438: Chloe Walsh & Eyal Yassky-Weiss

28:41Asking for three, yes, you can. Okay, sticky toffee pudding with salted caramel sauce specifically. Key lime pie. Yeah. Because it's just so good. New York has a couple spots. Oh, really? I don't know if I've been to Steve's. I think Steve's is. No. Out in Red Hook, he's been doing it for years. Oh, wow. I think if you're in Brooklyn, South Brooklyn, you can find. Oh, okay. Yeah, it's good. No, I will. I'm going to seek it out. And then the Bedino, specifically the Bedino at Mozza. It is so good. It's, I think Bedino, I mean, I think chocolate mousse is my number one. but Badino is probably too we wrote a great story maybe like four years ago about the Badino it was like a real love letter it's like you know it's pudding but I don't care it's bloody delicious yeah but you put salt in it and it's like fancy yeah and you put it in a cool cup exactly I mean talk about a pop-up you put it on a speed rack and you got like 20 servings and it's easy exactly your fridge but it just it tastes good yeah I love it your favorite American fast food chain In-N-Out always West Coast 10 years that's good What about your favorite UK fast food chain?

29:45I will say, and this is like, I just don't eat that much fast food. But favorite, probably, oh, it's been so long. Probably meat liquor, I guess, which is like a burger chain. Yeah, I know it. Yeah, probably meat liquor. Your favorite cookbook of all time? Favorite cookbook of all time. Honestly, both of Alison Roman's first cookbooks. I think she was really pivotal in kind of cooking in a way that made it accessible to everyone I think the way that she writes her recipes and the way that she presents her food as well I have read every single one cover to cover many many times and I pick them up probably the most even still now yeah probably both of Alice and Roman's first two yeah I make a couple things from her first book.

30:35Yeah. I make a cake. I make a, like a pound cake that she has from that first book. Yes, it's delicious. It's a good one. Yeah. Yeah, I know many people might feel the same, but it's just, maybe it's an obvious choice. But yeah, I do. I pick them up, those up the most. Okay, these are the biggies for you. These are big. Your favorite New York City restaurant right now. Can I pick two? Sure, we can go there. I said I love service. I go there every single time. So I feel like I have to say that. But Eval in Brooklyn, I went last time I was here. It's Persian food, I think. So, so good. It blew my mind.

31:10And they had a saffron martini, which really just took the biscuit for me. Oh, cool. Very good. It's a cool idea. Yeah, very good. Your favorite Los Angeles restaurant right now? Queen Street. Yeah. So same people as found. I love found, but Queen Street. So they do a tuna frites. So it's tuna cooked like a steak with like... Genius. With the... Great fries. Yeah. Sorry, I'm like... trying to imagine the sauce, but it's kind of like a poivre, but it's not because it's cooked with ponzu. Oh, my goodness. It's so good. It's like a creamy ponzu sauce. They're just killing it. Everything on the menu is amazing.

31:47The oysters are incredible. The hush puppies. It's like a Charleston themed. Yeah. I believe Ari's from Charleston. I could be wrong, but it's done so well. It's done very tastefully, and I go there at least once a week. That's fun. I've not made it there yet. Oh, you have to. It's really, really good. Got to check it. Your favorite recent cookbook discovery? Recent? It's got to be Julius Roberts. I think he cooks in a very similar way to me, or he thinks in a similar way about food as me. And he's got such a sweet story. I loved him on your podcast. He's got a really lovely way of talking about things, some hard-like kind of things he was talking about.

32:28But I really appreciate the way he talked about it. Yeah. and his food it just it's delicious I've got his cookbook I've cooked out of it and it's great yeah I love that you call it Julius and I've gotten to know him a little bit from his time in New York and yeah like the way especially the Eliza episode we've had him on twice actually but his interview with Eliza I thought he spoke about food and definitely talked about some hard issues like animal rights and the way that he does his raises his animals absolutely I thought that was so cool it was great this guy is brilliant yeah and the way he talked about it It was so with so much love and care, but still talking about it in a food perspective.

33:06It was yeah, it was great. I really loved it. Yeah, he's great. I feel Julius. I think the book has done well and I think he's gained a lot of fans here in the States. I just I feel like he just doesn't want to be a celebrity. Yeah, it's kind of like a half with love, but half pulling back. Definitely. Yeah, I am. You know, the restaurant that he worked at, Noble Rot, is amazing as well. Like he's got a great background. But yeah, you're right. I think it's like reluctantly famous. Exactly. Or not famous or, you know, whatever you want to call it. Your favorite city outside of America or the UK for food?

33:41It's got to be Rome. It's got to be Rome. Yeah, I'm stoked I'm going to be going there in October for a little bit. Yeah. And I'm excited to go back. Never grow tired of it ever. A cuisine you would like to learn more about? I'm going to say Mexican food. I eat a lot of Mexican food, obviously living in LA. but it's so nuanced and I just would love to learn. I want to go to Oaxaca. I'm hoping to go to Oaxaca in October this year. I just love it. I absolutely love Mexico City. I've been to a few different places now and there's just so much more to explore in the food perspective as well. And yeah, I think that's what I would like to explore.

34:16I mean, Diana Kennedy, I have all of her books. Great answer. Yeah, yeah. Cool. Last one, your favorite sandwich. Favorite sandwich to buy out or make myself? Oh, good question. Let's say make yourself. It's got to be Clark Street baguette, the type of baguette that cuts the top of your mouth, because that's the only baguette worth having in my eyes. Wow. That's a really strong statement. You got to have a little blood. Yeah. Not actual blood. No, but you know. And then homemade aioli, a little colabra and chili paste. And then I'll braise some baby broccoli or some tender stem broccoli with some garlic and some red pepper flakes.

34:53And then pop that in the sandwich. And because you're braising it, it kind of softens the bread as it kind of sets. I love it. It's a really good sandwich. When you were in Calabria, did you ever have like neoneta? Like the little fish Calabrian chili spread? No. It's amazing. I bought some here and I've written about it on Taste. It's like little baby fish in the Calabrian chili. I need to try this because my favorite food in the world is fish and then, you know, spicy. Yes, it's really, really dope. I'll send you the link. Yeah, please. That would be amazing. Chloe Cooks. I fucking love it. Great conversation.

35:26Thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for having me, Matt.

35:39Ayal Yasky Weiss, welcome to This Is Taste. It's been a long time coming. How are you, my friend? Thank you very much. Thank you for having me. It's a great, great, great, great, great being here. Well, you know, we met when we worked on a story for taste back in 2018. We both went to Ethiopia. True. And I thought that I'd like to get you in the studio just to talk about that experience because that was an incredible reporting trip. We got to visit the farms of the Guji region, the coffee farms, that is, and head there with Jeff Watts, who was then the head buyer of Intelligentsia. What was that trip like for you?

36:14It was incredible. It wasn't my first time in Ethiopia, and that was the incredible part of it because I thought I already – I got it all. I know everything. I've been there a million times before. But I think you and I click in terms of values and how we work. So we have shared values. And just doing this with a team that can, I think we kind of created something that was bigger than the sum of its parts. And it created a whole new world for me that I think influenced a lot of what I was doing after. So that was a really great experience for me. Yeah. Yeah, we had a good time with Jeff. We were out in the country like 12 hours from out.

36:49A.K.A. Bumping around. The goat, Jeff Watts. Was there something that you took away from the coffee industry from that trip? Because I know you, you know, having gone into the shoot, knew a lot about coffee. You had very strong opinions about coffee. But then it kind of like for me, like the script was like torn up. Yeah. What my thing is always when I try to when I travel to document things is I try to give an angle that's not something that people already know and heard a million times before. So my first giant coffee project was in Vietnam because I had this thing when I loved messing with people and I asked them, hey, what do you think is the second largest producer of coffee in the world?

37:28And people say Colombia or Costa Rica or whatever. And then I tell them it's Vietnam and they're always shocked. So I went there first and I learned a lot about the origins of coffee. And just the aspect of going to where everything started, where coffee is from, felt kind of magical, I think. So I think my biggest takeaway from this was also a lot of the data and the economy, given the fact that 80 % of Ethiopia's economy is coffee. It was fascinating to watch something that's basically, I mean, for me, it's something I consume, but for a lot of the people that we met is their entire lives. That was humbling.

38:11Yeah. And I would like to just hear a little more about Vietnam. You know, in specialty coffee in North America, we really focus on Arabica as the type of coffee that, you know, we're roasting and drinking. But in Vietnam, it's Robusto, which is a very different style. And you have done a lot of work in Vietnam traveling and visiting farms. And I'd like to get a sense of how is Robusto? How is that expressed in coffee that excites you? Because you really do spend a lot of time there. Yeah, there's a term. I call it the fourth wave coffee. It's a completely made up term by me. Don't look it up.

38:46Start here, man. I like it. I love it. It's a lot of younger generation of coffee roasters in Vietnam. You see what they're doing is they're taking pride in Robusta. There was this notion of a third wave coffee movement, so to speak, where people said, okay, we've been growing Robusta here for ages. Let's also introduce aerobica for consumption in Vietnam and open those specialty coffee few places that we all know and love from all over the world. Now, what I'm seeing more and more is people saying, hold on a second, Robusta can be great. Let's try to change our methods to make something great out of it.

39:27There are quite a lot of places, mostly down south in Saigon, closer to the supply chain, whatever. It's super, super, super interesting. Vietnam, In my opinion, they're just incredibly fast. The Vietnamese are oftentimes early adopters of trends, and they're very innovative. And of course, I'm generalizing, but they're very innovative in how they introduce trends to the world. And every time I go, I've done, I don't know, more than 50 trips. It's always a fascinating experience. Always. Yeah. Yeah. I love that you stayed on the story for so long. And I think we'll maybe work on a story for taste.

40:08We'll get into some of your other work for taste because it wasn't just your your trip to Ethiopia. You've written other stories. But let's let's go back and zoom out a bit. I want to get a sense. You grew up in Israel. You grew up traveling around the world. But what got you interested in focusing on chefs, restaurants and photographing food? I love your work as a photographer, as a filmmaker. You have a really great aesthetic that feels naturalistic. It feels extremely documentary. It's what I value a lot. I think that goes back to our shared values. We both love documentary filmmaking. Tell me about what got you interested in this.

40:43Just to make a small correction, I did not grow up traveling at all. Actually, my first flight I've ever taken was after I was already an adult. No way. That's funny. I always thought you were a little bit more of a traveler. No, no, no. I sort of maybe have been compensating for the past decade or so. But I started traveling. And I say this to a lot of people that work with me. My only motivation in life is curiosity. I'm extremely curious. And I am never willing to accept a superficial explanation for something. And food is just this kind of thing that we all consume. There's not, I mean, you can live in an empty apartment and not care at all about interior design, but you cannot not eat.

41:31So I think it was always sort of a pathway for me to explore different countries and cultures and to understand the world better, which was my motivation. Chefs are just sort of the people who present that. But to me, it was just the first level. I always was fascinated to explore the manufacturers and the farmers and to speak with people throughout the entire supply chain and learn from them and therefore, or as a result of that, just understand what's going on. Yeah. And getting in close where maybe other writers or photographers or filmmakers have not gone. And you've traveled extensively through Italy.

42:15You've traveled through parts of America. And I want to get a sense of some favorite editorial assignments or even commercial work that you've done related to food and food travel. Yeah, I think it's always editorials pretty much because the kind of work that we do is always focusing on storytelling, understanding even when we work with branded content. So it's always what is the story of the brand? What are we trying to convey? Who are we conveying it for? So I think Vietnam and specifically the coffee project in Vietnam is definitely up there. It's just I think it's just a rare story. I don't know, I owe a lot of my success to that project, which I did a project about the origins of food in Piemonte, in northern Italy.

43:07And specifically, I focused on kitchens led by women. I started asking those questions because I interviewed a lot of chefs and people who make food around the world and around Italy, I'm sorry. And you always ask them, hey, where did you learn how to cook? and they always tell you from those nonos. And then those nonos, you don't see them in the kitchens. And that was kind of the question that we went on to explore. And food in Italy is a religion. It's holy. And specifically in Piemonte, how they treat the produce and the things that surround them, I don't think it exists like that in any other place in the world.

43:49And it was extremely fascinating to explore. What do the nonas tell you that maybe some of our listeners don't know? Like, we obviously have this culture of the nona and hand-rolled pasta, but there's probably other techniques. There's other, you know, products that are being manipulated and worked by the nonas that isn't pasta in Piemonte. So tell me about that a bit. It's everything. And this is something that's very unique to Italy. The aspect of regionality, there's the region of Piemonte, but inside Piemonte, there's Lanque and there are other areas. Inside Lanque, you can see Barolo and you can see other places.

44:35So every single thing that comes from the ground has been taken as this is our method of bringing it to the world and we pass it to the next generation. I have not seen any other place that does that to that extent of almost obsession. I have not seen any other place in the world where you can see that. Speaking of covering women in the kitchen, one of the, I would say, most memorable stories you've worked on for taste was a piece you reported from Ramallah in 2018. And you went into the kitchens of Ramallah and you've profiled a very specific bread. Talk about this piece. I'm going to link to the show notes.

45:20It's one of my favorite pieces. And talk about reporting from Ramallah in the West Bank. Like as an Israeli covering Palestinian culture, I mean, the story just ticked all the boxes for me. I never express my opinion when I cover stories. And this was just to me. I use the camera, if you will, as a microphone. I was like, okay, just whatever it is that you want to share. so this was an opportunity for me to explore something Ramallah is less than an hour drive from where I grew up but because of geopolitical climate these are people that we were never you know we never hung out we shared the same food you know we grew up in basically the same region an hour away from each other and the only thing that we think about when we communicate with each other is war.

46:22It's almost redundant to say, but I'm not a big fan of war. And if I can use the documentary work that I do to build bridges, then that's incredible. Beyond that, we just met amazing people that have been maintaining some culinary traditions for many generations. It was just fascinating to go there and show something that I don't think a lot of people cover. Yeah. And the bread is musakan, right? Yeah. It's more of a dish that contains flatbread. And what we specifically went to cover is it's kind of a special occasion just because it's a long process of making it. Talk about it a bit. Yeah. So it's flatbread basically dipped in olive oil, roasted chicken on top of it, and very sumac heavy.

47:13Sumac is an acidic purple spice that grows around the region of the West Bank. So when everything is in season, it's just an amazing thing. It's kind of like a shared dish, kind of family style, as you call it. And we covered a mother and daughter business where they cook this for funerals. You know, you don't get that a lot anywhere in the world. It's an incredible dish. I've been eating this since I was a kid. It was very fascinating to explore the origins of this. I highly recommend if you have the time to even try to make it yourself. What's it like covering Ramallah as an Israeli and as a journalist going into the West Bank and covering the food scene there?

48:04Because I know you've made many trips and been able to photograph Ramallah quite extensively. Yeah. I don't recommend Israelis try to do that. I have my connections there that help me do it safely. I wish I could give you a romantic answer, but it's mostly sad because Ramallah is a great city. A lot of the people that I know there are phenomenal. And this entire thing just should have existed as one big community. it could have been the best tourism destination in the world if people would have just got there together. Yeah. Yeah. And so going there is mostly sad. It's mostly seeing the potential of what could have been.

48:51But politicians are dragging us down because of, I guess, interest of power and money. Thank you for sharing. I appreciate being honest in your work. It's important. I'm again, linked to that piece in the show notes, because I think that's a great piece to go back to, particularly looking at Ramallah in 2018, which has changed a bit now. Let's talk about a really cool company that you've launched. And I really want you to talk about it. It's called the Unnamed Traveler. And you're building something new when it comes to recommendations for travelers. We're always talking about summer travel and fall travel here, where we're going, the restaurants.

49:35There's obviously a whole industry of recommendation engines. You're kind of flipping it on its head. You're changing the game a bit, using every cliche, but it's true. I want to hear a little bit about what you're building there. Yeah, thank you. I'm always excited to talk about it. But just as a byproduct of our work, we've operated in more than 100. I mean, the vast majority of countries in the world by now. And I take teams with me and I need to produce week-long productions. We always need to know where to go, how to go, why to go there. It's just a byproduct of what we do. And as a result of that, a lot of people always reach out to me and say, Hey, I'm in London for two days.

50:19Where should I go eat? I'm here. I'm there. It's just what we do. So I've noticed a trend of terrible travel. I don't blame people. You mean traveling and having terrible experiences? I mean, just a bad way to travel because people have limited time. They Google where to go and they get terrible recommendations because social media forces us to recommend this kind of cycle of places that appeal to social media. people rely on online reviews those are oftentimes inaccurate and i'm being generous here i i hated that i saw places in paris that were amazing and did not get the kind of movement that of of tourists that they should have gotten whereas places that are you know vc backed they're basically a product a factory product appealing to social media and food reviewers just getting so much traction and what you see is and this is something that I can tell you after 10 years of travel there used to be so much difference between the different places that I went to and now not so much such a great point I experienced that in London last summer and I was like shocked I'd been London like 70 years and I was shocked yeah about how American it felt yeah Same in neighborhoods in Seoul, which I think Seoul and Korea is certainly not that as a whole, but you go to certain neighborhoods and it feels like you're in America.

51:58Yeah. And this is why in many ways, going back to that Vietnamese coffee project, this is why I love it so much because they're doing something that's theirs. They're not copying and imitating something that happens and something that appeals to TikTok all over the world. So the business that we started is basically to give people an alternative. It's, I don't like using the word exclusive, but for lack of a better word, it's not widely available. We share alternative guides and we're a community of travelers of crazy people like myself that travel for a living. And we just want to show, highlight and showcase local culture, understanding where to go, why going to certain places and how to participate and not just consume.

52:47That's what we're trying to do. And I think the database that I've been so carefully curating for the past decade, I think that's a great chance for me to sort of highlight it and I guess give back to all those great places that built my career. So how does Unnamed Traveler work? Does it, do you sign up for the newsletter and you get like picks or are you doing curated trips for your clients? Yeah, basically three tiers. I don't want to decide for people what their budget is or what they need to do. We have very specific digital guides of what to do in New York, what to do here, what to do there, and all sorts of places around the world.

53:28you can buy just one or multiple, or you can buy a monthly membership that gives access to all the guides. The sort of the third tier is that we actually create a curated list for you. And it's curated by people who are, I would say, and this is why I call it unnamed, because these are people who are not professional travel guides. They are just experts of that region. These are the people that I go to when I need to run an assignment in a new place. And we use a lot of what we do to give back to those places. So this is kind of like how it works. It's not for everyone. A hundred percent, I am aware of that.

54:10What do you mean by that? That's a great point. A lot of people don't want to go the extra mile and that's perfectly fine. Some people just want to get the 10 best restaurants in New York list and to be left alone. And that's perfectly fine. That's just not what we do. I try to provide an alternative to the best of culture because I don't think that's a real thing. Are you thinking that these experiences are just giving you a real, I'm going to use a corny term, but like a locals only experience? Are you thinking that these are the places that are doing like exceptional cuisine? Because I think it really varies.

54:46Like, you know, it could be all about the experience. The cuisine is good, but not great. But it also could be about like this is like the best, you know, Neapolitan style pizza you're ever going to find in Vietnam if that's what you're really craving that day. Yeah. I would probably never send somebody to eat Neapolitan pizza in Vietnam. That's kind of the point. Great call. That's a great – I'm glad you – yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I feel okay to tell you that because I know that you wouldn't either. No. This is kind of giving you a little bit of a challenge. Yeah. This is more of, if you're going to a place, say we take Paris, for example, if you want to understand Parisian culture, if you want to eat the kind of food that made Paris what it is, here are the places that I would go to.

55:31If you have other places that you wish to go to, I don't think that your list is any less worthy than mine. I just don't, who am I to tell you this is the best foie gras at the end? I think it's a crazy concept. So it's more the place that we recommend. They're all exceptional for sure, but they're more of they're giving you a way to understand. Yeah. And I would say the perfect target audience for this is maybe people who have been to a place once already. And now they want to dive deeper. This is where we are. Great. There's a huge opportunity there. There's a need for that. I think everyone has been fortunate to have some travel in their life.

56:11Many listeners have been able to go overseas and see these beautiful cities. And on second review, you want a little different experience. I'm going to put you on the spot and ask for maybe one or two recs for two cities. And these are the two that pop in my head right now. New York City, where we are recording this, and London. What are your two picks? What are a couple picks for each city? So people are tired of hearing me say that. But when I go to a city, I try to eat things that can only exist there. So for New York City, it's a New York style pizza. You know my favorite. My favorite is Luigi's in Park Slope.

56:50I think it's the greatest pizza in the world. He is also, Gio, is the greatest man in the world. And this whole thing is, I wish, if I were to create a utopian society, I would make him the mayor. I love it. It's phenomenal. Every time you go, this is a person that doesn't need to work, but he still works passionately every day. They have the cash register. It's not decoration, but they've been using it for about 70 years. It's just wonderful. And the pizza is just phenomenal. I would go to eat all the Jewish delis because it's such a subgenre of a culture that really does not exist anywhere else.

57:30Get a lox bagel from Russ and Daughters. Go to Second Avenue Deli. Go to those places. And London is very interesting because I don't think people understand sometimes how big London is. So instead, I would just recommend you to venture out of Soho or wherever it is in central London, zone one that you stay in. Go to Clapham and go eat Indian food. Go far east for some Vietnamese places. Go up north. Go to follow a group of football hooligans and go to their favorite bar and eat a Sunday roast. You know, just do those things. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And this is also, very rarely you can see in the Unnamed Traveler Guide a Michelin Guide restaurant.

58:18And it's not because I think they're not good. Some of them are phenomenal. I just don't think you need us for that. Yeah. You're doing the work that you, again, for someone who knows the city and has been to maybe the Michelin place, has been to the St. John's, the world, which we love. What's the next trip? What's it going to bring? And so you can just like, I'll put a link in the show notes. It's a website. We're signing up for your newsletter. Is that right? Pretty much, yeah. Yeah. Sign up for the newsletter. Get in touch with Eyal and maybe Eyal can hook you up with a curated guide. Yeah.

58:49What does this cost? It really depends. It's a few dollars, depends on the size of the most basic guide. Say, here are five great pubs in London to eat a Sunday roast, a few dollars for that. Monthly membership is$19.99. The curated list, there are a few ways to do that, but it's basically$250 for something that we curate specifically for you after you answer a bunch of questions that get us to understand what it is that you need and what it is that you're looking for in your trip. I love that. It's really a great value if you think about how much time you already spend looking around. And here's a group of folks, not just Ayel, but his team, who can set up a wonderful trip day by day for a pretty, I would say, modest fee.

59:34I mean, it's not for everyone, but it's a pretty modest fee. We also, I mean, not only, I mean, of course, I think it's a modest fee. But we also have a significant chunk of the revenue we donate to nonprofits that promote those small businesses that we highlight in our guides. So it's another thing to consider. I loved it that you mentioned that. I forgot to say that, but there is a nonprofit model here in some ways that you're, of course, respecting the locations that you're recommending. It's not just for you. It's to share back to the… Our goal is to highlight and to make sure that they continue to exist as opposed to exploiting their wonderful craft.

1:00:11Yeah. Aion, this is Taste. We asked guests about the discerning taste. So to close this interview, here's a little rapid-fire, fast and furious taste check. Are you ready? I am. Born ready. The best fruit? Fermented grapes. Okay, tell me about those. I'm curious. No, no, I'm just referring to wine. Oh, okay. I don't really eat fruit, to be honest. I was like, what are we talking about here? Are we talking about wine? I guess we're talking about wine. I mean, listen, that's a great answer. Fermented grapes in a bottle. It would be, I just don't really eat too much fruit. It's great. I just don't.

1:00:41Yeah, not a big fruit fan. Yeah. The worst vegetable. The worst. Eggplants. I hate eggplants. Yeah. I mean, again, I'm sure it's great. I just don't like it. Sure, it's great. I've tried it. Yeah. Can be a tough hang. The best dessert. Oh, God. Turkish rice pudding. What makes it special? I don't know. It's just something. Maybe it's after you've had three tons of kebab. So maybe it's my state of mind. It smooths you out a little bit? Yeah, maybe. Your favorite American fast food chain? The classic answer is In-N-Out. It's just phenomenal. I know it's not very sophisticated. In-N-Out is just great.

1:01:21Okay, a few more. Your favorite cookbook of all time? I barely consume any. I think this is going to sound very cheesy, but I bought Korea World that you put out because I don't know maybe it's because and I generally I think you know that about me I just don't consume content I don't know what's going on I don't watch any shows I don't listen to podcasts so I just buy what my friends make and when I do I love it I appreciate that thanks I I appreciate you supporting alright these are going to be the controversial wrecks but we're going to go through a couple cities your favorite LA restaurant right now the thing same thing go to places that can only exist over there.

1:02:01When you're in LA, Thai town is, it's the only Thai town in the world. You can eat great Bangkok, central Thailand cuisine, and then walk five minutes to Northern Thai Food Club and eat fermented sausage and cow soy from northeast Vietnam. Walk five minutes to Jitlada and eat Southern Thai curry. No other place in the world you can do that. Go have casual lunch at John and Vinny's. go to those iconic, old-timey places like Musou & Frank's or Dear John's. Drive, and you know I told you about this place a million times, drive two hours to Santa Barbara, go to Cold Spring Tavern and eat a French dip.

1:02:44It's just nowhere else in the world you can have that. Speaking of French dip, we were down in downtown L.A. recently. Yeah, true. Your favorite New York City restaurant right now. I mentioned Luigi's, and I will say it again because I just think it's - Your second one, your next one. Yeah. Maybe 2nd Avenue Deli. Yeah. I just think it's a great place. I love it. You're sticking to your guns. Yeah. Your favorite restaurant, Tel Aviv right now. There's a place. I have photos to prove that. I go there every time I visit Tel Aviv. I go there directly from the airport with my bags. I'm not kidding.

1:03:16It's called Jasmino. Restaurant is a big, big word for what they are. They're more of like a street food, a kebab place. all my years and all of my trips I have never had better kebab I love smoky flavors I love smoky whiskey I love everything with smoke and this is basically eating smoke and pita bread and I can't think of anything better yeah, you can't go wrong there last one, your favorite restaurant in Paris cliche, but Bistro Poulbert yeah, it's good it's cliche again, I know given what I just shared I should probably try to surprise you or give you something alternative but no, it's just classic Yeah, and classics never die.

1:03:53You're playing it straight. I appreciate it. And if you do subscribe, you'll get more than Bistro Palbert, but you've got to recognize the legend there. You would get maybe specific tips for Bistro Palbert on what to order and when to go. Good point. There'll be more than just the name of it. A cuisine you would like to learn more about. Again, it's going to sound cheesy, but everything that's happening in Southeast Asia, just the economical development that's happening there is creating new things. And I know a lot. I know more than 99 % of the people just because I've been there so many times and I still, I feel like I'm just scratching the surface of there's so much to learn.

1:04:36And I just, I'm obsessed. Last one, your favorite sandwich. A lox bagel. Yeah. I wish I had a more interesting answer. No, lox bagel works for me. Yeah, it's just amazing. It's a good one. Y 'all, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you, Matt. That was great.

1:04:55This is Taste is hosted by Eliza Abarbanel and me, Matt Rodbar. The show is produced by Shalia Harris and Pat Stango and edited by Clayton Gumbert. Theme music by Steve Rydell. Visit Taste online at tastecooking.com and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter for updates on all cool things that are happening.