This Is TASTE

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    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

El Califa de León is a family-run Mexico City taqueria that’s been in business for over half a century. It was opened by butcher Juan Hernández González in 1968, who created the now-legendary gaonera tenderloin taco. In 2024, it became the first-ever taqueria to receive a Michelin star, sparking a global surge of recognition that has paved the way for expansion outside of Mexico, led by the new generation. Today on the show, José Andrés Hernández stopped by the studio to talk about being the CEO of El Califa de León’s US-based operating company Authentic Taco Holdings and bringing the family business to New York City and beyond.  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: An exciting new restaurant is opening in the Hudson Valley, Andiamo, from chef Ciarán McGoldrick. Also: It’s Colson Whitehead season and we re-read the incredible Sag Harbor, with a shoutout to Bellvale Farms ice cream. Lastly, check out our recent episode traveling with Whole Foods buyers to Spain. It’s a good one. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 t

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  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brian Dunsmoor has cooked in Los Angeles for over a decade—from Venice pop-ups to Hatchet Hall to his namesake Glassell Park restaurant—and he’s always been asking the same question: What exactly is American food, and who gets credit for it? In this episode, Matt talks with him about cooking without electricity, building a kitchen around live fire, and what it’s like to be Brian Dunsmoor. Brian’s restaurant, Dunsmoor, has been named to the LA Times’ 101 best restaurants list and recognized by the 2024 Michelin Guide, and it’s one of the most referenced and favorite LA restaurants on this very show. I love this conversation. Also on the show, we have a great conversation with Jordan Michelman. Jordan wrote a terrific essay for TASTE about Costco, and we talk about how the club retailer means so much to so many people. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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       Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Mentality 00:12 – Cosme, Corn Husks, and Catching Up with New York 03:16 – From Masa to Vida Mexicana: Writing the Sequel Cookbook 05:19 – Entering the Taco Canon (and Updating It) 08:09 – Shooting Mexico: Tortas in the Airbnb and Tortas in the Street 11:24 – The Architecture of a Great Torta (and the Magic of Laminada) 13:39 – Reading a Trompo and Talking to Taqueros 18:21 – Quesabirria, Birrieria Zaragoza, and Offal Lines in the Sand 21:45 – LA Taco Fieldwork and the Ditroit Taqueria Crew 23:35 – Running a Restaurant Group and Seeing Your Food Reflected Back 24:54 – 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Molly Irani cofounded Chai Pani with her husband Meherwan Irani in Asheville in 2009—at the peak of the recession, with no restaurant experience and serious doubts. Sixteen years later, Chai Pani is a James Beard Outstanding Restaurant winner, and Molly has written Service Ready, a memoir about what it really takes to build a culture people want to work in. We talk about building a restaurant with hope and a binder of family recipes, and what “mindblasting” service actually means in practice. Also on the show we have a great conversation with Rashad Frazier, author of the terrific new cookbook Cook Out. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chef Beejhy Barhany has a remarkable story to tell. Born in Ethiopia's Tigray region, she fled with her family at age four, crossing Sudan on foot and eventually landing in Israel, then in Harlem, where she opened Tsion Cafe in the former home of Jimmy’s Chicken Shack. Now she’s written Gursha, the first Ethiopian Jewish cookbook from a major American publisher. We talk about Beta Israel cuisine, the unfortunate closing and hopeful reimagining of Tsion Cafe, and building a community through food while fighting to stop anti-Semitism. And it’s the return of Three Things. Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world, including Grape Juice by Eliza Dumais, fun visits to Lafayette Tavern and Dinamo in Richmond, Virginia. Also: A new weekend staple is Sal & Cookie’s Ultra Fine Diner in Brooklyn, a favorite Caesar dressing, and we love avocados and Primavera Avocados will send you the best ones we’ve ever tasted. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mariana Velásquez is a food stylist, chef, and cookbook author whose résumé runs from the pages of Vogue to the White House—she styled Michelle Obama’s cookbook, American Grown—and she has collaborated on more than 20 cookbooks, including two James Beard Award winners. But the most personal work has come under her own name. Her debut, Colombiana, brought the first serious cookbook devoted entirely to Colombian food to American shelves. And her latest, Revel, is a maximalist manifesto on the art of having people over, built around 15 menus and the radical idea that a great gathering starts with asking yourself why you’re hosting it in the first place. Mariana joins to talk about her career and her wonderful new book. Also on the show, we have a fun conversation with Samantha Schnur, author of The Naughty Cookbook: Decadent Recipes to Seduce Your Taste Buds. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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</st

Julia Moskin has been a food reporter at the New York Times since 2004, and her beat has taken her everywhere from the best Jamaican patties in New York to a 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, earned for reporting on sexual harassment in the restaurant industry. Today she joins Matt to talk about her latest investigation: a bombshell report revealing years of alleged physical and psychological abuse inside Noma's Copenhagen kitchen. It’s the story that set off protests at the restaurant’s Los Angeles pop-up and led to founder René Redzepi stepping down, all in the same week. How do you get 35 former employees to go on the record? And what does this moment mean for the future of fine dining as a form? Julia tells us all. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠    Read more about Noma: René Redzepi Steps Down at Noma Amid Allegations of Past Abuse [NYT] The Fall of Noma’s Chef Reverberates in the Restaurant World [NYT] Noma, Violence, and the Line Between a Hard Kitchen and an Abusive One [Mad Food World] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices