podcast

Joe Pera gets sleepy with us.

Sisters Danielle and Gabrielle Davenport are the cofounders of BEM, a bookstore and community space for Black food literature. After years of operating online and at pop-ups, they’re getting ready to open a permanent location in Bed-Stuy. It’s so fun to have Danielle and Gabrielle in the studio to nerd out on food literature, building a family business together, and more.  Also on the show, it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt talk about what is exciting them in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. On this episode: Cake Zine x Seeyousoon hosted a pop-up, Breadivore is doing really great bread and viennoiserie in South Brooklyn, and some thoughts on Girl Scout cookie season. Also: A review of Graydon Carter’s memoir, When the Going Was Good, checking in at Wu’s Wonton King, The Studio is a great new show on Apple TV+. 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’re pretty sure many of you have at least heard of Cava and have possibly ordered lunch or dinner from the wildly popular Mediterranean restaurant chain. In this episode, we have a really cool conversation with Cava’s cofounder, Ted Xenohristos. We talk about the company’s early days and how Ted’s Greek heritage and detail-minded approach have made Cava one of the biggest restaurant stories in years. We discuss the group’s broad expansion, how the company’s IPO changed everything (and nothing at all), and how Ted looks at developing culinary ideas that are accessible, a little exotic, and pretty darn delicious.  Also on the show we have a great talk with actor Alexandra Metz. She plays Dr. Yolanda Garcia on one of our favorite shows of the year, the medical drama The Pitt. We talk about filming the intense emergency room scenes, and what it’s like to hit craft service after sawing off a patient’s limb (act sawing, of course). We also hear about all the food in her life growing up in a Jewish and Latina household. Follow her Instagram: @metzaballsoup. 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’re excited to launch a special video podcast series: Food Writers Talking About Food Writing. It’s available on the TASTE YouTube channel, so make sure to subscribe! Every couple of weeks, cohost Matt Rodbard will invite a journalist or cookbook author to talk about some favorite recent food writing as well as their thoughts on the industry as a whole. Our first guest is a special one: Eric Kim is a writer and columnist at the New York Times and a great consumer of food writing. In this episode, we talk about Eric’s media diet, discuss a few favorite stories, Eli Sussman taking over as NYT restaurant critic, and ask the big question: What would you pitch 1997 Graydon Carter? That is, Eric considers his dream no-budget reporting assignment. You can check out the full episode on YouTube now. Featured on this episode:Steak Fries: Deservedly Reviled or Underappreciated Edible Spoons? [NYT]What Can’t Jerk Do? [TASTE]Chef Eli Sussman Named NYT Restaurant Critic [Instagram]Lessons From Germany on a Better Bratwurst [NYT]

We have such a great episode today. Shilpa and Miro Uskokovic are the husband and wife duo behind the amazing new New York City bakery Hani’s Bakery + Café, located in the East Village. First up Matt has an amazing conversation with Shilpa about her professional cooking career, which led to a job at Bon Appétit. Today Shilpa is BA’s senior test kitchen editor, and we talk about some of the stories she is working on and how the new BA Bake Club is getting so many people to take a break and just bake. Later on, Aliza catches up with Miro to talk about his own incredible pastry career and his legacy as pastry chef at Gramercy Tavern, where he worked for over a decade. Of course, they also talk about Hani’s and the amazing desserts, breads, and other items lining the bakery’s case. Shilpa and Miro are two of our favorites in food—what a power couple! I hope you enjoy this episode. Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. 

This week producer, audio engineer, singer, songwriter and founder of nonprofit Gender Amplified, Ebonie Smith joins Carmel Holt to talk about the evolution of Gender Amplified, how she views the statistics of women and gender expansive individuals in the recording industry, and how Gender Amplified is approaching equalizing the space, as well as sampling Gender Amplified's newly released EP called In Bloom, born from their CTRL Room series of production camps.