The MOIF team reconvenes to review the Required Eating challenges handed down last week—and what was meant to be a finale turns into more of a cliffhanger. But then, Dave, Chris, and Noelle dust themselves off and dive into: celebrity hotel-room cooking, Dave’s Batman rankings, a disappointing shrimp cocktail, bacon-to-lettuce ratios, when to wake up, dreams of hyper-efficiency, the Michael Pollan effect, feeling like a Quaker, taking a rocket ship to Hell for 20 minutes, Dave’s grade in Friendship 102, and the old bait-and-switch.

Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying

Guest: Noelle Cornelio

Producer: Sasha Ashall

Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor

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The Great Pizza Debate continues with Recipe Club veteran and New World Sourdough author Bryan Ford stepping up to contend with unrepentant homemade pizza skeptic Dave Chang—but when the doppio-zero dust clears, whose pizza path will the world choose to follow? Plus: haircut narcolepsy, pan de coco, Dave making Jamaican food, heirloom Hot Pockets, putting bread on a pedestal, pulling up to the retirement community with the wood-fired pizza oven, open-crumb shots, Brian Scalabrine, and an honest assessment of Chris’s pasta salad.

Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying

Guest: Bryan Ford

Producer: Sasha Ashall

Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor

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Dave, Chris, and Noelle are shaking up the show with a newly kinetic, activity-driven MOIF format—and if you're reading this, we're roping you into it, too. Also discussed: Diet Dr. Pepper, ordering London broil at a diner, Iron Chef, Dave's spinach-artichoke dip, encountering Biscoff cookies beneath 35,000 feet, asking for a second meal on a flight, restaurants making their own charcoal, fried-rice windfalls, and a farewell to Dave's mom.

Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying

Guest: Noelle Cornelio

Producers: Sasha Ashall and Mike Wargon

Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor

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John Walker was earning accolades for his work as a brewer in Santa Fe when he heard about a different kind of challenge—starting up a first-class nonalcoholic brewery. He tells Dave and Chris about what drew him to Athletic Brewing, amid a conversation covering temperance pairings, shift drinks, the Am-I-Stupid test, mowing the lawn in a shirt and tie, the great taste of cheap beer, Mosaic hops, capturing aromatic compounds, Joe Biden's favorite Gatorade, standing in line for Pliny the Younger, the sparkling water glut, beer regionality, and Dave's ongoing crusade against IPA.

Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying

Guest: John Walker

Producers: Sasha Ashall and Mike Wargon

Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor

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The gang returns for another late-night Q&A—but first, as a little warm-up, we recap Dave’s visit to Pizzeria Bianco, Chris’s Newport Seafood birthday experience, dinner-course deluges, and what happens when the kitchen writes Hufflepuff on the ticket. Then the questions begin. Confronted on this episode: potato antimatter, figs on a plate, gas station Jojos, curly fry engineering, the beauty of a properly poured Guinness, wedding registry advice, Kewpie mayo, booze that comes in a pleather case, Deanna Troi, and really, really good fruit.

Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying

Guest: Jordan Bass

Producer: Sasha Ashall

Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor

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Eighteen months after opening the doors at West Oakland’s Horn BBQ, Matt Horn has lines down the block, a second restaurant, and a new cookbook out this week—but finding that success was far from easy. Matt talks to Dave and Chris about the many long nights and moments of truth along the way, as well as the meal in Japan that Dave can’t stop thinking about, hangover salvation, bloomin’ onions, the 3 a.m. internal BBQ monologue, repo man Heston Blumenthal, burning the boats behind you, BBQ omakase, cooking hot links until they burst, Coke vs. Pepsi, where Matt’s eating in Oakland, and having faith in the fire vs. just wanting to eat the brisket already.

Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying

Guest: Matt Horn

Producer: Sasha Ashall

Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor

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On their latest fact-finding expedition, Dave, Chris, and Noelle criss-cross the Western U.S. to consider becoming a carrot-cake household, 'Harry Potter' geography, fish maw soup, Peking-style pork chop, Chris and Noelle’s recent visit to Vegas, Bang Bar walking snacks, bathtub eating, wasabi-pea rice krispies, Dave taking another swing at Soylent, Chris’s Popeyes order, John Cougar Mellencamp, and the ominous, apparently unstoppable advance of the Seattle Dog.

Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying

Guest: Noelle Cornelio

Producer: Sasha Ashall

Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor

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What was life like for a young New York chef chasing a dream in the early 2000s? Milk Bar founder and Dave Chang chosen-family member Christina Tosi was there to see it, and her latest book, 'Dessert Can Save the World,' relays a lot of what she learned then and since. Christina calls up Dave and Chris to consider what she and Dave were like in their 20s, the smile vs. the grimace, the power of not having a plan, barbecue soft serve, the everything-bagel influence of Wylie Dufresne, proving Dave wrong, rainbow sprinkles, work-life ratios, eating multiple bowls of Honey Bunches of Oats, Dave discovering chocolate milk, and what might happen if Christina Tosi faced off against the Wheel of Constraint.

Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying

Guest: Christina Tosi

Producer: Sasha Ashall

Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor

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With a crab-or-prime-rib-driven 80th birthday party to plan, Dave, Chris, and Noelle set out to survey the Southern California seafood-banquet landscape, and attempt to chart the ideal parameters of a celebratory family meal. Also explored: Dave’s body falling apart, a real-life candy draft, whether Veggie Straws are vegetables, Brodard Chateau, Dave’s thoughts on Renaissance architecture, Noelle’s dinner at HaiDiLao, table-side cooking, and Recipe Club returning tomorrow!

Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying

Guest: Noelle Cornelio

Producer: Sasha Ashall

Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor

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The eminent author of 'The Food Lab' and the just-released 'The Wok' joins Dave and Chris to talk about life as a lodestar to a generation of cooks, being a dad, and how he feels about making food at home. Plus: debunking the restaurant-burner requirement, our collective no-recipe moment, encountering your mom’s YouTube history, Googling jambalaya, perfection vs. discovery, Harold McGee, canon vs. fan fiction, and Kenji’s take on the Seattle Dog.

 Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying

Guest: J. Kenji López-Alt

Producer: Sasha Ashall

Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor

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