This Is TASTE

Becca Millstein built Fishwife into one of the buzziest brands in food, turning a sleepy pantry category into something people actually want to talk about. This time, we didn’t talk to her in our New York City studio—we followed her to Santoña, Spain, to board boats, participate in an anchovy auction, and visit the processing plants where tins of fish get packed by hand. Welcome to our new series, Founder in the Field. It’s a different side of the grocery business than the one you see on Instagram: less buzzy branding, more bidding war over the morning’s catch. It’s an introduction to a founder, at origin, doing the actual work.

Also check out: Whole Foods Buyers Never Sit Still. We Followed Them to Spain.

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Toshi and Yasu Kizaki opened Sushi Den on Christmas Eve in 1984 on South Pearl Street in Denver. Little did they know how the opening would impact Japanese food in America. Over the next four decades, they built a supply chain that flies fish from a market in Kyushu to Denver in under 24 hours, took over a corner of Platt Park with a cluster of Japanese restaurants, and earned a Michelin star — at 69, the oldest sushi chef in the U.S. to receive his first. This is the story of Sushi Den's expansion, including the Michelin-starred Kizaki, and a rare sit-down with the founding brothers.

Also on the show we have a great conversation with Mawa McQueen, the chef-owner of Mawa’s Kitchen in Aspen. This Michelin Guide–recommended restaurant is the flagship eatery of owner and executive chef Mawa McQueen, a 2022 James Beard Award semifinalist and recipient of the 2022 Colorado Governor's Minority Business Award. The menu at Mawa's Kitchen is hyper-seasonal and reflects Mawa's international heritage, serving Afro-Mediterranean cuisine with a French-American flair. We talk about building her mini empire, and what it’s like to cook for the private jet crowd.

Thank you to Visit Colorado for supporting this episode.
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Kim Vallejo is the business director at She Wolf Bakery in Brooklyn, NY. She Wolf produces exceptional sourdough and sweet treats made from regional heritage grains that are sold at 12 greenmarkets across NYC, plus their cafe in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and over 70 restaurant wholesale clients. Today on the show, Kim goes deep on the serious logistics that makes all this possible, working with regional grains, and more.

And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world, including visits to Oyatte, Via Carota, Sunfish Seafood, and Lefty’s Burger Shack. Also: Island Way Sorbet has taken over our freezer, How to Rule the World is the One L for journalism, and the legend of the green bag with Taiwanese Guai Guai.

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Maggie Hoffman is the writer and host behind The Dinner Plan, a podcast and Substack where she talks to a cookbook author every week about weeknight cooking realities, kitchen burnout, and what people actually cook at home. She joins Matt for a look back at the standout cookbooks of spring 2026. Here are the spring books mentioned, and listen at the end for our early fall favorites.

And it’s the return of Three Things, where Aliza and Matt discuss what’s interesting in the food world, including Aliza’s swing through the Pacific Northwest for strawberry picking and visits to The Paper Bridge and a Portland Pickles game. Matt tries push-pop sushi at Suka Sushi, pays tribute to the mujaddara at Kalustyan's, and he checks out the new infused oils from Primis Imports.

MAGGIE’S FAVORITE SPRING COOKBOOKS

Özlem Warren’s Istanbul

Natasha Pickowicz’s Everyone Hot Pot

Georgina Hayden’s MEDesque

Hillary Sterling’s AMMAZZA!

Joe Woodhouse’s Weeknight Vegetarian

MATT’S FAVORITE SPRING COOKBOOKS

Ham El-Waylly’s Hello, Home Cooking

Ella Quittner’s Obsessed With the Best

Jena Derman and Jack Schramm’s Solid Wiggles

Adeena Sussman’s Zariz
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It’s the return of Food Writers Talking About Food Writing. Every couple of weeks, Matt invites a journalist to talk about some favorite recent food writing as well as their thoughts on the industry as a whole.

Nadia Chaudhury is the deputy editor of Eater New York and Eater Northeast, a born-and-raised New Yorker who spent a decade running Eater Austin before coming home. Her family is behind Kalustyan’s, the legendary NYC specialty food store that has been feeding chefs, cooks, and curious eaters since 1944. On this episode, Nadia and Matt discuss the state of food media, the stories she’s chasing at Eater, and what it’s like to grow up with one of New York City’s most essential food institutions in the family.

Featured on the episode:

The Carbone Team Will Open an American Tavern in the Tribeca Grill Space [Eater]

The Whimsy Killer in Your Pocket [Best Food Blog]

New East Village Restaurant Threads Korean and Italian Culinary Lines [Eater]

Faux Is a Real McNally Restaurant [NY Mag]

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