This Is TASTE

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. 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: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 piece 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 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