Special Sauce with Ed Levine

In this episode of Special Sauce we explore the vital roles immigrants play in restaurant kitchens all over America with chef and restaurateur Marc Meyer, the editor of the important book "Voices from the Kitchen: Personal Narratives from New York's Immigrant Restaurant Workers", and restaurant manager and Irish immigrant Anna Marie McCullagh.

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On this episode of Special Sauce we talk to the fine documentarian Betsy West and chef Michael Lomanoco about West's superb new film "Top of the World". The film tells the heartbreaking story of Windows on the World, the restaurant on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center that was destroyed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

For Jacques Pépin, cooking has always been about bringing people together and sharing the basic skills to make something delicious. This week we return to my conversation with the legendary chef which we recorded at Jacques' home in Connecticut. We were joined by his daughter Claudine and his son-in-law Roland "Rollie" Wesen. We talked about Jacques' journey from France to America, the essential role of immigrants in American food culture, and the family's foundation which helps people build new lives through cooking.

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

What a treat it was to go up to Jacques Pépin's home in Connecticut and interview Jacques, his daughter Claudine Pépin, and her husband Rollie Wesen on the occasion of the publication of the 50th Anniversary edition of Pépin's seminal work La Technique. Pépin was even more charming in person. Thank you, Jacques, for taking the time to talk.

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week on Special Sauce we go way back into the Internet time machine (2015!) with the brilliant Susie Essman regaling us with hilarious stories about her years of dues paying in comedy clubs, renouncing vegetarianism when the smell of bacon just became too much for her; and coming up with comedy legends Larry David, Jon Stewart and Chris Rock. It's one of my favorite Special Sauce interviews ever!

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

James Beard Award-Winning chef and restaurateur Meherwan Irani has written 'Number 1 Best Indian Cookbook in the World', a book that celebrates the Indian street food he serves at his restaurants Chai Pani and Botiwalla. On Special Sauce Irani insisted that Indian street food is the best street food in the world. Bold claim!

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

After reading about ICE's ongoing appalling treatment of an Argentine-born Chicago chef Carlos Cantatore in the new online food publication Ravenous, I invited Ravenous' Ashok Selvam and Marcos Carbajal, Chicago-born restaurateur-chef and owner of the esteemed Carnitas Uruapan, on Special Sauce to bring us up to date.

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week on Special Sauce, reporter Heather Haddon and columnist Adam Chandler of The Wall Street Journal give us the lowdown on why securing a restaurant reservation is damn near impossible these days.

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

There are quite a few beautiful Dolly Parton remembrances that have been published since her death, but only one that talked about Dolly's love of food and the many contributions Parton made to the food culture. Today's guest on Special Sauce, Amy McCarthy, former Eater writer and editor and one of Ravenous' employee owners, wrote that smart and thoughtful piece about Dolly, so smart and thoughtful I thought she could come on the show and talk about it. Amy turned out to be the perfect Special Sauce guest. Long Live Dolly Parton.

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week the terrific writer and podcaster Tommy Tomlinson gives us a poignant and hopeful update on his lifelong battle with his weight. Thanks to GLP-1 drugs he has lost more than 130 pounds in the last 2 years. Tommy and I share our GLP-1 drug experiences.

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week on Special Sauce we talk to Goldbud Farm's Chuck Mansfield, who happens to grow the best peaches in the world. He'll even tell serious eaters how he does it.

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week on Special Sauce we take a deep dive into the world of cheesemongering with two of the stars of the documentary 'The Big Cheese', Adam Jay Moskowitz and Courtney Johnson.

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On this reheated episode of Special Sauce, former Serious Eats editor and writer Sho Spaeth talks to us about his book, Homemade Ramen, a 2026 James Beard Foundation Book Award nominee. Sho is the Lead Editor and Writer at ChefSteps, and the most passionate and knowledgeable ramen geek I know. He truly believes in the power of ramen!

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Are Yemeni coffee shops the next big thing? On this reheated episode from 2025 serious eaters will meet Mokhtar Alkhanshali who has braved gunfire and jail and AK-47s as he tries to bring single origin Port of Mokha Yemeni coffee to the world. His story is the stuff of movies!

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week on Special Sauce Dr. Dana Small, a professor at McGill University and one of the leading experts on the neuroscience of food decisions, and longtime friend of the podcast Pete Wells of The New York Times join us to explain how the pleasure and enjoyment of food can be the most important element in helping us stick to a healthier diet.

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

How does a family business survive more than a century of selling smoked fish, bagels, and candy? Russ and Daughters' Niki Russ Federman explains all.

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

If there is a smarter or better TV critic than The New York Times's James Poniewozik I have yet to come across him or her. So when I was dying to talk to someone about The Bear's moving final season I rang up James and he graciously agreed to come on Special Sauce to talk about it. We had a blast talking about Carmy and Sydney and all the other finely etched characters on the show.

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Here at Special Sauce we love pie in all its forms: we love shepherd's pie, apple pie, key lime pie, lemon meringue pie, and our absolute favorite, peach pie. And given that we're coming up on America's 250th birthday and Americans love pie we thought we'd reheat one of our favorite pie episodes to get in the spirit of things. Stacey Mei Yan Fong catalogued her love of pie when she published 50 Pies, 50 States: An Immigrant's Love Letter. Even if you don't love pie her story is well worth listening to.

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This week on Special Sauce serious eaters get to eavesdrop on part 2 of my hilarious and informative conversation with burger mavens Kenji and Hamburger America's George Motz. Nobody knows more about cooking and eating burgers than these two burger mavens.

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

As one of the millions of long-suffering Knicks fans I am still basking in the afterglow of the team's historical and magical run. I decided I had to devote another episode of Special Sauce to the team's amazing playoff run to the NBA championship. And who better to join me on mic than the The New York Times' terrific writer Matt Flegenheimer, who to my way of thinking has become the poet laureate of Knicks fandom. He explains that he too can't believe what we have all just witnessed.

Learn about your ad choices: https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices