Celebrating 15 Years of Evan Kleiman and 'Good Food'

Guest Interview

Market Report ()

Shiho Yoshikawa is the chef at Sweet Rose Creamery in the Brentwood Country Mart. She makes 18 flavors of ice cream and sorbet fresh each morning, all inspired by the farmers market. She uses unique herbs like elderflower and anise hyssop to pack flavor in her pints.

A recipe for her Blackberry Anise Hyssop Sorbet is on the Good Food blog.

Ron Cornelson is the farmer behind the popular Honey Crisp farm stand at the Santa Monica Farmers' Market. He grows over 90 varieties of stone fruit and he also sells fruit for his neighbor, Art Lange, who grows over 140 varieties. Together they produce some of the most sought after fruit sold at the market. Arrive early for the best selection.

Music: "Things Ain't What They Used to Be" by Ella Fitzgerald

Guest Interview

Julia Child ()

In June of 2000 Evan interviewed Julia Child at the Museum of Television and Radio. Child talks about her favorite kitchen tools, in particular the "fright knife" that she enjoyed wielding on television.

Guest Interview

Anthony Bourdain before 'No Reservations' ()

In 2004, Evan interviewed Anthony Bourdain about his Les Halles Cookbook: Strategies, Recipes and Techniques of Classic Bistro Cooking. Rather than the opinionated gourmand we are familiar with on No Reservations, this is a glimpse of Bourdain the chef.

Guest Interview

Ruth Reichl on the Anonymity of a Restaurant Critic ()

In this 2005 interview, Ruth Reichl talks about dressing up in disguise when she was the restaurant critic for the New York Times. Her book, Garlic & Sapphires: The Secret Life of A Critic in Disguise, chronicles her adventures eating in costume.

Guest Interview

Harold McGee Explains Meat Glue ()

Chefs all over the country call on food scientist Harold McGee to decipher the chemical reasons for their kitchen catastrophes. His book, On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, is a must-have reference for the chemistry that takes place in the kitchen.

This segment on "meat glue," also known as transglutaminase, first aired in 2006 and remains just as relevant today as chefs continue to pursue the art of molecular gastronomy.

Guest Interview

Still the Hottest Restaurant in Town ()

Jonathan Gold revisits an old favorite. Jitlada has long been a place to go for good Thai food, but in 2007 the restaurant changed hands and a Southern Thai family took over the menu. Southern Thai cuisine is known for being some of the spiciest food in the world. Jonathan's favorite dishes are the specialty the (spicy) beef curry, wild tea leaf curry with catfish, Southern Thai rice salad and the mussels steamed in hot broth with lemongrass.

Jitlada Thai
5233 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90027
323-663-3104

You can find all of Jonathan's restaurant suggestions on the Good Food restaurant map.

Music: "Inside Job" by Hawke

Guest Interview

Hold the Paper Umbrella, I'll Have a Sourtoe with My Cocktail ()

Bar owner Dick van Nostrand serves up a Sourtoe Cocktail using a real, preserved human toe at Downtown Hotel in Dawson City, Yukon (Canada). This drink has even got a club of intrepid followers called the Sourtoe Cocktail Club, whose rule is that drinker's lips must touch the toe.

Guest Interview

The History of the Toothpick ()

Professor Henry Petroski pays homage to one of the oldest, yet simplest tools in The Toothpick: Technology and Culture. Petroski teaches civil engineering and history at Duke University.

Guest Interview

Tomatoland ()

Barry Estabrook has been following the story of the  tomato harvest workers in Immokalee, Florida for years. His 2009 article in Gourmet magazine about the horrific conditions on Florida tomato farms won him a James Beard Award, and his more recent book, Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit, offers a more in depth look at the state of tomato farming in Florida.

Since this 2009 interview, the Coalition of Imokalee Workers (CIW) has succeeded in convincing major fast food chains like McDonald's and Burger King, as well as Trader Joe's, to sign their Fair Food Agreement, which promises a penny more per pound of tomatoes picked. It doesn't sound like much, but it adds $20 per day to each tomato pickers pay check. Follow all of Estabrook's reportage on the CIW at his blog, Politics of the Plate.