Podcast

Chef Edward Lee is a good friend of ours and one of the most respected voices in American cooking. He’s also one of the stars of the breakout Netflix cooking show Culinary Class Wars, which has earned millions of fans for its unique approach to cooking competition on television. In this episode, we hear all about the production and about how Edward prepared for the competition. We also talk about his new Washington, DC, restaurant, Shia, and his time cooking in New York City in the ’90s at the pioneering restaurant Clay. It’s always so much fun catching up with Edward. Also on the show, Aliza is back from Asia! Her and Matt catch up about what they've been up to at the start of the year, and discuss how much boba you can drink in a month's time. Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. 

Michael McCarty is the owner of two restaurants, Michael’s in Santa Monica, which opened in 1979, and Michael’s on West 55th Street in Midtown Manhattan, which followed a decade later. McCarty is truly the father of California cuisine, at the center of a culinary movement that produced top Los Angeles chefs like Jonathan Waxman, Mark Peel, Nancy Silverton, and many others. I had so much fun having Michael back into the studio, and he was happy to go over his deep history in the American restaurant scene. He also talked about his early days cooking in Paris, and how he ended up in Santa Monica and helped establish the legendary farmers’ market there. It’s Michael, the early years, in this amazing episode. Also on the show we catch up with Eater Chicago editor Ashok Selvam. He recently wrote about the revival of Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago, and how Dylan Trotter is taking a big role in the rebirth. 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 MICHAEL MCCARTY:This Is TASTE 383: The Father of California Cuisine with Michael McCarty [TASTE]A Pioneer of California Cuisine Turns 35 [NYT]

Today on the show, we welcome one of our favorite writers in the game, Jason Diamond. Jason writes the wonderful newsletter The Melt and has written two books, Searching for John Hughes and The Sprawl: Reconsidering the Weird American Suburbs. He’s also worked on the truly amazing New York Nico’s Guide to NYC, which we talk about in this great episode. We get into what Jason has been eating and reading, and the Jason Diamond way of life. I always enjoy catching up with Jason, and I hope you enjoy this episode. Also on the show, we catch up with Vivian Song. Vivian wrote a terrific piece in the New York Times, “It’s Zinc Bar vs. Barista in a Paris Battle of the Buzz,” and we hear all about the shifting coffee scene in Paris. 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 JASON DIAMOND:The Many Garlics of My Childhood [TASTE]Shattering the Jarred Pasta Sauce Stigma [TASTE]Luncheon with a Zabar [TASTE]

Just in time for the Grammy's, nine-time Grammy Award nominated mastering engineer Emily Lazar joins Carmel Holt to talk about her journey to becoming the ceiling breaking audio engineer she is today, what led to founding her nonprofit We Are Moving The Needle, who have recently launched their new microgrants supporting creators who have been affected by the L.A. wildfires, and what she believes is the solution to getting more cis and trans women and nonbinary folks hired as engineers and producers.

On songwriting, sobriety, and Nashville.