Special Sauce with Ed Levine

It's only 450 Square Feet, but L.A.'s Now Serving Cookbook Store is so much more than a place to buy food books. Its co-founder Ken Concepcion explains how his tiny bookstore became home base for Serious Eaters in LA. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Is being an international pizza consultant the world's best job? Anthony Falco explains all. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Freelance food writer Meghan McCarron, known for her New York Times insights on casual dining, and Adam Chandler, author of 'Drive Thru Dreams,' discuss the pivotal role casual dining chains like Chili's and Red Lobster play in American culture. They explore how these venues serve as community hubs, shaping social interactions and nostalgic memories. The conversation navigates the evolution of casual dining amid changing consumer preferences and offers a fresh perspective on the importance of shared dining experiences in a fast-paced world.

On this episode of Special Sauce, we revisit our extraordinary conversation with the great Mexico City-based chef Lalo Garcia and the journalist Laura Tillman, who chronicled his extraordinary journey from undocumented migrant farm worker to world-famous chef. Given everything that's happening right now in the world of immigration, we thought this episode might resonate anew.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On this episode of Special Sauce we revisit our provocative conversation with the food activist, farmer, and force of nature Karen Washington, one of the stars of the terrific documentary 'Food and Country'. In times like these, when many of our cherished institutions are coming under attack, we need more voices like hers. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On this episode of Special Sauce we talk to White Oak Pastures' Will Harris about nothing less than the future of farming. Harris has become one of the leading voices of the regenerative farming movement.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Last September Asheville, North Carolina was devastated by Hurricane Helene. The damage is estimated to be $60 billion. Especially hard hit was the close-knit food community that has attracted millions of visitors to Asheville every year. The New York Times's Pete Wells did some stellar reporting last fall when he spent a few days interviewing chefs and farmers in the picturesque western Carolina city. Now, six months down the road, Special Sauce checked in with Pete and James Beard Award-winning chef-restaurateur Meherwan Irani to update us on the state of Asheville's recovery.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

When the documentary Food and Country came out last year, we had Ruth Reichl on Special Sauce to talk about the film as a whole and the farmers that are actually the stars and heroes of the movie. One of those farmers is Bob Jones, CEO of The Chef's Garden in Ohio. Given the various extraordinary challenges farmers are set to face in the coming years, we thought it would be great to have Bob on the podcast to tell us his story and to tell us what the future might hold for all farmers. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The great street photographer, red beans and rice cook, and New Orleans food community organizer Pableaux Johnson died recently while doing what he was put on this earth to do: taking pictures of a second line parade. Here to talk about Pableaux Johnson and what he meant to the hundreds of people who called him a friend and the thousands of people who admired his work are my old friend New York Times food writer, Brett Anderson, and television and food writer, my good pal, Lolis Eric Elie.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Is the L.A. Smorgasburg the best street food festival in America? We talk to the two people most responsible for it, Zach Brooks and Fernando Lopez. Zach has the dream job of tasting all the food and choosing the vendors; and Fernando runs the beer garden at Smorgasburg in Los Angeles and also helps run his family's famous James Beard Award-winning Oaxacan restaurant Gualaguetza.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices