This Is TASTE

Ayesha Nurdjaja grew up in Gravesend, Brooklyn, with an Indonesian father, an Italian mother, and a grandmother who walked her to Sahadi’s on Atlantic Avenue. After years in Italian kitchens like Felidia, she talked her bosses into a Middle Eastern New Year’s Eve menu that became the wildly popular Shuka and later Shukette. We discuss her debut cookbook, Mediterranean All the Way, a legendary onion dip, and her collection of stolen spoons. Also on the show Matt has a great conversation with Zola Gregory. Zola is a TASTE columnist and worked on The Pasta Box, a just-released recipe deck from TASTE featuring 50 pasta recipes that transform any dry pasta into tomato-y, cheesy, and creamy dishes. The recipes are so good. Buy: The Pasta Box

Adam Weisblatt has opened seven restaurants with Last Word Hospitality, the LA group behind Hermon’s, Barra Santos, and Rasarumah. His terrific new book, ⁠For the Love of Restaurants⁠, colorfully traces the arc of building a restaurant—from location scouting, lease negotiations, financing, hiring, and opening night—through the story of the group’s first and smallest restaurant, Found Oyster. Adam joins the show to talk about why he wrote the industry playbook he wishes someone had handed him, and why sharing hard-earned knowledge is good for operators and restaurant fans alike.Also on the show, Matt talks about some recent restaurant visits in Los Angeles, including stops at ⁠Rustic Canyon⁠, ⁠Mírate⁠, ⁠Soban⁠, and ⁠Little Fish⁠.Subscribe: ⁠⁠⁠Apple⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠

Rachel Gurjar is a Mumbai-born, Brooklyn-based chef and recipe developer whose recipes have appeared in Bon Appétit and the New York Times. Her new debut cookbook, ⁠East to East: Recipes and Stories From Mumbai to New York⁠, showcases her love for the two cities that shaped her through more than 100 innovative dishes that combine Indian staples with some New York flair. Today on the show, Rachel goes deep on her story, the importance of recipe testing, and how she brought this singular book to life.Also on the show Matt has a really great conversation with Kyle Beechey. Kyle is a writer, actor, and playwright, and is staging her first show - “⁠The Restaurant Diaries⁠” - in a downtown New York City restaurant. The show runs October 18 - November 9. ⁠Get your tickets⁠ while they are available.Subscribe: ⁠⁠⁠Apple⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠YouTube

Elazar Sontag published a cookbook at 18, ran Bon Appétit’s Best New Restaurants list in his mid-twenties, and (last fall) succeeded Tom Sietsema as the Washington Post’s food critic—with no disguise required. He joins us to talk all about his inaugural ⁠best restaurants list⁠, which is firmly an Elazar list and likely causing some debate in and around DC. We also talk about bringing back star ratings, his many travels to Virginia and Maryland, and much more with one of my favorite voices in modern food writing. It was a real treat to have Elazar in the studio. Read: ⁠The 40 Best Restaurants In and Around Washington D.C.⁠Subscribe: ⁠⁠⁠Apple⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠

Eric Sze first joined the show amid research for his debut cookbook, Taiwanese?. The book will be released later this month, and I speak with the Wenwen chef about his deep research around lu rou fan, what “authentically inauthentic” really means on the page versus the plate, and how his sparkling book brings fresh perspective to both Taiwanese food and culture.  Also on the show, Matt shares some of his recent restaurant visits in northern California, including stops at Valley, El Molino Central, and Flour + Water Pizzeria. Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠

Clarissa Wei is a writer and cofounder of HEYDOH, a single-origin Taiwanese soy sauce brand. Her debut cookbook, Made in Taiwan, was a cultural exploration of the island she calls home. Now she’s following it up with Sitting the Month, a study of postpartum cooking and care informed by Chinese medicine and her own experiences with zuò yuè zi. Clarissa stopped by the studio to go deep on this fascinating ancient practice and its contemporary evolutions as well as to share updates from her life as a single-origin soy sauce founder. Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠

Kendal Mitchell is a chef and biomaterials designer based in Brooklyn. Her Instagram series Bringing Food Waste Back to the Table turns often-wasted ingredients like eggshells and oyster shells into stunning tableware, and she’s constantly exploring new ways to create circularity with organic materials. Today on the show, she talks about training in sushi, her design work with groups like Ghetto Gastro, and the infinite potential within food waste. Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube

Clara Lee and Eddo Kim are the co-founders of Queens, the San Francisco Korean American food company that started as a delivery-only deli in 2018, became a beloved Inner Sunset superette, and now makes gochujang, doenjang, and gochugaru from Northern California–grown ingredients. Their debut cookbook is Korean Soups: Recipes for Soups and Stews That Nourish, Restore, and Delight, and we absolutely love it. Today on the show, Clara and Eddo join Matt to talk guk versus tang and what closing a storefront taught them about building a brand. Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠

Justin Bolois has spent over a decade helping build the iconic First We Feast media company—from features editor to VP of programming and development, shepherding popular shows like The Burger Show, Tacos Con Todo, and Hot Ones within the media empire. Off the clock, he’s chasing something equally cool: vintage restaurant staff shirts, forgotten diner ephemera, and the last physical traces of beloved restaurants that no longer exist. That’s Restaurant Relics, a side project we absolutely love that’s part museum and part store. Justin joins Matt to talk about everything from his work on Hot Ones to the virtues of a well-worn JG Melon tee. Check out: Hot Ones Game Night. Subscribe: ⁠⁠Apple, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠