Explore every episode of the podcast This Is TASTE
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 859: Whole Foods Market CEO Jason Buechel Is Done With “Whole Paycheck” | 28 oct. 2026 | 00:46:16 | |
Jason Buechel is CEO of Whole Foods Market, and since January 2025, he’s also overseen Amazon Worldwide Grocery Stores, which includes Amazon Fresh, Amazon Go, and the online grocery business. That’s a lot of shopping carts—and a lot of data on what goes in them. Today on the show, Matt speaks with Jason about a topic we are always interested in covering: how people actually shop for food today. We talk about shorter trips, delivery, and how shoppers have less patience for high prices, and what Whole Foods is doing about it. Subscribe to our new podcast: Eye Level Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 858: Los Angeles Times Restaurant Critic Bill Addison Has a New Favorite Restaurant | 26 oct. 2026 | 00:59:42 | |
Bill Addison is back on the show. The Los Angeles Times restaurant critic and his colleague Jenn Harris just revealed the 2026 edition of the 101 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles and it’s really good. Matt and Bill dig into how two critics turn hundreds of meals into a ranking, the big themes of the year, the new number one, and what’s changed since Bill gave up his anonymity. Plus we talk about covering all of California and whether restaurant criticism still moves the needle in 2026. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting to them in the world of food including Aliza visits Paris with stops at Best Tofu, Montezuma Café, and Waly Fay. Matt talks about TASTE’s new podcast, Eye Level. The debut episode drops on Thursday! Also: Two great new coffees from Quills and Pascal, and The Perfect Pizza is Maurizio Leo’s great new book, and he will be live at Rizzoli Bookstore in New York on December 10. Read: The 101 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles Subscribe to Eye Level Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 857: Cake Zine: Spoiled Rotten | 23 oct. 2026 | 01:03:50 | |
Cake Zine is an independent literary food magazine cofounded by pastry chef Tanya Bush and TASTE contributing editor Aliza Abarbanel. The newest issue, Spoiled Rotten, explores spoilage and the spoiled, digging into what’s stale, overripe, curdled, wasted, and reborn in food culture. Today on the show, we’re switching things up, with Tanya interviewing Aliza about the editorial process that brought this weird and wonderful issue to life. Also on the show Aliza and Matt catch up about recent trips to London and Miami, with stops at Goodbye Horses, Impala, V&A Storehouse, Recoveco, Chug’s Diner, Madruga Bakery, and Books & Books. Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 856: What Does the Future Hold for California Wine? | 21 oct. 2026 | 01:02:47 | |
Today on the show, Resy managing editor Jon Bonné and Matt have an incredible roundtable conversation with three California wineries that changed California wine forever: Duncan Arnot Meyers and Nathan Lee Roberts of Arnot-Roberts, Matt Licklider of Lioco Wine Co., and Steve and Jill Klein Matthiasson of Matthiasson Wines. Twenty years ago, they were the insurgents. Now they’re the establishment, as the industry encounters new drinkers and rapid change. In this episode, we talk about the big topics in California wine today. We figured it all out over the course of an hour! Just kidding, but this is a must-listen for anybody interested in the future of wine. The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers – not Resy—and do not constitute professional business advice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 855: Ayesha Nurdjaja on the Line: Burns, Swollen Knuckles, and Stolen Kunz Spoons | 19 oct. 2026 | 01:05:05 | |
Ayesha Nurdjaja grew up in Gravesend, Brooklyn, with an Indonesian father, an Italian mother, and a grandmother who walked her to Sahadi’s on Atlantic Avenue. After years in Italian kitchens like Felidia, she talked her bosses into a Middle Eastern New Year’s Eve menu that became the wildly popular Shuka and later Shukette. We discuss her debut cookbook, Mediterranean All the Way, a legendary onion dip, and her collection of stolen spoons. Also on the show Matt has a great conversation with Zola Gregory. Zola is a TASTE columnist and worked on The Pasta Box, a just-released recipe deck from TASTE featuring 50 pasta recipes that transform any dry pasta into tomato-y, cheesy, and creamy dishes. The recipes are so good. Buy: The Pasta Box Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 854: Adam Weisblatt Wrote the Restaurant Industry’s Realest Owner’s Manual | 17 oct. 2026 | 01:13:22 | |
Adam Weisblatt has opened seven restaurants with Last Word Hospitality, the LA group behind Hermon’s, Barra Santos, and Rasarumah. His terrific new book, For the Love of Restaurants, colorfully traces the arc of building a restaurant—from location scouting, lease negotiations, financing, hiring, and opening night—through the story of the group’s first and smallest restaurant, Found Oyster. Adam joins the show to talk about why he wrote the industry playbook he wishes someone had handed him, and why sharing hard-earned knowledge is good for operators and restaurant fans alike. Also on the show, Matt talks about some recent restaurant visits in Los Angeles, including stops at Rustic Canyon, Mírate, Soban, and Little Fish. Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 853: Rachel Gurjar Thinks Mumbai and NYC Should Be Sister Cities | 16 oct. 2026 | 01:06:50 | |
Rachel Gurjar is a Mumbai-born, Brooklyn-based chef and recipe developer whose recipes have appeared in Bon Appétit and the New York Times. Her new debut cookbook, East to East: Recipes and Stories From Mumbai to New York, showcases her love for the two cities that shaped her through more than 100 innovative dishes that combine Indian staples with some New York flair. Today on the show, Rachel goes deep on her story, the importance of recipe testing, and how she brought this singular book to life. Also on the show Matt has a really great conversation with Kyle Beechey. Kyle is a writer, actor, and playwright, and is staging her first show - “The Restaurant Diaries” - in a downtown New York City restaurant. The show runs October 18 - November 9. Get your tickets while they are available. Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 852: Washington Post Food Critic Elazar Sontag on His First Big Best Restaurants List | 14 oct. 2026 | 00:59:36 | |
Elazar Sontag published a cookbook at 18, ran Bon Appétit’s Best New Restaurants list in his mid-twenties, and (last fall) succeeded Tom Sietsema as the Washington Post’s food critic—with no disguise required. He joins us to talk all about his inaugural best restaurants list, which is firmly an Elazar list and likely causing some debate in and around DC. We also talk about bringing back star ratings, his many travels to Virginia and Maryland, and much more with one of my favorite voices in modern food writing. It was a real treat to have Elazar in the studio. Read: The 40 Best Restaurants In and Around Washington D.C. Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 851: Eric Sze’s Cookbook Puts a Question Mark on Taiwanese Food on Purpose | 12 oct. 2026 | 01:08:32 | |
Eric Sze first joined the show amid research for his debut cookbook, Taiwanese?. The book will be released later this month, and I speak with the Wenwen chef about his deep research around lu rou fan, what “authentically inauthentic” really means on the page versus the plate, and how his sparkling book brings fresh perspective to both Taiwanese food and culture. Also on the show, Matt shares some of his recent restaurant visits in northern California, including stops at Valley, El Molino Central, and Flour + Water Pizzeria. Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 850: Clarissa Wei Sells Excellent Soy Sauce and Demystifies Ancient Postpartum Cooking Practices | 09 oct. 2026 | 00:42:05 | |
Clarissa Wei is a writer and cofounder of HEYDOH, a single-origin Taiwanese soy sauce brand. Her debut cookbook, Made in Taiwan, was a cultural exploration of the island she calls home. Now she’s following it up with Sitting the Month, a study of postpartum cooking and care informed by Chinese medicine and her own experiences with zuò yuè zi. Clarissa stopped by the studio to go deep on this fascinating ancient practice and its contemporary evolutions as well as to share updates from her life as a single-origin soy sauce founder. Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 849: Where New York Is Actually Eating This Fall with Resy’s Deanna Ting | 07 oct. 2026 | 00:36:08 | |
Resy’s managing editor, Deanna Ting, is back to talk all about New York City restaurants. She and Matt work through the Resy Hit List, with stops at a British Indian chophouse in Hudson Yards, the Houseman chef’s seafood follow-up in East Williamsburg, Dominican-Texas barbecue in Bushwick, and a fine-dining vet’s Greenpoint bistro, plus her own guide to 31 tasting and prix-fixe menus under $100. Some of the Resy and Tock restaurants mentioned on the episode:
The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers – not Resy—and do not constitute professional business advice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 848: Kendal Mitchell Turns Eggshells Into Servingware: A Design Intervention for Food Waste | 05 oct. 2026 | 00:43:51 | |
Kendal Mitchell is a chef and biomaterials designer based in Brooklyn. Her Instagram series Bringing Food Waste Back to the Table turns often-wasted ingredients like eggshells and oyster shells into stunning tableware, and she’s constantly exploring new ways to create circularity with organic materials. Today on the show, she talks about training in sushi, her design work with groups like Ghetto Gastro, and the infinite potential within food waste. Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 847: Korean Soup University with Clara Lee and Eddo Kim of Queens | 03 oct. 2026 | 00:40:38 | |
Clara Lee and Eddo Kim are the co-founders of Queens, the San Francisco Korean American food company that started as a delivery-only deli in 2018, became a beloved Inner Sunset superette, and now makes gochujang, doenjang, and gochugaru from Northern California–grown ingredients. Their debut cookbook is Korean Soups: Recipes for Soups and Stews That Nourish, Restore, and Delight, and we absolutely love it. Today on the show, Clara and Eddo join Matt to talk guk versus tang and what closing a storefront taught them about building a brand. Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 846: The Birth of 'Hot Ones' and a Garage Full of Dead Restaurant Shirts with Justin Bolois | 02 oct. 2026 | 00:50:20 | |
Justin Bolois has spent over a decade helping build the iconic First We Feast media company—from features editor to VP of programming and development, shepherding popular shows like The Burger Show, Tacos Con Todo, and Hot Ones within the media empire. Off the clock, he’s chasing something equally cool: vintage restaurant staff shirts, forgotten diner ephemera, and the last physical traces of beloved restaurants that no longer exist. That’s Restaurant Relics, a side project we absolutely love that’s part museum and part store. Justin joins Matt to talk about everything from his work on Hot Ones to the virtues of a well-worn JG Melon tee. Check out: Hot Ones Game Night. Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 845: Kenta Goto’s Bartender’s Guide Is a Must-Read for Professionals and Amateurs Alike | 30 sept. 2026 | 00:43:40 | |
Kenta Goto is a bartender and the owner and operator of two acclaimed cocktail bars: Bar Goto on the Lower East Side and Bar Goto Niban in Brooklyn. Born and raised in Tokyo, Goto moved to New York and worked at the lauded cocktail bar Pegu Club for seven years before opening his own bar. Now he’s sharing his considerable wisdom in a debut cookbook: The Goto Bartender’s Guide. Today on the show, we chat about developing his cocktail skills and his signature approach toward drinks and how home bartenders can do the same. Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 844: Adrianna Adarme Was Supposed to Make Movie Trailers. Instead, She Made the Meatballs. | 28 sept. 2026 | 00:42:32 | |
Adrianna Adarme has been cooking out loud since 2011, when A Cozy Kitchen was just a bored-at-work blog. This fall, she’s releasing A Cozy Kitchen Cookbook—a terrific book built around not seasons or courses but moods. In this episode, Matt talks to Adrianna about her cooking style and growing her highly personal brand, online and off. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting to them in the world of food including Melissa Clark’s The Big Book of Dinner is incredible. Melissa and Matt will be talking all about the book at Rizzoli Bookstore in NYC on November 15. Get your tickets. Aliza visits Umas Rockaway and Paschal’s at the Atlanta airport, and is liking Jeni’s Pumpkin with Brown Sugar Blondies ice cream. Speaking of Jeni Britton, Matt is way into Floura bars. Lastly, he will be in Los Angeles at the LA Chef Conference. Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 843: Kwame Onwuachi on Pitching Investors, Cooking All Hours, and Golf Taking Over His Life | 25 sept. 2026 | 00:41:10 | |
Kwame Onwuachi—the chef behind Tatiana, Dōgon, and restaurants from Miami to Las Vegas—joins Matt in the studio for the first time. We get into his big idea for the CPG game, his pull toward Ethiopian cooking, and his three books, capped by All Hours, which is less a cookbook and more a statement about what he actually wants to cook every day. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting to them in the world of food including Aliza recaps her trip to New Mexico with stops at El Chile Toreado, Frontier, El Ray Court, and Tune-Up Café. Matt thinks Bessou makes the best caramel corn and has a great late-summer meal at I Cavallini. He also read the Legs McNeil memoir, Resident Punk for a true blast from the past. Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 842: Danny Meyer on the Pain of Eater Deathwatch; Playing Cat and Mouse with Sam Sifton | 23 sept. 2026 | 00:50:16 | |
Danny Meyer built Union Square Hospitality Group on a promise: he’d never close a restaurant. Then he closed one, and it changed how he thinks and writes about leadership. Twenty years after the release of his influential book Setting the Table, Meyer returns with a terrific new memoir, What Could Possibly Go Right?, and he joins us to talk about failure, scaling culture across 700 restaurants, walking back his progressive no-tipping experiment, and what it feels like to hand the reins of his own company to someone else. Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 841: Carla Hall Doesn’t Need a Holiday to Bake Something Special | 21 sept. 2026 | 00:35:16 | |
Everybody loves Carla Hall. Carla Hall is a chef and TV host who has appeared on many of our favorite food programs over the years, from Bravo’s Top Chef to Fox’s Next Level Baker. Her latest cookbook is also her first baking book—Carla Bakes: Sweet, Savory, and From the Heart. Today on the show, Carla stops by the studio to chat about all things baking, and what makes this book so special. Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 840: Mohamed Attia Sold Street Smoothies in Times Square. Now He Shapes Vending Policy. | 19 sept. 2026 | 00:47:38 | |
Mohamed Attia spent nearly a decade running a food cart in Times Square before he became the person fighting to change the law that made carts like his semilegal in the first place. As managing director of the Street Vendor Project, Attia helped lead the campaign that, this past January, finally broke a New York City vending permit cap that had been frozen since 1979. He talks with Matt about his own path from vendor to advocate, and we go over so many great carts to visit in New York City. The fifth annual Street Heroes gala takes place on Tuesday, October 6 at MoMA PS1. Get your tickets here. Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 839: Olivia Tiedemann on the Perks of Private Cheffing and Making Crab Cakes for Martha Stewart | 18 sept. 2026 | 00:51:19 | |
Olivia Tiedemann is a chef who began creating videos while working as a private chef in the Hamptons. Her signature deadpan delivery and no-nonsense techniques have won her millions of fans. Now she’s sharing her highly craveable recipes in a debut cookbook: Eat (Like) the Rich. Today on the show, Olivia talks about why everyone is fascinated by private chefs, making crab cakes for Martha Stewart, and more. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting to them in the world of food including Matt visits Philadelphia with stops at Middle Child Clubhouse, the Southeast Asian Market in FDR Park, Supérette, and the newly opened Manna Bakery. Aliza stops by Cafe Kestrel and Sake Bar Asoko in NYC, and has high praise for the new Apollo Bagels bagel chips. Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 838: How Apollo Bagels Took Over NYC… and Tokyo with Joey Scalabrino | 16 sept. 2026 | 00:52:37 | |
Joey Scalabrino is the cofounder of Apollo Bagels, a new-school bagel shop rooted in old-world techniques with nine locations across New York City and Jersey. He started making bagels in the kitchen at Leo, the Williamsburg sourdough pizza restaurant, and built Apollo through thoughtful pop-ups, design, and collabs. Today on the show, we chat about building up Apollo Bagels, its recent mega-popular pop-up with Dean & DeLuca in Tokyo, and its brand-new bagel chips. Also on the show Aliza and Matt preview some exciting cookbooks from the busy fall season, including:
Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 837: Caper's Dana Brown Thinks AI Can't Touch Food, Eater Lost the Plot, and There's a New McNally Worth Betting On | 14 sept. 2026 | 01:10:01 | |
It’s the return of Food Writers Talking About Food Writing. Every couple of weeks, Matt invites a journalist to talk about some favorite recent food writing as well as their thoughts on the industry as a whole. Dana Brown was a fixture of Vanity Fair’s Oscar-party machine and Graydon Carter’s inner circle for more than two decades before writing it all down in his memoir, Dilettante. He returns to the studio with a new job: editor in chief of Caper, the scoop-driven media start-up applying a Puck-style power-and-money lens to restaurants, chefs, and the food business. In this episode, we talk about economics at The Grill, the Keith McNally legacy, and what’s good in the world of Caper. Featured on this episode:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 836: Ruth Reichl: Five Memoirs, One Hot Substack, No Filter | 11 sept. 2026 | 01:31:30 | |
Ruth Reichl reviewed restaurants for the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, ran the country’s most legendary food magazine, and wrote five memoirs about all the meals enjoyed and life lived. Today she’s doing it again on her wonderful Substack, La Briffe, unfiltered and endlessly curious. Recorded live at the Traverse City Food & Wine festival, Matt talks with Ruth about her University of Michigan years, her passion for memoir, and her take on where food criticism stands today. Also on the show, I have a great conversation with Martin Sorge, author of the terrific new book Great Bakes. Read Ruth’s savage New York Times review of the Box Tree restaurant from 1998. Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 835: Naan Pisses Him Off. Vada Pav Gets the Medal of Honor. Meherwan Irani Returns! | 09 sept. 2026 | 01:06:10 | |
Meherwan Irani has been sharing wisdom about Indian street food since first appearing on this show in 2019. That would be vada pav’s genius, naan’s overratedness, and his mom’s three-lentil dhansak. Now it’s all in his debut cookbook, No. 1 Best Indian Cookbook in the World, alongside the two decades’ journey of building Chai Pani, Botiwalla, and Spicewalla. In this episode, Matt catches up with his old friend (and recent India travel companion) about auntie holdbacks, striking a balance between tradition and invention, and what he means about his strong stance on naan. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting them in the world of food including food in the movie “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” is really fun. Plus: check out the movie box office podcast, B.O. Boys, from our producer Clayton. Also: Matt returns to Traverse City, Michigan and visits Farm Club. He also drops by Penny in NYC for another amazing meal. Aliza has great rice rolls at Sun Hing Lung in Manhattan’s Chinatown (and check out the Chinatown Records live streams), and visits Conwell Coffee Hall in the Financial District. And speaking of coffee, Matt checks out Heist Coffee and its ¼ caffeinated glory. Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 834: Vegetable Nerds Wanted with Ali Francis | 07 sept. 2026 | 01:06:22 | |
Ali Francis is an Australian writer and pastry chef living in Salt Lake City, Utah. She’s the author of the new book The Curious Lives of Vegetables: An Artful Exploration of the Wonderful World of Edible Plants, Their History, and Their Crucial Role in Our Future. It’s a must-read for produce lovers everywhere, with in-depth reporting and beautiful botanical illustrations that ensure you’ll never look at the grocery aisle or farmers’ market the same way again. Today on the show, Ali and I nerd out on all things vegetables. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting them in the world of food including Matt’s recent trip to Chicago where he visited Mi Tocaya Antojería, Feld, and Mindy’s Bakery. He was blown away by all three. Aliza checks out Elbow Bread’s hot dog pop-up, Chambers for terrific late-summer cooking, and coffee at The Mandarin in New York City. Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 833: The Sheet Cake Plot Twist with Zola Gregory | 05 sept. 2026 | 00:45:50 | |
Zola Gregory is a writer, recipe developer, and food stylist based in Seattle. Her biweekly recipe column for TASTE, Extra Good, has yielded countless hits, and now she has a debut cookbook to enjoy: Sheet Cakes! In this long-overdue episode, Zola stops into the studio to talk about her distinct cooking point of viewpoint of view, going down the chocolate cake rabbit hole, and much more. Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 832: Pim Techamuanvivit’s First Restaurant Job Was Opening a Now Legendary Restaurant | 04 sept. 2026 | 01:13:00 | |
Pim Techamuanvivit left a career in Silicon Valley to become one of the most important Thai chefs working today. She’s self-taught and runs Michelin-starred kitchens on two continents at San Francisco’s Kin Khao and Nari and Bangkok’s Nahm. Her new book, Cooking Thai, is the result of writing down everything she had to figure out on her own. It’s a remarkable book, and you should pick it up. Pim joins the show to talk about her amazing journey from working in tech to opening her first restaurant—her first restaurant job—and translating her iconic restaurant dishes for the home cook. Also on the show, I have a great conversation with Gidon Coll of the Hudson Valley Apple Project. If you love apples as much as I do, you will want to listen to this conversation. We talk about Gidon’s work growing heirloom and obscure varieties of apple, and we discuss his truly amazing farm visits. You should book tickets while they are still available. Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 827: Marion Nestle on Fibermaxxing, RFK Jr, and Collecting Cereal Boxes | 24 août 2026 | 00:43:44 | |
Dr. Marion Nestle is a renowned nutritionist who has been shaping food policy for over half a century. She co-founded NYU’s groundbreaking Food Studies program in the ‘90s and has published over sixteen books, including her newest, Sugar Coated: Unboxing the Hidden Forces Shaping America's Favorite Breakfast Food. Today on the show, she weighs in on many buzzy topics in the food world (think: highly processed foods, fiber-and-protein-maxxing), the dramatic evolution of food culture, and how her cereal box collection inspired this new book. Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 822: How to Build a Booming Bakery Business at an Artisan Market with Zeena Lattouf Joy | 14 août 2026 | 00:46:56 | |
Zeena Lattouf Joy is the founder and head baker of Zeena Bakery, a Palestinian American bakery based in NYC. Their ma’amoul, focaccia, and other treats are beloved mainstays of the artisan side of the Fort Greene farmers’ market—and a regular part of Aliza’s weekend routine. Today on the show, Zeena talks about building a bakery that supports farmers in NYC and the Levant, the realities of operating a bakery stand at the market, and her plans for the future. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 819: Confessions of a Cookbook Literary Agent with Sally Ekus | 08 août 2026 | 01:11:09 | |
Sally Ekus has been inside the cookbook business since before she could walk—literally stuffing press kits for her mother’s culinary PR firm as a kid. Now a senior literary agent at Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency leading the Ekus Group, she’s brokered hundreds of book deals and become one of publishing’s most transparent voices on how cookbooks actually get made. She’s behind the terrific Substack Not So Secret Agent, and Matt speaks with her about what agents really do for authors day to day, why a book deal is rarely a retirement plan, and some favorite books from years past. Also on the show we have a great conversation about Rebecca Eisenberg, author of the terrific new book Small-Batch Breads. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 818: It Took a Chef to Make a Buzzy Drinks Brand like Faccia Brutto | 07 août 2026 | 00:58:54 | |
Patrick Miller is the founder and distiller of Faccia Brutto, an Italian-style spirits brand based in Brooklyn, New York. He worked as a chef for 19 years in some of LA and New York’s brightest restaurants, and he began making amari as holiday gifts for loved ones while working as the chef-partner at Rucola in Brooklyn. Today Faccia Bruttio is busy using old-world techniques to create singular and special amari and aperitivi, and on the show, we go deep into their process and vision. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world including Matt’s visits to Golden Hof in Manhattan and The Dale in the Catskills, and he previews Morgan Eckroth’s debut coffee book, Coffee, for Here. Aliza visits a Creole pop-up from Chasing Chaz, enjoys Ha’s Snack Bar a great deal, and tries Julia Sherman’s new salad dressing. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 816: The Pad Thai–Free Zone with Bangkok Supper Club’s Jenn Saesue | 03 août 2026 | 00:41:22 | |
Jenn Saesue didn’t want to open another Thai restaurant that served the same watered-down menu as everyone else’s—so she didn’t. Nearly a decade later, she’s the cofounder of 55 Hospitality, the group behind Fish Cheeks, the Michelin-listed Bangkok Supper Club, and Bub’s Bakery, New York’s first completely allergen-free bakery. Matt talks with Jenn about refusing pad Thai, managing an impossible reservation list, and how a birthday cake for her husband turned into a two-and-a-half-year research and development project. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 815: Anthony Bourdain’s Life Was a Movie. Matt Johnson Directed It. | 31 juil. 2026 | 00:42:28 | |
Matt Johnson directed the films BlackBerry and the DIY comedy Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie—now he’s taking on Anthony Bourdain. His new film Tony, out in August from A24, skips the traditional biopic format entirely, compressing three formative Provincetown summers described in Kitchen Confidential into one transformative season for a 19-year-old, pre-fame Bourdain. Johnson joins us to talk about adapting a book everyone already loves, directing Dominic Sessa away from doing an impression, and his love for the Canadian rock band Sloan. And before that, Matt shares some recent restaurant visits, including stops at Thai Diner, Keens, and Goosefeather. Check out Matt on the podcast Put It In My Mouth.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 814: How Pierce Abernathy Went from Instagram to Your Bookshelf | 29 juil. 2026 | 00:53:38 | |
Pierce Abernathy is a recipe developer and content creator based in Brooklyn. You may know him from his popular online videos showcasing his seasonal approach to plant-forward cooking—and now, he’s releasing a debut cookbook: Every Leaf, Every Stem: Craveable, Creative Vegetables All Year Round. Today on the show, we go deep on Pierce’s inspiration and book-making process, including getting the book’s introduction written by the one and only Alice Waters, and his upcoming book tour. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 813: Anthony Bourdain in 2005: Direct From Cassette | 27 juil. 2026 | 00:49:51 | |
In 2005, Matt sat across from Anthony Bourdain at a magazine photo shoot. His first TV show, No Reservations, was only a few months old, and they dug into the contents of his travel bags, which he had brought to the set from his apartment in Hell’s Kitchen. Two hours turned into a highly personal conversation, recorded on a cassette that sat untouched for twenty years. This week, that tape gets its first public airing, and we discuss Tony’s preferred sucker-punch etiquette, his loyalty to cigarettes and the Chateau Marmont, ayahuasca in Peru, and the talk show he dreamed up with Christopher Walken in mind. The Bourdain biopic, Tony, is out on August 7. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 812: Building Birdee Bakery with Renata Ameni | 25 juil. 2026 | 00:38:28 | |
Renata Ameni is chef partner of Birdee, a bakery and all-day café on the Williamsburg waterfront. The Brazilian-born chef is a fine-dining veteran who worked at Eleven Madison Park and opened Crown Shy before hopping over to more casual territory. Today on the show, we talk about bridging the gap between different styles of restaurants, making singular pastries, and more. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 811: 1990s Los Angeles and 2010s YouTube with the Internet’s Grill Dad, Noah Galuten | 24 juil. 2026 | 00:44:45 | |
Noah Galuten—chef, James Beard Award–winning cookbook author, and YouTube food guy—joins the show to talk about his new book, Grill Time!. The conversation covers his unconventional path from UCLA theater student to LA pitmaster, the case for treating your gas grill as a weekday kitchen appliance, and a deep dive into his research trip to Hermosillo, Mexico, where he discovered that everything he thought he knew about carne asada was wrong. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 810: The Boss of Your Kitchen con Omi Hopper | 22 juil. 2026 | 00:38:13 | |
Omi Hopper is a Puerto Rican chef, social media influencer, and food entrepreneur. You might know her as a semifinalist on season two of Next Level Chef, or from her popular cooking videos across social media, where she shares her takes on Puerto Rican classics. Today on the show, we talk about making her debut cookbook, Cooking con Omi: A Love Letter to Puerto Rican Home Cooking. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 809: Claire Saffitz’s Summer Baking and Next Book Plot Twist | 20 juil. 2026 | 01:18:43 | |
Claire Saffitz joins us for a summer-minded conversation about cooking outside the dessert lane. The best-selling author of Dessert Person and What’s for Dessert talks pizza-oven construction, YouTube behind-the-scenes, garden life in the Hudson Valley, and—for the first time—details about her upcoming third cookbook, which is a bit of a departure from her previous work. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world, including Matt’s visits to Lola’s, Bar Chimera, AOOA Farm, and Superiority Burger. Aliza checks out Dolores, Un Posto Italiano, and shares how she is having a real potato salad summer. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 808: The Man Who Coined Fusion Cuisine and Discovered Charlie Trotter with Norman Van Aken | 17 juil. 2026 | 01:07:13 | |
We're thrilled to have chef Norman Van Aken on the show. Norman is the founding father of “new world cuisine” and the man who introduced the word “fusion” into the culinary lexicon—at a 1989 symposium in Santa Fe, decades before it became widely used and sometimes critiqued. A former carnival worker and tar roofer who never went to culinary school, Van Aken built his vision in Key West and Miami, gave Charlie Trotter his first kitchen job, and has spent 40-plus years arguing that Florida deserves a cuisine of its own. His restaurant Norman’s is now in its third Orlando incarnation. We get into all of it in this memorable episode. And check out Norman’s Substack too. It’s a great read. Also on the show we have a live recording from the recent The Great Nosh Jewish food festival. It’s an entertaining conversation featuring Niki Russ Federman of Russ & Daughters, Mike Solomonov of Kfar Brooklyn, and Itamar Srulovich of Honey & Co in London. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 806: Lydia Pang Argues “Stinky” Is a Great Thing | 13 juil. 2026 | 00:55:27 | |
Lydia Pang is a creative director and the author of Eat Bitter: A Story About Guts, and Food. It’s a memoir that connects to the Chinese cultural concept of 吃苦 (chi ku), “eating bitterness” or being resilient, to her own life, with each chapter rooted in a recipe. Today on the show, we chat about how the book began as a zine in 2020, being inspired by her Hakka-Welsh heritage, and more. And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world, including Matt’s trip to Chicago with visits to Maxwell Trading, Loaf Lounge, Best Intentions, and Colectivo. Aliza discusses her interaction with dirty soda in Utah, a recipe in the latest issue of Kismet Magazine, and a very good frozen drink at SAA in Brooklyn. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 805: Real Talk About Drinks Writing and Trend-Chasing Bars with Echo Lake’s Chloe Frechette | 11 juil. 2026 | 00:34:33 | |
Chloe Frechette spent nearly a decade as executive editor at Punch, the James Beard Award–winning drinks media brand, writing seriously about cocktails and the culture around them. Then she did what most drinks writers most certainly do not do: she opened a bar. Echo Lake and Undercurrent, her two-story rum destination in Williamsburg with partner Paul McGee, opened this spring—one a breezy daiquiri bar, the other an intimate den of rare and vintage spirits. In this episode, I speak with Chloe about making the jump from writing about bars to running one, the vintage rum collection that includes pre-embargo Cuban Bacardi, and so much more. Echo Lake is at 357 Grand St, Brooklyn, NY 11211
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 804: Toby Maloney Made Half a Million Cocktails. Emma Janzen Was Taking Notes. | 10 juil. 2026 | 01:00:25 | |
Bartender and author Toby Maloney has made somewhere north of half a million cocktails over thirty-plus years, from Milk & Honey and Pegu Club to the Violet Hour in Chicago and the Elbow Room in Vancouver, Washington. His new book with coauthor and drinks journalist Emma Janzen, The Classic Cocktail Sessions, is a deep-dive master class on 61 classic drinks: not their histories but their inner workings. In this episode, we talk about the daiquiri that changed Toby’s life and the difference between mastering a classic and making it yours. Also on the show Matt shares a few final thoughts on the Summer Fancy Food Show including a first look at rugelach from Manischewitz, how Jangin is a new Korean food brand that you should keep your eye on, and a look at Lapos NA aperitivo. Also: Juggad It from Spicewalla and cool things happening at Raazi Tea. Also see: This Is TASTE 801: We Went to the Summer Fancy Food Show.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 803: Netflix's Culinary Monster Finally Gets His Own Kitchen with Hasung Lee | 08 juil. 2026 | 00:49:35 | |
Hasung Lee spent a decade cooking inside other people’s restaurants—Gramercy Tavern, Geranium, Atomix, the French Laundry—before Netflix viewers met him as Culinary Monster, the mysterious “black spoon” who muscled his way into the final round of Culinary Class Wars season 2. While he lost in the finale, he opened Oyatte anyway and is clearly shooting for Michelin stars. In this episode, we talk with Lee about what it’s like to compete under an alias, and we hear about the chef’s journey through some of the world’s greatest kitchens. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 802: 200 Million People Watch Vikas Khanna Talk About Indian Food. Here's What He Couldn't Say on TV. | 06 juil. 2026 | 00:58:25 | |
Vikas Khanna grew up in Amritsar cooking beside his grandmother, arrived in New York with $3 and a dream, and became one of the first Indian chefs in the city to earn a Michelin star. His restaurant Bungalow—now one of NYC’s most coveted reservations—tells India’s culinary story through its 28 states. We talk about Vikas’s early cooking career in NYC, the rise of Junoon and later Bungalow, and what it means to cook for both presidents and homeless folks. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 801: We Went to the Summer Fancy Food Show. We Have Notes. | 03 juil. 2026 | 00:45:28 | |
The Specialty Food Association's Summer Fancy Food Show is where the next year of grocery shelves gets decided, and Dan Frommer, founder of The New Consumer and one of the sharpest minds tracking how people spend their money, was there for all of it. Dan joins Matt to unpack the trends and new products they spotted on the floor of the Javits Center this week in New York. We talk about sparkling water, functional cookies, and some emerging categories that surprised even us. Check out Dan’s 2026 Mid-Year Consumer Trends Report. Brands mentioned on the episode:
Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 800: How Long Gone’s Jason Stewart on Erewhon Losing the Pizza Plot, Noma’s LA Adventure, and a Visit to Ballerina Farm | 01 juil. 2026 | 01:01:10 | |
Jason Stewart, cohost of How Long Gone and one of food media’s sharpest outside voices, returns to the studio. We talk about his early vegan days, his current London dining life, and what he’s enjoying in his hometown of Los Angeles. We also revisit some of his past TASTE writing, including a review of Noma in Copenhagen. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 799: The Dream of the $50 Dinner in New York Is Alive and Canada's Wild Run at North America’s 50 Best with Luke Fortney | 29 juin 2026 | 00:48:11 | |
It’s the return of Food Writers Talking About Food Writing. Every couple of weeks, Matt invites a journalist to talk about some favorite recent food writing as well as their thoughts on the industry as a whole. Luke Fortney went from covering New York’s restaurant scene at Eater to contributing weekly to the terrific New York Times food newsletter Where to Eat. In this episode, we talk about the dream of the $50 dinner in New York, changes at the grocery store, Canada’s big showing at North America’s 50 Best, and how restaurants can think about a membership mode. Featured on the episode:
Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||
| 798: French Training, Japanese Soul: Tadashi Ono's Long Road Home | 27 juin 2026 | 00:42:25 | |
Tadashi Ono spent nine years as executive chef of La Caravelle, one of America’'s great French restaurants—twice earning a three-star New York Times review—before walking away to cook the Japanese food he actually wanted to cook. Since then, he’s run Matsuri and Maison O; written four cookbooks with Harris Salat on Japanese hot pots, grilling, and comfort food; and opened Teruko, a sushi bar and Japanese restaurant in the subterranean belly of the Hotel Chelsea. We talk about his long career and his latest cookbook, Japanese Comfort Cooking. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. | |||