David Joonwoo Yun has a great story to tell. As one of the partners of New York City Korean restaurants C as in Charlie and Kisa, he’s been at the center of Korean cooking in NYC for a minute. But how did he get here? And how did he and his partners eventually redefine Korean cooking one banchan at a time? We dig into his great story in this terrific episode.

Also on the show we have a great conversation with journalist Mehr Singh, who speaks about her recent TASTE reporting digging into Gen Z cheesemakers. We also talk about her career, and some memorable stories.

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MORE KOREAN FOOD EPISODES:

• This Is TASTE 391: Koreaword with Koreaworld with Cote and Coqodaq’s Simon Kim [Apple]
• This Is TASTE 390: Koreaworld with Eater LA Editor Matthew Kang [Apple]
• This Is TASTE 388: Koreaworld with Doshi's Susan Kim [Apple]

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In Cooking and the Crown: Royal Recipes from Queen Victoria to King Charles III, Tom Parker Bowles, award-winning food writer, restaurant critic, and son of Queen Camilla, blends history, monarchy, and gastronomy to provide a fascinating window into the world of royal tastes and traditions as far back as Victorian times. In this episode, we hear about Tom’s reporting on how the Royal Family really eats, and we dig into his long restaurant reviewing career. Finally, we get his take on the food scene in London, and we talk about some unexpected places to find amazing food around the United Kingdom.

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It was a lot of fun having J Lee into the studio. Lee writes for the terrific business and culture (and the culture of business) publication Feed Me and files unflinching restaurant reviews and observations about the state of the food world, from NYC, and points beyond. We wanted to have him in to find out a little bit more about his background, and what got him interested in writing about restaurant culture. We also go over some of his memorable writing, including a very funny takedown of a Midtown newcomer, some Buy/Sell grades, and lots of love for the places doing it right. You can read J in Feed Me, and follow along on IG: carry_bradshaw_

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MORE FROM J. LEE:

• Meet Feed Me's Semi-anonymous Restaurant Critic [Feed Me]
• This Is a Review of a Restaurant with Personality Disorder [Feed Me]
• This Is TASTE 330: Emily Sundberg [Apple]
• This Is TASTE 479: Ryan Sutton [Apple]

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Lisa Cheng Smith is the founder of Yun Hai Taiwanese Pantry, an importer, online shop, and brick-and-mortar general store in Brooklyn offering premium ingredients for Taiwanese and Chinese cooking. Yun Hai has quickly established itself as a beating heart of the Taiwanese diaspora here in New York, and in this episode, we talk with Lisa about growing the business into making their own products, where to get great Taiwanese food in NYC, and more.

Also on the show, Clayton and Matt go over their favorite books of 2024, both new and less new!

Clayton's picks: The Stronghold - Dino Buzzati, Three Summers - Margarita Liberaki, In Love - Alfred Hayes, Speedboat, Renata Adler Mating - Norman Rush,The End of Vandalism - Tom Drury, Playboy - Constance Debre, Love Me Tender - Constance Debre, Permafrost - Eva Baltasar, Boulder - Eva Baltasar, Mammoth - Eva Baltasar, The Third Realm - Karl Ove Knausgaard, Long Island Compromise - Taffy Brodesser-Akner

Matt's picks: Great Expectations - Vinson Cunningham, Reboot - Justin Taylor, The Friday Afternoon Club - Griffin Dunne, Real Americans - Rachel Khong, Ghosts - Dolly Alderton, Hard Rain Falling - Don Carpenter, The Underground Railroad - Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys - Colson Whitehead, Chang-Gang All-Stars - Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Long Island Compromise - Taffy Brodesser-Akner

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MORE FROM LISA CHENG SMITH

• 9 Recipes for a Vibrant Lunar New Year Celebration [Bon Appétit]
• Yun Hai Taiwan Stories [Substack]

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Nicolas Heller, better known as New York Nico, calls himself the “unofficial talent scout of New York City” with over 1.5 million fans tuning into his Instagram for colorful profiles of a city in flux. He recently published the book New York Nico’s Guide to NYC which is a true insider’s guide to beloved community businesses across the five boroughs, from 200-year-old bars to new-school pizza spots. Nico says it’s not really a guidebook, but a documentation of a city in transition. It’s great having him into the studio to discuss some of his favorite places. 

All of us at TASTE are thinking about our friends in Southern California. If you would like to support wildfire relief efforts, some great places to start are the Displaced Black Families of Altadena GoFund Me Directory and the Los Angeles Food Bank.

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What an absolutely amazing conversation we have here. Malcolm Livingston II is a chef with some serious chops, having spent time in the kitchens at Per Se and Le Cirque and running the pastry program at wd~50 before being named head pastry chef at Noma—all by the age of 28. In this episode, we hear all about Malcolm’s time working at some of the world’s top restaurants, and why he decided to enter the plant-based ice cream game with August. We also find out that Malcolm’s life story is the inspiration for the character Marcus, played superbly by Lionel Boyce, on the TV series The Bear. If you didn’t already know about Malcolm’s incredible career and deep creativity, check out this episode.

MORE wd~50 ALUMNI ON THIS IS TASTE:

• This Is TASTE 500: Christina Tosi
• This Is TASTE 240: Alex Stupak
• This Is TASTE 233: Wylie Dufresne

All of us at TASTE are thinking about our friends in Southern California. If you would like to support wildfire relief efforts, some great places to start are the Displaced Black Families of Altadena GoFund Me Directory and the Los Angeles Food Bank.

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To many, German food is humble comfort food, the kind of food that may not win a beauty award, but more than makes up for it with its power to soothe, nourish and cheer. In her latest book Classic German Cooking, author Luisa Weiss has collected and mastered the essential everyday recipes of Germany and Austria. In this terrific conversation, Luisa shares her personal connection to German cooking while shattering some myths about one of the world’s great cuisines.

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LinYee Yuan is the founder and editor of MOLD, a critically acclaimed online and print publication about design and the future of food, and the founder of Field Meridians, an artist collective committed to strengthening local food ecologies in Brooklyn. It’s so special to have her in the studio for an expansive conversation about using a design framework to reimagine our food systems and the power of examining nature in urban settings. 

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MORE FROM LINYEE YUAN:

• Planting a Food Forest  [MOLD]
• A ‘Nature School’ Meets in Brooklyn [NYTimes]

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Today on the show we have conversations with two terrific chefs in New York City. First up is Suzanne Cupps. She’s the chef-owner of Lola’s in the Flatiron District. The cooking there made Matt’s top meals list of 2024, and in this conversation she opens up about her cooking career, and her unique place in the NYC restaurant scene.

Also on the show is a great conversation with Harold Dieterle. He is the winner of Top Chef Season 1, and we talk all about his long career in New York City and the ups and downs of chef life. We are such big Harold fans at TASTE. Note: Il Totano closed on January 6, 2025. We await an exciting reboot.

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MORE FROM SUZANNE CUPPS & HAROLD DIETERLE:

• Home Cooking So Good, Only a Restaurant Could Do It [NYT]
• Ryan Sutton on Harold Dieterle [Eater]

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London chef and author Yotam Ottolenghi puts out cookbooks that meet at the intersection of practical and cool—with a recipe development process that is part Warhol’s Factory, part Bon Appétit Test Kitchen, and pure Ottolenghi. After tackling baking with his terrific book Sweet, and before that putting Israeli cooking on the international stage with Jerusalem, he most recently tackled the concept of comfort with his incredible new book Comfort. In this conversation, we consider the many ways comfort food is served around the world, and how personal preference plays a major part in the quest for ultimate comfort. The result is a conversation that circles the globe and brings one of my all-time favorite recipe writers into focus. 

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We loved catching up with legendary Seattle chef Renee Erickson. She is the chef-owner of The Walrus and the Carpenter, The Whale Wins, Barnacle, and several other restaurants in that great American restaurant city. She is also the author of a unique new book, Sunlight and Breadcrumbs, that explores creativity in and out of the kitchen and how the process of making everyday food can result in much more than dinner. It’s a really smart way to think about home cooking, and I enjoyed catching up with Renee to talk about her collection of recipes.

Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We’d love to hear from you. 

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