480: Bands on the Yum with Alex Bleeker (Real Estate) & Luke Pyenson (Formerly of Frankie Cosmos)

26:39Yeah. So Chris put out a memoir in 2020 called Remain in Love that was fabulous. I read it right when it came out, read it in like a day. And he does write about that scene in a different way in his memoir. He talks about their first trip to Paris. And I remember reading it and thinking like, man, like even they had a first time in Paris, you know, like everybody had that. And we had that. I'm sure real estate had that. It's always memorable when you get to play in Europe for the first time, and specifically because Paris is such a special place, I think. And mad for music, too, obviously. Yeah, yeah.

27:13Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, our first show in Paris was exceptional. It was like one of the greatest nights of my life. And it was just so cool to hear such a legendary musician describe that same scenario. But, you know, Chris France is an important figure to me as well because, you know, I don't think of Chris without thinking of his wife, Tina Weymouth, the bass player, Talking Heads. It's Chris and Tina. And I should say Tom Cum Club, which, you know, also unbelievable band. I am married to my former bandmate. A lot of people kind of first go to Fleetwood Mac when they hear that I dated a bandmate and then married my bandmate.

27:52Not a great example. Not a great example. The great example is Chris and Tina. And like what cooler music couple is there? So, yeah, I really wanted to try to get him for this book. I thought it was a bit of a reach, to be honest. I didn't know how we were going to get in touch with him. But long story short, we were able to make it happen. He was incredibly gracious, sent us a draft, you know, like really quickly. And I just remember being so excited when that showed up in my inbox. I was like, no way. I can't believe it. There were a couple of different Zoom calls that blew my mind in the process of making this book.

28:28And that was one of them. you know like all of a sudden we're like on a zoom call with chris ranz and his manager and he's like yeah no i think i can do this pretty quickly and he was really easy i was like man you know you guys are the example you and tina are the blueprint and he was i was like you know i'm married to my bandmates well he was like good idea man i mean were there some line edits involved luke are you are you offering him some some some keystrokes no comment no he he needed a very light edit job He's a light edit. Light edit, yes. It came in. It was fresh, clean copy. But yeah, I guess the only other thing I want to say about that piece is just that we really wanted to stay away from like rock star stuff in this book.

29:09We wanted to focus on kind of a different tier of musician and a different maybe scene. However, given the opportunity, we weren't going to turn down the opportunity to work with an actual capital R, capital S rock star. And I think it enriches the book to have his perspective, too. Well, I want to talk about that because the book covers about 50 years of music history and Franz is one of the older musicians, but there's some other ones too. But really, I think this book features a lot of artists who I would say fall into this rough decade-long period of 2006 to 2016, this indie rock boom, which I think you both were part of and still are a part of.

29:47And really, this runs parallel with foodie culture and foodism and any word you want to call it. I hate all those terms, but you know what I'm saying. And it aligns completely with the rise of food culture in America. And I think it's no secret that as music and indie was rising and artists were starting to get a little bit of scratch, foodism became another thing. And people were starting to get into food, which is a big air quotes. So, Alex, tell me a little bit about this time period of your lives and being in music in that era and then the rise of food culture and how, you know, you're all kind of getting into food at the same time.

30:26I think that's absolutely right. And I think it's been a really good time to go on tour as a person. It's like I now feel you as like I'm about to say as a person who enjoys food. Sometimes I'm like, I'd like to eat it every day if I can. Two to eight times a day. Yeah, yeah, exactly. But as a person who is, I don't know, there is no good way to say it. Is passionate about food, but we all know what we're talking about. Food's serious. I've tried every one on the show and it doesn't work enough to do. I dig food, man. And I like music. And, well, no, in that way it's been like a rich time to go on tour because, like you say, you know, there are people, as I've sort of aged, as the band has gotten older, the band has taken a call.

31:07I'll say everyone in real estate shares this interest. So that's a win for us. Like it's very important to us. It's like important to what we do on tour to like find a place to eat together before the show. Sometimes that's not always like the anatomically the best call, but we forego that. It's like this is another word that I sort of hate, but it's about vibe, you know. And I like my friend Sam that I mentioned who I met in the music space and now runs a great bagel shop. You know, it's like we've all sort of matured together. We'll have chefs sometimes reach out and say like, I know the band's coming through.

31:40We'd love to feed you guys. That kind of thing is really incredible. And it made me think of Mark Eibold's piece in the book with Michael Stern, who co-authored with his wife these books called Eat Your Way Across the USA and Road Food. And Mark Eibold, the bass player of Pavement, also played with Sonic Youth. I mean, pretty legendary stuff there. I mean, I know Mark from more of a - Bartending? Yeah, bartending at Jones Street. Great Jones. Great Jones, yeah. I know Mark more from, you know, bartending at Great Jones Cafe and selling me a lot of shandies. Those are the fucking illest drinks.

32:14Which really says it all, right? Yeah. So obviously they're a little bit older than us, kind of like right in the sort of the kind of formative indie rock period that birthed the one that I think real estate's a part of. You know, Pavement, massive influence on us. I think that'd probably be obvious to any listener. but you know I'd say in a lot of the circles at least that I mix and obviously there's a lot of different perspectives in the book but there are a lot of musicians who tour who are interested in eating while they tour into food Mark says in his book that that was not the case the culture has changed a lot Pavement was sort of this outlier that had this interest in seeking out interesting things to eat when they were on tour he said most of his peers were happy to eat McDonald's and that was what was available etc etc And so they actually utilized Michael's books in order to find, they would bring them on the road and sort of cross-reference them with their physical maps, you know?

33:09Yeah. And so it was just really cool to have that perspective, you know, of like, hey, in the 90s, we had to work much harder at this. And we have been and continued to be dedicated to this. And so what you said is like, oh, I've had it really good. You know, I've had all these sort of like internet tools at my disposal, of course, word of mouth, other bands, other musicians who are interested in this kind of thing. And of course, people like Chidi Kumar, who's a James Beard nominated chef whose background is in touring as a musician, you know, people who make the transition. I think that's why it makes sense to marry, you know, both subject matter so closely.

33:46But it was hard to figure out how to do it because so many people sort of float back and forth between the two. You know, we haven't even talked about this. But, you know, while I was in real estate and we were putting out our sort of breakthrough records, I was working front of house at Pies and Thighs in Brooklyn when they were newly at their new location. And I didn't even it was just because like other musicians worked there. That's Rushmore or Fried Chicken at that place. 100%. Still like to this day in the world. 100%. And like cool people were coming in and I was having this like, you know, fun sort of front of house experience of working at like a hot New York City restaurant.

34:19And like and everybody I worked with was a musician, you know, so there's all that crossover there, too. Back to pavement. I feel like, you know, Malcolm is lived in Portland for a while and was always like around town at restaurants. Spiral Stairs, of course, likes food as well. And I feel like that's a band and it's cool to hear Mark's story of how they use the guides. And Luke, working with Mark on this interview and just Mark being in general one of the biggest real legit musicians who are into food, tell me what it's like working with Mark on this piece and just like interacting with him.

34:49He seems like a fun hang. And if you go to Superior Burger, he will definitely sell you a drink like two day because he's likely working right now. Yeah. He was another person that going into this project was kind of a bucket list contributor. I really wanted to work with him. I had been reading his food writing since the early 2010s when he was Lucky Peach's southeastern Pennsylvania correspondent. So I knew that he had this kind of this food thing. Yeah, he is such an interesting guy, super, super smart and really engaged with food and really just knows a ton about food and is just so interested.

35:25And I remember actually after our initial call with him, I can't remember how this came up, But I shared with him that another one of my North Stars for this project is a collection of food essays written by war correspondents called Eating Mud Crabs in Kandahar. It's a really, really interesting anthology and was, again, the spirit of getting folks who don't always write about food to write food essays. And I really recommend that collection to anybody. But he wrote me back a week later and was like, hey, man, I got that book. It's incredible. Oh, cool. It's like how often when you recommend a book in passing to someone do they actually go and get it and read it and tell you about it?

36:02Yeah. And I feel like that tells you all you need to know about Mark. Let's talk about Chidi Kumar a little bit more. I think Chidi Kumar is like a well-regarded chef and restaurant owner and operates in the Research Triangle area. Yeah, Raleigh. Raleigh, North Carolina. But also I'd like to hear about Chidi Kumar's music because – and Alex, tell us a little bit about the bands that Chidi Kumar is in. because I think you have a great sense of how special it is to be at the top of your game in both fields. Yeah, totally. And now I'm on my back foot here. Remind me the names of the bands? Yeah, Birds of Avalon.

36:36Birds of Avalon, yeah. I was going to say Birds of Maya because that's a different one. Cherry Valance is what I know, too. Yeah. I mean, real rock and roll stuff. You know, like really, really just like excellent, true like early 2000s, you know, example of like great indie rock, emphasis on the rock, you know, music. I first encountered Chidi just as a person who played Kings in Raleigh. I actually was there. Not, you know, her restaurant beneath Kings, Garland, isn't there anymore. But I played Kings the other night with a different project, you know. And I just, you know, Chidi in the book talks about going on tour with Birds of Avalon and Cherry Valence and literally taking care of her bandmates and cooking for them.

37:19And, like, realizing there that that's where she wanted to become a chef, which, like, what a blessing to have a person like that in your band. And there's some great stories about like, okay, I have, you know, living on a shoestring budget, you know, like, but like wanting to feed both herself and her bandmates and like just going above and beyond to like prep these meals. And then recognizing that at least speaking in the United States, it's very, you know, it's very difficult to stay well fed, you know, however you want to think about that from a health perspective or even just a taste perspective.

37:53and opening a restaurant beneath a great venue in Raleigh that feeds bands really, really good food as a part of the deal of playing there. And this isn't like a huge fancy club. This is a 500 capacity sort of like dumpy, divey. I say that with love. It's a great venue, you know? And I remember playing there and I remember being, and not having, you know, coming at this world more from an obsessive music space than a like, I know the name of every chef in every city and just being, and like, you know, almost as a nod to what's in every green room. It's like a joke now. It's like, oh, there's hummus, but this is fresh hummus with like really good crudités.

38:26Yeah, and the pizzas are from like 50 miles away. And we drove there actually. Totally. And like farmer's market celery and like fresh blended hummus that's warm that was like just made for you. And some durian. Like they got like a little durian in the corner. Totally. Totally. They had brought from someone out 150 miles away. That would be an aggressive green room option. But it would be like part of this culture talking about like how, you know, everyone is kind of into food. So it's like, what's going on here? And it's like, oh, this came from the restaurant downstairs. And actually you get a voucher to eat there before the show.

38:55And then just like what that does to you as an artist, what kind of frame of mind that puts you in to be like respected in that way. Because good food is a sign of respect, as we all know. And it's like, oh, you take me seriously. You're offering. This is like, you know, and then that kind of thing gets passed around. around and always have you ever played at king's you get to go downstairs and eat at garland and like it's this woman and she she it makes complete sense to me that she like she understands the lifestyle and is like actively giving something back to the community i i recognize this my friend's a tour musician has played brook and bowl a few times oh yeah and brook and bowl gives you this amazing spread typically or gets you into the restaurant there and i used to go to brook and bowl just for the food totally i mean it's blue ribbon and like and they just bring you menus and they say, order whatever you want.

39:40And it makes such a huge difference. There's so few venues in the U.S. that do that. It's crazy. And Luke, you write about in the book how this tradition is actually very common in Europe and it sets the European tours apart from American tours. And talk about touring Europe and having clubs, like Alex, you're saying in North Carolina, but commonly having a restaurant nearby or taking you out for a proper meal. Yeah, there's a few different ways it manifests in Europe, but generally you're dealing with promoters who are a lot more hands-on, and so they will physically take you to eat somewhere.

40:14And I mean, we have one of our contributors, André Gomes, from Portugal, is one of these incredible promoters who take such good care of the bands who come through and play. I haven't had the pleasure of playing one of his shows, but Alex has. I'll tell you, I didn't even play. Yeah, he just— I went to Porto as a tourist and the man told me exactly where to eat, which was incredible, and then eventually just took me into his home and cooked for me. They just make it. It is their mission to make sure you're well fed. It's just such a part of every Schengen culture that, you know, you're going to get taken care of there.

40:44But then some places, like specifically in France, the venues will have kitchens and they'll have chefs who work at the venue. They're hired for that night to cook for the bands. And it's fantastic food. They clearly have a pretty solid budget for hospitality, and it's just because there's great arts funding in Europe, honestly. Yeah, the government really does step in, and you see it everywhere in festivals or in touring. That's how Europe rolls in many ways. Luke, I have to take this advantage to talk about music. I rarely get to do it on the show, but we have a shared love for broadcasts, along with Trish Keenan.

41:18That's right. This year marks the release of two demos, compilations. The latest one is Distant Call, Collected Demos from 2000 to 2006, which is being released later this month in September. Why is broadcast so important to you? Yeah, I mean, we could do a whole episode. We could do drum sounds, to be honest. I mean, so, yeah, the drumming and broadcast, I mean, and I'm not sure that's something that is commonly talked about. Yeah, it's not, but we're going there. It's fabulous. I mean, I came up playing jazz, and I think they haven't had the same drummer throughout their whole lifespan, but specifically the Ha Ha Sound era drummer, Neil Bullock this was in I think 2003 to 5-ish fabulous jazz guy adds so much to their sound but the guy before him Steve Perkins also had a jazz background and he was on Noise Made By People I would imagine and that album was their breakout and I remember I was an intern at Spin Magazine in 2000 and that album was like on all the time people love that album it's just so I mean it's so like transporting and it really it just creates like a whole atmosphere around it like creates this like bubble around you If you're listening to it walking down the street, like you're not on the street that you're on anymore.

42:27I listened to them a lot. So I started listening to them in high school, but I listened to them a lot when I lived in London for grad school. And it just matched. I just said, you're not on the street, you're on. When you're in London, you're really there. And it amplifies the kind of British surroundings. So it was a really like that, I don't know, that time in my life, I really kind of grew up and became an adult. And that was the soundtrack. And I feel like it's very important to me for that reason. and also just, I don't know, just a fantastic band. Yeah, Trish Keenan too. As a vocalist, her performance on these albums is underrated and I think she sings with a pretty narrow range, but it's just beautiful.

43:04Beautiful and haunting. And like haunting now, but haunting then too. Yeah, and she passed really unfortunately super at a young age and that was a terrible loss for music. So we get to go a little music. I want to talk about Beefheart though. Because honestly, we can't just leave you. Haunting. You mentioned Beefheart. I did, I did. I'm a huge broadcast fan also. Oh, sorry. No, no, don't be sorry. You guys covered it all. Yeah.

43:33Well, I'm not like the world's foremost Beefheart scholar, but Trout, Mask, Replica, Safe as Milk were the ones that came to me first as like I'm in college and so I don't listen to directly poppy things anymore, you know, that period. Totally. And that was kind of my introduction to Beefheart, which is funny because it's incredibly difficult music. I think it's really cool, but it's really difficult. And then more recently getting into records like Clear Spot that just have these incredible pop songs on them. And I'm going to out myself a little bit here, but I was like, oh, nobody told me there was all this.

44:03There was all this soulful, incredible beef heart, so there's a lot to keep uncovering. When a band can have multiple eras before the eras became a thing is pretty rad. I'm going to close and ask a little bit about your projects, musically and otherwise. And Alex, first to you. You're heading out on tour with real estate this year. It looks like you have some great, great shows. And, you know, what city are you most looking forward to visiting for a meal? Well, I mean, I've got a European tour coming up that starts a week from today. I'll be in Paris the day that the book comes out, which is, that seems fitting.

44:38That's incredible. I mean, it's a cliche, but, you know, I almost feel like I need to go to La Capole to celebrate, which is where Chris Franz goes in the book and talks about that meal with the Ramones. But I mean, we're also traveling to Southeast Asia and to some places I've never been before. Luke mentioned Jakarta. And then actually my wife's coming out to meet me. We're going to spend a little extra time in Indonesia. So I'm really, really looking forward to eating over there. And shout out to the Woods' Festival in upstate New York. Absolutely, absolutely. How's the food up there? It's great, it's great.

45:10There were really good food vendors. I played the Woods' Festival last year, at Arrowwood Farms, which is a really nice brewery. And they had a lot of really good local food vendors. There were, like, smoked oysters and stuff. Like, solid. Yeah, it's a well-regarded festival in late summer in Hudson Valley. And Luke, what's up with you? We don't have any stories on... Let's fix that, yeah. I know, we gotta have a little riff about what you're gonna write next for Taste, because I've been really enjoying working with you on Taste, but you've got other projects you're working on. Yeah, let's see.

45:39My next piece is gonna come out. I just wrote this article about Jamaican soup called Fish Tea. Oh, yeah. You know, I'm very Jamaican cuisine-minded. Yeah. Lauren's half Jamaican. It's a big part of what we eat at home. But, yeah, it's a soup that doesn't get a lot of play in American food media. I went deep on fish tea, and I'm excited to share that. It was a cool piece to work on, and I've got some other articles brewing right now. No touring for me, as I said. You're retired. Strictly retired, but... You're going on book tour. A little bit of book touring. Yeah, book tour. A little bit of book touring.

46:15Book tour can be fun. I'm actually also going to France next week. Lauren was invited to participate in an illustration festival, and I'm tagging along. Oh, look at this. Yeah, that's wonderful. It's not going to work out, though, right? We're not going to be there at the same time? Unfortunately, no. Really close. It's funny. I mean, we didn't talk about this, and we won't get into it, but Leon is the site of my worst ever meal on tour, so I'm excited to get a do-over. Yeah, we didn't get into the worst, but yeah, let's just go there. It's better, though. I don't want to... We're not going to end it with the worst.

46:38I was going to do best and worst, but, you know, back, that would be like the typical food music guy question. So I'm not going to do that. Right, right. So, Luke, you've answered this before. You've been on the show, and you'll be back. So I'm going to just ask Alex. Please. On This Is Taste, we ask guests about the discerning taste. So to close the interview, here's a little rapid fire, fast and furious taste check. Are you ready? I'm ready. All right. The best fruit? Really ripe Santa Rosa plum. I love the terroir. I love the location. Yeah, yeah. But plums are hard to find. What makes it good?

47:14This is a personal preference, but I like them cold. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's just like the combination of sweetness and tartness, and there's a textural thing. I like them slightly overripe. I like it sort of dripping down my wrist. Oh, yeah. Over the sink, baby. The ruby red interior of a plum. Some people like them a little bit more sour. What can I say? I'm a sweet man. And the rareness, I think, is part of it for me. It's like, you bite into a plum that good, it has to be July or August. You know? You're so California-filled. No, it's summer. But I love them always on the East Coast. Oh, cool.

47:46I loved, like, a black plum. And it meant my summer birthday. It meant, like, as a kid, the summer was coming up. And then I moved to California and was like, oh, this is where they're, like, actually really good. Right. I definitely agree with that one. Okay, the worst vegetable. This is hard. I'm not, I like, I'm like such an omnivore. I would have a hard time telling you a food that I don't like. I guess I don't love like plain celery on its own. It's a little too fibrous for me. Celery is a vehicle for stuff. I'm down. Who's eating it plain? Folks. Some people. There was a hot celery boom a couple of years ago.

48:23It was like really expensive, you know. I'm just saying, you know, that's the vegetable on its own. It's sort of exactly who's eating it plain. That says it all. All right. the best dessert? I'm a sucker for anything that combines chocolate and banana. Interesting combo. I don't mean interesting in a judgmental way. I think it's hard to pull off. Yeah, I think it's really good when it's done right. I love it. I'm a banana freak. Do you like the Ben & Jerry's version of that? I like this. That's like Chunky Monkey. Chunky Monkey, yeah. I don't like nuts in my ice cream. Oh, yeah. I love ice cream, but get those nuts out of there.

48:56Yeah, I agree fully. Butter pecan never really did for me when it had the chopped up nuts in it, but I like that call. Okay, the New York City restaurant you you visit first in an ideal world you know honestly i i mean i don't i haven't even lived in new york since the new superiority burger opened and i feel like i've been there like six or seven times so that should tell you a lot yeah there's a there's you've answered it man i mean it's a terrific place all right what's your bodega snack grab i it's like this might lead into what i think is coming but like if i'm being really indulgent it's like a chicken cutlet sand sandwich with like, you know, which is a little bit more than a snack, but like cutlet with like some honey mustard dressing on there.

49:40Maybe, maybe even fresh mozzarella if I'm getting really spicy. Is that your favorite sandwich as well? That is not my favorite sandwich. But like, I think of that as a bodega sandwich in a weird way. No, cutlets are, you had the right deli. Yeah, exactly. It's a risk to order. I think you got to know what you're getting into. Either it's your corner spot or the one a few blocks from you that you know is where you go for sandwiches. you know what I mean but uh if there's a decent deli counter that's what I'm because I want to talk not just like pre-packaged foods yeah yeah what is how do you hydrate when you're playing do you have a beverage that you prefer while playing I do have waters on stage I will say I've stopped doing this but like and I kind of like cringe when I look back but I'll I'll I'll talk about it because it's funny I used to like bring a bottle of Jameson out on stage with me as like a child, as like a 25-year-old child and like drink it from the bottle and the audience would go nuts.

50:34Yeah. And I'm like a big like Leo clap for me energy. So I was getting like bad positive reinforcement on bad behavior and I have since stopped. It's a little more like funny. The book is very much not like that, by the way, but like I will drop that like I used to do stupid stuff. I didn't know you did that. Very unreal. By the time we toured together, I wasn't doing that. I was going to say, it doesn't sound like you to me. Yeah, straight from the bottle is definitely a 20 thing. Ridiculous, ridiculous. but now it's like it's like definitely a lot of water on stage some La Croix you know if I really want to change it up at Joyland in Jakarta there's going to be flats of Pocari sweat backstage love that no better on stage drink than Pocari sweat and it's also what I drink when I play tennis if I can oh Pocari all the way unbelievable Pocari a lot I love that when I turn pro that's who's going to sponsor me every once in a while we've got Harmless Harvest coconut water in the green room very hydrating that's quite hydrating that's a nice treat your favorite cookbook of all time I'm going to say the Moosewood Cookbook just for pure California pill vibe.

51:33Yeah, yeah. That's a good Bible for plant-based and vegetarian cooking. Totally. Love that. Last one. We're going to get to it now. Your favorite sandwich. Well, this is the really long answer because I'm a sandwich guy. And I think I have to start this by saying that, well, I grew up in New Jersey. I did live in Philadelphia for a year. I think Philadelphia is perhaps the sandwich capital of America. And I got a lot of incredible Italian subs while I was in Philadelphia and more specific cheesesteaks that I could go on about forever. So I can't pick just one. I do want to highlight, I mean, there are sandwiches from my youth.

52:08There was a deli called Taste of Italy in Ridgewood, New Jersey that like in some ways, like I don't even know if it's the best one, but it will live as the best like kind of Italian sandwich shop in my memory. But I want to highlight a place that I found. This will give you a sort of a window into what kind of food person I am or what really gets me going. I found a place while I was having my like a routine service done in my car near where I live in California. This is in a town called San Rafael. It's called Viking Submarine Shop. I actually texted Luke while I was there. I was just going to say this is the place.

52:43I was flipping out. Yeah. So and part of it is because I live in California, but I really missed the East Coast approach to sandwich making. I don't need sprouts on everything. I love sprouts. You need a really hardcore meat-centric. I need something that's bad for me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I don't need that, but I enjoy it. So I'm in this, and I just got this feeling. I was like, what is this place? It's weirdly too big for its needs. It's this sort of cavernous room with one little sandwich counter, and all the mechanics are hanging out there. And eating, it's literally a kind of lunch counter spot.

53:16And I'm in there, and I'm looking at the sandwiches. like I'm looking at the menu and it's all the kind of like typical sub shop stuff that you might expect and then I noticed that there's udon on the menu I was like looking at them I was like these folks are Japanese actually I can tell and they like make it which is always I'm always interested if I'm at like a diner but there's like Indian food on the menu it's like that's probably good um so I decided to split the difference and they had like a beef teriyaki sub option. And it was beef teriyaki prepared kind of like a French dip or a cheesesteak.

53:53Very thinly sliced, kind of like chopped steak teriyaki seasoning. And they didn't totally scoop the roll, but they hollowed it out largely to create this kind of it was almost as if the sub formed like a wrap. Like it was this like hot cylinder of a burrito, which I thought was just a very culinary move. You know, it's kind of like, oh, this is an unassuming place that like it's just a local spot that is legendary you know and like I'm eating something so surprising and so delicious that I was like this is I like texted several people East Coast expats that live in my area that was like dude I found it we're going here we're going here we have a spot now can we go we can we can absolutely go amazing I love it Alex Bleeker and Luke Pineson thank you so much for joining This is Taste thank you so much Matt thanks for having us

54:42This 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.