Liza de Guia

"In my head, I just know that if our business failed, it's not because of the product, it's definitely because of our business acumen - that's how much I believe in this product."

Meet Danny Che, David Sat and Kenneth Sa, the founders and owners of Wooly's Ice, a Taiwanese-style shaved ice food cart based in New York City's South Street Seaport. This is a story that doesn't need much of an introduction. I'll let the video just speak for itself! Just go ahead, sit back and enjoy the silly seriousness of it all.

Wooly's Ice won Best Dessert at the 2011 Vendy Awards in New York City. And if you're heading to The Great GoogaMooga Food Festival in Prospect Park this weekend, be on the lookout for the gang of cousins. I hear they've got some nice new threads on showcase. Plus, summer is right around the corner too! So, if you're smart, and need something uniquely textured, cool, healthy AND refreshing, you'll hunt these "ballers" down. I recommend trying an overflowing cup of their new mango-flavored ice with sea salt leche syrup and freshly sliced mangoes. It's dope.

Thanks for watching food. curated.! Happy brain...

"We wanted to be known as a sake bar more than a chicken wing place; but, somehow now, people from all over the world come just for our chicken wings."

Meet Azuki Yamashita, the owner of Kasadela Izakaya in NYC's East Village, the place to go for an "addicting" platter of Tebasaki, a very specific style of umami-infused Japanese fried chicken wings. When Azuki first moved to the U.S., she was very surprised that many Americans thought Japanese people mostly ate sushi, ramen and shabu-shabu. She explained that in her culture, those foods were usually reserved for special occasions, which is why she felt compelled to expose New Yorkers to real, everyday Japanese food, the kind of food she grew up on. So, in 2005, she came on board to manage Kasadela, a newly-opened, authentic, casual, Japanese home-cooking establishment, where the food was as important as the drinks.

But, it was a hard sell. Back then, it was unfamiliar food. People were tentative to try it. The restaurant wasn't doing well financially; they knew they needed something special on the menu to draw in customers. But what could that one thing be?

Well...believe it or not, as always, a mom saved the day. The original owner's mom had the brilliant idea to introduce Tebasaki to Americans, thinking that no one could resist the flavor of her very own Nagoya-style fried chicken wings recipe. True home-cooking! And since then, it's been bringing in repeat local customers, fried chicken connoisseurs, and Japanese clientele into their doors just for the taste of it. Funny enough, Azuki, who became the new owner in 2009, and Stanley, the bartender, love talking about the instant effect of Tebasaki on diners: that as soon as the plate hits the table, everyone goes silent. Customers temporarily enter this "transcendental state" of meditation and focus on the chicken wings - a reaction that always makes them laugh. So, get on it and enjoy the video already!

Now, I might be new to Tebasaki, but the feeling of fried chicken satisfaction I felt, when I first ate them, won't get old. I was introduced to Kasadela by my friend Tiffany who helped curate the vendors at this year's GoogaMooga festival. GoogaMooga will be showcasing Kasadela's Tebasaki wings at their food festival this weekend. I hope you seek them out!

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"Raising kids is really hard work, and if we can make it a little easier for parents to feed their babies better, then I think we're doing the right thing."

Meet Claire Hoyt, the founder, CEO and mom behind Big Dipper Baby Food, an artisan baby...

"You know, for us, it was never really an option to buy our kids products, like Capri Sun, that we felt were really loaded down with sugars and unnatural ingredients..."

Meet Amy & Tom Barnouw, the co-founders of Planet Fuel, an organic fruit juice company based in Fairfield,...

"I think what we're doing is important, it's important for chocolate. And it's important for us that this type of chocolate is known about."

Meet Todd Masonais, the co-founder and chocolate maker behind Dandelion Chocolate in San Francisco, a very special, small-batch chocolate...

"We have a pie shape for every hunger level and every need."

Meet Cheryl Perry and Felipa Lopez, the founders and bakers behind Pie Corps, an artisan, farm to table pie company based in Brooklyn, New York.

Their tag line reads: "Ready to Roll"- and that's just how they've operated - going with the flow, being optimistic, conquering any obstacle to keep their pie business going since first opening in May 2011. As long-time friends and kitchen collaborators, they've always believed opening a food business together was their destiny; and after making pies one summer, something just clicked.

Enjoy their story! To taste Pie Corps' delicious pie crust and traditional pie fillings with a twist, you can order them online, or visit one of their retail locations in New York here. There's a reason I ended the video on their Chocolate Pudding Pie w/Rosemary Caramel and Sea Salt. You HAVE to try it. It's not only a chocolate lover's dream, but just one of those rare food moments in life where you just nod your head, say a little thanks, and think to yourself: "I wouldn't change a thing."

The Next Big Small Brand Contest Tasting + Judging Event is March 27th at BAM in Brooklyn. This is the 3rd of 6 finalist videos I'm making for the contest. Come out and support small food artisans!

Thanks for watching food. curated.! Happy...

"We like the fact that we're not gimmicky, and we're not precious, and we're not anything more than giving you the best baked goods that you're going to be satisfied with..."

Meet Gillian Sara Shaw the owner and baking machine behind Black Jet Baking Company, a...

"We were so surprised there were no other products in the market incorporating chia seeds into a snack food."

Meet Catherine Mangan Walsh, the co-founder of New York Superfoods Inc., an artisan health food company based in Manhattan. Catherine and her husband, Jason...

"The ingredients, the elements of the products I make, have been in use for thousands of years. They're safety tested by our ancestors..."

Meet Liz Neves, the founder of Raganella's Botanical Solutions, an all-natural, ethical body care company that hand blends organic, sustainable, smokable tea and other herbal products in her kitchen in Brooklyn, New York. Liz sees herself as a "caretaker". She left her 9-5 job in advertising to fulfill her calling to pursue something more ecological and healthy - starting her own body care company because she was fed up with synthetic, brand name products in the marketplace touting solutions to problems, but using ingredients that weren't actually healthy for your body or the environment. As she dug deeper, she realized that "simple is good" that "the Earth is an abundant place; that it provides" and that healing plants were the solution to her problems and the answer to her own career riddle. So, Liz launched her company and started developing "solutions" for everyday issues in her life, and now, a year later, has over 30 handmade, plant-based products to help people heal in a more humane way; which, of course, brings me to her all-natural tea line and her #1 selling product: smokable tea.

Now, I'm sure many of you drink tea, occasionally, as a herbal remedy or a sleep aid, but have any of you ever smoked it? Probably not. It was a first for me too. Well, for you curious and interested folks reading this, here's your chance:

Liz calls her smokable tea blend: Vivid Visions - a blend she learned about from herbalist Robin Rose Bennett. It's her #1 selling product on Etsy, with many, many repeat customers. It's legal, it's under the radar, and, according to Liz, it's perfect for anyone who takes life too seriously and needs a way to relax AND dream better. You don't need a lot of it to feel the effects and benefits. And it works. I've been drinking it and smoking it over the past few weeks: it's different, it's interesting and it definitely chills me out in a way I feel immediately. There's much more information in the video story. So enjoy! I hope you try it along with a handful of her other recommended solutions.

Thanks so much for watching food. curated.! Happy dreaming!!...

Meet Executive Chef Craig Paterson from the Londolozi Game Reserve as he takes us through a colorful starter that speaks to the flavors of South Africa - showcasing local seafood, honey, and herbs & greens grown from the camp's on-site community garden:

The garden, featured below, grows its vegetables sustainably and chemical free by using rhino dung harvested from their very own game reserve as fertilizer. A very unique practice that not many people know about. A story we can all learn from. See the inspiring video here:

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"I feel like I'm not doing enough when I'm feeding this safari camp alone. We need to have other people coming from other areas to learn. They should know that we have nice vegetables that we are growing from rhino dung."

Meet Kenneth Jazi, the head gardener at

"We're in New York. We have dirty water dogs. But, I'll be honest, I don't love a boiled hot dog. I'll probably never eat one again."

Meet Josh Sharkey, the co-founder/owner of Bark Hot Dogs, a sustainable fast food restaurant in Park Slope, Brooklyn....

"I thought it would be all the kids that would be loving it, but it was the adults! It was the adults who kept coming."

Meet Melissa Yen, who just so happens to answer to the name: Jo Snow. Melissa is the founder and senior syrup slinger behind

"I didn't have time to think about being scared."

On August 28th, hundreds of farms in upstate New York were destroyed by massive floods caused by Hurricane Irene. No one predicted the flood water would come as quickly as it did, nor the amount of water and force that accompanied...

"Many times, people have asked, 'How in the world did you become involved in this competitive cooking madness?' And, it's weird, because I'm not what you'd think, on a surface level, a competitive person."

Meet, Erin Evenson, a legal assistant for an international law firm by day, and...

"Last year we had way more produce than we could use, so this year, we tried to scale back a little bit to hit the sweet spot a little more closely."

Meet George Weld, the owner/chef of Egg, a friendly, neighborhood restaurant in Brooklyn, New York focusing on...

"Ultimately, I hope our customers have a great experience. I hope it cools them down. I hope it reminds them of their youth. And, most of all, I hope they avoid brain freeze..."

Meet Alex Rein, the founder and CEO of Kelvin's Natural Slush Co., an...

"Because our industry is relatively small, we've developed a close relationship with a lot of different characters both on the buying side and the selling side, and there's probably no better example than Saul Zabar. He's definitely one of the last remaining members of the 'old guard'. He's a book...

"I don't know anything else, no office job or anything like that, just fish. So, I fell into the fish."

Meet Aftabudin Rayman and Peter Wojick, the fish smokers behind the hot-smoked fish division at ACME Smoked Fish in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. ACME Smoked Fish is the largest smoked...

"The flavor of our burger is better than most burgers for several reasons: not just because of our blend of meat, or the fact that we cook them on a cast iron, but our fat content is pretty high too."

In celebration of summertime food, come meet Chef...