Danny Bowien at Mission Chinese Food with Executive Chef, Angela Dimayuga.
One of life's greatest pleasures is eating Kung Pao Pastrami in a take-out container from Mission Chinese Food while wearing a Snuggie. For me, there's not much that can compete with that, except for the fact that today marks the launch of our very first MUNCHIES podcast, available on Soundcloud and iTunes. And since nothing excites me more than Kung Pao Pastrami, we're kicking off our first episode with none other than inimitable chef Danny Bowien.
Danny Bowien at Mission Chinese Food with Executive Chef, Angela Dimayuga.
MUNCHIES: The Podcast is a bi-weekly program in which I'll be talking about food culture with the unheard voices in food, celebrities, the food-averse, and culinary stars alike, asking them the questions that no one else is.
If you haven't feasted on Danny Bowien's hair-bending mapo tofu at Mission Chinese Food or crushed mole-dusted chicken wings at Mission Cantina, you've probably heard about the infamous Mission Chinese Food debacle with the New York health department. (The Lower East Side location of the restaurant was abruptly shut down in 2013.) At the time, the press surrounding the incident resembled a starving pack of piranhas on bare skin. Since then, the James Beard award-winning chef has managed to open his Mexican-inspired spot Mission Cantina, have a baby, and re-open a bigger, 2.0 version of Mission Chinese Food in Lower Manhattan. He did all of this without losing his damn mind.
But now that we've gotten that stuff out of the way, that's not what this episode is about. We're going to dig into another side of Danny Bowien that you don't necessarily know instead. The conversation explores his life and the personality that came before Mission Chinese Food, which includes tornados, Oklahoma City, perfect food, and why failure makes everything easier. Oh, and there's more info about Billy Corgan than anyone cares to know about.
After you've downloaded the podcast, go tell your Tinder date to subscribe so you have something to talk about over drinks. And if you haven't done so already, make sure to subscribe to MUNCHIES: The Podcast on iTunes and Soundcloud. Our next episode drops in two weeks, so dive into our culinary k-hole of delicious content on MUNCHIES until then.
