Podcast

Dan Giusti is the founder and CEO of Brigaid, an organization bringing restaurant chefs to school cafeterias and senior centers. Formerly the head chef at Noma, he’s now dedicated to providing delicious and healthy meals to 40 institutions across the country. This year alone, Brigaid expects to serve over a million meals. It’s so special to have Dan in the studio to talk about growing up on Italian American classics, pivoting from Noma to Brigaid, and how all the work happens. Also on the show we have a terrific conversation with Adrian Miller. He’s the author of a groundbreaking new book: Cooking to the President’s Taste: Asian Heritage Chefs in White House History. We talk about how lesser-known Asian chefs have helped shape the food in the White House, and possibly policy. Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. 

Today’s episode is really special: an eating and drinking survey of the wonderful city of Portland, Oregon. Matt visited recently and shares all his dining experiences, which span regional Thai, tasting menus, incredible pour-over coffee, and some ’90s nostalgia. He also catches up with two legendary Portland chefs who share why their city is one of the nation’s best. First up is Gabriel Rucker. He is the chef-owner of Le Pigeon and Canard and the winner of two James Beard Awards. He’s also a cookbook author and a runner and has some nice skills on the links. We talk all about Le Pigeon’s evolution over its nearly two decades in Portland. Next we speak with Earl Ninsom. He’s the chef behind some of the city’s top Thai restaurants, including Eem, Hat Yai, Yaowarat, and Langbaan, which was the winner of the 2024 James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant. We talk about his early life in Portland and how tapping into specific Thai dishes, served with flair and ambition around the city, has brought him great success. Save our Google Map of all the places mentioned in the episode. This episode was supported by Travel Portland.

Rebecca Firkser is a writer, recipe developer, and food stylist based in Brooklyn. Her debut cookbook, Galette!, celebrates the highly riffable, always buttery pleasures of free-form tarts. In this episode, Rebecca and Aliza go deep on developing foolproof pastry recipes for nervous bakers like me, making a debut cookbook after years of working on others, and more.  Also on the show, Matt catches up with Mitchell Davis to talk about the Great Nosh, a Jewish food and culture festival taking place on June 22 in New York City. They talk about the incredible lineup of chef collaborations, including Thai Diner x Katz’s Deli, Caroline Schiff x Junior’s Cheesecake, JP Park of Atoboy x Apollo Bagels, and Zahav x Ed Szymanski of Dame. While The Great Nosh is sold out, the festival has opened up additional tickets for the 2pm entry. Use the code TASTE to access the tickets at: thegreatnosh.com Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. 

We’ve been covering the nonalcoholic beer scene at TASTE for a minute, and it was a lot of fun having one of the most exciting names in the industry, Tate Huffard, in the studio. Tate is the founder of Best Day Brewing, which makes one of our favorite NA beers available today. Tate shares the story of the company, and how he’s bringing NA versions of Kolsch and IPAs to the masses. We also zoom out and talk about the future of NA drinking and how craft beer drinkers are embracing cans and bottles and kegs of beer. If you were ever interested in how nonalcoholic beer is made and why you are starting to see more of it around, this is the episode for you. Also on the show, we have a great conversation with Rob Jensen. He’s the co-founder of Chicago-based Visitor and we learn about the company’s unique approach with NA beer. Think: Less is more. So much more.    Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you.  Read more:It’s Cool to Care About NA Beer [TASTE]The 9 Best Non-Alcoholic Beers to Stock Right Now [Seven Fifty Daily]