

Special Sauce with Ed Levine
Ed Levine
Serious Eats' podcast Special Sauce enables food lovers everywhere to eavesdrop on an intimate conversation about food and life between host and Serious Eats founder Ed Levine and his well-known/famous friends and acquaintances both in and out of the food culture.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Oct 10, 2025 • 38min
NYT's Julia Moskin on Deli Sushi
How and when and why did sushi become one of America's most popular convenience foods? The Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times food reporter Julia Moskin explains all on this episode of Special Sauce.
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Oct 3, 2025 • 42min
John T. Edge: A Southerner Goes Searching for Home
On this episode of Special Sauce we talk to the terrific Southern food writer John T. Edge about his memoir House of Smoke: A Southerner Goes Searching for Home. His journey from a childhood in a small town in Georgia that in many ways still celebrated the Confederacy to running the Southern Foodways Alliance is a remarkable one.
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Sep 26, 2025 • 36min
MVY Series: IGI Helps Feed The Island
On this episode of Special Sauce we talk to Island Grown Initiative (IGI) co-executive director Caroline Pam about her organization's efforts to combat food insecurity on Martha's Vineyard during the Trump era. As much as 20% of the island's year-round population suffers from some form of food insecurity.
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Sep 19, 2025 • 41min
L.A. Taco's Javier Cabral on ICE Raids Reheat
On June 27th we posted a great conversation I had with L.A. Taco editor-in-chief Javier Cabral about what's going on in California with the cruel, inhumane and dangerous ICE raids that have had a devastating effect on L.A.'s vibrant and diverse taco culture. I haven't been able to stop thinking about the situation both in California and all over the country. So I thought that this week would be an appropriate and even necessary moment to reheat Javier's episode. Obviously much has happened in LA and elsewhere in the ensuing weeks and months, none of it good, in fact all of it truly awful. And L.A. Taco continues to do some incredible reporting on the situation in L.A. It's also aggregating reliable news stories about the nightmarish anti-immigration crackdown from elsewhere.
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Sep 12, 2025 • 40min
Drew Nieporent: Nobu's Partner Remembers
On this episode of Special Sauce we talk to the restaurateur's restaurateur Drew Nieporent about his lifelong love affair with restaurants. Nieporent partnered with Nobu Matsuhisa and movie star Robert DeNiro to open Nobu in NY. And even before Nobu, Nieporent played a leading role in establishing NYC's Tribeca neighborhood restaurant scene when he opened Montrachet in 1985.
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Sep 5, 2025 • 28min
MVY Series: Brazilian Food and Life On the Island
Brazilian immigrants, who now comprise 20% of the year-round population, have added immeasurably to the quality of life on Martha's Vineyard. On this episode of Special Sauce we talk to Brazilian grocer, owner and compulsive entrepreneur, Elio Silva, about Brazilian foodways and life on the island.
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12 snips
Aug 29, 2025 • 33min
Kenji on Burgers
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, a James Beard Award-winning chef and food writer, dives into the mouthwatering world of burgers just in time for Labor Day. He shares secrets for perfecting various types, from smash to turkey and black bean burgers. Kenji emphasizes the importance of quality ingredients and cooking techniques, including the art of browning proteins for deep flavor. He even unpacks vegan options, comparing traditional meats to plant-based alternatives. Get ready to elevate your cookout skills with his invaluable tips!

Aug 22, 2025 • 28min
Special Sauce Reheat: George Motz
As Labor Day approaches my thoughts invariably turn to burgers. In fact, I have embarked on a quest to find the best burger to be had on Martha's Vineyard. And when I think of burgers the first person I think of is burger scholar and Hamburger America owner George Motz. George was such a great guest on Special Sauce a couple of years ago that listeners have been clamoring for us to reheat one of his episodes, so that's what we're posting this week. I just texted George, who told me that the fourth completely revised and expanded edition of his terrific book Hamburger America will be published next year. That's great news for burger lovers!
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Aug 15, 2025 • 38min
MVY Series: Morning Glory Farm Turns 50
Farms on Martha's Vineyard have been disappearing for a hundred years now. The land is just too valuable. On today's Special Sauce we hear how one farmstead, Morning Glory Farm, has managed to feed people year-round on the Massachusetts island for 50 years now.
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Aug 8, 2025 • 35min
Phil Rosenthal: The Hardest Working Man in Food Media
Phil Rosenthal, the host and creator of Netflix's Somebody Feed Phil, works harder than just about any person I know in food media. What is he working on these days? A concert tour, a diner named after his parents (and co-stars) Max and Helen, a charitable initiative Somebody Feed the People, and so much more.
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