Somebody Feed Phil (2018–…): Season 1, Episode 5 - New Orleans - full transcript
Phil learns how to eat crawfish, goes hog-wild at a butcher shop and meets up with friends for a Monday night tradition: red beans and rice.
This is Bourbon Street.
Whoo!
Whoo.
You gotta get into it.
My mother.
People, look at the people.
Whoo, whoo.
Yeah!
Whoo!
Whoo, whoo!
I win!
Now I'm a New Orleanzzier.
♪ A happy, hungry man ♪
♪ Is traveling
All across the sea and the land ♪
♪ He's trying to understand ♪
♪ The art of pasta, pork
Chicken, and lamb ♪
♪ He will drive to you ♪
♪ He will fly to you ♪
♪ He will sing for you ♪
♪ And he'll dance for you ♪
♪ He will laugh with you ♪
♪ And he'll cry for you ♪
♪ There's just one thing
He asks in return ♪
♪ Somebody feed, somebody feed ♪
♪ Can somebody ♪
♪ Somebody feed Phil ♪
♪ Somebody feed him now ♪
When I first came here
25 years ago,
I told my wife, "There she is, Monica.
The mighty Mississipp.
See how she winds and winds."
Is there a better place than New Orleans?
With all the great food
and music and Mardi Gras,
there's a lot to love.
Like a lot of people, I was worried
about the place after Hurricane Katrina.
But New Orleanians really pulled together,
neighbor helping neighbor
to bring the city back and then some.
Everything is beyond what it was before.
It's evident in the spirit
that's just on the streets
in the friendliness of the people,
in the good times to be had, in the food.
New Orleans is arguably
one of the best food cities in the world,
thanks to all the people
who call this place home.
There is... an incredible melting pot here
of French, of Spanish,
of the Old South, of the New South,
everything mixing together
in this gumbo of fun.
New Orleans has so many specialties,
it's hard to know where to begin.
But my trips usually start
with a little pulled pork number
I first met at Jazz Fest.
So I'm meeting Brett Anderson,
an award-winning writer
with a deep knowledge of Louisiana food
for his favorite version of this
from Chef Justin LeBlanc at Bevi Seafood.
Uh, cochon?
- This one?
- Peacemaker, yeah.
- This is the cochon de lait.
- Yep. "Cochon".
Cochon de lait po' boy.
Mmm.
- Come on!
- See what I'm talking about?
What?
So, when I moved here 16 years ago...
really the only place you saw
cochon de lait po' boys was at Jazz Fest.
Right. I love the music at Jazz Fest,
but that was the thing
that, like, made me go, "Oh, my God."
You know, he brings in some sort of chef-y
kind of fancy touches that don't ruin it.
- Mayo, the pickled peppers.
- Yeah.
The caramelized onion.
Well, that's not so fancy.
For a po' boy place they are.
I'm not putting you down because...
I don't like you
or don't want to finish,
but I'm gonna taste the other thing first
and then I'll come back to you.
It's important
to talk to the sandwich.
You don't want to hurt its feelings.
No, no, we have a very good relationship.
I don't want to damage it.
Shrimp. This is something I never had.
It's like kind of half roast beef,
half shrimp,
Swiss cheese, roast beef debris.
- Peacemaker?
- Yes.
First a Peacemaker, then a pacemaker.
Yeah, well, healthy is not really our jam.
- Everything's all right?
- Delicious.
- Nope.
- No?
Not everything is all right
because I'm re-evaluating where I live...
...who my friends are.
What Justin surprises us with next
isn't going to make
those life decisions any easier.
Crawfish.
This is for one person?
I'd say that's about right.
I didn't weigh it,
but I'd say that's four pounds.
Three, four pounds.
This either looks like a party
or an ad for an exterminator.
Well...
I think I might need
the instruction manual.
- Show...
- Want the lesson?
- Yeah, please.
- All right.
We don't peel them. Like...
- What?
- That's some sucking right there.
You push in with your teeth.
Put it right between your teeth.
Push it back, and then pull it forward.
He taught me how to eat a crawfish.
What do I know? I'm a Yankee.
You did it, see? Bang.
If you don't suck the head,
you're not eating it right.
- No, I do it.
- Yeah. Squeeze.
- All right? Yes, that's it.
- Yeah.
Gotta be careful.
Some of these things are spicy
and they go right
to the back of your throat,
and then you're dead.
I'm a lazy guy.
This is really not too much effort.
I see dudes driving down the street,
eating these while driving
and throwing the heads out the window.
It's like...
It's fantastic.
I just want to take a second
to explain something.
Crawfish are seasonal. Right?
So Justin was telling me people come
in August when they're out of season
and then write bad Yelp reviews:
"They didn't have crawfish."
Come on, people.
Damn!
Why wasn't I born a Southern boy?
I love the architecture.
It's unlike anywhere else.
Some of these buildings
date back to the 1700s.
That intricate iron work?
That was added later.
It's just beautiful.
The hottest new restaurant in New Orleans
at the moment is an Israeli restaurant.
It's called Shaya.
Named after Alon Shaya.
Alon's from Philadelphia originally,
but he's embraced New Orleans
the way many transplants do:
through the food.
So every Monday night,
he and his wife Emily
host a dinner of red beans and rice.
This is a tradition in New Orleans
on Monday nights
because Monday was laundry day.
And red beans,
you can just throw on the stove
and let it cook all day.
- Welcome.
- Hi, I'm Phil.
- Welcome to our house.
- Love it. I love this neighborhood.
- This is Bayou St. John's, is that right?
- Yes.
New Orleanians will use
any excuse to celebrate.
"Hey, I think it's Monday.
Let's have a party."
The place is already hopping
with Alon and Emily's friends,
including another great New Orleans chef,
Nina Compton.
- I'm excited!
- There's a lot going on.
- Hi. Hi. Hi, everybody!
- Hi!
But this night
is not like every other night.
That's right, it's also Passover.
- You're the man.
- How are you?
- Great to meet you.
- So nice to meet you.
And this is
the least kosher Passover you ever saw.
- We're gonna grill some shrimp.
- It's a treif festival.
So you hated your parents,
that's where this comes from?
No, I love my parents. I love my parents.
I like breaking the rules.
I used to break big rules,
now I just break small rules,
like hog's head cheese and matzo.
I'm no expert,
but that looked pretty easy what you did.
Oh, super easy.
Like even an idiot could do it.
- I'm an idiot and I do it.
- Yeah, you're a real idiot. Yeah.
Hi, everybody. I made you some shrimp.
Hey! We're gonna dip the shrimp
into this little sauce right here.
The marinated cheese just like...
You could have matzo or regular bread.
Because it's Passover.
- Happy Passover!
- It's the first night of Passover.
You're not doing the Haggadah?
You're not doing the whole thing?
We could.
It'll take about an hour and a half.
You get to, like,
dip some parsley in salt water.
- So you're not starving.
- Suck on that for a bit.
You're not starving.
And... Oh, hold on. The gefilte fish.
Whoo!
What?
Wow! Yes!
Wait, it's supposed to be disgusting,
like in my grandparents' house!
You know, they dump it on a plate
and it makes a noise like...
And when you're a child, this is not
the most appealing thing to you.
But it does remind
your elders of the old country,
when everything was terrible.
So Chris and I yesterday went fishing
and we caught a bunch of trout.
- Right.
- And the smaller trout...
When catching the trout, we were like,
"Okay, those are going to be,
like, the stuffers."
And then we caught that trout
and we were like, "That's the stuff-ee."
Ah!
Magic trick.
This is the stock
that we made with all the bones.
- The jelly.
- The jelly.
Let's not eat it, just put it on the wall.
If you press this button,
it starts singing.
So please, guys, start eating.
I'm gonna watch and learn.
This is the world's best Seder plate.
Any Seder plate that's got a shrimp on it,
I'm down.
Holy cow!
- The gefilte fish?
- I want to slap my grandma.
Now that Alon single-handedly
changed my mind about gefilte fish,
it's time to try
Emily's red beans and rice.
Phil, as good as everything is,
it's the red beans and rice
that really steal the show.
Mmm.
Oh, my goodness!
You've outdone yourself, Emily.
The reason
I started this night
is because I went to Atlanta,
and then I came back to New Orleans
after three months of being there
and missing New Orleans so much that I...
when I came back I was like,
"I am going to be
the most New Orleans person there is."
And so I started doing red beans
every single Monday night that I could.
Food is the great connector,
isn't it?
- Yeah.
- Big-time.
And it's more than just dinner,
you know?
There really is a tradition to it,
and there's, like, a sense of community
and friendship and...
What are you doing next Monday?
Making red beans.
- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
Hi, I'm Phil.
- How are you?
- What's the show about?
I'm doing a report for 60 Minutes
on underage drinking.
Would you like to talk to us?
Underage drinking?
I'm kidding you.
Have fun, kids! Have fun!
Sitting on the Mississippi
near the Gulf of Mexico,
New Orleans is a great place
to get seafood,
shrimp, oysters, crawfish,
but its other major food group
has gotta be pork.
And to test that theory,
I'm going to a temple of pork
called Cochon Butcher with one
of my favorite actors, Wendell Pierce.
He was great in The Wire
and in Treme, the series
about New Orleans post-Katrina,
and it's only crazy luck
that has us meeting here at all.
As I was getting on the plane
in Los Angeles to come to New Orleans,
getting off the plane
from New Orleans was Wendell.
"Hi, how you doing?
I'm going to New Orleans."
"I'm going to Los Angeles."
He goes, "What are you doing?"
"I'm filming the thing." He goes,
"Oh, I'm gonna be back in a few days!"
I said, "Come be with me in New Orleans."
Cochon Butcher specializes
in Cajun-style cured meats and sausage,
run by James Beard award winner
Steven Strajewski
with his partner Donald Link.
The thing I love about this place is
it makes me think of my family growing up
and going out to Assumption Parish,
Louisiana and all.
We used to have boucheries.
A good old-fashioned hog killing. Right?
A boucherie.
And it starts early in the morning...
How old are you
seeing that for the first time?
Oh, well that's... You're a little kid.
One of the rites of passage
is holding the blood bucket.
They always got the youngest kid
to hold the blood bucket while you...
And then you made
good blood sausage and grits.
And so, that's the first thing
I want to order.
- Perfect.
- Boudin noir.
But you were never squeamish about it.
Yeah, I was a little squeamish about it,
but then what happens is you go, "Oh, why
are we doing this? It makes no... sense.
Oh, now it makes sense.
Oh, this is good."
Bring me another pig.
Yeah, let's do it tomorrow.
You had a similar upbringing?
No, not at all.
Can you walk down the street here
without people just, like, hugging you?
- Oh, yeah, I can.
- You can?
People of New Orleans are cool, man,
you know?
They're like,
"Hey, Wendell, what's going on, bruh?"
You're a homeboy, so it's all good.
I just want say,
you're such a great actor.
I've loved you since The Wire.
- Oh, thank you.
- I've seen you on stage.
And Treme is an amazing show
for New Orleans.
It was art imitating life,
life imitating art.
And it was like this therapy session
for the city,
where we had gone through
this great tragedy,
but we realized that our culture
was so important and so valuable to us,
it was willing to fight for
and to come back.
Here comes some culture right now.
- Yes, indeed.
- And I'm not even kidding.
Cracklin and syrup.
- And this is Steen's syrup.
- Syrup.
- Steen's syrup. And this is...
- Now, is it a sweet syrup?
Yes. It's the great condiment you have
on your table in old-school Louisiana.
Look at that. Oh.
Mmm.
Eh, là-bas, bruh.
- Say it again.
- Eh, là-bas, bruh.
Eh, là-bas, brother.
- Yeah...
- What does that mean?
That's very... that's very nice.
Eh, là-bas, brother.
Put a little swing in it, bruh.
We say, "bruh." Hey, bruh!
Eh, là-bas. Let it be. There it is.
Eh, là-bas, brother.
I like your way better.
- Eh, là-bas, brother.
- Eh, là-bas, brother.
Continuing the theme of...
I'm the most swinging guy
you're ever gonna see in this...
Definitely.
- Oh, hello.
- Some hog's head cheese.
- Yes!
- Blood sausage.
- Beautiful!
- Amazing.
And here's a little Cajun boudin
for a point of comparison.
- Wow.
- Enjoy.
Thank you.
- This blood sausage...
- Yes.
really, literally,
like, it's right from the slaughter
into the mixture, into the casing.
That's how your early day would start.
I've had this before.
This is easily the best I've had.
- Yes?
- This is the best.
- It's great.
- Great.
- It's great. Hog head cheese...
- Yes.
It's every part of the head,
starting with that...
You leave nothing unused.
And you put that together, and season it,
and put it in a pâté, really.
And that's how I learned what pâté was.
I was like, "I don't know what pâté is.
Oh, this is like hog head cheese."
Good Cajun creole pâté.
Mmm.
Perfect.
- I was not hungry.
- Oh, really?
- If you see me eating this whole thing...
- See that's the classic New Orleans thing.
The final course of lunch
is planning dinner.
I do that.
My family thinks I'm out of my mind.
You know, I would call home to my mother
when I was away at school in New York
and I'd say, "How's your day?"
And she would say, "Oh, it's going great.
I had red beans and rice,
and I'm doing some pork chops,
and I think I'm gonna do a little gumbo."
She would describe the meal
she was about to cook.
And cooking your meal,
it was not just, you know,
"Oh, what's for dinner?"
It was like, "Let me show you
what I'm gonna create."
It's this sense of creation,
and experimentation,
and improvisation, right?
Just like the music.
Because that's what
the American aesthetic is all about.
Well said.
After the disaster, there were people
that said don't bring the city back.
They're stupid.
And then they...
Well, we proved them wrong.
It feels like not only is it back,
but it's stronger than before.
Because once you...
are about to lose something,
you see how valuable it is,
you protect it even more.
- I tell my wife that.
- And people appreciate... Yes.
- I tell her!
- I know.
- She's not buying it.
- And squeeze it.
Oh, she's buying it.
For dessert, we order the works,
but the star of the show are the pralines.
Oh, my God,
this praline really is classic.
That's good.
I cannot make these, man.
Isn't it butter and sugar?
Yeah, but see,
I actually don't know what that taste is.
- I haven't figured out...
- Oh, I know what it is.
- What is it?
- Pork.
- Yes, Wendell.
- You think so?
Yes! There's bacon in here.
Oh.
- Why is that so delicious?
- What is it?
- What could it be?
- Oh, my God.
There's like a magical flavor.
What could it be
that makes it so fantastic?
Oh, shit.
I can't believe I have to tell you.
New Orleans is parade crazy.
I happened to catch their Easter parade.
- Can I help you out of the cart?
- Okay.
- What's your name?
- Constance.
- Constance, I'm Phil.
- Hi, Phil.
You want to hold this?
All right.
- Okay, thank you.
- It's so nice to meet you.
Thank you very much. Have a good evening.
You too.
One of the great things
about New Orleans food
is that there's always room
for creativity and experimentation.
Turkey and the Wolf has plenty of both.
Their slogan should be "Bring
your appetite and your defibrillator."
Mason Hereford and Lauren Holton.
They're these beautiful young people
with a lot of talent
for sandwiches and booze.
Two of my favorite things.
Helping me eat and drink the day away
is NOLA food writer and society lady,
the great Julia Reed.
We're in the Irish Channel, I read.
- Yes, you are.
- And you live close by.
I do. I live in the Garden District.
It's beautiful.
Yeah, well, you picked
a good time to come.
Pretty much every time except
for June, July, and August.
And what do you do during those months?
You go to the movies. You go to the movies
a lot, the movies are really cold.
- Yes.
- They have frozen drinks in the movies.
Since it's New Orleans, I get my little
frozen margarita and watch the movies.
So you just know where to go.
Oh, hi. Hi. Who are you?
- I'm Mason.
- You are the man.
Yes, a pleasure to have you here.
- Are you the turkey or the wolf?
- I'm the turkey, unfortunately.
That's me in my house too.
You guys want a cocktail?
We should try a cocktail.
I am so entranced by the idea
of It's Got Electrolytes,
which is the name of this,
because who doesn't need electrolytes?
You're either hungover or you're sweating
so you need electrolytes.
What other cocktails we got, y'all?
We got Ma'am, Don't Be Hysterical,
which is like a Campari, gin,
- house blackberry syrup, and lime.
- What's it called?
- Ma'am, Don't Be Hysterical.
- Ma'am, Don't Be Hysterical.
I need that for my house.
- You want to try one of those?
- There you go.
- I just need a sign actually.
- Okay.
- You want to try?
- With the drink follow-up. Yeah.
These are the tacos.
I'm gonna cut them.
So, yeah, we're calling them
Tacos Inauthenticos,
which we think is a clever name.
But basically it was like, "Hey,
let's make them taste like Taco Bell,"
but as if we were to make Taco Bell.
- We use...
- What's the crunchy stuff?
The crunchy stuff is just fried tortillas.
We put enough spices on there
to try to make it taste like Doritos.
I mean, this is a thinker!
A great mind!
I've always had, like, a problem
where I take refined food
and then I, like, dress it down
so that it comes off really, uh...
you know, white trashy.
He's not just some stoner
who opened a restaurant
where they would have food to get high by.
This is an accomplished chef
who worked in fancy restaurants
and wanted to...
serve the people.
All right, fancy cocktails.
This is the Ma'am, Don't Be Hysterical.
- Ma'am, don't be hysterical!
- Yes.
This is dedicated to the woman I love.
You know what's funny?
My wife loves Campari. It's made for her.
- Literally made for her.
- That makes me very happy.
All right, more food.
Now who doesn't love
a great Reuben sandwich?
But for some reason,
Mason makes a vegetarian one.
So, basically,
the best place to get a sandwich
in New Orleans is Stein's Deli.
It's just down the street. It's amazing.
You're plugging another sandwich place?
I was trying to figure out
how to put collard greens on a sandwich
and, like, I...
We had some rye bread and I was like,
"I think I can make this taste
like The Sam over at Stein's."
It's a triple-decker,
like a club sandwich,
you gotta have the soaker slice
in the middle to get the pot likker
that's dripping off the collard greens.
- The what?
- The pot likker.
- Pot likker.
- You've never heard of pot likker?
So, it's all the juice at the bottom
- of braised greens.
- Oh, my God!
Oh, pot "liquor," like booze.
- But they spell it L-I-K-K-E-R.
- It's spelled L-I-K-K-E-R.
- Here I go.
- One thing we do here
- is spell things weird and say them weird.
- I should shut up and eat.
- There you go.
- Great.
There you go.
Wow, that's awesome.
That's absolutely delicious.
You don't miss the meat at all.
That's the best vegetarian sandwich
I ever had in my life.
If all vegetarian sandwiches
could be like that...
People, let's spread this around:
Collard Green Reuben.
Oh, my God. That is obscene.
It's a little afternoon cap here.
Just to finish you off,
in case you're not dead yet,
here comes soft-serve ice cream
with cheese straws that he makes,
and sprinkles and everything.
It's just this sweet, salty, crazy...
Oh, my God.
Maybe it is just stoner food.
I don't know if I want to get inside
that head of yours,
but I'm glad what comes out of it.
Yeah, you thought it was
gonna be gross too.
It's like they gave
a five-year-old a restaurant
and said do what you want,
and the five-year-old was
like a wunderkind genius.
Yeah. This is great.
When Hurricane Katrina came in 2005...
Tremé, the oldest African-American
neighborhood in the country,
was hit hard and many
of its traditions were threatened.
But as New Orleans rebounds,
recovery comes in many shapes and sizes.
One, two, three.
New Orleans treats music education
with the same reverence as math class
or English or even gym.
Roots of Music is a nonprofit
that takes inner-city kids
and teaches them
how to play musical instruments
right here in the heart of the Tremé.
And it was started
by this guy, Derrick Taab.
I wanted to give back,
and get kids from all over the city
to come together and form this band.
And then, I thought it was gonna be,
like, about 19 kids,
and right now we're serving about 175 kids
and we're gonna take 200 this year.
- So I want to show you around.
- Well, I'm thrilled to meet you.
I know you're a great musician yourself.
Derrick is the drummer
for the Grammy Award-winning
Rebirth Brass Band,
a group that started in Tremé in the 1980s
and has been a NOLA staple ever since.
Oh. Hello!
This is the drum section
for the Roots of Music.
- I like a drum section.
- My pride and joy.
- Yes?
- Yes.
- Because you're a drummer?
- Because I'm a drummer first.
Who want to be the feature today?
Who want to go first? Could I have Butter?
You want to run number two
or something for me today?
Yeah, you got to run number two.
Hi, Butter.
- You gonna say hi to Phil?
- How you doing?
Butter. He's a little shy today.
That's all right. Me too.
Oh, man.
I feel it!
Next, Derrick
takes me to the band room
where it's my turn to be put on the spot.
Want to try the trombone?
I've never played a trombone in my life.
- Mike can help.
- Trying to make me look ridiculous?
Wilson, why don't you come up here? Yeah.
He doesn't look too excited to give me
his trombone. I don't blame you.
So you put your thumb right...
- Oh, here. Got it.
- Hold it like with these three fingers.
- These three fingers here?
- Yes.
Then you blow like this.
- Good air power?
- Yes.
- Move your... arm.
- This?
- To change the note.
- That changes the sound?
Yes.
When do I start with the band?
The band's become
a point of pride for the community
and their marches through
the neighborhood attract a lot of kids
who hope to be part of this band one day.
A lot of people think
that the arts are disposable.
What they don't realize is,
it's the answer.
It's good exercise.
I'm tired!
Because I'm an old man.
- Aw, don't say that!
- I wish I was nine.
Is there someplace
I can lie down after this?
After dinner at Alon's house,
I just had to experience
the number one restaurant in New Orleans.
Yes, it's an Israeli restaurant.
This is Shaya.
Oh, oh, oh.
- Hey, Phil.
- Hi, buddy.
I've missed you.
- I miss you too.
- Haven't seen you in a few days.
- Happy to be here. Look at that!
- Come see. Come around.
- It's an Italian pizza oven.
- Yeah.
We've pretty much just repurposed it
to make pita bread.
This guy's a brilliant chef.
James Beard award-winning chef.
What he chooses to do in that restaurant
is man that pita oven.
I think the most important dish
in the entire restaurant...
- Yeah.
- ...is called "Ljutenica."
- Ljutenica.
- Ljutenica.
It's a Bulgarian spread,
and it's roasted peppers,
eggplants, and tomato.
And then I just put a little bit
of fresh chopped parsley on top.
- And some extra virgin olive oil.
- Oh, baby.
- Take the pita bread.
- Yeah.
Rip it open.
- Careful, it's full of hot steam.
- Yeah.
It's literally like gonna explode
all this fresh hot steam right out of it.
And go for it.
That's my favorite bite
in the entire restaurant.
It is the dish
that made me fall in love with food.
I was seven years old.
I was coming home from school.
I open the front door to my house,
and my grandmother,
and she was visiting from Israel,
was roasting peppers and eggplants
right on the open fire in the house.
I kind of, like, credit that moment
with me connecting food,
and the smell of food,
with happiness, and family,
and togetherness.
For me, it's what made it.
This is unbelievable.
Don't eat too much.
- Shut up.
- Don't fill up on pita bread
because we got
a lot more food coming for you.
- I'm gonna... I'm eating it all.
- I'm gonna keep making pita
because I'm making pita for everybody
in the dining room right now.
It's our bread service.
You do what you need to do,
I'll be over here.
This is a little something
that my grandmother
would also eat a ton of.
- Taramasalata.
- Oh, I love it.
- It's like the fish roe spread, right?
- Right.
We use paddlefish caviar,
- which is like a local freshwater fish.
- I know about this.
The caviar of the United States.
They call it Cajun Caviar down here.
And we put some of these little greens
right here on top.
Here's another thing I want you to taste.
Tabbouleh.
By the way, this is the first green thing
I've had in New Orleans.
Baba ghanoush
with grilled spring onions.
- Hello.
- We're getting beautiful spring onions.
Baba ghanoush.
You know, what makes
a really good baba ghanoush
- is getting...
- Is you.
Well...
This is such a fantastic contrast
to all the other food
- you eat in New Orleans.
- Yeah.
The hummus is really one
of my favorite things on the menu.
One thing about hummus is
it's gotta be smooth and creamy.
These short ribs...
And that's gonna get all
put right on top of that.
You can pretty much put anything
in pita bread and it tastes good.
- So...
- If the pita's good.
If the pita's good. Go for it.
Yeah.
Isn't that tasty?
No!
Sounds like angry happiness.
- Live with me!
- Okay.
- I just need room and board.
- All right.
And I need a constant stream
of compliments.
You're my favorite person.
That's all I need to hear.
I'll be right over.
More hot pita.
I'm cooking them faster
than you can eat them.
I'll help you get them
to the people.
- Use the tongs, right?
- Use the tongs.
- Have you tried this?
- Have I had a pita?
I've had seven, but I'll have another.
- I'm gonna give it to you.
- Why not?
Who hasn't had pita?
You need some more?
It just came out, so you should really...
Know what? You should have a fresh one.
- Don't refuse me.
- No.
Absolutely. Thank you.
You guys! Look...
- This is a fun table.
- Yeah, we are!
- You want this.
- Yeah, we do!
Bless you. What's this party?
- It's my birthday.
- Yeah, her birthday!
Happy birthday!
I go back now.
And now that my shift is over,
I would like some cake.
Chocolate babka.
So we put a little poppy seeds.
- Look at that.
- The halva gelato.
- And then halva sauce and chocolate sauce.
- Oh, oh, oh.
See what I'm talking about?
This is not your mother's dried-out babka.
No, no, no, no.
When I say your mother,
I mean my mother.
Though, I love my mother.
She never made babka.
You think he likes it?
I'm not sure yet.
Don't let them tell you otherwise!
What's the show about?
Uh, Saint Philip.
It's called Saint Philip.
I'm a lawyer who's dead
because my wife killed me
for not paying alimony,
but I have an office
on Saint Philip Street.
- On Saint Philip.
- Yeah, and it's haunted and I'm the ghost.
- You are the ghost.
- Yeah.
What's your name, young fella?
Who are you?
I'm doing a show.
All right. What's it called
and how do I find you?
You know that
Real Housewives of New Orleans?
All right.
- My wife just left me.
- Ah, so it's that part of that show.
And so they thought it would be great
to get me walking sad down the street.
All right. Well done.
I hope you recoup. I hope you recover.
- I hope I find her.
- Oh, you're gonna find her.
Whatcha y'all doing?
I'm on that show.
I'm the...
You ever see that show The Bachelor?
- Yeah.
- I'm the next bachelor.
Good luck with that, baby.
Every once in a while
in my stupidly lucky life,
I get to meet a legend,
and today's that day.
Leah Chase. They call her
"the queen of creole cuisine,"
which is a mix
of French, Caribbean, African, and more.
At 94 years old, I wish...
I had half the facilities
that this person has.
And the talent, by the way.
I've gotta admit, I'm a little nervous.
- Is the big shot here yet?
- Oh, he's coming.
Oh, he's coming.
How often do you meet a hero?
Come here, Phil. Stand in front of me
and let me see what you look like.
I look like this.
- You're good-looking. You'll do well.
- Yeah!
- So... Okay.
- You're good-looking.
And that's good-looking.
What are you making today?
That's a gumbo.
- And...
- Can I put this down over here for you?
Yeah, put it down. Now look here.
You see, when you're making this gumbo,
it's just like going fishing.
How is it like going fishing?
- You get what you catch.
- Right.
So you have some kind of... See?
You have shrimp, you have chicken,
you have ham.
If you go in a Creole home,
- Creoles of color...
- Yeah?
...this is the same gumbo
everybody will make.
You've been making this gumbo for...
only about 70-something years, right?
I'm 70.
- That's all?
- You're right.
You know what? I'm not going to taste it
until you've been doing it for 80 years.
I think that's when you're gonna hit it.
You think so? I don't know.
Leah Chase
was married to Dooky Chase
of the very famous
New Orleans institution Dooky Chase's.
It was just called "The Restaurant"
because it's where everybody hung out.
We gotta talk about
what happened in these rooms.
We gotta talk about how you fueled,
literally fueled the civil rights movement
- by feeding the Freedom Riders...
- We did.
...and Martin Luther King.
This is where the civil rights people
planned to do whatever they had to do
to make a difference.
The more I think about King,
the more I realize how special he was.
For one thing, I don't know if I would
give up my life for you or anybody else.
- Yeah.
- Whenever they would come in town,
this is where they had to meet.
And that was illegal
for people to meet here
and whites and blacks
to come together at that time,
but we got by with it.
I always heard
that the founding fathers of America,
they met in a restaurant
to go over
what the Declaration of Independence
- was going to be in Philadelphia.
- Really?
And you did the same thing.
This was as important.
Meetings like the ones held here
helped the civil rights movement
bring an end to legal segregation,
helped passage of the Voter Rights Act,
the Fair Housing Act, and more.
Over a bowl of gumbo and fried chicken.
I came up in a family
that we were very poor,
and we didn't hug and kiss our parents,
and they didn't hug and kiss us.
But they knew what we needed
and they were there.
And maybe that's where I went wrong
with some of my children,
I didn't hug them enough maybe,
because I was so gung-ho
on making them strong people.
- I was a whipping momma, you know.
- Really?
You do something wrong, I said,
"You're acting like a stupid jackass."
My daughter'd say, "Mother, you can't go
around calling people a stupid jackass."
Well, if you're a stupid jackass,
what you want me to do about it?
Have you slapped anybody lately?
- Yeah, Mr. Obama.
- What?
He sits down to the table with his gumbo,
and before he touches it,
he asks for a bottle of hot sauce.
Without tasting it?
I slap his hand for putting...
- Putting hot sauce in your gumbo.
- ...putting hot sauce in my gumbo.
You didn't call him a stupid jackass,
did you?
No. I started to.
Do you like it?
I don't know if this place
is gonna make it.
But this old guy, Tip O'Neill, and I...
He was such a nice old man, and I love...
But he said, "Leah, we meet
with Republicans, we talk about them,
we talk to them,
but now they're not talking."
They don't talk about things.
You gotta talk it over
and come to some kind of agreement
over something.
But it can be done all over some food.
And that's what we do in New Orleans.
We'd have a bowl of gumbo
and change the whole world.
I am so with you.
I can't tell you how much I believe
in that philosophy.
If you just find out
what people eat and what they like to eat,
you make them happy.
And they think totally different
when they're happy.
Why don't you run for office?
You seem to understand how life works.
I'd vote for you.
Leah Chase, everybody.
In New Orleans, you can hear
world-class musicians play jazz
every night of the week,
including this young man,
who plays the trombone
a little better than I do, Corey Henry.
I was born right around... One block.
That next corner, I was born.
All the Tremé neighborhood pillars
right here.
- Hello.
- Watch out!
- Nelson! What's up, baby?
- Hello, pillars.
Community. Community.
- Some great old houses around here too.
- Yeah.
Old shotgun-style houses in New Orleans.
We lived in so many of those
over the years.
And this is Saint Augustine's,
one of the oldest churches
in the country right here.
This... I mean,
we could be in Europe. Look at that.
Yeah, it's beautiful, man.
Look at the trees. I just love
how beautiful the old trees are.
Watch out, Unc!
The great Henry Youngblood.
He like a pillar
of our community too, man.
Henry Youngblood. How you doing?
- Youngblood.
- This is Phil.
- Henry Youngblood.
- You look young.
I am young, 83 years young.
But you want to know really
why I'm happy?
- Please.
- Tell you?
- Yeah.
- Okay, guess why.
Listen.
I've got a feather in my ass,
and it's tickling me to death.
And that's a wrap.
Uncle! We gotta get going.
I'm just so excited
because everyone tells me
this is the best fried chicken
in the world.
It is. It is.
I definitely agree with that.
- It's your favorite?
- My favorite.
Yeah, I've been coming here...
It's probably about 15 years now.
- It was destroyed over here.
- What?
- They did a great job of bringing it back
- Are you kidding?
- We have some green beans.
- How you doing?
- Red beans.
- Some of the best red beans in the world.
- Yes, indeed.
- That's the chicken.
- This is chicken.
- But this is also the chicken.
- Yes.
- Two orders of chicken.
- Sweet potato fries.
- Sweet potato fries.
- Are you trying to kill me?
- Let's go, New Orleans!
I mean, this is
a pretty heavy batter on here, right?
- Oh, yeah, man, it's...
- Batter up.
That golden fried, baby.
That golden fried.
So good.
Ooh, it's got a little kick just now.
- I got spice.
- Yeah, you'll get a little kick.
What makes Willie Mae's chicken
unique is its wet batter.
It's well-seasoned with cayenne
and lots of family secrets.
That batter is
something special right there.
I don't know exactly how they do it,
but whatever they're doing, magnificent.
I get the appeal.
Mm-hmm.
Mmm.
When Katrina hit this building,
was it completely wrecked?
It was closed for, I'm not exactly sure,
but probably a couple of years, you know.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- Which is not good.
- No.
We need Willie Mae's around here.
Good food, good music.
- Good food.
- Very good people.
Willie Mae's!
- Look, I'm your kid in the backseat.
- Nice!
Shut up or I'll turn this car
right around.
Are we almost there?
When do we get there?
- You'll eat when I tell you.
- Are you hungry?
I'm hungry.
How did you guys meet?
Did you click right away?
- Yeah, I mean...
- Yeah.
Yeah? Like first meeting?
- Well...
- Well, no.
I clicked on her right away, and...
- You had to taste his cooking first.
- Yeah.
So we're going to one
of my favorite Italian restaurants
in the New Orleans area.
It's called Mosca's.
There's a rumor
that this was Al Capone's chef
and he sent this guy here
because his boys didn't know
what good food was in New Orleans.
Well, you know what?
I kind of think that that rumor is true,
mostly because Mosca's was in Chicago
before it was in New Orleans.
Okay. There's another rumor,
that they kept lions out back in the '30s.
- I don't know.
- Like on chains.
And if you were a rat...
- rats get fed to the lions.
- They get fed to the lions.
- Sounds right.
- I thought that veal parmigiana
tasted a little gamey
the last time I was there.
But the food is worth it.
We arrive at what looks
like a roadside country church,
which I guess it kind of is.
And inside we find
my new favorite person, Julia Reed,
and friends Derek
and Alon's gefilte fisherman, Chris.
They've been here a while,
so they've had a head start,
if you know what I mean.
Thanks for joining me, you guys.
I'm so thrilled to be with you.
I'm thrilled to be at Mosca's.
- I want to say it right.
- Mahs-ca's.
- Mosca's.
- He says it's Mosca's.
No, it's Mahs-ca's.
It's Mahs-ca's.
You say, "mosca,"
that means "fly" in Italian.
- Yeah.
- Perfect for a restaurant.
- Mosca.
- First time for everything.
- That's right.
- Hello.
How do you pronounce
the name of the restaurant?
Mosca's.
Oh!
- That was brave of me, I thought.
- Very brave.
But we stopped caring
about pronunciation because this happens.
Yes, yes, yes, yes,
chicken a la grande.
Wait for the spaghetti.
This chicken is so good.
It's organic. It's not like...
Usually, you put
the meatballs on the pasta,
but Alon has a brilliant life hack.
Julia, I'm so excited to introduce you
to the Oysters Mosca
on top of the spaghetti bordelaise.
Well, I'm very trepidatious about that.
You had the pronunciation
of the restaurant,
so you've won one goddamn medal.
- Let's not fight.
- Trust me.
Now, put the oysters on top of that.
What you want? You want a little more?
- Like a lizard.
- This is perfect. This is perfect.
Thank you.
Combo...
You're right, he's not wrong.
He's not wrong.
I'm not wrong. Look.
It's delicious.
I don't know much about much,
but I do know...
- Yes.
- It's delicious.
- Oysters mosca on spaghetti bordelaise.
- We're gonna need more oysters.
We need more oysters.
- More oysters, please.
- Oh, my God.
It doesn't look like much.
It looks like pasta,
it looks like meatballs,
it looks like chicken.
This is some of the most delicious
comfort food I've ever had.
And it's made even more comfortable
when you know the Mosca family's
back there in the kitchen,
like they've been for over 70 years.
Even if there were lions in the back,
I'd still want to eat here.
And Johnny!
Hey, Johnny!
Whoo!
Is that Johnny the third?
- Get in there.
- Grab it.
That's it. Do it, baby.
Almost on your...
It's like the Pope is coming by.
He blesses you.
There's a fork in my spaghetti.
I had the best table of people,
and we just had
the greatest time eating this food.
He keeps fishing me out these delicious...
- Little garlic knots.
- Ah. Mmm.
Darling, anything?
That is the sweetest thing
anybody's ever done for me.
We may be related by garlic.
- I'll cheers to that.
- To the Mosca's.
- Mosca's.
- To the Mosca's.
- The people who do this.
- The Mosca's.
The Mosca's, the Mahs-ca's.
You say Mahs-ca, and I say Mosca.
I do not go to New Orleans
without going here.
- Leon!
- Come in.
How you doing Fe-ly Phil.
How we making out, baby?
Well, I had a very hard night,
so I'm gonna go very light today.
- Okay.
- Ready?
Ready for you. What you got?
- Bacon and cheese omelet.
- Mm-hmm.
- Chef's omelet.
- Mm-hmm.
Cheeseburger with everything.
That's how Phil do it.
He going big or he going home.
I might go big
and then go to the hospital.
You go to Camellia Grill.
It's been there since the '40s.
And what's great about this counter,
you're sitting across from somebody,
so there's
this communal spirit of the place.
And before you know it,
you're talking to everybody.
You gotta get an omelet.
They take the eggs,
they crack them in the blender,
and they whip the eggs.
And it's the lightest, fluffiest omelet.
Why aren't we doing this?
There's a lot of air in it,
so it's very light.
So it's going to look bigger
than what you're actually eating.
- Leon.
- What you say, Fe-ly?
I love it.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That's what we do.
I like them.
Oh, my dessert is here.
You know, Phil, we lost
our main man up there, now.
Molly Mal.
Twenty-six years of service.
February the tenth of last year.
- What happened?
- He had a heart attack.
That's the man right there.
- Hi, there.
- Oh!
What's doing?
Uh, I love New Orleans.
It's a very happy place.
Everybody's out in the street,
everybody's, you know...
Everybody is eating and drinking.
It's great.
I mean, it really came back,
and the tourism is fantastic.
I'm telling everybody. This is...
If you can't travel outside the country,
this seems to be
the most European of cities.
- What?
- They're coming to get you. I hear sirens.
- Yeah.
- Would you like the audience
to see where we live by the window?
You want everybody knowing
where you live?
You want them to know
where your apartment is?
Do you know how many fans you have?
They'll be screaming like
you're Justin Bieber outside your window.
- Right.
- What does that mean?
Monica said you're going
to a wedding today. Is that...
- It's true.
- Whose wedding?
People I met in Ho Chi Minh City,
in Saigon.
Mmm. Mmm.
Mmm.
And she's a chef, and she's cooking for us
and for her guests.
But we're part of the wedding party.
When is that, today?
- Yeah, in a couple of hours.
- And your wife...
It just so happens to be here
at the same time?
Just so happens.
- That's unbelievable.
- Yeah.
Isn't that nice?
Everybody's getting married
all of a sudden.
You recommend it, right?
No.
- Any other...
- It's a good institution,
but who wants to live in an institution?
So I met Nikky and Annie
in Ho Chi Minh City
where Nikky has the best restaurant.
And they're such a lovely couple,
and they said they were gonna
get married in New Orleans.
I said "When?"
And they said, "April."
I said, "We're gonna be there in April."
They said, "Oh, my God!"
So now you're caught up.
It's the day of the wedding, and Nikky
is also preparing the wedding feast.
Oh, look at you! You look great.
Yes.
Do you want to try it first?
- You want me to be the guinea pig?
- Yes.
Yeah, I'll try anything you want.
I'm happy to help you.
Oh.
Can I tell you, this food
is so much better than at my wedding.
The food was bad.
But the marriage was good.
Happiness in marriage
is not something that just happens.
A good marriage must be created.
In the art of marriage,
the little things are the big things.
It's never being too old to hold hands.
It's remembering to say "I love you"
at least once a day.
It is not only marrying the right partner,
it is being the right partner.
Sam, you have the rings.
I think this wedding kind of
captures what New Orleans is all about.
Wherever you're from, whatever you do,
wherever you've been,
you can be yourself here.
You can express yourself,
connect with other people,
and have fun doing it.
Congratulations, you may kiss your bride.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
As our gift, we wanted
to just take care of the music.
You know, get a DJ or something.
Follow the music! Follow the music!
In case it's not obvious yet,
these have been the reasons
I love New Orleans.
It's unique, not just in America,
but in the world.
No place celebrates like this place.
I watch that!
And New Orleans is a celebration of art,
music, food,
laughs, culture,
and every kind of person from everywhere
that wants to partake.
I love this quote from Will Smith.
He said,
"Diversity is America's superpower."
Well, if that's so, then New Orleans
is a leading source of energy.
It's rough around the edges because
it's seen some hard times, but who hasn't?
The lesson New Orleans has for us is,
it's how you get up from those times.
And once you're up,
you may as well go to the party.
Whoo!
Eh, là-bas, bruh.
♪ Somebody, please, somebody, please ♪
♪ Somebody, please, somebody, please ♪
♪ Somebody, please, somebody, please ♪
♪ Somebody ♪
♪ Somebody, please, somebody, please ♪
♪ Somebody ♪
♪ Somebody, please, somebody, please ♪
♪ Somebody ♪
♪ Somebody, please, somebody, please ♪
♪ Somebody ♪
♪ Somebody, please, somebody, please ♪
♪ Somebody ♪
♪ Somebody, please, somebody, please ♪
♪ Can somebody ♪
♪ Somebody feed Phil? ♪
♪ Oh, please, somebody ♪
♪ Somebody feed Phil ♪
♪ Somebody feed him now ♪
Whoo!
Whoo.
You gotta get into it.
My mother.
People, look at the people.
Whoo, whoo.
Yeah!
Whoo!
Whoo, whoo!
I win!
Now I'm a New Orleanzzier.
♪ A happy, hungry man ♪
♪ Is traveling
All across the sea and the land ♪
♪ He's trying to understand ♪
♪ The art of pasta, pork
Chicken, and lamb ♪
♪ He will drive to you ♪
♪ He will fly to you ♪
♪ He will sing for you ♪
♪ And he'll dance for you ♪
♪ He will laugh with you ♪
♪ And he'll cry for you ♪
♪ There's just one thing
He asks in return ♪
♪ Somebody feed, somebody feed ♪
♪ Can somebody ♪
♪ Somebody feed Phil ♪
♪ Somebody feed him now ♪
When I first came here
25 years ago,
I told my wife, "There she is, Monica.
The mighty Mississipp.
See how she winds and winds."
Is there a better place than New Orleans?
With all the great food
and music and Mardi Gras,
there's a lot to love.
Like a lot of people, I was worried
about the place after Hurricane Katrina.
But New Orleanians really pulled together,
neighbor helping neighbor
to bring the city back and then some.
Everything is beyond what it was before.
It's evident in the spirit
that's just on the streets
in the friendliness of the people,
in the good times to be had, in the food.
New Orleans is arguably
one of the best food cities in the world,
thanks to all the people
who call this place home.
There is... an incredible melting pot here
of French, of Spanish,
of the Old South, of the New South,
everything mixing together
in this gumbo of fun.
New Orleans has so many specialties,
it's hard to know where to begin.
But my trips usually start
with a little pulled pork number
I first met at Jazz Fest.
So I'm meeting Brett Anderson,
an award-winning writer
with a deep knowledge of Louisiana food
for his favorite version of this
from Chef Justin LeBlanc at Bevi Seafood.
Uh, cochon?
- This one?
- Peacemaker, yeah.
- This is the cochon de lait.
- Yep. "Cochon".
Cochon de lait po' boy.
Mmm.
- Come on!
- See what I'm talking about?
What?
So, when I moved here 16 years ago...
really the only place you saw
cochon de lait po' boys was at Jazz Fest.
Right. I love the music at Jazz Fest,
but that was the thing
that, like, made me go, "Oh, my God."
You know, he brings in some sort of chef-y
kind of fancy touches that don't ruin it.
- Mayo, the pickled peppers.
- Yeah.
The caramelized onion.
Well, that's not so fancy.
For a po' boy place they are.
I'm not putting you down because...
I don't like you
or don't want to finish,
but I'm gonna taste the other thing first
and then I'll come back to you.
It's important
to talk to the sandwich.
You don't want to hurt its feelings.
No, no, we have a very good relationship.
I don't want to damage it.
Shrimp. This is something I never had.
It's like kind of half roast beef,
half shrimp,
Swiss cheese, roast beef debris.
- Peacemaker?
- Yes.
First a Peacemaker, then a pacemaker.
Yeah, well, healthy is not really our jam.
- Everything's all right?
- Delicious.
- Nope.
- No?
Not everything is all right
because I'm re-evaluating where I live...
...who my friends are.
What Justin surprises us with next
isn't going to make
those life decisions any easier.
Crawfish.
This is for one person?
I'd say that's about right.
I didn't weigh it,
but I'd say that's four pounds.
Three, four pounds.
This either looks like a party
or an ad for an exterminator.
Well...
I think I might need
the instruction manual.
- Show...
- Want the lesson?
- Yeah, please.
- All right.
We don't peel them. Like...
- What?
- That's some sucking right there.
You push in with your teeth.
Put it right between your teeth.
Push it back, and then pull it forward.
He taught me how to eat a crawfish.
What do I know? I'm a Yankee.
You did it, see? Bang.
If you don't suck the head,
you're not eating it right.
- No, I do it.
- Yeah. Squeeze.
- All right? Yes, that's it.
- Yeah.
Gotta be careful.
Some of these things are spicy
and they go right
to the back of your throat,
and then you're dead.
I'm a lazy guy.
This is really not too much effort.
I see dudes driving down the street,
eating these while driving
and throwing the heads out the window.
It's like...
It's fantastic.
I just want to take a second
to explain something.
Crawfish are seasonal. Right?
So Justin was telling me people come
in August when they're out of season
and then write bad Yelp reviews:
"They didn't have crawfish."
Come on, people.
Damn!
Why wasn't I born a Southern boy?
I love the architecture.
It's unlike anywhere else.
Some of these buildings
date back to the 1700s.
That intricate iron work?
That was added later.
It's just beautiful.
The hottest new restaurant in New Orleans
at the moment is an Israeli restaurant.
It's called Shaya.
Named after Alon Shaya.
Alon's from Philadelphia originally,
but he's embraced New Orleans
the way many transplants do:
through the food.
So every Monday night,
he and his wife Emily
host a dinner of red beans and rice.
This is a tradition in New Orleans
on Monday nights
because Monday was laundry day.
And red beans,
you can just throw on the stove
and let it cook all day.
- Welcome.
- Hi, I'm Phil.
- Welcome to our house.
- Love it. I love this neighborhood.
- This is Bayou St. John's, is that right?
- Yes.
New Orleanians will use
any excuse to celebrate.
"Hey, I think it's Monday.
Let's have a party."
The place is already hopping
with Alon and Emily's friends,
including another great New Orleans chef,
Nina Compton.
- I'm excited!
- There's a lot going on.
- Hi. Hi. Hi, everybody!
- Hi!
But this night
is not like every other night.
That's right, it's also Passover.
- You're the man.
- How are you?
- Great to meet you.
- So nice to meet you.
And this is
the least kosher Passover you ever saw.
- We're gonna grill some shrimp.
- It's a treif festival.
So you hated your parents,
that's where this comes from?
No, I love my parents. I love my parents.
I like breaking the rules.
I used to break big rules,
now I just break small rules,
like hog's head cheese and matzo.
I'm no expert,
but that looked pretty easy what you did.
Oh, super easy.
Like even an idiot could do it.
- I'm an idiot and I do it.
- Yeah, you're a real idiot. Yeah.
Hi, everybody. I made you some shrimp.
Hey! We're gonna dip the shrimp
into this little sauce right here.
The marinated cheese just like...
You could have matzo or regular bread.
Because it's Passover.
- Happy Passover!
- It's the first night of Passover.
You're not doing the Haggadah?
You're not doing the whole thing?
We could.
It'll take about an hour and a half.
You get to, like,
dip some parsley in salt water.
- So you're not starving.
- Suck on that for a bit.
You're not starving.
And... Oh, hold on. The gefilte fish.
Whoo!
What?
Wow! Yes!
Wait, it's supposed to be disgusting,
like in my grandparents' house!
You know, they dump it on a plate
and it makes a noise like...
And when you're a child, this is not
the most appealing thing to you.
But it does remind
your elders of the old country,
when everything was terrible.
So Chris and I yesterday went fishing
and we caught a bunch of trout.
- Right.
- And the smaller trout...
When catching the trout, we were like,
"Okay, those are going to be,
like, the stuffers."
And then we caught that trout
and we were like, "That's the stuff-ee."
Ah!
Magic trick.
This is the stock
that we made with all the bones.
- The jelly.
- The jelly.
Let's not eat it, just put it on the wall.
If you press this button,
it starts singing.
So please, guys, start eating.
I'm gonna watch and learn.
This is the world's best Seder plate.
Any Seder plate that's got a shrimp on it,
I'm down.
Holy cow!
- The gefilte fish?
- I want to slap my grandma.
Now that Alon single-handedly
changed my mind about gefilte fish,
it's time to try
Emily's red beans and rice.
Phil, as good as everything is,
it's the red beans and rice
that really steal the show.
Mmm.
Oh, my goodness!
You've outdone yourself, Emily.
The reason
I started this night
is because I went to Atlanta,
and then I came back to New Orleans
after three months of being there
and missing New Orleans so much that I...
when I came back I was like,
"I am going to be
the most New Orleans person there is."
And so I started doing red beans
every single Monday night that I could.
Food is the great connector,
isn't it?
- Yeah.
- Big-time.
And it's more than just dinner,
you know?
There really is a tradition to it,
and there's, like, a sense of community
and friendship and...
What are you doing next Monday?
Making red beans.
- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
Hi, I'm Phil.
- How are you?
- What's the show about?
I'm doing a report for 60 Minutes
on underage drinking.
Would you like to talk to us?
Underage drinking?
I'm kidding you.
Have fun, kids! Have fun!
Sitting on the Mississippi
near the Gulf of Mexico,
New Orleans is a great place
to get seafood,
shrimp, oysters, crawfish,
but its other major food group
has gotta be pork.
And to test that theory,
I'm going to a temple of pork
called Cochon Butcher with one
of my favorite actors, Wendell Pierce.
He was great in The Wire
and in Treme, the series
about New Orleans post-Katrina,
and it's only crazy luck
that has us meeting here at all.
As I was getting on the plane
in Los Angeles to come to New Orleans,
getting off the plane
from New Orleans was Wendell.
"Hi, how you doing?
I'm going to New Orleans."
"I'm going to Los Angeles."
He goes, "What are you doing?"
"I'm filming the thing." He goes,
"Oh, I'm gonna be back in a few days!"
I said, "Come be with me in New Orleans."
Cochon Butcher specializes
in Cajun-style cured meats and sausage,
run by James Beard award winner
Steven Strajewski
with his partner Donald Link.
The thing I love about this place is
it makes me think of my family growing up
and going out to Assumption Parish,
Louisiana and all.
We used to have boucheries.
A good old-fashioned hog killing. Right?
A boucherie.
And it starts early in the morning...
How old are you
seeing that for the first time?
Oh, well that's... You're a little kid.
One of the rites of passage
is holding the blood bucket.
They always got the youngest kid
to hold the blood bucket while you...
And then you made
good blood sausage and grits.
And so, that's the first thing
I want to order.
- Perfect.
- Boudin noir.
But you were never squeamish about it.
Yeah, I was a little squeamish about it,
but then what happens is you go, "Oh, why
are we doing this? It makes no... sense.
Oh, now it makes sense.
Oh, this is good."
Bring me another pig.
Yeah, let's do it tomorrow.
You had a similar upbringing?
No, not at all.
Can you walk down the street here
without people just, like, hugging you?
- Oh, yeah, I can.
- You can?
People of New Orleans are cool, man,
you know?
They're like,
"Hey, Wendell, what's going on, bruh?"
You're a homeboy, so it's all good.
I just want say,
you're such a great actor.
I've loved you since The Wire.
- Oh, thank you.
- I've seen you on stage.
And Treme is an amazing show
for New Orleans.
It was art imitating life,
life imitating art.
And it was like this therapy session
for the city,
where we had gone through
this great tragedy,
but we realized that our culture
was so important and so valuable to us,
it was willing to fight for
and to come back.
Here comes some culture right now.
- Yes, indeed.
- And I'm not even kidding.
Cracklin and syrup.
- And this is Steen's syrup.
- Syrup.
- Steen's syrup. And this is...
- Now, is it a sweet syrup?
Yes. It's the great condiment you have
on your table in old-school Louisiana.
Look at that. Oh.
Mmm.
Eh, là-bas, bruh.
- Say it again.
- Eh, là-bas, bruh.
Eh, là-bas, brother.
- Yeah...
- What does that mean?
That's very... that's very nice.
Eh, là-bas, brother.
Put a little swing in it, bruh.
We say, "bruh." Hey, bruh!
Eh, là-bas. Let it be. There it is.
Eh, là-bas, brother.
I like your way better.
- Eh, là-bas, brother.
- Eh, là-bas, brother.
Continuing the theme of...
I'm the most swinging guy
you're ever gonna see in this...
Definitely.
- Oh, hello.
- Some hog's head cheese.
- Yes!
- Blood sausage.
- Beautiful!
- Amazing.
And here's a little Cajun boudin
for a point of comparison.
- Wow.
- Enjoy.
Thank you.
- This blood sausage...
- Yes.
really, literally,
like, it's right from the slaughter
into the mixture, into the casing.
That's how your early day would start.
I've had this before.
This is easily the best I've had.
- Yes?
- This is the best.
- It's great.
- Great.
- It's great. Hog head cheese...
- Yes.
It's every part of the head,
starting with that...
You leave nothing unused.
And you put that together, and season it,
and put it in a pâté, really.
And that's how I learned what pâté was.
I was like, "I don't know what pâté is.
Oh, this is like hog head cheese."
Good Cajun creole pâté.
Mmm.
Perfect.
- I was not hungry.
- Oh, really?
- If you see me eating this whole thing...
- See that's the classic New Orleans thing.
The final course of lunch
is planning dinner.
I do that.
My family thinks I'm out of my mind.
You know, I would call home to my mother
when I was away at school in New York
and I'd say, "How's your day?"
And she would say, "Oh, it's going great.
I had red beans and rice,
and I'm doing some pork chops,
and I think I'm gonna do a little gumbo."
She would describe the meal
she was about to cook.
And cooking your meal,
it was not just, you know,
"Oh, what's for dinner?"
It was like, "Let me show you
what I'm gonna create."
It's this sense of creation,
and experimentation,
and improvisation, right?
Just like the music.
Because that's what
the American aesthetic is all about.
Well said.
After the disaster, there were people
that said don't bring the city back.
They're stupid.
And then they...
Well, we proved them wrong.
It feels like not only is it back,
but it's stronger than before.
Because once you...
are about to lose something,
you see how valuable it is,
you protect it even more.
- I tell my wife that.
- And people appreciate... Yes.
- I tell her!
- I know.
- She's not buying it.
- And squeeze it.
Oh, she's buying it.
For dessert, we order the works,
but the star of the show are the pralines.
Oh, my God,
this praline really is classic.
That's good.
I cannot make these, man.
Isn't it butter and sugar?
Yeah, but see,
I actually don't know what that taste is.
- I haven't figured out...
- Oh, I know what it is.
- What is it?
- Pork.
- Yes, Wendell.
- You think so?
Yes! There's bacon in here.
Oh.
- Why is that so delicious?
- What is it?
- What could it be?
- Oh, my God.
There's like a magical flavor.
What could it be
that makes it so fantastic?
Oh, shit.
I can't believe I have to tell you.
New Orleans is parade crazy.
I happened to catch their Easter parade.
- Can I help you out of the cart?
- Okay.
- What's your name?
- Constance.
- Constance, I'm Phil.
- Hi, Phil.
You want to hold this?
All right.
- Okay, thank you.
- It's so nice to meet you.
Thank you very much. Have a good evening.
You too.
One of the great things
about New Orleans food
is that there's always room
for creativity and experimentation.
Turkey and the Wolf has plenty of both.
Their slogan should be "Bring
your appetite and your defibrillator."
Mason Hereford and Lauren Holton.
They're these beautiful young people
with a lot of talent
for sandwiches and booze.
Two of my favorite things.
Helping me eat and drink the day away
is NOLA food writer and society lady,
the great Julia Reed.
We're in the Irish Channel, I read.
- Yes, you are.
- And you live close by.
I do. I live in the Garden District.
It's beautiful.
Yeah, well, you picked
a good time to come.
Pretty much every time except
for June, July, and August.
And what do you do during those months?
You go to the movies. You go to the movies
a lot, the movies are really cold.
- Yes.
- They have frozen drinks in the movies.
Since it's New Orleans, I get my little
frozen margarita and watch the movies.
So you just know where to go.
Oh, hi. Hi. Who are you?
- I'm Mason.
- You are the man.
Yes, a pleasure to have you here.
- Are you the turkey or the wolf?
- I'm the turkey, unfortunately.
That's me in my house too.
You guys want a cocktail?
We should try a cocktail.
I am so entranced by the idea
of It's Got Electrolytes,
which is the name of this,
because who doesn't need electrolytes?
You're either hungover or you're sweating
so you need electrolytes.
What other cocktails we got, y'all?
We got Ma'am, Don't Be Hysterical,
which is like a Campari, gin,
- house blackberry syrup, and lime.
- What's it called?
- Ma'am, Don't Be Hysterical.
- Ma'am, Don't Be Hysterical.
I need that for my house.
- You want to try one of those?
- There you go.
- I just need a sign actually.
- Okay.
- You want to try?
- With the drink follow-up. Yeah.
These are the tacos.
I'm gonna cut them.
So, yeah, we're calling them
Tacos Inauthenticos,
which we think is a clever name.
But basically it was like, "Hey,
let's make them taste like Taco Bell,"
but as if we were to make Taco Bell.
- We use...
- What's the crunchy stuff?
The crunchy stuff is just fried tortillas.
We put enough spices on there
to try to make it taste like Doritos.
I mean, this is a thinker!
A great mind!
I've always had, like, a problem
where I take refined food
and then I, like, dress it down
so that it comes off really, uh...
you know, white trashy.
He's not just some stoner
who opened a restaurant
where they would have food to get high by.
This is an accomplished chef
who worked in fancy restaurants
and wanted to...
serve the people.
All right, fancy cocktails.
This is the Ma'am, Don't Be Hysterical.
- Ma'am, don't be hysterical!
- Yes.
This is dedicated to the woman I love.
You know what's funny?
My wife loves Campari. It's made for her.
- Literally made for her.
- That makes me very happy.
All right, more food.
Now who doesn't love
a great Reuben sandwich?
But for some reason,
Mason makes a vegetarian one.
So, basically,
the best place to get a sandwich
in New Orleans is Stein's Deli.
It's just down the street. It's amazing.
You're plugging another sandwich place?
I was trying to figure out
how to put collard greens on a sandwich
and, like, I...
We had some rye bread and I was like,
"I think I can make this taste
like The Sam over at Stein's."
It's a triple-decker,
like a club sandwich,
you gotta have the soaker slice
in the middle to get the pot likker
that's dripping off the collard greens.
- The what?
- The pot likker.
- Pot likker.
- You've never heard of pot likker?
So, it's all the juice at the bottom
- of braised greens.
- Oh, my God!
Oh, pot "liquor," like booze.
- But they spell it L-I-K-K-E-R.
- It's spelled L-I-K-K-E-R.
- Here I go.
- One thing we do here
- is spell things weird and say them weird.
- I should shut up and eat.
- There you go.
- Great.
There you go.
Wow, that's awesome.
That's absolutely delicious.
You don't miss the meat at all.
That's the best vegetarian sandwich
I ever had in my life.
If all vegetarian sandwiches
could be like that...
People, let's spread this around:
Collard Green Reuben.
Oh, my God. That is obscene.
It's a little afternoon cap here.
Just to finish you off,
in case you're not dead yet,
here comes soft-serve ice cream
with cheese straws that he makes,
and sprinkles and everything.
It's just this sweet, salty, crazy...
Oh, my God.
Maybe it is just stoner food.
I don't know if I want to get inside
that head of yours,
but I'm glad what comes out of it.
Yeah, you thought it was
gonna be gross too.
It's like they gave
a five-year-old a restaurant
and said do what you want,
and the five-year-old was
like a wunderkind genius.
Yeah. This is great.
When Hurricane Katrina came in 2005...
Tremé, the oldest African-American
neighborhood in the country,
was hit hard and many
of its traditions were threatened.
But as New Orleans rebounds,
recovery comes in many shapes and sizes.
One, two, three.
New Orleans treats music education
with the same reverence as math class
or English or even gym.
Roots of Music is a nonprofit
that takes inner-city kids
and teaches them
how to play musical instruments
right here in the heart of the Tremé.
And it was started
by this guy, Derrick Taab.
I wanted to give back,
and get kids from all over the city
to come together and form this band.
And then, I thought it was gonna be,
like, about 19 kids,
and right now we're serving about 175 kids
and we're gonna take 200 this year.
- So I want to show you around.
- Well, I'm thrilled to meet you.
I know you're a great musician yourself.
Derrick is the drummer
for the Grammy Award-winning
Rebirth Brass Band,
a group that started in Tremé in the 1980s
and has been a NOLA staple ever since.
Oh. Hello!
This is the drum section
for the Roots of Music.
- I like a drum section.
- My pride and joy.
- Yes?
- Yes.
- Because you're a drummer?
- Because I'm a drummer first.
Who want to be the feature today?
Who want to go first? Could I have Butter?
You want to run number two
or something for me today?
Yeah, you got to run number two.
Hi, Butter.
- You gonna say hi to Phil?
- How you doing?
Butter. He's a little shy today.
That's all right. Me too.
Oh, man.
I feel it!
Next, Derrick
takes me to the band room
where it's my turn to be put on the spot.
Want to try the trombone?
I've never played a trombone in my life.
- Mike can help.
- Trying to make me look ridiculous?
Wilson, why don't you come up here? Yeah.
He doesn't look too excited to give me
his trombone. I don't blame you.
So you put your thumb right...
- Oh, here. Got it.
- Hold it like with these three fingers.
- These three fingers here?
- Yes.
Then you blow like this.
- Good air power?
- Yes.
- Move your... arm.
- This?
- To change the note.
- That changes the sound?
Yes.
When do I start with the band?
The band's become
a point of pride for the community
and their marches through
the neighborhood attract a lot of kids
who hope to be part of this band one day.
A lot of people think
that the arts are disposable.
What they don't realize is,
it's the answer.
It's good exercise.
I'm tired!
Because I'm an old man.
- Aw, don't say that!
- I wish I was nine.
Is there someplace
I can lie down after this?
After dinner at Alon's house,
I just had to experience
the number one restaurant in New Orleans.
Yes, it's an Israeli restaurant.
This is Shaya.
Oh, oh, oh.
- Hey, Phil.
- Hi, buddy.
I've missed you.
- I miss you too.
- Haven't seen you in a few days.
- Happy to be here. Look at that!
- Come see. Come around.
- It's an Italian pizza oven.
- Yeah.
We've pretty much just repurposed it
to make pita bread.
This guy's a brilliant chef.
James Beard award-winning chef.
What he chooses to do in that restaurant
is man that pita oven.
I think the most important dish
in the entire restaurant...
- Yeah.
- ...is called "Ljutenica."
- Ljutenica.
- Ljutenica.
It's a Bulgarian spread,
and it's roasted peppers,
eggplants, and tomato.
And then I just put a little bit
of fresh chopped parsley on top.
- And some extra virgin olive oil.
- Oh, baby.
- Take the pita bread.
- Yeah.
Rip it open.
- Careful, it's full of hot steam.
- Yeah.
It's literally like gonna explode
all this fresh hot steam right out of it.
And go for it.
That's my favorite bite
in the entire restaurant.
It is the dish
that made me fall in love with food.
I was seven years old.
I was coming home from school.
I open the front door to my house,
and my grandmother,
and she was visiting from Israel,
was roasting peppers and eggplants
right on the open fire in the house.
I kind of, like, credit that moment
with me connecting food,
and the smell of food,
with happiness, and family,
and togetherness.
For me, it's what made it.
This is unbelievable.
Don't eat too much.
- Shut up.
- Don't fill up on pita bread
because we got
a lot more food coming for you.
- I'm gonna... I'm eating it all.
- I'm gonna keep making pita
because I'm making pita for everybody
in the dining room right now.
It's our bread service.
You do what you need to do,
I'll be over here.
This is a little something
that my grandmother
would also eat a ton of.
- Taramasalata.
- Oh, I love it.
- It's like the fish roe spread, right?
- Right.
We use paddlefish caviar,
- which is like a local freshwater fish.
- I know about this.
The caviar of the United States.
They call it Cajun Caviar down here.
And we put some of these little greens
right here on top.
Here's another thing I want you to taste.
Tabbouleh.
By the way, this is the first green thing
I've had in New Orleans.
Baba ghanoush
with grilled spring onions.
- Hello.
- We're getting beautiful spring onions.
Baba ghanoush.
You know, what makes
a really good baba ghanoush
- is getting...
- Is you.
Well...
This is such a fantastic contrast
to all the other food
- you eat in New Orleans.
- Yeah.
The hummus is really one
of my favorite things on the menu.
One thing about hummus is
it's gotta be smooth and creamy.
These short ribs...
And that's gonna get all
put right on top of that.
You can pretty much put anything
in pita bread and it tastes good.
- So...
- If the pita's good.
If the pita's good. Go for it.
Yeah.
Isn't that tasty?
No!
Sounds like angry happiness.
- Live with me!
- Okay.
- I just need room and board.
- All right.
And I need a constant stream
of compliments.
You're my favorite person.
That's all I need to hear.
I'll be right over.
More hot pita.
I'm cooking them faster
than you can eat them.
I'll help you get them
to the people.
- Use the tongs, right?
- Use the tongs.
- Have you tried this?
- Have I had a pita?
I've had seven, but I'll have another.
- I'm gonna give it to you.
- Why not?
Who hasn't had pita?
You need some more?
It just came out, so you should really...
Know what? You should have a fresh one.
- Don't refuse me.
- No.
Absolutely. Thank you.
You guys! Look...
- This is a fun table.
- Yeah, we are!
- You want this.
- Yeah, we do!
Bless you. What's this party?
- It's my birthday.
- Yeah, her birthday!
Happy birthday!
I go back now.
And now that my shift is over,
I would like some cake.
Chocolate babka.
So we put a little poppy seeds.
- Look at that.
- The halva gelato.
- And then halva sauce and chocolate sauce.
- Oh, oh, oh.
See what I'm talking about?
This is not your mother's dried-out babka.
No, no, no, no.
When I say your mother,
I mean my mother.
Though, I love my mother.
She never made babka.
You think he likes it?
I'm not sure yet.
Don't let them tell you otherwise!
What's the show about?
Uh, Saint Philip.
It's called Saint Philip.
I'm a lawyer who's dead
because my wife killed me
for not paying alimony,
but I have an office
on Saint Philip Street.
- On Saint Philip.
- Yeah, and it's haunted and I'm the ghost.
- You are the ghost.
- Yeah.
What's your name, young fella?
Who are you?
I'm doing a show.
All right. What's it called
and how do I find you?
You know that
Real Housewives of New Orleans?
All right.
- My wife just left me.
- Ah, so it's that part of that show.
And so they thought it would be great
to get me walking sad down the street.
All right. Well done.
I hope you recoup. I hope you recover.
- I hope I find her.
- Oh, you're gonna find her.
Whatcha y'all doing?
I'm on that show.
I'm the...
You ever see that show The Bachelor?
- Yeah.
- I'm the next bachelor.
Good luck with that, baby.
Every once in a while
in my stupidly lucky life,
I get to meet a legend,
and today's that day.
Leah Chase. They call her
"the queen of creole cuisine,"
which is a mix
of French, Caribbean, African, and more.
At 94 years old, I wish...
I had half the facilities
that this person has.
And the talent, by the way.
I've gotta admit, I'm a little nervous.
- Is the big shot here yet?
- Oh, he's coming.
Oh, he's coming.
How often do you meet a hero?
Come here, Phil. Stand in front of me
and let me see what you look like.
I look like this.
- You're good-looking. You'll do well.
- Yeah!
- So... Okay.
- You're good-looking.
And that's good-looking.
What are you making today?
That's a gumbo.
- And...
- Can I put this down over here for you?
Yeah, put it down. Now look here.
You see, when you're making this gumbo,
it's just like going fishing.
How is it like going fishing?
- You get what you catch.
- Right.
So you have some kind of... See?
You have shrimp, you have chicken,
you have ham.
If you go in a Creole home,
- Creoles of color...
- Yeah?
...this is the same gumbo
everybody will make.
You've been making this gumbo for...
only about 70-something years, right?
I'm 70.
- That's all?
- You're right.
You know what? I'm not going to taste it
until you've been doing it for 80 years.
I think that's when you're gonna hit it.
You think so? I don't know.
Leah Chase
was married to Dooky Chase
of the very famous
New Orleans institution Dooky Chase's.
It was just called "The Restaurant"
because it's where everybody hung out.
We gotta talk about
what happened in these rooms.
We gotta talk about how you fueled,
literally fueled the civil rights movement
- by feeding the Freedom Riders...
- We did.
...and Martin Luther King.
This is where the civil rights people
planned to do whatever they had to do
to make a difference.
The more I think about King,
the more I realize how special he was.
For one thing, I don't know if I would
give up my life for you or anybody else.
- Yeah.
- Whenever they would come in town,
this is where they had to meet.
And that was illegal
for people to meet here
and whites and blacks
to come together at that time,
but we got by with it.
I always heard
that the founding fathers of America,
they met in a restaurant
to go over
what the Declaration of Independence
- was going to be in Philadelphia.
- Really?
And you did the same thing.
This was as important.
Meetings like the ones held here
helped the civil rights movement
bring an end to legal segregation,
helped passage of the Voter Rights Act,
the Fair Housing Act, and more.
Over a bowl of gumbo and fried chicken.
I came up in a family
that we were very poor,
and we didn't hug and kiss our parents,
and they didn't hug and kiss us.
But they knew what we needed
and they were there.
And maybe that's where I went wrong
with some of my children,
I didn't hug them enough maybe,
because I was so gung-ho
on making them strong people.
- I was a whipping momma, you know.
- Really?
You do something wrong, I said,
"You're acting like a stupid jackass."
My daughter'd say, "Mother, you can't go
around calling people a stupid jackass."
Well, if you're a stupid jackass,
what you want me to do about it?
Have you slapped anybody lately?
- Yeah, Mr. Obama.
- What?
He sits down to the table with his gumbo,
and before he touches it,
he asks for a bottle of hot sauce.
Without tasting it?
I slap his hand for putting...
- Putting hot sauce in your gumbo.
- ...putting hot sauce in my gumbo.
You didn't call him a stupid jackass,
did you?
No. I started to.
Do you like it?
I don't know if this place
is gonna make it.
But this old guy, Tip O'Neill, and I...
He was such a nice old man, and I love...
But he said, "Leah, we meet
with Republicans, we talk about them,
we talk to them,
but now they're not talking."
They don't talk about things.
You gotta talk it over
and come to some kind of agreement
over something.
But it can be done all over some food.
And that's what we do in New Orleans.
We'd have a bowl of gumbo
and change the whole world.
I am so with you.
I can't tell you how much I believe
in that philosophy.
If you just find out
what people eat and what they like to eat,
you make them happy.
And they think totally different
when they're happy.
Why don't you run for office?
You seem to understand how life works.
I'd vote for you.
Leah Chase, everybody.
In New Orleans, you can hear
world-class musicians play jazz
every night of the week,
including this young man,
who plays the trombone
a little better than I do, Corey Henry.
I was born right around... One block.
That next corner, I was born.
All the Tremé neighborhood pillars
right here.
- Hello.
- Watch out!
- Nelson! What's up, baby?
- Hello, pillars.
Community. Community.
- Some great old houses around here too.
- Yeah.
Old shotgun-style houses in New Orleans.
We lived in so many of those
over the years.
And this is Saint Augustine's,
one of the oldest churches
in the country right here.
This... I mean,
we could be in Europe. Look at that.
Yeah, it's beautiful, man.
Look at the trees. I just love
how beautiful the old trees are.
Watch out, Unc!
The great Henry Youngblood.
He like a pillar
of our community too, man.
Henry Youngblood. How you doing?
- Youngblood.
- This is Phil.
- Henry Youngblood.
- You look young.
I am young, 83 years young.
But you want to know really
why I'm happy?
- Please.
- Tell you?
- Yeah.
- Okay, guess why.
Listen.
I've got a feather in my ass,
and it's tickling me to death.
And that's a wrap.
Uncle! We gotta get going.
I'm just so excited
because everyone tells me
this is the best fried chicken
in the world.
It is. It is.
I definitely agree with that.
- It's your favorite?
- My favorite.
Yeah, I've been coming here...
It's probably about 15 years now.
- It was destroyed over here.
- What?
- They did a great job of bringing it back
- Are you kidding?
- We have some green beans.
- How you doing?
- Red beans.
- Some of the best red beans in the world.
- Yes, indeed.
- That's the chicken.
- This is chicken.
- But this is also the chicken.
- Yes.
- Two orders of chicken.
- Sweet potato fries.
- Sweet potato fries.
- Are you trying to kill me?
- Let's go, New Orleans!
I mean, this is
a pretty heavy batter on here, right?
- Oh, yeah, man, it's...
- Batter up.
That golden fried, baby.
That golden fried.
So good.
Ooh, it's got a little kick just now.
- I got spice.
- Yeah, you'll get a little kick.
What makes Willie Mae's chicken
unique is its wet batter.
It's well-seasoned with cayenne
and lots of family secrets.
That batter is
something special right there.
I don't know exactly how they do it,
but whatever they're doing, magnificent.
I get the appeal.
Mm-hmm.
Mmm.
When Katrina hit this building,
was it completely wrecked?
It was closed for, I'm not exactly sure,
but probably a couple of years, you know.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- Which is not good.
- No.
We need Willie Mae's around here.
Good food, good music.
- Good food.
- Very good people.
Willie Mae's!
- Look, I'm your kid in the backseat.
- Nice!
Shut up or I'll turn this car
right around.
Are we almost there?
When do we get there?
- You'll eat when I tell you.
- Are you hungry?
I'm hungry.
How did you guys meet?
Did you click right away?
- Yeah, I mean...
- Yeah.
Yeah? Like first meeting?
- Well...
- Well, no.
I clicked on her right away, and...
- You had to taste his cooking first.
- Yeah.
So we're going to one
of my favorite Italian restaurants
in the New Orleans area.
It's called Mosca's.
There's a rumor
that this was Al Capone's chef
and he sent this guy here
because his boys didn't know
what good food was in New Orleans.
Well, you know what?
I kind of think that that rumor is true,
mostly because Mosca's was in Chicago
before it was in New Orleans.
Okay. There's another rumor,
that they kept lions out back in the '30s.
- I don't know.
- Like on chains.
And if you were a rat...
- rats get fed to the lions.
- They get fed to the lions.
- Sounds right.
- I thought that veal parmigiana
tasted a little gamey
the last time I was there.
But the food is worth it.
We arrive at what looks
like a roadside country church,
which I guess it kind of is.
And inside we find
my new favorite person, Julia Reed,
and friends Derek
and Alon's gefilte fisherman, Chris.
They've been here a while,
so they've had a head start,
if you know what I mean.
Thanks for joining me, you guys.
I'm so thrilled to be with you.
I'm thrilled to be at Mosca's.
- I want to say it right.
- Mahs-ca's.
- Mosca's.
- He says it's Mosca's.
No, it's Mahs-ca's.
It's Mahs-ca's.
You say, "mosca,"
that means "fly" in Italian.
- Yeah.
- Perfect for a restaurant.
- Mosca.
- First time for everything.
- That's right.
- Hello.
How do you pronounce
the name of the restaurant?
Mosca's.
Oh!
- That was brave of me, I thought.
- Very brave.
But we stopped caring
about pronunciation because this happens.
Yes, yes, yes, yes,
chicken a la grande.
Wait for the spaghetti.
This chicken is so good.
It's organic. It's not like...
Usually, you put
the meatballs on the pasta,
but Alon has a brilliant life hack.
Julia, I'm so excited to introduce you
to the Oysters Mosca
on top of the spaghetti bordelaise.
Well, I'm very trepidatious about that.
You had the pronunciation
of the restaurant,
so you've won one goddamn medal.
- Let's not fight.
- Trust me.
Now, put the oysters on top of that.
What you want? You want a little more?
- Like a lizard.
- This is perfect. This is perfect.
Thank you.
Combo...
You're right, he's not wrong.
He's not wrong.
I'm not wrong. Look.
It's delicious.
I don't know much about much,
but I do know...
- Yes.
- It's delicious.
- Oysters mosca on spaghetti bordelaise.
- We're gonna need more oysters.
We need more oysters.
- More oysters, please.
- Oh, my God.
It doesn't look like much.
It looks like pasta,
it looks like meatballs,
it looks like chicken.
This is some of the most delicious
comfort food I've ever had.
And it's made even more comfortable
when you know the Mosca family's
back there in the kitchen,
like they've been for over 70 years.
Even if there were lions in the back,
I'd still want to eat here.
And Johnny!
Hey, Johnny!
Whoo!
Is that Johnny the third?
- Get in there.
- Grab it.
That's it. Do it, baby.
Almost on your...
It's like the Pope is coming by.
He blesses you.
There's a fork in my spaghetti.
I had the best table of people,
and we just had
the greatest time eating this food.
He keeps fishing me out these delicious...
- Little garlic knots.
- Ah. Mmm.
Darling, anything?
That is the sweetest thing
anybody's ever done for me.
We may be related by garlic.
- I'll cheers to that.
- To the Mosca's.
- Mosca's.
- To the Mosca's.
- The people who do this.
- The Mosca's.
The Mosca's, the Mahs-ca's.
You say Mahs-ca, and I say Mosca.
I do not go to New Orleans
without going here.
- Leon!
- Come in.
How you doing Fe-ly Phil.
How we making out, baby?
Well, I had a very hard night,
so I'm gonna go very light today.
- Okay.
- Ready?
Ready for you. What you got?
- Bacon and cheese omelet.
- Mm-hmm.
- Chef's omelet.
- Mm-hmm.
Cheeseburger with everything.
That's how Phil do it.
He going big or he going home.
I might go big
and then go to the hospital.
You go to Camellia Grill.
It's been there since the '40s.
And what's great about this counter,
you're sitting across from somebody,
so there's
this communal spirit of the place.
And before you know it,
you're talking to everybody.
You gotta get an omelet.
They take the eggs,
they crack them in the blender,
and they whip the eggs.
And it's the lightest, fluffiest omelet.
Why aren't we doing this?
There's a lot of air in it,
so it's very light.
So it's going to look bigger
than what you're actually eating.
- Leon.
- What you say, Fe-ly?
I love it.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That's what we do.
I like them.
Oh, my dessert is here.
You know, Phil, we lost
our main man up there, now.
Molly Mal.
Twenty-six years of service.
February the tenth of last year.
- What happened?
- He had a heart attack.
That's the man right there.
- Hi, there.
- Oh!
What's doing?
Uh, I love New Orleans.
It's a very happy place.
Everybody's out in the street,
everybody's, you know...
Everybody is eating and drinking.
It's great.
I mean, it really came back,
and the tourism is fantastic.
I'm telling everybody. This is...
If you can't travel outside the country,
this seems to be
the most European of cities.
- What?
- They're coming to get you. I hear sirens.
- Yeah.
- Would you like the audience
to see where we live by the window?
You want everybody knowing
where you live?
You want them to know
where your apartment is?
Do you know how many fans you have?
They'll be screaming like
you're Justin Bieber outside your window.
- Right.
- What does that mean?
Monica said you're going
to a wedding today. Is that...
- It's true.
- Whose wedding?
People I met in Ho Chi Minh City,
in Saigon.
Mmm. Mmm.
Mmm.
And she's a chef, and she's cooking for us
and for her guests.
But we're part of the wedding party.
When is that, today?
- Yeah, in a couple of hours.
- And your wife...
It just so happens to be here
at the same time?
Just so happens.
- That's unbelievable.
- Yeah.
Isn't that nice?
Everybody's getting married
all of a sudden.
You recommend it, right?
No.
- Any other...
- It's a good institution,
but who wants to live in an institution?
So I met Nikky and Annie
in Ho Chi Minh City
where Nikky has the best restaurant.
And they're such a lovely couple,
and they said they were gonna
get married in New Orleans.
I said "When?"
And they said, "April."
I said, "We're gonna be there in April."
They said, "Oh, my God!"
So now you're caught up.
It's the day of the wedding, and Nikky
is also preparing the wedding feast.
Oh, look at you! You look great.
Yes.
Do you want to try it first?
- You want me to be the guinea pig?
- Yes.
Yeah, I'll try anything you want.
I'm happy to help you.
Oh.
Can I tell you, this food
is so much better than at my wedding.
The food was bad.
But the marriage was good.
Happiness in marriage
is not something that just happens.
A good marriage must be created.
In the art of marriage,
the little things are the big things.
It's never being too old to hold hands.
It's remembering to say "I love you"
at least once a day.
It is not only marrying the right partner,
it is being the right partner.
Sam, you have the rings.
I think this wedding kind of
captures what New Orleans is all about.
Wherever you're from, whatever you do,
wherever you've been,
you can be yourself here.
You can express yourself,
connect with other people,
and have fun doing it.
Congratulations, you may kiss your bride.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
As our gift, we wanted
to just take care of the music.
You know, get a DJ or something.
Follow the music! Follow the music!
In case it's not obvious yet,
these have been the reasons
I love New Orleans.
It's unique, not just in America,
but in the world.
No place celebrates like this place.
I watch that!
And New Orleans is a celebration of art,
music, food,
laughs, culture,
and every kind of person from everywhere
that wants to partake.
I love this quote from Will Smith.
He said,
"Diversity is America's superpower."
Well, if that's so, then New Orleans
is a leading source of energy.
It's rough around the edges because
it's seen some hard times, but who hasn't?
The lesson New Orleans has for us is,
it's how you get up from those times.
And once you're up,
you may as well go to the party.
Whoo!
Eh, là-bas, bruh.
♪ Somebody, please, somebody, please ♪
♪ Somebody, please, somebody, please ♪
♪ Somebody, please, somebody, please ♪
♪ Somebody ♪
♪ Somebody, please, somebody, please ♪
♪ Somebody ♪
♪ Somebody, please, somebody, please ♪
♪ Somebody ♪
♪ Somebody, please, somebody, please ♪
♪ Somebody ♪
♪ Somebody, please, somebody, please ♪
♪ Somebody ♪
♪ Somebody, please, somebody, please ♪
♪ Can somebody ♪
♪ Somebody feed Phil? ♪
♪ Oh, please, somebody ♪
♪ Somebody feed Phil ♪
♪ Somebody feed him now ♪