Innovation in Tradition and a Pre-Reopening Diaries with Mark Ladner

The Dave Chang Show

The Ringer

Society & Culture, Arts, Food

4.8 • 8.6K Ratings

🗓️ 2 October 2025

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Babbo is back! Dave welcomes executive chef Mark Ladner of the newly reopening New York City institution, the Italian restaurant Babbo. Dave and Mark catch up, share old New York memories, and discuss that ever-debated rice dish: risotto. They finish with a sneak peek of Babbo's new menu, Pre-Reopening Diaries, and an Ask Dave. Learn more about Babbo: https://babbonyc.com/ Try to get your Babbo reservations if you can here: https://resy.com/cities/new-york-ny/venues/babbo-restaurant?date=2025-09-30&seats=2 Listen to our recent podcast with Paul Carmichael: https://www.theringer.com/podcasts/the-dave-chang-show/2025/05/22/feeling-good-with-paul-carmichael Learn more about Kabawa: https://www.momofuku.com/restaurants/kabawa Learn more about Eeeeeatscon NYC: https://www.eeeeeatscon.com/new-york Read Kitchen Confidential: https://amzn.to/46TcWPN Read the NYT article about Stephen Starr: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/dining/stephen-starr-restaurants.html Learn more about Brooklyn Glass: https://brooklynglass.com/ Learn more about Alto-Shaam: https://www.alto-shaam.com/en Learn more about CVAP: https://foodservice.winstonind.com/commercial-kitchen-equipment/ Learn more about Rational: https://www.rational-online.com/en_us/home/ Learn more about Craft: https://www.craftrestaurant.com/ Learn more about Santi: https://www.santinyc.com/ Learn more about Sodi: https://www.isodinyc.com/ Learn more about Rolo's: https://www.rolosnyc.com/ Learn more about Noodle Bar: https://www.momofuku.com/pages/noodle-bar Learn more about Buddakan: https://buddakannyc.com/ Learn more about Lyla Lila: https://www.lylalilaatl.com/ Send in your Ask Dave questions to bit.ly/AskDaveForm or [email protected]. Subscribe to the show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thedavechangshow. Subscribe to Recipe Club on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@recipeclubofficial. Submit your favorite food moments in your favorite movies to majorfoodporn.com. Join our community Discord on majordomo.com. Host: Dave Chang Guest: Mark Ladner Majordomo Media Producer: David Meyer Spotify Producer: Felipe Guilhermino Engineer: Belle Roman Editor: Stefano Sanchez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Oftentimes in food, if you're in a major metropolitan city or just follow food in general, you're a fan, you hear the names you're supposed to hear, the names that get a lot of press and a lot of attention.
0:15.0	And then you hear names if you're in the business or if you're really in the know of a specific city,
0:21.2	you get to know the chefs that are like widely admired and they're craftsmen and
0:28.6	they're technicians and they have a vision and they don't really give a shit about following
0:35.6	what you're supposed to do on a, know they're not they're not trying to be
0:41.5	well known they want to just be well known for the food that they make and mark ladner is our
0:47.7	guest today so stay tuned if you want to listen to what one of the great chefs in american
0:53.7	history that i believe he's a son of New England
0:56.6	and he has made some of the best meals I've ever had. We've had Brooks Headley on and together
1:04.2	they formed the powerhouse that was Del Posto. But his vision and his ability to teach, I think one of the great ways of me judging how great a chef is
1:17.0	is the alumni. And Mark Ladner has produced some outrageously successful alumni. And that's
1:24.4	always a benchmark for how good a chef is.
1:28.0	And Mark has been one of the very best.
1:31.1	And he worked at Bobbo.
1:33.7	He worked at, you know, he was the chef at Lupa.
1:37.6	And I just have so much love for this guy.
1:42.5	So I was really excited that he's going to be our guest today.
1:46.0	So stay tuned.
1:47.2	We're going to talk about him opening up Bobo,
1:50.2	reopening up Bobo with Stephen Starr.
1:53.3	So stay tuned for that.
1:57.7	Welcome to the Dave Chang Show, part of the Ringer podcast network,
	...

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