This Is TASTE

Ryan Bartlow spent his early twenties walking home from a three-Michelin-star kitchen in San Sebastián to living in a tiny apartment above a Basque tavern to working on the opening crew at Alinea—the kind of dedication to cooking that eventually becomes a book. Now chef-owner of Ernesto’s and Bartolo in New York, Bartlow joins Matt to talk about training at Akelarre, building a family restaurant group with his wife, and the stories behind his first cookbook, Essentially Basque. Ryan is a true living legend, and it was a blast having him in the studio.

Check out our new podcast: Eye Level

Listen: Founder in the Field with Fishwife’s Becca Millstein

Listen: Whole Foods Buyers Never Sit Still. We Followed Them to Spain.

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Brenda Storch has spent nearly two decades writing about Mexican food as something bigger than what’s on the plate. The Chicago-based writer behind La Vitamina T is an Eater Chicago contributor and a voice in Netflix’s Taco Chronicles. She joins Matt to talk about her amazing city, the relationship you build with your taquero, and what is exciting her outside of Mexican cuisine. We get into chiles en nogada as five centuries of history on one plate and why Chicago—not LA, not Texas—might be America’s most underrated Mexican food city.

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Anoop Pillarisetti has spent fifteen years helping diners book a table, place an order, and pay for it. He started by slicing cheese and building the website at Di Bruno Bros. in Philadelphia, then helped bring Momofuku Ko’s pioneering online reservation system to the public and led Shake Shack’s early kiosk push. Now he also is the co-owner of Strange Delight, a Fort Greene oyster bar where the main technology is a pizza oven. Anoop joins the show to talk about restaurant tech from the inside, and the exciting expansion in the world of Strange Delight.

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Jason Buechel is CEO of Whole Foods Market, and since January 2025, he’s also overseen Amazon Worldwide Grocery Stores, which includes Amazon Fresh, Amazon Go, and the online grocery business. That’s a lot of shopping carts—and a lot of data on what goes in them. Today on the show, Matt speaks with Jason about a topic we are always interested in covering: how people actually shop for food today. We talk about shorter trips, delivery, and how shoppers have less patience for high prices, and what Whole Foods is doing about it.

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Bill Addison is back on the show. The Los Angeles Times restaurant critic and his colleague Jenn Harris just revealed the 2026 edition of the 101 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles and it’s really good. Matt and Bill dig into how two critics turn hundreds of meals into a ranking, the big themes of the year, the new number one, and what’s changed since Bill gave up his anonymity. Plus we talk about covering all of California and whether restaurant criticism still moves the needle in 2026.

And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting to them in the world of food including Aliza visits Paris with stops at Best Tofu, Montezuma Café, and Waly Fay. Matt talks about TASTE’s new podcast, Eye Level. The debut episode drops on Thursday! Also: Two great new coffees from Quills and Pascal, and The Perfect Pizza is Maurizio Leo’s great new book, and he will be live at Rizzoli Bookstore in New York on December 10.

Read: The 101 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles

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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, Spoiled Rotten, explores spoilage and the spoiled, digging into what’s stale, overripe, curdled, wasted, and reborn in food culture. Today on the show, we’re switching things up, with Tanya interviewing Aliza about the editorial process that brought this weird and wonderful issue to life.

Also on the show Aliza and Matt catch up about recent trips to London and Miami, with stops at Goodbye Horses, Impala, V&A Storehouse, Recoveco, Chug’s Diner, Madruga Bakery, and Books & Books.

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Today on the show, Resy managing editor Jon Bonné and Matt have an incredible roundtable conversation with three California wineries that changed California wine forever: Duncan Arnot Meyers and Nathan Lee Roberts of Arnot-Roberts, Matt Licklider of Lioco Wine Co., and Steve and Jill Klein Matthiasson of Matthiasson Wines. Twenty years ago, they were the insurgents. Now they’re the establishment, as the industry encounters new drinkers and rapid change. In this episode, we talk about the big topics in California wine today. We figured it all out over the course of an hour! Just kidding, but this is a must-listen for anybody interested in the future of wine.

The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers – not Resy—and do not constitute professional business advice.

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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 Shukaand 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

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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.

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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.

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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.⁠

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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.

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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.

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Resy’s managing editor, Deanna Ting, is back to talk all about New York City restaurants. She and Matt work through the ⁠Resy Hit List⁠, with stops at a British Indian chophouse in Hudson Yards, the Houseman chef’s seafood follow-up in East Williamsburg, Dominican-Texas barbecue in Bushwick, and a fine-dining vet’s Greenpoint bistro, plus her own ⁠guide to 31 tasting and prix-fixe menus⁠ under $100.

Some of the Resy and Tock restaurants mentioned on the episode:

• ⁠Cynthia⁠
• ⁠Good Time Country Buffet⁠
• ⁠C as in Charlie⁠
• ⁠Kisa⁠
• ⁠Arthur⁠
• ⁠Atoboy⁠
• ⁠Falansai⁠
• ⁠6 Restaurant⁠
• ⁠Aquavit⁠
• ⁠Dirt Candy⁠
• ⁠Smithereens⁠
• ⁠Zoli⁠
• ⁠Houseman⁠
• ⁠Lei⁠
• ⁠Makina Cafe⁠
• ⁠Ha's Snack Bar⁠
• ⁠4 Charles Prime Rib⁠
• ⁠Theodora⁠
• ⁠Ambassadors Clubhouse⁠
• ⁠Passerine⁠
• ⁠Kidilum⁠
• ⁠Elder⁠
• ⁠Hommali⁠
• ⁠Narkara⁠
• ⁠Fish Cheeks⁠
• ⁠Bangkok Supper Club⁠
• ⁠Txikito⁠
• ⁠Bar Bête⁠
• ⁠Mắm⁠
• ⁠Zimmi's⁠
• ⁠Bar Chimera⁠

The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers – not Resy—and do not constitute professional business advice.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Kenta Goto is a bartender and the owner and operator of two acclaimed cocktail bars: Bar Goto on the Lower East Side and Bar Goto Niban in Brooklyn. Born and raised in Tokyo, Goto moved to New York and worked at the lauded cocktail bar Pegu Club for seven years before opening his own bar. Now he’s sharing his considerable wisdom in a debut cookbook: The Goto Bartender’s Guide. Today on the show, we chat about developing his cocktail skills and his signature approach toward drinks and how home bartenders can do the same.

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Adrianna Adarme has been cooking out loud since 2011, when ⁠A Cozy Kitchen⁠ was just a bored-at-work blog. This fall, she’s releasing ⁠A Cozy Kitchen Cookbook⁠—a terrific book built around not seasons or courses but moods. In this episode, Matt talks to Adrianna about her cooking style and growing her highly personal brand, online and off.

And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting to them in the world of food including Melissa Clark’s ⁠The Big Book of Dinner⁠ is incredible. Melissa and Matt will be talking all about the book at ⁠Rizzoli Bookstore⁠in NYC on November 15. Get your tickets. Aliza visits ⁠Umas Rockaway⁠ and ⁠Paschal’s⁠ at the Atlanta airport, and is liking ⁠Jeni’s Pumpkin with Brown Sugar Blondies⁠ ice cream. Speaking of Jeni Britton, Matt is way into ⁠Floura bars⁠. Lastly, he will be in Los Angeles at the ⁠LA Chef Conference⁠.

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Kwame Onwuachi—the chef behind ⁠Tatiana⁠, ⁠Dōgon⁠, and restaurants from Miami to Las Vegas—joins Matt in the studio for the first time. We get into his big idea for the CPG game, his pull toward Ethiopian cooking, and his three books, capped by ⁠All Hours⁠, which is less a cookbook and more a statement about what he actually wants to cook every day.

And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting to them in the world of food including Aliza recaps her trip to New Mexico with stops at ⁠El Chile Toreado⁠, ⁠Frontier⁠, ⁠El Ray Court⁠, and ⁠Tune-Up Café⁠. Matt thinks Bessou makes the best ⁠caramel corn⁠ and has a great late-summer meal at ⁠I Cavallini⁠. He also read the Legs McNeil memoir, ⁠Resident Punk⁠ for a true blast from the past.

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