On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling chats with Jessica Fishenfeld, actor, singer, and host of “Bagels and Banter.” “I wanted my own show where I can talk to people and talk about bagels,” says Fishenfeld. “And this [is the] organic creation that came about.”

After moving from New York to Los Angeles, Fishenfeld's quest for a good local bagel led her to create this fun, foodie series, available on YouTube. She reviews bagels, and brings friends along to enjoy the experience with her.

It all started when Fishenfeld and her husband decided to check out The Bagel Factory in Redondo Beach for Valentine’s Day 2024. Fishenfeld filmed the experience

“He thinks it was his idea, I think it was my idea,” she says. Fishenfeld created a video review. It’s what got the ball … er bagel … rolling. .

As a fan of Seinfeld's “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” - and a people-person who loves hosting - Fishenfeld found a great topic, “Bagels and Banter,” on the perfect stage!

“Life is like an everything bagel,” she says. “Roll that dough into everything … you pick up little things from here and there … some things will fall off and the things that are meant to be will stick to that dough, just like the things that are meant to be will stick with your life.”

She adds, “There's little flavors from all different places, and the mixing together of them creates not only a great bagel, but a great life.”

Jessica Fishenfeld talks about her journey from bagel lover to show host, her bagel rating system, the ultimate bagel reheating hack, and bagel facts. She also shares food memories and her mom’s award-winning banana bread recipe, which you can find at JewishJournal.com/podcasts.

Learn more at JessicaFishenfeld.com, subscribe to @bagelsandbanter on YouTube and follow @jecafish and @bagelqueenjess on Instagram.

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Deb recently won best Anchor/Host, Audio, at the LA Press Club's SoCal Journalism Awards for Taste Buds: https://jewishjournal.com/community/382367/jewish-journal-wins-nine-la-press-club-socal-journalism-awards-from-18-total-nominations/ For more, subscribe on iTunes and YouTube, and follow @TheDEBMethod on social media.

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Byron Lazaroff Puck, president of the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group. This legacy chef, the second son of chef and restaurateur Wolfgang Puck and designer Barbara Lazaroff, grew up in a flurry of cooking, art and hospitality.

“There’s a Picasso quote that I love, which is, “Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist,’ and that always spoke to me,” Puck says. “To me that means honoring and respecting tradition, the rules, the things that people have worked so hard on to create in the past, and … then also being bold and creative and trying to innovate on top of that.”

Puck loved art as a kid and wanted to be a painter, but quickly realized that was not meant to be. When his father put him to work at age 12, washing dishes at Spago Beverly Hills, he was amazed, seeing the plates come together and go out on the line.

“I quickly realized, ‘If I'm clearly terrible at painting on canvas, maybe I can paint on plates;’” he shares.

Once that love of food and hospitality was ignited, Puck never looked back.

“It's not just about serving great food [and] beverages with detail oriented service, it's about crafting a memory for a person that they can always look back on, whether it’s a 25th or 30th or 50th birthday, an anniversary, a college graduation or a promotion at a job [or] just a regular Tuesday night,” he says. “Every single person that is gracious enough to adorn one of our dining rooms, we want to treat with the utmost respect and integrity.”

Byron Lazaroff Puck shares his cooking journey and food memories, creative cooking and plating tips, the value of hospitality, and thoughts on the future of food. He also talks about his grandmother’s latkes and his recipe for Passover short ribs, which you can find at JewishJournal.com/podcasts.

Follow @ByronPuck’s food adventures on Instagram and check out WolfgangPuck.com.

For more from Taste Buds, subscribe on iTunes and YouTube, and follow @TheDEBMethod on social media.

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Amy Bebchick, Chief Program Officer of OneTable aka the AirBNB of Shabbat. OneTable is an online platform that connects hosts with guests - and vice versa - and also offers Shabbat support and resources.

OneTable, aimed at adults 21 to 39, launched in 2014; two years ago, they expanded their offerings with OneTable Together, for people aged 50 and up. People in both demographics - and in all levels of faith - are interested in starting, rebooting or re-envisioning their Shabbat practices.

“One of our taglines at OneTable is Find Your Friday,” says Bebchick. “There's not [just] one way to bring Shabbat into your life.”

Shabbat, she explains, is all about marking the moment and making that moment sacred.

Some use this end-of-the-week gathering as an oasis with the people closest to them. Others invite their neighbors or open their home for an additional guest or two in order to build community connections. People Shabbat through OneTable in more than 700 communities all over the US and in Toronto.

“We’re in the business of peer-to-peer Shabbat,” Bebchick explains. “Now more than ever, we are all really hungry for a way to escape from what is going on outside and to really find that place that feels like a warm blanket on a winter day.”

Bebchick, who has been practicing Shabbat her entire life, starts planning her Friday night menu as soon as she is done with Shabbat the Saturday before. Sometimes Shabbat is enjoyed around the dinner table, other times it’s part of a picnic or a hike.

“I start thinking about what the weather is going to be, what do I want to be cooking, who else might be coming to the table,” she says. “[I like] the idea of really carving [out] that space every Friday.”

Amy Bebchick talks about the evolution of OneTable, the value of a Shabbat practice, and more. She also shares her recipe for gazpacho soup on-the-go, one of her favorite portable Shabbat dishes, which you can find at JewishJournal.com/podcasts.

Learn more at OneTable.org and follow @OneTableShabbat on Instagram. For more from Taste Buds, subscribe on iTunes and YouTube, and follow @TheDEBMethod on social media.

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Sam E. Goldberg, creator and host of “Respect the Chain,” a pop culture travel food show that dives into the stories behind the most iconic restaurant chains.

“Whether it's Moe’s versus Chipotle, ketchup versus mustard, everybody's got an opinion and everybody's educated enough to discuss it,” Goldberg, who is team ketchup, says. “I put ketchup on my rice, I put ketchup on my eggs, I put ketchup on everything.”

An attorney, who specializes in real estate law, Goldberg finds he has a really nice balance between his career and his passion project. Law is extremely serious; “‘Respect the Chain’ is fun and upbeat.

Growing up Jewish in New York City, Goldberg says a love of food is in his DNA. He enjoys traveling and exploring chain restaurants throughout the country and around the world. He also prioritizes sharing his Jewishness, especially during the holidays.

“We had the Adam Sandler song, we had that one “Rugrats” episode for Passover, but that was pretty much it [in my youth],” he says. “If I've got a platform, I'm going to make sure everybody sees some Jewish content.”

Sam E. Goldberg shares “Respect the Chain’s” origins story, why he loves chains - hint: he’s a creature of habit, and restaurant best practices. Goldberg also shares his latest discovery, Ratatouille, the movie and the dish. Get his mom’s recipe for ratatouille at JewishJournal.com/podcasts.

Follow @RespectTheChain on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

For more from Taste Buds, subscribe on iTunes and YouTube, and follow @TheDEBMethod on social media.

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with musician Happie Hoffman, a former non-cook who discovered the joy of cooking during the pandemic

“I understood that if I wanted to have a proper Shabbat meal, I had to learn how to make it for myself,” Hoffman says. “A lot of times at [dinners] I'm always helping, but I'm not actually orchestrating the food portion. … my contribution is a song or music.”

A singer-songwriter, who writes soulful, heartfelt music, Hoffman has been teaching music since her teens and spent most of her twenties traveling around the world leading Jewish music groups.

“Also in that process I was writing my own music … and it all evolved very organically,” Hoffman explains. “The special thing about music is the ability for people to connect with it … I can turn on a song that completely shifts the way I feel, whether because of the way the music sounds or a memory that I have associated with that song.”

Cooking, like music, is a way to connect to your roots and has the power to heal your soul.

“Being present … can make it magical,” she believes. “Give yourself the permission to … enjoy the experience and make art that's in service to yourself or people you love.”

Happie Hoffman shares her musical and cooking journeys, the power of being present, and her recipe for gluten-free cinnamon challah, which you can find at JewishJournal.com/podcasts.

Follow @HappieMusic on Instagram and learn about Mishkon Tephilo (Mishkon.org) in Venice, CA, Hoffman’s second spiritual home. For more from Taste Buds, subscribe on iTunes and YouTube, and follow @TheDEBMethod on social media.

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Evan Fox, founder and owner of Yeastie Boys Bagels. With eight locations around Los Angeles, the vibrant food truck is full of delicious New-York style LA bagels. Their creative combinations have fun names - mainly pop culture and music references - to go with them.

When Fox started Yeastie Boys Bagels in 2014, there were not a lot of bagel options in Los Angeles. What started as a side project with a friend - experimenting with bagels in an LA apartment, and delivering them to tastemakers, mostly in the music scene, and posting funny bagel memes on Instagram – is now a thriving LA business.

“It’s been pretty wild; I’m grateful and blessed to be here,” he says. “My whole thing for Yeastie Boys is, ‘How can I make something that people want to eat daily, that's a quick bagel, that's a classic that you'd get in a bodega in New York. … How can I take the old classics and make them more refined [and] more current?’”

Yeastie Boys is known for the New York style bagel. Fox’s top three favorite bagels are sesame, egg and an egg everything bagel.

“New York style bagels are very plump, they have got a nice chew, they have a nice sweetness to it, usually from barley malt,” he explains. “They have a nice crust when you bite into it, but it's soft and chewy in the middle.”

Evan Fox shares the Yeastie Boys origin story, along with his personal bagel journey: from developing a love of bagels at a young age - it was his go-to after school snack in Arizona - to discovering NY bagels, when was a touring musician. Fox also talks about what makes a good bagel, playing with pop culture - they recently created a custom menu for a partnership with Netflix’s “Nobody Wants This,” the bagel’s place in the mainstream, and more.

Check out YeastieBoysBagels.com and follow @YeastieBoysBagels on Instagram.

For more from Taste Buds, subscribe on iTunes and YouTube, follow @TheDEBMethod on social media, and go to JewishJournal.com/podcasts.

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with kosher sushi chef Marisa Baggett, who blends tradition, identity and intention in her culinary work.

“My sushi journey and my Jewish journeys are actually very much entwined,” Baggett explains. “When I was going through sushi school, I was also embracing Judaism, so there was always this kind of… pull between how I'm going to show up as a Jewish sushi chef.”

Baggett, who once owned a kosher deli and has brought her Japanese training into her Jewish food, decided to focus mostly on plant-based food in the last year.

“I think that I was probably always kind of on this path of heading towards only making plant-based sushi,” she says. “It just took me a while to get there.”

When asked what she knows now that she wished she knew early in her career, Baggett says that it’s okay to bring all of the pieces of who you are to the table at once.

“For the longest time, I tried to keep everything separate,” she explains. “I really wish that I brought more of everything together - Southern, Jewish background, the Japanese training - earlier in my career.”

Chef Marisa Baggett talks about her out-of-the-blue sushi origin story, food memories from growing up in the south, and how to embrace creativity in the kitchen. She also shares her recipe for miso mish mash soup, which you can find at JewishJournal.com/podcasts.

“Give yourself permission to have fun in the kitchen,” she says. “There's a lot of flexibility in that one bowl.”

Learn more at MarisaBaggett.com, follow @ChefMarisaBaggett on Instagram and watch Marisa Baggett compete on “Morimoto’s Sushi Master” on The Roku Channel.

For more from Taste Buds, subscribe on iTunes and YouTube, and follow @TheDEBMethod on social media.

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Sasha Zabar, founder of Glace and Glace Candy in New York.

While many kids dream of opening an ice cream shop or candy store, it’s something Zabar actually did! The two stores are connected in the middle, so customers and their friends/family can visit one or both sides, and if they want, mix their candy into the ice cream for infinite variations and options.

Zabar has fond memories of getting these ice cream and candy at his neighborhood shops. Since most of those establishments have since gone away, Zabar now gets to be the source of others’ nostalgia … and revitalize the neighborhood in the process. After his first year’s ice cream season, when business started to dwindle, Zabar started thinking outside the box … er cone.

“We created what has become kind of a viral sensation, which is our s'mores hot chocolate,” he explains. “We make a house-made marshmallow [which] we pipe around the rim and toast … it's very theatrical, but it's also delicious.”

Their hot chocolate videos - some of which are in the millions of views - have led to lines around the block every day during hot chocolate season (November to middle of January),

While social media is an amazing tool to see what people and businesses are doing, especially in the food scene around the world, you need to be creative to stand out.

“We take a common conceit - hot chocolate, ice cream, sundaes, candy - and play around with it until we find something that is both familiar but different,” he explains. “We randomly found our way into a corner of the universe: people love … trying something different than what they expect.”

Sasha Zabar talks about growing up in the family food business. His grandparents, Louis and Lillian, founded Zabar's in 1934; his father, Eli, had various businesses, including Eli’s Market and Eli’s Bread. Zabar also shares how he started Glace and Glace Candy, the part social media played in making Glace a destination, and the recipe for one of his favorite year-round treats: apple crumble, which you can find at JewishJournal.com/podcasts.

“I don't remember a time where I didn't want to be in some way in the food business,” Zabar says. “So it is kind of destiny.”

Learn more about Sasha Zabar at GlaceNY.com and follow @GlaceNewYork on Instagram.

For more from Taste Buds, subscribe on iTunes and YouTube, and follow @TheDEBMethod on social media.