Special Sauce with Ed Levine

On part 2 of our revealing and refreshingly honest conversation with three of the best food critics in America, Hannah Goldfield of The New Yorker, Bill Addison of The Los Angeles Times, and Elazar Sontag of The Washington Post, all three are not feeling particularly sanguine about the future of restaurant criticism in general. And it's not just social media to blame. 

On this first of two episodes featuring The New York Times's Pete Wells, the former Times restaurant critic explains how he learned to eat differently after a trip to his doctor scared the crap out of him. Yes he eats many more whole grains and avoids added sugar any way he can. But as you'll hear his health and diet journey revealed just as many unexpected truths about how to eat right. 

For millions of serious eaters the Super Bowl has turned into a food event almost on a par with Thanksgiving. With the Super Bowl coming up we thought it would be fun and edifying to reheat last year's Super Bowl episode featuring Kenji Lopez-Alt giving serious eaters sage advice about making pizza and wings at home. I've had Kenji's wings and his pan pizza, and they are both seriously delicious and pretty simple to make. ...

On this episode of Special Sauce the Washington Post's Tim Carman and the Los Angeles Times's Stephanie Breijo discuss the enormous headwinds facing restaurants all over the country in 2026. High food costs, tariffs, the uncertain economy, and the ICE Raids' chilling effect on restaurant workers, and business in general, have left restaurant owners wondering about their survival.

On this episode of Special Sauce, The New York Times's superb wine critic Eric Asimov details the many challenges facing the wine industry. He cites high prices, over-production of factory wine, and the snootiness of too many wine enthusiasts AND the people that serve and sell wine. Eric even offers his prescription for many of the problems that plague the wine biz. 

On this episode we talk to Cherry Bombe founder, Kerry Diamond. Cherry Bombe is a media company celebrating women in the world of food  and drink. Her mission from day one has been to support women in the industry by shining a spotlight on them, sharing their stories, and bringing them together in person and virtually. As you will hear, it hasn't been easy, but according to Kerry, it's all been worth it. 

We decided to leave 2025 behind by reheating an episode from 2023 that features the remarkable Hamissi Mamba, who came to Detroit from his native Burundi searching for a better life, leaving his wife Nadia behind not knowing she was pregnant with twins. Despite not speaking English and knowing no one in the motor city Mamba has in a few short years opened a successful restaurant Baobab Fare, a food truck Waka by Baobab, an...

ICE invaded Charlotte a couple of weeks ago and have wreaked their usual havoc on the vibrant food community there. Charlotte food business owner (Manolo's Bakery) and immigration activist Manolo Betancur courageously shared his own experiences dealing with ICE. ICE has completely devastated what is a thriving immigrant population in Charlotte. Joining Manolo is the terrific food writer Kathleen Purvis, who was the longtim...

Kenji Lopez-Alt and Smitten Kitchen's Deb Perelman discuss (what else) how they deal with Thanksgiving leftovers in this classic Special Sauce episode from 2023. Leave the meat on the bone or in the fridge or slice it off right away? Stuffing waffles, anyone? Is pie the only thing to have for breakfast after Thanksgiving? They don't always agree, but Kenji and Deb always have a great time when they get together. 

This year for Turkey Day we reheat a gem of a Thanksgiving call-in show featuring two of the biggest turkey lovers I know; Kenji Lopez-Alt and Stella Parks. Also known as "Brave Tart". They answered serious eater's questions about anything and everything about cooking a Thanksgiving meal. Like, "Is it dangerous to cook your stuffing inside the bird?" (Kenji says the answer is yes) Or "What kind of salt to use in your pie d...

Over the summer we checked in with LA Taco's Javier Cabral about the scary ICE raids  in L.A. and their terrifying effect on the food community there. But the situation in Chicago is in many ways equally dire. ICE raids as part of Trump's Operation Midway Blitz have terrified Latino neighborhoods in Chicago. Street vendors are scared to set up shop and many restaurants find themselves with many empty tables that were previ...