837: Caper's Dana Brown Thinks AI Can't Touch Food, Eater Lost the Plot, and There's a New McNally Worth Betting On

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Dana Brown (1:04)

There was a very famous writer, and I'm not going to name him because this could be semi-apocryphal, but he was doing a Washington story, and it was sort of a big name journalist. And I forget what hotel we put him up. I think either the Hay Adams or the Jefferson. He stayed there for so long that he rang up a $50,000 hotel bill.

Matt Rodbard (1:25)

This is TASTE. I'm your host, Matt Rodbard.

It's the return of Food Writers Talking About Food Writing. Every couple of weeks, I invite a journalist to talk about some favorite recent food writing, as well as their thoughts on the industry as a whole. Dana Brown was a fixture of Vanity Fair's Oscar Party machine and Graydon Carter's inner circle for more than two decades, before writing it all down in his memoir, Dilettante. He returns to the studio with a new job, editor-in-chief of Caper, the scoop-driven media startup applying a Puck-style power and money lens to restaurants, chefs, and the food business. In this episode, we talk about the economics of The Grill, the McNally legacy, and what's good in the world of Caper. I hope you enjoy this episode.

Dana Brown, welcome to This Is TASTE. It's another episode of Food Writers Talking About Food Writing. How are you doing, man?

Dana Brown (2:25)

Very, very well. Thank you for having me.

Matt Rodbard (2:26)

Well, as our listeners know, I'm a huge fan of Caper.

I love what you've been doing there, and I think the editors and yourself are really shaking things up in the best way. So congrats. Before we get to, we'll have a general convo about Caper, and then we'll get into some stories. Some food writing that we want to discuss. But Dana, where have you been dining out recently in New York?

Dana Brown (2:48)

Oh, God. You know what? This is so embarrassing for me, but I'm such a creature of habit.

Matt Rodbard (2:53)

Same.

Dana Brown (2:54)

I'm such a creature of geography and staying close to home. I'm the last person I know who still lives in Manhattan. So it really has so much of the exciting food in New York is Brooklyn.

I do find myself out there often. Listen, I think that stretch of DeKalb and Fort Greene is just one of the best in the city. So sailor, Romans, I think are fantastic, Macedas.

I went for the first time and I think it was one of those places I lied about for about two years about being like, yeah, I love it, and I'd never been. I finally went to Thai Diner, which I thought was just fantastic and like really reasonably priced. It was the strangest feeling. My son was with me and he's unfortunately for my wallet a lobster fanatic. They're half lobsters, like $18. I haven't seen, I mean, you're paying $50 for a lobster roll, which is probably not even half a lobster in a hotdog bun. I thought that was really, it felt, it had like an old school New York vibe. If that place had existed in the 90s, I would have believed it. Sure, this has been around for 30 years.

Matt Rodbard (4:08)

Yeah, Matt and Ann are doing a crazy good job there. I love that place. It's so funny when you say, that place that I say I've been to. There's so many. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I totally love it. I mean, like Sailor is a great example. I've never been to Sailor. I love April.

Dana Brown (4:20)

I love her for food.

Matt Rodbard (4:21)

She's great. But I think people will be like, oh, Sailor, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, totally, totally. Yeah, yeah, I love Sailor. I've never met, so we can admit.

Dana Brown (4:28)

It's so hard to get into places.