This Is TASTE

We welcome one of our favorite chefs in the game, JJ Johnson, back to the program. JJ is the James Beard Award–winning chef behind the fast-casual restaurant Field Trip and a coauthor of the cookbook Between Harlem and Heaven. In this episode, we catch up about JJ’s time attending the Culinary Institute of America and what it was like being one of the few Black chefs in the program. Then we fast-forward to the present day and talk about JJ’s big ambition with food television and his growing empire of rice-focused restaurants. We love chatting with JJ whenever we can, and we hope you enjoy this conversation.More from JJ Johnson: Chef JJ Johnson Is Making Rice Cool Again [Nations Restaurant News] JJ Johnson’s Field Trip To Malliouhana [Forbes] JJ Johnson Is a Young Chef on the Rise, to a Hip-Hop Beat [New York Times] TASTE Podcast 62: JJ Johnson [TASTE] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How fun to have Paula Forbes on the show! Paula is a longtime journalist covering the cookbook publishing industry, among many other topics, and is the founder of Stained Page News. On this episode, we find out what draws Paula to review, critique, and obsess over cookbooks—as well as what she enjoys cooking at home. We also dive into the busy fall season and find out what Paula is most looking forward to. It’s a great time catching up with our old friend.Later on the episode, we speak with chef Tanya Holland, author of the new cookbook Tanya Holland’s California Soul. It’s a beautiful tribute to the Black food traditions of California. We find out some of Holland’s own personal history and what drove her to write about this incredible topic.More from Paula and Tanya: Fall Preview 2022: Chef & Restaurant Books [Stained Page News] Fall Preview 2022: Baking and Pastry [Stained Page News] Time to Put Equity on the Plate in Our Restaurant Industry [Newsweek] Buy: Tanya Holland’s California Soul Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you introduce Melissa Clark, a prolific cookbook author, longtime New York Times columnist, and one of the most respected food writers around? Well, first you must know that one of our absolute favorite cookbooks of all time is her 2017 tome Dinner: Changing the Game. In this episode, we talk about what inspires her weekly recipe column in the paper of record and how her latest book, Dinner in One, may be one of her most personal books yet. We also go back to her days collaborating with great chefs including Daniel Boulud, David Bouley, and Claudia Fleming. We hope you enjoy getting to know Melissa Clark a little better. Also on the show Matt catches up with Contributing Editor Aliza Abarbanel to talk all about this McTorta moment we are all living in, as well as ranking the top fast food menu items of the land.More from Melissa Clark: Take Your Cakes to the Upside Down [New York Times]    Elbowing for Scallops With Melissa Clark [TASTE] How to Roast the Perfect Chicken [Youtube] The McTorta Moment [TASTE] Buy: Dinner in One Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does a cookbook editor actually do day-to-day in the year 2022? It turns out, more than you could ever imagine. On this episode of the show, we catch up with our old friend Raquel Pelzel. She’s the editorial director at Clarkson Potter and has authored more than a dozen cookbooks of her own. It’s clear that Raquel has tremendous respect for her authors, including Eric Kim, Rick Martinez, and Claire Saffitz, and we find out how she allows her authors’ voice to shine through. We also talk about the way she edits a recipe, which goes back to her time working at the demanding Cooks Illustrated. Was her mom “the worst cook in the world”? Yes, she was, and we find out about Raquel’s interesting upbringing living on the North Side of Chicago. This is such a great conversation about making and loving cookbooks!More from Raquel Pelzel: High Cuisine: How I Wrote a Serious Pot Cookbook [TASTE] Thank You, WhatsApp. Or, How to Crowd-Source an Israeli Family Recipe. [TASTE] What Cookbook Author and Publishing Maven Raquel Pelzel Cooks for Her Family in a Week [Epicurious] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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