This Is TASTE

Pizza Week continues! The title on Anthony Falco’s business card is “global pizza consultant,” and, true to form, Anthony has helped people achieve their dreams of starting pizzerias and perfecting their craft around the globe. In this highly entertaining conversation, Falco shares some of his favorite gigs and talks about his time helping launch and grow the pizza operation at Roberta’s, the singular Bushwick pizzeria that inspired the launch of thousands of Neapolitan pizza shops around the globe. Anthony is the author of Pizza Czar: Recipes and Know-How from a World-Traveling Pizza Chef, and we talk about translating these big ideas to a home setting. It’s great catching up with this legend in the pizza game, and we hope you enjoy it.Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. MORE FROM ANTHONY FALCO: Anthony Falco Left Roberta’s. Now He’s an “International Pizza Consultant” [BA] Odd Job: Meet an International Pizza Consultant [Vox]

Dan Richer, owner of Razza in Jersey City, New Jersey, joins the hosts for Pizza Week. They discuss his famous pizza, obsession with bread, and his cookbook. They also touch on the difference between New York and New York style pizza, selecting the perfect tomatoes, Neapolitan-inspired food, and the benefits of making pizza at home with a Uni oven. The complexity of pizza making, best ingredients, and rapid-fire food favorites are also discussed.

Here are two classic conversations. Tina Choi is the Seoul-based genius behind one of our favorite food YouTube channels around, Doobydobap. Pierce Abernathy is a trained cook, a big-time TikTok and Instagram creator, and a former Buzzfeeder, and he’s been known to model and work with fashion brands in interesting ways. We hope you enjoy these talks.Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. MORE FROM TINA CHOI AND PIERCE ABERNATHY: How Koreans Meal Prep [YouTube] How Koreans Kimchi [YouTube] Leek Butter [TikTok]

Peter Luger is Brooklyn history and one of the most iconic New York City restaurants. Between hand-selected steaks, a signature bacon and burger service, and a tight-knit family that has run the place since 1950, it’s a rich topic to talk about. And talk we did with Daniel Turtel, who works alongside his family at the Williamsburg institution. Daniel is involved in the daily selection of steaks that are served to hungry guests each day, and we talk about the restaurant’s legacy as well as its bright future in Las Vegas. We also discuss what it took to come back from a tough New York Times review. Daniel is a really interesting guy, and I hope you enjoy this conversation.Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. MORE FROM PETER LUGER: How to Get a Table at Peter Luger [Forbes] The One Peter Luger Dish You Can Only Get in Vegas [Tasting Table] Peter Luger Merch Is Good [official]

Jermaine Stone has an extraordinary story about how a fluke job at a wine warehouse led him to his unique place in the wine world. He’s the host of Street Somm on Tastemade, a show in which he interviews some of the biggest names in hip-hop about all things wine. He’s also the founder of Cru Luv Selections, a New York–based wine branding and marketing agency dedicated to engaging hip-hop fans in the world of wine. It’s really fun having Jermaine in the studio, and I hope you enjoy this conversation.Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. MORE FROM JERMAINE STONE: On His Podcast ‘Wine and Hip Hop,’ Jermaine Stone Aims to Bridge Cultures [NYT] Wine and Hip Hop [Apple Podcasts]

There aren’t a lot of things on the internet that have been around since 1999. But David Lebovitz’s blog (and now Substack), full of quips, stories, and recipes from his life in Paris, is one of them. David is the author of many cookbooks, including The Perfect Scoop, Ready For Dessert, Drinking French, and the iconic My Paris Kitchen. This is such a fun conversation, full of life and stories about pastry in San Francisco and Paris. David is one of our all-time favorites, and it was so fun having him in the studio. We hope you enjoy this conversation. Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. MORE FROM DAVID LEBOVITZ: Chocolate Chip “Kitchen Sink” Cookies [David Lebovitz] TASTE Travels France: Exploring Camembert, Calvados, and The French Countryside This Is TASTE 323: We ❤️ Saveur with Dorothy Kalins [TASTE] The Making of My Paris Kitchen [David Lebovitz]

Alison Cayne is the founder of Haven's Kitchen, a pioneering culinary school, café, and consumer brand that has been at the center of the New York City food world for nearly a decade. We absolutely loved catching up with Alison about her journey to launching the company and some of the wild events she has hosted over the years. We also talk about her pivot to the world of consumer packaged goods and how she makes it all work in this very competitive world. Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. MORE FROM HAVEN’S KITCHEN: How the Haven’s Kitchen Team DIY’d Their Way to a New Test Kitchen [AD] How Alison Cayne Handles a Cooking School, a Café, a Sauce Business, and Five Kids [BA] In The Sauce [Apple Podcasts]

Banza is the chickpea pasta with the bright orange boxes that have become nothing short of a phenomenon, changing the way we think about gluten-free pasta forever. Matt is a legit fan of the rotini and the penne, as well as the brand’s expansion into pizza, and he invited Banza’s founder, Brian Rudolph, into the studio. They talk about the founding of the company, how Brian landed on the iconic branding, and what makes a great pasta sauce. We hope you enjoy this conversion.Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. MORE FROM BANZA: Olive Oil and Chickpea Pasta Got Cool. You Can Blame This Agency. [TASTE] Banza’s Founder Is Growing a Household Brand by Betting Big on Chickpeas [Forbes] Solving the Pasta Problem [Emory Wheel]

Eunjo Park doesn’t necessarily need kimbap, but kimbap most certainly needs her—or fans of kimbap need her, at least. When Eunjo, a veteran of Per Se and the three-Michelin-starred Gaon in Seoul, was opening the first Momofuku restaurant to explicitly focus on Korean food, Momofuku Kāwi, located on the far west side of New York in Hudson Yards, one of the very first dishes she and her boss, David Chang, wanted to focus on was kimbap. And focus she did, which we talk about on this great episode. We also talk about her amazing career, and how she is thinking deeply about modern Korean cooking. We love Eunjo and hope you enjoy this talk.Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from youMORE FROM EUNJO PARK: BLT Kimbap [YouTube] One of Momofuku’s Top Chefs Is Leaving the Restaurant Group [Eater] Pre-order: Koreaworld: A Cookbook [Now Serving]

Rie McClenny is a video host and cookbook author who rose to acclaim in the test kitchen at BuzzFeed, where she hosted video series including Make It Fancy. On this episode, we find out about her journey from Japan to professional kitchens in Los Angeles to YouTube stardom. We also talk about her terrific debut cookbook, Make It Japanese: Simple Recipes for Everyone. We hope you enjoy this conversation. Also on the show, Matt catches up with his old friend Evan Wittenberg. Evan is passionate about the Philadelphia food scene, the Netflix works of Phil Rosenthal, Cormac McCarthy novels, and playing the drums. He is also 13. It’s fun catching up with one of our younger listeners to find out what is good.Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. MORE FROM RIE MCCLENNY: A Japanese Homestyle Meatball Clinches the Comfort Food Crown [TASTE] Let’s Make Gyoza [TikTok] Phil Rosenthal vs. a 7-Year-Old [TASTE]