This Is TASTE

When Mission Chinese opened in New York in a crowded, slightly dank subterranean space on Orchard Street a decade ago, the food world collectively paused to praise the inventive and fully out-there cooking of a young chef named Danny Bowien. On this episode we catch up with Danny to hear about the up-and-down decade that followed and what it was like to recently close his last Mission location in NYC. We also talk about the 2020 Grub Street article that painted a portrait of abuse in the kitchens run under his watch. And we dive into his great new cookbook, Mission Vegan. This episode is a long time coming, and we hope you enjoy it.More from Danny Bowien: Goodbye to Mission Chinese Food and Its Complicated NYC Legacy [Bon Appetit] The Nightmare Inside Mission Chinese Food [Grub Street]  Danny Bowien on the Hard-Partying Chef Life—Now Fueled by SoulCycle and Spirulina [Vogue] Twice-Cooked Bacon is the Best Kind of Bacon [Saveur] Buy: Mission Vegan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist and cookbook author Eric Kim is back on the show, and we had such a great time catching up with him. So much has happened since we had him in last fall, and we talk about so many things, including his recent work at the New York Times and the release and warm reception of his NYT bestseller, the cookbook Korean American. We also talk about the Chicago hot dog, one of our favorite foods, and his and Matt’s complicated feelings behind the assertion that “Korean food is having a moment.” Eric has an open invitation to be on the show, and we’re so glad he accepted again.Also on the show, the return of 3 things! Contributing editor Aliza Abarbanel joins Matt to talk about what’s on their minds: donut peaches, eating out in Portland, Oregon, the forthcoming cookbook Rambutan, the best peanut butter, and Spago Rock.      More from Eric Kim: Welcome to Chicago, Hot Dog Town, U.S.A. [New York Times] A Chocolate Cake for the Queen of ASMR Eating [New York Times Magazine] What’s in Your Second Fridge? [TASTE] Cake Zine [Official website] The Melt [Substack] Buy: Korean American  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s really fun having Alex Delany on the show and getting to know the food and drink (and menswear and rare book) writer and collector a little bit better. You may know Alex from his time working at Bon Appétit as a writer covering home cooking, wine, cocktails, and naturally processed coffee (respect), as well as a series of memorable YouTube videos. But since leaving BA in early 2021, Alex has been busy working as a consultant, podcaster, wine educator, and most recently as the author of a really cool city guide called “Everything Good.” As the name suggests, the free Google Doc notes the good things happening in neighborhoods around New York City. In this wide-ranging conversation, we talk about his time working at Details (RIP) and later BA, where he rose to become drinks editor and write exhaustive guides about amaro, coffee subscriptions, and regional pizza styles. We also go over some of Alex’s favorite places on his beloved Lower East Side (aka Dimes Square, aka one of NYC’s most vibrant and controversial neighborhoods). It’s really fun catching up with Alex.More from Alex Delany: Everything Good on the Lower East Side [Google Doc] Everything Good in Soho and Noho [Google Doc] I Never Thought I Would Say This: I’m Into This Non-Alcoholic Beer [BA] Sound Radio [Spotify] What Is Natural Process Coffee? [Sprudge] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A writer, editor, illustrator, cookbook author, children’s book author, and really fun guy to get to know, Joshua David Stein really has all the goods. In this truly epic episode we cover Joshua’s long and interesting career, from the early days of Gawker and the New York Observer to writing cookbooks with Kwame Onwuachi, Wilson Tang, and Joe Campanale. We talk about why writing about restaurants is such a compelling act of cultural anthropology, and why writing cookbooks was the natural progression for Joshua. And how the years-long process of writing a cookbook is the type of project, a huge one at that, that is both satisfying and an exercise of letting go. We also talk about the hustle required to hack it in food writing today. This is an amazing talk with one of our favorites.More from Joshua David Stein: When Jacques Pépin Made All the World an Omelet [TASTE] Chef Michael White's New York Comeback [Esquire]  This Is the Story of the Rainbow Room [PUNCH] Buy: Vino: The Essential Guide to Real Italian Wine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We don’t talk much about the wine world on the show, but we couldn’t pass up the chance to have the legendary wine critic and big-ideas person Jancis Robinson in the studio. Wine talk can be a real snooze, but this wide-ranging chat is hardly the audio version of swirling and spitting. We talk about Jancis’s pioneering wine show on the BBC and how she translated wine to a wide audience. We also discuss what it’s like to select wines for Her Royal Highness and how the wines are highly scrutinized by the press and “royal watchers” (and we debate the accuracy of The Crown). We talk about natural wine and how the conventional wine world has been challenged by a seismic change in the industry. We learned a great deal from this conversation!More from Jancis Robinson: The 24 Hour Wine Expert [Talks at Google]  What Wine Twitter Taught Me About Wine [PUNCH] What Does It Take to Be a Great Wine Reference Book Today? [PUNCH] Visit Jancis online at: jancisrobinson.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What a thrill to have Stephen Satterfield on the show. Stephen has many layers in his long career in journalism, wine, and television—and we discuss them all. He is the founder of Whetstone, a media company founded in 2017 that produces journals, podcasts, and an anchor magazine that is one of our favorites on the rack. He’s also the host of the Netflix series High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America, winner of a Peabody Award for documentary. This conversation is wide-ranging and dips into Stephen’s sommelier past, as well as digging into his approach for producing the magazine Whetstone. It’s a really great conversation.More from Stephen Satterfield:   F&W Game Changers: Stephen Satterfield [Food & Wine]  The Lasting Impact of ‘High on the Hog’ [Eater] The Profound Significance of ‘High on the Hog’ [New York Times] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Emily Schildt wants food shopping to be a more fun and mind-expanding experience, and with her company, Pop Up Grocer, she’s getting customers closer to the destination. As the name suggests, PUG travels the country and sets up shop for 30-day runs in cities like Miami, New York, and Washington, DC. Each pop-up sells hundreds of the most interesting and emerging food brands around (some of which we’ve covered on the TASTE Podcast), all heavily curated and many run by women and BIPOC founders. We speak with Emily about the company’s big ideas, even bigger plans, and some of the products she is most excited about selling. What a great conversation with Emily!More from Emily Schildt: Emily Schildt on Rethinking the Grocery Experience [Modern Retail] The Utopian Promises and Novelty Cheese of a Discount Grocery Store [TASTE] How Pop Up Grocer Curates its Aisles with Emerging Food Brands [Forbes] Pop Up Grocer [official website] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yay, Adam Roberts is here for a very special episode. You may know Adam from his pioneering food blog Amateur Gourmet, or from his stint doing videos for the Food Network, which he talks about candidly in this episode (spoiler: it didn’t go so well). What has gone well is Adam’s new newsletter, naturally called the Amateur Gourmet, which is so worth checking out. We touch on many topics, including gossip about his early blogging days, some Food Network memories, his time working in television, his love of British cookbooks, the Broadway cookbook he wrote with Gideon Glick, what he’s cooking, and where to eat in his hometown of Los Angeles. It’s action-packed with Adam Roberts!More from Adam Roberts: Blow-Your-Mind Baked Beans [Amateur Gourmet] Homemade Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting [Youtube] The Amateur Gourmet Podcast Pre-order: Give My Swiss Chards to Broadway Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on the show, we welcome Linda Holmes. Linda is a pop culture correspondent for NPR and the host of the popular Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast. She’s also a novelist, and we talk about her recent book release, Flying Solo. We also discuss some cool topics in the crossover of food and pop culture, including meal kits, olestra, The Flavor Bible, macaron rules that need to be broken, food on TikTok (specifically cinnamon rolls covered in apple pie filling), the New York City diner breakfast that needs no notes, the supremacy of Is It Cake?, and wrestling with the legacy of Anthony Bourdain.More from Linda Holmes: Love in the Time of Hollering: The Age of Enthusiasm [NPR] After Beanie Feldstein's departure, can Lea Michele really save 'Funny Girl'? [NPR] Buy: Flying Solo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

She calls herself the Bob Ross of salads, and for very good reason. Jess Damuck is the salad freak behind the new cookbook Salad Freak and a really fun guest on our show today. Of course, we get into the Xs and Os of salad making, but we also find out about her journey—which included working closely with Martha Stewart for over a decade. We learn about the best way to store salad greens, the best way to use a salad spinner, serving salad hot, and the single mistake that most salad preppers are making. It’s a revealing conversation.More from Jess Damuck: Working for Martha Stewart Turned This Cookbook Author Into a ‘Salad Freak’ [Time] A Self-Proclaimed Salad Freak’s Kitchen Leads Right to the Garden [Domino] Essential Tools for a Better Salad [Food Network] Buy: Salad Freak Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices