This Is TASTE

Sam Lawrence is the chef-owner of Bridges, an ambitious and stylish restaurant on the edge of Manhattan’s Chinatown. Formerly the culinary director of Ignacio Mattos’s restaurant group, he opened Bridges in 2025. It won a Michelin star in its first year. Today on the show, Sam shares about bringing Bridges to life, Michelin recognition, and his plans for year two of the restaurant.  Before that, Matt has a great conversation with Fatima Popal. Fatima is the chief operating and financial officer of the Popal Group, a family-owned hospitality business based in Washington, DC, that is behind beloved restaurants like Lapis, Pascual, Lutèce, and Maison Bar à Vins. For this Resy Generations interview, we talk about what it’s like running a family restaurant business, and what it’s like to sit down for dinner with your family (and coworkers).   The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers – not of Resy—and do not constitute professional advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chef and restaurateur Marc Vetri is behind the legendary Vetri Cucina in Philadelphia, among many other restaurants. He’s also the author of several cookbooks, including the terrific The Pasta Book: Recipes, Techniques, Inspiration. I really enjoyed having Marc in the studio to talk about his deep love for both pasta and pasta cookbooks. We discuss the early days of Vetri Cucina as well as how a family recipe was passed down for one of his new openings. Have a future guest request? A restaurant we should visit? Take the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠This Is TASTE listener survey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We really appreciate the feedback. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nikko Cagalanan is the chef-owner of Kultura in Charleston, South Carolina. Born and raised in the Philippines, Nikko began cooking in 2017 while still working as a nurse, discovering that the kitchen offered the same sense of purpose—to nurture, care for, and bring comfort to others. In 2019, he moved to Charleston to fully pursue his passion for cooking and launched Kultura to great acclaim, including a James Beard Award nomination. It was a lot of fun having Nikko in the studio to talk about his journey to professional cooking as well as some exciting news from the world of openings.  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: Hangover cures, Television: A Novel of Luck and Perfection are novels worth checking out, and Catskills love for Fellow Mountain Cafe and Matilda. Also: We like I Love LA a lot and props to sneaky donut masters Grayling Bauer of Sparrowbush Bakery and Zoë Kanan of Elbow Bread.  Also check out: Charleston Isn't Ordinary with Mike Lata Have a future guest request? A restaurant we should visit? Take the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠This Is TASTE listener survey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We really appreciate the feedback. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tamar Adler is the James Beard and IACP Award–winning author of An Everlasting Meal; Something Old, Something New; and the best-selling Everlasting Meal Cookbook. Currently living in Madrid, she stopped by the TASTE studio to talk about writing her new book Feast on Your Life: Kitchen Meditations for Every Day. It’s a thoughtful collection of dispatches from a daily life anchored by food, and today on the show, we go deep on Tamar’s writing process and perspective.  Have a future guest request? A restaurant we should visit? Take the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠This Is TASTE listener survey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We really appreciate the feedback. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Snaxshot, the curatorial and slightly mercurial grocery newsletter and community, has grown into an industry force, read by consumer packaged goods executives and members of the food media on a near-religious level. (We are among these readers.) Andrea Hernández returns to the show to go over the big headlines from the year at the grocery store and in the CPG trenches. We talk about shorting protein, Stiller’s Soda, and Starbucks’s stumbles, and we play a fun game of “WTF is up with…”... It’s a fun conversation about the year in food and grocery. Also on the show we have a great conversation with Winston Alfieri, co-founder of upstart pasta sauce company Sauz. We talk about pay-to-play, scaling up as the “hot kids on the block”, and how to differentiate in the crowded pasta sauce category.    Have a future guest request? A restaurant we should visit? Take the ⁠⁠⁠⁠This Is TASTE listener survey⁠⁠⁠⁠. We really appreciate the feedback. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices