Stay ConnectedIf you’re a fan of smart and lively conversations about food, home cooking, and culture, this is the place. We interview the most interesting characters in the world of food, media, and cookbooks and release episodes several times a month. The program is hosted by TASTE editors Aliza Abarbanel and Matt Rodbard, and is sometimes recorded live at Rizzoli Bookstore in New York City. Visit TASTE online: tastecooking.com
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Drew Nieporent is the guy behind legendary New York City restaurants Montrachet, Tribeca Grill, Nobu, and nearly 40 more, and he joins me in the studio today for an amazing conversation. He’s written a memoir, I’m Not Trying to Be Difficult: Stories from the Restaurant Trenches, and it’s one of Matt's favorite restaurant books in recent years. In our conversation, we cover a lot of ground: opening in Tribeca in the early ’80s, collaborating with Robert De Niro on multiple restaurants, and why Keith McNally isn’t the only New York City restaurant man with a good story to tell.
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What does it take to build a buzzy food brand in 2025—a brand gushed about online, used by legit chefs around the country, and found on the shelves of Erewhon? It’s a tough question, but Zab’s Datil Pepper Hot Sauce cofounder Miles Soboroff is pretty qualified to answer it. In this great conversation, Miles shares how he discovered the datil pepper by near accident and how he think about growing his amazing company. Matt is a major fan of Zab’s as well as of Miles, and we hope you enjoy the conversation.
Also on the show Matt has a great conversation with Tyler Sharp, editor in chief of Modern Huntsman. The award-winning publication has released a really terrific cookbook and they talk all about it, as well as what it means to hunt and fish today.
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Sally McKenney is the creator of the wildly popular website Sally’s Baking Addiction. She is known for providing clear, concise instructions, tips, and tutorials to make every recipe approachable for home bakers of all skill levels. In this episode, we talk about her great new cookbook, Sally's Baking 101, and what she is excited to bake this fall.
And, at the top of 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: We visited some New York City restaurants! Checking in on I Cavallini, Eel Bar, Cervo’s, Bridges, and Bong. Also: Jason Diamond’s debut novel, Kaplan’s Plot, gives Boardwalk Empire chased with a glass of prune juice, checking out Greensickle green juice popsicles, and a great visit to Traverse City, Michigan including visits to Common Good Bakery and Mode’s Bum Steer.
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Khushbu Shah is one of our favorite writers online, and she’s the voice behind the great Substack Tap Is Fine. She’s the former restaurant editor at Food & Wine, and we go over so many topics bubbling over in the world of food, media, recipes, restaurants, and her hometown of Los Angeles, where we recorded this interview. We could speak with Khushbu for hours, and we actually do that when we hang out offline. But here’s our on-the-record conversation, and you shouldn’t miss it.
Also on the show we have a great conversation with Julie Wolfson. Julie is an editor and writer covering the exciting California coffee scene. We talk about roasters, cafes, cold coffee, and her new Golden State of Coffee work on Substack.
Read: 26 Of My Strongest Opinions About Food
Read: Are You a Restaurant Regular?
Listen: Los Angeles Coffee Professionals Spill All
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Cake Zine is an independent literary food magazine cofounded by pastry chef Tanya Bush and TASTE contributing editor Aliza Abarbanel. The newest issue, Forbidden Fruit, explores how fruit fuels temptation, transgression, and fantasy. Today on the show, Aliza invites Tanya into the studio to talk about the editorial process behind this seventh issue and fruit’s many cultural meanings.
Pre-order the new issue of Cake Zine: Forbidden Fruit
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It was so fun having Jeff Gordinier in the studio. Jeff is a journalist, an author, and one of the more prolific writers in the food world. He’s currently Esquire’s food and drinks editor, leading their restaurants and bars coverage. Before that he was a reporter at the New York Times and held various roles at Entertainment Weekly. In this episode we have a great conversation about his work, the current dining scene, and his award-winning article in Food & Wine about rice in Charleston that he cowrote with George McCalman.
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It was truly a blast to have Danny Meyer in the studio. Danny is a great spokesperson for the restaurant industry and a hell of a storyteller. In today’s episode, we focus on his most near and dear restaurant, New York’s Union Square Cafe, which turns 40 this year. We talk about the early years, the legendary customers, and what it was like to pack everything up and move a couple of blocks over in 2016. What a great conversation.
Also on the show, I have a great talk with Lena Ciardullo, the current executive chef of Union Square Cafe. We talk about what it’s like to shepherd this iconic restaurant, and we get into her own personal style and tastes.
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Yasmin Khan is an author, broadcaster, and human rights campaigner based in London. After releasing The Saffron Tales, Zaitoun, and Ripe Figs, she has a new cookbook: Sabzi, a collection of over 80 vegetarian recipes drawing from her travels and her Iranian and Pakistani heritage. It’s so special to have Yasmin on the show to talk about adapting traditional recipes for a plant-based diet, motherhood and the power of culinary lineage.
Shop: Canaan Palestine
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Rosie Kellett is a chef, food writer, and supper club host based in London. She’s the author of a terrific debut cookbook, In for Dinner, and we really enjoyed catching up with her about the current London restaurant scene, her deep interest in pain au chocolat, and what cooking in a shared space in East London taught her about her own cooking skills.
Read: Rosie Kellett on Substack
Watch: London's Best Pain Au Chocolat
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Fly By Jing is one of the most exciting brands in food today, and we were lucky to have the company’s founder, Jing Gao, return to the studio for a great conversation. We talk about the company’s incredible trajectory, and how growth (and expansion into new product lines) comes with its own challenges. We also tap into what it’s like to make chili crisps in China, and how the yo-yoing tariff dynamic is keeping the company on its toes. I have so much respect for what Jing is building at Fly By Jing.
Also on the show we have a great conversation with Hailee Catalano and Chuck Cruz, recorded live at The Bell House. We talk about softboy foods, beach sandwiches, and what the DMs are looking like.
Buy: The Book of Sichuan Chili Crisp
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