It’s a great day when our friend Alison Roman turns up at our New York City studio. We’ve really enjoyed reading and cooking through her new baking book, Sweet Enough, and we wanted to ask her about what it’s like to write three cookbooks in five and a half years, as well as talk about the TV show she made, her spirited newsletter writing, kosher salt wars, sheet pan shortcake, and where to eat in New York City right now. Alison is one of our all-time favorite guests, and we simply love the way she writes—and talks—about food. We hope you enjoy this conversation.Check out Alison’s tour dates: alisoneroman.com/tourMORE FROM ALISON ROMAN:A Newsletter [Substack]I Love Baking, I Hate Baking [Youtube]A Cabinet Full of Crunch [TASTE]Alison Roman on Resy, Air Fryers, and Erewhon [Interview]TASTE Podcast 02: Alison Roman [TASTE]FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:instagram.com/alisoneromaninstagram.com/mattrodbardinstagram.com/taste

There is no food writer we would rather talk to about Italy—and, really, talk to about food in general—than Katie Parla. Her mind, her spirit, and her willingness to drive around the wonderfully off-the-grid cow towns of Puglia for the sake of a book project—it’s all really special. In this episode, we talk about her decades-long obsession with Italian food and culture, and what has gone into her latest book, Food of the Italian Islands. We also discuss her TV work and her tours of Rome that have become legendary around the world. It’s so good catching up with Katie Parla, and we hope you enjoy this conversation.MORE FROM KATIE PARLA:Italian Culinary Guides [official]Skip the Flight and the Ferry With ‘Food of the Italian Islands’ [NYT]Drinking With Italian Food and Wine Expert Katie Parla [PUNCH]Buy: Tasting Rome and Food of the Italian South

How does a venture capitalist working in and around food actually grocery shop? Elly Truesdell, founder and managing partner of New Fare Partners, joins us on the show to tell us all about it. Elly got her start working in the corporate office of Whole Foods, and we find out about her nearly 10 years there discovering some of our favorite food brands. We also find out what a VC actually does, and how she hunts for the next big thing in CPG—short for consumer packaged goods, i.e., the products lining the shelves of your local grocery store. This is a cool conversation with one of the sharpest minds in food.Also on the show, we catch up with cookbook collaborator, podcast host, and former Food & Wine editor Kristin Donnelly. We discuss all things cookbooks, including some exciting projects she has in the works. We also go back to her time at Food & Wine and talk about changes in food media. It’s so great having Kristin on the show.MORE FROM ELLY TRUESDELL and KRISTIN DONNELLY:New Fare Partners is latest female-led VC to close first fund [Tech Crunch]Grocery Wars: A Natural Foods Reckoning [Food Tech Connect]Writing a Bestselling Cookbook in Your 80s [Everything Cookbooks]Modern Potluck: Beautiful Food to Share [Amazon]FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:instagram.com/ellytruesdellinstagram.com/kristincdonnellyinstagram.com/mattrodbardinstagram.com/taste

Gail Simmons is a very cool human being—had to say that from the jump! While many know her best from Top Chef, Gail’s career in food expands way beyond a judge’s table. She trained at culinary school and went on to assist legendary food writer and columnist Jeffrey Steingarten. She also worked the line in busy New York City restaurants and is the author of two books, including her latest, Bringing It Home. We wanted to have her on the show to talk about her past in New York City restaurant kitchens and what we can expect on the new season of Top Chef.And, hey, this is our 200th episode! While this is simply a round number and that’s it, Matt wants to acknowledge the team who helps bring the show to the feed many times a week. This show does not happen without cohost Aliza Abarbanel; our amazing producers, Shalea Harris and Pat Stango; our incredible editor, Clayton Gumbert; our amazing illustrator, Ellie Skrzat; and, most of all, all of you listeners out there. Thanks for tuning in each week. Thanks for all the messages on IG and the emails. And thanks for telling your friends about the show.MORE FROM GAIL SIMMONS:Make chicken schnitzel with Gail Simmons of ‘Top Chef’ [Today]Inside the ‘Top Chef’ Industrial Complex [New York Times]TASTE Podcast 05: Gail Simmons [TASTE]FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:instagram.com/gailsimmonseatsinstagram.com/mattrodbardinstagram.com/taste

Chef and budding TV personality Daniel Harthausen is one of the most exciting voices in food, having just won the first season of HBO’s very good cooking competition show The Big Brunch and running the roving pop-up Young Mother in Richmond, Virginia. Harthausen was raised by a Korean mother and a half-Korean father and “had a baseline of what really good Korean food tasted like, without really knowing it at the time,” he told Matt during a Zoom conversation earlier this year. He was visiting New York recently, and we asked him to stop by the studio for a really cool conversation about his travels, his loot (he won $300,000 on the show), and the delicate topic of Korean-Japanese relations. He’s got a lot to say, and we were so excited to have him in.MORE FROM DANIEL HARTHAUSEN:Daniel Harthausen’s Big Korean-Japanese Brunch Is Special [TASTE]Brunch Time [Richmond Magazine]Richmond’s Daniel Harthausen wins big [Richmond Times Dispatch]FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:instagram.com/danielharthauseninstagram.com/mattrodbardinstagram.com/taste

Trigg Brown is the chef and co-owner of Win Son and the coauthor of a really great new book, Win Son Presents a Taiwanese American Cookbook. Trigg and Matt share many mutual friends, and it was really cool for them to meet for the first time on the mic. We talk about Trigg’s early cooking career in Charlottesville, Virgina, and working in New York City with the Colichio crew at Craft and Colichio & Sons (shout-out to Damon Wise) before opening his own restaurant, Win Son, to great acclaim. We also discuss his time traveling through Taiwan and what makes a modern restaurant work. Also on the show, we have a great conversation with Rani Cheema. Rani is the founder of Cheema’s Travel, a boutique travel agency specializing in food trips. We talk about some of the destinations that are trending around the globe and get into how we can all travel better (with food on the mind). It’s a great conversation as we gear up for summer travel planning.MORE FROM TRIGG BROWN:Food & Wine Best New Chefs 2020: Trigg Brown [Food & Wine]Trigg Brown – Taiwanese Food through American Lens [Flavor Unknown]How Win Son Bakery Makes One of Brooklyn’s Best Breakfast Sandwiches [Food52]TASTE Podcast 191: Cathy Erway [TASTE]FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:instagram.com/trigg.browninstagram.com/mattrodbardinstagram.com/taste

How cool to have our old friend and former colleague Talia Baiocchi on the show. Talia has one of the sharpest minds in food media, and we talk about the publication she has run for nearly a decade, PUNCH. We wanted to ask Talia about so many topics related to modern drinking culture, including the explosion of nonalcoholic drinks, the issues with natural wine, and her take on the future of the cocktail. We also talk about her cookbook, Pasta, that she wrote with New York City chef Missy Robbins. It was a blast having Talia on, and we hope you enjoy it.MORE FROM TALIA BAIOCCHI & PUNCH:Athleisure Now Comes Canned [PUNCH]Where to Drink in 2013 [PUNCH]Is Natural Wine Losing Its Cool Factor? [BA]TASTE Podcast 91: Missy Robbins [TASTE]FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:instagram.com/taliabaiocchiinstagram.com/mattrodbardinstagram.com/taste

Yay, it’s Smitten Kitchen day, and we’re really, really excited to welcome back our friend Deb Perelman. Deb is the writer, photographer, recipe developer, and driving force behind one of the internet’s most popular home cooking destinations. We talk about what she’s been cooking and how she’s been living her best life with two kids in New York’s East Village, and we discuss her wonderful new book, Smitten Kitchen Keepers. What makes a “keeper” recipe, you might ask. We get into that and a lot more on this really fun episode.Also on the show, Aliza and Matt talk about spice blends, and how they finally deserve much more respect.More from The Smitten Kitchen:Deb Perelman’s Work Diary [The New York Times] Apple Cider Doughnuts [SK official]Black Bean Pumpkin Soup [SK official]You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Spice Rack [TASTE]FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:instagram.com/smittenkitcheninstagram.com/mattrodbardinstagram.com/taste

Indian chef and Unapologetic Foods cofounder Chintan Pandya is a James Beard Award–winning chef and runs some of the best restaurants in NYC, including Adda, Dhamaka, Semma, Rowdy Rooster, and his latest Bengali triumph, Masalawala & Sons. We invited Chintan into the studio because, dude, we wanted to know how he keeps opening hit after hit. We wanted to talk about regional Indian cooking and how most American Indian restaurants focus on such a narrow spectrum of the recipe canon. And we wanted to find out about expansion plans—and a cookbook. And an upcoming trip to India. We really enjoyed catching up with one of the bright stars in the New York City restaurant scene.Also on the show, Aliza and Matt talk about some recent favorites including S&P Lunch, pop rock cake pops for ravers, Queens SF, How Far the Light Reaches, and Cadbury Curly Wurly Squirlies.  MORE FROM CHINTAN PANDYA:Masalawala & Sons, Where the Food Is Bengali and the Mustard Oil Flows [NYT]F&W Game Changers: Chintan Pandya and Roni Mazumdar [Food & Wine]The Dish: Chef Chintan Pandya, Roni Mazumdar [CBS]FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:instagram.com/chefchintaninstagram.com/mattrodbardinstagram.com/taste

Yes, Bill Addison is back on TASTE. We’ve long been a fan of Bill’s writing, going back to his well-considered restaurant criticism in Atlanta, Dallas, San Francisco, Eater as a roving national critic, and for the past three-plus years as the head restaurant critic at the Los Angeles Times. Bill is our favorite critic, writing about our favorite food city in the United States, and we talk about what’s exciting about LA right now. We also get into his writing routine, some of his favorite slept-on gems, and what the hell is going on at The ROW? And what is up with Craig’s? This is such a great conversation, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did.And to close out Restaurant Critic Week, Aliza and Matt talk about the state of the restaurant critic in 2023. Who are their favorites in the game? Which writers should be given a reviewing beat? And what about Tik Tok reviewers? There’s a lot to go over, and we cover it all.MORE FROM BILL ADDISON:The 12 Most Loved Restaurant Dishes of 2022 [LA Times]The Latest Blockbuster from the Couple Behind Bestia and Bavel [LA Times]How Damian grew to be one of L.A.’s finest modern California-Mexican restaurants [LA Times]The Year I Ate Pico Boulevard (Aliza was right!) [LA Weekly]MORE FROM RESTAURANT CRITIC WEEK:TASTE Podcast 192: The New Yorker's Hannah Goldfield TASTE Podcast 193: Eater's Ryan SuttonFOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:instagram.com/bill_addisoninstagram.com/mattrodbardinstagram.com/taste

For years, Ryan Sutton was the chief restaurant critic at Eater New York, before his position was recently eliminated. Ryan is one of the most respected critics in the game, and we wanted to invite him to the studio to talk about his career and some of the memorable stories he’s worked on. Does Ryan have any reviews that he regrets? How does he stay excited about dining out each and every night? And what is next for Ryan Sutton? He answers most of our questions in this amazing episode. We hope you enjoy it.MORE FROM RYAN SUTTON:How to Get Into the Restaurant You Can’t Get Into [Eater NY]The Case Against Hudson Yards Dining [Eater NY]Manhattan’s Next Great Steakhouse Isn’t a Steakhouse [Eater NY]Eleven Madison Park Isn’t Ready to Be a World-Class Vegan Restaurant [Eater NY]MORE FROM RESTAURANT CRITIC WEEK:TASTE Podcast 192: The New Yorker's Hannah Goldfield TASTE Podcast 194: The Los Angeles Times' Bill Addison

After working as a fact checker for years at the New Yorker and contributing to the magazine’s Tables for Two column, Hannah Goldfield was named the magazine’s first full-time restaurant critic in 2018. We welcome Hannah back to discuss her life as a New York City restaurant critic. We talk about some of her recent reviews and get some of her thoughts on that little film called The Menu—where a big-city restaurant critic is portrayed in the most curious of ways. Does Hannah find it accurate? Our producer Pat Stango joins to discuss. MORE FROM HANNAH GOLDFIELD:The Hannah Goldfield New Yorker archive [TNY]Your Food’s Alter Ego [TNY]Le Rock Goes Long on Midtown [TNY]B.O. Boys [Apple Podcasts]FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:instagram.com/hannahgoldfieldinstagram.com/mattrodbardinstagram.com/tasteMORE FROM RESTAURANT CRITIC WEEK:TASTE Podcast 193: Eater's Ryan Sutton TASTE Podcast 194: The Los Angeles Times' Bill Addison

On this very special episode, we catch up with the one and only Cathy Erway. Cathy is a prolific writer and cookbook author behind the great new book Win Son Presents a Taiwanese American Cookbook, which she wrote with the cofounders of Brooklyn restaurant Win Son. During this wide-ranging conversation, we find out about Cathy’s cookbook writing career and her James Beard Award–winning work on TASTE. We also dive into her column, Shelve It, and find out how grocery store shelves tell us so much about our modern culture.Buy: Sheet Pan ChickenMORE FROM CATHY ERWAY:Let’s Unpack Sardines [TASTE]The Case for the Supermarket Supershopper [TASTE]The Korean Immigrant and Michigan Farm Boy Who Taught Americans How to Cook Chow Mein [TASTE]FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:instagram.com/cathyerwayinstagram.com/mattrodbardinstagram.com/taste

Justin Smillie is the chef of Il Buco Alimentari and the author of the now-classic live-fire cooking book Slow Fires: Mastering New Ways to Braise, Roast, and Grill. We wanted to have Justin on the show to talk about his life in and out of the kitchen and what is currently exciting him while running one of New York’s most popular restaurants. We also discuss his previous restaurant, Upland, and what it was like to have the Obama family as frequent diners. What was it like having an official Presidential taster alongside him at the pass? We always love catching up with Justin Smillie, and we hope you enjoy our talk.MORE FROM JUSTIN SMILLIE:The 10 Dishes That Made My Career: Justin Smillie of Upland [FWF]Montauk Squid seared with fermented yuzu, parsley, moscatel vinegar [IG]TASTE Podcast 68: Donna Leonard [TASTE]FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:instagram.com/chefjsmillieinstagram.com/mattrodbardinstagram.com/taste

We’re thrilled to welcome Sohla El-Waylly to the show for the first time. Sohla is a prodigious recipe developer, a fixture of food YouTube, and a judge on HBO’s cooking competition The Big Brunch—plus a friend of Aliza’s. This week, Aliza and Sohla unpack Sohla’s background before becoming one of the most viral stars in food media today, her thoughts on the ever-controversial brunch, the concept behind her debut cookbook, and much more.  MORE FROM SOHLA EL-WAYLLY:Sohla and Ham Turn Hot Pockets Into A 3-Course Meal [The New York Times]Caramelized Onion and Toasted Rice Porridge [Hot Dish with Sohla]The Big Brunch [HBO]

On this episode, we catch up with Ben Van Leeuwen, the cofounder of a namesake chain of ice cream shops with an accompanying grocery store freezer section line. We invited Ben on the show to talk about what inspires his exacting, hypercreative flavor creation. We also talk about the ups and downs that come with running a growing consumer food brand. Was he freaked out about the Halo Top takeover a few years back? Most certainly. We also talk about flavor booms and busts, and how to sell ice cream in winter. Stick around to hear one of the more inspiring stories in food.Also on the show, Matt and producer Shalea Harris talk about Shalea’s recent kitchen journey making mchuzi wa nyama ya mbuzi, and shopping for fresh goat meat. MORE FROM BEN VAN LEEUWEN:Food Truck Week: Van Leeuwen Ice Cream [PBS]Finally Ready to Go Big [Brooklyn Magazine]The Summer of Halo Top [TASTE]FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:instagram.com/benwvlinstagram.com/mattrodbardinstagram.com/taste

Stay calm and…just act like Eric Ripert. Young cooks, are you listening? Ripert, a celebrated chef and TV personality, is a balancing force. We talk about how he keeps the exquisite (and massive) Le Bernardin empire running, day after day. We talk about recruiting talent, and he’s also just a really good interview, as we find out in his return to the show. And we also discuss his meals at Noma, and his love of Korean food and culture—from the late-night partying to the vegetarian temple style of cooking that aligns with the Buddhist religion that’s so important to the chef. He loves it all, and we remember a trip we took together to Seoul a couple years ago.Buy: Vegetable SimpleMORE FROM ERIC RIPERT:Eric Ripert Is Cooking Through It [TASTE]Le Bernardin Holds On to Its Craft (and Its Four Stars) [NYT]L’ Ami Pierre [official]FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:instagram.com/ericripertinstagram.com/mattrodbardinstagram.com/taste

Yes, it’s James Hoffmann day on TASTE, and we couldn’t be more thrilled. James is one of the coolest dudes on the Coffee internet, and we wanted to have him on the show to talk about all things coffee at home. On this episode, we talk about what actually makes great coffee at home (the topic of a new book), his big thoughts on espresso, how he rated the best grocery store coffee brands, and what it’s like running his crazy popular YouTube channel—a space that is educating millions of coffee drinkers around the world to drink better coffee. It was a real treat to catch up with James, and I hope you enjoy it.MORE FROM JAMES HOFFMANN:Meet the CEO of Coffee YouTube [TASTE]The Coffee Issue [TASTE]The Best USA Grocery Store Coffee [YouTube]TASTE Podcast 144: Jimmy Butler and Ashley Rodriguez [TASTE]FOLLOW FOLLOW FOLLOW:instagram.com/jimseveninstagram.com/mattrodbardinstagram.com/taste

We wanted to have journalist Anne Helen Petersen on the show not only to talk about modern office lunch culture...we wanted to have journalist Anne Helen Peterson on the show to talk about soup! Peterson is the author of the amazing newsletter Culture Study, and she has much to say about the intersection of food and pop culture. She also name checks some of her favorite cookbooks from Ali Slagle, Alison Roman, and Jenny Rosenstrach to name a few. This is such a rich and textured conversation from one of the sharpest observers around. We hope you enjoy it.More from Anne Helen Petersen:There Is No Such Thing as “Junk” Food [BA]When Did Fitness Become a Luxury Item? [Culture Study]New Year, New Job, New Me [Work Appropriate]CrispyEgg420 [Instagram]

Himanshu Suri is best known by his rap name Heems, and he is our guest on this entertaining episode of the show. We wanted to have Heems on not just because we are a fan of his former group Das Racist (you may remember their song “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell”) but because we wanted to talk to him about Punjabi food. About growing up in Queens. About his new passion for gardening. We really enjoyed catching up with Heems.More from Heems:Dosa Hunt! [Official]Swet Shop Boys - "T5" [YouTube]Heems on Rap, Race and Identity [NPR]Das Racist - Rapping 2 U Live in Sydney [YouTube]