This Is TASTE

4.2 (15)
FOOD
UPDATED SEMIWEEKLY

If you're a fan of smart and lively conversations about food, home cooking, and culture, this is the place. We interview the most interesting characters in the world of food, media, and cookbooks and release episodes several times a month. The program is hosted by TASTE editors Aliza Abarbanel and Matt Rodbard, and is sometimes recorded live at Rizzoli Bookstore in New York City. Visit TASTE online: tastecooking.com

11 HRS AGO

740: TASTE Travels: Copenhagen

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

1h 37m
2D AGO

739: Flynn McGarry Was a Prodigy. Now He’s a Pro.

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

1h 16m
4D AGO

738: How Wolfgang Puck Became Wolfgang Puck

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

1h 2m
FEB 27

737: Read the Cookbook. No, Really. Inside Tanya Bush's Narrative Baking Memoir.

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

59 min
FEB 25

736: Hello Home Cooking with Ham El-Waylly

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

1h 9m
FEB 23

735: Tiny but Loud, Caper Has Arrived with Emma Orlow

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] Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

47 min
FEB 21

734: David Cho Launched The Awl and Grantland. Now He's Mapping Good Taste Around the World.

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. Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1h 12m
FEB 20

733: Building Santo Taco with Santiago Perez

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

1h 14m

See All (743)

Aliza Abarbanel

Host
Matt Rodbard

Host
Ifrah F. Ahmed

Guest
Michelle Rabin

Guest
Elyssa Heller

Guest
Grainne O'Hara

Guest
Fidel Caballero

Guest

4.2

out of 5

15 Ratings

Good questions but very interrupty

2023-05-11

dvb_snackpack

I know interrupty isn’t a word, but I can’t help myself. I want to hear what the guest says, not have the host cut them off to insert their own idea or ask a different question. While this seems to come from a place of sincere passion and curiosity, this is very frustrating to listen to. Please be patient and let us hear what the interesting and knowledgeable guests have to say completely. When I can move beyond that, I have enjoyed the shows’ overall content.

If you're a fan of smart and lively conversations about food, home cooking, and culture, this is the place. We interview the most interesting characters in the world of food, media, and cookbooks and release episodes several times a month. The program is hosted by TASTE editors Aliza Abarbanel and Matt Rodbard, and is sometimes recorded live at Rizzoli Bookstore in New York City. Visit TASTE online: tastecooking.com