Season 6

Brazilian immigrants, who now comprise 20% of the year-round population, have added immeasurably to the quality of life on Martha's Vineyard. On this episode of Special Sauce we talk to Brazilian gro…

Labor Day weekend is here and for many serious eaters that means it's burger time. Most of my favorite burger recipes come from today's guest on Special Sauce is the James Beard Award-winning chef an…

As Labor Day approaches my thoughts invariably turn to burgers. In fact, I have embarked on a quest to find the best burger to be had on Martha's Vineyard. And when I think of burgers the first perso…

Farms on Martha's Vineyard have been disappearing for a hundred years now. The land is just too valuable. On today's Special Sauce we hear how one farmstead, Morning Glory Farm, has managed to feed p…

Phil Rosenthal, the host and creator of Netflix's Somebody Feed Phil, works harder than just about any person I know in food media. What is he working on these days? A concert tour, a diner named aft…

There are so many compelling chef origin stories to be told, but I am hard-pressed to think of a more compelling and heart-rending one than today's guest on Special Sauce, Cristina Martínez, the Jame…

You wouldn't think I'd find some of the best fresh pasta I'd ever had on Martha's Vineyard, but I did. The maker of that pasta, Katie Leaird, tells serious eaters about how and why she ended up on an…

It seems like every season of 'The Bear' is subject to more scrutiny and analysis than any play by The Bard himself,  Shakespeare. Every scene and every character's persona is being sifted through li…

Nina Mae Levin has been making world-class pizza on Martha's Vineyard for five years now. And she sells every pie she makes during the Vineyard summer season! So why is it so hard for Nina to make a …

Today's guest on Special Sauce, the New York Times' insanely prolific Melissa Clark has written or co-written a ridiculous, astounding total of 46 cookbooks. She wrote a column for the paper for 5 ye…

Donald Trump's ICE raids have had a devastating effect on the Los Angeles taco community. On this episode of Special Sauce we talk to the great website LAtaco.com's editor in chief Javier Cabrales ab…

Serious eaters have watched with horror and dismay as President Trump has tasked ICE agents with carrying out his grand mass deportation scheme. Why are we so upset? Because this cruel scheme has imp…

On this episode of Special Sauce we talk to avocado farmer Norm Kachuck and Los Angeles Times reporter Daniel Miller about the crisis facing California avocado growers as they try to compete with Mex…

The late, truly great Marcella Hazan taught many of us what real Italian food is and how to cook it. And yet many people, including me, didn't know much about this remarkable woman. But now there's a…

The The New York Times's national food correspondent Kim Severson gives us the 411 on meat's improbable comeback.

It's only 450 Square Feet, but L.A.'s Now Serving Cookbook Store is so much more than a place to buy food books. Its co-founder Ken Concepcion explains how his tiny bookstore became home base for Ser…

Is being an international pizza consultant the world's best job? Anthony Falco explains all.

On this episode of Special Sauce we talk to Meghan McCarron and Adam Chandler about the surprisingly important role casual sit-down dining chains like Chili's and Olive Garden play in Americans' live…

On this episode of Special Sauce, we revisit our extraordinary conversation with the great Mexico City-based chef Lalo Garcia and the journalist Laura Tillman, who chronicled his extraordinary journe…

On this episode of Special Sauce we revisit our provocative conversation with the food activist, farmer, and force of nature Karen Washington, one of the stars of the terrific documentary 'Food and C…