This is Amused Bouche, SAVEUR’s food questionnaire that explores the culinary curiosities of some of our favorite people. This interview series will dive deep into their food routines, including dinner party strategies, cherished cookbooks, and the memorable bites they’d hop on a flight for.

“We named the tour at the last minute; ‘Takin’ Care of Biscuits’ just came to me as something that lets people know they’re in for a good, silly time,” Feimster shared with SAVEUR backstage before headlining a recent show at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles for Drop of Sunshine Wine’s Stand Up & Sunshine event. “Now all these cities that I go to, people are dropping biscuits off. And I am so grateful, but I’m like my god, I’m gonna have to name the next tour ‘Takin’ Care of Salads’ because it’s a lot of biscuits right now!”

One Instagram video showed her green room decked out with a food warmer full of Hardee’s biscuits, biscuit-shaped pillows, and custom merch, but Feimster—whom you’ve seen on shows such as Chelsea Lately and The Mindy Project, and her Netflix stand-up special Crushing It—explains that all of that was a surprise. “My rider is so boring. I literally asked for water. Ice and a cup. I used to have big extravagant green rooms, but then I was never hungry, and I felt like I was being super wasteful because normally I eat either before or after the show.”

However, if you are gonna take care of biscuits for her, two of her favorites are a “loaded, savory, yummy” biscuit with fried chicken, pimento cheese, and a little honey; “or the opposite with just a jelly biscuit. I’m trash, so I love grape jelly!”

In this edition of Amused Bouche, Feimster walks us through her culinary journey, from being schooled about the right way to make grilled cheese by a kid she was babysitting to trekking across Italy for a specific pear pasta.

If you could only eat one thing 24/7/365, what would it be?

Pad Thai. I went to Thailand and ate pad Thai for a week and a half straight and did not get tired of it. I love it so much that I think I could do it; I could just keep eating it forever. I usually get it with chicken, but if I was going to eat it every day I’d switch it up—try some shrimp or tofu and bounce back and forth.

What’s the first thing you learned how to cook?

Grilled cheese, but I learned by doing it wrong. I was babysitting, and the kid wanted grilled cheese. So I turned the oven on, and he was like, “Why are you turning the oven on?” I said, “I don’t know, baking it?” And he told me to just throw it in a pan or the toaster oven. It was too much for me. You don’t need to go through all that for a grilled cheese! But he was right. And I was pretty old to learn this…like 16.

How about your latest kitchen adventure?

Grilling is brand new for me. I never had a grill until I got this house, and it came with a grill and I was determined to learn how to use it. Getting beef to the right temperature is the trickiest part. You don’t want it to be too rare and red or too cooked and dry, so I’m learning the happy medium there. [Editor’s note: pun intended]

What’s your treat-yourself splurge?

I’m a dessert gal. I have such a sweet tooth. And if I am near a Cheesecake Factory, I will hit up that Adam’s Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Ripple cheesecake. That’s a real treat. Last week I finished a long day of filming, and there was a Cheesecake Factory right next door. So I walked inside, went to the bar, and got myself a big slice of cheesecake to go. But they didn’t put a fork in there, and since I just moved, I didn’t have any silverware, so I had to eat it with my hands. You gotta do what you gotta do.

What’s your most cherished cookbook?

This isn’t a published cookbook, but my friend Brian gathered recipes from people we grew up with and made a cookbook for us. It’s so cool because it’s the dishes we grew up on and remember a specific person making, and there’s this familiar connection and nostalgia that’s so special. My grandma’s lemon tarts are in there, and I remember she used to have big books where she’d write her own recipes, just from her memory of “oh, this much and this much of that” and jot it down.

Is there a cooking disaster that made you swear off a dish forever?

What happens to me is I’ll make a stir-fry with all this prep, cutting and cooking everything, and then I taste it, and it’s just…bland. I’ll do all this work, and it’s just not satisfying. I could have gone wherever and gotten a bowl or something! I need to figure out my seasoning and spices in everything I make. I haven’t delved into adding things to my cooking. I can do the basics, but I need those little upgrades to make a big difference. 

Which nostalgic foods from childhood bring you the most comfort?

My grandma’s chicken and dumplings. So comforting and classic. I remember all the parchment paper and flour and helping her roll them out. Everything was from scratch and fresh, and I would be her little helper. 

When you’re playing dinner party DJ, what’s spinning?

I’m always on the road, but a goal of mine is to be more social and invite people over for meals more. I want a fun group of friends, not too big, people who you know will get along and just have a good time! Instead of making a playlist, I like to pick an artist on Pandora and let it ride. It all depends on the mood. If I want folksy, it’s a Brandi Carlile situation and then it’s going into Tracy Chapman and Chris Stapleton. If I want upbeat, I pick Taylor Swift and it goes into Sabrina Carpenter and Post Malone. For a cooler vibe, Frank Ocean. 

What is your biggest entertaining flex to impress guests?

I like some good scented candles. They’re inviting, warm, and then all you need is good food. I don’t have a signature scent yet, but I love holiday candles all the time. So when we’re getting closer to holidays, I’m pumped because I love the ones that smell like Christmas trees. 

Tell me about a meal so good you would hop on a flight to relive it.

Some of my best meals have been the ones I don’t remember anything about other than the food—just walking into a random restaurant and having the best pasta ever. In Italy, you can’t go wrong anywhere, even the hole-in-the-wall places, but one dish that stands out is a pear ravioli in Florence. It was one of the best pastas I’ve ever had in my life, with a creamy, cheesy filling and a butter sauce with puréed pear on top.

Last time I was there, I Googled forever trying to figure out the name of the restaurant and trekked across Florence to find it. When I got there, they were closed between lunch and dinner at the exact time I arrived. It wasn’t open the next day, and then I had to leave. I was so bummed, but I hope to eat it again someday.