Podcast

Writer, podcaster, and cookbook collaborator Andrew Friedman has a unique vantage point in talking about chefs and food writing as a profession. He’s worked with some of the most interesting voices in the restaurant world (going back a decade and longer), including Daniel Boulud, Alfred Portale, Michelle Bernstein, Bill Telepan, and David Waltuck. In this episode we talk to Andrew about his most recent work, The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food, a page-turning, behind-the-scenes look at what makes a single restaurant dish. We discuss the book’s unique reporting process and how Andrew views his work in the larger context of food media. We also get some restaurant picks—and pay tribute to one of the industry’s most influential and frankly forgotten players.  Also on the show, Aliza shares some highlights from her recent trip to Seattle, Portland, and Los Angeles. Stay for a report from the LA bagel wars, a camping beer hack, and what is exciting her on the the west coast. 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 ANDREW FRIEDMAN:Andrew Talks to Chefs [official]Who Let the Cool Chefs Write Cookbooks? [TASTE]The Secret Lives of Private Chefs [TASTE]

“I find myself not biking down streets where there are movie posters because of my own stupid neuroses.”

Nate, DEM, and Dave review Souls of Mischief's classic album 93 Till Infinity

Sue S. Chan is an expert marketer, brand builder, and all-around busy bee on the global food scene. She was Momofuku’s first brand director, and in this episode we go back to her time helping to build the David Chang empire (and figuring out how to tell DC what to do). She later founded her own agency, Care of Chan, which has become a go-to for major fashion and retail brands looking to engage with the food world. Her current clients include A24, NYT Cooking, Gucci Osteria, Nike, J.Crew, and Hermam Miler. This conversation is fast and furious, but we always pause when Sue has a restaurant to talk about. We so enjoyed catching up with a real food-world one of one, and we hope you enjoy it too. 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 SUE CHAN:The Food-World Entrepreneur Who Loves Clear Heels [The Cut]Mermaid Spa Brooklyn [CoC]Breaking Down with Sue Chan [Busyboy] FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:instagram.com/sueperchaninstagram.com/mattrodbardinstagram.com/taste

In celebration of the deluxe edition of Cursive’s DOMESTICA, we take an in-depth look at how the record was made. Following the breakup of the Omaha band, Slowdown Virginia, Tim Kasher reunited with his former bandmates, Matt Maginn and Stephen Pedersen, to start a new project called Cursive. They brought in drummer Clint Schnase and released their first 7 inch on their friends’ label, Lumberjack Records, which later became Saddle Creek. Two full-length records followed, but when THE STORMS OF EARLY SUMMER was released in 1998, the band had already called it quits. Kasher had gotten married and moved to Portland, Oregon for a fresh start. As his marriage fell apart, he returned to Omaha and decided to reform Cursive. Pedersen had left for college at this point so Ted Stevens of Lullaby for the Working Class took over on guitar. Feeling like they had to make up for lost time, Cursive quickly put together an album’s worth of songs and entered the home studio of A.J. and Mike Mogis to record the album over nine days. In this episode, Tim Kasher describes his vision of a concept album about a failed relationship that took inspiration from his recent divorce. With songs written from the perspective of both the male and female characters in the relationship, Kasher was writing in a fictional style but couldn’t help but include elements from his own life. When the album was released in 2000, Saddle Creek wrote a bio mentioning Kasher’s divorce that impacted the overall perception of the album, which Kasher still maintains is not a “divorce record.” From an attempt at being evenhanded in the storytelling to the Mogis brothers production skills to taking inspiration from the films, Eraserhead and Rosemary’s Baby, to a lifelong journey of understanding metal to fans asking Kasher for relationship advice, we’ll hear the stories around how the album came together.

This week, we finish the band’s chronological story then pivot to take in Sunburned’s many artistic collaborators.

What a thrill it is to have our friend Adeena Sussman back on the show. Adeena is the author of numerous cookbooks, having cowritten three with Chrissy Teigen, and the voice behind the best-selling Israeli food tome Sababa. Sussman is back with a great new book, Shabbat, and in this episode we talk about the multitudes of Jewish food around the world. We discuss what is so exciting about food in her home base of Tel Aviv and also go over some of the comforting and innovative new recipes in Shabbat.  MORE FROM ADEENA SUSSMAN:Embracing My Whole Self, Through Food [Tablet]The Perfect Shabbat Dinner Meets You Where You Are [Conde Nast Traveler]Adeena Sussman’s new cookbook includes Shabbat recipes from around the world [NPR]Mike and Adeena’s Excellent Israeli Culinary Adventure [Via Sabra] FOLLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW:instagram.com/adeenasussmaninstagram.com/mattrodbardinstagram.com/taste Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We'd love to hear from you.