The Dave Chang Show

Dave, Chris, and Noelle are shaking up the show with a newly kinetic, activity-driven MOIF format—and if you're reading this, we're roping you into it, too. Also discussed: Diet Dr. Pepper, ordering London broil at a diner, Iron Chef, Dave's spinach-artichoke dip, encountering Biscoff cookies beneath 35,000 feet, asking for a second meal on a flight, restaurants making their own charcoal, fried-rice windfalls, and a farewell to Dave's mom. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Guest: Noelle Cornelio Producers: Sasha Ashall and Mike Wargon Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John Walker was earning accolades for his work as a brewer in Santa Fe when he heard about a different kind of challenge—starting up a first-class nonalcoholic brewery. He tells Dave and Chris about what drew him to Athletic Brewing, amid a conversation covering temperance pairings, shift drinks, the Am-I-Stupid test, mowing the lawn in a shirt and tie, the great taste of cheap beer, Mosaic hops, capturing aromatic compounds, Joe Biden's favorite Gatorade, standing in line for Pliny the Younger, the sparkling water glut, beer regionality, and Dave's ongoing crusade against IPA. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Guest: John Walker Producers: Sasha Ashall and Mike Wargon Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The gang returns for another late-night Q&A—but first, as a little warm-up, we recap Dave’s visit to Pizzeria Bianco, Chris’s Newport Seafood birthday experience, dinner-course deluges, and what happens when the kitchen writes Hufflepuff on the ticket. Then the questions begin. Confronted on this episode: potato antimatter, figs on a plate, gas station Jojos, curly fry engineering, the beauty of a properly poured Guinness, wedding registry advice, Kewpie mayo, booze that comes in a pleather case, Deanna Troi, and really, really good fruit. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Guest: Jordan Bass Producer: Sasha Ashall Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Eighteen months after opening the doors at West Oakland’s Horn BBQ, Matt Horn has lines down the block, a second restaurant, and a new cookbook out this week—but finding that success was far from easy. Matt talks to Dave and Chris about the many long nights and moments of truth along the way, as well as the meal in Japan that Dave can’t stop thinking about, hangover salvation, bloomin’ onions, the 3 a.m. internal BBQ monologue, repo man Heston Blumenthal, burning the boats behind you, BBQ omakase, cooking hot links until they burst, Coke vs. Pepsi, where Matt’s eating in Oakland, and having faith in the fire vs. just wanting to eat the brisket already. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Guest: Matt Horn Producer: Sasha Ashall Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On their latest fact-finding expedition, Dave, Chris, and Noelle criss-cross the Western U.S. to consider becoming a carrot-cake household, 'Harry Potter' geography, fish maw soup, Peking-style pork chop, Chris and Noelle’s recent visit to Vegas, Bang Bar walking snacks, bathtub eating, wasabi-pea rice krispies, Dave taking another swing at Soylent, Chris’s Popeyes order, John Cougar Mellencamp, and the ominous, apparently unstoppable advance of the Seattle Dog. 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

What was life like for a young New York chef chasing a dream in the early 2000s? Milk Bar founder and Dave Chang chosen-family member Christina Tosi was there to see it, and her latest book, 'Dessert Can Save the World,' relays a lot of what she learned then and since. Christina calls up Dave and Chris to consider what she and Dave were like in their 20s, the smile vs. the grimace, the power of not having a plan, barbecue soft serve, the everything-bagel influence of Wylie Dufresne, proving Dave wrong, rainbow sprinkles, work-life ratios, eating multiple bowls of Honey Bunches of Oats, Dave discovering chocolate milk, and what might happen if Christina Tosi faced off against the Wheel of Constraint. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Guest: Christina Tosi Producer: Sasha Ashall Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With a crab-or-prime-rib-driven 80th birthday party to plan, Dave, Chris, and Noelle set out to survey the Southern California seafood-banquet landscape, and attempt to chart the ideal parameters of a celebratory family meal. Also explored: Dave’s body falling apart, a real-life candy draft, whether Veggie Straws are vegetables, Brodard Chateau, Dave’s thoughts on Renaissance architecture, Noelle’s dinner at HaiDiLao, table-side cooking, and Recipe Club returning tomorrow! 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

The eminent author of 'The Food Lab' and the just-released 'The Wok' joins Dave and Chris to talk about life as a lodestar to a generation of cooks, being a dad, and how he feels about making food at home. Plus: debunking the restaurant-burner requirement, our collective no-recipe moment, encountering your mom’s YouTube history, Googling jambalaya, perfection vs. discovery, Harold McGee, canon vs. fan fiction, and Kenji’s take on the Seattle Dog.  Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Guest: J. Kenji López-Alt Producer: Sasha Ashall Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After comparing notes on their latest LA exploits, Dave, Chris, and Noelle step into the My Opinion is Fact arena once again—before deciding that the time is right for an impromptu assessment of the national chain-restaurant landscape. Discussed along the way: frozen langoustines, Dave eating clean, double-fried kakiage, another visit to Disneyland, the mainstreaming of birria, mustard martinis, gambling on diner paella, and the Dave Chang Show Third Eye Blind cover band. 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

'Big Mouth' and 'Human Resources' creator (and Dave’s old friend!) Nick Kroll is back on the show to talk about new projects, new parenthood, and all the internal juggling and existential turmoil these achievements entail. Also: Staten Island pub crawls, working with Mel Brooks on 'History of the World, Part II,' making babies use Waze, appeasing your inner demons, terrible kitchen analogies, the person you are at work vs. the person you are at home, watching 'The Exorcist' at age 5, and constructing the ultimate new-dad cooler. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Guest: Nick Kroll Producer: Sasha Ashall Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Powered by half a glass of Hibiki, it’s time for Dave to go toe to toe with the latest listener questions plucked from the Majordomo Media Discord—and tonight, he’s determined to take down the Picnic Industrial Complex once and for all. Also swept up in the battle: sleeping in the goal at soccer practice, admitting to being a lurker on your own Discord server, eating in bed vs. eating outside, catching Dave glamping, mayonnaise-based salads, picking the locks at vacation homes, making Caesar dressing with fish sauce, dipping French fries in your Frosty, shopping-cart shot put, and the outlandish action-movie understanding of how people eat Chinese food. 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

Dave and Chris call up Sean Evans, the hot-sauce-hardened host of 17 seasons of 'Hot Ones,' to find out exactly how he puts together one of the best interview shows out there. Discussed: disarming your guests with pain, believing in the show before it caught on, rappelling down a waterfall with Bear Grylls, the preternatural serenity of Lorde, the Dave Grohl approach, Japanese game show levels of sadism, the 'Quiz Show' ripple effect, Sean’s post-wing ritual, the ranch-dressing gambit, and pondering the next frontiers of hot sauce. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Guest: Sean Evans Producer: Sasha Ashall Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s the end of a revelatory month on the Wheel of Constraint, and our hosts have convened to assess their achievements, consider some potentially transcendental spins on the challenge, and celebrate very nearly making it through—but not before wrestling with a potentially life-threatening Discord debate. Also: Milk Bar ice cream, Dave’s duplicate-shirt strategy, going all in on dinner, recipes that require a fire extinguisher, the Arrakis approach to rice making, bringing your own mini-burritos to a restaurant, the beauty of Jamaican food, and a three-way takeout banquet featuring the very best their downtown L.A. delivery radius has to offer. 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

After a debrief on the ups and downs of Dave’s first tour of dad duty at the Happiest Place on Earth, Dave and Chris call up Domee Shi, the director of Pixar’s latest release, to hear about how her new film came together. Discussed: Dole Whip, Toronto Chinatowns, the emotions inspired by boy bands, early 2000s nostalgia, getting kicked out of boarding school, eel fried rice, art-directing pork slices, the Pixar development method, drawing vs. cooking, art review stank face, how to pronounce “Ghibli,” Chris resisting getting into anime, Grace’s take on the movie, and betting on the next ride to debut at Disneyland. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Guest: Domee Shi Producer: Sasha Ashall Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On a rare four-mic episode, longtime friend of the show Anoop Pillarisetti lays out his Crescent City essentials before recounting his own recent ride on the Wheel of Inspirational Constraint: a chewable-food-free week of Soylent. Also covered: Andre Agassi’s stylistic legacy, hazardous pistachios, Soylent Stockholm syndrome, the Vegas blip, Dave’s new favorite ice cream, considering being a keto bro, becoming desensitized to the delicious, Chris’s Chinese restaurant dream, the happiest person Dave knows, deli provolone, and the coldest beer in the world. Hosts: Dave Chang and Chris Ying Guests: Noelle Cornelio and Anoop Pillarisetti Producer: Sasha Ashall Additional Production: Jordan Bass and Lala Rasor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices