Notafoodie

What an absolute joy it was to talk to Jenn de la Vega (AKA @randwiches)! To simply list all of the things that Jenn does (caterer, producer, author, cookbook collaborator, recipe developer, food stylist, reality show contestant, food judge, Twitch TV host, etc.) would be a disservice. She is creative, hard working, smart, and the perfect example of designing a life for yourself around the things that you are passionate about. She talks about her life in food competitions, catering, sending random sandwiches to people, and her absolute love of manga and anime.  Thanks for talking to us Jenn! It was so much fun.    Plus, Yeti frying pans, Mike's recipe for Jungle juice, and "White People Food". 

Adam Lajara is just an all-around good guy. After working hard on the line in restaurants and at hotels, he transitioned to becoming a private chef. His current client is Julius Randle (yes, All-Star NY Knick, Julius Randle). Adam sets the menus, makes sure Julius hits all of his nutritional requirements, and even cooks for the entire Randle family- including the kids. After listening to Adam for a minute, what stands out is how grateful and blessed he feels every day. Whether he is slogging away as a line cook, or catering to the Randle family, Adam keeps his positive attitude. We talked to him one night, after a long day of work, and although he must have been exhausted, you couldn't tell at all.  Plus, we talk about the resurgence of coffee as a drink ingredient, crappy college alcohol consumption, Mikey's trip to West Palm Beach, and Tom's visit to a Flushing food hall.  ENJOY!

Wow! It has been a minute... 17 months to be exact. But we missed you all so much that we had to start podcasting again! Join Mike and Tom as they talk about the 100 Best Restaurants in NYC, and have a fun talk with friend of the show, Casey Corn, host of Magnolia Network's Recipe Lost & Found. Casey talks about how her background as a classically trained chef, turned food anthropologist, led her to becoming a TV host. Really, you should listen to find out about the “Great Cranberry Scare of 1959”. Stay tuned after the show for a surprise little ditty. It's good to be back!!!!!

Welcome to the NotAFoodie Holiday Spectacular! On this episode, Mike and Tom talk about: Steakhouses vs Italian restaurants for an old-school night out.  Everyone's favorite holiday beverage, "coquito"- different types, disgusting science experiments that involve it, and most importantly, where to find it. Amazing foodie (or NotAFoodie) holiday gifts- appliances, cookware, sauces, salts, olive oils, and books. Also, find out what Mike's go-to dish is to impress someone (that is not Italian food). They also discuss their new partnership with 2Cents, and app that lets you leave audio comments, and messages directly for the NotAFoodie team. You can download it here: https://www.2cents.audio/notafoodie

Let's talk veggie chikky nuggets, Tom's ritual Friday night steak and the accompanying butters and sauces, and asshole restaurant patrons that don't tip. Plus, quick questions: What are your three go-to Chinese take-out dishes?  What style of BBQ is the best? Best type of pizza? BEC or SEC?    Thanks for listening!

Mike and Tom talk about EMP, "fine dining", and why it is still a thing. They also debut a new segment to find the answers to riveting questions such as, "What is your favorite snack chip?", "What is the number 2 alium after garlic?", and "What is the best way to eat eggs?"

We're back! Since we last released an episode, Mike Miranti has become MIKEY POMODORO. So, Tom decided to interview him about his transformation from "Front of house guy" to a budding restaurateur.  Plus we talk about the "10 New Rules of Dining Right Now".   ****************************** Transcript below: From the NotAFoodie studio which is not actually a studio it is a zoom meeting from I don't know where are you Mikey? In Hell's Kitchen, at our pop up kitchen space. So anyway, it is the NotAFoodie show. I am Tom and I am your co host along with Mike Miranti aka Mikey Pomodoro. Mikey Pomodoro. So I think, Mike, one of the things that I want to talk about about this episode I bet the focus of this episode I think, is the evolution of Mike Miranti. Front of House guy, podcast host extraordinaire, to Mikey Pomodoro restauranteur. Pop Up manager pop up restaurant or chef Chef Smorgasburg like we've got a lot to unpack there. But I think I think we should just get started with some food news first What do you think? Yeah, I meet you that that's the plan that's what we do. You're out of practice because you didn't do the Food News jingle. So what do you what do we have to talk about today? What do we got? Yeah, so pretty much if you've been if you're just coming out of the coma The first thing you needed to do is listen to the new nada foodie show there's been a worldwide pandemic since the end of 2019 what restaurants closed for a year then there was a vaccine where there is a vaccine and a lot of people have taken it but not everybody yet for some reason I thought to get a microchip I didn't know that there was a vaccine alright Because there's a vaccine restaurants are kind of back there's no more 50% seating there's no more outdoor only seating restaurants are back so restaurants are back but it's not the same as what it was pre COVID and food and wine put out a really like perfect Instagram post like a 10 slide post about the new rules of dining out Yeah this is awesome I came across this the other day and just to be clear you and I started talking about food news we started talking about just the shit that servers have to deal with like that they've had to deal with historically right like you go to a restaurant people see it people are entitled and you know that's not even talking about the people that don't tip but the people who you know as my my daughter would call them Karen's but like just people who are complaining who who have the sense of entitlement and it's gotten worse across the board for for everything right like people are understandably angry people are you know, frustrated with the world and things start to open up a little bit and they there's this trend I guess or this this immediate like you know urge to get back to Oh, everything should be perfect again, you know, when on the back end there's there's a lot of shit that's not perfect. We lost how many fallow hundreds of 1000s of people you know, died, that there's no so that means there's a labor shortage to there's a labor shortage are more people to go back to work? Yes. Which is a really like, cynical way of looking at it. But it's true. But also people are choosing not to people who might not feel comfortable going back to work in a restaurant where you're dealing with people with dealing with the public. You know, I know me personally like I've got kids at home who are not vaccinated yet I would probably feel uncomfortable if I had a job working in a restaurant like that. I had to go to a conference in Nashville, back in August, which is like the breakthrough COVID capital of the fucking world because it's just crazy, unmasked unvaccinated mass of people and I, I quarantined at home, before seeing my kids, like I can't imagine having to do that every single day and having to go to work and being treated like shit and, you know, by customers and everything like that. I think it's just, we're at a we're at a breaking point. So that led us you and I to talk about this post that came out from food and wine. It was an Instagram post and once you take us through it, yeah, so it's 10 words. Yeah, it's 10 rules. Number one, the customers not always right. Which is the truth. The customer Usually wrong. And also people hate asking servers questions when they go out, and then they don't have as good of the time. You and I are generally friends because you asked me things that Christos though. So like this is it's interesting because I, I've always struggled with, like, I'm not gonna complain about certain things, but I will talk to my servers and I'll talk to chefs and I'll ask for recommendations. And I'll, you know, at the other day, I had some really bad service at a place that I'm not going to blow up their spot and but I'll but I sent the manager a note, because I feel like they want they want to know, right? Like, I'm not asking for anything for free. I'm not demanding things. Like sometimes I'll tell if I had really bad service or like a bad dinner meal, I'll pay for it. And then after I paid for it, I'll bring the manager over. Oh, that's exactly what I did. I paid for it. Yeah. That's it, I paid for it. I and I, you know, and I said, Hey, I know that you're a new restaurant that's been around for only, you know, a few months, I know that you are beloved, you're developing a relationship or a reputation of being beloved in the community. And every experience I've had up until this point was good, but I just want to let you know that this is really screwed up what you did like this, this was a really bad day. And everybody has a bad day. So anyway, the customer is not always right. Yeah. What's the natural? Big 20% is minimum now? I agree with that. Yeah, I agree with them. I also like when I kit I tip 20% after tax, that's usually like 25% Yeah, I mean, yeah, I've always kept 20% after tax sometimes. I when when I first started going out, I was tipping like, 50%. I was just, I felt so grateful. I know, right? Well, I mean, it's not like I was going out to like, you know, a like, and well, let me just say, I'm not tipping 50% of the bill, if I'm going to a restaurant that I know is owned by some rich person. What about when you go to EMP for vegan? Yeah, no, not at all. So pay $350 I will not Don't they have no tipping and keep Danny Meyer of like the old anywhere. method for that. Anyway, number three. Number three, be clear about food allergies? Uh, yeah. But servers should always ask allergies too, because people are stupid. So you, if you ask them, they'll more they'll be more likely to tell you then if they just have it. Right? Well, and this all I think the ethos behind this is be clear, because restaurants have always had to work on razor thin margins. But like, you don't want to be sending things back. You don't want to be causing a problem when people are short staffed and barely getting by. Right. So be offended about some kitchen. Yeah, no, exactly. And so the next one is use your phone for memories, not calls. With your pictures. Yeah, take take pictures, put them on Instagram, take a phone call in the restaurant. I know. I could not believe that this was a new rule of dining. This is always my rule of dining my phone. I take a photo when things come out, but it goes into my pocket or it gets turned over upside down. If I'm ever on my phone. While eating dinner. You can come over and slap me. Yeah, if you're if someone calls you to pick up like, Hey, I'm out to dinner. I'll call you back. And that's it. Yeah, yeah. If I go to a table and they're on the phone, I just leave and then they'll get me when they're off when I'm when they're off the phone. Number five is saving that reservation. Oh my god, I this is something that I am always like, I think my wife gets annoyed with me. Because if I'm going to be 10 minutes late for a reservation, I will call the restaurant and let them know. I am I know I'm a little bit crazy with that. You can give a rest you could be 15 minutes late to a reservation. Yeah, I think that's the that that's the absolute most I think that's totally acceptable after that. It's really not fair. But I mean, obviously, restaurants close earlier now. So if they're closing 10, and you have a 945 reservation or 930 reservation, and you get there at 945 You better get your ordering quick because they're so close. But I think that the first sentence on this slide that food Why put out as restaurants simply can not sustain the financial losses of no shows, particularly right now. I mean, that's something to keep in mind when you make a reservation, especially at a place where you've got limited staff, you've got limited food that people have, you know that they've ordered that the restaurant has ordered to cook for you. Like that's all based on your reservation. So respect the reservation number six patients vacation patients. I agree with that. 100% I mean, I think my first dining experience my first indoor dining experience, Post getting vaccinated definitely took probably 15 to 20% longer than normal and I was fine with it. I am happy to be out I'm happy to be to be partaking in the economy I'm happy to have people cook for me and serve me. It is a privilege right to be able to go out and do this absolutely. Just I miss it so much. During quarantine I miss going out and like just having a meal night like dreaming about diner breakfast like the idea of someone just like making me eggs and toast in home fries and sausage. Yeah, I mean you know what i like? I love a dirty dark tight bar like yeah, that is that like when I say tight I mean like your shoulder to shoulder with people. Like when people ask me what I want to do after you know getting vaccinated I want to be in a tight bar with like, shoulder to shoulder people that screaming with some drunk next to me about whatever sports is on the TV. You know what I did? Like two three weeks ago. What I took I took over the jukebox and Billy markwest Oh Billy marks that is we could have a whole episode about billion marks. I can you know talk to you about the the sex worker friends that I made there even though they would they would be beginning their shift when I was finishing my shift. I was not a sex worker. I was working at a media company but I would come in at like seven or eight o'clock at night. There'd be the sex workers gearing up for the evening. What a great place that place. Anyway, never said when you when you play music, they talk to you about what you play. Oh, yeah, they're like big like music guy big like all these guys. So did you know for a while they were the only bar in New York that you're allowed to smoke in? Yeah, you told me that I didn't. told my friend that. Yeah, the police had no employees. They just had the two owners. It was Billy and mark. Number seven smaller menus on the order of the day. Totally fine. I feel like that was the trend. Pre COVID. Anyway, yeah. Yeah, I'm, I'm fine with that. I'm always like, Hey, man, give me one of everything on the menu. You know, don't come on. Anyway, sorry, I'm cutting you off my dad. Hey, don't weaponize your online review? Yes, uh, yeah, that's just called being a good human being. I know, I know, I and I also will go as I very rarely have left bad reviews online for restaurants. I, I followed a lot of food writers and food critics who just decided they're going to stop reviewing restaurants, like they'll go out and they'll highlight restaurants, but they're not going to if there isn't something negative to say they're probably not going to do it right now. Because we're in a place where these, you know, these these restaurants, these businesses are trying to survive and you know, do they need someone some idiot writing a one star Yelp review, like is not helpful. I mean, okay, well, one, remember in the beginning of the pandemic, the picture of the fajitas, and it was like, we've been waiting for 20 minutes, she can't eat her fajitas without cheese or something like that. Yeah, something stupid like that. That's how all those people come off as well. Like that's that's the problem with Yelp reviews is that like, you can't trust the person who's writing it to begin with. And if someone didn't get their, you know, their iced tea with enough ice cubes in it, they're going to leave a one star review on Yelp and that one star review is going to be into it's going to be put into the weighted average of the the overall review of the so I never trust any, any of that stuff. We got a one star review on seamless or grubhub. And it was like food was not good. Okay, that was it. Sorry. Alright, number nine. Prove your status. That means if you're asked to show proof of vaccine, do it don't give people a hard time for enforcing regulations. No matter how you feel about whether you should be vaccinated or not. It's the same as like being 18 and going into a bar and being like, why can't I drink? Why can I serve in the army but I can't drink it's not the market. It's not up to the bartender. Yep, it's not That's it. That's it. That's a cut it's it's it's that cut and dry. Number 10. Being kind, keep timeliness and or directness and kindness and communication. Top of Mind. I think the next sentence is recognize the humanity of every worker. That is something that was gone for a long time. Just because you're paying somebody to serve you a meal doesn't make you better than them doesn't mean that you get to not kinds to them. I mean that was always always my rule when I was looking for a partner in life is watch how they treated the waitstaff at a restaurant and if they didn't treat them with like the utmost kindness and respect then they weren't the person for me so anyway those are the 10 new rules as put out by food and wine magazine this week couple well like yesterday they put this out but yeah, I love that Yeah, shout out my friend chef marker CS for putting me on to a really good love marker See? Anyway on friend of the pod Mikey so Mikey pop I'm gonna call you Mikey from now on because it's Mikey pomodoro I never called you Mikey I use called you Mike. You know, I don't like Mikey right? But I can't gotta get used to it. It's a really good name. It's a really good name for the business. But when I introduce myself to be pious might Alright, well, we're transitioning you are no longer for this segment. At least. You are no longer Mike Moran D co host of the nada foodie show you Mikey pomodoro restaurant tour. And I want to hear your story Mikey. pomodoro. Talk about so. I really I find it fascinating. And I'll set you up pandemic hit you. We're not working in restaurants anymore. So you decided you can start making chicken parm kits that you're going to sell. You're going to make chicken farms and and little speakeasies, little pop ups, and sell them to your friends. And then that evolved? So take it from there. Yeah, so it was a couple of things to start to start like I was, I was so bored. I was going I was by myself. I watched all of Netflix. I listened to all of Spotify. I was going out of my fucking mind. I was cooking a lot. And my friend asked me if I would cook dinner for him and his pregnant wife to surprise them. For it was her birthday slash she was pregnant. So I I pay I charged him like 150 bucks with food and everything. And I went and I cooked for them. And that was like the first Mikey pomodoro thing. And then my other friends turned their backyard into the speakeasy bar and they wanted to get chefs. So I came and that's how the chicken parm sliders were born. And then I started selling the chicken parm sliders out of my apartment in Harlem to as a kid, and the chickenpox sliders are not just chicken parm like it's a ground chicken with proprietary blend of herbs and spices and deep fried and then you know layered on with the new middle parm farmed up. So it's not just Potato, potato so it is it is very it's very unique. It's not like you know, not your Italian deli chicken parmesan. I say when you're eating it, you know it's a chicken parm, but it's like no chicken parm we've ever had. All right, there you go. And those got they got rave reviews. You ended up going on to barstool and supply yes and chicken farm. I've done barstool twice. I just catered for them on 421 says like, Hey, guys, what's up? Yeah, pop up. And I did barstool breakfast last December. Nice night. So the morning show. So how did that transition from selling kits to putting together a few menu items and opening up a pop up, I needed to kind of put this into high gear I so pandemic kit, there was no vaccine. I knew restaurants or restaurants aren't going away. Like as nothing's ever actually going to kill restaurants. As a whole, there's always going to be some sort of rest there's always gonna be like a McDonald's or something. So I thought about one was quick service restaurants. I've always been really into them as a business concept. And there really isn't a space for Italian American fast casual, quick service restaurants, there's pizza, but there is no space for that. And then that was probably the vessel that post pandemic restaurants would do the best in because it's mainly food that's like made for travel. for delivery. It's not really like like people will go to Chipotle and like sit down but most people are going to pull their food back to the office. Right so so I wanted to put together a menu that would travel well and still be in that quick service space feel like it would serve as restaurant. So I wrack my brain a little bit I put together a nice menu. I called my friend Marco to come in and do this with me. Because I knew I couldn't do it by myself. You can't one person can't run a restaurant, right? That's impossible. And I don't have any money size like I can't like hire somebody. So I brought him on as my partner and we did the the metro taco pop ups and bar stills every Sunday. Yeah, so so you guys, and I, we might have talked about this on a previous episode, but we did. You basically took over one of your friends, Mexican restaurants. You took it up. You took it over for lunch service. All day, Sunday, all day Sunday. Every Sunday was Super Bowl Sunday where indoor seating wasn't allowed. The second Sunday was Valentine's Day where they just had brought back indoor seating at like 30% or whatever the capacity was. Then the last two Sundays we sold out. Nice, nice. Yeah, I mean, and that's where I got to experience that Mikey pomodoros Chicken sliders and a whole bunch of other stuff. Go through the menu real quick. Yeah, well, like I was gonna say go through the original menu and then how it's evolved. Okay, so the original menu was nine items. It was chicken parm, meatballs. Mmm, string beans, spaghetti. pomodoro. rigatoni. vaca. mozzerella, corrodes suply Mexican chocolate cannolis we added, and I feel like I'm missing one thing. Oh, chicken tutor band aid, which is a grilled chicken piccata sandwich. That's also like a bat that evolved at the next location. Because we're in the Indian restaurant. So we did in the tandoor oven, so is more like a Mediterranean. Slovakia most nice I that's. So that's something that also I've been fascinated with like your first pop up was in the Mexican kitchen. Your second pop up was in an Indian kitchen. No, we were the first pop up forgetting Mexican kitchen. The first pop up was in a gluten free kitchen. Oh wow. couldn't use the deep fryer. We had a big ass heavy bottom pot. We filled with oil and had a thermometer a candy thermometer in the oil to monitor the oil. Yeah, but you're frying for four people. I know. I say that. I mean, you've never been to Christmas Eve at my house. There are 4050 people it's like doing a you know dinner service. Yeah, that's legit. But so so the first one was gluten free. The second one was that's how the Mexican chocolate came in. And the third Yeah, I thought it would be like a cute thing to do like, chocolate cannoli. And they were fire. Nice and yeah. So now now that pop up the pop up was at an Indian restaurant in Manhattan and that ended at the beginning of September and now you're doing smorgasburg for those of you who don't know what smorgasburg is once you explain it, like okay, so smorgasburg is a free outdoor food vending Hall. It's on Saturdays it's at Marsha p Johnson State Park it's it's free to walk around it's not free to eat food but it's absolutely free to enter Yeah, um and there's dozens of vendors just like me all small businesses who are there selling their wares and all the food is pretty good I've had by now because I went once to just like hang out and talk to some people and try some food and then last weekend we get to all the food is very good it's nice being around a lot of people who are like putting everyone's putting out like a good product yeah it's always been a great little you know addition to that neighborhood and Williamsburg and I mean and they've also expanded they've got a business smorgasburg Park on Sundays was like there's also yeah there's there's one in LA though there's one CCD there a Yeah, they're all over it's a brand now. But um, I remember going in the early days when like, I would go to meatball shop and the orange cine brothers were there you know, brothers were never there. They want to talk. I know when I sat down with the two guys two owners of smorgasburg I was just like saying brands was like oh, yeah, like, like the araghchi brothers are super impressive. They're like we've never had them. Wow, like that. Yeah, well there that's a weird man. They're they're super impressive brand. They don't have a single brick and mortar location. Yeah, but they have like permanent locations. There'll be someone differences. Yeah. That's awesome, though. So So what's the menu like at smorgasburg? So we ran a four item menu we did on chicken sliders back to chicken parm sliders, mozzarella and Kuroda and suplee which are rolling style rice balls and mozzarella. crozes and deep fried grilled cheese. Um, and let me last week was a shit show. None of our equipment worked. We did. So we had the fissara Yeah, I saw I saw you do you know he did something about it or what I admire. We didn't have the propane tank or anything, right? So there's a propane guy there. He sold us the propane tank, he sold us the regulator. He sold us the hose. But the hose didn't have the piece to fit into the fryers regulator. It just fit into the actual fryer. And then the machine wasn't regulating the gas. So it turned on and like butane going and everything running great, but we get too hot. And that would turn itself off. Yeah. So it took us a while to figure out what was going on. And what we did was we were batch frying chicken and suply then the broiler that I bought. I just look I look like a nice broiler on Amazon. I good reviews and big and not particularly too expensive. And we get there we open it up. And it's a 220 watt European broiler. So we couldn't use that. So we didn't have like one of the it had like a European figure. Yeah. And Marco's mom and stepdad drove from Sunset Park. And they brought two little Breville toaster ovens. Oh man. So that's actually what we have to rock out with this weekend too. And then we'll have a new brother thing in by next the following weekend. Oh, wow. Yeah. Which is fine. It's okay. Is it Saturday and Sunday? Sunday's Prospect Park that's right so Saturday night doing that you're not doing that so you just do it Saturday so you got Yeah, the amount of work that you have to put in just to do you know one day Saturday it's a lot it's you're essentially opening a restaurant like it but um the guy next to us set up his entire booth by himself in like an hour and he had a bunch of stuff he's like yeah, it just took practice and I'm not between me and Mark I'm not too worried about us like getting it The hardest thing is when I have to parallel park a u haul that's the app some nice well that's the one of the perils of having to run a run a pop up stand or a restaurant in New York not the giant truck Yes. So what's next what's next with for Mikey pomodoro what like if I all of a sudden um, sell one of my NF T's and I've got you know $20 million and I'm going to give you you know half a million dollars or a million dollars what do you want we're gonna we're gonna open a place in the Lower East Side and brand it and do everything we need to do and get the first one going and then hopefully open multiple ones throughout the East damn East Coast into like the South they can help shape right right so what's your what's your Who's your like audience who's your anyone that likes food? But it sounds like with all the fried stuff I feel like you are the Lower East Side is perfect for you. I feel like you're not a late night when you're you know, but well one Yes, absolutely. Well, let me let me back up. There's there's stuff that isn't Friday we had I just meant what I meant by that went out and again, I'm backing up a little bit. The the stuff that from smorgasburg is Yeah, would be awesome. Drunk food, bar food, walking around food. smorgasburg stuff. We're not doing eggplant parm, because you I we don't want to carry like three types of bread. I don't want to carry like a semolina hero on top of everything else. And I don't want to do like an eggplant parm in a tray that you have to like, walk around. Yeah, go leave and sit down and get one. Like there's like, there's a guy who does Thai fried chicken inside of a pineapple. Yeah, like that's awesome. And it's like a whole like, wow, oh my god. And then there's like a Bart. There's one guy that does barbecue. And that's another train where you have to like go and sit down, but it's barbecue. Yeah, I don't think people want I want to try that. By the way. that's a that's a good American barbecue place. No, no, it's called bark barbecue. Yeah, I thought it was them. No. Okay. No. Um, and then like an eggplant parm, I don't know. I can't imagine that being a thing that like gets people to sit down. I'm cracking up because I don't know if you ever saw the movie, the jerk which I think is one of the funniest movies in the world. And when he Steve Martin is in it, and it's like a 70s movie and you know, he's tired. He's working at a carnival and he's like, Yeah we're right over there right next to the pizza in a cup guy and then they're like pizza in a cup because oh yeah that guy's good he put the other pizza in a cup guy out of business but yeah I know that mine yes yes so yeah it's I understand you need you need that walking around food you know yeah cool so that's why we're not going to ask them but we are going to do meatball which is ordered another soup kettle we're gonna do meatballs this weekend too nice. I mean who doesn't love a meatball especially on winter day like like a cold as the weather gets cooler you'll you'll sell more of those. That's awesome. So and so when I sell when so what we're gonna do is we're gonna mint one of these episodes as an audio NFT and our our listeners are going to be part owners of this NF T which we're going to then convert into an NF T of Mikey pomodoro and I'm half joking but now that I say 85 eath that's like oh 85 eath yeah oh my god that's like you know $150,000 so we're we're in cool well I mean so is it this is something like you're you're still a little bit involved in the New York you know you're working jobs to sort of keep things moving during the day Yeah, you got bills to pay but like this is what you want to do you want to open Mikey pomodoro you want open Yeah, I'm not I'm not doing this for fun. Yeah, I'm doing this because I believe in it and I really like I 20 at the point of 2021 January 1 2021. I was like, Okay, this year is not about making money. It's about proving the concept. And I went from in under a year selling chicken parm sliders I have my apartments being a smorgasburg vendor so that's awesome that's good. We haven't even talked about that people will not like your review but he came by I got people's Instagram shout out yeah of course. Well I mean so the like the meatballs actually that's what he had I think that the what that says about you is that you know peep people can feel your passion you know people can feel it they can when you're out there you're promoting it you're you're you know I could feel it on Twitter I haven't eaten chicky POM slider in in seven eight months eight months you know I haven't been to I couldn't go to the pop up in in Manhattan when you had it I just wasn't around the city those days but I'm excited to the town during lunch and I couldn't I didn't I don't live here I don't live here during the summertime you were only here during the summer that Yeah, no I know but um but I but I do like I do feel like I can feel your enthusiasm for everything and Pete wells when I when I read that you could tell that he that felt the enthusiasm to and so every everyone should go check out i mean it's it's it's just it's awesome what you've done everyone needs to go to smorgasburg and check it out to the booty and we're back. I don't know why is it and we're back where I'm where we don't go anywhere and it's just to the listener it's just a quick edit it's not like we have radio I know the old radio show and I called you Mikey you're not Mikey now now you're back to being Mike Moran D So Mike you've got a busy day ahead of you. Um, we were going to a welding store to find the part to put the hose into the regulator. Well as we always end our episodes, I know you've got a busy day so I want to end it wrap it up for like, What are you drinking? What are you going to have as a cocktail tonight to to celebrate your success and in finding the proper coupler for your propane tanks? So I think um, we used to say we're never going to repeat cocktails. Okay, we've got a whole bunch of new pandemic. Yes. Um, so I'm going to repeat a cocktail. Well, I mean, the theme of the pandemic is just repetition. So I'm fine with it. Good. So I'm gonna find a nice talented bartender to meet me in aviation. Oh, my favorite cocktail? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. gin, lemon marish you know, the core literal comme des violet. It is with with America. Good, nourishing, you're chairing it. It's so good. It's acidic. It's bright. It has all the complexities of gin. My absolute favorite things especially like when it's still really fucking hot out, and it shouldn't be like it's really good weather. Good CBH weather. What about you? I? Well, I am I discovered a cocktail. That or a variation on a cocktail last week. So last week. I decided we had a bunch of acorn squash that we got from our farm and I made a corn squash and yoky like fresh acorn squash and I saw that some duck eggs that I had from another farm. So like really fresh and yucky. And then we made a Brazil so it was a combination of like a fall meal. And then grilled pretzel like summertime. It was a pork line stuff with provolone and prosciutto and some spices and things like that. And while I was making all that stuff, I was like, you know, I want something that's sort of fall ish, but something that is also like a little summer ish. And I ended up with I wanted something that was a little bit more Amaro or Omari sort of flavor, Omari is yes, so I ended up with a with a Toronto so do you know what Toronto? Is this spelt like the city? Yes. And it is Oh, no, I don't know it's right. fernet Branca simple syrup and some bit Angostura bitters, right for net simple and historic so it's like a like a little elevated. Yes, it's like an old fashioned we put some fernet in it. But what I did was I instead of using simple syrup, I use a little bit of maple syrup because I thought that would go really well first of all with the squash Second of all, just with the Canadian theme of the drink, and but I wanted since it was it was hot out. I wanted a little bit of a little bit of spiciness to it. So I added some cayenne pepper in there. So it's cayenne pepper and maple maple syrup instead of simple syrup, right, and fernet Branca and because it's Toronto, but it was a little bit spicy. I couldn't decide whether I was going to call it the Drake or the hotline bling or something like that. But that's how the hotline bling that's that's my so that's my new cocktail for that and I'm going to make that tonight. How's the ghost pepper tequila? Honestly, I open it once like once every few months, I take a sip and my lips are burning. You know what I did though, this summer. I just I diluted it down quite a bit. And I made some like, which is more tequila well when I made cocktails, and I diluted it with more tequila when I made cocktails. Like I didn't dilute the actual bottle that you made for me. Yeah, but Oh man, I gotta tell you it is. It is. So for those of you who don't know Mike gave me a ghost pepper. Tequila like a bottle of tequila with a ghost pepper in it that and I left the ghost pepper only so I left the ghost pepper in there for one day and then I was like I tasted it. I was like oh my god, this is like undrinkable. It's so hot. But this is the time of year Maggie I am I am a Calabrian chili pepper Baron right now. And I ordered I ordered the wrong variety from my seed guy in Sicily. So I ordered the little they're tiny tiny little ones are called Satan's kiss peppers or devils kiss. Way too spicy. So what I'm doing is I'm drying them and I've been experimenting with them I made like a little bit of a chili paste a fermented chili paste with some basil and garlic. But with the majority of them I'm just drying them and grinding them so like I'll have this really good crushed red peppers. But my hands I forgot to wear gloves the other day and literally for like three days. I my hands if I go anywhere near my lips, or my tongue or my eyes like putting contact lenses in. I'm crying for a half hour. It's incredible. It's like It's like bear spray like you know the Bear Bear powered pepper spray. me Yeah. So anyway, um, so we're gonna keep trying to do more episodes not a foodie. Now that we both have semi regular schedules, we're gonna find time to do it. Yeah, we're gonna try to do them like once every couple weeks. Thanks for thanks for recording and thanks for listening, everybody and we'll we'll talk to you soon. See you soon. Bye bye Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Oysters, striped bass, and Pizza Rat? Another NotAFoodie Episode? Are we really back?? This week Tom and Mike speak about the success of the Mikey Pomodoro Pop-Ups and the TikTok pasta craze. They interview the always informative, Tom Hynes, author of Wild City: A Brief History of New York City in 40 Animals. They talk about (really) old-school restaurant practices, the great piggery war of 1859, oysters, fishing the east river, and how seagulls and opossums both deserved a chapter in the book.  Go buy Tom’s book here! https://amzn.to/2PxbC0N

Hey there. Long time, no see. How's the global pandemic treating ya?  Over the past few months, the NaF team has been talking about the show a lot. The last few months have revealed a lot of cracks in the food world, and society in general. We have decided to change up the format of the show to reflect that.  In this episode, Mike and Tom talk about all of that, as well as what they have been up to. Mike has rebranded himself as "Mikey Pomodoro" (https://www.mikeypomodoro.com/), a private chef and pop-up restaurateur. Tom is now an oyster farmer that is starting a Calabrian chile empire.  Mangia!    

Oh man, I love this episode. How could you not when Allison Robicelli and Eddie McNamara are our special guests? Allison (@robicellis) and Eddie (@EddieMcNamara) are both old school Brooklyn to the core. We wanted to do an episode about the changing restaurant landscape of NYC, but to get there, we went down a wonderfully twisted path touching on topics such as: - Red lobster - Beefsteak Charlies - How the Broadway show "Cats" is most likely just an elaborate practical joke that went viral - City kids in the 1980's and their envy of all things "John Hughes Suburbia" The audio quality sucks (which is to be expected since it's the end of the world and such), but the content is amazing. WARNING: THIS IS MOST DEFINITELY NSFW

by- Mike Miranti Hello to all of our Fans (editors note- fans???!!!),Last week Tom and I were able to land an interview with the incredible Brian Koppelman. We have been pumped up about it all week and really believe that this is our best episode, but sometimes in life with great happiness comes great pain and we have to first speak about Chef Floyd Cardoz.Today Chef Cardoz passed away from COVID-19 related illness. I had never had the pleasure of meeting Chef Cardoz but I have only heard incredible things. A friend of mine who worked for him at Northend Grill said he left the job as soon as he learned that Chef was going to open his own place. Tom shared some really nice moments of when he first went to Tabla. In other food news, some of New York City’s top Restauranteurs (Andrew Carmellini, Tom Colicchio, Danny Meyer, Missy Robbins, Marcus Samuelsson, and Adam Saper) penned an Op-Ed in the New York Times about how Washington absolutely needs to bail out American restaurants. You can read it hereLastly, the Brian Koppelman interview is amazing. I am never someone who is at a loss for words and I just wanted to listen to him speak forever. I really don’t want to spoil anything but we found out what his favorite food scene in a movie is and it will definitely surprise you.Thank you all for your continued support,Mike Miranti

Hi Everyone. We have a bit of a departure from our usual format this week. These are unprecedented times and we felt like we had something important to discuss.I’m sure you all know what this is about before you even listen to it. On Monday the NYC restaurant industry essentially shutdown. Restaurants can deliver food and alcohol but no one can dine in them, and suddenly, thousands of hardworking people are out of jobs. We sat down and interviewed two friends and restaurant professionals who are doing their part to help.Andrea Strong (@strongbuzz ), a good friend of the podcast, is a food and food policy writer. She took some time to speak to us about different philanthropic organizations that are helping, and what options are currently out there for displaced restaurant employeesAndrea’s latest Food and Wine article has become THE list of companies that are offering help. The article is constantly being updated with more philanthropic efforts as things continue. You can check it out hereVincent Vee (expressdiscard.com), is another friend and former guest of the pod. Vince is a bar consultant and restaurant veteran, and he talked to us about his Food and Beverage Solidarity Facebook Group, and what he has experienced these last few daysHis Facebook group ‘Food and Beverage Solidarity‘ is here Lastly, we apologize for the audio quality of this episode. I think the term “fast is better than great” describes it well. We conducted all of these interviews remotely, using a cobbled-together system. Please cut us some slack on the audio levels, background noise, buzzing, and dog barking in the background. Stay safe, be well, and be good to one another. Tom & Mike

by: Mike Miranti Welcome to our 60th Episode!! Quick Shoutout to Savannah Peterson(@SavIsSavvy) for holding down the fort and being incredible on last weeks pod Tom just got back from Atlanta and shares his meal highlights but its an incomplete list because he didn’t go to Magic Palace Food News!!! Salt Bae Burger is the anti-Guy Fieri because it’s a way 1 ticket to No-Flavortown(link) The American Restaurant is on Life Support(link) I officially have 1 foot out the door of restaurants to begin his new career, but I’d still like to work a light amount of service once a week You can check out my medium article here Were any successful restauranteurs created from 2008-2020? Major Food Group (Carbone, Dirty French, The Pool, etc;) was founded in 2010, they might be the one What Are We Drinking Tonight? Mike’s Cocktail: The Gold Rush 2 oz Bourbon .5 oz Honey Syrup .5 Lemon JuiceShake vigorously and pour over a large rock, garnish with lemon peel Tom’s Cocktail:Cynarino 2 oz Cynar SeltzerThis is a mixed drink, not a cocktail, pour in a collins glass over ice and garnish with a lemon wedge

Woooo Boy! This episode is a bit of a departure from our normal episode. Mike will be back next time, but he took a break from this episode because it is all about the wonderful city of New Orleans! Join Tom and special guest Savannah Peterson, as they eat their way through Tom's favorite food city of New Orleans. It was a quick trip, so they crammed as much food, drink, and booty shaking as they could into 39 hours.  Here's the quick hitlist: http://carrolltonmarket.com/ http://www.turkeyandthewolf.com/ https://lucyssurf.com/ https://www.marjiesgrill.com/ https://mollysriseandshine.com/ https://cochonrestaurant.com/ https://www.courtoftwosisters.com/    

On this episode of the NaF podcast, Tom and Mike talk about: The Spotted Pig. It has finally closed (good riddance) Yelp, Grubhub, and Seamless aren't vetting restaurants The Winter Fancy Food Show and 2020 Food Trends Pasta at Felix Tacos all over LA What We're Drinking this week (Hanky Panky and Fireball spiked Apple Cider)

Tom made a giant porchetta for New Years, while Mike did shots with a certain NY football quarterback. Mike wants to eat his way through the US, but Tom is thinking about global domination. Wine Tariffs help nobody, and hurt everybody! The NaF show goes West to the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, and for a few days of sun in LA. Hit us up if you're in either of those cities Follow and message The NotAFoodie Show through Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  @tmiale // @MikeMiranti

Wooo boy! It's been a busy year for the NaF team. In our year-end recap episode, we talk about good gifts and bad gifts, food trends for 202, and food trends that we want to LEAVE behind in 2019.  Give us a listen!

On this weeks episode of NotAFoodie we drop some HUGE News, but first some FOOD News Food News A Panera Bread employee posted a TikTok of how the Mac and Cheese gets made, and surprise it’s done in a sous vide method. The employee drops a vacuum-sealed bag into boiling water, cooks it, cuts the bag open and plates it up. This is such a non-story because Panera Bread, like any massive chain, has Standard Operation Procedures that make streamline their product so it is the same wherever you go. If they made it from scratch it would taste different from location to location, and the most important thing about chain restaurants is consistency. Panera fired the employee who posted this, I’m sure they violated a rule but give me a break, I can’t imagine all the free engagement that this got them. The McRib is back! You don’t really need to add anything to that sentence. But check out the podcast because I get to drop some Ray Dalio x Fast Food Factoids Glenlivet Tide Pods are a thing now. Apparently they’re more than just a clever marketing ploy. These are edible cocktails made in a seaweed encasement. I would try one but wouldn’t go out of my way to procure these No Effin’ Ziti A few months ago I had an idea for content so I brought it up to Tom. I told him I wanted to do a Sopranos Cooking Show where I cook my way through all 86 episodes of the show, this means I’ll be cooking a dish that the characters are eating, referencing, or anything else that makes sense for that episode. We have shot a few so far and should be releasing the first episode in a week or two. Be on the lookout for it and get excited. This project is going to be a massive undertaking so I would appreciate it if you all would share it with everyone. What Are We Drinking Mike’s Cocktail: Last Flight This is a fusion of a Paper Plane and Last Word 2/3 oz Bourbon 2/3 oz Green Chartreuse 2/3 oz Aperol 2/3 oz Lemon Juice Shake all ingredients over ice, strain and serve up, garnish with lemon or orange peel Tom’s Cocktail: Arc Angel Manhattan 2 oz Rye or Bourbon 1 oz Sweet Vermouth 1 Tablespoon Maraschino Cherry Juice Stir over ice, strain into a martini glass and garnish with a Maraschino Cherry

And We’re Back! Season 3 Premiere: CLAWSZN, Chai Mishra, Giorgia Caporuscio by Mike Miranti After a very long 3 month hiatus (sans North Fork Summit), Tom and I got back into the lab to record 2 incredible interviews and had a Skype call to catch up on our summers. My catchup was pretty quick. I moved even further uptown, but now I have a dishwasher and a kitchen island so no more complaining about cooking in my apartment. I also penned this article which got over 3.2 clicks in a week. If you haven’t seen it I would really appreciate if you could take an extra 5 minutes and read itTom and his family took an incredible trip out to Australia to see The Great Barrier Reef and eat all the seafood that the entire continent had to offer. His favorite was a bar and restaurant run by the local lifeguards as a way to self-fund; a low key spot right on the beach with great prices and vibes. #CLAWSZN Spiked Seltzers took the world by storm this summer. White Claw, in particular, flexed their branding/marketing genius because they were everywhere this summer. The sparkling malt beverage has great bubbles and light and refreshing flavor, they also weigh in at 5% so these guys do the same damage as a Bud Light. You couldn’t go to a single party this summer without seeing some sort of boozy seltzer. Four Loko even got in on it and photoshopped their own 14% one just to see how people would react, and obviously twitter fell in love with the idea. (Editors note: Call me an old man, but I still don’t get the whole concept of getting drunk on flavored water- Tom) Chai Mishra and Move Two weeks ago while scrolling through Instagram I saw an ad for an entirely online Supermarket called Move. I checked out the website and was very impressed with what I saw. Move is an entirely transparent Supermarket disruptor who is sourcing the highest quality products from all over the world and selling them for 30% less than other retailers. They also have such an open dialogue with their customers that the CEO gives out his cell phone number for your to text him, so I obviously did.“Hey Chai, I’m all in on Move. Would you like to come on my food culture podcast?” was literally all it took to book him on to our show. I’m so glad he did because he was great to talk to and I learned so much more about the product. We try not to do many phone interviews because of the sound quality and overall feel but this is a must-listen. If you like what NotAFoodie is about, you are going to like what Move is about and will want to be an early adopter of theirs. Check out their Kickstarter (Editor’s note- In the interest of full transparency, I am a Kickstarter investor on this product. Mike sent the link and I immediately invested. I love the idea) Giorgia Caporuscio and the NYC Pizza Festival Giorgia Caporuscio, The Queen of Neapolitan Pizza, is the Master Pizzaiolo of both Keste Pizza and Vino locations and Don Antonio all located in Manhattan. She stopped by the studio to talk to us about Neapolitan Pizza, how to make and ferment Pizza Dough at home, and the classes that she teaches at Keste. The 2nd Annual Pizza Festival is this weekend on October 5th and 6th. Giorgia, Tom, and I will all be there. This free festival is a bridge between Naples and New York. After you get there you can buy tickets for Pizza and Wine, VIP Options are also available. Check it out here

What a week we had out in Southold! For the second year in a row, Tom (editors note: That's ME!) hosted me and a few of our friends for a week of incredible food, drinks, and views.Our first meal was at Noah's in Greenport. The incredible Jean Lee(@jeaniuseat) set it up for us, and the team at Noah's knocked it out of the park. From the first bite of Crab Deviled Eggs to the last bite of their Lobster Roll, everything was fresh and full of flavor. Chef Noah takes a lot of pride in being creative with his small plates and left a lasting impression on usFor dinner that night we threw a 5-course meal with some of our friends including Savannah Peterson (@savissavvy) and Brittany Degirolamo(@brita_ny). Jean worked her magic again and got the legend himself Pat LaFrieda to sponsor our dinner. Pat sent us POUNDS of Italian Sausage, his signature hamburgers, and 2 MASSIVE Tomahawk Ribeyes. We also stopped by the Southold Fish Market for some Fluke and Clams.If you've ever listened to our show before you know that while Tom is a Titan in the kitchen, I can throw down a little myself. Tom grabbed the reins of the dinner while I played prep cook and saucier(more on that later)First Course:A Fluke Crudo: Thin slices of local fresh-caught Fluke marinated in citrus with radish and jalapenoThis was such a nice way to start the dinner, fresh fish and bright citrus. A very light dish to get us salivating for everything to come. Tom also flexing with his knife skills, butchering this fish perfectly.Second Course:Cataplana Stew: A North Fork take on a classic Portuguese Stew made with Tomatoes, Clams, and Italian Sausage.This was actually my favorite course of the night. Partly because it was delicious and partly because its something I've never had before. Classically this dish is done with Pork Shoulder and simmered for hours, but this recipe is made with Sausage (Pat LaFrieda's to be more specific) and is packed with flavor. This is a great dish to make for a large groupIntermezzo: LaFrieda CheeseburgersTom grilled up 6 Cheeseburgers (Lettuce Tomato and Kraft Singles) while I went into his fridge and whipped up a Mac Sauce. I learned how to make Mac Sauce a few months ago and this has become my go-to party trick. It's just Mayo, Ketchup, Relish, and a little bit of White Vinegar. If for some reason you don't have White Vinegar you can use Pickle Juice. We cut them up into halves and everyone enjoyed.4th Course: Tomahawks!!!Before getting into this course I just need to describe these two steaks. On the podcast, we described them as "Louisville Slugger, Jason Giambi, Bash Brothers, Mark and José." If you're not a baseball fan, these were BIG BOYS. Tom fired up his kamado grill and got it so hot that it broke the thermometer on the grill. After grilling them to a perfect Medium- Rare with a vicious char they rested for about an hour and when we cut into them they were PERFECT. The Ribeyes melted in your mouth while your jaw was on the floor.Dessert: Briermere Farms PieBrittany and her friend got to the house a little later than the rest of us so we sent them on a mission to pick up dessert from the best bakery out east. Briermere Farms is a North Fork Institution and they did not disappoint with both their Blueberry Pie and their Raspberry Cream Pie. It was the perfect end to the night.I would be totally remiss if I didn't mention the incredible cocktails that we were drinking while all the cooking was going on. My good friend and former guest Yancy Violi (@barandbowtie) and his girlfriend Veronic Lodge(@msveronicalodge) wrote a cocktail menu and came with printed and laminated cocktail menus for the event. Yancy somehow even figured out the font that we used, downloaded it and used it for the menu. The cocktails were sponsored by Hellisoy Vodka(Shoutout to Noah for joining us for dinner) and Hella Cocktail Company. This event was a smashing success and we plan on growing it even larger next year(maybe even a ticketed event coming up sooner than later???)This will probably be our last podcast for the summer as we will be traveling in August and might not be able to record until the fall. Don't worry though because we have some great guests lined up for the fall!

The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, Bourdain Day, Fancy Food Show This week on the NotAFoodie show we talk about the World’s 50 Best Restaurant list, multiple tributes to Anthony Bourdain on his birthday, and the Summer Fancy Food Show The World’s 50 Best Restaurants:This is the first year with a rule change for the World’s 50 Best. If you have ever won best restaurant in the world, you are no longer eligible to be on the list. Noma was able to appear on this list because they opened at a new location and are therefore considered a different restaurant. The company is working on a “Best of The Best” list which will include Alinea, Eleven Madison Park, etc;I’ve long said that Cosme is “The Best a la Carte Restaurant in NYC” turns out I was wrong. They are the best restaurant in the entire country. They were ranked #23 worldwide, the highest of any American Restaurant on this list. If you didn’t listen to me before, good luck getting a table now. Let this be a lesson to everyone if I say a restaurant is good it is probably the best restaurant in the country. Tom’s issues with the list that it was very European focused, and not necessarily “the most interesting or innovative.” I disagreed because out of the top 10 2 were from Peru and 1 was in Thailand. I happen to be very familiar with Gaggan, Central, and Maido because I was lucky enough to eat at Gaggan and ran a Nikkei restaurant that took a lot of cues from Central and Maido. I know for a fact that they are all innovative, and incredible. Other standouts on the list included Blue Hill at Stone Barns and Le Bernardin. Bourdain Day:It has been just over a year since the passing of legendary Food Writer and Personality Anthony Bourdain. We here at NotAFoodie have talked about how much he has inspired us and continues to today. This is not a feeling that only we have but one that we share with people all around the world. Bourdain’s friends have declared his birthday June 25th to be Bourdain Day. This year Chef’s from all around the world tweeted memories of him, quotes, and art. It was all a very touching reminder that Tony brought the world together through food and showed us all that we were much similar than we thought. The 2019 Summer Fancy Food Show:Tom went to the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco back in January and I was incredibly jealous and counting down the days until the show came to NYC. We applied for press passes and were granted them, so now I am an official part of Food Journalism, some might even call me a food journalist. The highlights of the show:Mike’s Hot Honey: These are some of the coolest guys in the industry, they hooked us up with product and recipe cards to make this incredible Pineapple Smash CocktailThe Truffleist: Shoutout to Chef Casey Corn for giving us a tasting of their Truffle Oil, Hot Sauce/Butter/Mustard. It was a delight and a lot of funBrooklyn Delhi: Great Products but definitely their Curry Mustard was the most delicious Mustard I tried all dayFive Acre Farms: Shoutout to Dan for giving us 12 oz plastic bottles of chocolate milk, that I thought were delicious but didn’t want to finish. Tom absolutely crushed his bottle. He has a chocolate milk problemBono Sicilian Olive Oil: I met the Bono family a few days before I went to the event because they had dinner at Feroce where I work. I told them I would be attending the show and they told me to make sure I stopped by. They hooked us up with bottles of their incredible Sicilian Olive Oil, and their marmalades were delicious. They had all the time in the world to answer all the questions we had.The Happy Group/Happy Eggs: A Farm in Arkansas that has their own proprietary breed of chicken that produces beautiful bright eggs and gorgeous yolks. I can’t wait to make a carbonara with their eggs. They show that all eggs are not created equally.Hella Cocktail Company: A Brooklyn Based Bitters company that is debuting their canned Bitters and Soda. These are actually non-alcoholic but are incredibly refreshing and can be used to make a quick Spritz-esque cocktail with a little bit of Gin and Citrus. The Hella team also let us sample their entire Bitters line and answered all the questions we had . They are just really great people with a really great product.Tempesta Artisan Salumi: As we were walking around Tom spotted a booth with vendors wearing black baseball caps that said NDUJA in bright red letters. He essentially grabbed my arm and brought me there. We posted up and spoke to Matt for about 20 minutes as he gave us samples of their entire portfolio including the Nduja, Pate, Wagyu Bresaola, Chorizo, Sopressata, and everything else you can imagine. The owner’s father is in Calabria planting thousands of Calabrian Chile Peppers so they can make Nduja. After tasting their entire portfolio, I was drunk on charcuterie. These guys blew my mind

Our first podcast post-AM Radio. We had a really incredible 6 months long run of 25 episodes. We never missed a week and booked a guest for almost every single one. I'm incredibly proud of the work that Tom and I did, and the content that we made. That being said, we are on hiatus from the radio for a bit because... well, we needed a break. Instead of recording at the studio in Greenpoint this week, we went back to Tom's dining room table in Queens. But before we sat down for the podcast we had lunch at Asian Bowl, an unassuming Burmese restaurant that blew us away. We tried a few different dishes which we speak about on the podcast. This is a place you would drive past 99 times out of 100, but when you finally eat there you will be pissed at yourself for passing it up so many times. After lunch, Tom took me to Max and Mina's, a homemade ice cream parlor in Kew Garden Hills. I cut my teeth at a different ice cream parlor. We discuss why they are both incredibly different and wonderful. Last but not least we discuss the $1 Grilled Cheese Truck, and guess what? We're keeping the Cocktail Segment!

Crab Sandwiches, KFC, Jay-Z This week in Food News: Tokyo Ale Works, a brewery in Tokyo, debuted its Kani Burger. Kani means crab in Japanese and the burger swaps out deep fried soft shell crab for buns, and crabmeat, lettuce, and tomatoes in between the 2 crab “buns”. This is essentially the KFC Double Down, on steroids and fancy. The burger looks so good that Bettina Makalintal from Munchies declared that “All burgers should have entire deep fried crab instead of buns” and I would have to agree. Tom thinks all burgers should have buns and a crab inside of it. Kentucky Fried Chicken in Indonesia is beginning to sell Fried Chicken Skins for $1 a bag. They are capitalizing on unhealthy snack food, and this is for sure going to be a hit. Hopefully, they decide to bring it to the US. If they do, I’ll definitely have to try it. Source “I’m not a businessman. I’m a business, man” Famed Brooklyn rapper Jay-Z has become Hip-Hop’s first Billionaire. The vast majority of his net worth has come from his investments in Ace of Spades Champagne and Dusse Cognac. He is also an investor in the 40/40 Club, The Brooklyn Nets, Tidal, and has many other business ventures. Source Who Cares About Michelin Stars? Michelin made its triumphant return to Los Angeles and no one was happy with it. They didn’t award a single restaurant 3 stars, even though many believed that some of the restaurants in LA are the best in the world. Tom and I talk about Michelin Stars, the validity that they bring, and the issues we have with them. The one example that I have used multiple times for Michelin in NYC is the Steakhouse example that I called “The Peter Luger Standard”. Steakhouses in NYC are all pretty similar, some are definitely better than others and some are not as traditional. That all being said, the only Steakhouse in the entire 5 Boroughs of NYC that has a Michelin Star is Peter Luger. By Michelin recognizing Luger as being worthy of a Star, why are the handful of other NYC Steakhouses that serve more varieties of steak and sides, as well as the Porterhouse, Cream Spinach, Mashed Potatoes staples not awarded with stars? Luger is not the best Steakhouse in NYC, it is incredible and I believe it is one of the most important restaurants in NYC, but not the only one that deserves a Michelin Star My next point is the obvious Nepotism and borderline Xenophobia with 2 vastly different 2 Starred Restaurants. Gabriel Kreuther in Bryant Park has 2 Michelin Stars. They are a fancy French restaurant with an interior very similar to Le Bernardin. When I went there, they served me a cocktail with 2 types of ice, and fish that had been expired. Neither of these should be acceptable at a restaurant of any caliber much less one with 2 Michelin Stars. I’ve also eaten at Gaggan which has been voted the #1 restaurant in Asia for something like 5 years in a row. Where I had probably the worst seafood of my life at GK, I had the absolute best piece of seafood at Gaggan. A Tandoori Prawn that was perfect in every way.  Gaggan has only 2 Michelin Stars and is not only the best meal I’ve ever had but on a different planet than Gabriel Kreuther. My final point is comparing 2 Mexican Restaurants in NYC. Oxomoco is across the street from our studio in Greenpoint and Cosme is in Flatiron. Oxomoco is a wonderful restaurant and deserving of their Michelin star, but Cosme was literally the best a la carte dinner I have ever had(Gaggan is a tasting menu) and they were not awarded one. They are also famously run by a female chef Daniela Soto-Innes. This one just confuses me, but then again there is no Michelin guide for Mexico Let me know what you think about Michelin and your experiences in the comments below   A Rant: Parmesan vs Parmigiano Reggiano This rant is a long time coming, and I’m actually surprised that Tom and I have never talked about it before. Next time you go out to dinner at an Italian Restaurant, do not ask for Parmesan Cheese. Parmesan Cheese is not Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese. Parmesan Cheese is not even cheese, there have been traces of wood pulp and cellulose found in it when tested. Parmigiano- Reggiano Cheese is the “King of Cheeses” must be aged a minimum of 12 months. It can only be made in a handful of cities(The “Parma-Reggio” region), and only has 3 ingredients, milk, salt, and rennet. Parmesan Cheese comes in a green cylinder and has no rules of its production. Parmesan Cheese tastest nothing like Parmigiano Reggiano. Check out this segment to hear even more about the two, as well as Pecorino Romano and Grana Padano.     Singapore Sling and A Cocktail to Be Named Later   Mikes Drink: The Singapore Sling 3⁄4 oz Gin 1⁄4 oz Grand Marnier/Cointreau/Triple Sec/Dry Curacao 1⁄4 oz Cherry Heeling or Luxardo Maraschino 1⁄4 oz B&B 1 oz Pineapple juice 1⁄2 oz Fresh lime juice 1 dash Bitters   Club soda, to top   Cherry Orange Slice   Mix all ingredients besides the last 3. Pour over a Tom Collins Glass full of ice. Top with Club Soda, and Garnish with Fruit   Tom's Cocktail   3 oz Cold Brew 1 oz Bumbu Rum 1 oz Ancho Reyes Chili Liquor   Stir ingredients over ice, strain and serve up in a chilled glass

This week in Food News: Hudson Yards STINKS!!! Eater’s Ryan Sutton reviewed some of the most anticipated restaurants in NYC’s newest “neighborhood” and outside of David Chang’s Kawi, hated them all. He summarized Estiatorio Milos, a high-end greek seafood restaurant, “That’s the thing about Milos. You can have a reasonably grand meal here. You can have a reasonably average meal here. And yet the one constant is that on every visit, you feel cheated.” So he awarded it and Wild Ink both 0/4 Stars. He did award Milos Wine Bar 2/4 and David Chang’s Kawi 3/4 Stars. I wound up in the Hudson Yards Mall last weekend and went to say Hello to former radio show guest Alex Lazaridis at The Drug Store.  This place is just a giant Ode to Capitalism, and I kind of hate it just on principle. It makes sense that most of these places aren’t good, just pretty and expensive. You can read everything Eater had written about Hudson Yards here Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez bartends this weekend Former Bartender and currently the U.S. Representative for New York’s 14th congressional district Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is going back to her roots and bartending in Queens this weekend. She hopes that her “Margarita and Mocktail game” is still on-point. We here at NotAFoodie are big AOC fans and proud that she represents part of our home borough. We also love her even more now that she wants to you to throw out that old Rose’s Lime Juice only use fresh citrus juices in your cocktails. Read more about AOC getting back to her roots here One Whole Garlic The New York Times tweeted out their garlic and white bean dip recipe that called for an entire head of garlic but not to be afraid. Food Twitter or Garlic Twitter more specifically was not having it. Almost 85,000 people responded telling the New York Times that there is no such thing as too much garlic, especially sweet roasted garlic. Read more about it here and view the recipe here   Baller Meals on a Budget What’s your favorite Budget Meal? 2 weeks ago I cooked up this little diddy. Jasmine Rice, and a Corn and Black Bean Succotash, topped with an Over Easy Egg. I sprinkled some Taijin and Sriracha on it, and it was incredible. Besides the fact that this dish was totally delicious, it probably cost one dollar to make. Tom and I speak about pimping out your instant ramen and dressing up your dinner leftovers for breakfast. Give the segment a listen and let us know what your favorite baller on a budget” meals are either by Tweeting them or tagging us on InstagramUse the Hashtags #BallerOnABudget and #NotAFoodie All About Pisco with Special Guest Lizzie Asher Co-Founder and President of Macchu Pisco, Lizzie Asher stopped by the studio to tell us all about Pisco. Lizzie is a good friend of mine and taught me about Pisco in a one on one class two years ago. Pisco is technically a brandy but it is so much more than that. I believe it to be the purest expression of the grape. When you distill it, you cannot add anything to it, age it in barrels, or do anything else to impart flavor. All you can do is choose the single grape, or a blend, and allow the quality of the grapes to speak for themselves. Lizzie explains the history of Pisco, various Pisco cocktails, and all the different varietals of grapes that can be used to make Pisco. The most incredible thing about Macchu Pisco though is their commitment to the farmers that they work with. Macchu Pisco does not own their own farm or distillery so they work very closely with local farmers. They are working with female farmers and are bringing women grape pickers onto the field as well. They also pay their employees a living wage and have been working with farmers to change their agricultural practices. They ask that their farmers don’t spray their grapes with any pesticides but still pay them for what their yield will be

Kim Kardashian vs Jack in The Box In Food News this week, the most famous person in the world, Kim Kardashian tweeted to Jack in The Box about something she saw at one of their locations. She didn't want to "fully put them on blast" so she told them to DM her. In response, multiple other fast food outlets used this opportunity to tweet their Jack in The Box takes at her. This included Wendy's, Burger King, and Hooters. Check out a roundup of the best tweets here  Human Cheese The Victoria and Albert Museum in London took cultures from multiple celebrities to make cheese out of them. This included Chef Heston Blumenthal's crotch DNA to make actual "Fromunda Cheese." Currently, these cheese's are being tested to see if they are edible, but regardless they are on display at the V&A currently. I told Tom that I think this is the first step into human cloning. When history looks back at where cloning started, they won't look at Dolly the Lamb, but rather at this exhibit which was meant to show bacteria in a different light. Source New Coke This July 4th, The third season of Stranger Things is going to be released on Netflix. It was an instant hit full of 80's Nostalgia, compelling storylines, and great acting.  Every season progresses in time and highlights what was going on in then-current events. Last season there were Reagan/Bush and Mondale/Ferraro signs in front of multiple houses. This season, everybody is drinking New Coke. New Coke was created to be sweeter and smoother, but everybody hated it. The complaints about the new product were like nothing Coca-Cola had ever anticipated. They brought back "Classic" Coke and sold both products together for some time, eventually renaming "New Coke" to "Coke II" but took the product off the shelves silently in 2002. Coke has teamed up with Stranger Things to bring back New Coke for online sales and in select vending machines and retail stores. This is one of many partnerships that Stranger Things and Netflix have set up for this summer, others include H&M and Baskin Robbins. The director's twin brothers Matt and Ross Duffer said no money exchanged hands with Coke, but they did get to direct the newest Coca Cola commercial Source 8 Grilling Tips For The Summer "I truly believe that 95 Percent of People in the United States don't know how to grill" - Tom Miale Turn on your grill and walk away, if your grill isn't hot things will stick to your grill Make sure your grill is well seasoned use High Temp Pam Spray, if you don't have that you can put vegetable oil on a paper towel and use your tongs to rub them down Don't keep the temperature on high the entire time. You have to create heat zones on your grill Use your meat thermometer and pull your meat off the grill 5 degrees before they hit their ideal temperature. Tent them in foil and let them cook through in about 5 to 10 minutes Sear steaks on a hot grill, you want to create a crust on the outside. For chicken, you want to sear them quickly and then move it onto a less hot area to cook through When saucing your items, wait until the end when you have about 1 minute left of cooking, brush your bourbon barbecue sauce onto the food and put them back on the high heat You can also add sauce right after you take something off the grill. Salsa Verde slathered on top of a steak and then wrapped up in foil. This allows the steak to absorb the Salsa Verde and mix in with it. You can also take dry rubbed chicken wings off the grill and then just do a quick toss in Buffalo or BBQ Sauce Clean Up: When you're done cooking, close the lid and turn the heat all the way up to burn whatever is left on the grates. You can brush it down with a wire brush, and next time you grill you'll be ready to grease down the grates and start up again! Mike's Bonus Tips: You can only grill as good as your surroundings will allow you to. We all know about Mise En Place, but the Memorial Day Weekend Mis En Place is very different. While grilling you have only 2 options for audio. 1 is Jon Sterling and Suzyn Waldman giving you the Yankees Play by Play, 2 is WCBS.FM The NY Oldies Station. Hopefully, they will be playing "Brandy(You're A Fine Girl)" by The Looking Glass. Tom's Famous Bourbon BBQ Sauce You’ll Need:1 medium onion, finely chopped2 garlic cloves, minced3/4 cups of bourbon (DO NOT USE EXPENSIVE BOURBON. If you do, I will personally come over and slap you, then take your whiskey. I usually use nothing better than Bulleit)2 cups of ketchup3/4 cups of dark molasses1/2 cup white sugar1/4 cup brown sugar1/3 cup white vinegar1/4 cup tomato paste1 tsp of Cholula hot sauce (less if you want it to be less spicy; none if you just want a sweet sauce)1/4 cup Worcestershire Saucepinch of salt (to taste) Combine the first three ingredients into a saucepan over medium heat. Cook for 5 minutes or until the onions start to soften and turn a bit brown. Add everything else into the pan. Turn up the heat until you see the sauce bubble (keep stirring so it doesn’t burn). Once it starts to bubble, turn the heat down and simmer for 15-20 minutes more, making sure to stir often. I use a silicone spatula to make sure the bottom doesn’t burn. There are a lot of sugary elements in the sauce, so keeping it from burning by constantly stirring is extremely important. Strain the sauce to remove the chunks. Slather on everything Eat. Devin Healey talks NJ Restaurants, Hidden Gems, and Taylor Ham vs Pork Roll Devin Healey of CougEats stopped by the studio to come and talk to us about his favorite spots in New Jersey. We speak about High-End Fine Dining, to Hyper-Local menus' where even the Fishing Boat Captain is a jersey guy. Devin tells us all about this "Peanut Potato Leek Soup". Most importantly though he teaches us about the History of Taylor Ham vs Pork Roll, listen to the segment and get his definitive answer What We're Drinking Tonight Devin: Old Fashion I think this was the first time I've ever had a serious argument with Tom. YOU DON'T MUDDLE THE FRUIT IN AN OLD FASHION Tom: D6 2 oz Bumbu Rum 1 oz Pineapple Juice 1 oz Pomegranate Juice .5 oz Lime Juice Combine all ingredients and shake, top with Ginger Ale Mike: Pina Colada 1.5 CupFresh Pineapple 3 oz White Rum 2 oz Coco Lopez Ice Blend it all and Enjoy!

It's our 20th (!!!) radio show. On this episode, we talk about- Tasty Tomatoes and Affordable Vineyards Have you ever wondered why store-bought tomatoes never taste as good as ones grown from the garden or at the farmer's market? Scientist's have discovered that 93 percent of modern, domesticated tomato varieties are actually missing the gene that gives tomatoes their flavor. A study of genomic information of 725 wild and domestic tomatoes was compared to the domestic tomato Heinz 1706. A side by side comparison showed that the Heinz 1706 was missing close to 5,000 genomes that the others had. Besides making the tomato tastier, these genomes also allowed the tomatoes to defend themselves against pathogens better. The tomato lost these genes via selective breeding from farmers, and not from genetic modifications. Luckily the gene is making a comeback, what used to be found only in 2 percent of tomatoes in now found in 7 and will hopefully rise to greater heights. All I can think about is how much better my Pomodoro sauce is going to be in a couple of years when scientists and farmers figure this out. Also what other fruit and vegetables are nowhere close to their potential because of selective breeding? I'm sure 99 percent of apples don't taste as good as their supposed to, and there are probably some bananas with more banana-y flavors or a carrot that only tastes like a carrot. Source How do you make a small fortune in Napa? Start with a large fortune and buy a vineyard! Napa has become so expensive that a winemaking husband and wife who wanted to start making wine in Napa, the place that they called home. Steve Lawrence and Diana Lucz have worked in the wine business for decades, were both making high salaries, had impressive resumes, but simply could not afford anything in Napa. Most Napa Vineyards up for sale are being bought by large corporations or the top of the 1%. Even small vineyards can start at $7 million. Steve and Diana bought an entire Chateau in Bordeaux for under $500,000 instead They now own a 7 acres Chateau with 5 acres of grapevines and are able to sell their own wine back home in California for an incredibly affordable price. Their bottles of Chateaux La Corne retail for $16.95 Source Trolling The Internet with Food Headlines Eater's Greg Morabito put together a list of "25 Blistering Food Takes to Set The Internet on Fire" most of these are very funny. Tom and I go through all 25 and do our best to agree, disagree, or give our take on it. My personal favorite was "Why I Only Tip The Chef Directly" I couldn't even give a response and began laughing hysterically. Check out the article here, and let us know your craziest takes the set the internet on fire Coffee Coffee Coffee with Chris Saphire Fresh off the heels of his Second Place Victory for Best Cold Brew in the USA, my favorite Barista in the world Chris Saphire stopped by the studio to talk to us about all things coffee. Tune in to the segment and learn all about 3rd Wave Coffee, Flat Whites, Sourcing and Roasting Beans, and anything else you can possibly think of. Chris teaches us so much in a short period of time its really incredible and definitely a must listen. What We're Drinking Mike's Drink: Old Pal Tom said I did this one already. I probably did. I really wanted one last weekend so I stopped by a random bar, saw that they didn't have Campari so I left. This drink is essentially a Dry Vermouth Boulevardier 1 oz Bourbon 1 oz Campari 1 oz Dry Vermouth Stir over ice, strain and pour over rocks Garnish with Orange Peel   Chris' Drink: Ginger Old Fashion 2 oz bourbon 1 oz Ginger Syrup(Just Ginger and Water) Orange Peel Muddle the Ginger and orange peel, add bourbon Chris makes his own ginger syrup with no sugar and just drinks it with bourbon. Fresh and delicious Tom's Drink: N/A We ran out of time this week and Tom didn't get to give one

Food News: Coffee in Westeros, Cheese of Seafood Pasta, Whine Emoji’s, Unpopular Food Opinions This was a big week in Food News. First off we had Queen Danaerys Targaryen celebrating the defeat of the army of the dead with a Pumpkin Spice Latte. In a scene where every major character is celebrating their victory and drinking yards of ale, a coffee cup is seen in front of The Mother of Dragons herself.  So even though you probably thought that the first Starbucks opened in Seattle, you were wrong. The first Starbucks opened in Winterfell. Source According to Chef Massimo Donato the customer is not always right. When a customer asked for “Parmesan” cheese on his Crab Ravioli in a Salmon Cream Sauce, he was refused. When he went to TripAdvisor to complain about it the chef responded and told him he should put the cheese on cow dung and that they will never allow cheese on seafood pasta. As someone who has worked extensively in Italian restaurants, the protocol is usually to advise the guest not to put cheese on it but if they want to, they are the ones paying for it. If someone wants their $120 Porterhouse Well Done, you give it to them, if they want grated cheese all over their $25 Pasta, you give it to them as well. It’s not so much that the customer is always right(because in both cases, they’re wrong) but that the customer is paying and if that’s what will make them happy, then so be it.  Just know if you do order something like this, the entire restaurant staff will be making fun of your awful palate behind your back. Source In this weeks edition of “First World Problems” Wine Professionals are complaining that they simply cannot live in a world without a white wine emoji. Taking such stances as “How can I Instagram my Domaine LeFlaive??? How will people ever know what I am drinking without the proper emoji” to “Lady Gaga has a song Grigio Girls, do you think she texts red wine bottles when she talks about it” One wine auctioneer has even called it “The Mueller Report of the Wine Business”. Source Finally, The Serious Eats Staff published an article of their most unpopular food opinions. Tom and I discussed which ones we agreed with and which we didn’t. Check out the segment for all of our answers, and the original article here North Meets South Farms, Food, and Drink Festival North Fork Event Company is hosting a Farms, Food, and Drink Festival in Calverton, NY on June 8th and 9th. The event will take place on 80 sprawling acres of tree-lined property that was once a golf course. The event, North Meets South, brings the communities of the North and South Forks of Long Island, NY together for a weekend promoting the farm-to-table movement. The festival will be curated with provisions from local farms, food from restaurants all over the East End, and drinks from your favorite breweries, vineyards, and cider houses. North Meets South will also feature several children, teen, and adult activities; such as bounce houses and slides, petting zoo, pony rides, live entertainment and more! Monique and Vanessa, the founders of the festival, called into the show to tell us all about their event. Listen in to hear everything you want to know about it, how to get a free Lyft from the Riverhead LIRR Station to the Festival. Buy Tickets here We will see you all out there! Clare Langan Talks About Her Life As A Culinary Producer Clare Langan is a Culinary Producer, Food Stylist, and Chef.  She studied Fashion, worked in Private Equity, and then went to Culinary School. She became a Personal Chef and taught cooking classes all over the city.  She started doing food styling and helped produce the famous “Hands and Pans” style cooking videos that used to be all over Facebook. A friend of Clare’s was a teacher at Sur La Table and got into a bike accident. He needed someone to take over his job while he was hurt and Clare took over for him. Over the course of 4 years, she went from Teacher to Head Chef of the NYC Sur La Table.  She began looking into opening her own Cooking School but was contacted by Chef Joel Gamoran about his TV show Scraps getting greenlit. Scraps is a food and travel about Food Waste. Joel Gamoran and crew go all over the country teaming up with local chefs to cook dinner parties made out of repurposed foods. They make dishes like pasta sauce out of carrot tops. Unfortunately, we just met Clare and she is already leaving us. Clare is moving from NYC to San Francisco because she ate a strawberry. While at a farmers market someone gave her a single strawberry and it’s the best one she has ever eaten. It was red all the way through and jam-packed full of flavor. She is also moving to a home with an Avocado Tree, Lemon Tree, and Artichoke Tree. We wish Clare a safe move to the West Coast and that she has an incredible future with whatever she decides to do. Mezcal Paloma, Aperol Spritz, Gin Fizz Redux This week on What Are We Drinking is rife with controversy. I picked a drink that got slammed by the New York Times two days later, and Tom picked the drink that I literally picked last week Clare’s Drink: Mezcal Paloma The Paloma is classically made with Tequila and Grapefruit Soda like Squirt or Jarritos, a Mezcal Paloma switches out the Tequila for Mezcal, but I want to show you how to do a fancy cocktail bar one and not just a mixed drink 1/4 ounce simple syrup1/4 ounce lime juice2 ounces grapefruit juice2 ounces mezcal (or tequila)2 ounces soda water1 grapefruit wedge, for garnish 1.Rim the glass with salt 2. In your shaker add all ingredients besides soda water 3. Shake, strain, pour over ice 4. Top with soda water, add grapefruit garnish Mike’s Drink: Aperol Spritz Tuesday night after work I was thirsty, and nothing sounded as good and thirst quenching as an Aperol Spritz. A Coworker and I find ourselves at The Smith and had a few, and they were everything I could have asked for. A good spritz is sweet and bitter but most importantly, thirst quenching. This low ABV cocktail is great to have on a hot day, a cold day, or an average weather day. The NY Times just published an article about how it is a bad drink because it is all marketing and usually made with cheap and sweet sparkling wine. If it is overly sweet it will not be good, but any place that is carrying Aperol and doesn’t have the Spritz on its cocktail menu will usually have a decent prosecco that they pour by the glass 2 oz Prosecco 1.25 oz Aperol Splash of Soda Water 1. Fill your glass with ice 2. Add all ingredients 3.Garnish with Orange Slice Tom’s Drink: The Ramos Gin Fizz Tom just straight up stole my drink from last week. After we recorded he went to his favorite bar and ordered one. It blew his mind so he amazon primed Orange Blossom Water and is hellbent on mastering them at his home. So I apologize that we have the same cocktail two weeks in a row, blame Tom 2 oz Gin .5  oz Lemon Juice .5 oz Lime Juice .5 oz  Simple Syrup .5 oz heavy cream 3 dashes orange flower water 1  Egg White Top  with club soda To Prepare: Put all ingredients besides the club soda into a shaking tin and shake vigorously without ice. This is called dry shaking and allows for the foam to form in the drink. Add ice and shake vigorously again. Honestly, you will be shaking for about 5 minutes. Pour into a Collins Glass with ice, add seltzer into the tins to pick up whatever is left and top your drink with it. The Ramos Gin Fizz was created by Henry Ramos in New Orleans in the 1880s. People would come from all over to drink one so he employed an entire line of men to just shake these cocktails.

Food News: Avocados and Millenials Guacamole Cheese will be available for purchase starting May 1st at all 161 locations of fresh market.  This gouda-style cheese is pale green,and combines avocado, lime,chili,tomato,onion,and garlic.  It can be cubed to eat alone,shredded on nachos, or melted into a queso dip. To quote a great mathematician Dr.Ian Malcolm "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."  Simply put this just shouldn't  exist. Avocados and Cheese are both delicious things that do not need to be part of each others world. This is the new "dessert hummus"  a Frankenstein mashup of food that is made for clicks and insta-likes In other avocado based news, a property developer in Vancouver is promising a year of Avocado Toast with everyone $300,000 condo sold. After purchasing the condo you get a gift card to an unnamed restaurant that would cover Avocado Toast or any other breakfast for a full year. As NotAFoodie's residential millennial, I think this is a hilarious marketing attempt but it's getting people all over North America talking about  it.  The developers are also taking a 10% down payment  as opposed to one typically in the 15-25% range, which I think is much more enticing than slicing avocados on top of toast. Lastly in Food News another old person is blaming Millennials for their failures. Jonathan Maze at Restaurant Business Online wrote this article saying that Millennials are to blame for casual restaurants chains profit drop. The fact of the matter is blaming everything on Millennials at this point is lazy.  Yes wages are on the rise and unemployment is low, but $15 minimum wage is still a low salary and rents are very high. If I just spent 40 hours working  for $600 before taxes, so a take home pay between $400-$500, why am I going to spend $30 of it at a crappy chain restaurant where everything is microwaved. Restaurants need to see that in addition to  being cost conscious  Millennials also want to know where their food is coming from,and be wowed by the flavor, not eat something  that just got popped into the microwave Street Food and Guy Fieri Street Food is Netflix's newest debut in the world of Food Documentaries. In the same vein as Chef's Table. It highlights street food from around the world. Esquire magazine  gave it the highest praise saying it fills a"Bourdain-Sized hole in Food TV."  Tom and I are obviously both big street  food guys. The photo for this blog post  is of the Boat Noodle Soup I ate at a Night Market in Bangkok. I went with a friend of a friend who just ordered for me. I've said before how  the soups in Thailand are out of this world, with crazy depths of flavor. This  is one of the best things I've ever ate. Somehow we went from Street Food to Guy's Grocery Games. I've watched a few hours of this show(compared to like a million hours of Chopped) and I am pretty sure with my combination of IQ,Fitness, and Cooking knowledge that I would absolutely clean up on this show.  I am very good with thinking on my feet, deceptively fast, and of course I can throw down in the kitchen. I went to their casting site but they only cast actual chefs unfortunately How To  Make Pasta Pomodoro Italian Cuisine is defined not by crazy techniques or and a million ingredients, but by its simplicity and letting the ingredient speak for themselves.  I don't think that there is a single dish that does this better than a Pomodoro  Sauce. "The Whole is Greater than the Sum of its Parts" is the best way to describe it. A 5 ingredient dish that will please everybody Pomodoro for 4 16 oz of dried pasta(I like Rigatoni, Tom likes Spaghetti) 8 Plum Tomatoes 1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil 1/2 Onion 4 Garlic Cloves 3 Basil Sprigs(plush more to garnish) Prepping The Tomatoes Take your 8 tomatoes and cut an X onto the bottom of them. Prepare a pot of boiling water as well as an ice bath. Drop the tomatoes into the boiling water for 30 seconds, and then place them in the ice bath. Remove and peel from  the bottom, scoop out seeds with a  spoon Prepping the Pasta Heavily salt your boiling water(3 tbsp), do not use any olive oil. Cook pasta al dente Making the Pomodoro Sauce Pour your olive oil into a large pan on medium heat.  Add diced onions and cook for 2 minutes stirring throughout, add crushed garlic cloves and continue to stir for 1 minute. Now add tomatoes, stirring occasionally and breaking them up with your spatula. Cook for 18 minutes, add chiffonade basil to your sauce  and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Optional: Add 2 tbp of butter at the end for a richer sauce Add the pasta to your sauce, use tongs to plate. Garnish with Pecorino  Romano and Fresh Basil If you decide you want to make this, DM us photos @NotAFoodieShow on Instagram and Twitter Let's Drink: The Ramos Gin Fizz and Vin de Pamplemousse This week Tom and I pulled out all the stops for this segment. On the podcast I said a Fizz is a Sour with seltzer but I was wrong A Fizz is Liquor, Acid,Simple Syrup and Seltzer A Sour is Liquor,Acid,Simple Syrup,  Egg White This is a Ramos Gin  Fizz Mike's Drink: The Ramos Gin Fizz 2 oz Gin .5  oz Lemon Juice .5 oz Lime Juice .5 oz  Simple Syrup .5 oz heavy cream 3 dashes orange flower water 1  Egg White Top  with club soda To Prepare: Put all ingredients besides the club soda into a shaking tin and shake vigorously without ice. This is called dry shaking and allows for the foam to form in the drink. Add ice and shake vigorously again. Honestly you will be shaking for about 5 minutes. Pour into a Collins Glass with ice, add seltzer into the tins to pick up whatever is left and top your drink with it. The Ramos Gin Fizz was created by Henry Ramos in New Orleans in the 1880s. People would come from all over to drink one so he employed an entire line of men to just shake these cocktails. Tom's Drink: Vin de Pamplemousse 3 Ruby Red Grapefruits 3 White Grapefruits 4 Lemons 1 Vanilla Bean 3 Cups Granulated Sugar 5 Liters of Wine($10 NZ Sauvignon Blanc preferred) 1 Liter of Vodka To Prepare: Slice all your citrus very thin with the skin on. Sterilize a large bucket and add all the ingredients.  Cover with plastic wrap and put away in the dark for 40 days. Your first few days you need to go and stir it vigorously to make sure the sugar dissolves, then just  leave it and let all the flavors meld.  Pour it into sterilized wine bottles and cork them If you want a bottle of Vin de Pamplemousse DM us on Instagram or Twitter

Tia Keenan Talks About How She Became The Queen Of Cheese Tia Keenan like any great Queen has a multitude of titles including Published Author, Wall Street Journal Contributor, Fromager, Restauranteur, Consultant, Mother, and many more. In 2001 after leaving her career in publishing, she began working as a server at Tribeca Grill. It was(and still is) an incredibly hot and successful restaurant owned by Robert DeNiro and NYC Hospitality Titan Drew Nieporent. All servers were expected to know the ins and outs of the cheese cart, but none of the staff knew it the way Tia did. Tia started working at Fleur de Sel at began ordering from Murray's Cheese. She took her knowledge with her to other restaurants in NYC until she became the Opening Chef Fromager at The Modern, Danny Meyer's Fine Dining restaurant inside the Museum of Modern Art. Tia had dreams bigger than working for Danny and opened up her own cheese-centric restaurant Cassellula on 52nd between 9th and 10th. She eventually moved on to consulting and helping restauranteurs open up their own restaurants including Murray's Cheese with their Cheese Bar concept. After having a child she took a step back from restaurants and began her career as a writer. She wrote The Art of The Cheese Plate, Chevre(Short Stack), and Melt, Stretch, and Sizzle: The Art of Cooking Cheese The Art of The Cheese Plate with Tia Keenan Tom and I both feel like we have strong knowledge of Charcuterie and Cheese. We've done a video in the past, and have talked about our love for all things cured and aged. That being said, when you have the chance to talk to someone who is an actual expert, you will always learn things if you ask the right questions, so we asked Tia if you're hosting a party for 10 regular people what will your cheese plate look like. 3 to 5 Kinds of cheese If Cheese will be the appetizer 1 to 1.5 ounces per person If Cheese will be the main course than 2 to 2.5 ounces per person If your guests are more of a Gouda and Pepperjack crowd, you can do something nice and get an Artisinal Gouda, but you don't need to get an over the top cheese. The goal of the cheese board is for it to be completely finished by the end of the night Fresh Cheese: Like Mozzarella, Bocconcini or Buratta Bloomy Rind Cheese: Something like Camembert, Brie, Brillat Savarin Goat Milk, Cow Milk, Sheep Milk: Maybe something hard and sharp here A Stinky Washed Rind Cheese: Limburger, Winnimere, Something over the top A Blue Cheese: Mild to Extreme Blue This is a good time to remember that some will be more popular than others so maybe you get 1 ounce of that washed rind cheese and 2 ounces of a nice Gouda Accouterment: This is where you can go wild with different flavors and textures really. Different flavored popcorn, pickled vegetables, jams, marshmallows. Everything is fair game for cheese pairings. Putting together Cheese Plates are supposed to be fun and not feel like homework so at the end of the day don't stress out and trust your gut and your local cheesemonger :) All About English Cheddar with Tia Keenan Tia just got back from a Cheese Tourism trip throughout the UK called "The Cheddar Odyssey" She tells us about her trip and explains what makes Cheddar, Cheddar. Cheesemaking 101: You coagulate the milk with rennet and a starter culture. This separates the curds from the whey. The whey is essentially the water of the milk. You add the salt and press the curds into a mold and cook it. This is the 101 of how to make cheese Cheddaring: To make Cheddar you press and layer the curds and you essentially make a slab of it. It looks like cheese-shale. You cut the shale into curds, heavy salt it, and then press those curds into a mold which is lined with a muslin cloth. You wash that cheese with lard and then let it age. Tia also brought a Smoked Cheddar Cheese from Westcombe. It was smokey and rich and you could smell it from a mile away. I didn't think it could get any better but than Tia told us it wasn't available in the US, so obviously it became even more delicious   What Are We Drinking: Tia Keenan: Dolin Blanc Vermouth with Soda and a Lemon Twist Mike: Wolfer Rose Dry Cider Tom: Gin Gimlet(2.5 oz of New Amsterdam Gin .5 Fresh Lime Juice)

Crack Pies, CBD Burgers, and Charitable Chefs This week in food news is very drug-centric. Milk Bar has renamed its Crack Pie and Carls Jr. is releasing a 4/20 CBD Burger. Massimo Battura is working hard and feeding the homeless. After being slammed by critics for “Crack Pie” being offensive, Christina Tosi of Milk Bar has changed the foods name to Milk Bar Pie. Milk Bar is the second establishment this year to replace the phrase “crack” in their food, the first being HopCat, a large gastropub franchise in Michigan, they changed their “crack fries” to “galaxy fries”. The year is 2019, and even though the crack epidemic has softened up, there are still thousands of people addicted to crack, and it is not something to make light of. Source Fast Food Chain Carl’s Jr is releasing a CBD infused burger for one day to test it out and see if there is a demand. Tom predicted that a fast food chain would put a CBD infused item on their menu back in January. Carl’s Jr is only releasing the burger for 1 day(4/20, obviously) at one location(Denver, obviously) to see if it is something that they should pursue for the rest of the country. Source Massimo Battura was nominated as one of one Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2019. He has started community kitchens all over the world that serve restaurant quality food and feed the homeless, refugees, and the food insecure. Feeding the food insecure is a big topic for this episode, as we interview Matt Jozwiak, the President of ReThink Food, an organization that dedicates themselves to feeding the food insecure. Source An Ode To The Red Sauce Joint This week Bon Appetit put together one of the most comprehensive pieces on Italian- American Cuisine. They titled their work Red Sauce America and put together over a dozen different articles addressing all sorts of Red Sauce culture from Six Degrees of Chicken Cutlets, to Everything You’ve Ever Wanted To Know about Rao’s, and even the History of Buca di Beppo Tom and I talk about our favorite Red Sauce joints, the difference between Italian and Italian-American food, and what how both of our death row meals are Red Sauce dishes. Tutto Bene translated to Everything Good, but more importantly, was the restaurant of my childhood. My father’s office was across the street from them and to this day is still probably where I’ve had the most meals of my life.  Chicken Parmigiana, Veal Scarparella, Veal Sorrentino, and of course the Baked Clams. Writing this has me salivating over the memories of dipping crunchy bread into the leftovers of the baked clam tray, the oil, lemon, butter, parsley, and breadcrumbs. This is a visceral experience that can only be replicated at Red Sauce joints In Italian Cuisine Pasta is not a side dish. It is its own course to be respected and appreciated. I think that this is something that Italian-American cuisine gets wrong. I understand how inexpensive pasta is, but to offer it as a complimentary side dish cheapens it.  Pasta’s potential is limitless and can go toe to toe with any type of dish. To quote The Big Night “Sometimes the spaghetti likes to be alone” Matt Jozwiak and Rethink Food Tackle The Problem of Food Waste in NYC Sign up to Subscribe and Donate to Rethink Food NYC According to Feeding America, there are 42 million people facing hunger in the United States, with 1.4 million being in New York City alone. Astonishingly, research shows about 40% of the food produced in America today goes to waste; this is equivalent to 70 billion tons. Our goal is to make sure the wholesome excess food gets to hungry mouths. Rethink Food NYC Inc is a non-profit organization working to recover nutritious excess food to provide low or no-cost meals to New York City families in need. They transform unused food from grocery stores, restaurants, events, and corporate offices into ready-to-eat, nutritiously dense meals that are delivered to local human service organizations in New York City. With the initiative to run a community kitchen, their top chefs can both serve their community while developing entrepreneurial and leadership skills to help students establish an education that they will carry with them into future careers. Rethink Food NYC Inc goes beyond meals by using food as the tool to promote poverty solutions, participate in nutrition education, and convene food policy events. After learning about the Rethink Food mission I reached out to its Founder and President Matt Jozwiak and asked if we could have him on for an interview. We lucked out and he came to visit us in Greenpoint to talk all about what Rethink Food is doing to help food insecurity in NYC. Besides being one of the most impressive people I have met, Matt is also one of the most impressive chefs. He has trained at Noma, Alinea, and most recently Eleven Madison Park. He and his team tackled all the issues of restaurant food waste and food insecurity one by one to develop Rethink Food. I asked Matt if he needs more volunteers, more restaurants to partner with, or anything else. He told me no, they just need more donations. So once again, support the end of food insecurity and donate to Rethink Food. Sign up to Subscribe and Donate to Rethink Food NYC

Clean Chinese Food and Runaway Pigs It’s 2019 and people still use food to perpetuate racist stereotypes. Food blogger and nutritionist Arielle Haspel opened up “Lucky Lee’s” a “clean” Chinese Restaurant named after her husband. I personally don’t have a problem with someone opening up a restaurant serving food from ethnicities or cultures not their own, as long as they respect it. Haspel is not respecting Chinese culture by playing into awful stereotypes about Chinese Food being greasy and making you feel bloated. Don’t even get me started on MSG. In the ’50s and ’60s, Chinese Restaurants were incredibly popular, but never considered fine dining because of negative stereotypes. Putting up Instagram posts saying that your food has less oil than traditional Chinese Food is like putting up a post saying “Our chicken is real chicken, not cat like other Chinese restaurants” Also, this place is only open from 11-3 so its barely a restaurant. In other news Princess, the Pig escaped her pen in Humboldt County, California. A neighbor posted a photo on Facebook, and the local police were able to figure out who the owner was. They went to a neighbors house to ask him to watch Princess while they tracked down her owners. The neighbor obliged, but when the police got back to the home, the neighbor was in the front yard butchering Princess. R.I.P Princess the Pig, we hardly knew ye. Tipping is Stupid and Unfair, but Completely Necessary Finance Giant CNBC ran this article in February, but it went viral this week. With a clickbaity title like”This Tipping Trip Can Save You Up To $400 A Year”, of course, I knew not to expect anything good, and would probably walk away angry. Long story short, to save you the click and not give them the web traffic, the author says that it is socially acceptable to tip on the pre-tax total instead of the post-tax total and he is correct but just because he is correct doesn’t mean he is right. People, customers, guests, whatever you would like to call them don’t tip on service. They tip on personality, how they connect with their server, and a million other tiny little things. All this author did was take money out of servers pockets. This article will not turn any pre-tax tippers into post-tax tippers but will have people think that they are saving money(You just spent $100 on dinner, tipping $20 instead of $22 isn’t going to save anything) Tipping is a necessary evil though. I definitely come from a place of privilege for what I am about to say. I’m a Tall Cis-Het White Male who has only worked at Upscale Casual/Fine Dining establishments. Every place I’ve ever worked at had a check average of $50-$100 per person, and people tip me between 18 and 20 percent. I love working for tips because I live in a place where people tip well, and I am a person that statistically speaking, people like to give money to. If you live in a small town and work at a chain restaurant that gets people in by serving them 3 courses for $10, tips are everything to you. That fifty cents you get from a table tipping post-tax might be what actually keeps you above zero this week. Server wage is $2.13/hr in most places, which means after taxes you are working strictly for tips. I can go deep into serving actually being skilled labor, and how most people reading this cannot do what my team is able to do. Every dinner is a symphony that I’m conducting, and much like a conductor, all I can do is tell my orchestra what to do and hope they execute it correctly. If your food comes out wrong, give the restaurant a chance to fix it before you decide you now aren’t going to tip. If you ask a female server for her number and she says no and you don’t tip, you’re a garbage person. Lastly, if you actually want to save money, learn to cook and dine out less. The best way to learn to cook is to keep following us on Instagram and Twitter and asking us questions about recipes, techniques, and anything else you can think of food wise. A Guide to Sake with Zak Gross Sake Expert Zak Gross joined us in the studio this week to talk all this Sake. Zak is a partner of Soto Sake, a newer sake brand that is taking the US by storm. It is an incredibly smooth and affordable Junmai Daiginjo. Essentially everything I know about sake I learned from Zak. We worked together at Sen Sakana and he made sure to teach me everything I needed to know and then some. I still occasionally text him questions and he always gets back to me and explains his answer thoroughly. Zak started serving at a very popular Japanese Restaurant in Hollywood, California and decided he would separate himself from the other servers by learning about sake and being able to upsell expensive bottles. His sake knowledge allowed him to go work at top Japanese restaurants all over LA and NYC. He eventually became the head bartender at Shuko and then worked with as the Beverage Director at Sen Sakana. Sake 101 There are two ways to categorize sake Purity: Junmai: Roughly translates to “Pure” this classification means that this sake was made only with Water, Yeast, Rice, and Koji. The rice milling can be at 70% for it to be called Junmai, but can also be a prefix for Ginjo and Daiginjo, hence Soto Sake being a Junmai Daiginjo. If sake does not have the Junmai label it means that the brewer decided to add a small amount of neutral spirit to the sake. Milling: Honjozo: This is the most popular classification of sake in Japan. It is the minimum amount of polishing at 70%. I like to try a brewery’s Honjozo before I try anything else because if it is good, the rest of their sake will most likely be good Ginjo: Rice with a polishing rate of 60% or less, a cleaner sake compared to Honjozo Daiginjo: Rice with a polishing rate of 50% or less, the highest quality sake

The Return Of Zagat Last year The Infatuation acquired the Zagat brand from Google. Zagat was the original crowdsourced restaurant reviewer aggregator.  It relied on customers going and dining and then giving Zagat a short review. Zagat would then take all the reviews about a restaurant, average out its grade, and write a blurb about it based on what their reviewers said.  It was essentially Yelp before Yelp. The Infatuation has decided to bring back the Zagat Print guides, which have a history of being a great stocking stuffer. In this age of nostalgia-driven content, people will love to thumb through a Zagat and pick out a restaurant, instead of hopping on Yelp and seeing what people say. Zagat’s biggest advantage over Yelp is the quality of the review. Because Zagat reviews come out once a year, they are filtered, averaged, and generally positive. People who review on Zagat do so because they enjoy dining out. Yelp’s reviews hit as soon as they are published and usually, by people who had a bad experience, or honestly don’t know how to dine out and are mad that a restaurant won’t substitute their side salad for grilled organic asparagus. The vetting that Zagat does, allows it to be a much better aggregate review system. I also want to touch on OpenTable’s reviews. These are the go-to reviews that I look at on the internet. OpenTable users are more serious diners than yelp users and offer a much better critique of the restaurant. OpenTable also moderates their comments better, and because their business model isn’t based on reviewing restaurants, they don’t use them to strongarm a small business into giving them money   The NYC Hot Sauce Expo Steve Seabury, the founder of High River Sauces, hopped on a phone call with us to talk all things Hot Sauce including next weekends NYC Hot Sauce Expo. Steve is a veteran of the Music Industry who loves heavy metal and spicy peppers. He left the music industry to start his own hot sauce company and hit the ground running. We talked to Steve about High River Sauces “Cheeba Gold” Hot Sauce is featured on the current season of the hit Youtube Show “Hot Ones”, and how his Disney obsessed daughter wanted to name a hot sauce Bippity Boppity Boop but instead came up with “Foofoo Mama Choo” In addition to owning High River Sauces, he is the owner and coordinator of The NYC Hot Sauce Expo, The California Hot Sauce Expo, and The Chicago Hot Sauce Expo. You can expect to see a Guinness Book of World Records Carolina Reaper Eating Challenge, The World’s Hottest Ramen Challenge, and of course the Chihuahua Beauty Pagent You can still buy tickets here. Scott’s Pizza Tours I literally ran into Scott Weiner while he was giving a tour outside of Patsy’s in East Harlem. I had heard of Scott’s Pizza Tours before because he put one of his stickers up at Dani’s House of Pizza. I lived across the street from Dani’s for 2 years and finished many a night there with a pesto slice. I told Scott about NotAFoodie and that I’d love to have him on the show. It was our easiest booking ever. I had no idea what we signed up for by booking Scott. Scott knows more about Pizza than you know about anything. He has been operating Scott’s Pizza Tours since 2008 and is the Guinness Book of World Records Holder for most pizza boxes. He also is a star of Really Dough? A Thrillist Youtube show with Lucali’s Mark Iacono. He also writes for a Pizza Trade Magazine and has a documentary called “Scott’s Pizza Tour” Scott introduced us to the Pizza Cognition Theory, which states that the pizza you grew up with is what you now define as pizza. This means that you will always compare whatever you are currently eating to your childhood pizza. We all discuss how some neighborhoods are flush with great pizzerias, and some are pizza deserts but regardless of where you live in NYC, you have better pizza options than most of the rest of America. I’ve always been a stone’s throw from great pizza, and am spoiled from the options that I have had. If you are interested in doing a Pizza Tour you can book hereTom and I are very serious about doing a NotAFoodie Private Tour though, so if you’re interested please reach out to us as well What Are We Drinking Tonight? Scott is going to have a Lambrusco with Meatball Pizza Mike: Ginger and Cucumber Ginger Gin Fizz 1 oz Cucumber Ginger Simple Syrup 2 Oz Gin 1 oz Lime Juice Muddled Cucumber Mix all ingredients, strain and pour into a Collins Glass with ice and top with club soda Tom: A Negroni Tom cheated, he’s going to make a Negroni with St.Agrestis from Brooklyn. I’m still made he broke the rules

We've decided that we're going to start recording previews of our radio show. We record on Wednesdays and the show airs on Saturday, so we figured we'd give you a short podcast each week. The whole radio show will drop on http://www.radiorampa.nyc/notafoodie on Saturday at 3pm. We'll post it to our podcast feed a few days later. In this week's episode we talk: The resurrection of Zagat The NYC Hot Sauce Expo with Steve Seabury All about pizza with Scott Weiner of http://www.scottspizzatours.com/ Tune in to http://www.radiorampa.nyc/notafoodie on Saturday at 3pm Oink

Baseball is finally back! Food and Baseball are two of the most important things to me, so of course, we were going to talk about the best concessions at Citifield and Yankee Stadium. I’m going to address the elephant in the room and just say it. THE FOOD AT CITIFIELD HAS ALWAYS BEEN BETTER THAN THE FOOD AT YANKEE STADIUM. Period, no contest. Listen to this segment to hear our favorite places to eat at the respective stadiums, newcomers this season, and how I feel about something called a “Pizza Cupcake” We also do an amazing "bracket challenge" to find the best college food town. All this, plus Jason Rand stops by the studio to talk about how he worked his way up from Dishwasher to The Manager for the Antinori Portfolio. He tells us all about his hospitality journey all over NYC. 

We've decided that we're going to start recording previews of our radio show. We record on Wednesdays and the show airs on Saturday, so we figured we'd give you a short podcast each week. The whole radio show will drop on http://www.radiorampa.nyc/notafoodie on Saturday at 3pm. We'll post it to our podcast feed a few days later. This is our favorite episode yet. Baseball food, College basketball food bracket challenge, and an awesome story of a guy who worked his way from a busboy to a ninja, to a high end sommelier. Tune in to http://www.radiorampa.nyc/notafoodie on Saturday at 3pm Oink

This Week Tom and Mike discuss the following topics Food News: How Hip Hop makes Cheese grow the funkiest flavors Weed and CBD How To Throw a Wine Tasting Party Alexander Lazaridis: Hudson Yards Beverage Director, North Carolina BBQ Aficionado Let’s Drink! Originally Aired 3/23/19

We've decided that we're going to start recording previews of our radio show. We record on Wednesdays and the show airs on Saturday, so we figured we'd give you a short podcast each week. The whole radio show will drop on http://www.radiorampa.nyc/notafoodie on Saturday at 3pm. We'll post it to our podcast feed a few days later. Oink

This Week Tom and Mike discuss the following topics Iron Chef Cat Cora vs Alinea Austin and Other Food Cities Where Are All The Good NYC Tacos? Yancy Violi, The Celebrity Bartender Talks Drinks, Fashion, and Lifestyle Let’s Drink! The Daiquiri, Drunken Vermonter, Negroni

This Week Tom and Mike discuss the following topics Mike Makes Seared Tuna Steaks How To Make Corned Beef at Home Sam Doyle Talks Wine Trends and Value Bottles for 2019 Demystifying Blind Wine Tastings With Sam Doyle Juan Collins, Classic Martini, Special Negroni

Mike and Tom decide that they need to record without worrying about the FCC. This episode contains swear words! They talk about their radio show, and Mike's fresh hell of working a restaurant opening (even though he said that he would NEVER do another opening again). Listen! Oink!  

9_The NotAFoodie Show- New York Chinatowns, Bacon Fat, New Orleans, John Wang and the Queens Night Market, Sazerac   This Week Tom and Mike discuss the following topics Food News- Multiple Chinatown's in NYC and Shady Consultants in Brooklyn Listener Mail - Leftover Bacon Grease Must Try Foods in New Orleans John Wang, the Founder of the Queens International Night Market, stops by Let's Drink - Cheap Beer, Good Wine, and The Sazerac

This Week Tom and Mike discuss the following topics Fresh Pasta is Easy and Delicious How To Make The 4 Classic Roman Sauces Mike's Guide to Italian Wine Pairing Ruthy Kirwan Talks About One-Pan Meals for Busy Cooks Let's Drink!: Boulevardier and Grappino

This Week Tom and Mike discuss the following topics A Possible Pork Drought, Cattle Farmers vs Imitation Meat, and Tony Luke's coming to NYC Listener Mail about why and how to make your own cocktail bitters Demystifying Home Fermentation Andrea Strong joins the NaF team to talk about NYC School Lunches and Nutritional Education Lets Drink!- Hot Toddy and The Last Word

This Week Tom and Mike discuss the following topics Tom and Mike have a bone to pick with Councilwoman Carlina Rivera and her bill to ban Foie Gras Chef Massimo Bottura is opening a luxury Bed and Breakfast in Modena, Italy Tom answers listener mail about seasoning and upkeep of Cast Iron Skillets Tom and Mike talk about the Do's and Dont's of eating out on Valentines day Comic/Producer/Bradshaw Boy Cory Cavin stops by to talk about Sex and The City and the shows impact on the NYC Restaurant scene

This Week Tom and Mike discuss the following topics The Fyre Festival Caterer whose GoFundMe raised over $200,000 What they're cooking for the Super Bowl tomorrow The history of Beef Wellington and how to make it Vincent Vee joins the NaF Team to talk about Bar Horror Stories Vince, Tom, and Mike make cocktail trend predictions for 2019 "Lets Drink" Vince brings Rancio Sec for Tom and Mike to try Follow and message The NotAFoodie Show through Facebook,Instagram, and Twitter. We love to hear listener feedback! RadioRampa.nyc/NotAFoodie

  This Week Tom and Mike discuss the following topics   Food News: Nello's bar dining policy and Bao's Oscar Nomination What We Cooked This Week: Tom's Insta-famous Short Rib Ragu  and Mike's InstaPot Chicken Korma Our Inaugural listener question asks for food book recommendations. Ari Botsford  stops by the studio and talks about her background growing up on farms and how it grew her appreciation of real food Ari Botsford also talks about Urban Farming, and gives tips and tricks for beginners and experts alike As always the show finishes with our "Lets Drink" Segment Ari gives us the recipe for her favorite Mocktail   Follow and message The NotAFoodie Show through Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We love to hear listener feedback!   RadioRampa.nyc/NotAFoodie  

On this week's radio show Tom and Mike discuss the following topics  The Insta-Famous Egg and The Clemson Tigers White House Dinner Tom's weekend at the Fancy Food Show Meredythe Goethe joins Tom and Mike in the studio to talk about her culinary journey and becoming an Instagram Influencer Jean Lee stops by to talk about NYC Restaurant Week and gives us her top picks Jean stays with Tom and Mike for their weekly "What We're Drinking Segment" Follow and message The NotAFoodie Show through Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We love to hear listener feedback! www.RadioRAMPA.nyc/NotAFoodie

Tom and Mike are back discussing NYC Pizza Wars,Arthur Ave,and the History of Oysters Rockefeller. They're joined by Russel Kohn a Food Entrepreneur On this episode, Tom and Mike discuss: "Food News" News Stories in the Food World that caught our attention this week. Pizza Wars in NYC and Pho Censorship in Keene, New Hampshire “What I Ate This Week" Mike talks about the Korean dish he cooked, Tom praises it as the "Ultimate Not a Foodie Meal", as well as the #RedSauceJoint he went to on Arthur Avenue in The Bronx An in-studio interview with COO of MochiDoki Russel Kohn, and his current Food Entrepreneurial Ventures. Russel speaks about Soju vs Shochu, and Mochi Cake vs Mochi Ice Cream. Mike and Tom try to pitch him on their liquor idea Russel Kohn joins the NaF team to discuss what they're drinking after the show Follow and message The NotAFooodie Show through Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We love to hear listener feedback! www.RadioRAMPA.nyc/NotAFoodie

Its the FIRST of many episodes of the NotAFoodie Radio Show! On this episode, Mike and Tom discuss: Who they are, and what the "NotAFoodie Philosophy" is Looking back on 2018 in food stories, and speculating on 2019 food trends "What I Ate This Week- New Year's Edition" An in-studio interview with internationally renowned chef Roze Traore A quick discussion of what they are drinking after the show Listen to The NotAFoodie Show live every Saturday at 2pm on Radio RAMPA 620 AM Follow and message The NotAFooodie Show through Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We love to hear listener feedback!

In this mini-episode, Mike and Tom talk about their new radio show. Tom shows off his Morning DJ vs NPR voices and Mike curses... a lot. Mike also talks about the horrible service that he received while dining out on New Year's Eve. Listen to The NotAFoodie Show live every Saturday at 2pm on Radio RAMPA 620 AM in NYC Follow and message The NotAFooodie Show through Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We love to hear listener feedback!

It's the holidays, or at least it was when we recorded and published this episode. Let's throw a dinner party. On this week's episode, Mike and Tom talk about throwing a stress-free dinner party. They talk about setting your "mental mise en place" with music and atmosphere, batching out your cocktails, how to use a sous-vide setup to your advantage, what to make vs what to delegate, and how Tom wants to bring back the punch bowl. Listen in to find out how Mike works in a conversation about Space Ghost Coast to Coast.  (and while you're at it, give us a follow- @tmiale, @mikemiranti, and of course, @notafoodiepics) Mangia!