This Is TASTE

Today on the show, Resy managing editor Jon Bonné and Matt have an incredible roundtable conversation with three California wineries that changed California wine forever: Duncan Arnot Meyers and Nathan Lee Roberts of Arnot-Roberts, Matt Licklider of Lioco Wine Co., and Steve and Jill Klein Matthiasson of Matthiasson Wines. Twenty years ago, they were the insurgents. Now they’re the establishment, as the industry encounters new drinkers and rapid change. In this episode, we talk about the big topics in California wine today. We figured it all out over the course of an hour! Just kidding, but this is a must-listen for anybody interested in the future of wine. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers – not Resy—and do not constitute professional business advice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ayesha Nurdjaja grew up in Gravesend, Brooklyn, with an Indonesian father, an Italian mother, and a grandmother who walked her to Sahadi’s on Atlantic Avenue. After years in Italian kitchens like Felidia, she talked her bosses into a Middle Eastern New Year’s Eve menu that became the wildly popular Shuka and later Shukette. We discuss her debut cookbook, Mediterranean All the Way, a legendary onion dip, and her collection of stolen spoons. Also on the show Matt has a great conversation with Zola Gregory. Zola is a TASTE columnist and worked on The Pasta Box, a just-released recipe deck from TASTE featuring 50 pasta recipes that transform any dry pasta into tomato-y, cheesy, and creamy dishes. The recipes are so good. Buy: The Pasta Box Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adam Weisblatt has opened seven restaurants with Last Word Hospitality, the LA group behind Hermon’s, Barra Santos, and Rasarumah. His terrific new book, ⁠For the Love of Restaurants⁠, colorfully traces the arc of building a restaurant—from location scouting, lease negotiations, financing, hiring, and opening night—through the story of the group’s first and smallest restaurant, Found Oyster. Adam joins the show to talk about why he wrote the industry playbook he wishes someone had handed him, and why sharing hard-earned knowledge is good for operators and restaurant fans alike. Also on the show, Matt talks about some recent restaurant visits in Los Angeles, including stops at ⁠Rustic Canyon⁠, ⁠Mírate⁠, ⁠Soban⁠, and ⁠Little Fish⁠. Subscribe: ⁠⁠⁠Apple⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rachel Gurjar is a Mumbai-born, Brooklyn-based chef and recipe developer whose recipes have appeared in Bon Appétit and the New York Times. Her new debut cookbook, ⁠East to East: Recipes and Stories From Mumbai to New York⁠, showcases her love for the two cities that shaped her through more than 100 innovative dishes that combine Indian staples with some New York flair. Today on the show, Rachel goes deep on her story, the importance of recipe testing, and how she brought this singular book to life. Also on the show Matt has a really great conversation with Kyle Beechey. Kyle is a writer, actor, and playwright, and is staging her first show - “⁠The Restaurant Diaries⁠” - in a downtown New York City restaurant. The show runs October 18 - November 9. ⁠Get your tickets⁠ while they are available. Subscribe: ⁠⁠⁠Apple⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Elazar Sontag published a cookbook at 18, ran Bon Appétit’s Best New Restaurants list in his mid-twenties, and (last fall) succeeded Tom Sietsema as the Washington Post’s food critic—with no disguise required. He joins us to talk all about his inaugural ⁠best restaurants list⁠, which is firmly an Elazar list and likely causing some debate in and around DC. We also talk about bringing back star ratings, his many travels to Virginia and Maryland, and much more with one of my favorite voices in modern food writing. It was a real treat to have Elazar in the studio. Read: ⁠The 40 Best Restaurants In and Around Washington D.C.⁠ Subscribe: ⁠⁠⁠Apple⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Eric Sze first joined the show amid research for his debut cookbook, Taiwanese?. The book will be released later this month, and I speak with the Wenwen chef about his deep research around lu rou fan, what “authentically inauthentic” really means on the page versus the plate, and how his sparkling book brings fresh perspective to both Taiwanese food and culture.  Also on the show, Matt shares some of his recent restaurant visits in northern California, including stops at Valley, El Molino Central, and Flour + Water Pizzeria. Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Clarissa Wei is a writer and cofounder of HEYDOH, a single-origin Taiwanese soy sauce brand. Her debut cookbook, Made in Taiwan, was a cultural exploration of the island she calls home. Now she’s following it up with Sitting the Month, a study of postpartum cooking and care informed by Chinese medicine and her own experiences with zuò yuè zi. Clarissa stopped by the studio to go deep on this fascinating ancient practice and its contemporary evolutions as well as to share updates from her life as a single-origin soy sauce founder. Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kendal Mitchell is a chef and biomaterials designer based in Brooklyn. Her Instagram series Bringing Food Waste Back to the Table turns often-wasted ingredients like eggshells and oyster shells into stunning tableware, and she’s constantly exploring new ways to create circularity with organic materials. Today on the show, she talks about training in sushi, her design work with groups like Ghetto Gastro, and the infinite potential within food waste. Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Clara Lee and Eddo Kim are the co-founders of Queens, the San Francisco Korean American food company that started as a delivery-only deli in 2018, became a beloved Inner Sunset superette, and now makes gochujang, doenjang, and gochugaru from Northern California–grown ingredients. Their debut cookbook is Korean Soups: Recipes for Soups and Stews That Nourish, Restore, and Delight, and we absolutely love it. Today on the show, Clara and Eddo join Matt to talk guk versus tang and what closing a storefront taught them about building a brand. Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Justin Bolois has spent over a decade helping build the iconic First We Feast media company—from features editor to VP of programming and development, shepherding popular shows like The Burger Show, Tacos Con Todo, and Hot Ones within the media empire. Off the clock, he’s chasing something equally cool: vintage restaurant staff shirts, forgotten diner ephemera, and the last physical traces of beloved restaurants that no longer exist. That’s Restaurant Relics, a side project we absolutely love that’s part museum and part store. Justin joins Matt to talk about everything from his work on Hot Ones to the virtues of a well-worn JG Melon tee. Check out: Hot Ones Game Night. Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kenta Goto is a bartender and the owner and operator of two acclaimed cocktail bars: Bar Goto on the Lower East Side and Bar Goto Niban in Brooklyn. Born and raised in Tokyo, Goto moved to New York and worked at the lauded cocktail bar Pegu Club for seven years before opening his own bar. Now he’s sharing his considerable wisdom in a debut cookbook: The Goto Bartender’s Guide. Today on the show, we chat about developing his cocktail skills and his signature approach toward drinks and how home bartenders can do the same. Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Everybody loves Carla Hall. Carla Hall is a chef and TV host who has appeared on many of our favorite food programs over the years, from Bravo’s Top Chef to Fox’s Next Level Baker. Her latest cookbook is also her first baking book—Carla Bakes: Sweet, Savory, and From the Heart. Today on the show, Carla stops by the studio to chat about all things baking, and what makes this book so special. Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mohamed Attia spent nearly a decade running a food cart in Times Square before he became the person fighting to change the law that made carts like his semilegal in the first place. As managing director of the Street Vendor Project, Attia helped lead the campaign that, this past January, finally broke a New York City vending permit cap that had been frozen since 1979. He talks with Matt about his own path from vendor to advocate, and we go over so many great carts to visit in New York City. The fifth annual Street Heroes gala takes place on Tuesday, October 6 at MoMA PS1. Get your tickets here. Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Olivia Tiedemann is a chef who began creating videos while working as a private chef in the Hamptons. Her signature deadpan delivery and no-nonsense techniques have won her millions of fans. Now she’s sharing her highly craveable recipes in a debut cookbook: Eat (Like) the Rich. Today on the show, Olivia talks about why everyone is fascinated by private chefs, making crab cakes for Martha Stewart, and more. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting to them in the world of food including Matt visits Philadelphia with stops at Middle Child Clubhouse, the Southeast Asian Market in FDR Park, Supérette, and the newly opened Manna Bakery. Aliza stops by Cafe Kestrel and Sake Bar Asoko in NYC, and has high praise for the new Apollo Bagels bagel chips. Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joey Scalabrino is the cofounder of Apollo Bagels, a new-school bagel shop rooted in old-world techniques with nine locations across New York City and Jersey. He started making bagels in the kitchen at Leo, the Williamsburg sourdough pizza restaurant, and built Apollo through thoughtful pop-ups, design, and collabs. Today on the show, we chat about building up Apollo Bagels, its recent mega-popular pop-up with Dean & DeLuca in Tokyo, and its brand-new bagel chips. Also on the show Aliza and Matt preview some exciting cookbooks from the busy fall season, including: The Kitchen I Came Home To Nixta Taqueria Presents: From Tacos to Tahdig Radicchio: A Celebration of the Beloved Italian Vegetable Fundamentals of Flavor Korean Soups East to East: Recipes and Stories from Mumbai to New York The Little Green Book of Chartreuse The Little Book of Olives Today We Are Cooking . . .Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s the return of Food Writers Talking About Food Writing. Every couple of weeks, Matt invites a journalist to talk about some favorite recent food writing as well as their thoughts on the industry as a whole. Dana Brown was a fixture of Vanity Fair’s Oscar-party machine and Graydon Carter’s inner circle for more than two decades before writing it all down in his memoir, Dilettante. He returns to the studio with a new job: editor in chief of Caper, the scoop-driven media start-up applying a Puck-style power-and-money lens to restaurants, chefs, and the food business. In this episode, we talk about economics at The Grill, the Keith McNally legacy, and what’s good in the world of Caper. Featured on this episode: McNally Family Values [Caper] Where Did the Italians of Carroll Gardens Go? [Curbed] How Eater Lost Its Bite [Caper] ⁠There Is a Misconception that The Grill Is Absurdly Expensive⁠ [Feed Me]  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ruth Reichl reviewed restaurants for the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, ran the country’s most legendary food magazine, and wrote five memoirs about all the meals enjoyed and life lived. Today she’s doing it again on her wonderful Substack, La Briffe, unfiltered and endlessly curious. Recorded live at the Traverse City Food & Wine festival, Matt talks with Ruth about her University of Michigan years, her passion for memoir, and her take on where food criticism stands today. Also on the show, I have a great conversation with Martin Sorge, author of the terrific new book Great Bakes. Read Ruth’s savage New York Times review of the Box Tree restaurant from 1998. Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Meherwan Irani has been sharing wisdom about Indian street food since first appearing on this show in 2019. That would be vada pav’s genius, naan’s overratedness, and his mom’s three-lentil dhansak. Now it’s all in his debut cookbook, No. 1 Best Indian Cookbook in the World, alongside the two decades’ journey of building Chai Pani, Botiwalla, and Spicewalla. In this episode, Matt catches up with his old friend (and recent India travel companion) about auntie holdbacks, striking a balance between tradition and invention, and what he means about his strong stance on naan. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting them in the world of food including food in the movie “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” is really fun. Plus: check out the movie box office podcast, B.O. Boys, from our producer Clayton. Also: Matt returns to Traverse City, Michigan and visits Farm Club. He also drops by Penny in NYC for another amazing meal. Aliza has great rice rolls at Sun Hing Lung in Manhattan’s Chinatown (and check out the Chinatown Records live streams), and visits Conwell Coffee Hall in the Financial District. And speaking of coffee, Matt checks out Heist Coffee and its ¼ caffeinated glory. Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ali Francis is an Australian writer and pastry chef living in Salt Lake City, Utah. She’s the author of the new book The Curious Lives of Vegetables: An Artful Exploration of the Wonderful World of Edible Plants, Their History, and Their Crucial Role in Our Future. It’s a must-read for produce lovers everywhere, with in-depth reporting and beautiful botanical illustrations that ensure you’ll never look at the grocery aisle or farmers’ market the same way again. Today on the show, Ali and I nerd out on all things vegetables. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting them in the world of food including Matt’s recent trip to Chicago where he visited Mi Tocaya Antojería, Feld, and Mindy’s Bakery. He was blown away by all three. Aliza checks out Elbow Bread’s hot dog pop-up, Chambers for terrific late-summer cooking, and coffee at The Mandarin in New York City. Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Zola Gregory is a writer, recipe developer, and food stylist based in Seattle. Her biweekly recipe column for TASTE, Extra Good, has yielded countless hits, and now she has a debut cookbook to enjoy: Sheet Cakes! In this long-overdue episode, Zola stops into the studio to talk about her distinct cooking point of viewpoint of view, going down the chocolate cake rabbit hole, and much more. Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pim Techamuanvivit left a career in Silicon Valley to become one of the most important Thai chefs working today. She’s self-taught and runs Michelin-starred kitchens on two continents at San Francisco’s Kin Khao and Nari and Bangkok’s Nahm. Her new book, Cooking Thai, is the result of writing down everything she had to figure out on her own. It’s a remarkable book, and you should pick it up. Pim joins the show to talk about her amazing journey from working in tech to opening her first restaurant—her first restaurant job—and translating her iconic restaurant dishes for the home cook. Also on the show, I have a great conversation with Gidon Coll of the Hudson Valley Apple Project. If you love apples as much as I do, you will want to listen to this conversation. We talk about Gidon’s work growing heirloom and obscure varieties of apple, and we discuss his truly amazing farm visits. You should book tickets while they are still available.  Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Marion Nestle is a renowned nutritionist who has been shaping food policy for over half a century. She co-founded NYU’s groundbreaking Food Studies program in the ‘90s and has published over sixteen books, including her newest, Sugar Coated: Unboxing the Hidden Forces Shaping America's Favorite Breakfast Food. Today on the show, she weighs in on many buzzy topics in the food world (think: highly processed foods, fiber-and-protein-maxxing), the dramatic evolution of food culture, and how her cereal box collection inspired this new book. Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Zeena Lattouf Joy is the founder and head baker of Zeena Bakery, a Palestinian American bakery based in NYC. Their ma’amoul, focaccia, and other treats are beloved mainstays of the artisan side of the Fort Greene farmers’ market—and a regular part of Aliza’s weekend routine. Today on the show, Zeena talks about building a bakery that supports farmers in NYC and the Levant, the realities of operating a bakery stand at the market, and her plans for the future.  Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sally Ekus has been inside the cookbook business since before she could walk—literally stuffing press kits for her mother’s culinary PR firm as a kid. Now a senior literary agent at Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency leading the Ekus Group, she’s brokered hundreds of book deals and become one of publishing’s most transparent voices on how cookbooks actually get made. She’s behind the terrific Substack Not So Secret Agent, and Matt speaks with her about what agents really do for authors day to day, why a book deal is rarely a retirement plan, and some favorite books from years past. Also on the show we have a great conversation about Rebecca Eisenberg, author of the terrific new book Small-Batch Breads. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Patrick Miller is the founder and distiller of Faccia Brutto, an Italian-style spirits brand based in Brooklyn, New York. He worked as a chef for 19 years in some of LA and New York’s brightest restaurants, and he began making amari as holiday gifts for loved ones while working as the chef-partner at Rucola in Brooklyn. Today Faccia Bruttio is busy using old-world techniques to create singular and special amari and aperitivi, and on the show, we go deep into their process and vision. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world including Matt’s visits to Golden Hof in Manhattan and The Dale in the Catskills, and he previews Morgan Eckroth’s debut coffee book, Coffee, for Here. Aliza visits a Creole pop-up from Chasing Chaz, enjoys Ha’s Snack Bar a great deal, and tries Julia Sherman’s new salad dressing. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jenn Saesue didn’t want to open another Thai restaurant that served the same watered-down menu as everyone else’s—so she didn’t. Nearly a decade later, she’s the cofounder of 55 Hospitality, the group behind Fish Cheeks, the Michelin-listed Bangkok Supper Club, and Bub’s Bakery, New York’s first completely allergen-free bakery. Matt talks with Jenn about refusing pad Thai, managing an impossible reservation list, and how a birthday cake for her husband turned into a two-and-a-half-year research and development project. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matt Johnson directed the films BlackBerry and the DIY comedy Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie—now he’s taking on Anthony Bourdain. His new film Tony, out in August from A24, skips the traditional biopic format entirely, compressing three formative Provincetown summers described in Kitchen Confidential into one transformative season for a 19-year-old, pre-fame Bourdain. Johnson joins us to talk about adapting a book everyone already loves, directing Dominic Sessa away from doing an impression, and his love for the Canadian rock band Sloan.  And before that, Matt shares some recent restaurant visits, including stops at Thai Diner, Keens, and Goosefeather.  Check out Matt on the podcast Put It In My Mouth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pierce Abernathy is a recipe developer and content creator based in Brooklyn. You may know him from his popular online videos showcasing his seasonal approach to plant-forward cooking—and now, he’s releasing a debut cookbook: Every Leaf, Every Stem: Craveable, Creative Vegetables All Year Round. Today on the show, we go deep on Pierce’s inspiration and book-making process, including getting the book’s introduction written by the one and only Alice Waters, and his upcoming book tour. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2005, Matt sat across from Anthony Bourdain at a magazine photo shoot. His first TV show, No Reservations, was only a few months old, and they dug into the contents of his travel bags, which he had brought to the set from his apartment in Hell’s Kitchen. Two hours turned into a highly personal conversation, recorded on a cassette that sat untouched for twenty years. This week, that tape gets its first public airing, and we discuss Tony’s preferred sucker-punch etiquette, his loyalty to cigarettes and the Chateau Marmont, ayahuasca in Peru, and the talk show he dreamed up with Christopher Walken in mind. The Bourdain biopic, Tony, is out on August 7. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Renata Ameni is chef partner of Birdee, a bakery and all-day café on the Williamsburg waterfront. The Brazilian-born chef is a fine-dining veteran who worked at Eleven Madison Park and opened Crown Shy before hopping over to more casual territory. Today on the show, we talk about bridging the gap between different styles of restaurants, making singular pastries, and more. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Noah Galuten—chef, James Beard Award–winning cookbook author, and YouTube food guy—joins the show to talk about his new book, Grill Time!. The conversation covers his unconventional path from UCLA theater student to LA pitmaster, the case for treating your gas grill as a weekday kitchen appliance, and a deep dive into his research trip to Hermosillo, Mexico, where he discovered that everything he thought he knew about carne asada was wrong. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Omi Hopper is a Puerto Rican chef, social media influencer, and food entrepreneur. You might know her as a semifinalist on season two of Next Level Chef, or from her popular cooking videos across social media, where she shares her takes on Puerto Rican classics. Today on the show, we talk about making her debut cookbook, Cooking con Omi: A Love Letter to Puerto Rican Home Cooking. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Claire Saffitz joins us for a summer-minded conversation about cooking outside the dessert lane. The best-selling author of Dessert Person and What’s for Dessert talks pizza-oven construction, YouTube behind-the-scenes, garden life in the Hudson Valley, and—for the first time—details about her upcoming third cookbook, which is a bit of a departure from her previous work. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world, including Matt’s visits to Lola’s, Bar Chimera, AOOA Farm, and Superiority Burger. Aliza checks out Dolores, Un Posto Italiano, and shares how she is having a real potato salad summer.  Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're thrilled to have chef Norman Van Aken on the show. Norman is the founding father of “new world cuisine” and the man who introduced the word “fusion” into the culinary lexicon—at a 1989 symposium in Santa Fe, decades before it became widely used and sometimes critiqued. A former carnival worker and tar roofer who never went to culinary school, Van Aken built his vision in Key West and Miami, gave Charlie Trotter his first kitchen job, and has spent 40-plus years arguing that Florida deserves a cuisine of its own. His restaurant Norman’s is now in its third Orlando incarnation. We get into all of it in this memorable episode. And check out Norman’s Substack too. It’s a great read. Also on the show we have a live recording from the recent The Great Nosh Jewish food festival. It’s an entertaining conversation featuring Niki Russ Federman of Russ & Daughters, Mike Solomonov of Kfar Brooklyn, and Itamar Srulovich of Honey & Co in London. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lydia Pang is a creative director and the author of Eat Bitter: A Story About Guts, and Food. It’s a memoir that connects to the Chinese cultural concept of 吃苦 (chi ku), “eating bitterness” or being resilient, to her own life, with each chapter rooted in a recipe. Today on the show, we chat about how the book began as a zine in 2020, being inspired by her Hakka-Welsh heritage, and more. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world, including Matt’s trip to Chicago with visits to Maxwell Trading, Loaf Lounge, Best Intentions, and Colectivo. Aliza discusses her interaction with dirty soda in Utah, a recipe in the latest issue of Kismet Magazine, and a very good frozen drink at SAA in Brooklyn.  Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chloe Frechette spent nearly a decade as executive editor at Punch, the James Beard Award–winning drinks media brand, writing seriously about cocktails and the culture around them. Then she did what most drinks writers most certainly do not do: she opened a bar. Echo Lake and Undercurrent, her two-story rum destination in Williamsburg with partner Paul McGee, opened this spring—one a breezy daiquiri bar, the other an intimate den of rare and vintage spirits. In this episode, I speak with Chloe about making the jump from writing about bars to running one, the vintage rum collection that includes pre-embargo Cuban Bacardi, and so much more. Echo Lake is at 357 Grand St, Brooklyn, NY 11211 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bartender and author Toby Maloney has made somewhere north of half a million cocktails over thirty-plus years, from Milk & Honey and Pegu Club to the Violet Hour in Chicago and the Elbow Room in Vancouver, Washington. His new book with coauthor and drinks journalist Emma Janzen, The Classic Cocktail Sessions, is a deep-dive master class on 61 classic drinks: not their histories but their inner workings. In this episode, we talk about the daiquiri that changed Toby’s life and the difference between mastering a classic and making it yours. Also on the show Matt shares a few final thoughts on the Summer Fancy Food Show including a first look at rugelach from Manischewitz, how Jangin is a new Korean food brand that you should keep your eye on, and a look at Lapos NA aperitivo. Also: Juggad It from Spicewalla and cool things happening at Raazi Tea. Also see: This Is TASTE 801: We Went to the Summer Fancy Food Show. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hasung Lee spent a decade cooking inside other people’s restaurants—Gramercy Tavern, Geranium, Atomix, the French Laundry—before Netflix viewers met him as Culinary Monster, the mysterious “black spoon” who muscled his way into the final round of Culinary Class Wars season 2. While he lost in the finale, he opened Oyatte anyway and is clearly shooting for Michelin stars. In this episode, we talk with Lee about what it’s like to compete under an alias, and we hear about the chef’s journey through some of the world’s greatest kitchens. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Vikas Khanna grew up in Amritsar cooking beside his grandmother, arrived in New York with $3 and a dream, and became one of the first Indian chefs in the city to earn a Michelin star. His restaurant Bungalow—now one of NYC’s most coveted reservations—tells India’s culinary story through its 28 states. We talk about Vikas’s early cooking career in NYC, the rise of Junoon and later Bungalow, and what it means to cook for both presidents and homeless folks. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Specialty Food Association's Summer Fancy Food Show is where the next year of grocery shelves gets decided, and Dan Frommer, founder of The New Consumer and one of the sharpest minds tracking how people spend their money, was there for all of it. Dan joins Matt to unpack the trends and new products they spotted on the floor of the Javits Center this week in New York. We talk about sparkling water, functional cookies, and some emerging categories that surprised even us. Check out Dan’s 2026 Mid-Year Consumer Trends Report. Brands mentioned on the episode: Mr. Pickles Industries Wandel Mad Mutz The Great Chestnut Experiment Ginja Snap Folkland Foods Buffs Rodeo Snacks Monte's Fine Foods Gamsa Foods Sooki Dirty Virgo Nomina Sparkling Water David Protein Field Goods Yakitori Guy Sauce Manischewitz 50 HertzSubscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jason Stewart, cohost of How Long Gone and one of food media’s sharpest outside voices, returns to the studio. We talk about his early vegan days, his current London dining life, and what he’s enjoying in his hometown of Los Angeles. We also revisit some of his past TASTE writing, including a review of Noma in Copenhagen. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s the return of Food Writers Talking About Food Writing. Every couple of weeks, Matt invites a journalist to talk about some favorite recent food writing as well as their thoughts on the industry as a whole. Luke Fortney went from covering New York’s restaurant scene at Eater to contributing weekly to the terrific New York Times food newsletter ⁠Where to Eat⁠. In this episode, we talk about the dream of the $50 dinner in New York, changes at the grocery store, Canada’s big showing at North America’s 50 Best, and how restaurants can think about a membership mode. Featured on the episode: But First, Restaurant [NYT] The New Grocer [Snaxshot] The Dream of a $50 Dinner Is Still Alive at These Restaurants [NYT] Why don't more restaurants have memberships? [Expedite] Oh, Canada [Caper]Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tadashi Ono spent nine years as executive chef of La Caravelle, one of America’'s great French restaurants—twice earning a three-star New York Times review—before walking away to cook the Japanese food he actually wanted to cook. Since then, he’s run Matsuri and Maison O; written four cookbooks with Harris Salat on Japanese hot pots, grilling, and comfort food; and opened Teruko, a sushi bar and Japanese restaurant in the subterranean belly of the Hotel Chelsea. We talk about his long career and his latest cookbook, Japanese Comfort Cooking. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rita Gigante is not your average food influencer. She’s a psychic medium and healer and the author of The Godfather’s Daughter, an autobiography about growing up as the daughter of notorious Genovese crime family boss Vincent “Chin” Gigante. Rita is passionate about creating videos that showcase the old-school Italian restaurants and food businesses of her childhood, creating a new generation of fans, and it’s so fun to have her in the studio to talk about her lifelong interest in food. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world, including Matt’s trip to BevNET Live with introductions to the great Umma Juice, Cabu, and Dad Grass Leisure Drinks. Also: Visits to Xi’an Famous Foods in Midtown, the newly opened Uovo in NoMad, Pizzeria Panina in Ridgewood, and Supreme Restaurant in Manhattan Chinatown. Lastly, love for Saicho hojicha.  Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Becca Millstein built Fishwife into one of the buzziest brands in food, turning a sleepy pantry category into something people actually want to talk about. This time, we didn’t talk to her in our New York City studio—we followed her to Santoña, Spain, to board boats, participate in an anchovy auction, and visit the processing plants where tins of fish get packed by hand. Welcome to our new series, Founder in the Field. It’s a different side of the grocery business than the one you see on Instagram: less buzzy branding, more bidding war over the morning’s catch. It’s an introduction to a founder, at origin, doing the actual work. Also check out: Whole Foods Buyers Never Sit Still. We Followed Them to Spain. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Toshi and Yasu Kizaki opened Sushi Den on Christmas Eve in 1984 on South Pearl Street in Denver. Little did they know how the opening would impact Japanese food in America. Over the next four decades, they built a supply chain that flies fish from a market in Kyushu to Denver in under 24 hours, took over a corner of Platt Park with a cluster of Japanese restaurants, and earned a Michelin star — at 69, the oldest sushi chef in the U.S. to receive his first. This is the story of Sushi Den's expansion, including the Michelin-starred Kizaki, and a rare sit-down with the founding brothers. Also on the show we have a great conversation with Mawa McQueen, the chef-owner of Mawa’s Kitchen in Aspen. This Michelin Guide–recommended restaurant is the flagship eatery of owner and executive chef Mawa McQueen, a 2022 James Beard Award semifinalist and recipient of the 2022 Colorado Governor's Minority Business Award. The menu at Mawa's Kitchen is hyper-seasonal and reflects Mawa's international heritage, serving Afro-Mediterranean cuisine with a French-American flair. We talk about building her mini empire, and what it’s like to cook for the private jet crowd. Thank you to Visit Colorado for supporting this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kim Vallejo is the business director at She Wolf Bakery in Brooklyn, NY. She Wolf produces exceptional sourdough and sweet treats made from regional heritage grains that are sold at 12 greenmarkets across NYC, plus their cafe in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and over 70 restaurant wholesale clients. Today on the show, Kim goes deep on the serious logistics that makes all this possible, working with regional grains, and more. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world, including visits to Oyatte, Via Carota, Sunfish Seafood, and Lefty’s Burger Shack. Also: Island Way Sorbet has taken over our freezer, How to Rule the World is the One L for journalism, and the legend of the green bag with Taiwanese Guai Guai. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Maggie Hoffman is the writer and host behind The Dinner Plan, a podcast and Substack where she talks to a cookbook author every week about weeknight cooking realities, kitchen burnout, and what people actually cook at home. She joins Matt for a look back at the standout cookbooks of spring 2026. Here are the spring books mentioned, and listen at the end for our early fall favorites. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world, including Aliza’s swing through the Pacific Northwest for strawberry picking and visits to The Paper Bridge and a Portland Pickles game. Matt tries push-pop sushi at Suka Sushi, pays tribute to the mujaddara at Kalustyan's, and he checks out the new infused oils from Primis Imports. MAGGIE’S FAVORITE SPRING COOKBOOKS Özlem Warren’s Istanbul Natasha Pickowicz’s Everyone Hot Pot Georgina Hayden’s MEDesque Hillary Sterling’s AMMAZZA! Joe Woodhouse’s Weeknight Vegetarian MATT’S FAVORITE SPRING COOKBOOKS Ham El-Waylly’s Hello, Home Cooking Ella Quittner’s Obsessed With the Best Jena Derman and Jack Schramm’s Solid Wiggles Adeena Sussman’s Zariz Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s the return of Food Writers Talking About Food Writing. Every couple of weeks, Matt invites a journalist to talk about some favorite recent food writing as well as their thoughts on the industry as a whole. Nadia Chaudhury is the deputy editor of Eater New York and Eater Northeast, a born-and-raised New Yorker who spent a decade running Eater Austin before coming home. Her family is behind Kalustyan’s, the legendary NYC specialty food store that has been feeding chefs, cooks, and curious eaters since 1944. On this episode, Nadia and Matt discuss the state of food media, the stories she’s chasing at Eater, and what it’s like to grow up with one of New York City’s most essential food institutions in the family. Featured on the episode: The Carbone Team Will Open an American Tavern in the Tribeca Grill Space [Eater] The Whimsy Killer in Your Pocket [Best Food Blog] New East Village Restaurant Threads Korean and Italian Culinary Lines [Eater] Faux Is a Real McNally Restaurant [NY Mag] Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jena Derman and Jack Schramm are the Brooklyn-based cofounders of Solid Wiggles, the cocktail jelly company that turned the Jell-O shot into a legitimate art form—and a legitimate cocktail. Their debut book is a full system for making layered, clarified, beautifully decorated cocktail jellies at home, from quick party animal shots to three-day party pro cakes with injected flowers and glitter. Jena comes from Momofuku Milk Bar; Jack from Booker and Dax and Existing Conditions. Together they’re making the case for the solid cocktail—and that parties matter. Also on the show I spend some time with Carolyne Lane, director of coffee at Noma Projects. We stop by her cafe in Copenhagen to hear about how she thinks deeply about coffee sourcing, with an emphasis on Mexico. I really enjoyed getting to know her a bit and hope you enjoy this episode.   Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brendan Chareoncharutkun is the founder of Uncle’s Thai Food, a freeze-dried curry brick brand based in New York. He got his start in food by working on farms around the world, learned to cook by working in restaurants in Bangkok, then came to New York to work in marketing, all while doing food pop-ups on the side. That experience and wisdom is combined in Uncle’s, and today on the show, we go deep on everything it took to bring this brand to life—plus Brendan’s new products in the works.  Also on the show, Matt has a great conversation with Chef Nelson German, author of the terrific new book Caribbean Cocktails. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Josh Scherer didn’t set out to make an expansive and deeply heartfelt show about mortality. He set out to make a funny YouTube video about a carne asada burrito. A hundred episodes of Last Meals later—with Tom Hanks, Jason Kelce, and Elijah Wood having sat in the chair—he’s built the best food talk show online. The executive director of culinary content at Mythical Entertainment and NYT best-selling author joins Matt to talk food, grief, celebrity, and the last thing you’d ever want to eat. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jess Shadbolt cofounded King in SoHo in 2016 with almost no money and no restaurant experience—and built it into one of the best restaurants in New York City. Now she and partner Annie Shi have opened Dean’s, a British seafood pub that features stargazy pie and pork scratchings on the menu as well as a Guinness challenge where 500 pints earn you an engraved tankard. We talk about why British food still has to fight for its reputation in New York and the dayboat fisherman in Suffolk the restaurant is named for. Also on the show, we have an entertaining (and entertaining-focused) conversation with Amber Mayfield Hewett, author of Your Turn to Host: A Guide to Great Parties and Gatherings. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we’re doing something a little different—a special episode all about writing romantic fiction, featuring two food people: Eliza Dumais and Julia Turshen. Eliza is a wine writer based in New York, and Julia is a cookbook author and part-time farmer in the Hudson Valley, and they’re both authors of new romance books from 831 Stories: Grape Juice, set amid a sweaty summer wine harvest in France, and Down to Earth, a queer love story with a highly crushable vegetable farmer in upstate New York. On the show, Aliza speaks with Eliza and Julia about the parallels between writing about food and romance and much more. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s episode is really special: a deep eating, drinking, and food culture tour of Colorado, a state that has been quietly (and then not so quietly) building one of the most exciting culinary scenes in America. From Denver’s Michelin-starred restaurant boom to the peach orchards and wine country of the Grand Valley, we went to find out why Colorado is a serious food destination—and came back convinced. First up, we sit down with Johnny Curiel, the Guadalajara-born, Denver-raised chef and 2025 James Beard Award finalist behind the Michelin-starred Alma Fonda Fina and the newly opened Milpero. Johnny’s story—from learning to cook in his father’s kitchen in Jalisco to redefining modern Mexican cuisine in the Rockies—is one we’re excited to tell. Next we hit Five Points and RiNo with Laura Young, Denver food writer and founder of New Denizen. Laura takes us on an epic crawl of the spots defining the new Denver dining moment: Cuban pastry, specialty coffee, and an amazing Japanese-inspired all-day café. We then head west to the Grand Valley for a conversation with chef Matthew Chasseur of Pêche in Palisade—a restaurant built on the region’s extraordinary agricultural bounty, from Palisade peaches to Colorado lamb, proving that world-class dining doesn’t require an urban zip code. Throughout the episode, we share highlights from our wider Colorado eating adventures—the restaurants, markets, and producers that made this trip one for the books. Check out a ⁠Google Map⁠ to see all of the places we visit, and save for your own visit. Thank you to Visit Colorado for supporting this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The anonymous British chef behind @RateMyChives has spent years judging the knife skills of home cooks and professional chefs alike—and amassed 107,000 followers doing it, including some of the biggest names in the business. In his first-ever podcast interview, we finally get the man on the record. We talk about how a forgotten Instagram handle became a cult institution, what a properly cut chive actually looks like, what it reveals about a cook’s character, and why he’s still not telling us who he is. Also on the show, Clayton jumps in with Matt for Three Things to discuss what’s exciting us in the world of food and culture. We discuss: Our recent trip to Spain with Whole Foods buyers (there’s an episode), visiting Saga in lower Manhattan, coffee from Kafiex in Vancouver, Washington and Olive in Queens. Also: Eddie Huang’s novel Come Undone is a new level for the chef's writing career, and checking in on Cassandra at the Wedding. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Ashanté M. Reese is a writer, anthropologist, and associate professor of African and African diaspora studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Her new book, Gather, looks at expansive forms of nourishment, care, and Black food through four kinds of gatherings: gardens, family reunions, repasts, and protests. Today on the show, Ashanté shares about the years of conversations and reporting that built this book, including which family reunion had the best food.  Also on the show, Matt has a great conversation with Alana Kysar, author of Aloha Veggies: Veg-Forward Recipes Celebrating the Flavors of Hawai’i. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this very special episode, we traveled to Ondarroa, a fishing port in the Basque Country of northern Spain, and followed a team of Whole Foods Market buyers and sourcing experts to find out how they interact with partners at the source—in this case, the legendary Spanish tinned seafood producer Ortiz. Joining us was AnaMaria Friede, who oversees grocery merchandising strategy and has spent two decades helping to advance Whole Foods Quality Standards. Category Merchant Julia Merid lives inside the canned seafood aisle and works directly with producers on everything from the fish itself to the packaging to how the story gets told. And Carrie Brownstein has spent 25 years researching and writing the actual standards that govern what Whole Foods can and can’t sell—she’s the person who established what “sustainable wild-caught” actually means and what it doesn’t. At the center of it all: Conservas Ortiz, a fifth-generation, family-owned company working the Basque coast since 1891. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alan Delgado is the chef-owner of Los Burritos Juarez, a norteño-style burrito restaurant in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood. After an impressive career of working in restaurants in Austin, Texas and New York City, he began making flour tortillas in his apartment and operating a small burrito pop-up out the window. Los Burritos Juarez was born. Nine months ago, a brick-and-mortar followed along with widespread popularity and acclaim. Today on the show, Alan looks back on how he perfected the tortillas, the challenges of becoming an owner-operator, and some new projects ahead.  And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world, including a return to Lei in New York’s Chinatown and a reminder that Ariari is one of NYC’s best Korean restaurants. Also: Stops at Masa Madre Artisanal Bakery for exceptional sourdough conchas and Noodle Village for wonton soup. Lastly, tastes of the new Slice dirty sodas and Amo coffee. Wild stuff.  Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    00:00:29 – Aliza Intro: Alan Delgado & Los Burritos Juarez00:01:07 – Three Things Returns (Matt & Aliza)00:01:23 – Aliza’s #1: Lei Wine Bar & Peak Summer Seating00:03:37 – Matt’s #1: Ari Ari & Modern Korean in NYC00:06:12 – Aliza’s #2: Massa Madre & the Perfect Concha00:08:00 – Matt’s #2: Slice Dirty Soda & the Dirty Soda Trend00:10:02 – Aliza’s #3: Noodle Village & Chinatown Comforts00:11:16 – Matt’s #3: Amo Coffee & WWE Meets Co‑Fermented Coffee00:13:09 – Bonus: Double‑Decker Bus Tourism as a Local00:15:09 – Main Interview Begins: Early Food Memories & Coffee00:18:38 – Cooking in Austin, Comedor & Returning to Mexican Food00:19:58 – Moving to New York in 2020 & Pandemic Timing00:22:30 – Homesick in NYC: Window Burrito Pop‑Up Origins00:23:53 – Perfecting the El Paso–Juarez Flour Tortilla00:25:32 – Juarez‑Style Burritos: Fillings, Bean & Cheese Philosophy00:27:47 – Salsas, Heat Levels & Keeping It Classic00:28:50 – Small Menu, Tight Team & Stepping Back as Owner00:30:19 – NYT One Star, Staff Pride & Managing the Line00:33:28 – Maximizing a Tiny Space: Catering, Delivery & Taco Boxes00:36:32 – Rethinking Ownership: Sharing the Pie & Profit‑Share00:37:40 – Wholesale Partnerships: Coffee Shops, Bars & Prima00:41:57 – New Dumbo Mexican Restaurant with Ivy Mix & Team00:44:37 – Chinatown Bar‑Taqueria: Pork, Barbacoa & Classic Drinks00:46:07 – Fort Greene Recs: Romans, Sailor & Local Steam Table00:48:29 – Rapid Fire: Burritos, Taquerias, Ice Cream & Matilda Cake00:52:34 – Credits & Taste Sign‑Off Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is such a wildly fun conversion with David Lebovitz. We love his Substack, and his many books, including the recently released The Great Book of Chocolate. We go over so many fun, and a few controversial, topics in this live recording from Rizzoli Bookstore in New York City.   Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mike Colameco has been inside more New York kitchens than almost anyone alive. A CIA-trained chef who cooked at Windows on the World, the Four Seasons, and the Ritz-Carlton, he spent 20 seasons as the host and producer of Mike Colameco’s Real Food on PBS—a documentary-style show that interviewed chefs in their actual restaurants, long before food TV became a genre. He talks about the golden era of New York dining, the economics of building independent food media, and what he sees when he looks at the city’s restaurant landscape today. We are such big fans of Mike’s work, and, dare we say it, he’s a living legend. This is such a fun conversation. And before that it’s the return of Three Things and a special Philadelphia edition. Aliza and Matt each visited recently and have some great food discoveries to share including visits to: Vetri Cucina, Middle Child, Pizzeria Beddia, Càphê Roasters, Manna Bakery, Supérette, Sao, and Binding Agents. Also: a stop at Papa's Tomato Pies on the way back to New York.     Check out Mike’s incredible YouTube channel featuring unearthed episodes from the past thirty years. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shirley Chung is the Beijing-born chef who went from Silicon Valley to working in kitchens for Thomas Keller, Guy Savoy, and José Andrés—then found national fame as a two-time Top Chef finalist and became the “Dumpling Queen of Los Angeles.” In 2024, she was diagnosed with Stage 4 tongue cancer. She refused surgery, closed her restaurant, moved to Chicago for treatment, and came out on the other side: in remission, with a $100,000 competition win under her belt and a new Chinese restaurant in Dallas, Night Rooster. We’ve always admired Shirley’s work, on and off camera, and this conversation covers her incredible career and her singular voice in the restaurant world. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mélanie Masarin is founder and CEO of Ghia, the Mediterranean-inspired nonalcoholic aperitif. Mélanie returns to talk about her debut cookbook, Riviera: Recipes from the Coast of France and Italy. In this episode, we talk about how the book is anchored by the handwritten recipes and philosophy of her grandmother Mymo. We also talk about working in the surging NA category and what is exciting in the land of Ghia. We have a lot of respect for Mélanie’s career, and I really enjoyed going over it. Also on the show we have a great conversation with Nichole Accettola, author of Scandinavian Everyday: Vibrant, Simple Meals from Northern Europe. Listen to Mélanie's first appearance on This Is TASTE. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Claire Wadsworth and Nikki Hill are the owners of La Copine, an oasis of a restaurant in California’s Mojave Desert. It’s been a beloved destination for over a decade, winning over a mix of Joshua Tree locals, LA weekenders, and celebrities passing through. Now they’re sharing La Copine’s thoughtful takes on all-day cooking in a debut cookbook. It’s so fun to have Claire and Nikki in the studio to talk about what it takes to run a restaurant in the high desert, their journey as a couple in business together, and making this book. Also on the show we have a live recording from a recent panel conversation at Baldor BITE in New York City, a conference run by the legendary specialty food company. Matt is joined on the stage by four leading chefs including Missy Robbins (Lilia, Misi), Paul Carmichael (Kabawa), Tiffani Faison (chef, restaurateur, and judge on Chopped), and Tim Ma (Tim Ma Hospitality). The panel unpacks a pressing question in today’s restaurant world: how do you judge success?  Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adeena Sussman has published three solo cookbooks, with the latest, Zariz, landing as the culmination of a possible trilogy, arriving after Sababa and Shabbat. Adeena is a Tel Aviv–based, Palo Alto–raised food writer who joins me in the studio for a great conversation. I absolutely love an Adeena Sussman cookbook, which includes her own work as well as collaborations with Chrissy Teigen and others. Adeena’s books are creative, thoroughly tested, and show how Jewish food identity is represented in multitudes around the world. In this episode, we talk about her life in Israel and how this new book was written with ease in mind. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠       Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brian Rudolph cofounded Banza in a Detroit kitchen in 2014 with a wine bottle, some chickpea flour, and a gluten sensitivity. Twelve years later, Banza is the country’s number-one better-for-you pasta brand—and recently, it launched its first-ever pasta with wheat. In this episode, Brian returns to the studio to catch us up on all things Banza, including the brand’s continued growth and how launching a non-gluten-free pasta required the company to dig deep and listen to its fans. I love catching up with food founders, and Brian is one of my favorites in the game. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

George Howell has been working in coffee longer than most roasters have been alive. In 1975, he opened the Coffee Connection in Boston’s Harvard Square, with a strong conviction that great drip coffee—single-origin, lightly roasted, treated like wine—could change the way Americans drank their morning brew. It did. George also helped popularize the Frappuccino, sold his company to Starbucks, cofounded the influential Cup of Excellence, pioneered the freezing of green coffee, and opened a new café inside a Harvard Square bookstore—at age 80. In this episode, we speak with the godfather of specialty coffee about all of it. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world, including a reminder that Hearth is one of New York’s finest restaurants. Potluck Club is cooking exciting things in Manhattan’s Chinatown, and Echo Lake is a celebration of rum in Brooklyn from a serious drinks world duo. Also: Tart’s black malt vinegar is inspiring some kitchen explorations, a scene report from the Kiln x Comal pop-up in New York, and high praise for the Barker Cafeteria roasted sweet potato sandwich. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gabrielle Davenport is the cofounder of BEM, a bookstore and community space for Black food literature in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. It’s been a wonderfully busy season of cookbook events and releases, and this week BEM is reaching a whole new level by hosting the Edna Lewis Festival. It’s a week of all-star events honoring the 50th anniversary reissue of Edna Lewis’s seminal cookbook The Taste of Country Cooking. Today on the show, Gabrielle shares updates from the always-busy world of BEM and goes deep into Edna Lewis’s legacy and how it’s living on today.  And it’s the return of Three Things where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world including recent dessert explorations at Superiority Burger, Uncle’s Thai Food x Apollo Bagels, Hots Pizza is a new favorite NYC slice. Also: Chef Shuai Wang's Sichuan Hot Chicken Spice is terrific. Also, Oatly gets creative with NYC bar Schmuck and New York has a new cookbook store! Wild Sorrel Cookbooks is a gem.   Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Vitamina T is the new cookbook from Fermín Núñez (chef of Suerte, Este, and Bar Toti in Austin) and Jorge Gaviria of masa company Masienda. This amazing book does exactly what it says, offering a deep dive into Mexico’s legendary “T” foods: tacos, tortas, tamales, and so much more. In this episode, we talk about heirloom corn, street food as serious cuisine, and how the pair wrote one of the year’s most exciting Mexican cookbooks. Also on the show, we have a great conversation with Tommy Hunt about restaurant operations and the brand-new spot that is the buzz of New York City: Dean’s. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    00:00 – Burning It On Purpose: A New Mexican Home-Cooking Mentality00:12 – Cosme, Corn Husks, and Catching Up with New York03:16 – From Masa to Vida Mexicana: Writing the Sequel Cookbook05:19 – Entering the Taco Canon (and Updating It)08:09 – Shooting Mexico: Tortas in the Airbnb and Tortas in the Street11:24 – The Architecture of a Great Torta (and the Magic of Laminada)13:39 – Reading a Trompo and Talking to Taqueros18:21 – Quesabirria, Birrieria Zaragoza, and Offal Lines in the Sand21:45 – LA Taco Fieldwork and the Ditroit Taqueria Crew23:35 – Running a Restaurant Group and Seeing Your Food Reflected Back24:54 – Where Home Cooks Go Wrong with Mexican Street Food 36:02 – From the Pass to the Floor: Who Really Runs the Room? 39:15 – Hawksmoor, New York, and Learning the City Before You Open 43:48 – Why Should New York Care About Your London Hit? 48:24 – The New British Wave: Dishoom, Gymkhana, Ambassadors… and Risk 55:02 – Fixing Jupiter’s P&L Without Killing Its Soul 58:59 – Labor, Tipping, and Why No One Wants to Be a Manager 63:47 – What a British Pub Means in the West Village 67:50 – Pints, Pork Scratchings, and Triple-Cooked Chips: The Dean’s Menu 73:39 – Why Pubs Are Having a Moment in America 76:35 – Taste Check, Operations Edition Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rachel Khong is the former executive editor of Lucky Peach and the author of Goodbye, Vitamin and the New York Times Best Seller Real Americans. Her new short story collection, My Dear You, is her strangest and most daring work yet: ten surreal, funny, and deeply felt stories about identity, love, memory, and what happens after you die. In this episode, we talk about the legacy of Lucky Peach, Rachel’s research process for writing fiction, and why the short story can hold what the novel can’t. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alicia Kennedy is a food and culture writer from New York based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She is the author of the essential weekly newsletter From the Desk of Alicia Kennedy, the book No Meat Required, and a lush new memoir, On Eating: The Making and Unmaking of My Appetites. It’s so special to have Alicia in the studio on her publication day to talk about making this book, her new magazine project, Tomato Tomato, and much more.  Also on the show, Matt catches up with Elizabeth Dunn to talk about her recent New York magazine story about how a caffeine-laced strawberry-açai drink at Starbucks became the allowance-draining status symbol of New York’s teen elite. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s the return of Food Writers Talking About Food Writing. Every couple of weeks, Matt invites a journalist to talk about some favorite recent food writing as well as their thoughts on the industry as a whole. Luke Fortney went from covering New York's restaurant scene at Eater — where he won a New York Press Club Award for a piece on flour tortillas — to contributing weekly to the terrific New York Times food newsletter, Where to Eat. On this episode we talk about pizza, schedules, and why some of the best food writing right now lives inside a 600-word newsletter. We also talk about some recent food writing that we enjoyed. Discussed on the episode:  The $8 Can of Vegetables [Best Food Blog] U Went Viral for the Wrong Reasons Honey [NY Mag] At Restaurants, Fusion Is No Longer a Dirty Word [NYT] Can Webcams Help Solve New York’s Restaurant Line Problem? [NYT] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cake Zine ⁠is an independent literary food magazine cofounded by pastry chef Tanya Bush and TASTE contributing editor Aliza Abarbanel. The new special issue, Steak Zine, examines the cultural impact of red meat in many forms. Today on the show, Aliza invites Tanya into the studio to talk about the editorial process behind this trip into carnivorous territory and the fantasies sold in each cut of steak. And it’s the return of Three Things. Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world, including a trip to Colorado for an exceptional gesha at Denver’s Queen City Collective Coffee⁠, and a visit to Paradise Bakery in Aspen. Also: Stopping by Salt Bread Ko., Bar Chucho, and Lady Wong at Urban Hawker in New York. Plus, a deep dive into Mexico’s iconic “T foods” in with cookbook Vitamina T. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Samer Saleh and Diane Aboushi Saleh are the married farmers behind Halal Pastures, a 100% organic and halal farm in Rock Tavern, New York. They first started growing food for their family on half an acre of land without any previous farming experience in 2015. Today they’re one of the busiest stands at the Union Square Greenmarket, with specialty produce that lures in chefs from top restaurants and home cooks alike. In this episode, Samer and Diane share how they’ve grown the farm and what they’re looking forward to as the bountiful spring and summer season unfolds.  And it’s the return of Three Things. Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world, including visits to Dean’s, Kabawa, and Bar Ferdinando in New York, Caity Weaver writing colorfully about the best free bread in America, Zab’s x Taco Bell have collaborated on a nationwide menu item (wow), and the results of a competitive chocolate chip cookie competition. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kevin Boehm cofounded the Boka Restaurant Group, built some of Chicago’s most celebrated restaurants—Boka, Girl & the Goat, Momotaro, Swift & Sons—earned a James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurateur, and appeared as himself on The Bear. He also slept in his car, battled depression and alcoholism, and spent three decades running from a secret he learned at 18 years old: the man sitting across from him at a Springfield diner wasn’t his biological father. All of that is in his enthralling memoir, The Bottomless Cup: A Memoir of Secrets, Restaurants, and Forgiveness. In this episode, we talk about helping build iconic Chicago restaurants and what it took to sit down and write the story of his life.  Also on the show, we have a great conversation with the Washington, DC, chef Fabio Trabocchi. We talk about cooking around the world and his influence on Italian food in America. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amanda Perdomo is a pastry chef raised in Louisiana and based in New York. She’s spent over a decade working in some of the city’s best restaurants and as a freelance baker, and a few months ago, she launched a pop-up showcasing Louisiana cooking: Amanda’s Good Morning Cafe. The weekday breakfast and lunch pop-up inside the restaurant Strange Delight has been a runaway hit, with homemade po’ boys, deep- fried cinnamon buns, and “fancy desserts.” Today on the show, we go deep on Louisiana cooking, the stakes of running a pop-up, and what’s next. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sheldon Simeon is the chef and owner of Tin Roof and Tiffany’s Restaurant and Bar in Hawaii. Born and raised in Hilo, he’s been dedicated to showcasing Hawaiian culinary heritage throughout his career, including in two seasons of Top Chef and two cookbooks: Cook Real Hawai’i and his new book, Ohana Style. It was so fun having Sheldon in the studio to talk about how his family inspired this new book, and his evolution as a chef. Also on the show we have a great conversation with Saeng Douangdara, author of the new cookbook The Lao Kitchen.  Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew Tarlow opened Diner in a converted railcar under the Williamsburg Bridge in 1998 and quietly rewrote the rules of American restaurant culture. Marlow & Sons, Roman’s, Achilles Heel, She Wolf Bakery—the Marlow Collective became a Brooklyn institution. Now, 25 years later, he’s crossed the bridge, opening Borgo, his first Manhattan restaurant, on East 27th Street. In this episode, Andrew’s first on our podcast, we talk about building Borgo into an instant hit as well as a quarter century of restaurant building with one of the sharpest points of view in the game. And it’s the return of Three Things. Aliza and Matt discuss some of their recent restaurant visits, including Her Name Is Han, Border Town, Teruko, New Kam Hing. Also, new books from Rachel Khong and Alicia Kennedy. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Journalist and cookbook author Anna Hezel returns to the show to talk ⁠Party Tricks⁠, her new cookbook built around 50 recipes for elevated snacking and relaxed hosting. Anna was a senior editor at TASTE as well as a cohost of this very show before working at Epicurious and cofounding the independent food publication ⁠Best Food Blog⁠. We dig in to her philosophy behind the art of the snack-forward meal, and why a well-stocked freezer might be the real secret to throwing a great party. Also on the show we catch up with Jaya Saxena to hear about a new publication, ⁠Ravenous⁠, she’s launching with several former Eater editors. We hear about the mission and a few of the stories they are working on. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ally Walsh and Casey Wojtalewicz are the cofounders of Canyon Coffee, a Los Angeles–based specialty coffee roaster specializing in organic and Regenerative Organic Certified coffees. Their Echo Park café has been a destination ever since opening in 2022, and just a few weeks ago, they opened a second location in Brooklyn’s Prospect Heights neighborhood that’s proving to be just as popular, with pastries from Amanda Perdomo and Elbow Bread’s Zoë Kanan. Today on the show, we talk about what sets Canyon Coffee apart, why the founders chose to open a second location in New York, and how they manage the lines. And it’s the return of Three Things. Aliza and Matt discuss some of their recent restaurant visits, including Chainsaw, Quarter Sheets, and Seong Buk Dong in Los Angeles and Dame in New York. Also, Malai Ice Cream does amazing mail order and Jury Duty is back with a company retreat. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ask any serious diner in New York about who built the city’s Italian restaurant culture, and Michael White’s name comes up fast. Marea. Ai Fiori. Alto. A James Beard Award. Multiple Michelin stars. Then silence. White left New York during the COVID-19 pandemic, regrouped, and returned with Santi, a sleek Midtown restaurant serving exceptional hand-crafted pasta and crudos in the space where Alto once stood. In this episode, we talk about his Wisconsin roots, studying Italian cuisine for nearly three decades, and what a real second act looks like. Also on the show, we have a great conversation with Eric Bedroussian. He’s a cofounder of the terrific Los Angeles izakaya Budonoki and we talk his time working in the Houston's organization, and about what it takes to build a buzzy, sustainable restaurant group in the modern era.  Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hafiz Mangalji is the founder of Hyunah Coffee Club, a reservations-only members’ space tucked into a Greenpoint, Brooklyn, studio where serious home brewers and industry obsessives come to use equipment many can’t afford to own themselves, drink coffees from roasters they’ve been following for years, and hang out with other people who care about water chemistry. In other words, this is completely our shit. For $30 a month, you get access to Weber Workshops grinders, Decent Espresso machines, a rotating global roaster marketplace, and a hi-fi sound system. It’s not a café. It’s not a class. It’s a club—and Hafiz talks about why that distinction matters. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Erica Roby is Food Network’s BBQ Brawl season two champion, a former criminal defense attorney, a Level 2 sommelier, and one of the most compelling voices in American barbecue. She joins us for a lively conversation about fire, smoke, and the cut that made her name. We dig into her Creole-inflected competition style, the patience required to master brisket, the beef cuts every home cook should know, and how she’s building a new generation of pitmasters from the ground up.  Also on the show is Tucker Brown, a sixth-generation Texas cattle rancher. We find out what it actually takes to raise great beef and what he wants people to understand the next time they’re standing at the butcher counter. This episode is presented by Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. On behalf of the Beef Checkoff. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amber Husain is a writer based in London. She is the author of Replace Me, Meat Love, and the new book Tell Me How You Eat, an expansive exploration of how and why we eat or abstain from eating, inspired by Husain’s own route to healing from anorexia. It’s a thoughtful and thoroughly researched book that looks to history for reasons to live and eat, and today on the show, we go deep on how she brought this singular book to life. And after that it’s the return of Three Things. Aliza and Matt discuss some of their recent restaurant visits, including checking in with the buzzy Bistrot Ha, Cornerstone in Pawling, New York is serving terrific Abruzzo cooking and the best onion rings from chef Harris Mayer. Also, the khao soi at Holy Basil in Los Angeles is in a different league, Bungalow’s daal is wow, as is the spice-roasted pineapple. Finally, Aliza has a meal at Chateau Marmont.  Please note that this conversation contains references to disordered eating. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Asha Loupy is an Oakland-based food writer, recipe developer, and coauthor of The Diaspora Spice Co. Cookbook, a debut cookbook from the beloved single-origin spice company. As Diaspora Co.’s recipe editor, Asha has spent over five years developing recipes that showcase the most of singular spices, and for the book, she joined the brand’s founder, Sana Javeri Kadri, on a four-month trip across South Asia to collect heirloom recipes from their farmers’ home kitchens. Today on the show, we go deep on all things spices and how they brought this special book to life, plus Asha’s upcoming solo cookbook. And before that it’s the return on Three Things. Aliza and Matt discuss some of their recent restaurant visits as well as other fun things entering their worlds. This includes: Sfizi taralli is Italian snacking done right, Confidant is a great neighborhood restaurant in Brooklyn (with the best lighting), Eddie Huang’s Baohaus is back in NYC and we gave it a visit. Also: Taku Sando is a terrific Japanese sandwich shop, we’re obsessed with the new Mid-Day Square, No Bread PBJ Strawberry, and a visit to the great West Rice Roll on Hester Street. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today on the show, we have a great episode digging into the world of grocery. First up: Elly Truesdell, cofounder and managing partner of New Fare Partners, one of the only women-led VC firms investing exclusively in the food and beverage space. She came up at Whole Foods, helped put RXBAR and Bachan’s on the map, and now she's behind some of the most interesting consumer packaged goods bets happening right now.  Then: Jake Karls, cofounder and chief rainmaker at Mid-Day Squares, the functional bars company that is making serious noise. We talk about growing the company through hard work and marketing savvy, and how Karls and his cofounders landed on the idea in the first place. Read: the New Fare Substack Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mariam Daud has built a devoted—and huge—online following by sharing beautifully prepared meals that draw from her Palestinian heritage and her American upbringing. Now she’s showcasing her food in a debut cookbook: I Sleep in My Kitchen. Today on the show, we talk about going from sharing recipes online to doing so in print, finding inspiration in Studio Ghibli movies, and more. And before that it’s the return on Three Things. Aliza and Matt discuss some of their recent restaurant visits as well as other fun things entering their worlds. This includes Matt’s recent stops in Kingston, New York included stops at Mirador, Sorry, Charlie, and Graziano’s Downtown Cafe. Kingston has serious range. Aliza visits Big CHUNE, a new Jamaican patty pop-up, Hani’s for an exceptional seasonal (and Tik-Tok-trend certified) coffee drink, and has a first sip of Faccia Brutto’s Lugermeister. Check out Rob Martinez’s visit to Downtown Cafe in Kingston.    Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s the return of  Food Writers Talking About Food Writing. Every couple of weeks, Matt invites a journalist to talk about some favorite recent food writing as well as their thoughts on the industry as a whole. In today’s episode, we have a great conversation with Matthew Schneier, chief restaurant critic at New York magazine. We dig into Matthew’s favorite restaurants in NYC and go over two of his most discussed reviews: his tasting menu verdict after visits to Cove and Saga, and his complicated reckoning with the Babbo revival under Stephen Starr. Plus: what it means to hold one of the last full-time restaurant critic jobs in American media. And of course, we talk about some recent food writing. And before that it’s the return on Three Things. Aliza and Matt discuss some of their recent restaurant visits as well as other fun things entering their worlds. This includes visits to Masala y Maiz, La Casa de Toño, Barbacoa Gonzalitos, and Comida China Gourmet Jing Feng in Mexico City. Also: A visit to Genghis Cohen in Los Angeles, A Little Nutty is Matt’s new favorite new cracker, and Claire Saffitz signed books at a favorite Hudson Valley grocery store, Adams Fairacre Farms.    Writing discussed on the episode: The 43 Best Restaurants in New York [NY Mag] Bites on Parade [NY Mag] Daddy’s Back [NY Mag] Would You Wait 8 Hours for This Waffle? [NY Mag] How to Invite Someone Over for Dinner [Best Food Blog] Eleven Madison Park Hits $1,000 for Two! [The Lo Times]Listen: Masala y Maíz Is Rooting Deep in Mexico City Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Trinity Mouzon Wofford is the cofounder and CEO of the wellness brand Golde and the author of Eating at Home: The Nourishing Practice of Everyday Cooking. The book is a charming, practical guide to reimagining home cooking in a way that’s more grounded, joyful, and doable. Today on the show, we talk about how Trinity approaches cooking at home amid parenting and running a business, the vintage cookbooks that inspire her timeless point of view, and much more.  Also on the show, Matt has a fascinating conversation with Teddy Kim. Teddy is the cofounder of Last Call, a hangover remedy with roots in Korea. We talk about founding a company in 2026 and all that bootstrapping as well as Teddy’s previous career working in Hollywood at Netflix, and the writer's room of Beef. You can buy Last Call on Amazon. Read⁠ Teddy on Substack. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jessica Koslow has been thinking about dinner for a long time. Since Sqirl opened in LA’s Virgil Village neighborhood in 2012, she has built one of the most influential restaurants in California—and watched as an entire generation of all-day cafés took note. Dinner has long been anticipated. In February, “Sqirl After Dark” finally launched. I sat down with Jessica to talk through the first weeks of service, the new menu, and what it feels like to cook the food you’ve been planning for decades. And before that it’s the return on Three Things. Aliza and Matt discuss some of their recent restaurant visits in Mexico City and Los Angeles, including: El Cardenal, Orbita, El Tibur, and Contramar in CDMX and in LA: Max & Helen’s, LaSorted, and Sora Craft Kitchen. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ari Weinzweig came to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to study Russian history. He stayed to open a deli, and 43 years later, Zingerman’s is one of America’s greatest food institutions. In this very special episode, we talk about the company’s obsessive ingredient sourcing, anarchist philosophy as management theory, the mail-order Reuben kit beloved by New Yorkers, and why dignity might be the most radical business idea of the moment. Later on the show, we speak with Brad Hedeman, one of Zingerman’s longtime food buyers. We find out what he tastes in a day and how he’s always on the hunt for the next greatest thing. You can purchase Matt’s curated Zingerman’s mail order box, featuring a loaf of sourdough bread, Cabot x Jasper Hill Clothbound Cheddar, Zingerman's Pimento Cheese spread, Great Lakes Smoked Whitefish spread, Finocchiona Salami, a Black Magic Brownie, and a Magic Brownie. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucie Franc de Ferriere is the owner and head baker at From Lucie, a small bakery in the East Village known for its whimsical baked goods adorned with fresh flowers. Born and raised in Southern France, Lucie grew up baking cakes with her mother at the family’s farm and bed-and-breakfast in their 165-year-old chateau. After moving to New York, she began to bake at café pop-ups and eventually opened her own bakery—and now she’s sharing her recipes in a beautiful debut cookbook, Cake From Lucie. Today on the show, we talk about the French techniques and ingredients that shape her food, and  what it’s like running a bakery in NYC. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It was great catching up with Dan Frommer. Dan is the founder and editor in chief of The New Consumer, a sharp and essential publication covering the intersection of technology and consumer culture — and one of the smartest people thinking and writing about what Americans are actually buying, eating, and obsessing over. Every year, Dan publishes a major consumer trends report timed to Expo West, the natural and organic products trade show in Anaheim, and this year's edition — a 68-slide deep dive produced with Coefficient Capital — is full of big findings. Matt catches up with Dan to talk about some of their new product discoveries while attending the show, as well as Dan’s recent writing about Sweetgreen and how Americans actually want to consume protein. Brands discussed on the episode: Smith Tea Maker, Coyotas, Waterloo, Flow Hydration, Van Leeuwen, Moozy Milk, Little Latke, Brause, Wasted, Oatly, Rambler, Wholesome Bakery, Lasso, Zahav Foods, Lexington Bakes, Yuzu Co., Row 7, Sourmilk.  Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rosio Sanchéz grew up on Chicago’s South Side, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, and went on to become head pastry chef at Noma before making one of the more unexpected moves in modern food: opening a taquería in Copenhagen. Today she runs Hija de Sanchez and restaurant Sanchez, where she’s spent more than a decade making the case for Mexican food in Scandinavia—using heirloom corn, indigenous ingredients, and a fine-dining sensibility that’s entirely her own. We talk about her highly personal work and what it means to cook Mexican food so far from home. Also on the show, we sit down with Dhriti Arora, the Indian-born Noma-alum chef behind Bar Vitrine, one of the most exciting openings in Copenhagen in recent years. The intimate 16-seat wine bar and eatery is where Dhriti brings her Indian roots into conversation with local, seasonal produce—cooking that feels like it couldn’t exist anywhere else in the world. Check out our recent episode, TASTE Travels: Copenhagen Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s episode is really special: an eating, drinking, and coffee survey of the wonderful city of Copenhagen, the Danish capital that has for years been at the center of fine dining. While we're major fans of Noma and its influence on global dining is unparalleled, we are here to report that there is so much more going on in Copenhagen, and we find out why it’s a northern European capital that punches well above its weight. First up, we have a really special conversation with Nick Curtin. Nick is the chef and cofounder of the Michelin-starred restaurant Alouette. Nick, an American, is not just an incredible chef but one who thinks well beyond the four walls of his restaurant. Next we go on a Copenhagen coffee tour with Klaus Thomsen, cofounder of pioneering coffee roaster Coffee Collective. We visit many of the city’s most interesting cafés and find out why Copenhagen has long been an established leader in specialty coffee. After that, we speak with Søren Stig Stissing of architecture and spatial design firm BRIQ. We wanted to hear about one of the city’s newly developed neighborhoods, Nordhavn, and how the iconic Danish design and urban planning sensibility plays out in real time. Finally we meet pastry chef and TV presenter Christel Hielscher for a conversation about fastelavnsboller, a traditional winter bun that Christel has dedicated her life to studying. She traveled the country to taste the country’s best, and we hear about her journey. Throughout the episode, Clayton and Matt tell Aliza about all of their memorable eating and drinking experiences during the trip. Check out the Google Map to see all of the places we visit, and save for your own visit. Thank you Visit Denmark for supporting this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Flynn McGarry is only 27, but he’s been cooking seriously since he was nine years old, turning his family’s living room in California into a pop-up supper club and landing on the cover of the New York Times Magazine before he was old enough to drive. He came up through some of the world’s best kitchens, moved to New York City, and built a passionate following with Gem and Gem Wine before opening Cove, which has quickly become one of the more exciting tasting menu restaurants in the city. There's also a documentary that captured his unconventional adolescence and put his story in front of millions of people—something we dig into, along with what it’s like to grow up entirely in public, and how all of it shapes the way he cooks today. Also on the show, I speak with Chloé Grigri, who is behind some of Philadelphia’s most creative restaurants and wine bars, including The Good King Tavern, Le Caveau, Superfolie, and Supérette. Chloé joins us to talk through her Resy Top Five, where she shares the top five dining experiences that have shaped her career working in restaurants. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wolfgang Puck arrived in Los Angeles in 1975 with French technique and Austrian instincts, and he became the chef at Ma Maison in West Hollywood—a restaurant so exclusive the phone number wasn’t listed—where Orson Welles ate lunch every day and a generation of Hollywood royalty witnessed the birth of California cuisine. Then in 1982, after a falling out with the owner, he opened Spago on the Sunset Strip with a wood-burning oven, a funky dining room, and a smoked salmon pizza that changed everything. What followed was two James Beard Awards for Outstanding Chef and 32 years of feeding the most famous people on the planet at the Academy Awards Governors Ball. We talk about all of it—the early years, the big swings, and what it feels like to be America’s first celebrity chef. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our friend Tanya Bush is back. The Brooklyn-based pastry chef, writer, and co-founder of Cake Zine visits the studio to talk about her incredible debut book, Will This Make You Happy: Stories & Recipes from a Year of Baking. It’s part coming-of-age memoir, part baking book, and the rare cookbook that is also a page turner. In this episode we get into the year of Tanya’s life that inspired this book and get into what is exciting at Tanya’s restaurant, the acclaimed Little Egg. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ham El-Waylly is a chef, recipe developer, and video creator based in New York City. His New Orleans–style seafood restaurant Strange Delight is a Brooklyn favorite, but his wonderful new debut cookbook is decidedly for the home cooks. Today on the show, we talk about how the book draws from his fine-dining background and third-culture childhood—growing up with Bolivian-Egyptian parents in Doha, Qatar—with lots of hot takes about cooking tools, cross-culture cooking, wrestling, and more.  Also on the show Matt has a great conversation with Paula Houde, Executive Director of The Trotter Project. We talk about her time working alongside the legendary chef, and some great scholarship opportunities for culinary arts, hospitality, and agricultural students. Applications are open now. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Santiago Perez is the founder of Santo Taco, a new taqueria with two locations in New York City. Born and raised in Mexico City, he made his name in NYC working as a partner alongside chef Enrique Olvera in opening Cosme, Atla, Los Angeles’s Damian, and Mexico City’s Pujol. Now he’s bringing underrated tacos like steak trompo to NYC. Today on the show, we talk about going from fine dining to fast casual taquerias, his favorite spots in Mexico City, and more. Also on the show, Matt has a great conversation with Daisy Alioto. Daisy is the cofounder and CEO of Dirt and the cohost of the podcast Tasteland with Francis Zierer. It was fun to discuss her work at Dirt as well as her thoughts on paywalls, newsletters (when is it too much?), and food media tapping into live programming. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Read these stories on Dirt: Life and death at BalthazarSoftware as a Style Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does it feel like to run some of the country’s buzziest restaurants, with razor-sharp points of view and terrific cooking? Our friend Simon Kim shares his story while completing the Resy Questionnaire. Simon runs COTE Korean Steakhouse, a joyous restaurant with locations in New York, Miami, Las Vegas, and Singapore. He’s also behind Coqodaq, which, since opening in Manhattan in 2024, has changed the conversation around Korean fried chicken. This talk is honest, inspiring, and shows how Simon is one of the brightest stars in American restaurants. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers – not of Resy—and do not constitute professional advice. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our old friend Deuki Hong joins Matt in this episode for a really fun conversation. Deuki is the chef-partner at Sohn in San Francisco, an all-day café and community space in the city’s Dogpatch neighborhood. It’s such a cool place, and we talk all about it. We also reflect on the publication of Deuki and Matt's first book, the New York Times Bestseller Koreatown, released ten years ago today. We talk about where Korean food was then, and the exciting moments over the past decade that we’ve had a front row seat for. Also on the show Matt has a really fun conversation with Anthony Randello-Jahn, known widely as social star Donut Daddy. They talk about his new cookbook and so much more. Buy: Koreatown and Koreaworld. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Maxine Sharf is a culinary creator and recipe developer who is passionate about bringing comfort, confidence, and community to cooking. She takes inspiration from her diverse background as Korean, Chinese, Russian, Romanian, and Polish with a California upbringing. She left her ten-year career in tech to pursue her mission to help others feel less intimidated in the kitchen, and she writes about it in her debut cookbook, Maxi’s Kitchen. And at the top of the show, Aliza talks about my recent trip to Taiwan, covering many stops along the way including: Ron Museum, Moon Moon Food, 詹記麻辣火鍋-西門大世界, 阿仁甕缸雞-名間店, and Shanghai Hao Wei Soup Dumplings. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It was so great having Marcus Samuelsson in the studio. Marcus is one of America’s finest chefs, born in Ethiopia and raised in Sweden before, at age 24, being named executive chef of New York’s Aquavit and soon becoming the youngest ever to receive a three-star restaurant review from the New York Times. That was 1995. Today Marcus runs restaurants around the world, including the iconic Red Rooster in Harlem. He’s also involved in building community as much as developing dining concepts, and in this episode we talk about New York in the mid-’90s, building a restaurant for Harlem, by Harlem, and his various projects helping the food community.  Apply for the Rise Residency. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ifrah F. Ahmed is a Somali-born, Brooklyn-based writer, chef, and artist whose work centers around food, history, culture, memory, and migration. For years, she’s been sharing Somali food through her pop-up Milk and Myrrh and as a contributor to New York Times Cooking—and now, she’s releasing a gorgeous debut cookbook, Soomaaliya. It’s a pleasure to have Ifrah on the show to talk about the joys and challenges of translating an oral tradition into a cookbook, the rich legacy and influences of Somali cuisine, and much more.  And at the top of the show, Aliza talks about my recent trip to Tokyo, covering many stops along the way including Ramen Jazzy Beats, Nasu Oyaji, Laekker, and the Mori Art Museum. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michelle Rabin is a Canadian food stylist and recipe developer who has worked as a culinary producer on shows like MasterChef Canada. She also appears in the terrific fever dream of a cooking show Just a Dash alongside Matty Matheson, now playing on Netflix. We love this show, and I love how Michelle speaks about making the leap from working behind the scenes to being on camera. Just a Dash is weird, visually creative, and highly entertaining, and we talk about how the show got made as well as her budding career as a “constipation consultant.” Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Elyssa Heller is the chef and owner of New York’s remarkable sandwich shop and slushie seller Edith’s, with locations in Williamsburg and the West Village. I love these restaurants for their singular point of view. They’re part modern Jewish deli, part downtown all-day café, and fully Elyssa. I really enjoyed catching up about her journey to opening Edith’s, her time working in professional candy sales, and how she thinks about tapping into her Jewish identity with foods honoring the past. Also on the show we have a great conversation with Gráinne O'Hare, author of a terrific novel, Thirst Trap. We talk about the food scene in Belfast, and what it takes to write a great food scene in fiction. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alex Raij is the chef and co-owner of New York’s Txikito, Saint Julivert Fisherie, and La Vara, restaurants singular in their approach and wide reaching in their fandom. On this episode Alex takes the Resy Questionnaire, and we learn about her journey as a chef, what inspires her Spanish-inflected cooking, and her big hopes and dreams for the industry she cares so deeply about.  The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers – not of Resy—and do not constitute professional advice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fidel Caballero is the chef-owner of Corima in New York City, a progressive Mexican restaurant located in Chinatown with one Michelin star. Fidel is also behind the hit burrito shop and bakery Vato, which has become the talk of brownstone Brooklyn and well beyond. In this episode, Fidel shares his journey from Mexico and El Paso to China, the Basque region, and finally New York City. Fidel is a rising star, 20 years in the making, and it was great to hear his story.  And before that Matt recaps recent visits to Santi, Cove, and Samwoojong, all in New York City. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It was really great having Ben Liebmann in the studio. Ben is a television executive (we love his show Omnivore) and writer who spent seven years as chief operating officer at Noma, growing the business from a single restaurant to a diversified hospitality group. We really respect Ben’s take on restaurant trends, hospitality tensions, and the media landscape. We talk about it all, as well as going over a few predictions for the year ahead. Also on the show, we catch up with Troy Chatterton. Troy is opening a cookbook store in New York’s East Village. Wild Sorrel Cookbooks will focus on books for the home cook, and they have launched a Kickstarter that you should check out. Support Troy and the team! Listen: René Redzepi Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Eric Kim is a writer and columnist at the New York Times, and he’s working on some exciting new projects. Eric is one of our favorite guests, and we cover many topics of the day in our conversation, including some of his latest writing, what he’s cooking, where he’s dining out, and his essay collection Spaghetti Junction, which will be released next year. We also discuss Food52, which recently announced its bankruptcy and quest for new ownership, and Eric's time working there. A terrific conversation. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Luca Servodio is a guy who knows his way around Los Angeles restaurants. In 2021, he reviewed 100 Los Angeles pizzas in 365 days through his LA Countdown Instagram account, and he followed up by taking on 100 taquerias in 2022, 100 epic LA sandwiches in 2023, 100 iconic LA noodle dishes in 2024, and 100 burgers in 2025. Today the LA Countdown is a community that is home to The LA Food Podcast and other projects. In this episode, we talk with Luca about his 2026 plans to tackle LA as well as some of his favorite restaurants, chefs, and underrated spots. We also discuss Noma’s forthcoming pop-up in the city and how he approaches building a growing media company. Also on the show Aliza catches up with Adele Blanton and Elliott Rosenberg. They are the cofounders of Waiting, a new print magazine about artists working in NYC’s food and beverage industry. They’ve released three issues in their first year, a huge accomplishment, and today on the show, we chat about how the magazine started and how it’s growing. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jerrelle Guy is an award-winning author and celebrated food photographer. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, she received her master’s in gastronomy from Boston University and was nominated for a James Beard Award for her debut cookbook, Black Girl Baking. She is back with a terrific new book, We Fancy, and we hear about her interpretation of fancy, as well as how she thinks about developing recipes for all styles of dining.   Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scott Conant is a James Beard Award–winning chef, TV personality, and pasta sauce savant. Matt still dreams about the Scarpetta spaghetti. It was a lot of fun having Scott in the studio to talk about his time coming up in New York City restaurants and why he decided to launch a food company, Martone Street, and compete for attention on the highly competitive tomato sauce shelf.  Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brooks Reitz writes the wonderful newsletter A Small & Simple Thing, which has become one of our favorite reads. He also runs restaurants in Charleston and New Orleans, including Leon’s Oyster Shop, Little Jack’s Tavern, Melfi’s, and the Bell. In this conversation we talk about Brook’s unique worldview, built around restaurant hospitality, tastemaking (the not annoying kind), and design. We talk about the recent British Invasion for restaurants in America, and his acquisition of the Houston’s / Hillstone training manual.  And before that we have a great conversation with Johno Morisano and chef Mashama Bailey, partners at The Grey, an acclaimed and progressive restaurant located in historic downtown Savannah, Georgia. In this interview we chat with the pair about how they think about the big picture (together) and bounce around menu ideas (sometimes, not together). It’s an enlightening and entertaining conversation about collaborating in a modern dining setting.  The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers – not of Resy—and do not constitute professional advice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Natasha Pickowicz is a New York City–based chef and the author of More Than Cake, which was named a New York Times Best Cookbook of 2023 as well as a James Beard Award finalist. She’s also a hot pot obsessive who regularly hosts pop-ups of the communal East Asian dining experience in NYC. Now she’s sharing all her family hot pot wisdom and the techniques she’s adapted as a chef in a new book: Everyone Hot Pot. It’s so fun to have Natasha back on the show to go deep on everything you need to host a hot pot night at home. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What a fun time having Nathan Thornburgh in the studio. Nathan is a former Time magazine foreign correspondent editor and is the CEO of Roads & Kingdoms, which he cofounded with writer Matt Goulding and at which Anthony Bourdain was a partner. We’ve long admired Nathan’s journalistic muscle and great feel for a story. We talk about the founding of Roads & Kingdoms and how the company’s pivot to organized travel has been a really great choice.  Also: Fresh Food TV with Matt Goulding Have a future guest request? A restaurant we should visit? Take the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠This Is TASTE listener survey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We really appreciate the feedback. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chef and restaurateur Marc Vetri is behind the legendary Vetri Cucina in Philadelphia, among many other restaurants. He’s also the author of several cookbooks, including the terrific The Pasta Book: Recipes, Techniques, Inspiration. I really enjoyed having Marc in the studio to talk about his deep love for both pasta and pasta cookbooks. We discuss the early days of Vetri Cucina as well as how a family recipe was passed down for one of his new openings. Have a future guest request? A restaurant we should visit? Take the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠This Is TASTE listener survey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We really appreciate the feedback. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nikko Cagalanan is the chef-owner of Kultura in Charleston, South Carolina. Born and raised in the Philippines, Nikko began cooking in 2017 while still working as a nurse, discovering that the kitchen offered the same sense of purpose—to nurture, care for, and bring comfort to others. In 2019, he moved to Charleston to fully pursue his passion for cooking and launched Kultura to great acclaim, including a James Beard Award nomination. It was a lot of fun having Nikko in the studio to talk about his journey to professional cooking as well as some exciting news from the world of openings.  And, at the top of the show, it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt talk about what is exciting them in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. On this episode: Hangover cures, Television: A Novel of Luck and Perfection are novels worth checking out, and Catskills love for Fellow Mountain Cafe and Matilda. Also: We like I Love LA a lot and props to sneaky donut masters Grayling Bauer of Sparrowbush Bakery and Zoë Kanan of Elbow Bread.  Also check out: Charleston Isn't Ordinary with Mike Lata Have a future guest request? A restaurant we should visit? Take the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠This Is TASTE listener survey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We really appreciate the feedback. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tamar Adler is the James Beard and IACP Award–winning author of An Everlasting Meal; Something Old, Something New; and the best-selling Everlasting Meal Cookbook. Currently living in Madrid, she stopped by the TASTE studio to talk about writing her new book Feast on Your Life: Kitchen Meditations for Every Day. It’s a thoughtful collection of dispatches from a daily life anchored by food, and today on the show, we go deep on Tamar’s writing process and perspective.  Have a future guest request? A restaurant we should visit? Take the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠This Is TASTE listener survey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We really appreciate the feedback. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Snaxshot, the curatorial and slightly mercurial grocery newsletter and community, has grown into an industry force, read by consumer packaged goods executives and members of the food media on a near-religious level. (We are among these readers.) Andrea Hernández returns to the show to go over the big headlines from the year at the grocery store and in the CPG trenches. We talk about shorting protein, Stiller’s Soda, and Starbucks’s stumbles, and we play a fun game of “WTF is up with…”... It’s a fun conversation about the year in food and grocery. Also on the show we have a great conversation with Winston Alfieri, co-founder of upstart pasta sauce company Sauz. We talk about pay-to-play, scaling up as the “hot kids on the block”, and how to differentiate in the crowded pasta sauce category.    Have a future guest request? A restaurant we should visit? Take the ⁠⁠⁠⁠This Is TASTE listener survey⁠⁠⁠⁠. We really appreciate the feedback. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It was a blast having Dan Souza in the studio. Dan is the chief content officer of America’s Test Kitchen and the former editor in chief of Cooks Illustrated. Dan has such a great style in the way he talks about home cooking, and we discuss his time working in food media before digging into a very cool and ambitious new drinks book: Cocktails Illustrated: 400+ Recipes for the Home Bartender, from Spirit Forward to Zero Proof.  And, at the top of the show, it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt talk about what is exciting them in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. On this episode: Motek is blowing up in NYC, Katerina is a Greek pop-up in NYC to follow, Claire Saffitz’s Pineapple Upside Down Cake ice cream collab with Salt & Straw is redic. So good. Also: Dashi Okume in Brooklyn is a great place to visit for lunch or a custom dashi blend, a reminder that Superiority Burger is NYC’s best restaurant, another reminder: the French onion soup brioche at Little Egg in Brooklyn is the perfect savory pastry. Have a future guest request? A restaurant we should visit? Take the ⁠⁠⁠⁠This Is TASTE listener survey⁠⁠⁠⁠. We really appreciate the feedback. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Laurel Kratochvila is an American-born writer and baker based in Berlin and trained in France. She runs the iconic Fine Bagels bakery, and her first book, New European Baking, was a finalist for a James Beard Award in 2023. Laurel joins us in the studio to talk about her incredible new book, Dobre Dobre, which focuses on both the modern and traditional baking of Poland, a country with deep culinary roots. We talk about Jewish baking in Poland, and dig into some real bagel history.  Also on the show Aliza, Clayton, and Matt discuss the year in fiction and reveal their five favorite books each. Have a future guest request? A restaurant we should visit? Take the ⁠⁠⁠This Is TASTE listener survey⁠⁠⁠. We really appreciate the feedback. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We wanted to close the year by talking about the year in dining in Los Angeles, a city that always inspires with new openings and truly singular legendary spots. We are joined by Jenn Harris, a columnist and critic for the Food section of the Los Angeles Times. The paper just released its annual 101 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles list, and we talk about many of the selections. Also on the show, we speak with Jordan Okun and Max Shapiro, the team behind the terrific podcast Air Jordan. Jordan and Max are always honest, and we have a great time discussing the year in restaurants in LA. And to kickoff the show, Aliza and Matt share some memorable meals from Los Angeles this year. Have a future guest request? A restaurant we should visit? Take the ⁠⁠This Is TASTE listener survey⁠⁠. We really appreciate the feedback. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We wanted to close the year by talking about the year in dining in our hometown of New York City. Matt has a great chat with New York magazine food editor Alan Sytsma. We talk about the magazine’s best new restaurants list as well as some long-standing favorites. Next up, Aliza has a wonderful conversation with Mahira Rivers, who covers the city through her Substack, Sweet City, and by reviewing restaurants in the pages of the New York Times. To kick things off, Aliza and Matt share some of their personal favorites from the year in NYC dining. Have a future guest request? A restaurant we should visit? Take the ⁠This Is TASTE listener survey⁠. We really appreciate the feedback. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yara Herrera is the chef-partner at Hellbender, a Mexican-American restaurant in Ridgewood, Queens. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she honed her skills in the city’s fine dining restaurants like Wolfgang Puck’s Spago and Providence before moving to New York in 2018 to work at Momofuku Ko, Xilonen, and Sobre Masa. Today on the show, we talk about Yara’s culinary journey, running Hellbender, and creating her distinctive approach to Mexican-American cuisine. And before that, Rob Rubba, chef-owner of Oyster Oyster in Washington D.C. takes the Resy Questionnaire. In 2023, Rob won the James Beard Award® for Outstanding Chef and continues as a leader in plant-focused, sustainable cooking.  The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers – not of Resy—and do not constitute professional advice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For over two decades, Andrew Zimmern has starred in some of the most thoughtful and compelling food television being made for TV and online. He’s the longtime host of Bizarre Foods and a number of other food travel shows that defined a generation of programming. He’s also a longtime friend of mine, and it’s crazy that this was his first time appearing on the show. We go in so many great directions with this conversation, including talking about his incredible new seafood cookbook, The Blue Food Cookbook. Have a future guest request? A restaurant we should visit? Take the This Is TASTE listener survey. We really appreciate the feedback. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It was so much fun having Carla Hall in the studio. Carla Hall is a chef and TV host who is currently serving as judge on Fox’s Next Level Baker, a show that tests both professional and home bakers on their baking bona fides. In this episode, Carla shares some great baking ideas for the holidays, and she answers the question that some of us have been asking: What is Gordon Ramsay like in real life? And, at the top of the show, it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt talk about what is exciting them in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. The show’s hosts were on the road and report back about what they ate during their travels, including Aliza making stops for onion rings at Frisko Freeze and a big serving of vibes at Bob’s Java Jive in Tacoma, Washington. Matt visited Cleveland and was blown away by the creative Midwestern cooking at Cordelia, the waffles fries with Ranch and sharp comfort cooking at Heart of Gold, and a little museum called the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In Seattle, Aliza has short rib and dry pho at Phở Bắc. And we couldn’t forget about New York, and Aliza enjoys her visit to Zeena Bakery at the Ft. Greene Farmers Market. Watch: Prince, Tom Petty, Steve Winwood, Jeff Lynne - "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (no, really, watch it). Read: It’s About Time You Bought a Digital Scale Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Zoë Kanan is the baker-partner of Elbow Bread, a very special Jewish-American bakery in New York’s Lower East Side. She’s produced some of the most important pastries in New York over the past 15 years, from being one of the first-ever interns at Christina Tosi’s Milk Bar to baking bagels at Sadelle’s under Melissa Weller and running the bread and pastry programs for the Freehand Hotel. Today on the show, we talk about what it’s like to have a bakery of her own, developing her own signature pastries, and much more. And also on the show, Aliza chats with TASTE contributor Grayson Samuels about his work as a writer, actor, and baker in New York, including some of his favorite stories for TASTE. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What better way to talk about the year in cookbook publishing than by speaking directly with the source: the booksellers. Today on the show we are joined by Matt Sartwell of New York’s Kitchen Arts & Letters and Ken Concepcion of LA’s Now Serving. Matt and Ken tell us about what is selling in their stores and name some of their personal favorite titles from this busy year. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Book editor Michael Szczerban joins us in the studio to talk about The Talisman of Happiness, a book he worked over a decade to have translated from Italian into English. As we find out, it’s an iconic (and quite unwieldy—1,680 recipes!) text that its author, Ada Boni, originally published in 1929. The book’s influence cannot be overstated, and for first-time readers, it gives insight into the foundational Italian cooking that we still see today. Michael shares how he was introduced to the book by Samin Nosrat while editing Salt Fat Acid Heat, which sent him down many dead-end roads toward acquiring it for publication in English. This is a wonderful conversation for Italian food nerds like us. Read: The Book That Taught Nonna to Cook Is Coming to America [NYT] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rich Torrisi is the 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 most personal venture,Torrisi. Matt was a fan of Rich’s breakout restaurant, Torrisi Italian Specialties, when it opened at 250 Mulberry Street in 2009. What a restaurant. That mozzarella! In this episode, Rich takes the Resy Questionnaire, and we find out so much about his unique point of view on restaurants, innovation, and hospitality as a whole. This is such a great conversation. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers – not Resy - and do not constitute professional advice.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Vaughn Vreeland is a cookbook author, NYT Cooking writer, and longtime video personality—or, as he writes, “that guy from that thing I saw once.” His first book, Cookies: The Best Recipes for the Perfect Anytime Treat, was published in collaboration with NYT Cooking and includes 100 amazing cookie recipes from Vaughn along with a deep bench of recipe developers from the New York Times orbit. We had such a fun time talking with Vaughn about how to win your office holiday cookie competition and some of the creative recipes he’s included in this great book. Also, it's cookie week at the New York Times. Check it out. Also on the show we have more cookie talk. Marissa Rothkopf is the author of a great new book, The Secret Life of Chocolate Chip Cookies. We talk about writing a book dedicated to what might be the favorite (or possibly best) cookie, and go over some really helpful baking tips.    Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s the return of Food Writers Talking About Food Writing. Every couple of weeks, Matt invites a journalist to talk about some favorite recent food writing as well as their thoughts on the industry as a whole. In today’s episode, we talk with Chris Crowley. Chris is a senior writer at New York magazine covering food and culture around the five boroughs. We’ve long admired Chris’s work and wanted to have him in the studio to talk about some of his recent reporting.    Featured on the episode: Why the New York Bodega Is Here to Stay⁠ [NYT] "⁠He’s Taking Advantage of Your Dream⁠" [NY Mag] ⁠You Want to Imagine What This Tastes Like? F**k You, Says AI⁠ [Vittles] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There is no food writer we would rather talk to about Italy—and maybe about food in general—than Katie Parla. Katie is the author of several books, and her latest is a return to her hometown of Rome. Rome: A Culinary History, Cookbook, and Field Guide to the Flavors that Built a City captures the history and modern culinary spirit of one of the world’s greatest cities. In this episode, we speak with Katie about her independent book publishing business, the current tourist vibes of Italy, and what makes Rome such a special place. And, at the top of the show, it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt talk about what is exciting them in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. On this episode: A Korean restaurant and brewery, NY Makgeolli, is serving amazing freshwater eel in the Hudson Valley, Maxi’s Noodle has a new location in Manhattan, Raf’s is a great spot for weekday breakfast in Manhattan. Also: Toasted Pepita Pumpkin Spice from Burlap and Barrel may change your opinion about pumpkin spice, Ken Burns’ The American Revolution has some surprises, and the new Frankenstein by Guillermo del Toro  is beautiful.  Also, we’re doing a mailbag episode to end the year. Send your questions to: [email protected] with Mailbag in the subject. We'll answer questions about cooking, favorite restaurants, past guests, cookbooks we may have missed, cities we should visit. If you have a question, Aliza and Matt will answer it.  Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hannah Taylor is the fast-growing culinary creator known on TikTok and Instagram as LilyLouTay. She is the author of the New York Times Best Seller Measure with Your Heart, and she joins us in the studio with a really fun conversation about her Southern cooking roots and her journey from being a working mother of three to a social media megastar.   Also on the show, Mina Park and Kwang Uh of Baroo in Los Angeles take the Resy Questionnaire. It’s impossible to overstate the devotion fans have to this restaurant, whether the strip-mall original, the pop-up, and even for the two long years Baroo didn’t exist. This latest iteration is a rebirth of Kwang and Mina’s vision of fermentation-driven Korean cuisine. But first, the questions.  The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers – not of Resy—and do not constitute professional advice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Samin Nosrat is a chef, teacher, and author of the bestselling, James Beard Award–winning cookbook Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, and the star of the very popular titular documentary series on Netflix. Now, she’s back with a truly excellent new cookbook: Good Things. Today on the show, we go deep on the journey that led her to Good Things, why recipes are like rituals, and the dishes she makes at home on repeat. And, at the top of the show, it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt talk about what is exciting them in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. On this episode: Aliza visits Wild Cherry and Matt visits the new Babbo. Also, we hung out with Shy Burgers, Bad Food from Vittles looks great, and we are cooking with Uncles Big Green Curry and Cumin Club. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anna Ansari is a former New York international trade and customs attorney and now lives in East London. She's written a fascinating debut cookbook, Silk Roads: A Flavor Odyssey with Recipes from Baku to Beijing. It covers Anna's life growing up in an Iranian American family in Michigan and traveling throughout Asia from a young age on what she describes as the many silk roads. And, at the top of the show, it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt talk about what is exciting them in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. On this episode: Matt visits the great Guamanian restaurant Family Friend in Seattle, and makes stops for Korean coffee at Park at Kims and there’s a new pita shop in town at Shifka in New York. Aliza celebrates her birthday at World Spa, Si n'shpi, and dinner at Strange Delight. And we shout out Zola Gregory’s latest column and a recipe for a Nutella pie worth celebrating. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom Colicchio is a longtime chef who has operated some of America’s iconic restaurants, including Craft, Gramercy Tavern, and dozens more. He’s also the head judge on the show Top Chef. We welcomed Tom back to the studio to talk about the current restaurant landscape as well as the release of Think Like a Chef, the 25th anniversary edition of his debut cookbook. The book is a classic and so worth reading today. Tom talks about his technique and the mistakes home cooks often make that are easily fixable. And before that, we have a great conversation with Johanna Hellrigl. She is the chef-owner of Ama in Washington, DC. Ama is a special restaurant with exceptional Northern Italian cooking and a mission to further sustainability practices in a living, breathing restaurant. Johanna completes the Resy Questionnaire as part of a memorable conversation. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers – not of Resy—and do not constitute professional advice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gabrielle Hamilton is the chef/owner of Prune restaurant in New York’s East Village and is the author of the New York Times best-selling memoir Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef and the cookbook Prune. Her moving new memoir Next of Kin is an unflinching portrait of her dynamic family and its dramatic dissolution through death, betrayal, and time. It is a chef’s memoir with barely any food but plenty of propulsive writing. Today on the show, Gabrielle shares how she wrote this deeply personal book, how Prune is operating as a private restaurant today, and much more. Also on the show, we catch up with Nicola Olivieri, the CEO of Italian bakery Olivieri 1882. The topic is panettone, which is one of our favorite holiday traditions. Nicola runs the bakery with his brother Andrea and has an amazing story about growing their business and making our favorite panettone around. The Wirecutter agrees.    Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  For a limited time, visit AuraFrames.com and get $45 off Aura’s best-selling Carver Mat frames. https://on.auraframes.com/TASTE. Promo Code TASTE at checkout. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s the return of Food Writers Talking About Food Writing. Every couple of weeks, Matt invites a journalist to talk about some favorite recent food writing as well as their thoughts on the industry as a whole. In today’s episode, we talk with Maggie Hoffman. Maggie is a cookbook author, editor, and founder of the terrific Substack The Dinner Plan (and podcast). We talk about her days working at Serious Eats and Epicurious, and we dig into some recent food writing that got us talking. Featured on the episode: What Does a 6-Foot-8 Pro Wrestler Eat? The Entire Menu [NYT] I Made Hundreds of Fried Chicken Batches as a Line Cook—Here’'s the #1 Way to Keep It Crispy and Juicy [Serious Eats] Peak Private Label [New Fare Partners] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cha McCoy is an entrepreneur, educator, and sommelier from Harlem. She is the founder of the wine event series the Communion and, later, the brick-and-mortar bottle shop the Communion Wine & Spirits. Now she’s sharing her wine knowledge in her first book: Wine Pairing for the People: The Communion of Wine, Food, and Culture from Africa and Beyond. It’s an invaluable guide to pairing wine with food, anchored by Cha’s own experience traveling in wine regions across the globe, and today on the show, we dig into the process of bringing the book to life. And, at the top of the show, it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt talk about what is exciting them in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. On this episode: Matt shares about his recent trip to Korea, including stops at Bium and Superpan in Seoul, a visit to Sokcho and Sokcho Kappo, and discovering a very special cafe, Cafe Gid. And Aliza shares about a visit to Kiko, her thoughts on Korea's Fritz Coffee, and the very cool Apartamento Cookbook #10: APHRODISIACS. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today on the show we have a great conversation with Pablo Rivero, CEO of Resy and Tock. Along with running Resy and Tock, Pablo is a passionate supporter of the restaurant industry and a prolific diner. We hear about the recent Resy Retrospective and what the Resy team is spotting across the United States. We also get into Pablo’s personal history with restaurants as well as some of his favorite places to dine around the country.  The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers – not of Resy—and do not constitute professional advice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anna Archibald and Kevin Serai are the couple behind Cabagges World, an online platform where they share recipes, travel guides, and more lifestyle inspiration.  Their respective backgrounds in graphic design and marketing helped turn a few viral home cooking videos into a career, and today on the show, we go deep on their backgrounds and perspective on creating cooking content online—plus what’s inspiring them today. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jordan Salcito is an award-winning sommelier turned entrepreneur based in Paris. After working as a somm at Eleven Madison Park and overseeing the beverage programs for the Momofuku group, she launched the canned spritz brand Ramona. Now, she’s sharing all her considerable wine wisdom in a new book: Smart Mouth. It’s so special to have Jordan in the studio to talk about her career and her distinct point of view on all things wine.  Also on the show we have a great conversation with Ari Kolender. Ari is a 20-year veteran of some of the top seafood restaurants in America, and opened his first restaurant, Found Oyster, in Los Angeles in 2019. Found Oyster is a Los Angeles sensation. Casual and precise, the cooking hones Ari's deep passion for serving some the finest seafood available, paired with interesting wines and service that is at the same time casual and finely pointed. He also operates Queen's Raw Bar & Grill and joins the show to talk about the Top Five restaurants that inspired his career.  The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers – not of Resy—and do not constitute professional advice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chelsea Fagan is the CEO and cofounder of the Financial Diet, a must-read newsletter that helps people get better in touch with their finances. Chelsea is also a passionate dinner party host (and guest), and she has now written a savvy ode to having people over called Having People Over. In this great conversation, we talk about etiquette and cooking tips for hosting, and we dip a little into personal finances, too. Check out Chelsea's podcast, The Financial Confessions. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cassie Yeung is a wildly popular food content creator known for her straight talk and delicious, approachable recipes. Her debut cookbook, Bad B*tch in the Kitch, is a New York Times Bestseller and one of the season’s buzziest titles. Formerly a professional dancer and a member of the NBA’s Brooklyn Net’s dance team the Brooklynettes, Cassie decided to share her love for Asian cuisine on social media and her cooking videos quickly went viral. She was a contestant on Season 2 of the reality cooking show Next Level Chef with Gordon Ramsay and joins Matt in the studio for a highly entertaining conversation. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hetty Lui McKinnon is one of our favorite recipe developers, and she writes a mean Substack to boot. She’s the author of a fun new book, Linger, which smartly bridges her love for plant-based cooking, dinner parties, and salad artistry. In this episode, Hetty returns to our studio to discuss her viral tomato and dumpling salad, and why a party at her house might include a photo shoot.  Also on the show we have a great conversation with Toni Chapman. Toni is a passionate home cook and recipe developer and the creator of Toni’s Recipes and TheMoodyFoody, where she shares bold, comforting dishes made for real life. Inspired by childhood favorites, takeout classics, and family traditions, her recipes are designed to impress, without the stress. She’s the author of a great new book, Everything’s Good, and we talk about what is exciting her in the kitchen and her life both on and offline. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael W. Twitty is an acclaimed culinary historian and the author of the two-time James Beard Award–winning book The Cooking Gene as well as Rice and Koshersoul. His encyclopedic new book, Recipes from the American South, is a deeply researched, home cook’s guide to the vast genre of Southern cuisine, offering historical insight alongside a diverse array of recipes. It’s a delight having him on the show to talk about bringing this book to life.   And, at the top of the show, it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt talk about what is exciting them in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. On this episode: A visit to Ceres in New York. Is the pie worth the hype? Also, Long Island Bar is serving elite fried cheese curds, Michigan’s Madcap Coffee is one of America’s finest roasters, and sampling some great teas from Brooklyn’s Raazi Tea. Plus, Spicewalla is now selling Umbrian olive oil, and Big Night has a new uptown location. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nite Yun was born in a refugee camp after her parents escaped from war-torn Cambodia. Her family eventually moved to California, where she grew up listening to her father’s Khmer rock and roll music and learned to cook traditional Cambodian dishes from her mother. Inspired by trips to Cambodia to learn about her heritage, Nite dedicated herself to bringing the flavors of Cambodian food back to the Bay Area. She opened her first restaurant, Nyum Bai, in Oakland in 2018 and now runs Lunette, located in San Francisco’s Ferry Building. In this episode, we talk about Nite’s amazing journey and her terrific new cookbook, My Cambodia. It’s one of our favorites of this busy season, and we hear some great stories from the road. Also on the show, we have a really fun conversation with best-selling romance author Sarah MacLean. We talk about Rhode Island foods and what makes a great food scene in romance writing. What a fun talk! Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sean Sherman is an award-winning chef, educator, author, and activist. A member of the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe, he is dedicated to reviving Indigenous food traditions through his Minneapolis restaurant Owamni, the nonprofit NATIFS, and cookbooks like the fantastic new book Turtle Island. Today on the show, we talk about the years of research that resulted in Turtle Island, decolonizing Indigenous food traditions, and much more. Also on the show Matt has a great conversation with Natalia Rudin, author of the new cookbook, Cooking Fast and Slow.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This one has been a long time coming! The one and only Alice Waters joins us in the studio for an amazing conversation. We naturally talk about her legacy at Chez Panisse, the pioneering restaurant in Berkeley, California, that opened in 1971 with California farmers front and center. There would be no farm-to-table movement without Alice. We also talk about her work bringing regenerative farming to school kitchens and her new book, A School Lunch Revolution.  Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’re taking a break from food conversations to highlight another love of ours: Great music. In ⁠Fela Kuti: Fear No Man⁠, Jad Abumrad—creator of Radiolab, More Perfect, and Dolly Parton’s America—tells the story of one of the great political awakenings in music: how a classically trained "colonial boy" traveled to America, in search of Africa, only to return to Nigeria and transform his sound into a battering ram against the state—creating a new musical language of resistance called Afrobeat. Subscribe to ⁠Fela Kuti: Fear No Man For years, the world’s biggest stars made pilgrimages to Nigeria to experience Fela’s Shrine, the epicenter of his musical revolution. But when the mix of art and activism got too hot, the state pulled out its guns, and literally opened fire. Fela Kuti: Fear No Man is an uncategorizable mix of oral history, musicology, deep dive journalism, and cutting edge sound design that takes listeners deep inside Fela’s life, music, and legacy. Drawing from over 200 interviews with Fela Kuti’s family, friends, as well as scholars, activists, and luminaries like Burna Boy, Paul McCartney, Questlove, Santigold, and former President Barack Obama (just to name a few), Fela Kuti: Fear No Man journeys deep into the soul of Afrobeat to explore the transformative power of art and the role artists can play in this current moment of global unrest. An Audible Original presented by Audible and Higher Ground. Produced by Western Sound and Talkhouse. ©2025 Higher Ground, LLC (P)2025 Audible Originals, LLC. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s the return of Food Writers Talking About Food Writing. Every couple of weeks, Matt invites a journalist to talk about some favorite recent food writing as well as their thoughts on the industry as a whole. In today’s episode, we have a great conversation with Nikita Richardson. Nikita is an editor in the Food section of The New York Times and the creator of the “Where to Eat: New York City” newsletter, The Times’s first newsletter dedicated to restaurant coverage. We talk about Nikita’s newsletter and feature writing, life as an editor at The Times, and college football naturally comes up too. It was such a fun time having one of food media’s leading voices on the show.  Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Featured on the episode: Bring Back the Coffee Shop Tip Jar Even if it’s Digital [NY Mag] This TikTok Food Trend Is More Than 10,000 Years Old [NYT] Fellas, Is It Cheugy to Make a Mug Cake? [Best Food Blog] Tony Shalhoub Will Travel for Bread [NYT] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rosie Grant is the creator of Ghostly Archive, a project documenting the real-life phenomenon of recipes inscribed on tombstones in cemeteries around the world. After years of seeking out these immortalized dishes, she’s released a truly singular cookbook, To Die For: A Cookbook of Gravestone Recipes. Today on the show, we chat about the project, creating the book, and some of Rosie’s favorite gravestone recipes. Also on the show, Matt catches up with Vanessa Anderson, known widely online as Grocery Goblin. Vanessa writes a terrific Substack and posts video clips on social media, all in celebration of international grocery stores. Vanessa is based in Los Angeles, home to a great grocery store scene, and we talk about her work and some of her favorite places to shop. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This one is a long time coming, and we’re thrilled to welcome Joshua McFadden to the studio. Joshua is a chef based in Oregon and the author of one of the most beloved cookbooks of all time, Six Seasons. He’s back with a new one that is equally incredible. Six Seasons of Pasta takes the same six-seasons principle (discussed in the episode) to pasta cookery, and it might just break your brain. We talk about some simple tricks for cooking pasta at home before digging into Joshua’s career, his consulting work, and the kale salad, something that he’s (unbelievably) credited with inventing. No, for real, you gotta stick around for the kale salad update.  Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jonathan Nunn is the London-based founder and coeditor of Vittles, a food and culture newsletter based in the UK and India. Vittles is a singular source for incisive writing about contemporary food culture, from deep dives to restaurant reviews, and it’s a pleasure to have Jonathan in the studio to talk about what’s shaping its ever-growing coverage.  And, at the top of the show, it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt talk about what is exciting them in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. On this episode: A great visit to Elbow Bakery, Eng’s Restaruant in Kingston, NY is all mid-century vibes and a Chinese-American gem, Russian Samovar makes for a real NYC evening, we made the Hetty tomato salad, Heydoh is a great new soy sauce, remembering journalist Marian Burros.    Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Antoni Porowski is best known as the food and wine expert on the Netflix series Queer Eye, which will be airing its final season later this year. He’s a best-selling author and the host of a terrific food travel show, No Taste Like Home. Matt joined him onstage at the Traverse City Food & Wine festival for an amazing conversation. The event was hosted by the National Writers Series, a terrific organization bringing authors to stages around Traverse City, Michigan. Also on the show we have a really great conversation with Lindsey Baruch, author of the new book Something Delicious. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠      Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s the return of a special video podcast series: Food Writers Talking About Food Writing. It’s available on the TASTE YouTube channel, so make sure to subscribe and check out the video version of this podcast. Every couple of weeks, Matt invites a journalist to talk about some favorite recent food writing as well as their thoughts on the industry as a whole. In today’s episode, we have a great conversation with Elyse Inamine. Elyse is a journalist who worked at Tasting Table and Food & Wine before serving as restaurants editor at Bon Appétit. She’s also the coauthor of For the Love of Kewpie: A Cookbook and Celebration, which, as the name suggests, is a celebration of one of the world’s finest condiments. We talk about Elyse’s journalism career and book work before digging into some of her recent stories. 🎥 Check out the full episode on YouTube! Featured on the episode: A $35 Chicken Dinner in Mississippi? How New York Prices Went National.⁠ [NYT]⁠ Hawai’i the Local Way⁠ [Bon Appetit] ⁠A Legendary Hell’s Kitchen Hellhole Is Back From the Dead⁠ [Grub Street] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we have a really great episode where we go behind the scenes with two incredible chefs, Sara Kramer and Sarah Thompson. Sara Kramer is co-chef and co-owner of Kismet in Los Angeles, a restaurant that blends Mediterranean and Californian sensibilities flawlessly. Kismet has been a go-to for LA diners for nearly a decade, and we talk about her Resy Standby status.  Sarah Thompson is the chef at Casa Playa in Las Vegas, a gem of a coastal Mexican restaurant that really impressed me on a recent visit. We talk about Sarah’s work at Cosme in New York that eventually led her to Las Vegas. What’s it like cooking in such a high-octane environment? We find out. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers – not of Resy—and do not constitute professional advice.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Lebovitz is a cookbook author and pastry chef based in Paris. After spending 13 years in the pastry kitchen at the legendary Chez Panisse, he embarked on a prolific blogging and cookbook writing career. His latest is an all-new edition of the classic Ready for Dessert, a revised and expanded collection. It’s so fun to talk with David about life and pastries in Paris and about updating this classic book. And before that Matt, along with the show’s lead producer Clayton, laced up their shoes to run the inaugural New York City Bakery Half Marathon. They have a field report from all those miles, and all that laminated pastry dough while visiting 8 bakeries around NYC over the course of the run.   Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fardad Khayami, the chef-owner of Muse in Santa Monica, has a really great story. Raised in London, and a restaurant fan basically from birth, Fardad attended University of Southern California and started hosting his own pop-up dinners, first for friends and then for ticket holders. The waiting list reached over 6,000 names, and he eventually channeled that love for hospitality into his own restaurant—all before the age of 25. Muse is creative, a little cheffy, and a name to remember. We talk about Fardad’s journey and one crazy first year of operating. At the top of the show, Eric Valdez completes the Resy Questionnaire. Eric is the chef at Naks, a high-energy Filipino restaurant in New York’s East Village. We talk about food movies, dream dinner parties, and the best pizza in NYC. It’s part of a new segment where Resy’s editors, writers, and partner chefs will share compelling stories and discuss the latest in food and dining culture. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers – not Resy - and do not constitute professional advice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jake Cohen returns to the studio for a really fun conversation. Jake’s a talented cookbook author who is most certainly in the modern social media mix. His new book, Dinner Party Animal, is honestly a joy to read. It offers complete party plans with recipes in the Jake Cohen style—smart, a little sweaty, and with fun and creativity at the center. We talk about what makes a great party and how to think creatively while in the heat of a dinner party kitchen. Also on the show, Aliza catches up with Griffin Owens and Basil Beshkov of YUZUCO, an exciting food brand importing Japanese citrus that has often ended up in some of our favorite bakery pastries and cocktails.   Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today is a really special episode for Matt in that we dive into two of his great loves: food and fiction. In this episode, he catches up with two authors and journalists he has deep respect for: Ed Park and Jason Diamond. Ed is the author of the terrific new short story collection An Oral History of Atlantis and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. We talk about the 1990s and Ed’s past life working at the Village Voice. Food is at the center of Ed’s life (it’s why we love Ed so much), and we talk about his Korean American household in Buffalo and the modern Korean restaurant scene.  On to Jason Diamond. The guy wrote a terrific debut novel, Kaplan’s Plot. It’s a story set in Chicago in both modern times and the 1920s, and yes, there are gangers—but also some amazing food scenes. We get into what drives Jason to write deeply researched scenes that celebrate Chicago’s Jewish diaspora. Yes, liverwurst and the classic Chicago hot dog get some ink. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today on the show, we have a great conversation with Aaron Crowder. Aaron is the chef-partner at two of New York’s buzziest restaurants, Eel Bar and ⁠Cervos⁠. In fact, these restaurants are often mentioned on this show’s TASTE check segments. I had a wonderful talk with Aaron about his Florida upbringing and what he is excited to cook this fall. At the top of the show, Gilberto Cetina, chef at the iconic restaurant Holbox in Los Angeles, completes the Resy Questionnaire. We talk about desert island kitchen appliances, food movies, and the best taco in LA. It’s part of a new segment where Resy’s editors, writers, and partner chefs will share compelling stories and discuss the latest in food and dining culture. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers – not Resy - and do not constitute professional advice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Melissa King is a chef, entrepreneur, television personality, activist, model, tastemaker, and author of the incredible new cookbook Cook Like a King. She is the winner of Bravo’s Top Chef: All-Stars L.A. and holds more challenge wins than any other competitor in the history of Top Chef. As mentioned previously on the show, I love Cook Like a King. It really speaks to me, and Melissa shares about what inspired the recipes as well as why she is 100% okay with not working in restaurants.  Also on the show, Aliza and Matt go over some of their favorite chef and restaurant cookbooks from this busy fall season. These include: Soju Party, Russ & Daughters: 100 Years of Appetizing,The Pasta Book, Six Seasons of Pasta, House of Nanking: Family Recipes from San Francisco's Favorite Chinese Restaurant, Family Thai, Franco Pepe: Pizza Chef, Le Bistrot Paul Bert: French Comfort Food from the Parisian Restaurant.  Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Evan Funke is a Los Angeles chef and roller of pastas, starring on Netflix and in the dining rooms of Felix Trattoria, Mother Wolf, Funke, and other restaurants in his expanding empire. It was such a pleasure sitting down with Evan in Los Angeles to talk about his wild ride of a career, the good word on the restaurant Funke in Beverly Hills, and how he collaborates closely with his staff to make sure the pasta is always right.  We also get an update on his long-held pasta machine sentiment. Evan is honest here, and he reveals the many complexities of running multiple restaurants.  At the top of the show, it’s the Resy Hit List, where we speak with a Resy editor to hear about what is exciting them in the world of restaurants. It’s part of a new recurring segment where Resy’s editors, writers and partner chefs will share compelling stories and discuss the latest in food and dining culture. On today’s show, we catch up with Deanna Ting. Deanna is the New York editor at Resy, and we talk about new openings, special events, and what’s exciting her on the scene. This includes an Italian restaurant renaissance and wine bars opening in unique spaces. Deanna also answers this simple question: Which steakhouse should I book in New York? A few of the restaurants mentioned on the episode: Borgo ICavallini  Lei Bridges  Odre Atoboy Dynamo RoomThe views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers – not Resy – and do not constitute professional business advice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dan Frommer is the founder and editor in chief of The New Consumer, an influential publication that covers the intersection of technology and consumer brands—and many of these brands live in the food world. We wanted to have Dan back on the show to talk about his new trends report. As Dan writes: “Between tariffs, geopolitics, DOGE, egg prices, measles, fires, floods, and more, the US consumer has had a chaotic start to the year.” What does it all mean for brands like Sweetgreen, Chipotle, and Starbucks? We dig into each, and we have a great conversation about that not-so-great topic on all of our minds: inflation. I loved catching up with Dan, and I hope you enjoy the conversation. Also on the show we have a great conversation with Stella Drivas, author of the new book, Hungry Happens: Mediterranean. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alexis deBoschnek is a cookbook author, recipe developer, and writer based in the Catskills in upstate New York. Her latest book, Nights and Weekends, is extremely cool, and we talk about how she brings her deep recipe writing chops to help people cook better and faster. We also discuss her upstate life and some of the memorable recipes from the book. Also on the show, Aliza talks with Miyoko Schinner, the trailblazing plant-based chef, cookbook author, and founder of the vegan cheese brand Miyoko’s Creamery. Her seventh cookbook, The Vegan Creamery, shares everything you need to make milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, and more without dairy. We also talk about big shifts in the plant-based eating world. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Drew Nieporent is the guy behind legendary New York City restaurants Montrachet, Tribeca Grill, Nobu, and nearly 40 more, and he joins me in the studio today for an amazing conversation. He’s written a memoir, I’m Not Trying to Be Difficult: Stories from the Restaurant Trenches, and it’s one of Matt's favorite restaurant books in recent years. In our conversation, we cover a lot of ground: opening in Tribeca in the early ’80s, collaborating with Robert De Niro on multiple restaurants, and why Keith McNally isn’t the only New York City restaurant man with a good story to tell. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does it take to build a buzzy food brand in 2025—a brand gushed about online, used by legit chefs around the country, and found on the shelves of Erewhon? It’s a tough question, but Zab’s Datil Pepper Hot Sauce cofounder Miles Soboroff is pretty qualified to answer it. In this great conversation, Miles shares how he discovered the datil pepper by near accident and how he think about growing his amazing company. Matt is a major fan of Zab’s as well as of Miles, and we hope you enjoy the conversation. Also on the show Matt has a great conversation with Tyler Sharp, editor in chief of Modern Huntsman. The award-winning publication has released a really terrific cookbook and they talk all about it, as well as what it means to hunt and fish today. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sally McKenney is the creator of the wildly popular website Sally’s Baking Addiction. She is known for providing clear, concise instructions, tips, and tutorials to make every recipe approachable for home bakers of all skill levels. In this episode, we talk about her great new cookbook, Sally's Baking 101, and what she is excited to bake this fall. And, at the top of the show, it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt talk about what is exciting them in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. On this episode: We visited some New York City restaurants! Checking in on I Cavallini, Eel Bar, Cervo’s, Bridges, and Bong. Also: Jason Diamond’s debut novel, Kaplan’s Plot, gives Boardwalk Empire chased with a glass of prune juice, checking out Greensickle green juice popsicles, and a great visit to Traverse City, Michigan including visits to Common Good Bakery and Mode’s Bum Steer. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Khushbu Shah is one of our favorite writers online, and she’s the voice behind the great Substack Tap Is Fine. She’s the former restaurant editor at Food & Wine, and we go over so many topics bubbling over in the world of food, media, recipes, restaurants, and her hometown of Los Angeles, where we recorded this interview. We could speak with Khushbu for hours, and we actually do that when we hang out offline. But here’s our on-the-record conversation, and you shouldn’t miss it. Also on the show we have a great conversation with Julie Wolfson. Julie is an editor and writer covering the exciting California coffee scene. We talk about roasters, cafes, cold coffee, and her new Golden State of Coffee work on Substack. Read: 26 Of My Strongest Opinions About Food Read: Are You a Restaurant Regular? Listen: Los Angeles Coffee Professionals Spill All Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It was so fun having Jeff Gordinier in the studio. Jeff is a journalist, an author, and one of the more prolific writers in the food world. He’s currently Esquire’s food and drinks editor, leading their restaurants and bars coverage. Before that he was a reporter at the New York Times and held various roles at Entertainment Weekly. In this episode we have a great conversation about his work, the current dining scene, and his award-winning article in Food & Wine about rice in Charleston that he cowrote with George McCalman. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It was truly a blast to have Danny Meyer in the studio. Danny is a great spokesperson for the restaurant industry and a hell of a storyteller. In today’s episode, we focus on his most near and dear restaurant, New York’s Union Square Cafe, which turns 40 this year. We talk about the early years, the legendary customers, and what it was like to pack everything up and move a couple of blocks over in 2016. What a great conversation.  Also on the show, I have a great talk with Lena Ciardullo, the current executive chef of Union Square Cafe. We talk about what it’s like to shepherd this iconic restaurant, and we get into her own personal style and tastes. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yasmin Khan is an author, broadcaster, and human rights campaigner based in London. After releasing The Saffron Tales, Zaitoun, and Ripe Figs, she has a new cookbook: Sabzi, a collection of over 80 vegetarian recipes drawing from her travels and her Iranian and Pakistani heritage. It’s so special to have Yasmin on the show to talk about adapting traditional recipes for a plant-based diet, motherhood and the power of culinary lineage. Shop: Canaan Palestine Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rosie Kellett is a chef, food writer, and supper club host based in London. She’s the author of a terrific debut cookbook, In for Dinner, and we really enjoyed catching up with her about the current London restaurant scene, her deep interest in pain au chocolat, and what cooking in a shared space in East London taught her about her own cooking skills. Read: Rosie Kellett on Substack Watch: London's Best Pain Au Chocolat Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sami Tamimi is a Palestinian chef and cookbook author based in London. He is the cofounder of the Ottolenghi restaurant group and the coauthor of the award-winning cookbooks Jerusalem and Falastin, and now he has a new cookbook of his very own: Boustany: A Celebration of Vegetables from My Palestine. It’s a pleasure to have Sami in the studio to talk about his path to writing Boustany and the rich Palestinian traditions of agriculture and foraging. Read: The Musakhan Queens of Ramallah Read: Sami Tamimi Wrote the Book He Wanted to Write Watch: Foragers Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How fun it was to have Tejal Rao in the studio. Tejal is the co–chief restaurant critic at the New York Times, a role where she shares the mic with Ligaya Mishan. Newly elevated to this important job, we talk about how she views her role as a critic and go over many of her memorable stories. We also look back on her days working at the Village Voice and discuss how that era of internet reporting (or, dare we call it, blogging) informed her well-respected journalism career. Tejal is one of our favorite voices in food. And, at the top of the show, it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt talk about what is exciting them in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. On this episode: Zimmi’s knows its way around aioli, Melissa King’s Cook Like a King is a true standout in a busy cookbook season, and Samin Nosrat knows how people want to eat with her new book, Good Things. Also: Ed Park’s new short story collection, An Oral History of Atlantis, is such a trip to the ’90s. Speaking of a trip, we made one to Edmond Hong’s restaurant pop-up, Stones, and it was impressive. Finally, Steak House, by Eric Wareheim with Gabe Ulla, is documentary cookbook writing at its finest. Listen: Meet Your New New York Times Restaurant Critic, Ligaya Mishan Read: Omakase Isn’t Always Worth the Hype. Our Critic Says This One Is. Read: The Hard-Shell Taco Deserves Your Respect Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jinwoo Chong is the author of the novels I Leave It Up to You and Flux, a New York Times Editor’s Choice and a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel. We really enjoyed I Leave It Up to You. It’s a family story set in Fort Lee, New Jersey, and it features a Korean family working in a Japanese-Korean restaurant, with a family dynamic that feels quite realistic. Jinwoo talks about the research that went into writing so colorfully about restaurant culture as well as his own food memories from growing up in New Jersey.  And, at the top of the show, it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt talk about what is exciting them in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. On this episode: David Lebovitz has revised Ready for Dessert, a visit to Pavé NYC, Coffee Project NY is roasting exceptional coffee. Also: One Love Community Fridge launched a CSA, Van Leeuwen is king of non-dairy, and Muteki Udon is serving one of our favorite salads. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hunter Lewis joined us in the studio for an entertaining conversation about his career working in food media. Hunter has led Food & Wine as editor in chief since 2017, and before that he held editorial roles at Cooking Light, Southern Living, Bon Appétit, and Saveur. That is some résumé, and we talk through his various stops as well as digging into the terrific work currently being done at Food & Wine. We also asked him about the general health of editorial in 2025. It’s an interesting time to be doing what we do, and he doesn’t hold back. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Eric Sze is the chef-owner behind the Taiwanese restaurants 886 and Wenwen in New York City. He’s also working on a debut cookbook, Taiwanese?, and he recently returned from a whirlwind trip conducting research and taking photos for the book. Eric is one of our favorite voices in food, and it’s so fun having him in the studio to unpack his culinary career, the tricky task of defining Taiwanese food, operating restaurants in NYC, and more. Also on the show Matt catches up with journalist Elizabeth Dunn to talk about her terrific story in the New York Times about the protein bar arms race. What is up with the David bar, and the age protein era we are living in? Elizabeth has many thoughts and we had a great time talking esterified propoxylated glycerol. Wild stuff. Read: The Protein Bar Arms Race Read: Consumed Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What a special episode we have today with Cathy Strange, Whole Foods Market’s ambassador of food culture and a world-renowned cheese expert, buyer, and consumer packaged goods tastemaker, among many other things. Matt invited Cathy to join in a walk around Whole Foods’ Columbus Circle location. We wanted to get her take on several categories of groceries, including beverages, snacks, and, of course, cheese. We go over what’s exciting her lately and how she thinks about the future of groceries. After our walk, Cathy joins us in the studio to talk about her amazing career, which spans both pre- and post-Amazon acquisition of Whole Foods nearly a decade ago. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Claire Dinhut is known as Condiment Claire online, but as we find out in this entertaining conversation, Claire’s knowledge about food goes well beyond spotting the perfect mustard for sandwiches (though, of course, she has thoughts). She is the author of a terrific book, The Condiment Book, which is sneaky in its brilliant discussions on food science, terroir, history, and flavor pairing. The book is really great, and it was fun to talk with Claire about her life in and out of the kitchen. Also on the show we catch up with Anna Hezel to discuss her latest writing on TASTE, a close look at the exciting, multidimensional tinned fish era we are currently living in. Anna is this show’s former co-host, and the co-editor of Best Food Blog and it’s always great catching up with her. Read: The Tinned Fish Backlash Was Inevitable Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Does Padma Lakshmi really need an introduction? The Emmy-nominated producer, television host, food expert, and New York Times best-selling author is in a league of her own, and she recently joined us for a live conversation at the Bell House in Brooklyn. She shared her take on how Top Chef has impacted food culture, shooting Taste the Nation, and writing her new cookbook, Padma’s All American—plus her memories of ’90s New York, her epic cookbook collection, and the rush of doing stand-up comedy. And, at the top of the show, it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt talk about what is exciting them in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. On this episode: It’s corn ice cream season at Malai, Campo Grande is selling exceptional Ibérico pork, a Canadian pizza pop-up at F&F in Brooklyn, Fungi Decoded by Britt A. Bunyard is the mushroom book for us. Also: Leggio's Deli in Bayshore, Long Island makes the perfect beach sandwich, and America’s Sweethearts Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders is so much more than we expected.  Preorder: Padma’s All American  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Annie Shi is the co-owner and beverage director of the West Village’s French-Italian restaurant King and its uptown Rockefeller Center sibling Jupiter. Now she’s opened a spot of her very own: Lei, a Chinese wine bar on the historic Doyers Street in the heart of Manhattan’s Chinatown. Lei is such a special and singular spot, and it’s great having Annie in the studio to talk about growing up in New York, pairing wine with Chinese food, and the evolution of Manhattan’s Chinatown. Also on the show Matt has an amazing conversion with Austin Hennelly. He’s the bar director at the Taiwanese restaurant Kato in Los Angeles. Kato is one of the most well-reviewed and respected restaurants in America, and the bar program shines with innovation and style. We talk about how Austin thinks deeply about NA beverage service before we hear about this wild professional career.  Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Akhtar Nawab is today’s guest, and we dig into his influential career in New York City dining. He’s the chef-owner of the terrific restaurants Wayward Fare and Alta Calidad in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, and he previously ran the kitchen at La Esquina. Akhtar moved to New York in 1998 and worked under chef Tom Colicchio at Gramercy Tavern for several years. He was part of the opening staff of Craft, and in 2002 he helped open Craftbar, later serving as executive chef. He’s mentored many stars in the industry, including David Chang, who credits him as a major influence. While he’d never say it himself, those who follow NYC restaurants understand that Akhtar is a giant in the industry. Humble and hardworking, it was a real pleasure to have him in the studio to talk about his amazing work. Also on the show we have a great conversation with Javier Cabral. He's the editor in chief of L.A. Taco. We discuss the publication's important work covering Los Angeles ICE activity, while offering readers a needed resource to stay safe. We also talk about how he balances breaking news coverage with deep dives into LA taco culture. It's a must read, and you can subscribe today. Read: What To Do If ICE Stops You In a Car, On a Bus, Or In a Train Listen: Tom Colicchio on the Birth of Gramercy Tavern, Top Chef Favorites, Running For Congress Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today on the show we are talking all about one of the world’s great foods: Maine Lobster, harvested directly from the cold waters of Maine, which give it its unique and sweet taste. First up is a great conversation with Ham El-Waylly. Ham is the chef-owner of the buzzy Brooklyn restaurant Strange Delight, and he tells us how Maine Lobster has been a big part of his culinary career. We talk about how he thinks about cooking with lobster and where he is spotting it on menus around the world. We also sent Ham a box of Maine lobsters to cook with at home. The results were pretty amazing. Also on the show, we speak with journalist Luke Pyenson. Luke traveled to Maine to report a story for TASTE, and we find out where he went and who he met—and, of course, hear about all the Maine Lobster he ate. We discuss Maine Lobster’s deep commitment to sustainability and how chefs both in Maine and around the world are cooking the sweetest lobster on earth in an exciting way. Finally we catch up with a Maine lobsterman, Curt Brown. Curt is a marine biologist, and he shares what life is like on a lobster boat as well as how he actually cooks with lobster at home. Curt has some real kitchen skills. Read: Maine Lobster in Technicolor This special episode is supported by the Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative. Get Maine Lobster delivered directly to your door by visiting lobsterfrommaine.com/how-to-buy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jess Eng is a food writer based in New York City. She’s a regular contributor here at TASTE alongside a great roster of publications like the Washington Post and the New York Times. It’s so fun to have her on the show to expand on some of her favorite stories, her latest experiments with home fermentation, and her recent reporting trip in Fuzhou, China. And, at the top of the show, it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt talk about what is exciting them in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. On this episode: It's fall cookbook season and Matt previews Measure with Your Heart by Hannah Taylor, The Ex-Boyfriend's Favorite Recipe Funeral Committee by Saki Kawashiro, Script Notes by John August and Craig Mazin, and Obsessed With the Best by Ella Quittner (not fall but worth a mention). Aliza jumps in with a visit for Thai chicken wings at Sam Yan in Clinton Hill, a preview of Ruby Tandoh’s new book, All Consuming, and a special shoutout to LA Taco’s ongoing coverage in Los Angeles.  Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube    READ MORE FROM JESS: Flavors of Fujian [Substack]Kombucha’s Pét-Nat Moment [TASTE]The Fluidity and Fun of Chino Latino Cuisine Reaches New Fandoms [TASTE] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matt was so excited to invite his friend Maurizio Leo to New York City to walk the streets and eat a lot of pizza. Maurizio is the author of The Perfect Loaf, an incredible cookbook and online community dedicated to all things sourdough. Matt and Maurizio visited seven pizzerias and, along with lead producer Clayton Gumbert, tasted their way through the city’s best (and maybe not best) slices. So what did they think of Joe’s, L’industrie, Mama’s TOO!, Lucia, Upside, Scarr’s, and F&F? Tune in! Also on the episode, Matt catches up with Anthony Falco. Falco is a global pizza consultant and a true pioneer in the pizza world. He just returned from a three-week trip to Italy, and we talk about all the pizza styles and trends he spotted there. We also move beyond pizza to discuss the modern trattoria scene, good and great gelato, and how Anthony’s appreciation for art dovetails with his interest in the culinary world.  For more, listen to This Is TASTE 344: Pizza Week with Anthony Falco. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Have you ever eaten prune whip pie? How about pickle cheesecake? Well, B. Dylan Hollis absolutely has. The popular TikTok and YouTube creator has racked up millions (and millions) of views by baking his way through vintage cookbooks that fit his “three Ws”: wacky, weird, and wonderful. Dylan is back with a new book, Baking Across America, which had him visiting dozens of states to track down recipes and stories from America’s amazing baking past. We talk about the crazy travel that went into this unique book project and what he’s baking in his Montana kitchen. We loved catching up with one of the sharpest minds in the baking game. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Marc-Kwesi Farrell is the founder of Ten to One, a contemporary Caribbean rum brand. Born in Trinidad, he’s passionate about broadening and celebrating global perceptions of rum through premium blends and storytelling, including drawing from his experience as the youngest vice president in Starbucks history. Today on the show, Marc goes deep on rum distillation and culture, bringing on the legendary singer Ciara as a co-owner, and plans for the future of the brand. And, at the top of the show, it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt talk about what is exciting them in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. On this episode: Blueberries from West Michigan, a visit to Harana Market in Accord, NY, new water discoveries: Freebird Southern Spring Water and Yuzu Mandarin Spindrift. Also: Hailee Catalano’s cold shrimp rolls with celery salad is perfect for right now, Three Cheers is a refreshing new cocktail book, Lei is a very cool new wine bar in NYC’s Chinatown, and it’s Tour de France season!  Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s the return of a special video podcast series: Food Writers Talking About Food Writing. It’s available on the TASTE YouTube channel, so make sure to subscribe and check out the video version of this podcast. Every couple of weeks, Matt invites a journalist to talk about some favorite recent food writing as well as their thoughts on the industry as a whole. On today’s episode, we have an amazing conversation with Mahira Rivers. Mahira is a journalist and former Michelin Guide inspector. She’s also the author of the must-read Substack Sweet City, which covers the bakery and dessert scene in New York City with a critical eye. In this episode we discuss so many terrific recent stories in the food world, including Mahira’s epic quest to name the 21 best croissants in New York City right now. We go behind the scenes on her five-plus years at Michelin and talk a bit about writing on Substack. We’re all big fans of Mahira’s work, and it was a joy having her in the studio. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube  Featured on the episode: The 21 Best Croissants in New York City Right Now [NYT]TikTok Chefs Have Upstaged Their Clients [NY Mag]You Asked for My Restaurant Recommendation. Now Go to the Restaurant. [Food Time with Matt Rodbard]Liquid Death: From Hardcore to Cringe [Snaxshot] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jodi Moreno is a chef, culinary consultant, and food stylist based in Mexico City. She’s the author of the James Beard–nominated cookbook More with Less and a new cookbook, Simple Pleasures. It’s so fun to have Jodi on the show to talk about developing Simple Pleasures in Mexico City, the joys of summer salads, entertaining, and more. Also on the show is Tim Spector. He’s a professor of epidemiology at King’s College London, a cofounder of the science and nutrition company ZOE, and the author of The Food for Life Cookbook, a guide to the science of living well for home cooks. Tim addresses all our burning food science questions: probiotics, ultraprocessed foods, protein maxxing, and more. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is such a great conversation with Max Shapiro, co-host of the Air Jordan podcast and a guy who knows what he likes. We’ve enjoyed Max’s very active, and sometimes blessedly candid, Instagram reviews of restaurants around the world. While he’s based in Los Angeles, his recent trip to Spain, particularly a dozen stops at legendary restaurants and new places around San Sebastián, got us interested. Max shares an action-packed road trip around the Basque region, including stops at Gresca, Casa Julián, Asador Etxebarri, and Kaia Kaipe. And why you should most certainly not book at Arzak. He also tells what is good in his hometown of Los Angeles including Dunsmoor, Budonoki, Horses, Shunji, and Muse.      Read more about Air Jordan and the Los Angeles podcast scene. It’s interesting. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Leo Schaltz is a cofounder of BonBon, a Swedish candy store with five locations in New York City (six total) and a cult following on TikTok. The pick-and-mix bulk candy selection is entirely imported from Sweden, from salty licorice to sour strawberry cream skulls. Today on the show, Leo talks about growing BonBon’s candy empire, meeting viral demand, and building a candy library. And before that, Matt shares some of his discoveries from the recent Fancy Food Show in New York. These aren’t the “best” products at the show per say, and lord was it a big show. These are simply some of Matt’s favorites, including: Vietnam’s Marou Chocolates, Baris frozen dipped raspberries, Gamsa Foods savory instant oatmeal, Rotten “better for you” candy, Long Weekend freeze-dried instant soup, Pari zero-proof, Michigan pies in the grocery store from Achatz Pie Company, Salad Sprinkles is really smart. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hailee Catalano is a trained chef, a former restaurant cook, a recipe developer, and one of our favorite voices in all of food. She is the author of a great new cookbook, By Heart. In this episode, we talk about her early years in Chicago, growing up in an Italian American household, and her later years working the line as a cook before launching her social media account on a lark. If you follow Hailee, you know her unique take on home cooking is absolutely mesmerizing, and we discuss how she thinks about developing recipes for Instagram Reels and TikTok. Also on the show we have a great conversation with David Nayfeld. He’s the chef and co-owner of Che Fico in San Francisco, among other restaurants, and the author of a great new book, Dad, What's for Dinner? We talk about restaurant life and how cooking for his daughter inspired him to write this unique book. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aimee France is a cake baker and internet personality based in Brooklyn. Her distinctly bumpy cakes and elaborate eating habits have won over many fans online, and it’s so fun to have her in the studio to go deep on her singular perspective on food, from her three-drink-minimum breakfasts to her unexpected sources of inspiration. And, at the top of the show, it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt talk about what is exciting them in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. On this episode: An amazing meal at Ultramarinos Marin in Barcelona, Santo Taco in NYC is really exciting, Vila Viniteca is a great non-tourist food shop in the Barcelona tourist center, Tashkent Halal Supermarket in Brighton Beach caused a blackout in the pastry section, Thattu in Chicago is the place for Keralan food, Natoora does amazing event catering. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jerry Williams Jr. has performed under the pseudonym Swamp Dogg since 1970 and has been described as “one of the great cult figures of 20th century American music.” I would agree, and it was an absolute honor to welcome the R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer to the studio to talk about visiting restaurants on the road while touring in the Jim Crow South and working with iconic artists like Patti LaBelle, Doris Duke, and Dr. Dre. We also discuss his new cookbook, which is a real treasure. It’s called If You Can Kill It I Can Cook It, and I absolutely love it. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Swamp Dogg. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Norma Listman and Saqib Keval are the chefs and co-owners of Masala y Maíiz, a Mexico City restaurant rooted in a mestizaje exploration of culinary traditions from India, East Africa, and Mexico. It was great to have them in the studio to talk about creating a more equitable restaurant that puts their workers first, expanding into a new location, shooting an episode of Chef’s Table, and their favorite spots in Mexico City. Also on the show, Aliza shares her first visit to Houston! What a town. Stops included: Tacos Tierra Caliente, Nam Giao, Truth BBQ, Ninfa’s on Navigation, Tiny Champions, Basket Books, and the Eldorado Ballroom. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.