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

Dana Brown (0:08)

There was a very famous writer, and I'm not going to name him because I could be, 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 (0:29)

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 (1:29)

Very, very well. Thank you for having me.

Matt Rodbard (1:30)

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. We have some food writing that we want to discuss. But Dana, like, where have you been dining out recently in New York?

Dana Brown (1:52)

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

Matt Rodbard (1:57)

Same.

Dana Brown (1:58)

And I'm such a creature of like, of geography and staying close to home. I'm like the last person I know who still lives in Manhattan. And so it really has like so much of the exciting food in New York is Brooklyn. I mean, I do find myself out there often. I, you know, listen, I think that stretch of, DeKalb and Fort Greene is just one of the best in the city. So, you know, sailor Romans, I think are fantastic, Mercedes.

You know, I, you know, 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. I was, my son was with me and he's, 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 hot dog bun. I thought that was really, it felt, it had like an old school New York vibe. Like if that place had existed in the 90s, I would have believed it. Like sure, this has been around for 30 years.

Matt Rodbard (3:12)

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.

Dana Brown (3:19)

Oh, there's so many.

Matt Rodbard (3:19)

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I totally love it. I mean, like Sailor is a great example. Like I've never been to Sailor. I love Caper, she's great. But I think people will be like, oh, Sailor, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, totally, totally. Yeah, yeah, I love Sailor. Like I've never been, so we can admit.

Dana Brown (3:32)

It's so hard to get into places. I know.

Matt Rodbard (3:34)

Like it's insane. I know, I know.

Dana Brown (3:36)

Like this getting a reservation, going, you know, standing, I'm not going to stand on the line. I'm one of those like old school New Yorkers, like I see a line, I'm going somewhere else. But you know, I, there's so much great food in the city that it's just, it's, it's, it's hard to go wrong. Yeah.

Matt Rodbard (3:51)

And through Caper, you know, I'm discovering a lot of cool places. I mean, you know, Emma, I'm not playing any favors. I like all your writers personally, actually. They're all great people. But I love like what Emma writes about restaurants. Like I'm always learning about new spots. I wrote her last week. I was like, man, you have some great spots in here.