The Dave Chang Show

Dave calls up Will Guidara, the front-of-house half of the partnership that took Eleven Madison Park to the top of the hospitality stratosphere, to talk about Will’s new book (‘Unreasonable Hospitality’), how he reshaped EMP, and what the next generation of cutting-edge restaurants might look like. Also: coffee that tastes like soup, instant-ramen ratios, oomori servings, the fruit-medley gambit, macaroni ephemerality, waiting for grunge in the disco age, Jasper Johns, Danny Meyer, Bill Belichick, going hard in the paint, the Dreamweaver, rolling out the Budweiser cart, exceeding your mentors, Sean Brock, a croissant parable, and changing before you have to change. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Guest: Will Guidara Producer: Sasha Ashall Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With the do-or-die plans for MDM’s next phase finally in motion, Dave, Chris, and Noelle sit down for a soul-baring state of the union. They discuss how Dave thinks about big swings in the face of existential risks, in restaurants, and everywhere else. Also: the coming XLB strain, Dave building his ark, restaurant problem-solving vs. real-life problem-solving, Rob Dyrdek, the one-basket strategy, “The Ant and the Grasshopper,” what gives restaurants a pulse, enjoying the moment when you have a deprivation mentality, throwing your phone in the trash can, billionaire indicators, and the crucial importance of an uncompromising vibe. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Guest: Noelle Cornelio Producer: Sasha Ashall Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Cory McConnell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Venturing behind the scenes of the best kitchens of the world and Dave’s own decidedly uneven TikTok feed, Dave and Chris map out the best ways to navigate over-the-top marathon dinners, social media pseudo-experts, and several other perils of modern life—and then debate how and when the Wheel of Constraint might rear its spinning head again. Plus: Nobu water, temperance menus, surviving the French Laundry wine pairing, Kool Moe Dee, brutally hard canapé stations, bailing after the bread course, moonlighting in WWE, steak-prep superstitions, going to war with Gordon Ramsay, caveman artists, Max Verstappen, yam-shaming, onigiri stuffing, and imagining a world history fantasy league. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Producer: Sasha Ashall Additional Production: Jordan Bass, Cory McConnell, and Aleya Zenieris Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Midway through their eating careers, how do Dave and his fellow food obsessives appraise the dishes they first loved, and how do they find new ones to rank as great? Dave lays out what he looks for now, then he and Chris compare notes on the do’s and don’ts of shopping at Asian grocery stores. Also: recording in the pillow room, Dave’s football career, foie gras dreams, the lost art of sauces, a perfect pluot, Nantua crayfish, Grace’s favorite K-town market, navigating the five chives, 99 Ranch, Chinese burritos, evaporating furniture, Ikea food, nutmeg theft, the Dave Chang Millennium Prize, overnight oats, and shopping like you’re in the 1800s. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Producer: Sasha Ashall Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Looking at a hopefully post-pandemic New York from all different angles—the vibe-drenched streets of Dimes Square, a festival stage in Chelsea, Jean-Georges’s lastest masterwork in the South Street Seaport, and the moments after a could-have-been-worse car crash on the West Side Highway—Dave’s offering up some predictions of what’s next for his hometown. Then, to round things out, Chris and Noelle tag in for a whirlwind MOIF, covering such timeless topics as driving snacks, post-apocalyptic In-N-Outs, National Yorkshire Pudding Day, Dutch babies, and the beauty of Kidz Bop K-pop. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Guest: Noelle Cornelio Producer: Sasha Ashall Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dave and Chris are breaking in the new MDM office with an on-the-fly #AskDave, covering all the topics other shows are afraid to talk about: fear in Home Depot, MacGyver-ing your own podcast studio, treating scimitar wounds, NASA-approved hot sauces, the problem with tater tots, bachelor pad grocery budgets, Transitions lenses, burping your kimchi jars, psilocybin butter sauce, and Dave’s favorite vegetable. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Producer: Sasha Ashall Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chasing the thrill of a DIY meal from Nairobi to Japan to Alhambra, Dave and Chris ponder hot-pot economics and then call up 'Chefs vs. Wild' host Kiran Jethwa for a closer look at what its contestants were up against—and at where it might go next. Also encountered along the way: unapologetically Asian farmers markets, jalapeño cream cheese rolls, cooking a whole ostrich, watching George Clinton at the Hartford jai alai center, WC dad fails, cabbage arbitrage, not getting trampled by an elephant, the survival bubble, a big pile of delicious matsutake mushrooms, cooking over fire, diving the fjords, barbecued goat, Kenyan chapatis, and the best place to go out to eat with your kids in L.A. 'Chefs vs. Wild' is out now on Hulu. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Guest: Kiran Jethwa Producer: Sasha Ashall Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With another new MDM show out on Hulu, Pizzana chef and 'Best in Dough' judge Daniele Uditi weighs in on great pizza, bizarro pizza, and pizza that should probably be called something else entirely. Then Dave, Chris, and Noelle dive into their own 'Best in Dough'-inspired pizza reveries. Plus, working in kitchens vs. working in TV, Manhattan cyclist Dave Chang, breakfast pizza, matzoh pizza, the wellspring of pizza authority, when a game becomes your life, dipping some bread in the Sunday gravy, the Neapolitan formula, sushi on pizza, baked-bean pizza, Daniele’s inner Super Mario, why fermented dough is like a 5-year-old child, Anthony Mangieri, NYC water, and the Proustian pizza Dave still dreams of. 'Best in Dough' is out now on Hulu. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Guests: Daniele Uditi and Noelle Cornelio Producer: Sasha Ashall Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In celebration of Majordomo Media’s newest Hulu show, 'Chefs vs. Wild,' Dave, Chris, and Noelle appraise their own chances of making it through a multi-day, survivalist-foraging gauntlet in the remote Canadian wilderness—and Chris calls up contestant Viet Pham to hear how intense the adventure really was. Also: 'Survivorman,' 'Naked and Afraid,' imagining what would happen if the people on 'Alone' could cook, Dave volunteering as tribute, bringing out Perkins’s tent for Season 2, hermit Chris, camping vs. glamping, building your own wizard staff, cinnamon rolls on a stick, the whole-ham gambit, foraging in Central Park, Nicolai Nørregaard, the 'Rambo IV' workout, getting tantalized by matsutakes, elk broth tea, the rotisserie-chicken sleeping method, and the very best oyster you’ve ever had in your life. The first four episodes of 'Chefs vs. Wild' are out now on Hulu. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Guests: Viet Pham and Noelle Cornelio Producer: Sasha Ashall Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Inspired by the last episode, Dave went fishing—and returned with stories of crushing defeat on the high seas and exhilarating victory at the hotel restaurant. Plus: a toast to Chris Bianco, angering the Mayan gods, a little lobster shack near Punta Allen, searching for John Borda, thermo-irreversible gels, confidence cooking, Mr. Beast Burger, skiing the quadruple black diamond, watching elves on your iPad, explaining Númenor on a boat, potato salad sandwiches, befriending paleontologists, Son Heung-min, watching the Great British Bake-off on the treadmill, and the long-awaited return of Isaac Lee. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Guest: Isaac Lee Producer: Sasha Ashall Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Determined to eat more seafood but dismayed by what he sees on the shelf, Dave surveys the state of the seascape for the American home cook, and offers a few of his rules for steering clear of the second-rate stuff. Also: restaurant fish vs. supermarket fish, breaking out the yanagi, the deliciousness of fish skin, shellfish protocol, spicy tuna rolls, dining-room aquariums, swordfish au poivre, 'A Fish Called Wanda,' my friend pompano, Bordier butter, citrus partisanship, serving anchovies to guests, and Noelle weighs in on Wetzel’s. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Guest: Noelle Cornelio Producer: Sasha Ashall Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In a rare before-sunset Q&A, Dave fields a new volley of listener questions—and returns fire with takes on mori soba, typhoon summers, masochistic salarymen, the permafat tonkotsu layer, kimchi fridges, Idaho shrimp, Pharrell Williams, a Chris Ying dancing meme, baked ziti, Korean-mom rumor networks, blanching beef, lemur puffs, egg rafts, gelatin wizardry, deploying the giant ice ball at the hot pot spot, bringing your air fryer to McDonald’s, craft-service sandwiches, and a lunch-mystery Matlock moment. Plus, listen to the end for the table-turning debut of #DaveAsks, in which our host has a few questions of his own. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Producer: Sasha Ashall Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With summer over and school in session, it’s officially a new year for restaurants—and Dave has a few soon-to-open places on his must-visit list, and a few predictions to make about where things might go next. Plus: Hugo escape tactics, pre-K John Bonham, fake Momofuku menus, the no-PR approach, making bad situations happen, befriending your nemesis, the return of Superiority Burger and Torrisi Italian Specialties, Kwame Onwuachi, Mariscos Jalisco, the rise of hwe, grocery-store kimbap, crossing the soondae threshold, the stew restaurant Dave dreams of, a kung pao pastrami pipeline, the CIA, Josh Giddey, the other CIA, and the beauty of restaurants that own their own real estate. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Producer: Sasha Ashall Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With a passel of hungry, up-and-coming eaters to please, Dave and Chris face a big question every day: Can their cooking help their kids embrace new tastes and new combinations? (And: Is it too late to expand their own deeply seasoned palates, too?) They call up “disgust studies” expert Dr. Paul Rozin to learn more, and offer up an array of their own takes on flying with kids, the A-Team, condensed Hanukkah, the milkshake cow, Dave’s older brother, sea cucumber fried rice, imagining the next uni, getting rejected from the intergalactic senate, ikura as forbidden fruit, Gus going against eggs, and the exalted, trip-off-the-tongue omega-3 that is docosahexaenoic acid. With the help of our friends at buybuy BABY, this is Round 3 of ‘Clean Plate Club.’ Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Guest: Dr. Paul Rozin Producer: Sasha Ashall Additional Production: Jordan Bass, Noelle Cornelio, and Lala Rasor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A week by the seaside has Dave finding inspiration at both Wetzel’s Pretzels and Nobu Malibu, and thinking about all the shapes the second half of a creative career can take. He catches Chris up on his misadventures, and contemplates Robuchon potatoes, the Santa Monica promenade, hot dogs on tasting menus, spirulina boosts, stroller dogs, vampire rules, knockoff mercenaries, fried rock shrimp, what some restaurants can get away with, the Nobu Goodbye, Peruvian sushi, storing your knife rolls, LCD Soundsystem, and attempting the impossible. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Producer: Sasha Ashall Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices