Food About Town

Kyle Waldron makes the main point up front: Lucky Frog sells shelf‑stable "social tonics" that use magnesium and ashwagandha to take the edge off without alcohol or intoxication. He explains ashwagandha as a traditional Ayurvedic root with low‑level, cumulative calming effects and describes magnesium as a familiar supplement that supports relaxation, stressing that their doses are modest and meant for daytime use. Chris Lindstrom, out of Rochester, steers the chat toward flavor and process, and Kyle walks through the three distinct flavor profiles—plum/cardamom/pomelo; Meyer lemon/basil/strawberry; and mango/lime/pandan—showing how he started with culinary pairings and a simple formula of sweet, acid, and herbaceous to keep things approachable. They dig into practical production issues too: water‑soluble extracts that won’t wreck taste, avoiding harsh artificial sweeteners, working with a co‑packer to scale recipes, and ensuring shelf stability and food‑safety constraints. On the business side Kyle lays out the pivot away from cannabis drinks, the importance of direct‑to‑consumer margins, local roots in Rochester, and the next steps of expanding distribution while keeping the product delicious and repeatable.Mentioned in this episode:It’s A LotCheck out It’s A Lot on Lunchador! https://feeds.captivate.fm/itsalot/ Getting Real with Bossy: For Women Who Own Business Check out Getting Real with Bossy: For Women Who Own Business on Lunchador! https://feeds.captivate.fm/gettingrealwithbossy/ Joe Bean RoastersJoe Bean Coffee - Coffee that lifts everyone. https://shop.joebeanroasters.com

Tiwa Topia made a whole stained‑glass thesis about how to put Black skin into stained glass, using experimental techniques so light can do the heavy lifting. Tiwa flipped the usual “light-to-dark” idea and sculpted where the light hits to get depth and warmth for darker skin tones — clever, stubborn, and gorgeous. Tiwa’s show is at The Yards (at the Public Market) with a closing ceremony on Saturday the 26th from 11am–2pm (go see it in person — photos don’t do the light justice), and you can follow their work on Instagram at @awit.glass (Tiwa backwards dot glass). We chat about how stained glass is both a craft (all those tools and cuts and lead) and an art (how the sun becomes the final artist), why texture and double‑rolled glass like Kokomo or Youghiogheny give that depth, and how being self‑taught meant a lot of trial, error, and obsession. We also dig into the story behind the work: Yoruba/Ifa references, family proverbs about Agemo, and the messy love of celebrating culture while calling out the parts that exclude people.Oh, and we nerd out about glass news — Kokomo stopping production and UK safety rules around lead — because materials and maker safety actually matter when you care this much. Come for the color and the craft, stay for the big, complicated, joyful conversation Tiwa’s putting into glass.Mentioned in this episode:Joe Bean RoastersVisit joebeanroasters.com to get fresh roasted specialty coffee either by the bag or with a Perpetual Joy subscription!

Check out the episode on Food About Town wherever you get your podcasts or on Lunchador.org!Niraj Lama makes the central point that provenance, seasonality and simple care — especially spring or “first flush” Darjeeling teas — are what give tea its distinctive flavors. He explains that tea for fine black, green and oolong varieties all comes from one plant, Camellia sinensis, and that harvest season, elevation and how the leaves are processed change the cup dramatically; first flush means the first young shoots of the year and tend to be delicate, floral and lively. He traces his own path from Darjeeling journalism to founding Happy Earth Tea in Rochester’s South Wedge, and he frames the shop as a place for hospitality where people can both relax and learn about origin and tasting. We discuss practical basics too: steeping and temperature vary by tea type, but a good rule is to come close to boiling for blacks without overdoing it and to trust your palate — fine teas are forgiving and often reveal more across multiple steeps. He also walks listeners through how elevation and mountain microclimates slow growth and concentrate flavor, why small-lot mountain teas differ from commodity lowland blends, and how storage and subtle aging can sometimes change a tea for the better. They cover shop offerings — tastings, Tea 101 classes, matcha and tea-and-chocolate events — and the larger point that tea is both a beverage and a way to build community. If listeners want to explore, he runs HappyEarthTea.com and welcomes people to pop into the Teahouse at 696 South Ave (corner of South and Gregory) to taste spring teas and learn more.Links referenced in this episode:happyearthtea.comtaurusavant.bandcamp.comMentioned in this episode:Joe Bean RoastersJoe Bean Coffee - Coffee that lifts everyone. https://shop.joebeanroasters.com

We're putting the spotlight on The Old Ball Game — Jared Engel's live-scored baseball silent films, coming to the Rochester Fringe Festival at the George Eastman Museum's Dryden Theater on September 26 (11am and 1pm).Check out the episode on Just Can't Not wherever you get your podcasts or on Lunchador.org!https://player.captivate.fm/episode/dcb9dc3d-75d9-40df-a90b-866e439dbafb/I chatted with Jared — a Brooklyn musician/filmmaker originally from Brighton — about how the show works: we take vintage baseball film clips (and Jared's own new silent shorts) and compose and perform original music live, basically turning the movie into a one-night-only concert-plus-movie soundtrack. Jared walks us through the origin story — during the pandemic he and other musicians formed a sandlot team called Fumble (formerly unemployed musicians), and that communal, nostalgic baseball vibe morphed into making performances and eventually actual silent films. We get the whole hilarious historical anecdote behind Day of the Catch — the 1915 Greenwich grapefruit-drop prank that reads like perfect slapstick and maybe even birthed the nickname "Grapefruit League" — and hear how that became a 16-minute film he scored in a frenzy. He also teases a newer piece, The Mascot Race, and shares how these projects let him perform in fresh ways (also: yes, we once scored a screening on a Jumbotron before a Mets game — because why not?). Tickets are $15 at rochesterfringe.com and you can peek at more project details at theoldballgame.net, so if you like live music, baseball nostalgia, and goofy physical comedy, come hang with us — I promise we’ll bring the soundtrack and the puns, you bring the peanuts.Mentioned in this episode:Joe Bean RoastersVisit joebeanroasters.com to get fresh roasted specialty coffee either by the bag or with a Perpetual Joy subscription!

We're previewing the ROCHESTER FRINGE FESTIVAL and plugging EGO AND THE ORACLE — come see us at the Blackfriars Theater on September 25 at 10 PM and September 26 at 8 PM (tickets $20 at rochesterfringe.com). I sit with Jim from Jim's Big Ego and Sean Peters as we walk through the show's vibe: think musical divination — part fortune telling, part musical improv, and part group therapy, all rolled into an hour and fifteen minutes of delightful chaos.Check out the episode on Just Can't Not wherever you get your podcasts or on Lunchador.org!https://player.captivate.fm/episode/55f37104-71ee-4563-9df4-beae4cad6d70/The process is simple and beautiful: everyone writes a real question, someone spins a wheel of Jim’s songs, the band plays the chosen track, and Sean interprets what the music and lyrics reveal — equal parts comedy, tenderness, and occasional spooky accuracy. We also riff about the Question Clown, the “question poetry” Jim stitches together from the unread cards, and why the whole thing resonates so well with an earnest Fringe crowd (our audience skews delightfully neurodivergent and deeply into the weird). If you like being seen, hearing great songs that span folk, electronica, and unpop anthems, and watching live creativity teeter on the edge (then catch itself), this is the show for you. Come for the music, stay for the revelations — grab your tickets at rochesterfringe.com and we’ll see you at EGO AND THE ORACLE.Mentioned in this episode:Joe Bean RoastersVisit joebeanroasters.com to get fresh roasted specialty coffee either by the bag or with a Perpetual Joy subscription!