With a new restaurant open in L.A. and 30 years of gorgeous pizzas bearing his name in Phoenix, AZ, Chris Bianco has a lot of stories to tell. He returns to the pod to talk with Dave about building the most beautiful tower you’ve ever seen, bringing the sequel without the prequel, getting paid a barrel of beer on the Lower East Side, arming yourself with science, salads telling you what they want to be, Jean-Louis Palladin, a huge box of loquats, cutting bread toward your heart, what he imports ...
Jul 07, 2022•1 hr 10 min
With his trip to Italy in the rearview, Dave takes to the mic to break down the surprising highs and occasional luggage-related lows of a week or so overseas, as well as: hotel-room tipping, Italian airport food, looking at the countryside from a train, bringing salumi on the flight back, Friulian wine, simple trattorias in the middle of nowhere, Negroni spritzes, not taking photos, Vecchia Roma, carciofi fritti, Gambero Rosso, eating oxtail and antipasti at Cesare al Casaletto, wedding vongole,...
Jun 20, 2022•1 hr 2 min
Six months in, Evan Funke’s Mother Wolf is one of the hottest tables in Hollywood—but getting there took 15 years of obsession with the practice of pasta, where lessons are learned one tortelloni at a time. Evan and Dave discuss the long climb to the mountaintop, plus: George Carlin, Thomas Bernhard, staying true to your vision, Hosteria Giusti, L.A. glamour, eating pasta for analytical purposes, what a Caprese salad tastes like on Capri, a priori deliciousness, Jimi Hendrix, tagliatelle mouthfe...
Jun 16, 2022•1 hr 8 min
What do you do when your kid only wants plain rice—or worse, rice with American cheese? With the help of our friends at buybuy BABY, Dave and Chris kick off 'Clean Plate Club,' our new series on cooking for kids, with a conversation about the toughest diner out there: the picky eater. Also: going from dad of one to dad of two, unreliable advice, first-year fears, steel-wool slinkies, chicken nuggets and pesto macaroni, naturally occurring dinosaurs, the pain points of parenting, the pure joy of ...
Jun 13, 2022•1 hr 4 min
After spending 20 years crafting campaigns for the likes of Nike, John Jay jumped into a new role as President of Global Creative for Uniqlo—and there’s a lot more he wants to do yet. Dave calls up John to talk about finding inspiration in unexpected places, DJing at Space Lab Yellow, learning from Juan Mari Arzak, the glory years of Bloomingdale’s, an invitation from Ralph Lauren, invisible improvements, Mark Parker, skaters as food scouts, Ja Morant, Tadashi Yanai, omotenashi, pairing instant ...
Jun 09, 2022•1 hr 3 min
With a trip to Italy on the horizon, Dave’s wondering what it is we’re looking for when we fly halfway around the world—and Noelle and Chris are here to help him find some answers. Also on the itinerary: Clark Griswold, the lunacy of restaurant week, meeting at the painting next to the clock under the bridge, Noelle à Bordeaux, dodging the guided-tour junket, the Balthazar equation, traveling vs. sightseeing, the power of not knowing anything, backfilling the minibar, and Dave’s baggage strategy...
Jun 06, 2022•1 hr 3 min
Wylie Dufresne blazed a relentlessly creative trail for a generation of adventurous restaurants—and more recently, he’s been making pizza. It was only a matter of time before he returned to the show to tell Dave and Chris what he’s learned, and why there might be hope for the homemade-pizza practitioner after all. Also: taking salads off the menu, post-grunge food, Wylie’s slice order, holding pizza like a teacup, folding a hamburger in half, reverse-engineering TJ’s cacio e pepe, Chris’s pizza-...
Jun 02, 2022•1 hr 3 min
Marshall Goldsmith works as an executive coach with some of the most successful people alive—and finds they’ve often mastered everything except how to be happy. He returns to the show to talk with Dave and Chris about his new book, 'The Earned Life,' and what it tells us about how to be grateful, achieving everything and being miserable, fulfillment vs. regret, an infinite set of previous Daves, not stereotyping yourself, learning to be happy for one second, American pragmatism, and what to orde...
May 26, 2022•1 hr 2 min
After a vintage ‘Dave Chang Show’ solo intro and a bicoastal dining update, Dave ushers in Chris and Noelle for a rapid-fire run through the rest of the Required Eating checklist—featuring thoughts on Chinese herbal digestifs, premium nighttime cereal, restaurant economics, scallion hyperinflation, Noelle’s calamari marketwatch, ordering three-quarters of a sandwich, 108-hour beet preparations, Noelle’s mom’s kare kare, inadequate vampire camouflage, and the ever-spreading scourge of Potemkin Bi...
May 23, 2022•1 hr 1 min
Chris and Dave call up the pair behind the best-selling 'Notes from a Young Black Chef' to discuss their brand new cookbook 'My America,' and what it reveals about how we’ll all be eating in the years to come. Also: Playing to your strengths, giving birth to a word baby, cross-country recipe testing, re-upping on jambalaya at the dog park, Kwame’s Harry Potter House, a yin-yang of dolphins, Maggi seasoning, Miami oxtail prices, high-resolution recipes, the guy who created curry goat, what Kwame ...
May 19, 2022•1 hr 2 min
After last week’s Dave-induced derailment, it’s time at last for the gang to relay their Required Eating reports—and suddenly, everyone’s putting up numbers. Also encountered along the way: misleading fish marketing, a diner deep dive, Bobby Van’s, Noelle the Fanpire, 10 a.m. mozzarella sticks, a delightful eggplant parm, Hawaiian-style rib eye, a belated lemon-pepper defense, Elite Yelper Chris Ying, a rookie visit to Hillstone, the magic of Pierre Gagnaire, and Dave’s application for 'Iron Che...
May 16, 2022•1 hr 7 min
Dave and Chris call up Acre Venture Partners co-founder Lucas Mann to talk about how a future-focused VC firm engages with the tough-to-change worlds of food and agriculture—and about why Dave and Acre decided to work together. Plus: Patagonia vests, alternative protein, brilliant and world-changing people doing totally off-the-wall shit, getting a degree in Tibetan Buddhism, pork cocoons, 3D-printed fish grown in a car trunk, Slow Food, the sugar-industrial complex, the Island of Dr. Moreau, an...
May 12, 2022•1 hr 8 min
The MOIF team reconvenes to review the Required Eating challenges handed down last week—and what was meant to be a finale turns into more of a cliffhanger. But then, Dave, Chris, and Noelle dust themselves off and dive into: celebrity hotel-room cooking, Dave’s Batman rankings, a disappointing shrimp cocktail, bacon-to-lettuce ratios, when to wake up, dreams of hyper-efficiency, the Michael Pollan effect, feeling like a Quaker, taking a rocket ship to Hell for 20 minutes, Dave’s grade in Friends...
May 09, 2022•1 hr 4 min
The Great Pizza Debate continues with Recipe Club veteran and New World Sourdough author Bryan Ford stepping up to contend with unrepentant homemade pizza skeptic Dave Chang—but when the doppio-zero dust clears, whose pizza path will the world choose to follow? Plus: haircut narcolepsy, pan de coco, Dave making Jamaican food, heirloom Hot Pockets, putting bread on a pedestal, pulling up to the retirement community with the wood-fired pizza oven, open-crumb shots, Brian Scalabrine, and an honest ...
May 05, 2022•1 hr 5 min
Dave, Chris, and Noelle are shaking up the show with a newly kinetic, activity-driven MOIF format—and if you're reading this, we're roping you into it, too. Also discussed: Diet Dr. Pepper, ordering London broil at a diner, Iron Chef, Dave's spinach-artichoke dip, encountering Biscoff cookies beneath 35,000 feet, asking for a second meal on a flight, restaurants making their own charcoal, fried-rice windfalls, and a farewell to Dave's mom. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Guest: Noelle Cornelio ...
May 02, 2022•1 hr 5 min
John Walker was earning accolades for his work as a brewer in Santa Fe when he heard about a different kind of challenge—starting up a first-class nonalcoholic brewery. He tells Dave and Chris about what drew him to Athletic Brewing, amid a conversation covering temperance pairings, shift drinks, the Am-I-Stupid test, mowing the lawn in a shirt and tie, the great taste of cheap beer, Mosaic hops, capturing aromatic compounds, Joe Biden's favorite Gatorade, standing in line for Pliny the Younger,...
Apr 28, 2022•1 hr 10 min
The gang returns for another late-night Q&A—but first, as a little warm-up, we recap Dave’s visit to Pizzeria Bianco, Chris’s Newport Seafood birthday experience, dinner-course deluges, and what happens when the kitchen writes Hufflepuff on the ticket. Then the questions begin. Confronted on this episode: potato antimatter, figs on a plate, gas station Jojos, curly fry engineering, the beauty of a properly poured Guinness, wedding registry advice, Kewpie mayo, booze that comes in a pleather case...
Apr 25, 2022•1 hr 6 min
Eighteen months after opening the doors at West Oakland’s Horn BBQ, Matt Horn has lines down the block, a second restaurant, and a new cookbook out this week—but finding that success was far from easy. Matt talks to Dave and Chris about the many long nights and moments of truth along the way, as well as the meal in Japan that Dave can’t stop thinking about, hangover salvation, bloomin’ onions, the 3 a.m. internal BBQ monologue, repo man Heston Blumenthal, burning the boats behind you, BBQ omakas...
Apr 14, 2022•1 hr 15 min
On their latest fact-finding expedition, Dave, Chris, and Noelle criss-cross the Western U.S. to consider becoming a carrot-cake household, 'Harry Potter' geography, fish maw soup, Peking-style pork chop, Chris and Noelle’s recent visit to Vegas, Bang Bar walking snacks, bathtub eating, wasabi-pea rice krispies, Dave taking another swing at Soylent, Chris’s Popeyes order, John Cougar Mellencamp, and the ominous, apparently unstoppable advance of the Seattle Dog. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying ...
Apr 11, 2022•1 hr 2 min
What was life like for a young New York chef chasing a dream in the early 2000s? Milk Bar founder and Dave Chang chosen-family member Christina Tosi was there to see it, and her latest book, 'Dessert Can Save the World,' relays a lot of what she learned then and since. Christina calls up Dave and Chris to consider what she and Dave were like in their 20s, the smile vs. the grimace, the power of not having a plan, barbecue soft serve, the everything-bagel influence of Wylie Dufresne, proving Dave...
Apr 07, 2022•1 hr 11 min
With a crab-or-prime-rib-driven 80th birthday party to plan, Dave, Chris, and Noelle set out to survey the Southern California seafood-banquet landscape, and attempt to chart the ideal parameters of a celebratory family meal. Also explored: Dave’s body falling apart, a real-life candy draft, whether Veggie Straws are vegetables, Brodard Chateau, Dave’s thoughts on Renaissance architecture, Noelle’s dinner at HaiDiLao, table-side cooking, and Recipe Club returning tomorrow! Hosts: Dave Chang and ...
Apr 04, 2022•55 min
The eminent author of 'The Food Lab' and the just-released 'The Wok' joins Dave and Chris to talk about life as a lodestar to a generation of cooks, being a dad, and how he feels about making food at home. Plus: debunking the restaurant-burner requirement, our collective no-recipe moment, encountering your mom’s YouTube history, Googling jambalaya, perfection vs. discovery, Harold McGee, canon vs. fan fiction, and Kenji’s take on the Seattle Dog. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Guest: J. Kenji ...
Mar 31, 2022•1 hr 10 min
After comparing notes on their latest LA exploits, Dave, Chris, and Noelle step into the My Opinion is Fact arena once again—before deciding that the time is right for an impromptu assessment of the national chain-restaurant landscape. Discussed along the way: frozen langoustines, Dave eating clean, double-fried kakiage, another visit to Disneyland, the mainstreaming of birria, mustard martinis, gambling on diner paella, and the Dave Chang Show Third Eye Blind cover band. Hosts: Dave Chang and C...
Mar 28, 2022•1 hr 5 min
'Big Mouth' and 'Human Resources' creator (and Dave’s old friend!) Nick Kroll is back on the show to talk about new projects, new parenthood, and all the internal juggling and existential turmoil these achievements entail. Also: Staten Island pub crawls, working with Mel Brooks on 'History of the World, Part II,' making babies use Waze, appeasing your inner demons, terrible kitchen analogies, the person you are at work vs. the person you are at home, watching 'The Exorcist' at age 5, and constru...
Mar 24, 2022•58 min
Powered by half a glass of Hibiki, it’s time for Dave to go toe to toe with the latest listener questions plucked from the Majordomo Media Discord—and tonight, he’s determined to take down the Picnic Industrial Complex once and for all. Also swept up in the battle: sleeping in the goal at soccer practice, admitting to being a lurker on your own Discord server, eating in bed vs. eating outside, catching Dave glamping, mayonnaise-based salads, picking the locks at vacation homes, making Caesar dre...
Mar 21, 2022•1 hr 3 min
Dave and Chris call up Sean Evans, the hot-sauce-hardened host of 17 seasons of 'Hot Ones,' to find out exactly how he puts together one of the best interview shows out there. Discussed: disarming your guests with pain, believing in the show before it caught on, rappelling down a waterfall with Bear Grylls, the preternatural serenity of Lorde, the Dave Grohl approach, Japanese game show levels of sadism, the 'Quiz Show' ripple effect, Sean’s post-wing ritual, the ranch-dressing gambit, and ponde...
Mar 17, 2022•1 hr 3 min
It’s the end of a revelatory month on the Wheel of Constraint, and our hosts have convened to assess their achievements, consider some potentially transcendental spins on the challenge, and celebrate very nearly making it through—but not before wrestling with a potentially life-threatening Discord debate. Also: Milk Bar ice cream, Dave’s duplicate-shirt strategy, going all in on dinner, recipes that require a fire extinguisher, the Arrakis approach to rice making, bringing your own mini-burritos...
Mar 14, 2022•1 hr 2 min
After a debrief on the ups and downs of Dave’s first tour of dad duty at the Happiest Place on Earth, Dave and Chris call up Domee Shi, the director of Pixar’s latest release, to hear about how her new film came together. Discussed: Dole Whip, Toronto Chinatowns, the emotions inspired by boy bands, early 2000s nostalgia, getting kicked out of boarding school, eel fried rice, art-directing pork slices, the Pixar development method, drawing vs. cooking, art review stank face, how to pronounce “Ghi...
Mar 10, 2022•1 hr
On a rare four-mic episode, longtime friend of the show Anoop Pillarisetti lays out his Crescent City essentials before recounting his own recent ride on the Wheel of Inspirational Constraint: a chewable-food-free week of Soylent. Also covered: Andre Agassi’s stylistic legacy, hazardous pistachios, Soylent Stockholm syndrome, the Vegas blip, Dave’s new favorite ice cream, considering being a keto bro, becoming desensitized to the delicious, Chris’s Chinese restaurant dream, the happiest person D...
Mar 07, 2022•1 hr 4 min
Dave and Chris call up Stanley Cheng, CEO since 1972 of the cookware-revolutionizing Meyer Corporation, for an insider’s guide to the industry and a few sure-fire picks for home cooks. Discussed: a positive version of Hydra, cooking with Targaryen dragon fire, abandoning the cast-iron skillet, the right pans to buy, flat-bottom woks, the slipperiest material in the world, the silicone-coating racket, nonstick’s high-heat Achilles’ heel, Dave’s golf game, and a paternal assessment of the Anyday. ...
Mar 03, 2022•1 hr 6 min
