The Dave Chang Show

Latest Episodes:

What It Takes to Find Great Fish | My Opinion Is Fact Sep 22, 2022

Show notes

Determined to eat more seafood but dismayed by what he sees on the shelf, Dave surveys the state of the seascape for the American home cook, and offers a few of his rules for steering clear of the second-rate stuff. Also: restaurant fish vs. supermarket fish, breaking out the yanagi, the deliciousness of fish skin, shellfish protocol, spicy tuna rolls, dining-room aquariums, swordfish au poivre, 'A Fish Called Wanda,' my friend pompano, Bordier butter, citrus partisanship, serving anchovies to guests, and Noelle weighs in on Wetzel’s.

Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying

Guest: Noelle Cornelio

Producer: Sasha Ashall

Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor

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Expiration Dates, Sandwich Risks, and Ice and Fire Eating | #AskDave Sep 19, 2022

Show notes

In a rare before-sunset Q&A, Dave fields a new volley of listener questions—and returns fire with takes on mori soba, typhoon summers, masochistic salarymen, the permafat tonkotsu layer, kimchi fridges, Idaho shrimp, Pharrell Williams, a Chris Ying dancing meme, baked ziti, Korean-mom rumor networks, blanching beef, lemur puffs, egg rafts, gelatin wizardry, deploying the giant ice ball at the hot pot spot, bringing your air fryer to McDonald’s, craft-service sandwiches, and a lunch-mystery Matlock moment. Plus, listen to the end for the table-turning debut of #DaveAsks, in which our host has a few questions of his own.

Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying

Producer: Sasha Ashall

Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor

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The Next Wave of Korean Cuisine Sep 15, 2022

Show notes

With summer over and school in session, it’s officially a new year for restaurants—and Dave has a few soon-to-open places on his must-visit list, and a few predictions to make about where things might go next. Plus: Hugo escape tactics, pre-K John Bonham, fake Momofuku menus, the no-PR approach, making bad situations happen, befriending your nemesis, the return of Superiority Burger and Torrisi Italian Specialties, Kwame Onwuachi, Mariscos Jalisco, the rise of hwe, grocery-store kimbap, crossing the soondae threshold, the stew restaurant Dave dreams of, a kung pao pastrami pipeline, the CIA, Josh Giddey, the other CIA, and the beauty of restaurants that own their own real estate.

Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying

Producer: Sasha Ashall

Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor

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Introducing Kids (and Ourselves) to New Foods and New Flavors | Clean Plate Club Sep 12, 2022

Show notes

With a passel of hungry, up-and-coming eaters to please, Dave and Chris face a big question every day: Can their cooking help their kids embrace new tastes and new combinations? (And: Is it too late to expand their own deeply seasoned palates, too?) They call up “disgust studies” expert Dr. Paul Rozin to learn more, and offer up an array of their own takes on flying with kids, the A-Team, condensed Hanukkah, the milkshake cow, Dave’s older brother, sea cucumber fried rice, imagining the next uni, getting rejected from the intergalactic senate, ikura as forbidden fruit, Gus going against eggs, and the exalted, trip-off-the-tongue omega-3 that is docosahexaenoic acid. With the help of our friends at buybuy BABY, this is Round 3 of ‘Clean Plate Club.’

Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying

Guest: Dr. Paul Rozin

Producer: Sasha Ashall

Additional Production: Jordan Bass, Noelle Cornelio, and Lala Rasor

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Mall Food, the Chef Who Changed the Game, and Getting Better As You Get Older Sep 08, 2022

Show notes

A week by the seaside has Dave finding inspiration at both Wetzel’s Pretzels and Nobu Malibu, and thinking about all the shapes the second half of a creative career can take. He catches Chris up on his misadventures, and contemplates Robuchon potatoes, the Santa Monica promenade, hot dogs on tasting menus, spirulina boosts, stroller dogs, vampire rules, knockoff mercenaries, fried rock shrimp, what some restaurants can get away with, the Nobu Goodbye, Peruvian sushi, storing your knife rolls, LCD Soundsystem, and attempting the impossible.

Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying

Producer: Sasha Ashall

Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor

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Brigades, 'The Bear', and How Kitchens Work Sep 01, 2022

Show notes

With a couple more 'Bear' episodes under his belt, Dave dives into a breakneck elucidation of one of the show’s dramatic engines—the classical Escoffier kitchen brigade system, and the huge role it still plays in top-tier restaurants today. Analyzed along the way: Frank Ceruti, the two types of CDC, piano ranges, coal runners, sabotaging Chris at the poissonnier station, fish fumet, meat-roast squires, simplifying your playbook, telepathic collaboration, kitchen design remorse, cooking with a miracle maker, food dying at the pass, Jürgen Klopp, gambling with ducks, the first-turn bomb, and making food so good that no one’s talking in the dining room.

Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying

Producer: Sasha Ashall

Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor

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Eating at the End of an Era, and Where Restaurants Will Go Next Aug 29, 2022

Show notes

Culture moves in cycles, and so too do the ways we eat—which has Dave looking for early warning signs of what’s around the corner. He fills us in on what he’s hearing from peers, what the arc of modern plating presages about the turns to come, and a whole lot more, including: pizza-shop paninis, top-tier bodegas, trompe-l’oeil grill marks, New York in the mid-'90s, analog cooking, the Nirvana–Nickelback cycle, what Fergus Henderson likes to drink, Russian service, sorrel salmon, vertical food, spoon drags, Ernesto’s ham and chips, a quenelle chronology, square duck breast, Joey Fatone, and the impact of the vanishing middle.

Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying

Producer: Sasha Ashall

Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor

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What 'The Bear' Gets Right About the Time Warps Within Restaurants Aug 25, 2022

Show notes

Fresh off finally watching the first episode of 'The Bear,' Dave breaks down what the show reveals about the surreal ways time can move inside an ambitious kitchen. Plus: a nail-biting moment at Fresh Brothers Pizza, the Golden Idol, Julian Jaynes, Delta-lounge buffet medleys, steak-for-two-for-one, seven-minute family meal, night porters, Hainanese chicken rice, the beauty of Greek pizza, the eureka-moment dish-creating golden hour, and an inspiring night at L.A.’s boundary-breaking Yangban Society.

Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying

Producer: Sasha Ashall

Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor

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Seafood Shacks, Magical Food Temperatures, and Going Down the Coffee Rabbit Hole Aug 22, 2022

Show notes

A Cometeer-fueled trip to the Codfish State has Dave buzzing with new discoveries about how to make familiar things just a little bit better—and how to make the modern-day airport experience a good bit worse. Also covered: what to eat near Gloucester, Joe Versus the Volcano, Spider-Tracers, a shout-out to Claud, Tristar strawberries, Jimmy Nardellos, gourmet Cold Stone, Dave becoming a coffee taster, making miso in Kyoto, three-buck Chardonnay, Wrigley’s gum, haddock bites, sublime Rhode Island chowder, and Dave Chang’s seafood shack commandments.

Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying

Producer: Sasha Ashall

Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor

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Cheese Foam, Carb Combos, and a Perfect Restaurant Moment | #AskDave After Dark Aug 18, 2022

Show notes

Altered-state Dave and Chris embark on another late-night Q&A, covering the sublime, the agonizing, and everything in between—including Aaron Rodgers’s offseason activities. Also, Dave’s thoughts on the Road House remake, Conor McGregor taking up acting, the boba flavor Blade Runner test (and Dave’s current order), extra dense oat milk, near-future gorgonzola, irrational food aversions, imperial deer tendon, Dave’s senior thesis, a Momofuku Christmas dinner, five-hour tea ceremonies, drinking Guinness in Kyoto, Shake 'N Bake chicken, culinary chimeras, table crumbers, and being present for each tortilla chip.

Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying

Producer: Sasha Ashall

Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor

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