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March 12, 2025
This Is TASTE 556: Bonnie’s Calvin Eng Has MSG Tattooed on His Arm (And All Over His Book)
CALVIN_ARTICLE

Calvin Eng is the chef and owner of Bonnie’s, a very popular Cantonese American restaurant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He’s also the author of a great new cookbook: Salt Sugar MSG, an introduction to his unique style of home cooking, cowritten with his partner, Phoebe Melnick. It’s so fun to have Calvin in the studio to talk about growing up in New York’s many Chinatowns, developing recipes for home cooks (instead of line cooks), and more.

Also on the show, Matt has a fun conversation with Substack’s Austin Tedesco. We love Substack and talked about the upcoming Grubstack virtual festival, running from March 13-15. We also talked about how Substack is helping writers reach wide audiences, and go over some of our favorites. Mentioned on the episode: Bangers and JamsAlison RomanFeed MeVittlesSweet City,  The Best BitPerfect CityBite SizedThe AngelCake ZineSookA Small & Simple Thing, SnaxshotWhy Is This Interesting?

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Aliza Abarbanel

Aliza Abarbanel is a contributing editor at TASTE, the co-founder and co-editor of Cake Zine, and a freelance writer based in Brooklyn. Previously, she was an editor at Bon Appetit.