This Is TASTE

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.

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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.

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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? 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.  

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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]

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Cake Zine ⁠is an independent literary food magazine cofounded by pastry chef Tanya Bush and TASTE contributing editor Aliza Abarbanel. The 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.   

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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.

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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

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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.

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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]

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 Emma Orlow. Emma is a founding journalist at Caper, the new food media startup covering the restaurant industry and food culture with a fresh set of eyes. We talk about why she joined the team, what Caper is doing differently, and this exciting era in food journalism. We also discuss some recent food writing that caught our attention.

Discussed on the episode:

My Dinner Date With A.I. [NYT]

Would You Wait 8 Hours for This Waffle? [New York Magazine]

Uncovering an Underground Cheese Sample Sale [Caper]

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It was a lot of fun having David Cho in the studio. David is a longtime media executive, having helped launch The Awl and Grantland. He’s also a pretty great guy to talk about restaurants with, and we do that. We also discuss Postcard, a new restaurant discovery tool and community. Matt's a user, and thinks it’s a great way to organize the restaurant recommendations that are constantly flowing through our world through a simple interface. We talk all about that and much more.

And before that it’s the return on Three Things. Aliza and Matt discuss: A scene check at New York’s new favorite wine bar, Stars, and ​​Easy Joy Dim Sum & AYCE Hot Pot.  Also, we have a new favorite boxed cake mix: Oh So Easy. And we make visits outside of NYC to Golden Russet Cafe & Grocery, No Comply Foods, Zinnia’s Dinette, and Random Harvest Market. 

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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.

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Read these stories on Dirt: Life and death at Balthazar
Software as a Style

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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