Episode Transcript
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Francis (00:26):
So can we talk about,
'cause we have spent a little
time, like the one questionwe're not gonna ask you, at
least not un adored, is, I'msure that everyone's like,
what's the most unusual food youhad?
But there are some things you'vetalked about in your past that
I, I'm hoping you'll relate.
'cause I don't know thateveryone knows you quite as well
as we do, but you had a, you hada close encounter with, with,
uh, human foreskin as in, as Irecall.
(00:48):
well, I held it in my hand and Iwas ready to eat it.
Um, can you give a littlebackstory as how you got there?
Was this,
Andrew (00:56):
I mean, that's not, you
can't start this story there.
You can't start
Mark (00:58):
as No, no, you can't
Andrew (00:59):
start as the mole.
Okay.
You can't, it Well, it was aTuesday night.
I was at my house.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Uh, I am with the, so Lavatribes, people in Madagascar,
and they circumcised men at agefive.
one of the most trauma, I mean,honest to God, like, I can
(01:19):
still, if I, if I got quiet anddipped into the feelings, I can,
I can relive the trauma of thatday where you spend three days
partying and eating andcelebrating and they keep the
five-year-old hidden away withhis family while the whole tribe
is celebrating hundreds andhundreds of people.
and they kill.
(01:40):
a zebo, which is this weird oxthat tastes really gamey.
It's, it's, it's not great meat.
It's, it smells and they boil itwith its hair.
Oh, excellent.
You know, it's the hide.
Um, so the, the aroma of cowhide, which is not great when
they're living, um, permeatesthe meat and they don't cook it
(02:01):
very long, so it's really chewy.
Uh, it's just a whole differentway of eating.
They love it.
So we're celebrating for threedays and we, and all I hear is
screaming and crying and it'smom and dad with the
five-year-old, and he knowswhat's gonna happen at five.
You're old enough to know what'sgonna happen.
Yeah.
And by the way, for those thatthat don't know, as someone who
(02:25):
has been to he Smo, which is theman who performs ritual
circumcision in the, Jewishcommunities, having been to a
lot of these circumcisionceremonies, um, you know, the,
the baby's like 10 days old andthere's a little, uh, numby
thing on a, uh, uh, cotton,cotton swab, swab, and, they
Francis (02:48):
take a little snip and
it's done here.
Wait.
I also wanna say for that baby.
It, it's not the most traumaticthing to happen in the last 12
days.
Know what I mean?
Like a lot's going on, on inthat baby life.
A lot has happened.
Yeah.
Andrew (02:58):
5-year-old walks in and
I'm talking about like a scissor
and a hand and a yanking.
Mm-hmm.
And I'm just sitting therewatching this.
By the way, that joke that Tonyand I made countless times, We
both did it countless times.
Nothing worse than being thespecial guest.
(03:18):
Oh, in certain situations.
Yeah.
Okay.
Like, you gotta sit there in,in, you know, you're with
Japanese businessmen and they'vejust closed a really big deal.
It's 12 hours of eating anddrinking.
there is no, I have to go backto the hotel.
I mean, you could not be ruder.
Yeah.
I mean, you have to be the lastperson standing.
So I had already, I'd done myresearch and I knew that they
(03:42):
were gonna make me eat theforeskin of the baby.
Which by the way.
It is just a big piece of thisyoung man's foreskin.
The blood, the whole, I mean,every, everybody's
Mark (03:56):
salivating right now.
Anybody,
Andrew (03:59):
I think to many people
just left, get some meatballs
later.
And I'm sitting there, by theway, by the way, I tried.
We put her in the show.
My ex-wife is in that show,Uhhuh.
And I just remember seeing herbehind someone just like
horrified thinking that for thetwo weeks beforehand where I
said, we're gonna thecircumcision ceremony, and as
the special guest, they may givethis to probably will to me to
(04:21):
eat.
And she's like, no, you know,and she's just Harvard and the
cameramen are just sitting like,camera guys are shaking and
trying to hold the camera.
And the, the tribal elder whodid the snipping puts this into
my hand and I know.
All I'm thinking is just do yourjob.
(04:41):
Do your job.
Because at the end of the day,my job is not to be the guy
making jokes.
My job is not to be the uglyAmerican.
My job.
And by the way, there's a lot offunny stuff that came to my mind
while this is in my hand and,uh, but my show, and I think
(05:01):
important, so maybe even some ofyou may not have realized this.
We should have said this at thebeginning.
Bizarre Foods aired in 163countries around the world from
day one because of the DiscoveryNetworks carriage.
So people all over the world arewatching this.
So I know that like maybe thisisn't so foreign to people in
certain communities, in otherplaces.
(05:23):
Sure.
To, but I'm, you can't help butthink about like the people in
your hometown, your neighborsand friends.
Yeah.
I live in Minnesota.
It's the Midwest, right?
I mean, oh my God, right.
Horrified.
Right.
And I'm holding this, but my jobis to talk to the whole world.
Francis (05:38):
Yeah.
Andrew (05:39):
And my job is not to be
the the joking idiot.
That's our job.
My job is to be the avatar foryou and think about what you
wanna know.
Right.
I'm
Francis (05:54):
dying to find out what
happened to the damn foreskin.
Andrew (05:56):
So I'm sitting there,
and I'm holding this, and I look
into the, down the pipe of thecamera and I just am telling,
you know.
The force condition table.
I now have it in, in my hand.
I'm the, uh, guest honor,honored guest of honor.
they feel it's a privilege tohave me visiting from another
country and documenting one oftheir most sacred rituals.
(06:17):
This is a point of pride forthem.
And I would rather be a betterguest.
Yeah.
Than to be rude and say, Ew.
Right.
So I have to keep a straightface and I have to eat this
thing.
And I know nobody in the roomcan tell what I'm speaking
because there's a lot of tribespeople, none of them speak
English.
Right.
And as I'm sitting there, I heara fight going on and shouting
(06:42):
the maternal grandfather and thepaternal grandfather, maternal
and paternal grandfathers arefighting the maternal
grandfather.
Wants to eat the foreskinbecause in their tradition, he's
been looking forward to this forhis whole life.
Right?
This is his, we all gotta havegoals.
The paternal, the paternalgrandfather is like, it's more
(07:06):
important to let the honoredguest have it.
And they're fighting and they'refighting and I'm holding onto
this.
And I, you, the, the director isgiving me one of these, like,
keep going.
And I'm like, the, the twograndfathers here are fighting
and I don't know what they'refighting about.
And then the translator istelling me, and then I can tell
the audience, like, apparentlyone of them wants to eat the
(07:28):
foreskin, the other one wants tohave me eat the foreskin.
And I, I said something cute,like, I wonder how this is gonna
turn out.
I mean,'cause I really, that'show I felt.
But that, that's actually whatyou're thinking too, right?
True.
So I'm the avatar for theaudience.
So if you're a good TV guy in myposition, you really.
Just the, the play by play isimportant.
And out of nowhere, he lunges atme.
(07:52):
Best lunge that ever happened inyour life.
Ever.
Ever.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Ever.
And grabs it and, and pops it inhis mouth.
And I'm like, and just like
Mark (08:09):
that cannibalism is back
on your bucket list.
Andrew (08:12):
Well, I, I have done
cannibalism, but that's a
different, but not the way youintended.
And I would like to, but, we cantalk about that in a second.
The, um, do we have to Yeah, Iwas
Mark (08:23):
gonna say, maybe we could
talk about something else.
I like to,
Andrew (08:25):
I I think it's, I think
there's one, it's a very quick
reason, but I, I don't, I Idon't wanna digress.
The, the, the, the thing is, I,I felt at that moment, like.
There was divine intervention.
Yeah.
'cause I was willing to mm-hmm.
I got let off the hook.
Yeah.
You didn't have to kill your sonon the, do what I mean?
So it's like a spiritual axio,like a Yeah.
You know, go forth unafraiduhhuh.
(08:48):
If, if the, whatever you believein, uh, most that's bigger than
you see that you're willing todo it.
He, she, they, whatever we callthat, whatever you believe in,
uh, says, hey, you knowsomething, the kid was looking
at him, he was gonna do it.
You don't have to,
Mark (09:05):
we don't need to make him
a pillar
Francis (09:06):
or, so you know what's
funny?
In the beginning of that story,I was really, really concerned
about that poor kid.
And I was thinking all about thekid and then you were my avatar
and I was thinking, and I, if Ihad it, I'd be like, I don't
give a shit about that kid.
Can somebody get rid of thishorse, kid?
Do you know what?
So I don't have to eat thishorse kid.
Do you know what's
Andrew (09:21):
funny?
The minute the kid got snipped?
Yeah.
It's over.
There's no pain.
Oh, okay.
There's no pain.
Because he's
Mark (09:30):
unconscious.
Andrew (09:32):
No, no.
And you wanna know howridiculous, like when, these are
so sako lava tribes.
People live in an isolated partof southern Madagascar, a
lawless country that before wegot there, they shot and killed
a local DJ who had beenpresident.
There's no police, there's notaxes.
It's lawless.
(09:52):
Lawless.
We had to go around with moresecurity in southern Madagascar
than anywhere I've ever traveledin my life.
And I was in Syria a monthbefore Assad started bombing his
own people as a Jewishentertainer from America.
So just think about that for asecond.
That's pretty good creds.
You know, I, I got that's, justthink about that.
And I mean, it was so far awayfrom my reality, and yet the
(10:16):
minute he snipped and everythingand the kid is like, in his
head.
Like, oh, that wasn't so bad.
All of a sudden, all the womencome out and out come, like the
Legos and the little toys fromthe supermarket that they bought
200 miles away, whatever thenearest market is.
And so all of a sudden he islike toys.
He's playing with his friends.
I can see through the door whilegrand, literally, while grandpas
(10:39):
are fighting, he is playing withhis toy trucks out there.
He's having a blast with hisfriends.
Francis (10:44):
I, I appreciate the
cultural difference.
However, I'm happy I did not gothrough such a thing.
Hmm.
I was, I'm, I'm cool without it.
Do you have grandchildren?
No, I don't have any kids.
Oh, okay.
Mark had too many.
I, I couldn't have any kids.
You
Andrew (10:54):
have grandchildren?
Mark (10:55):
No.
Is there a reason I don't havegrandchildren?
Yes.
My, my oldest just got marriedin
Andrew (11:00):
September.
Okay.
So you will have theopportunity, you know, could
say, let's play.
So lava tribes person, that's
Francis (11:07):
a game.
That's a game You do not wannaplay.
I'm trained to
Mark (11:08):
not have that opportunity.
All right.
Lemme
Francis (11:09):
take this a little more
general.
Yeah.
So you've eaten all kinds ofweird foods.
Yeah.
can you give us one or two foodsthat were like.
Your average person to berevolted by, right?
That were delicious.
That they're like, you knowwhat?
You should really try this.
If you're this amazing.
Those, the list is so long.
Gimme a top
Andrew (11:25):
three.
Just gimme like, or chop one ortwo.
First couple that pop into mymind.
Why don't we eat donkey?
In this country there's a, a, abreed of donkey that's actually
fairly small.
There's an entire city dedicatedto eating donkey in China.
In Italy, it's eaten.
It tastes like veal.
It raises quickly.
It's beautifully marbled.
It is some of the most deliciousmeat I've ever eaten in my life.
(11:49):
giraffe beetles only.
And it's only because I wasthinking about Madagascar only
grow or live on the island ofMadagascar.
They live in a plant that makesa stingy nettle.
Seam tame by comparison.
Oh yeah.
You get, it's like walking intoa bush made of razor wire.
(12:09):
And there are people whosacrifice themselves and stand
there and hand them.
There's millions in there, andthey just keep handing them all
day long for eight hourshandfuls of these giraffe
beetles in season.
Because when you, cook them inbutter in a pan or pot or on a
stone over open fire or animalfat, if you don't have butter
and they taste like shrimp,they're delicious.
(12:32):
Kazakhs are horse people andKazakhstan literally means the
place of the horse people, uhhuhin Kazakh and the language.
And we went into the city marketin Almadi that's been there for
like.
700 Ever since Almadi wasfounded, they've had this market
on this place.
It's grown pretty sizably, butthey eat a lot of horse.
(12:53):
And I went to the back with myguy, he said, you have to see
something.
And we use a lot of intestine tomake sausages.
Yeah.
But it's intestine from up here.
Right.
And you have 20 feet of it inyour body.
Right, right.
So a horse has like 40 feet ofit.
Well what if you took the lastfive feet?
Oh, that's not my least favoritefive feet.
I gotta be honest with you.
(13:14):
It's my least favorite fivefeet.
Yeah.
Until you stuff it with all thechopped oval, the lung, the
heart, the liver, the kidneys,the spleen.
Chop it up.
And when I say chop it up prettycoarsely loosely.
Chop it up, chop and uh, youknow, maybe you barely season
it.
So, little salt, little garlic.
(13:35):
And then they, they smoke itover, fire, why wouldn't you?
then they dry it for a month andthen they slice it.
Sadly, they like it sliced thickfor our, and I was like, oh,
please Lord, let the electricitygo out.
Or some sort of, I was like,looking at this, like, you've
gotta be kidding me.
(13:55):
Yeah.
Uh, because the, in the, thecasing up top very thin.
Yeah.
Down low.
Really thickened.
Fibrous.
Yeah.
Because of its job.
Yeah.
that's what's
Francis (14:06):
disturbing me.
It's job.
Andrew (14:07):
Yeah.
It's job and I took it and I ateit and I went back and got like,
pound and, and we just kepteating it all the time.
It was delicious.
That's amazing.
Oh, my favorite.
And I, oh, okay.
I do pursue this at home, soit's poultry.
but in rural Vietnam, Cambodia,Laos, Myanmar, you're not gonna
(14:32):
say duck.
Indonesia all the baby, babyducklings and baby.
Oh, chicks duck, in the
Francis (14:38):
egg.
Andrew (14:39):
No, no, no.
Balut is balut.
Iss delicious.
Yeah.
That mean everyone knows balutis delicious.
the, uh, fertilized duck embryothat you eat with a little kalei
juice and salt, but like a fiveday old chick, six day, seven
day old chick, um, a quick dipin boiling water and the soft
hair comes off.
Then they marinate it in likefish sauce, sugar, lime juice.
(15:00):
Yeah.
Then they deep fry it and itcaramelizes and it cooks in
about 90 seconds.
And then you eat like six orseven of them.
in on Viet rural Vietnam.
You nip dip it in a, a ncha, afish sauce.
you just hold onto the beak andyou eat the whole thing.
And it is so insanely d good.
It tastes like the best bite ofduck or chicken you've ever
(15:22):
eaten.
'cause it does taste like itsthing.
And so some people like to letanimals grow up.
Some people like to eat themvery young baby goats that are a
week old that have only eatenmother's milk, never eaten
grass.
You can eat every part ofeverything.
So I mean, it is reallybeautiful.
And the ethnocentric problemthat I have with people who hate
(15:45):
on that is that if you tell themthey're gonna spend$2,000 for a
meal cooked by, yano in the Hallof Mirrors in Versailles mm-hmm.
In celebration of.
Some big holiday in France andyou've got a ticket and you're
gonna sit next to some fabulousmovie star.
And by the way, no camerasplease.
(16:06):
'cause they're gonna serve LANsone of the greatest delicacies
in the world.
Right.
Everyone's in.
Right, right.
Everyone's in.
Yeah.
Guys know
Mark (16:12):
LANs, So you can't eat an
orlon.
It's a, it's a endangered bird.
So the French, and we shouldn't,I'm not arguing for eating
endangered anything, but, but sothe French, in order to eat
orlon, because they like orlon,they get it blindfold and they
cover their eyes when they servethe, well, it's the al lawn.
Well, it's,
Andrew (16:30):
let, let me, let me just
go back a step.
Having eaten them before theywere illegal to eat.
they take the birds, they dipthem in boiling waters.
They're a little bigger than ahummingbird.
So you hold this long beak.
They are drowned, in Saturndessert wine,
Francis (16:46):
by the way.
That's how I want to go.
They are,
Andrew (16:50):
they are very
delicately.
The, the guts are taken out andthey put fo gra in it.
Mm.
And then they're just hot,seared in a pan for like 40, 50
seconds and sprinkled with alittle bit of salt.
And you cover your head with anapkin, so God doesn't get
jealous.
That's how delicious this birdis.
And I'll tell you something.
(17:11):
I ate one and the course wasone, and I was like, I need like
20 more of like, like ASAP.
They're deli.
Little birds just in general aremy favorite.
Like really crazy goofy food's.
Goofy big birds out.
Goofy food, bird.
Yeah.
Big bird's out.
Yeah, he's
Mark (17:26):
totally out.
So somewhere you fell in lovewith food as a young person.
Somewhere Like right away.
Right.
so talk to us about some of thefoods that you fell in love with
as a young person.
What were the special foods ofyour family?
Andrew (17:39):
My mother always had a
garden, so my earliest memories
are of her teach me how to picktomatoes, eggplants, zucchini,
yellow, squash, some herbs, andgoing back.
And she would make rati way toooften.
I got sick of it.
I, I now make it her way.
And my kid just like a week agois like, why do you make so much
(18:04):
rati?
And I have to have it witheverything every night?
And I'm like, that's a veryvalid point.
I felt the same way when I wasyour age.
And he's like, well, are yougonna change that?
And I'm like, no.
Francis (18:15):
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's your
Andrew (18:16):
generation.
Sins of the father.
Yeah.
You ch Gazpacho, same thing fromthe garden.
My father would hold me by myankles and lower me into these
giant rock jetties, uh, thatthey built on Long Island to
prevent shore erosion.
Anyway, my dad would lower medown to pull up ropes of mussels
(18:36):
that we would cook oh, wintersor fall, winter, spring.
My grandmother's house, Jewishholidays roast.
I'll tell you something about mygrandmother.
My grandmother was 6 4, 800pounds.
Truly
Mark (18:50):
Jesus.
And so my grandmother was 5 1600 pounds.
Andrew (18:54):
I don't know, I don't
know how my grandmother fit into
this tiny little kitchen.
Uh, I mean the size of thiscoffee table in her apartment on
the upper west side ofManhattan.
And she would somehow turn outfood for 25 people every time
the whole family descended onher house.
And we, we were not allowed toeat anywhere else for holidays.
(19:14):
And she would cook seven days aweek.
And she, she only had one or twodish towels, but she never used
them because they were like adecorative item.
So she wiped her hands on herapron.
So my, my memory of mygrandmother cooking is this
beautiful apron and this giantwoman and this circle of brown
(19:35):
cooked chicken fat in the middleof her stomach.
And when you're this big andgrandma leans over to hug, you,
come hug me.
And my face is in this stuff andI'm just like, oh my God.
And now the, the fond, when youroasted chicken, the sticky
brown bits the bottom, that'swhat my grandmother smelled
(19:55):
like.
So when I smell that.
Not only am I transported backto my grandmother's apartment of
my youth, but I, I, I smell mygrandmother.
That's awesome.
That's what she smelled like.
So those were the things that Igrew up eating and loving.
Francis (20:10):
Yeah.
That's awesome.
Well, you had in, covered in, inyour books and a lot of, videos
you see online, you have youraunt's, nut bars, the can bars.
Yeah, the can bars, yes.
was that a particularly, notablepart of your, uh, childhood
growing up?
Andrew (20:25):
No.
Francis (20:26):
No.
Uh, so you lied in your book?
Of course not.
Alright.
Andrew (20:30):
Of course not.
I never, I never said that AuntSuzanne was my aunt by birth.
Francis (20:35):
Oh.
Andrew (20:37):
Aunt Suzanne, is one of
the most sainted people that I
know.
She has devoted her life.
She won Minnesota, Teacher ofthe Year, Uhhuh.
And then one like schooladministrator of the year, I
think the only Minnesotan everto do that.
She's one of those women, one ofthose teachers that everyone
fought to have Aunt Suzanne Anduh, my first wife, it's her aunt
(21:03):
Suzanne.
It's her dad's sister.
the very first time I met thewhole family was Christmas Eve
of the first year that we weredating.
she said, I don't you to come toChristmas Eve at my house and
meet my family.
Which for New York City, Jew.
Yeah.
Was hysterical because they are,very serious, born again
(21:25):
Lutherans.
Oh.
at this point, I'm not on tv,but I have restaurants in
Minneapolis.
Um, I had a very serious, veryserious food career.
Michelin starred restaurants inEurope, best restaurants in New
York.
I'm a culinarian and I know howto cook food the people cooking
(21:45):
the holiday meal in my ex-wife'sfamily went by the rule.
If the cookbook says the roastcrown of pork takes two hours to
cook, ah, it would be evenbetter if we cooked it for six.
Yes.
Yeah.
I am, I am, I am all toofamiliar with that in-law
mentality.
So this is my first go round andI'm just like, and I really like
(22:09):
this woman.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
I'm in love with her already.
Right, right.
And, uh, I meet her family forthe first time, so I'm like,
this is delicious.
And I'm just drinking water justto rinse down.
Yeah.
What I'm trying to chew.
Yeah.
Um, and I'm trying to think tomyself when they say, everyone's
like, isn't this asparaguswonderful?
And it's like, it's, I'mthinking it's December.
Why are we even eatingasparagus?
(22:30):
Right, right.
That's spring.
Like, I'm so Not other centeredat that point in my life.
Right.
I'm a, I'm a selfish, I'm stilla user of people and taker of
things.
The way I crawled in sobriety.
I was, you know, 5, 6, 7 yearsclean or something.
And, uh, all I'm thinking tomyself, this is the greatest I
would rather have.
Can asparagus?
(22:51):
Yeah.
I would rather have, canasparagus than eat whatever
they, they're serving here.
Well, were the
Francis (22:55):
pecan bars a bright
spot at the end of the
Andrew (22:57):
meal.
It, it, in walks.
I'm starving.
Uhhuh.
I, I've pushed everything foodwise that you can do.
I've spread it out into a mosaicto make it look like I've eaten
everything.
I've placed my napkin.
I'm clearing plates first to behelpful.
To cover your own, to show uslike, oh, let me take your
plate.
Mine's off.
I'm like, yes.
(23:17):
You know, and you know, myfuture mother-in-law's like, are
you, did you get enough to eat?
I'm like, absolutely.
This is fantastic income, thesepecan bars.
And I'm like, what?
Culinary wizardry.
Has created this.
Oh yeah.
Now in the Midwest it is barculture.
Yeah.
You, you cookies, uh, you know,cakes Pie.
(23:40):
Sure.
Bars and Out came all theseother bars, but none were as
good as Aunt Suzanne's caramelpecan bars.
And I had to be married.
I had, we had to havegrandchildren and great,
whatever you call the, if she'san aunt, we had to have children
before I was even allowed to seehow she made them, let alone
(24:03):
intuit the recipe, on mywebsite@inzimmer.com.
But it is, it is the, not onlythe easiest, dough to make, to
put in the bottom.
You literally mix it by hand andpress it into it has to be made
in a super cheap supermarket.
you know, quick release, browniepan.
(24:25):
And, uh, then you boil the, thiscaramel to a certain point.
You, you pour it in, dump thenuts in.
Everyone likes itch smeared ordrop with chocolate drops.
I'm not big on chocolate andnuts.
That's just a personal thing.
But if you do like them, we doit both ways in the, in the
recipe.
And it is my favorite thing inthe whole world, it's just
(24:46):
culinary genius and Andrew.
Mark (24:48):
So I'm really, really glad
this story went where that went,
because sitting in the front rowis my pastry chef Who made those
pecan bars for you tonight,guys?
Maria.
Hi Maria.
She's a graduate of the
Francis (25:01):
Promise Academy
Mark (25:04):
and we have a surprise for
you.
Get at it down.
No.
So if you're coming to the VIPparty, you'll have to, tonight
they're gonna be Maria's, pecanbars.
But Maria, oh God, is awonderful award-winning now
pastry chef who graduated fromthe Elijah's Promise, promise
Culinary, uh, promise Academy.
(25:25):
Uh, she had no idea we weregonna talk about her or show off
her pecan bars here.
So she's sitting in the, in thefront row right now.
I just want to
Francis (25:35):
tout her praise a
little more.
She came to us as an extern fromThe Promise Academy, uh, who was
partially the beneficiary ofthis.
Tonight, she's now the pastrychef of Stage left and Catholic
Lombardi restaurant.
And for the last three years,kale Lombardi has won best
desserts in Central Jersey byNew Jersey Monthly Magazine.
So did we
Andrew (25:55):
get, did you get it
right?
Oh, nailed it.
Nice.
Nailed it.
But the, I'm just reminded whenyou take a bite and look at it,
that the crust is.
Twice as thick as what itappears to be.
There's this transitionalelement where the, flour mixture
that you press into the bottomof the pan absorbs the liquid
caramel and it's that transitionarea dynamics,
Francis (26:18):
textural dynamics.
Oh my gosh.
Alright, well so we only have afew minutes left, but we'd like
to take at least a couple ofquestions from the audience.
So do we have the ability to dothat as someone out there with
micro?
Can we bring that house lightshalfway up?
Whatever we do here.
We're restaurant guys, nottheater guys.
We're gonna do a
Speaker 21 (26:33):
hybrid.
A hybrid.
I have some.
So Julie's gonna ask you somequestions first.
Okay.
That for can story reallythrough off some of my questions
though, so I'm gonna wing it.
Speaker 11 (26:44):
Thank you sir.
Last one for you.
Speaker 21 (26:45):
Um, so we've had
some other celebrity chefs on
stage here.
Excuse me.
I know you are busy
Andrew (26:53):
It's okay.
They were friends of mine.
Speaker 21 (26:55):
if you were on a
cooking show, who is the
celebrity chef that you wouldwant to beat?
Mark (27:05):
So now he's gotta decide
whether to be nice or say what
he really thinks
Andrew (27:11):
well.
Here's
Francis (27:13):
the, here's the thing.
He put down the bar.
Everyone, he put
Andrew (27:18):
down
Francis (27:18):
the, this is serious.
Andrew (27:18):
Now.
I, so why did we have to talkabout all that other crap?
Couldn't we just get right downto the, the ego-based knives out
kind of thing?
Yeah.
Um, I am extremely competitive.
I have, I am never asked to cookon competition shows.
Whenever I'm asked, I say yes.
Mm-hmm.
Whenever I'm asked.
Um, and I am very calm andcollected and I believe that
(27:45):
everything that I cook is, isgreat.
And if the judge doesn't likeit, I'm like, what the hell's
wrong with them?
Clearly they're wrong.
However, I am asked to be,because I have a reputation for
having eaten everything andhaving achieved a lot in my chef
years.
For anyone.
I mean, this is pre tv,pre-social media, but I was the
(28:09):
chef in some pretty famous.
Places and achieved a lot on thefood side before I went into the
TV side.
But, you know, paint a thousandpictures, no one calls you an
artist, but the minute you doone TV show, they forget about
everything else.
So no one guy, you're amurderer.
I'm very confident in, in thatstuff.
And when I lose I get reallypissed off, but I judge like
(28:32):
everything.
Yeah, right.
I mean, I was the head,literally everything we were
talking about, you know, ironChef, the Netflix, when I was
the head judge on that show, Ijudged 50 episodes of the old
Iron Chef.
you know, terminal champions onand on and on and I like that,
you know, and I think I'm prettyfair and I can't be right in
both places, can I?
Mm-hmm.
It's impossible, right?
(28:53):
Yeah.
So I bring this huge ego aboutmy food into it.
Um, and I would like to face offagainst whoever the most
acclaimed.
Person is that you could find,because I'm one of those people
who's like, if you want to bethe champ, you gotta beat the
(29:13):
champ.
So, so who's the
Francis (29:14):
champ in your view
though, in the world right now?
Who's the number one?
Who, who, who gotta knock off toin the food competition world?
Andrew (29:20):
Yes.
God, I don't know.
There, there's a lot of them.
I mean, obviously you want me tosay my, my friend Antonia?
No, I have no who, who, no, youdo.
'cause Backstage.
Backstage.
These guys told me that.
She said some really sweetthings about me when she was on
their podcast.
She actually is a very closefriend of mine, and I love and
adore her.
So I know this.
(29:41):
That's Antonio
Francis (29:41):
Lofaso for, I know that
Andrew (29:42):
she just won Tournament
of Champions finally.
I know we get back to her, butfor Antonia, um, you know, it,
the people who've won that showare probably the ones,'cause I
think that and Top Chef are thetwo hardest ones to win.
So give me anyone who's wonTournament of Champions or
anyone who's won Top Chefbecause.
I cook my food and I think thejudges will like my food.
(30:07):
You ready for this?
'cause everyone, if you get intoTV and some of you are going to
always be ready to whip out.
That shameless plug this seasonon, uh, uh, I, I did another
cooking show.
I, I should have won.
Wild Card.
Wild Card Kitchen.
Rocco beat Alex and I last year.
(30:29):
It's already aired on Wild CardKitchen and Jet Teer was the
judge and I was just, and I'vejudged him a hundred times and
things and I was just like, oh,and the next hundred aren't
Mark (30:39):
gonna go well.
Andrew (30:40):
Oh, son of a gun.
No.
'cause most good competitionshows are blind.
It should be blind.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
I don't wanna know who.
Absolutely.
Although, on tournamentchampions, I can always tell
Jets food or Manites food'causethey cook their thing.
So I would want to, I would.
Coming up this year, I'm in acouple other cooking competition
things you can see for yourself.
But I'd want to, I'd want totake on whoever's
Francis (31:01):
really good.
Andrew (31:01):
You're
Francis (31:01):
as loquacious as we
are, so we really don't have
time for one more question.
No, we can, we can, we can takemore time.
I, we gotta check with theunion.
I gotta be honest, A concepttime is a concept that's
fleeting.
Did you say time is a contractwith the union?
Yes.
Uh, yes.
It's so, uh, Alright.
(31:47):
So a local plug though, becausewe have to appreciate what we've
got.
I, I read somewhere, and I don'tknow if this is still true'cause
I don't know how old theinformation was mm-hmm.
That when you rated the topthree food destination cities,
top five, top five, that NewYork City came out on top.
Is it still.
Now that's incorrect.
Okay.
I
Andrew (32:04):
said, God damn Internet
queens.
I said Queens alone.
New York City is such a greatfood town.
If Queens alone was its owncity, it would be the number one
food destination in the worldfor depth and breadth.
And I stand by that.
New York is so diverse and, andstatistically so diverse in
terms of cultural populations of5,000 or more.
(32:28):
There is only one place out ofwhere burka used to be.
It's not even a country anymorewhere Burran Bread is baked.
And that's in Regal Park.
Queens the only place in theworld.
There's not even cities inCentral Asia where Burkas, who
were persecuted were so the onlyplace and, and they make marks
(32:50):
on the bread when it's parkcooked with 500 year old wooden
molds.
these pastries that come out ofthese wood-burning ovens on
Saturday mornings.
I mean, it, it is, Queens is tome, the greatest concentration
of the best food on planetEarth.
And that's just one part of NewYork.
So I, I have to give it to'em.
I thought you were gonna talkabout the Hungarian food here.
Francis (33:13):
The Hungarian food in
New Brunswick.
That was, that was in, I mean,that was in my jersey show.
I, I, I can't believe I leftthat out.
My Hungarian friends are gonnakill me.
Andrew (33:24):
Well,
Francis (33:25):
I
Andrew (33:25):
mean, for that many
other reasons.
Francis (33:27):
Uh, yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
What's your favorite, what doyou, what is your favorite
impression of the Hungarian foodin New Brunswick?
Sadly, there's not as muchHungarian food as there used to
to be.
It's getting
Mark (33:36):
that, that, unfortunately
that cuisine is getting smaller
in here, in New Brunswick here.
Well, this is actually
Andrew (33:40):
a great way to close,
this is a great way to close.
Um, I went to Milwaukee 20 yearsago.
Milwaukee had the largestconcentration of restaurants in
North America.
That we're a operatingcontinuously for a hundred years
or more.
Now that's saying something.
'cause there are some Canadiancities that are quite amazing
(34:00):
and now I think there's likethree left.
There used to be like nine.
Um, we've lost so many of theseolder restaurants'cause they
were family owned and the whatmade them magical disappeared.
And I'm one of those people,other people are like, we have
(34:21):
to figure out a way to preventthis from happening.
And I'm like, you can't theappreciate it while it's there.
The, the, the horse and buggywas, was the way to go 150 years
ago.
And the, the Model T came alongand then a year later, Henry
Ford figured out a way to makeit cheaper on an assembly line.
(34:41):
And we've never looked back.
And as much as we might thinkthat the car.
Did so many things that we wouldrather not have.
It's what happened.
You can't take it back.
We have to figure out a way tofix the problems.
But we were able to truck foodaround the world.
It changed so many culturaltotems around the world for the
(35:05):
better.
I think the important thing totake from anything is, you know,
uh, what did Joni Mitchell say?
Don't it always seem to go thatyou don't know what you've got
till it's gone.
And I think we need to live ourlives appreciating what's
happening in the moment, wherewe're eating, what we're eating,
(35:27):
who we're eating with.
To your point, um, keeping itwhere you want it to be for you
and your point.
Mm-hmm.
I don't wanna own 30restaurants.
I wanna own two in the place Ilove.
'cause that makes me happier.
Yep.
Which is basically what yousaid, and I think.
We need to understand that inthe 1970s before you all were
(35:51):
born, there were no sushi barsin New York.
Yep.
They didn't exist.
That's new in the last 50 years.
First one that opened was 1974.
Right.
Wow.
So things change.
And would you, would you everwant, would you ever think that
there was no Japanese food inNew York City?
I mean, this is mind boggling,right?
But culture is cyclical.
Food is cyclical and there wereno popups then or food halls or
(36:16):
food trucks or all these otherthings.
That's magical.
I think we have to preserve whatthey did, which is why I love
cooking recipes from deadrestaurants.
I do that in demos a lot.
Um, I hunt things down and findpeople who work there and vet
stuff.
we have to enjoy the moment andlive in today.
Look down when your feet are,that's where it is.
(36:37):
If you got one foot in yesterdayand one foot in tomorrow, you're
pissing all over today and todayis a gift, which is why they
call it the present.
Francis (36:46):
Well, and that's
beautiful.
That that's so, so I know, mark,that you and I feel the same.
And just to put a little spin onit, we're saying embrace the new
restaurants, embrace the future,embrace the great things that
are coming, embrace it all,while being very careful to
appreciate what you've got andif there's been a restaurant.
Let's say been around for a longtime, like 33 years or so was
(37:10):
near, and we're not talking anyplace specifically near here.
It was near here is good andnear house.
You wanna
Andrew (37:16):
preserve that and
treasure that.
You do wanna preserve it andtreasure it, and all can aside,
uh,'cause I see where you'regoing with that.
The um, this is why I tellpeople all the time who are
like, oh, I can't believe we'rehaving so many closings these
days.
Well, you know, something, getout and go to restaurants.
Yeah.
Yeah.
More, it doesn't have to befancy or expensive.
Mark (37:36):
Right.
Francis (37:36):
It's better if it is.
Yeah.
It's better.
Well, I, we make a deal.
I say to people all the time,like, we love this restaurant.
We come here all the time.
I'm like, here's the deal.
You keep coming.
I'll keep being here.
Yes.
That's how, that's how thatfrigging works.
but I do wanna close withsomething that you wrote It
spoke to me, so I'll read youyour own words back.
you wrote, a testimonial toabout your friend Anthony
(37:57):
Bourdain, a couple of days afterhe passed away.
And last bit of it you wrote,then there was a night over
dinner when he talked for anhour about the joy he felt he
could squeeze from maybewriting, or teaching literature,
followed by a call months laterwhen he rightly asserted that,
you know what?
Guys like us will never stopdoing what we really love.
And Andrew, we know that likeMark and I guys like us.
(38:19):
We'll never stop doing what wereally love.
So thanks for coming on the showtonight.
That was really great to haveyou.
Andrew Zimmer.
Is this where we stayed?
Here we go.
We stand up.
We stand up.
Didn't tell me that inrehearsal.
Andrew (38:34):
Thanks.
Thank you.
Thank you guys.
Fantastic.
Thank you very much.
Francis (38:41):
Thank
Mark (38:41):
you.
Maybe we'll see you
Francis (38:43):
next year.
We'll do this again.
Yeah.
Rock.
Yeah.
Can you take that?
Oh,
Mark (38:56):
bald guy.
Thank you guys.
Speaker 11 (39:05):
Hello?