843: Kwame Onwuachi on Pitching Investors, Cooking All Hours, and Golf Taking Over His Life

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SPEAKER_2 (0:30)

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Matt Rodbard (1:35)

All purpose Italian seasoning is good.

Kwame Onwuachi (1:38)

Nothing wrong with it. Everybody needs to stop frowning. Like, all this stuff is good. Be honest with her. What do we actually eat? Or what fulfills us and what fulfills like our soul when we eat? Yeah. And that's what this book is really about. That's what I'm trying to say. You know, I'm trying to show people how I actually eat.

Matt Rodbard (1:56)

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

Kwame Onwuachi, the chef behind Tatiana, Dōgon and restaurants from Miami to Las Vegas, joins me in the studio for the very first time. On this episode, we get into his big ideas for the CPG game, his poll towards Ethiopian cooking, and we talk about his three books, capped by all hours. Less a cookbook and more the documentation of what he actually wants to cook every single day. I hope you enjoy this episode. 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 are back with Three Things. How are you doing?

Aliza Abarbanel (2:45)

I'm doing well, Matt. I'm back from the land of enchantment, New Mexico.

Matt Rodbard (2:49)

Oh my gosh, the land of green chilies.

Aliza Abarbanel (2:51)

I've been once before, but being back in New Mexico, I really think it's one of the most beautiful places I've been in my life.

Matt Rodbard (2:57)

I have to second that. It's incredible. I've been to Santa Fe and Albuquerque and driven around some of the places you were at. How about you start?

Aliza Abarbanel (3:04)

Okay. I'll do my first thing, which is a breakfast taco truck that I went to in Santa Fe called El Chile Toreado, which is like the fighting chilies using the Spanish bullfighting word for fighting.

They do burritos and tacos, and they've been doing it for almost 20 years. In 2023, they were James Beard Foundation semi-finalist, which is I think cool to see an institution getting credit in that kind of way. I had probably my favorite breakfast burrito that I've ever had there.

Matt Rodbard (3:32)

As a Californian.

Aliza Abarbanel (3:33)

Yes, but here's the thing. I, as some people know, I don't like eggs, so my breakfast burritos are not the average breakfast burrito, but everyone else I was with went that full route and enjoyed it. But I got this burrito that they do called the Mexican Veggie Burrito that has pinto beans, Mexico Hatch green chili, of course, potatoes, Monterey Jack cheese, Pico de Gallo. It was so good and my girlfriend Shirley kept accidentally eating it because we had all the burritos in the same bag.

Matt Rodbard (4:01)

Accidentally.

Aliza Abarbanel (4:01)

There were two different moments when she started eating my burrito and kept on being like, wow, this is even better than the last time I had it, because she had a meaty, eggy burrito.

Matt Rodbard (4:10)

You were not willing to trade.

Aliza Abarbanel (4:11)

Well, I didn't want to trade because I was hungry, but then I would look over and I would see a little bit of zucchini or one of the veggies that was in my burrito peeking out of the corner and then I would have to snatch it back from her. So even the meat, egg, breakfast burrito lovers were enjoying this one. They also do barbacoa, buche, like all kinds of meaty foods, especially in the early afternoon. I went right before the airport and it was the perfect closing thing to eat before I drove back to Albuquerque.