroit and St. Louis, as well as her strong Instagram game. Hashtag: #BaroqueBreakfast.

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Today we have a great double episode of the show. Alex Prud’homme’s new book, Dinner with the President, is a history of American food, politics, and 26 presidents, from George Washington starving at Valley Forge in 1777 to Donald Trump’s burger banquets. It was such a good time having Alex on the show to talk about how food has been used as a diplomatic tool since the founding of the United States, and also dig into the legacy of his famous great aunt - Julia Child.

Also on the show we welcome Ali Rosen to the studio. Ali is a cookbook author, TV food host, and successful rom-com novelist, having published the hit novel Recipe for Second Chances. She is also the author of the new cookbook, 15 Minute Meals. On this episode we talk about what makes a 15 minute meal, and how she writes her food-focused fiction. It’s such a fun talk, I hope you enjoy it.

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you.

MORE FROM ALEX PRUD’HOMME & ALI ROSEN:

• Diplomacy Is Best Conducted at the Dinner Table [NYT]
• Alex Prud’homme Wishes He Was in the Room Where It Happened [NYT]
• Potluck with Ali Rosen [official]

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We welcome back into the studio James Harris, one half of Throwing Fits, a very funny podcast, Instagram account, and online community dedicated to all things menswear. TF is not just one of Matt’s favorite podcasts around, it’s a sneaky great look at the NYC food and drink scene, with James bringing big opinions about New York restaurants and nightlife culture. We hope you enjoy this very entertaining episode with one of our favorite guests around.

Also on the show, Aliza and Matt are back in the studio together to talk about three things they each are into, including: Pop-ups at Callisto Farm in the Hudson Valley, Thumbody Coffee, strawberry olive oil cake from Julie Saha, Khushbu Shah's terrific book, Amrikan, collectable olive oil with Tacapae, and three great cheeses from the Hudson Valley including Cooperstown, 5 Spoke Creamery, and Jake's Gouda.

Got a question, comment, future guest idea, fact to share, fun fact to share, less-fun fact to share? Send us a voice memo and we will listen to it, and may feature your message on the show!

MORE FROM THROWING FITS:

• Throwing Fits for Men’s Fashion [NYT]
• From Nike to Nautica, Here Are the ’90s Brands that Defined the Decade [Complex]

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You might remember her cardamom-pistachio Swiss rolls from the Great British Baking Show, or the orange savarin that blew Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood away. But in her new book, Chetna Makan is moving from all the butter and sugar onto another topic: Healthy Indian. We talked about daily baking habits, canned chickpeas, and why her black lentil recipe is better than her mom’s. She also told the story of a recent Great British Baking Showreunion at a wedding that involved not one, but 10 cakes.

Later on the show, we grill TASTE contributor Max Falkowitz with a hard-hitting question about hot dogs.

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Welcome to Pizza Week! From time to time we like to break into a thematic groove, and this is one of those weeks. We have a bunch of fun interviews planned. First up is Dan Richer, the owner of Razza in Jersey City, New Jersey. Yeah yeah, New York Times critic Pete Wells once called Razza the best New York City pizza (not in New York), and the 2017 assessment brought a swell of pizza freaks across the river to sample Richer’s pie. In this interview, we talk about the review that changed everything, and we dig into how Richer describes his pizza, his obsession with bread, and his great cookbook, The Joy of Pizza: Everything You Need to Know. We loved having Dan in the studio to kick off our week of pizza talks.

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. 

MORE FROM DAN RICHER:

• Is New York’s Best Pizza in New Jersey? [NYT]
• Dan Richer’s Everyday Pizza Dough [Ooni]
• Franco Pepe and Dan Richer Share Deep Pizza Thoughts [Appetito]

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Every year we await the release of The Best American Food Writing. It’s a sharp collection of works from around the world of food media, and it always brings surprises. This year was no different, and the collection’s new editor, Jaya Saxena, tells us about her selection process. We also dig into her own journalism career. She’s one of our favorite writers at Eater, and we talk about some memorable stories she’s written there as well as for TASTE.  

Also on the show, it’s the return of Three Things where Clayton and Matt discuss what is exciting in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. On this episode: the B.O. Boys, Saturday Night is actually good, the Seoul Meets Bagel at Between the Bagel, Bruce Eric Kaplan's look inside Hollywood screenwriting in They Went Another Way. Two more books: Mammoth by Eva Baltasar and William by Mason Coile. Also, a reminder that Zingerman's has the best holiday gifts, Little Flower Cafe in Astoria is a lovely place, Daniela Galarza's broccolini parmesan soup rules, and Mombard has invented quite the sandwich.

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. 

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Hailee Catalano and Chuck Cruz are two of our favorite social media follows (@haileecatalano and @chuckycruz). The two chefs, who met in culinary school, cooked at Chicago restaurants like Dos Urban Cantina and Cellar Door Provisions before starting to share recipes on TikTok and Instagram. Their inventive recipes and laid-back vibe have won many, many fans, and it’s so fun to have them both in the studio to talk about their shifting careers. 

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google

MORE FROM HAILEE CATALANO AND CHUCK CRUZ

• Earl Grey Buckwheat Chocolate Cake [Hailee Catalano]
• Chicken Adobo Au Poivre [Chuck Cruz’s Substack]
• Chuck’s Spotify Playlist

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For near five years, journalist and former chef Bill Addison traveled America as Eater’s first, and only, roving restaurant critic. It was an epic and sometimes grueling run, one that I am sure will end up on the shelf of Kitchen Arts and Letters in memoir form in due time. Bill has since landed a new job in a city many consider to be the beating heart of American food culture today: Los Angeles!

In this candid interview, Addison talks about his new gig as co-restaurant critic at the Los Angeles Times, where he and Patricia Escárcega have been tasked with replacing the legendary Jonathan Gold while also having a fresh take on the beat. We talk about Addison’s marching orders—the territory he will be covering and what defines L.A. proper—and some of the cuisines he will be targeting in a city of hundreds. Hint: Syrian home cooking has been getting a closer look as of late. I also ask him about the best restaurant he has visited in his short time as critic and the one pastry he cannot wait to bake in his new home kitchen.

Also on the show I speak with Kim and Tyler Malek, the founders of beloved ice cream company Salt and Straw. We talk about their cool new cookbook and how they invent their hundreds of new flavors each year.

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Today on the show, we welcome Molly Stevens into the studio. Molly is the cookbook author behind the “All About” trilogy—that would be All About Braising, All About Roasting, and All About Dinner. Molly is also a food educator and one of the cohosts of an amazing podcast, Everything Cookbooks, that covers the ins and outs of writing cookbooks—the highs, the lows, and the many edits. Stevens has great insight into the cookbook industry, and we were thrilled to share the mic with her.

Also on today’s show, we have a talk with Lorenzo Carcaterra, the writer behind the book Sleepers, which was adapted into a 1996 film starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro. We talk about what food was like when he was growing up in Hell’s Kitchen and about his latest book, Nonna Maria and the Case of the Missing Bride.

More from Molly Stevens:

• Grown-Up Chicken Nuggets with Herb and Radish Salad [Food and Wine]
• Molly Stevens Makes Roasted Carrots [YouTube]

Buy: All About Braising, All About Roasting, All About Dinner 

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Julia Turshen is the author of four cookbooks, including the new release What Goes With What: 100 Recipes, 20 Charts, Endless Possibilities. It’s a comprehensive guide to building cooking intuition and transforming odds and ends into a meal, and we had a great conversation live at Rizzoli bookstore all about making the book come to life, plus things like body acceptance and what constitutes queer food. We hope you’ll enjoy it. 

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MORE FROM JULIA TURSHEN:

• Keep Calm and Cook On [Substack]
• My Mom Was a Magazine Editor in the ’90s. We’re Finally Talking About What It Did to Our Body Image [SELF]
• This Is TASTE 22: Julia Turshen [TASTE]

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Becca Millstein is cofounder and CEO of Fishwife, one of the buzziest brands in not just the emerging tinned seafood market but all of food. We had such a fun time catching up with Becca to talk about her brand’s journey from big idea to big-time retail. We also find out where the tinned fish movement is heading and hear about some of the bumps along the road that the company has had to overcome. Finally, we talk about the company’s now-iconic branding—such great branding! We hope you enjoy this conversation.

Also on the show, Matt recaps his recent trip to Seattle, including stops at The Walrus and the Carpenter, Hood Famous, Watson’s Counter, Book Larder, Camber, Hamdi, and Saint Bread.

MORE FROM BECCA MILLSTEIN:

• Wait, Canned Salmon Is Good? [TASTE]
• Creating America’s First Chic Tinned Fish Company [Eater] 
• Meet Fishwife, the Stylish, Sustainably Sourced Tinned Fish You Want in Your Kitchen [Vogue]

FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:

• instagram.com/bbmillstein
• instagram.com/mattrodbard
• instagram.com/taste

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You’ve spotted their iconic squeeze bottle on the shelves of Whole Foods and seen it used by your favorite food influencers and chefs on Instagram. But do you know the story behind Spanish olive oil company Graza? On this episode, we welcome back Graza’s charismatic cofounder Andrew Benin to talk about the ups and downs of running a quickly growing food company. We hear about public drama, exploding growth, critical reviews, and how Graza remains one of the most exciting brands in not just olive oil, but all of food.

Want to partner with TASTE? Send us a note at: partner@tastecooking.com. 

MORE FROM GRAZA:

• The Best Olive Oil You Can Buy at the Store [Wirecutter]
• This Is TASTE 182: Graza [TASTE]
• Olive Oil Has Never Been Cooler [Eater]
• This Week’s Tiniest Social Media Drama Is About Olive Oil [NYT]
• This Is TASTE 351: Aura Bora [TASTE]

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Tavel Bristol-Joseph is pastry chef and partner at Emmer & Rye, Hestia, Canje, and many other acclaimed restaurants in Austin, Texas, and beyond. He’s also just opened a really cool dessert bar, Nicosi, in San Antonio. In this episode, we talk about Tavel’s early cooking life in New York and how he grew a cheesecake mini empire out of his Brooklyn apartment—well, there were many apartments involved. It’s a great story. We also discuss his move down to Texas and how his unique skills with pastry and restaurant hospitality have made him one of our country’s most important chefs. I really enjoyed getting to hear Tavel’s story.

Also on the show, Aliza and Matt preview some really exciting cookbooks being released this spring. And stay tuned, as we will be back with many more exciting titles hitting bookstores in the next couple of months. Books mentioned on the episode: In the Kusina: My Seasonal Filipino Cooking by Woldy Reyes, Pakistan by Maryam Jillani, Fat + Flour by Nicole Rucker, Salsa Daddy by Rick Martínez, By Heart by Hailee Catalano, Sesame by Rachel Simons, Setting a Place for Us by Hawa Hassan, Every Day with Babs by Barbara Costello, Lugma: Abundant Dishes And Stories From My Middle East by Noor Murad, The Choi of Cooking by Roy Choi.  

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. 

READ MORE:

• TASTE Live at Rizzoli with Barbara Costello
• One of America’s Top Pastry Chefs Just Opened a New Dessert Bar [Robb Report]
• Food & Wine Best New Chefs 2020: Tavel Bristol-Joseph [Food & Wine]

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Christina Chaey is a writer and recipe developer based in Brooklyn. A former Bon Appétit food editor, she’s currently writing the newsletter Gentle Foods, where she shares essays and recipes rooted in cooking how you want to feel. It’s so special to catch up with Christina in the studio about her background working in magazines, expanding the concept of wellness food, and making her very own cookbook. 

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you.

MORE FROM CHRISTINA CHAEY:

• Gentle Foods [Substack]
• Green Curry Lentil Soup [Bon Appetit]

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On today’s episode of the podcast, we’re talking to Fany Gerson, the pastry chef mastermind behind La Newyorkina, Dough, and, most recently, Fan-Fan Doughnuts in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. In addition to making some of New York’s most legendary doughnuts, Fany has written extensively about the paletas, ice creams, and other sweets of Mexico, where she grew up. We talked about the secret ingredient that makes her yeasted doughnuts special, how the fan-fan (her signature eclair-like doughnut baton) came about, and some of the best, often-overlooked Mexican food in New York.

Later on the show, hosts Anna Hezel and Matt Rodbard discuss the ever-present, ever-evolving world of fad diets.

Additional Reading:

• Mexican Desserts and the Magical Can [TASTE]
• Inside Fany Gerson’s Brand-new Doughnut Shop [Grub Street]
• The Best Advice After Trying Every Fad Diet? Just Eat. [TASTE]
• When SnackWell’s Was the Flavor of Permissible Indulgence [TASTE]
• The Summer of Halo Top [TASTE]

Buy Fany’s cookbooks: My Sweet Mexico, Paletas, Mexican Ice Cream

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Dirt Candy is a vegetarian restaurant on New York’s Lower East Side that has become famous over the past decade for making eggplant tiramisu, kimchi donuts, and tomato fruit leather. But its chef, Amanda Cohen, makes one thing very clear—the restaurant’s mission is not about vegetarianism or health or politics. It’s just about making vegetables taste really good. In this episode, we talk with Amanda about the 15-year run of one of New York’s most important restaurants. We discuss her early experiences working with Moby and her deep understanding of how to run a restaurant in these modern times. Also, cookbooks! Will she write another one? We find out.

MORE FROM AMANDA COHEN:

• Dirt Candy: A Visual Veggie Cookbook With a Memoir Mixed In [NPR]
• For Chef Amanda Cohen, Everything Is Out in the Open [NRN]
• This Is TASTE 33: Amanda Cohen [TASTE]

FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:

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• instagram.com/taste

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Have you ever wondered how chefs rise from relative obscurity to the pages of your favorite glossy magazine or online publication? Longtime food writer Kate Krader has the answer. Kate worked at Food & Wine for over two decades and served as the magazine’s restaurant editor for years, overseeing the Best New Chefs program that spotted talent from New York City to Honolulu. We talk about Kate’s career, from studying at La Varenne in Paris to her current position as food editor at Bloomberg. Kate will soon be moving from New York to London, and we talk about some hot food topics, including Tesla moving into the restaurant business and why nobody can land a restaurant reservation these days. We also talk rivalries: Eater vs. Grub Street. Bon Appétit vs. Gourmet vs. Food & Wine. And with Kate’s pending move to the UK, naturally, Blur and XTC were discussed. It’s a great conversation.

More from Kate Krader:

• The Best Restaurant in the UK Isn’t in London. It’s in Wales. [Bloomberg]
• Snagging a Table at a Hot Restaurant Will Be Even Tougher This Summer [Bloomberg]
• Talking Italian Restaurants [Charlie Rose]

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Yemi Amu is the founder and director of Oko Farms, a beloved community-based aquaponics farm cultivating fish alongside produce in New York City. After a decade of growing food in several locations across Brooklyn, including three years in Williamsburg, Oko Farms unexpectedly had their lease terminated this November. They’re forced to pack up the farm and find a new location, and today on the show, Yemi is sharing more about their search and the power of aquaponics.

Also on the show Matt has a great conversation with writer Joshua David Stein about Esquire’s Best New Restaurants in America package, which was released this week. We go over some of his favorite restaurants around the country. Cincinnati represent! We also talk about his recent cookbook work, and what it’s like to collaborate with Tom Colicchio.  

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. 

MORE FROM YEMI AMU:

• A New Way of Raising Fish—and Vegetables—in New York [The Guardian]
• A Farm Grows in Bushwick Thanks to One Woman’s Vision [Vogue]

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Cal Peternell was the head chef of legendary Bay Area restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, for over 20 years, where he served celebrity patrons and trained a new generation of chefs. He’s the New York Times best-selling author of Twelve Recipes and A Recipe for Cooking. His most recent book is the revealing and erudite Burnt Toast and Other Disasters. On this episode, we hear some good Chez Panisse stories, and we talk about Cal’s move to the East Coast. We also discuss his cookbook career—and his interpretation of that “figs on a plate” incident from a few years back. 

Also on the show we have a fascinating conversation with Nasim Alikhani, the chef and cookbook author behind Brooklyn’s mega-popular Iranian restaurant, Sofreh. You should check out her new book.

More From Cal Peternell and Nasim Alikhani:

• Celery, Radishes, and Anchovy Butter [official]
• A Berkeley Chef Feeds the Homeless [LA Times]
• Olives With Citrus Zests and Fried Herbs [Washington Post]
• Nasim Alikhani Is Leaving Her Mark [Eater]

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It’s really fun having Alex Delany back on the show and getting to know the food and drink writer (and rare book collector) a little bit better. You may know Alex from his time working at Bon Appétit as a writer covering home cooking, wine, cocktails, and naturally processed coffee (respect), as well as a series of memorable YouTube videos. But since leaving BA in early 2021, Alex has been busy working as a consultant, podcaster, wine educator, and most recently as the author of a really cool city guide called “Everything Good.” On this episode we talk about the summer of NA beer, the summer of Superiority Burger, love for Richmond, Karma vs. Mast, Andy Warhol’s lost cookbook, love for Beefeater, and what’s next. Cool catching up with Alex again. 

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We'd love to hear from you.

MORE FROM ALEX DELANY:

• Everything Good: Tribeca Fidi [Google Docs]
• Everything Good on the Lower East Side [Google Doc]
• This Is TASTE 131: Alex Delany [TASTE]
• Andy Warhol’s Wild Raspberries [Biblio]

FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:

• instagram.com/alex_delany
• instagram.com/mattrodbard
• instagram.com/taste

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Angelo Sosa is one of the most talented chefs we’ve gotten to know, and he’s currently the chef at the new restaurants Tía Carmen and Carmocha at the Grand Hyatt Indian Wells Resort & Villas near Palm Springs, California. Angelo was also the runner up on Top Chef and has worked with some of the biggest names in the game, including Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Alain Ducasse, Stephen Starr, and Masaharu Morimoto. In this episode, we talk about his move to the Greater Palm Springs area and the exciting high desert cuisine he’s serving. 

Also on the show, Matt talks about his recent visit to Palm Springs and digs into the region's restaurants, both established and brand-new. Palm Springs is such an underrated food town, and we have some great recommendations including Bar Cecil, Tia Carmen, Lola Rose at the new Thompson Hotel Palm Springs, The Modern Tour, Maleza, and Billy Reeds forever.  

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MORE FROM ANGELO SOSA:

• Angelo Sosa, Richard Blais Open New Restaurants in the Coachella Valley [Palm Springs Life]
• This Is TASTE 350: Angelo Sosa [TASTE]

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Chef and budding TV personality Daniel Harthausen is one of the most exciting voices in food, having just won the first season of HBO’s very good cooking competition show The Big Brunch and running the roving pop-up Young Mother in Richmond, Virginia. Harthausen was raised by a Korean mother and a half-Korean father and “had a baseline of what really good Korean food tasted like, without really knowing it at the time,” he told Matt during a Zoom conversation earlier this year. He was visiting New York recently, and we asked him to stop by the studio for a really cool conversation about his travels, his loot (he won $300,000 on the show), and the delicate topic of Korean-Japanese relations. He’s got a lot to say, and we were so excited to have him in.

MORE FROM DANIEL HARTHAUSEN:

• Daniel Harthausen’s Big Korean-Japanese Brunch Is Special [TASTE]
• Brunch Time [Richmond Magazine]
• Richmond’s Daniel Harthausen wins big [Richmond Times Dispatch]

FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:

• instagram.com/danielharthausen
• instagram.com/mattrodbard
• instagram.com/taste

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Jason Hammel is the executive chef and owner of award-winning Lula Cafe in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood. Jason grew up in New Haven, Connecticut, and is the product of a tight-knit Italian family. He studied writing at Brown University and then traveled in Italy, where an accidental stay in an apartment above a produce market left a lasting impression and presaged his career as a chef. In this episode we hear about the 24-year run of Lula Cafe, and about how Jason’s instinct to write blends with his culinary background. We also talk about his debut cookbook, The Lula Cafe Cookbook.

Also on the show, Aliza and Matt talk about three things they are feeling, including a memorable Table of Contents event in Brooklyn, speaking at the Chow Chow Festival in Asheville, NC, the nostalgia of Save Me the Plums, Helen Rosner is on a roll at The New Yorker, Birdie’s pasta extruder in the dining room is a baller move.

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We'd love to hear from you.         

MORE FROM JASON HAMMEL:

• Jason Hammel’s Dear Chicago [Star Chefs]
• Still Setting the Standard in Logan Square [Chicago Tribune]
• Konbi Has a Secret Croissant Machine [TASTE]

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Today on the show, we welcome one of our favorite writers in the game, Jason Diamond. Jason writes the wonderful newsletter The Melt and has written two books, Searching for John Hughes and The Sprawl: Reconsidering the Weird American Suburbs. He’s also worked on the truly amazing New York Nico’s Guide to NYC, which we talk about in this great episode. We get into what Jason has been eating and reading, and the Jason Diamond way of life. I always enjoy catching up with Jason, and I hope you enjoy this episode.

Also on the show, we catch up with Vivian Song. Vivian wrote a terrific piece in the New York Times, “It’s Zinc Bar vs. Barista in a Paris Battle of the Buzz,” and we hear all about the shifting coffee scene in Paris.

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. 

MORE FROM JASON DIAMOND:

• The Many Garlics of My Childhood [TASTE]
• Shattering the Jarred Pasta Sauce Stigma [TASTE]
• Luncheon with a Zabar [TASTE]

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The Bear. We all love The Bear, the hit restaurant drama from FX. And we love The Bear for good reason. The show was the talk of TV this summer, and it’s still gaining popularity. Courtney Storer is a Los Angeles–based chef and the show’s culinary producer. That means she’s behind the show’s hyperrealistic cooking scenes that are now legendary. On the show today, we find out how Courtney translates her decade of professional cooking experience for the actors, and how growing up in Chicago informed the way she thinks about food. Get to know Courtney Storer on this entertaining episode of the TASTE Podcast.

More from Courtney Storer:

• The Bear Glossary [Uproxx]
• At Home with Courtney Storer [L&G]
• TASTE Podcast 123: Ayo Edebiri [TASTE]

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Priyanka Mattoo is the author of Bird Milk & Mosquito Bones, a wonderful memoir about food and place and how moving around the world inspired volumes and volumes of stories. We so loved having Priyanka into the studio, and we covered some serious ground. We discuss her upbringing in the UK, Saudi Arabia, and Ann Arbor, Michigan, and her journey to Hollywood, where she worked as a talent agent and studio executive. We talk about food on TV, The Bear (naturally), but also what excites her on television today.

Also on the show, Matt talks about his recent trip to India with chef Meherwan Irani of restaurants Chai Pani and Botiwalla. They visited Mumbai, Pune, and Ahmednagar and experienced so much including stops at Shree Thaker Bhojanalay, Cafe Yezdan, and Parsi Dairy Farm.

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you.

MORE FROM PRIYANKA MATTOO:

• The Best Restaurant in Town [TASTE]
• ‘We Never Moved Back to Kashmir, Because We Couldn’t’ [NYT]
• The Monday Media Diet with Priyanka Mattoo [WITI]

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Our guest today needs little introduction—but if you didn’t grow up watching cooking on television over the past 20 years, here’s the deal. Jamie Oliver pioneered a form of food television that brought cameras into the home in a way not previously seen. When the Naked Chef debuted on BBC Two in the UK and the Food Network in the United States in 1999, home cooking on TV was a stand-and-stir affair. Here, a young and floppy Oliver was cooking real food from a cool East London flat, talking viewers through the relative simplicity of making dinner. Oliver has gone on to write numerous cookbooks (selling 50 million in the UK alone) and create food TV that expanded beyond cooking, producing documentaries about the sugar industry and school lunches that transitioned his work from dude food evangelist to heartier activism. 

Oliver was a joy to have on the program, and we talk about the early days of his television career, working at the River Café with the legends Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray, and a pressing question: Blur vs. Oasis (while discussing bassist turned cheese maker Alex James). We also learn about his latest book, Together: Memorable Meals Made Easy. 

Additional reading and viewing:

• Jamie Oliver’s first TV appearance in 1997 [YouTube]
• It’s Not Always Excellent to Be Jamie Oliver [The New York Times]
• Keep Cooking and Carry On [Jamie Oliver website]

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Vallery Lomas is a former Washington, DC, lawyer, a current New York City food writer and restaurant chronicler, and the author of a wonderful new cookbook, Life Is What You Bake It. Vallery also competed on—and won— season 3 of The Great American Baking Show. In this interview, we talk a little bit about her season of the show, which unfortunately never aired because of many allegations made against one of the judges. We also tackle some of the baking world’s biggest questions—we’re talking cookie vs. brownie and mint vs. white chocolate.

Also on the show, cohosts Anna Hezel and Matt Rodbard talk about one of the greatest culinary achievements in the history of food (at least to one of the hosts): ranch dressing. They discuss what defines ranch, the beauty of ranch on pizza, and how ranch may need a little PR. Well, here is some PR!

Additional reading:

• Vallery Lomas and Ruby Tandoh on New Cookbooks and Old Food Media [TASTE]
• Leah Chase Expanded Horizons for Black Women in Food [TASTE]
• Ranch Isn’t a Dressing. It’s a Lifestyle. [TASTE]  

Buy the book: Life Is What You Bake It   

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Jeremy Robinson-Leon is the founder of Moonburger, an ambitious chain of restaurants whose core focus is bringing high-quality fast food to the masses. We personally love Moonburger and have visited locations in Kingston and New Paltz, and it’s now operating in Poughkeepsie and Brooklyn. In this episode, we hear about Jeremy’s journey to opening these restaurants and how he enlisted the help of some big-name talent to assist him in developing a signature plant-based patty. We also hear about the company’s pivot to serving beef and what this all means for future expansion plans. We're rooting for Moonburger, and had a great time catching up with its very cool founder. 

Also on the show, it’s the return of Three Things where Aliza and Matt discuss what is exciting in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. On this episode: Cake Zine's Raffle for LA Fire Relief, Care and Feeding by Laurie Woolever is a book you need to read (read twice if you work in food media), you can freeze pancake batter, Janevca in Victoria, British Columbia is a favorite meal of the year. Also: Peaches HotHouse is a staple for fried chicken in Brooklyn, and staying in Canada, Minami in Vancouver opened our eyes to aburi-style sushi.

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. 

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It was really fun having Molly Yeh join us in the studio for an absolute riot of a conversation. Molly is legitimately one of the funniest writers (and guests) that we’ve encountered in a long time, and we get into all sorts of topics on the show. We talk about what makes a great Hallmark Channel movie, and we theorize about how she will possibly star in one one day. We also talk about Little House on the Prairie (the TV show) and how Molly is living her best life in North Dakota, and we dive into her truly incredible new book, Home Is Where the Eggs Are. What a fun conversation—I hope you enjoy it.

Also on the show, the return of Three Things. Aliza and Matt catch up about campfire s'mores injuries, a visit to '90s media power lunch spot Michael's, okonomiyaki, Matt's trip to Lysée, oat cortado vs. cow cortado, Aliza's barista past, the hot coffee era is here, Waffle House and losing bets, WWE Superstars, fantasy basketball picks, go Nets!  

More from Molly Yeh:

• Molly Yeh’s Margherita and Prosciutto Pizzettes [YouTube]
• Girl Meets Farm [The Food Network]
• In Her New Book, Molly Yeh Goes Back to Basics [Modern Farmer]

Buy: Home Is Where the Eggs Are

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While the name Zabar is most associated with a delicatessen empire based on New York’s Upper West Side, it’s Eli Zabar (the punk rock Zabar of all in the Zabar clan) who has the most interesting story to tell. He founded one of NYC’s first specialty food stores in 1973, introducing the city to exotic imports like balsamic vinegar and fraises des bois shipped in from France. And he’s sharpened his bread-baking skills through thousands and thousands of loaves. Eli Zabar is low-key one of the city’s finest bread bakers.

On this episode I interview him about his earliest memories of smoked fish, the changing landscape of the grocery business, and what it’s like running a restaurant and bakery with his son Oliver.

Later on the episode, Smitten Kitchen’s Deb Perelman answers a reader question: If you could take a cooking class to learn about anything in the food world, what would it be?

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We wanted to have journalist Anne Helen Petersen on the show not only to talk about modern office lunch culture...we wanted to have journalist Anne Helen Peterson on the show to talk about soup! Peterson is the author of the amazing newsletter Culture Study, and she has much to say about the intersection of food and pop culture. She also name checks some of her favorite cookbooks from Ali Slagle, Alison Roman, and Jenny Rosenstrach to name a few. This is such a rich and textured conversation from one of the sharpest observers around. We hope you enjoy it.

More from Anne Helen Petersen:

• There Is No Such Thing as “Junk” Food [BA]
• When Did Fitness Become a Luxury Item? [Culture Study]
• New Year, New Job, New Me [Work Appropriate]
• CrispyEgg420 [Instagram]

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Caroline Eden is a writer and literary critic. She’s also the author of many terrific food and travel books, including Samarkand, Black Sea, and Red Sands. She has been awarded both the Art of Eating Prize and an André Simon Award, and Red Sands was a book of the year for the Financial Times, the Sunday Times, and the New Yorker. In this episode, we talk about Caroline’s terrific new book, a memoir titled Cold Kitchen. The book is a real journey through parts of Eastern Europe, the Baltic region, and beyond, and it dives into Caroline’s travels through Russia, Bulgaria, Georgia, and many other locations that perhaps don’t get the time they deserve. Caroline is a brilliant reporter and we had such a great time catching up with her.

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. 

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Bryan Washington is a writer from Houston whose latest novel, Family Meal, is an intimate portrayal of friendship, queerness, and pastries. He also writes about things like Japanese curry bread and queer bars for the New Yorker, and today we’re thrilled to have him on the show to talk about food as a plot device, his favorite okonomiyaki spots in Osaka, and more. 

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We'd love to hear from you.

MORE FROM BRYAN WASHINGTON:

• Server [The New Yorker]
• In Bryan Washington’s ‘Family Meal,’ Food Is a Language [Eater]

Buy: Family Meal

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Erin Patinkin is the cofounder of Ovenly and has advised some of the food world’s most interesting brands (almost exclusively female-founded), including Kismet, White Moustache, Pop Up Grocer, Great Jones, and Seed + Mill. Erin is an old friend of ours, and she has one of the sharpest minds in the consumer packaged goods world. We talk about so many topics, including some of the brands that excite her and the common mistakes founders can’t help making. We also hear about her time running Ovenly and what is next for her. It’s great having Erin in the studio.

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. 

MORE FROM ERIN PATINKIN:

• This Year the Grocery Store Does Better [TASTE]
• Christina Tosi: From Artisan to Business Leader [Start to Sale]

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Rich Torrisi is a prolific New York City chef and empire builder behind some of the most buzzed-about restaurants in the United States, including Parm, Sadelle’s, The Pool, Carbone, and his newest and most personal venture, Torrisi. Matt was a fan of Rich’s breakout restaurant, Torrisi Italian Specialties, when it opened at 250 Mulberry St. in 2009. What a restaurant. That mozzarella! In this episode, we talk about those early days but also more modern times—and how the late-night dining scene in New York is starting to get its groove back. We also discuss Rich’s time working at Cafe Boulud, and what it’s like to be caught between two generations. We hope you enjoy this candid conversation.

MORE FROM RICH TORRISI:

• At Torrisi, the Room Is Showy but the Cooking Is Subtle [NYT ⭐⭐⭐]
• Rich Torrisi Bets Bigger On New York [Forbes]
• Getting Lost in the World’s Largest Stack of Menus [TASTE]

FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:

• instagram.com/richtorrisi
• instagram.com/mattrodbard
• instagram.com/taste

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On today’s episode, we have a great conversation with Emily Weinstein, the Food and Cooking editor of the New York Times. We’ve been great admirers of the work at NYT Cooking, and we took the opportunity to cover many subjects in home cooking and food media. We talk about what makes a great story and some of the cooking trends Weinstein is most interested in covering. We also discuss Weinstein’s long journey working at the paper, starting as a dining listings fact-checker and rising to various editorial roles, eventually taking the top spot. 

Also on the episode, TASTE editors Anna Hezel and Matt Rodbard have a discussion about language, particularly the words they’ve effectively banned from the pages of TASTE. Can you guess what they are?

Additional Reading:

• Subscribe to Emily’s newsletter: Five Weeknight Dishes 
• The Fish That Makes Me Want to Cook [New York Times]
• One Huge Hog, One Long Day and a Nourishing Southern Tradition [New York Times]
• Why Does Every Recipe Have to Be Magic? [TASTE]

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John deBary is a bartender extraordinaire, a cookbook author, a spokesperson for the bar and restaurant world, and one of our favorite guests on the show. He’s back to talk about his really great new book, Saved by the Bellini: & Other 90s-Inspired Cocktails. In this episode we talk about deadstock sodas, muse on summer drinking, and dive into what he loves so much about the 1990s. 

Also on the show, Aliza and Matt share some of their discoveries while walking the floor at the Fancy Food Show, the annual grocery trade show at New York’s Javits Center. The mushroom chips flowed early and often. 

MORE FROM JOHN DEBARY:

• I’m a Bartender and Yes, I Use Gatorade in Cocktails [BA]
• Dunkaroos Alexander [Food52]
• Drag Legend Sherry Vine Calls Burbank the Next Queer Hotspot [Thrillist]
• Strawberry and Kiwi: Why? [TASTE] 

FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:

• instagram.com/jnd3001
• instagram.com/mattrodbard
• instagram.com/taste

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Himanshu Suri is best known by his rap name Heems, and he is our guest on this entertaining episode of the show. We wanted to have Heems on not just because we are a fan of his former group Das Racist (you may remember their song “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell”) but because we wanted to talk to him about Punjabi food. About growing up in Queens. About his new passion for gardening. We really enjoyed catching up with Heems.

More from Heems:

• Dosa Hunt! [Official]
• Swet Shop Boys - "T5" [YouTube]
• Heems on Rap, Race and Identity [NPR]
• Das Racist - Rapping 2 U Live in Sydney [YouTube]

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Arielle Johnson is a flavor scientist who advises some of the top restaurants and chefs in the world on how to turbocharge their cooking with chemistry. She’s currently the science director of Noma Projects, and she’s sharing all her wisdom in a new book: Flavorama. It’s a delight having her on the show to answer all our questions about the science behind what we eat—truly a must-listen episode for anyone interested in food.

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you.  

MORE FROM ARIELLE JOHNSON:

• Getting Curious With Jonathan Van Ness [Netflix]
• Arielle Johnson Has Flavor Down to a Science [Glamour]

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Trigg Brown is the chef and co-owner of Win Son and the coauthor of a really great new book, Win Son Presents a Taiwanese American Cookbook. Trigg and Matt share many mutual friends, and it was really cool for them to meet for the first time on the mic. We talk about Trigg’s early cooking career in Charlottesville, Virgina, and working in New York City with the Colichio crew at Craft and Colichio & Sons (shout-out to Damon Wise) before opening his own restaurant, Win Son, to great acclaim. We also discuss his time traveling through Taiwan and what makes a modern restaurant work. 

Also on the show, we have a great conversation with Rani Cheema. Rani is the founder of Cheema’s Travel, a boutique travel agency specializing in food trips. We talk about some of the destinations that are trending around the globe and get into how we can all travel better (with food on the mind). It’s a great conversation as we gear up for summer travel planning.

MORE FROM TRIGG BROWN:

• Food & Wine Best New Chefs 2020: Trigg Brown [Food & Wine]
• Trigg Brown – Taiwanese Food through American Lens [Flavor Unknown]
• How Win Son Bakery Makes One of Brooklyn’s Best Breakfast Sandwiches [Food52]
• TASTE Podcast 191: Cathy Erway [TASTE]

FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:

• instagram.com/trigg.brown
• instagram.com/mattrodbard
• instagram.com/taste

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Sandor Katz is an activist, a fermentation guru, and the author of many influential books, including The Art of Fermentation and the deeply reported The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved. We had Sandor in the studio to talk about life and writing and what he’s been up to on his Tennessee farm. We also get into what fuels his big and ambitious book projects. 

Also on the show, we have a great conversation with Martha Hoover, a chef and restaurateur from Indianapolis. We talk about how she’s grown an equitable and sustainable business through years of patience and empathy. It was great to get to know Martha a little bit better.

MORE FROM SANDOR KATZ AND MARTHA HOOVER:

• People's Republic of Fermentation [YouTube]
• Sandor Katz on Why Fermentation Isn’t a Fad [The Guardian]
• ‘Fermentation’: When Food Goes Bad But Stays Good [Fresh Air]
• Martha Hoover: Restaurant Empire Builder of the Year [Eater]

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How cool it is to have Gregory Gourdet on the show. Gregory is a chef and cookbook author based in Portland, Oregon. Many of you may know Gregory from his memorable appearances on Top Chef—as both a contestant and a judge. In this lively conversation, we discuss his ambitious new restaurant in Portland, Kann, his '90s raver past, and vintage Nike fits in the Kann dining room. We also talk about his plans for bringing the spotlight to Haitian cuisine, as well as living a fulfilled life of sobriety.

More from Gregory Gourdet: 

• Gregory Gourdet Is Ready to Define Dining His Way [Resy]
• Watermelon-Berry Salad with Chile Dressing [gregorygourdet.com]

Buy: Everyone's Table: Global Recipes for Modern Health

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Pearl Jones is a food stylist based in New York City. She’s spent over a decade making food look delicious in commercials, magazine editorials, cookbooks, and more, and she’s also one of Aliza’s close friends. I’ve obsessed over the contents of Pearl’s food stylist kit and kitchen for years, and it’s so fun to have her on the show to pull back the curtain on food styling as a career. 

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you.

MORE FROM PEARL JONES:

• A Cookbook Shoot Recap! It Takes a Village. [Colu Cooks]
• Pearl Jones [Instagram]

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C Pam Zhang is the author of the acclaimed novel How Much of These Hills Is Gold. Her new book, Land of Milk and Honey, is set in a near future where smog has choked out almost all agriculture, and where a chef is lured to cook at a reclusive mountain institute for the global elite with the promise of produce. It’s a gripping book about power and politics and, mostly, a love letter to food, and we’re thrilled to have her on the show to discuss it.

Also on the episode, Aliza and Matt preview more fall cookbooks they are really enjoying including new books from Jon Kung, Sohla El-Waylly, two Italian wine experts, James Park, the Pie Hole in Los Angeles, and Alicia Kennedy. Don’t forget to smash that pre-order button. Fall cookbook season is here. 

MORE FROM C PAM ZHANG:

• See It Slant [The Cut]
• The Pen Ten: An Interview with C Pam Zhang [Pen America]

Buy: Land of Milk and Honey

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Today on the show, we speak with two authors of terrific new cookbooks. First up is Nok Suntaranon, the chef and owner of Kalaya, a celebrated Thai restaurant in Philadelphia. A former flight attendant, Nok reinvented herself at age fifty to become a James Beard Award–winning chef, and we talk about her journey as well as her excellent new cookbook, Kalaya's Southern Thai Kitchen.

Also in this episode, we have a great talk with Caroline Choe. She is a recipe developer and the author of Banchan: 60 Korean American Recipes for Delicious, Shareable Sides. We love this book, and we get into how the Korean small plate staple can open up so many Korean cooking adventures in the home kitchen.

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. 

MORE FROM NOK SUNTARANON & CAROLINE CHOE:

• Esquire gives Philly's Kalaya Top Spot [Philly Voice]
• It Takes a Village to Teach Someone to Cook With Love [Simply Recipes]

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To many, German food is humble comfort food, the kind of food that may not win a beauty award, but more than makes up for it with its power to soothe, nourish and cheer. In her latest book Classic German Cooking, author Luisa Weiss has collected and mastered the essential everyday recipes of Germany and Austria. In this terrific conversation, Luisa shares her personal connection to German cooking while shattering some myths about one of the world’s great cuisines.

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. 

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Cake Zine is an independent literary food magazine cofounded by pastry chef Tanya Bush and TASTE contributing editor Aliza Abarbanel. The newest issue, Daily Bread, explores how bread impacts our lives through ritual, religion, and routine. Today on the show, Aliza invites Tanya into the studio to talk about the editorial process behind this sixth issue and the many cultural meanings baked into bread. 

Also on the show, it’s the return of Three Things where Aliza and Matt discuss what is exciting in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. On this episode: Adam Robert's debut novel, Food Person, is a riot, Odd One Out is our new favorite boba shop, Craig Mod's memoir Things Become Other Things takes a long walk in Japan. Also: Kiki's has long been a favorite restaurant of ours, and you should visit the American Treasure Tour Museum outside Philadelphia.

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. 

MORE FROM CAKE ZINE:

• Daily Bread
• The Temple and the Tradwife [Cake Zine, excerpted in Literary Hub]
• This Is TASTE 437: Cake Zine’s Candy Land

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Michigan chef and cookbook author Abra Berens returns to the studio to talk about her third book in a trilogy on Midwestern farming and cooking that started first with vegetables and followed up with grains and legumes. Her new book, Pulp, tackles fruit with some bold recipes and sound advice. In this episode, we get personal in praising Michigan for its superior apples, incredible blueberries, and possibly overrated cherries. We also talk about Abra’s restaurant at Granor Farm, which is one of our favorite places to eat in the state. We hope you enjoy this episode.

MORE FROM ABRA BERENS:

• Farm Dinners at Granor Farm [official]
• 11 Best Fruits For Grilling [Tasting Table]
• This Strawberry Sundae Is My New Go-To Summer Dessert [The Kitchn]

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Chandra Ram is the associate editorial director at Food & Wine and coauthor of cookbooks like Korean BBQ and The Complete Indian Instant Pot Cookbook. On this episode, Chandra takes us into the test kitchen at Food & Wine, and we hear about some of the cool stories she’s been working on. We also talk about how postwar and post-pandemic times share similarities in the way the events have changed the way we cook forever. It’s really great catching up with Chandra.

MORE FROM CHANDRA RAM:

• It’s Time to Start Pickling at Home [F&W]
• After 8 Years of Marriage, I’m Teaching My Husband How to Cook [F52]
• Decoding Carmy’s Cookbook Shelves on ‘The Bear’ [F&W]

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Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel is the chef and co-owner of Birdie’s, an Austin, Texas, restaurant that is innovative and exciting, and by far one of our favorite meals of the year. On this episode, we speak with Tracy about her journey from cooking at Lula Cafe in Chicago to working the line at some of New York’s most acclaimed places—Del Posto, Blue Hill, and Gramercy Tavern—and how she met her partner in life and business, Arjav. We talk about what excites her about restaurants and dig into some of Birdie’s most popular dishes. 

Also, stick around for Matt’s thoughts on a recent trip to Austin, Texas—featuring some of the restaurants and trucks that got him most excited, including Joe’s Bakery & Coffee Shop, Distant Relatives, Franklin Barbecue, Cuantos Tacos, Birdie’s, Canje, and Nido. 

The TASTE Texas Tour was supported by our friends at Travel Texas. Stay tuned for dispatches from Houston and San Antonio. 

MORE FROM TRACY MALECHEK-EZEKIEL:   

• Food & Wine Restaurant of the Year: Birdie's [Food & Wine]
• Food & Wine names East Austin spot Restaurant of the Year [Austin American-Statesman] 
• Inside Birdie’s Journey [Tribeza]

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It’s a great day when our friend Alison Roman turns up at our New York City studio. We’ve really enjoyed reading and cooking through her new baking book, Sweet Enough, and we wanted to ask her about what it’s like to write three cookbooks in five and a half years, as well as talk about the TV show she made, her spirited newsletter writing, kosher salt wars, sheet pan shortcake, and where to eat in New York City right now. Alison is one of our all-time favorite guests, and we simply love the way she writes—and talks—about food. We hope you enjoy this conversation.

Check out Alison’s tour dates: alisoneroman.com/tour

MORE FROM ALISON ROMAN:

• A Newsletter [Substack]
• I Love Baking, I Hate Baking [Youtube]
• A Cabinet Full of Crunch [TASTE]
• Alison Roman on Resy, Air Fryers, and Erewhon [Interview]
• TASTE Podcast 02: Alison Roman [TASTE]

FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:

• instagram.com/alisoneroman
• instagram.com/mattrodbard
• instagram.com/taste

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Today on the show, we have Claire Saffitz back in the studio for a really entertaining conversation. Claire is the author of a great recent cookbook, What’s For Dessert, and she’s truly one of our favorite cooking instructors and personalities on the internet. We talk about how to visualize a recipe before baking it, as well as some of the common bakeware mistakes we are all making. Dark bakeware is a big no-no! We also hear a little bit about her journey from Harvard to the kitchens of France to millions of YouTube streams. We all love Claire Saffitz at TASTE, and we hope you enjoy this talk.

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We'd love to hear from you.

More from Claire Saffitz:

• Claire Saffitz Makes Tiramisu Icebox Cake [Youtube]
• The Life and Death of Tart Frozen Yogurt [TASTE]
• Claire Saffitz Goes Outside Her Comfort Zone to Embrace Ours [TASTE]

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We’re thrilled to welcome Sohla El-Waylly to the show for the first time. Sohla is a prodigious recipe developer, a fixture of food YouTube, and a judge on HBO’s cooking competition The Big Brunch—plus a friend of Aliza’s. This week, Aliza and Sohla unpack Sohla’s background before becoming one of the most viral stars in food media today, her thoughts on the ever-controversial brunch, the concept behind her debut cookbook, and much more.  

MORE FROM SOHLA EL-WAYLLY:

• Sohla and Ham Turn Hot Pockets Into A 3-Course Meal [The New York Times]
• Caramelized Onion and Toasted Rice Porridge [Hot Dish with Sohla]
• The Big Brunch [HBO]

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Our friend Jamie Oliver returns to the show, this time live from Rizzoli Bookstore in Manhattan as part of our TASTE Live at Rizzoli reading series. It was so great catching up with the chef and healthy eating advocate to discuss so many topics, and to dig into his great new book: 5 Ingredients Mediterranean: Simple Incredible Food.

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. 

MORE FROM JAMIE OLIVER:

• Jamie Oliver Does Mediterranean [All Of It]
• Jamie Oliver Shares 5-ingredient Meals [GMA]
• How Long Gone: Jamie Oliver [Apple]

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Rachel Dratch is an actor, a Broadway star (and has the Tony nomination to prove it), and a comedian, and she was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1999 to 2006. She is also the host of a great podcast, Woo Woo with Rachel Dratch. This is a really fun conversation, and we get a sense that Rachel is quite the fooooooodie! For real, we talk about her favorite places to eat in New York’s East Village, how her cooking skills are “nice,” and why she has been hanging out at the new Second City location in New York City. 

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. 

MORE FROM RACHEL DRATCH:

• Will Ferrell: Not Now, Ghosts!! [Apple Podcasts]
• Rachel Dratch on Marrying Seth in a Dream [Late Night with Seth Meyers]
• This Is TASTE 60: Donna Leonard [TASTE]

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Steve Hoffman is a Minnesota tax preparer and food writer. And according to Steve, “When he dies, the tax-preparer-food-writer industry will die with him.” He is a French speaker and a shameless Francophile, and his love of France shines through in his terrific memoir, A Season for That: Lost and Found in the Other Southern France. Steve writes with great detail and care about uprooting his family to live in rural France and the many twists and turns—and disappointments and revelations—that came with this big life change. If you ever dream of moving abroad to live a different life, this is the episode for you. A cautionary tale? Perhaps. But Steve is such a delight in telling his story that it may have you considering moving anyway.

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. 

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Brooks Headley does not take vacations, read Yelp reviews, or make his burgers with beef. The chef-owner of New York City’s Superiority Burger and author of the new Superiority Burger Cookbook joined us for the latest episode to talk about vegetarian cooking, from fake meats to savory zucchini sludges that are cooked for hours. We talked about the advantages and disadvantages of cooking at a restaurant small enough to see the facial expressions of diners reacting to the food, and the inevitable occasional shock when an unsuspecting carnivore bites into a burger and finds there’s no meat inside.

Also in this episode, we talked vegan cooking with Chloe Coscarelli, the author of Chloe Flavor.

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Today on the show, we have a great time catching up with Tammie Teclemariam. Tammie is a New York–based writer who, for the past year, served as New York magazine’s The Year I Ate New York columnist—which, as the name suggests, was a rigorous look at New York’s techno-colored dining scene. We find out how she pulled it off, talk about some of her best and worst meals, and learn what’s next for one of our favorite food writers in the game.

More from Tammie Teclemariam:

• The Best (and Worst) of the Year I Ate New York [NY Mag]
• What’s Wrong with Cocktails Right Now? [NY Mag]
• Caraflex Is the Ultimate Cabbage Flex [TASTE]
• Scalloped > Mashed [TASTE]

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Yes, yes, yes! Dana Brown is here for an entertaining and mildly gossipy episode. We’ve long followed Dana’s career at Vanity Fair, where he served many roles during his more than 20 years at the magazine. Dana has published a page-turning memoir, Dilettante, and we dive into his story, which starts with him working at the legendary “Conde Nast cafeteria” Forty Four, where he was scooped up by a young magazine editor, Graydon Carter, to serve as his assistant in 1992. Dana talks about so many things: editing A. A. Gill, food at the legendary VF Oscar party, NYC sushi in the ’90s, trashing the restaurant 66, the “Graydon Carter lunch order,” the power of a Waverly Inn reservation, Keith McNally vs. the world (including Graydon Carter). We also hear about Dana’s recent meal at the Noma pop-up in Brooklyn. What a fun conversation!    

More from Dana Brown: 

• Bonfire of the Vanity Fair [Book & Film Globe]
• Graydon Carter Hosts a Vanity Fair Ancien Régime Reunion [NY Mag]
• Tour De Gall [Vanity Fair]
• Divine Intervention [Air Mail]

Buy: Dilettante: True Tales of Excess, Triumph, and Disaster

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Cake Zine is an independent print magazine exploring society through sweets, cofounded by Tanya Bush and TASTE contributing editor Aliza Abarbanel. Their fourth issue, Tough Cookie, presents a hearty batch of trials and triumphs, all in the context of cookies. On the show, Aliza and Tanya unpack how they made the issue, the many cultural connotations of cookies, and their latest trip to London. 

Also on the show, Aliza and Matt catch up about the trip to London and where Aliza ate and drank so well!

MORE FROM CAKE ZINE:

• This Is TASTE 244: Cake Zine
• Fennel Fronds and Fine Lines: Food Tattoos Take Root
• Buy: Tough Cookie

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Giada De Laurentiis is in the studio for an all-time classic conversation. She is the Emmy-Award-winning television personality of Food Network’s Everyday Italian (among many other shows) and the author of nine New York Times best-selling cookbooks, including her most recent, Eat Better, Feel Better. And check out our online retail store, Giadzy. It's really cool.

Also on the show is Julius Roberts. Julius is a chef and farmer living in the idyllic English countryside off the Dorset coast. He’s also the author of The Farm Table, a new cookbook chronicling his life cultivating crops and animals and cooking with this bounty.

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you.

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Valeria Socorro Velazquez Lindsten is the owner and head baker of Loba Pastry + Coffee, a beloved Chicago café. Originally from Guadalajara, Mexico, Valeria worked in pastry at several lauded spots across Chicago before creating her very own bakery with delights like green mole croissants and pineapple sourdough muffins. It’s so fun to have her on the show to talk about her pastry perspective, the struggles and successes of opening a small business, and more.

Also on the show, Aliza and Matt chop it up about three things they are excited about in food and drink, including: The new Cake Zine issue is dropping, Minhwa Spirits is opening a tasting room in Atlanta, the gelato carts are out in NYC, Peskesi Farm in Crete, Queer Aperitivo pop-ups, Mathimata Mageirikis cooking school in Athens.     

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you.  

MORE FROM VALERIA SOCORRO VELAZQUEZ LINDSTEN:

• What Happens When Crowdfunding Isn’t Enough? [Eater]
• Customers Help Loba, a Beloved Chicago Bakery [WGN]

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Yes, Gideon Glick joined us in the studio for one of our favorite conversations in recent memory. Gideon is a prolific actor, having starred in memorable roles on Broadway (including in Little Shop of Horrors, in To Kill a Mockingbird, and in the original Broadway cast of Spring Awakening) and on television, including the mysterious magician Alfie on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, currently filming its final season. Gideon is the coauthor of the excellent new cookbook Give My Swiss Chards to Broadway: The Broadway Lover's Cookbook, and we talk about the art of creating a great theater-themed recipe pun. We also talk about the food situation on set and during the marathon-like eight-shows-per-week Broadway schedule. Having Gideon join us in the studio was such a ray of sunshine, and we hope the theater lovers out there enjoy this conversation with a living legend.

Also on the show we catch up with Brian Noyes, author of The Red Truck Bakery Farmhouse Cookbook and a certified pie master.

More from Gideon Glick:

• The Queer, Half-Deaf Actor Redefining the Idea of a Leading Man [New York Times]
• ‘Spring Awakening’ Cast Reunites at Tony Awards [TV Insider]

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Lisa Kyung Gross is the founder and CEO of the League of Kitchens, an immigrant-led, home-based cooking school that launched in New York City in 2014. Its instructors are 14 mothers and grandmothers from Indonesia, Mexico, Lebanon, Burkina Faso, and beyond, and now their culinary wisdom is being preserved in a new book: The League of Kitchens Cookbook. It’s truly so special having Lisa on the show to talk about how she finds these instructors and how the book came to life. 

Also on the show we hear from Rogelio Garcia talking about his new book Convivir: Modern Mexican Cuisine in California's Wine Country.

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. 

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To the Last Bite is home cook and Tasty video star Alexis deBoschnek’s homage to her home region of New York, the Catskills! In this really fun episode, we talk about Alexis’s life growing up in a rural mountain town and how that upbringing informed the way she cooks. We also discuss her career at Tasty, where she worked on some of the internet’s most popular cooking videos of all time, including the legendary “Can This Chef Cook a 3-Course Meal With Power Tools?” video stunt. Spoiler: The chef (Alexis) most definitely can.

Later in the episode, hosts Anna Hezel and Matt Rodbard talk about the weird and wonderful interactions of the chocolate chip cookie and why theses recipes and technique make for such great content.

Buy: To the Last Bite     

Additional Reading:

• Can This Chef Make a 3-Course Meal in a Coffee Maker? [Youtube]
• My Favorite Brussels Sprouts Recipe [Youtube]
• Welcome to the Chocolate Chip Cookie Wars [TASTE]
• Looking for Cookies in All the Wrong Places [TASTE]

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The future of food is fungi—at least if you ask Adam DeMartino and Andrew Carter, the cofounders of Smallhold. The new-school farming company grows delicate maitake, spongy lion’s mane, blue oysters, and more of our favorite mushrooms in patented aquarium-like tanks and mega farms across the country. They’re a favorite of buzzy chefs and major grocery chains alike, so today we’re going deep on this mushroom moment and how they’re forecasting the future of fungi. 

Also on the show, we catch up with Abby Endler, the host of the great new podcast, Criminal Types. In each episode Abby digs into the real-world cases, research, and obsessions that keep your favorite crime writers up at night. Check out her episode with John Grisham! We also talk about Anthony Bourdain’s underrated crime fiction career.

NYC! Come out to a live taping of the show with special guests Eric Kim and Ali Slagle. May 25 at Rizzoli Bookstore in Manhattan. 6pm. Tickets are free.

MORE FROM SMALLHOLD:

• The Mushrooms Will Survive Us [New York Times)]
• Mushroom Boom Leads Brooklyn Grower to Plant Its Organic Farms in the West [Forbes]
• How We Grow Happy Mushrooms [Smallhold]
• Anthony Bourdain’s Literary Legacy in 13 Books [Eater]

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Today, we have a really fun conversation with Jonathan Kung, a Detroit-based chef and TikTok creator we’ve fallen hard for over the past couple years. We wanted to reach out to Jonathan to talk a little bit about TikTok, but also to get to know a bit about his history with Chinese home cooking and with working and living in one of America’s great food cities: Detroit. We talk about the bounty of Michigan agriculture, which can be a chef’s secret weapon. We also discuss the cookbook he’s writing, the ownership of kimchi, and how Jonathan wrote a recipe that he calls a “solidarity dish,” which merges kimchi jjigae and mapo tofu. What? It’s such a great story. Please get to know this rising star in food!

More from Jonathan Kung:

• I Have COVID So I Made Garlic Soup [YouTube]
• Jonathan Kung’s Guide to Making Dumplings Blow Up on TikTok [Interview]
• Kung Food Market Studio [official]
• @chefJonKung [TikTok]

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Ham El-Waylly is a chef, recipe developer, and video creator based in New York City. You may know him from the NYT Cooking channel, where he shares ingenious tips and whips up opulent feasts from niche ingredients alongside his wife, Sohla. But you probably don’t know Ham’s rich history in food, from growing up in Doha, Qatar, with Bolivian-Egyptian parents in the food business to running research and development at Momofuku’s Ando. Today we dig into it all, plus his love of graphic tees and live music, and I hope you’ll enjoy it. 

And as you heard at the top, it's the return of TASTE Live, an IRL events series with our friends at Rizzoli Bookstore in Manhattan. Our next event is August 17 with authors Natasha Pickowicz and Claire Saffitz. Natasha and Claire will discuss what they are baking this summer, the making of their latest cookbooks, and much more. The event will be recorded live for this very podcast.

MORE FROM HAM EL-WAYLLY:

• Chicken Stroganoff [New York Times Cooking]
• The World’s Smelliest Fruit? Sohla and Ham Try Cooking With Durian [Mystery Menu]
• What Happens When a Brown Chef Cooks White Food? [GQ]

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If you’d call yourself a “fruit person,” you’ll eat this episode up. William Mullan is a photographer and marketing manager whose book, Odd Apples, documents the stunning, strange world of heirloom apple varietals. His love of fruit extends to caring for urban apple trees in South Brooklyn and brewing his own cider—clearly there’s a lot to discuss! It was so fun to have William on the show to nerd out on fall fruit, the wine harvest, and more.

Also on the show, Aliza and Matt are joined by producer Clayton Gumbert to dig into the sometimes maligned, oftentimes overlooked grocery store sandwich.

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on  Apple, or star us on Spotify. We'd love to hear from you.

MORE FROM WILLIAM MULLEN:

• The Apple Expert Who Turned New York City Into His Personal Orchard [Grub Street]
• The Apple-Picking Apocalypse of Upstate New York [NYT]

Buy: Odd Apples

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Our great Wisconsin Cheese road trip continues! We caught up with iconic Wisconsin chefs Tory Miller of L’Etoile and Graze in Madison and Luke Zahm of Driftless Cafe in Viroqua about how they harness the power of Wisconsin Cheese to make distinctly local cuisine. We also talked with Ken Monteleone of the beloved Madison cheese shop Fromagination about selling craft cheese on the Capitol Square for over 17 years. And, we put our cheese-tasting skills to the test with American Cheese Society–certified cheese professional Shannon Berry. Finally, it’s three things, Wisconsin cheese edition.  

This very special episode is supported by Wisconsin Cheese

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Hello summer, and hello vegetables! Michigan chef and cookbook author Abra Berens loves vegetables and has an inspiring new cookbook that presents them in the coolest way: braised, blistered, roasted, and raw. On this episode we talk about Ruffage, and Berens's journey from working the counter at Zingerman’s Deli to culinary school in Ireland to her current post cooking and farming in an exceptional way that recalls Dan Barber’s Blue Hill.

Also on the show, TASTE’s Tatiana Bautista has a great conversation with Auria Abraham, the supercool founder behind Auria’s Malaysian Kitchen. They talk cooking with sambal and kaya, two amazingly diverse ingredients. And Auria makes the best around.

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Today we have a very special episode. Visit California invited us out of our New York City studio and over to the West Coast for a food-focused road trip around Orange County and the San Gabriel Valley. We start our journey at Mercado González at Northgate Market in Costa Mesa, where Aliza and Matt share an incredible afternoon walking around the mercado looking for pozole, churros, and many more surprises along the way.

We hit the road for our next stop, a visit with Sara Lezama, the owner of Rye Goods, an acclaimed sourdough bakery and deli with three locations throughout Orange County in Newport Beach, Tustin, and Laguna Beach. 

Next on our road trip, we head to the San Gabriel Valley, where journalist Kristie Hang gives us a tour of some of her favorite new and under-the-radar restaurants, including Banh Mi Hoa Phat, Good Alley, and Bistro Na’s.

We stay in the SGV for a conversation with chef Chris Yang of Yang’s Kitchen, which has firmly become one of our favorite restaurants in all of California. To close, Aliza and Matt share many more discoveries from their road trip around Southern California.

More places we visited: Folks Pizzeria, A&J Seafood Shack, Burritos La Palma. 

And a great hotel for your future home base in the SGV is the Hilton San Gabriel.

To donate to California wildfire relief, visit Restaurants Care.      

This very special episode of This Is TASTE is supported by Visit California. While this episode was recorded before the LA wildfires in January, all of the restaurants featured are open for business, and we can’t think of a better time to pay California a visit for your own food-obsessed road trip. Dining out in LA is one way to help support the city, and these truly were some amazing places. Questions about visiting LA now?

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We are excited to bring you this episode. Recently Matt headed out of the studio to visit Philadelphia, one of America’s great food cities, to check out the scene and report back on his findings. He visited bakeries and coffee shops and stopped by a really cool cookbook store. He felt the incredible spice and vibes at Kalaya and met a bunch of new friends along the way. 

In this episode, we speak with Tyler Akin, the chef of Bastia, an exciting tribute to the food of Sardinia and Corsica. We also catch up with Muhammad Abdul-Hadi, who runs the mission-driven Down North Pizza and is the author of a terrific new cookbook, We the Pizza. Throughout the episode, Matt and Aliza chat about some exciting food and drink discoveries.

Mentioned on the episode: Bastia, Down North Pizza, Fork, New June, Mighty Bread, Kalaya, Isgro Pastries, Loratta's, Binding Agents.

Save our Google Map of all the places mentioned in the episode.

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