818: It Took a Chef to Make a Buzzy Drinks Brand like Faccia Brutto

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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**Patrick Miller** (0:07)
Save on the stay.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:09)
Oh, and free waffles are yours to claim. Book direct at choicehotels.com.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:15)
This episode is supported by FX's The Shards, a seductive drama from executive producer Ryan Murphy.
Set in 1980s Los Angeles, the series follows a group of glamorous, deeply entangled high school seniors drawn into a life of wealth, beauty, parties, and access. At its center is Brett, whose reality begins to unravel when the arrival of a new student coincides with a series of mysterious murders. FX's The Shards, now streaming on Hulu.

**Patrick Miller** (0:53)
Like I even had somebody DMing me one day like, hey, I'm sitting in my Italian class right now and people want to know why you named it like this because it should be Faccia Brutta. And I'm like, because it's my fucking business, dude. I can name it whatever I want.

**Aliza Abarbanel** (1:07)
This is TASTE. I'm your host, Aliza Abarbanel.
Patrick Miller is the founder and distiller of Faccia Brutto, an Italian-style spirits brand in Brooklyn, New York. He worked as a chef for 19 years in some of LA and New York's brightest restaurants, and began making Amari as holiday gifts for loved ones while working as a chef partner at Rucola in Brooklyn. Today, Faccia Brutto is busy using old world techniques to create singular and special Amari and Opera TV. And today on the show, we go deep on their process and vision.

**Matt Rodbard** (1:48)
And at the top of the show, it's the return of Three Things, where Aliza and I talk about what is exciting us in the world of restaurants, cookbooks and the food world as a whole. Aliza, we're back at Three Things. How are you? You haven't seen in a while.

**Aliza Abarbanel** (2:01)
I know I've been having a New York summer. I've been enjoying my summer. How about you?

**Matt Rodbard** (2:06)
I'm great. You're wearing some great NYX gear.

**Aliza Abarbanel** (2:08)
It looks everyone I've interviewed today has complimented me on this NYX gear, which makes me happy because this is a bootleg championship t-shirt that I tie dyed. But obviously, I wanted it to be orange and blue tie dyed. But somehow, when I washed it, it became green. I like it. Which color theory, I guess, that's what happens. So my next tie dye attempt will be better.

**Matt Rodbard** (2:27)
I thought you were maybe at the fish show last weekend.

**Aliza Abarbanel** (2:29)
Oh, yeah.

**Matt Rodbard** (2:30)
And that was the extra fit that you got out front. It looks good, though. And it's cool bootleg style. I feel it's got some 90s vibes going on.

**Aliza Abarbanel** (2:37)
I'll show you the back when we're done chatting. But the back is better because it's the whole team wearing their white jerseys. So the tie dye got on their jerseys. So it looks like they're wearing tie dye jerseys. Do you want to give me your first thing?

**Matt Rodbard** (2:48)
Yeah, I'll start. I'll start with the restaurant, Golden Hof. I haven't been back since they opened, so it's been so long. And I've been hearing from friends in the industry, a writer here, a chef there, that things are really good right now. And my wife Tamar, she went there and had a really great meal before we caught up for a play. So I was like, I need to go back. And I was so impressed. Sam Yu is the chef there. And for anyone who doesn't know, he's the chef behind Golden Diner, which has TikTok lines for pancakes now. Good for you, Sam. It's a cool location in Rock Center. I think Rock Center always needed something like that. And his parents ran the New York Kimchi restaurant for 12 years before Golden Hof took it over. So it was kind of a family space and operation. And dishes that I liked, I mean, the Kimchi Akura pancake, like guy knows pancakes clearly. Really, really nice with like garlic, chili, honey, trout roe, and the smoked sour cream.
There was this really terrific salad, lots of cilantro and cucumbers dressed in this like burnt sesame dressing.
I had tenjun chige at the end, which was really good, it was really rich, and lots of beef in there. And we split the cheeseburger, which I think has become a bit of a signature there.
And it's really good. I mean, I think for me, there was like definitely elements of kimchi, there was a tomato gochujang component as well. And for me, like, you can dine upstairs and have this pub food, this Hof food, and like it's a throwback to like 1970s soul hofs. Or you can go downstairs and have communal barbecue grills. It's a great location if you need to do something in Midtown and you want a good restaurant to like have a quick early meal, I think that's a good vibe. It's been a while and I'm so happy I went back.