811: 1990s Los Angeles and 2010s YouTube with the Internet’s Grill Dad, Noah Galuten 

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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Here's your report.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:31)
Thanks, Jane.

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**Noah Galuten** (1:08)
They had me audition. I think they just like Googled food people in Los Angeles. I don't know if this is true, but I was told at one point that apparently I beat out Joey Fatone for the hosting job.

**Matt Rodbard** (1:20)
This is TASTE. I'm your host, Matt Rodbard.
Noah Galuten, chef, James Beard award-winning cookbook author, and certified YouTube food guy joins me in the studio to talk about his terrific new book, Grill Time!. This conversation covers his unconventional path from UCLA theater student to LA pit master. The case for treating your gas grill as a weekday kitchen appliance, and a deep dive into his research trip to Mexico, where he discovered that everything he thought he knew about carne asada was absolutely wrong. It was such a joy having Noah in the studio. I hope you enjoy this conversation.
Noah Galuten, welcome to This Is TASTE. Dude, it's so great to see you.

**Noah Galuten** (2:17)
It's so great to be here. I've been, it's rare that you get to like come on a show that you've listened to and watched things of for years and years.

**SPEAKER_4** (2:25)
Thanks, buddy. It's a pleasure to be here.

**Matt Rodbard** (2:27)
Well, I'm a huge fan of your work. I mean, I was crushing some of your YouTube from 10 years ago.

**Noah Galuten** (2:31)
Yeah.

**Matt Rodbard** (2:32)
Like, we'll get to that.

**Noah Galuten** (2:33)
It goes back. It's a while.

**Matt Rodbard** (2:34)
It's really cool. Like, I'm so into it. It's like definitely like a time capsule, a fossil of internet glory, but it's great. Yeah.
We'll talk about your new book, Grill Time!, and honestly, like restaurant food, chef stuff, because you're a chef. So much to cover.

**Noah Galuten** (2:53)
I can chime in on anything you want.
It's like you realize all of a sudden, it's like, oh yeah, I've been in this business in one way or another for 20 plus years now. And you start to become the old guy with stories about the old days.

**Matt Rodbard** (3:05)
Yo, man. Seen.

**Noah Galuten** (3:07)
Yeah.

**Matt Rodbard** (3:08)
Felt. I think, yeah, it's like, but you remember there was an era when we both were young and new in the industry, because I think you were coming up, I've knew this about 20 years myself. Yeah. And it was like, we're the young people who are looking up to like the Vogue writer, Jeffrey Steingarten.

**Noah Galuten** (3:26)
Yeah, yeah.

**Matt Rodbard** (3:27)
That's the guy. And like now I hope I don't give Jeffrey, no offense to him, but like I feel sometimes like that's my place in media is like I'm like the old timer, which I don't feel that way. But like when you do the math, you're like, oh shit.

**Noah Galuten** (3:42)
But you're almost like the keeper of the knowledge too. You're like the you're like the librarian of the industry to a certain degree too.
Yeah, for me, the West Coast version of that was obviously Jonathan Gold growing up. And I remember I started writing for LA Weekly, my editor who I love, Amy Scattergood back in the day.

**Matt Rodbard** (4:00)
Definitely.

**Noah Galuten** (4:01)
She told me she's like, yeah, Jonathan Gold's like a little, he's like being a little like funny and territorial around you being here. And I said, oh my God, I can't believe Jonathan Gold knows who I am.

**Matt Rodbard** (4:09)
Knows who I am.

**Noah Galuten** (4:11)
We became friendly eventually through basketball.

**Matt Rodbard** (4:14)
Through hoops? Was he a Lakers fan?