This Is TASTE

Jerry Williams Jr. has performed under the pseudonym Swamp Dogg since 1970 and has been described as “one of the great cult figures of 20th century American music.” I would agree, and it was an absolute honor to welcome the R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer to the studio to talk about visiting restaurants on the road while touring in the Jim Crow South and working with iconic artists like Patti LaBelle, Doris Duke, and Dr. Dre. We also discuss his new cookbook, which is a real treasure. It’s called If You Can Kill It I Can Cook It, and I absolutely love it. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Swamp Dogg.

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Norma Listman and Saqib Keval are the chefs and co-owners of Masala y Maíiz, a Mexico City restaurant rooted in a mestizaje exploration of culinary traditions from India, East Africa, and Mexico. It was great to have them in the studio to talk about creating a more equitable restaurant that puts their workers first, expanding into a new location, shooting an episode of Chef’s Table, and their favorite spots in Mexico City.

Also on the show, Aliza shares her first visit to Houston! What a town. Stops included: Tacos Tierra Caliente, Nam Giao, Truth BBQ, Ninfa’s on Navigation, Tiny Champions, Basket Books, and the Eldorado Ballroom.

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We’ve all long been major fans of Ligaya Mishan, who last month was named co–chief restaurant critic at the New York Times. Working alongside Tejal Rao, Ligaya will be reviewing restaurants in New York City as well as around the country—and compiling the now iconic (and much-debated) 100 Best Restaurants in New York list. So what does it feel like to take over for Pete Wells? We went right to the source for this wonderful conversation. We discuss personal taste, mining history books, and what exactly makes a one-star restaurant. We also go back to Ligaya’s days writing the Hungry City column and talk about how this big job was truly more than a decade in the making. We love this fresh direction for the NYT Food section and were happy to have one of its new chief critics in the studio.

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Read some of Ligaya’s memorable writing:

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Eddie Huang hardly needs an introduction, but here’s a shot. Eddie is a gifted writer, rap encyclopedia, film director, podcast host, best-selling author, and a pretty nice chef, too. Matt has known Eddie since his days coming up in New York City in the 2000s, running the iconic Baohaus and shaking up the food writing world in the process. Today he’s back living in New York after spending years in California, and we get into his new restaurant project, Gazebo, which is running as a monthly pop-up series at The Flower Shop. We also talk about NYC dining culture then and now, and Eddie takes the TASTE Check. Legendary. 

Read some of Eddie’s recent writing on Canal Street Dreams:

Get your tickets to our live event on July 23 at the Bell House in Brooklyn. Featuring conversations with Padma Lakshmi, Hailee Catalano & Chuck Cruz, and a live taping of Bon Appétit Bake Club with Jesse Szewczyk and Shilpa Uskokovic. Ticket sales benefit One Love Community Fridge.

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Today on the show, we have a great conversation with Austin Tedesco. Austin is head of business development at Substack, but we think of him even more as an infinitely curious restaurant superfan. He’s worked as a line cook and dines out with the frequency of our best critics. He writes about it all on his own Substack, Bangers & Jams, and we talk about his journey from NBA reporter to restaurant professional to helping promote the growth of authors on the Substack platform. Is Substack the future of food media? It’s still early to say, and Austin gives some insight into how it all works. 

Read: Knife myths and realities

SUPPORT A FEW OF OUR FAVORITE FOOD SUBSTACKS:

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It was a lot of fun having Bill Oakley in the studio. Bill is a writer and “professional food enthusiast,” as he says. He’s also a former head writer for The Simpsons and has also written for The Cleveland Show and Portlandia and created the series Mission Hill. We loved talking with Bill about all kinds of food topics and his latest obsessions. We discuss writing food into memorable episodes of The Simpsons and his unique way of touring the country for highly entertaining live events. Bill is a real original.

And, at the top of the show, it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt talk about what is exciting them in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. On this episode: Larry's Ca Phe does refreshing matcha right, Chicago's Lula Cafe served the perfect asparagus dish, Aliza visited L'Industrie Pizzeria for the first time, Gary He, author of McAtlas, was on fire at the James Beard Awards. Also: Aliza is reading Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder, and Matt had a great time at The Great Nosh and recaps the amazing food.

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Kelly Mencin is the pastry chef and co-owner of Radio Bakery, a cult-followed destination for filled croissants and focaccia sandwiches with two locations in Brooklyn. Radio’s offerings—and its lines—are legendary, and today on the show Kelly talks about opening Rolo’s, transitioning to Radio, and their continued efforts to try and meet demand.

Get your tickets to our live event on July 23 at the Bell House in Brooklyn. Featuring conversations with Padma Lakshmi, Hailee Catalano & Chuck Cruz, and a live taping of Bon Appétit Bake Club with Jesse Szewczyk and Shilpa Uskokovic. Ticket sales benefit One Love Community Fridge.

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. 

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Noor Murad is a Bahrain-born, New York–trained, London-based chef and the author of the wonderful new cookbook Lugma. You may know her recipes from her time running the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen and contributing to the books Falastin, Shelf Love, and Extra Good Things. Now it’s time to get to know Noor herself through this delicious collection of traditional and re-imagined dishes from Bahrain and beyond.

Also on the show we catch up with Brian Voll, the creative force behind the innovative cookbook series Menus By Brian.

Get your tickets to our live event on July 23 at the Bell House in Brooklyn. Featuring conversations with Padma Lakshmi, Hailee Catalano & Chuck Cruz, and a live taping of Bon Appétit Bake Club with Jesse Szewczyk and Shilpa Uskokovic. Ticket sales benefit One Love Community Fridge.

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you.

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It was so much fun having Chris Morocco in the studio for a wide-ranging conversation about cooking, media, and his nearly two decades working at Condé Nast. Chris is the food director of Bon Appétit and Epicurious, overseeing the test kitchen team and the recipes they develop. In this episode, we go back to Chris’s early career working at Vogue before landing an assistant job in the BA Test Kitchen. We go over how he currently leads the team and how they think about seasonality, taste, and getting people to cook more in this rapidly changing world. We’re big fans of Chris’s work, and it was exciting speaking with him.

We're hosting a really cool live podcast event in Brooklyn on July 23, featuring Padma Lakshmi, Hailee Catalano & Chuck Cruz, and a live taping of Bon Appétit Bake Club with Jesse Szewczyk and Shilpa Uskokovic, visit the Bell House website.

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. 

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Dan Giusti is the founder and CEO of Brigaid, an organization bringing restaurant chefs to school cafeterias and senior centers. Formerly the head chef at Noma, he’s now dedicated to providing delicious and healthy meals to 40 institutions across the country. This year alone, Brigaid expects to serve over a million meals. It’s so special to have Dan in the studio to talk about growing up on Italian American classics, pivoting from Noma to Brigaid, and how all the work happens.

Also on the show we have a terrific conversation with Adrian Miller. He’s the author of a groundbreaking new book: Cooking to the President’s Taste: Asian Heritage Chefs in White House History. We talk about how lesser-known Asian chefs have helped shape the food in the White House, and possibly policy.

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. 

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