Scott Conant is a James Beard Award–winning chef, TV personality, and pasta sauce savant. Matt still dreams about the Scarpetta spaghetti. It was a lot of fun having Scott in the studio to talk about his time coming up in New York City restaurants and why he decided to launch a food company, Martone Street, and compete for attention on the highly competitive tomato sauce shelf. 

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Brooks Reitz writes the wonderful newsletter A Small & Simple Thing, which has become one of our favorite reads. He also runs restaurants in Charleston and New Orleans, including Leon’s Oyster Shop, Little Jack’s Tavern, Melfi’s, and the Bell. In this conversation we talk about Brook’s unique worldview, built around restaurant hospitality, tastemaking (the not annoying kind), and design. We talk about the recent British Invasion for restaurants in America, and his acquisition of the Houston’s / Hillstone training manual. 

And before that we have a great conversation with Johno Morisano and chef Mashama Bailey, partners at The Grey, an acclaimed and progressive restaurant located in historic downtown Savannah, Georgia. In this interview we chat with the pair about how they think about the big picture (together) and bounce around menu ideas (sometimes, not together). It’s an enlightening and entertaining conversation about collaborating in a modern dining setting. 

The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers – not of Resy—and do not constitute professional advice.

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Ella Quittner is a journalist, screenwriter, and humorist who writes about obsession, culture, and food. She’s the author of a terrific new cookbook, Obsessed with the Best: 100+ Methodically Perfected Recipes Based on 20+ Head-to-Head Tests. On this very fun episode we talk about those tests, and finding the absolute best recipes for biscuits, pancakes, cookies, yellow cake, roasted chicken, and so much more. We also talk about her writing, and unique journey to cookbook authordom. 

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Preston Clark is the executive chef at Lure Fishbar and Bar Mercer in New York City, and he joins us in the studio to talk about his unique career. Clark’s father, Patrick Clark, was the original chef at the Odeon and the first Black chef to win a James Beard Award. Tragically, Patrick passed away in 1998 at the age of 42. Preston has picked up the Clark legacy while writing his own chapters, and we talk about his early chef life working with his dad at Tavern on the Green and his creative approach to comfort food cooking at his wildly popular New York City restaurants.

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Rick Bayless joins us in the studio for a truly memorable conversation. Rick is a chef, TV personality, cookbook author, and great advocate for Mexican cooking and culture. He joins us in the studio for a candid talk about his deeply personal history with Mexican cuisine, including the opening of his pioneering restaurant Frontera Grill in Chicago and his life in and out of the kitchen. 

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Natasha Pickowicz is a New York City–based chef and the author of More Than Cake, which was named a New York Times Best Cookbook of 2023 as well as a James Beard Award finalist. She’s also a hot pot obsessive who regularly hosts pop-ups of the communal East Asian dining experience in NYC. Now she’s sharing all her family hot pot wisdom and the techniques she’s adapted as a chef in a new book: Everyone Hot Pot. It’s so fun to have Natasha back on the show to go deep on everything you need to host a hot pot night at home.

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What a fun time having Nathan Thornburgh in the studio. Nathan is a former Time magazine foreign correspondent editor and is the CEO of Roads & Kingdoms, which he cofounded with writer Matt Goulding and at which Anthony Bourdain was a partner. We’ve long admired Nathan’s journalistic muscle and great feel for a story. We talk about the founding of Roads & Kingdoms and how the company’s pivot to organized travel has been a really great choice. 

Also: Fresh Food TV with Matt Goulding

Have a future guest request? A restaurant we should visit? Take the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠This Is TASTE listener survey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We really appreciate the feedback.

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Sam Lawrence is the chef-owner of Bridges, an ambitious and stylish restaurant on the edge of Manhattan’s Chinatown. Formerly the culinary director of Ignacio Mattos’s restaurant group, he opened Bridges in 2025. It won a Michelin star in its first year. Today on the show, Sam shares about bringing Bridges to life, Michelin recognition, and his plans for year two of the restaurant. 

Before that, Matt has a great conversation with Fatima Popal. Fatima is the chief operating and financial officer of the Popal Group, a family-owned hospitality business based in Washington, DC, that is behind beloved restaurants like Lapis, Pascual, Lutèce, and Maison Bar à Vins. For this Resy Generations interview, we talk about what it’s like running a family restaurant business, and what it’s like to sit down for dinner with your family (and coworkers).  

The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers – not of Resy—and do not constitute professional advice.

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Chef and restaurateur Marc Vetri is behind the legendary Vetri Cucina in Philadelphia, among many other restaurants. He’s also the author of several cookbooks, including the terrific The Pasta Book: Recipes, Techniques, Inspiration. I really enjoyed having Marc in the studio to talk about his deep love for both pasta and pasta cookbooks. We discuss the early days of Vetri Cucina as well as how a family recipe was passed down for one of his new openings.

Have a future guest request? A restaurant we should visit? Take the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠This Is TASTE listener survey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We really appreciate the feedback.

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Nikko Cagalanan is the chef-owner of Kultura in Charleston, South Carolina. Born and raised in the Philippines, Nikko began cooking in 2017 while still working as a nurse, discovering that the kitchen offered the same sense of purpose—to nurture, care for, and bring comfort to others. In 2019, he moved to Charleston to fully pursue his passion for cooking and launched Kultura to great acclaim, including a James Beard Award nomination. It was a lot of fun having Nikko in the studio to talk about his journey to professional cooking as well as some exciting news from the world of openings. 

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: Hangover cures, Television: A Novel of Luck and Perfection are novels worth checking out, and Catskills love for Fellow Mountain Cafe and Matilda. Also: We like I Love LA a lot and props to sneaky donut masters Grayling Bauer of Sparrowbush Bakery and Zoë Kanan of Elbow Bread. 

Also check out: Charleston Isn't Ordinary with Mike Lata

Have a future guest request? A restaurant we should visit? Take the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠This Is TASTE listener survey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We really appreciate the feedback.

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