The Robicelli Argument Clinic: A Food Podcast for Schmucks

This week we welcome one of our closest personal friends and personal dessert heroes to the podcast: David Alima of The Charmery! For those of you who don't know Allison's second favorite dessert is ice cream, and The Charmery is her favorite ice cream shop in America (it may have played a part in the decision to relocate to Baltimore). Join us as we discuss (and argue about) the ice cream science, price of vanilla, how to juice meat, flavor inspiration, Raven-Symone, waffle cones, library security guards and, as always, a bunch of stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with the topic we had planned for. 

This week on the Robicelli Argument Clinic it's a near-death extravaganza! Join Allison (stage IV cancer survivor), Matt (9/11 first responder with an unclassifiable autoimmune disease which attacks his organs), and Evan (he's okay) as they talk to chef Doug Wetzel, who shares one of the best stories any of us have ever heard. You'll learn why you should never participate in triathalons, why chihuahuas should be respected, and why Katy Perry may have supernatural powers (we have evidence!). The gang also argues about what a last meal actually should be, liver transplants, and Matt's highly limited list of adjectives. 

Inspired by the Cat Cora vs. Alinea drama, the RAC gang asks "Is is ever okay to trash a restaurant on social media?". Hosts Allison & Matt Robicelli (bakery and restaurant owners), producer Evan Siple (molecular biologist and independent beef jerky entrepreneur), and sidekick Noah "Nogz" Parker (19 year old "Instagram influencer") are joined by restaurant critic and Baltimore Fishbowl correspondent Kit Waskom Pollard to argue about their personal opinions, share industry horror stories, determine the right and wrong ways to share criticism and/or dispense cold hard justice, the power of compliments, and illustrate once again why the phrase "The Customer Is Always Right" is complete and utter bullshit. 

This week Allison, Matt, Noah and Evan are joined by are food writer, cookbook author and culinary OG Dara Bunjon for a fun discussion about the ritual of coming together as a family for dinner. And by fun we mean fun for you guys, because shit for us got DARK. As we all know the best comedy is deeply rooted in tragedy, so this very well may be our best episode yet!

This week the Robicelli gang argues about "guilty" pleasures, the duality of pleasure and shame, the best way to kill you pain with $25 at 7-11, and a bunch of unrelated crap because God forbid anyone has learned how to stay on topic. 

On this extra fun episode Allison, Matt, Evan and Noah are feeling the Valentine's Day spirit and in the mood for luuuuuuuuuv. This argument tries to determine the sexiest food of all time that's guaranteed to get you laid, ideas on how to incorporate food into your sex life, and other absolutely terrible ideas. 

This week the gang sits down with cookbook author and municipal historian Rachel Rappaport to argue about pizza toppings, weaponizing oysters, underappreciated regional eats, and whether or not people in Baltimore need to chill the fuck out over crabs. Nothing went horribly wrong this week, so it's a good one!

In this extra fun episode, noted film critic and Baltimore Magazine Editor-in-Chief Max Weiss stops by to argue with the gang about the greatest food scenes in motion picture history. Also, Allison and Matt get into a fight about how they would prepare each other's corpses if they were in some sort of forced cannibalism situation.  ***Editor's Note: apologies for any audio distortion, as we had a major situation involving file corruption and a very naughty kitty cat.*****

Former Baltimore Sun food critic Richard Gorelick stops by on a day where he had a tight window to return his Zipcar, Evan showed up late, and Noah smoked too much weed beforehand. The gang begins to argue about the relevance of food criticism, how IG stories are fueling underground restaurants in the hood, and Noah learns what a filet mignon is. Even on a day where everything goes wrong, a good time is had by all. 

Food innovation specialist Rachel Waynberg is the woman companies like Con Agra and Pepsico call when they want to know what the future of food looks like. In our second episode she stops by to argue about the burgeoning celery trend, and talk about what foods we can expect to see blow up in the next few years.

Also in this episode: Allison yells at Matt about his excessive cherry consumption, and Noah finds a way to permanently ruin mac and cheese for everyone. We thought that was impossible, too, but Noah truly is something special. 

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