Somebody Feed Phil (2018–…): Season 2, Episode 4 - Copenhagen - full transcript
Phil relishes new interpretations of Nordic classics such as smorrebrod and frikadeller before joining his family for fun and games at Tivoli Gardens.
I see it. I go now.
Well, that combined
everything that I love.
A long schlep to the top of a thing,
to a terrifying height, with just a thin
little guardrail between me and death.
And not even any food at the top,
by the way.
Stupid Richard.
# 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 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 #
The first recollection
I have of Copenhagen
was the Hans Christian Andersen
musical movie starring Danny Kaye.
Hans Christian Andersen wrote
some of your favorite little stories
like "The Ugly Duckling"
and "Thumbelina" and "The Little Mermaid."
The songs are amazing.
And the thing that became
the theme song in my mind
for this place:
"Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen."
And then you get here,
and I have to say it kind of is.
It's beautiful.
It's like an idealized society
where you walk and you bike
and it's clean.
The tax bracket is like 50 percent,
but you get free education,
free health care, free-- Free everything.
Clean air, clean water, and the food!
The Nordic cuisine celebrates
the forest and the sea and the field.
They're celebrating what's around them.
Take all that
and put it on a slice of amazing bread
and you have
the most traditional Danish food there is.
Just don't ask me to pronounce it.
I'm going to Aamanns Deli.
Chef Adam Aamann makes these things
better than anybody else.
And Copenhagen food writer Marie Olesen
will keep me from looking
like too much of an idiot.
I'm ready for a smørrebrød.
- Smørrebrød.
- Did I say it right?
- Yeah, almost. Smørrebrød.
- Smirbroad.
Is that right? Smirgabroad.
Smirgabroad? Smirgbroad.
The world's hardest language.
A piece of bread and you--
Something you smear on it.
And then you layer it and you layer it.
And you put little beautiful things on top
- and it's delicious.
- I love it.
- Open face sandwich.
- Open face sandwiches, yeah.
These are like gourmet smears.
Not like some peanut butter and jelly
that I would do at home.
This is a piece of art for sure.
- There you are. Hi.
- You're Adam. The owner and chef.
Have you tried smørrebrød before?
I have tasted it,
but I'm hearing that this is the place.
It's like the rye bread
is the canvas for the art, right?
- Exactly.
- Then you do what you want.
This is
like a Scandinavian tradition.
I'm hungry, I'm ready.
And thirsty I hope. Yeah?
- Yeah.
- For some snaps?
- I'll do anything you say.
- Great.
I mean, it's Monday so... hard liquor.
That's the way to start the week, I think.
- In the middle of the day?
- That's what all Danes do for lunch
when they come to eat smørrebrød.
Snaps traditionally goes with smørrebrød.
That's what they do here.
It's not me. I'm not demanding alcohol.
I prepared some snaps.
- Sounds excellent.
- Here we go.
And a little bit of beer, you know,
to make the hard liquor flow more easily.
Goodbye, everybody.
So, we're going on a picnic
in Østre Anlæg park
with these nice people I just met.
Now if someone hasn't had any before,
what would be the first one
you wanted them to try?
- Herring.
- Really?
Herring is the natural place to start.
- Number one?
- Number one. Marinated herring.
Wow, that's gorgeous. Look at that.
- And Phil?
- Yes.
I know you're an American
and you like to eat with your hands,
but you need to let it rest on the plate
- and use your knife and fork.
- Sorry, everybody.
Sorry. I'm the American embarrassment.
As if we don't have enough.
This is matured herring
in vinegar brine,
with marinated new Danish potatoes,
homemade sour cream
and then fried buckwheat on top.
Mm.
So, important thing when you eat herring
in Denmark is the snaps.
This is our own invention
made of rye bread actually.
Skål, my friends.
- Skål.
- Skål.
Have you been told why we say "skål"
in Denmark, by the way?
- Why you say skål? Tell me.
- Yeah, what it means.
Skål apparently means--
It's-- It means skull.
Oh.
So, the white Vikings would cheer
in an actual skull after a victory.
We need a skull. Anybody?
- A bowl. So like a bowl on your head.
- Somebody's head.
Like the ac--
The actual skull of their enemy.
- They would use after victory.
- Oh, the skull.
- Richard.
- To cheer.
- We need your skull.
- It's very, uh...
Could you lie down for a moment?
Hello, pretty.
This is braised pork with rhubarbs,
some crumble of dry salted bacon.
And this is the picnic way
of opening a beer, right?
Yeah, that sounds good!
Goodbye, water.
Smørrebrød is something from,
I'm guessing, your childhood
that you always loved and said, "Someday
I'm going to open a place that does this."
When I opened the shop, the smørrebrød
was at a really low, kind of low peak,
even though it's like the major--
Sorry, I'm not listening.
Great.
Pork wins!
I did hear you.
Even though it's the major
Danish contribution to world gastronomy,
nobody really wanted to touch it at that--
Ten years ago.
Because it was considered old-fashioned.
In the old days, you would
make a really large piece of smørrebrød.
It would be like a small piece of bread
with a tsunami of meat on top.
That's gonna be my life story.
A tsunami of meat.
- Very far from fine dining.
- Yes.
For the past ten years, things have been
developing, so this is what it's come to.
I'm very glad I've come here
at the right moment in time.
Give me that sandwich!
So, I think if you're into food
and you're coming to København,
you've heard of Noma.
It won best restaurant in the world
over and over again
thanks to the vision
of new Nordic pioneer René Redzepi.
So, when we get here, Noma is closed.
It's set to reopen in another space
in 2018, but in the meantime,
the old Noma space has found
a perfect new tenant.
Thorsten Schmidt. He's known
as the Nordic alchemist, right?
Because he was so inventive
and so creative.
Partnered with Redzepi,
Thorsten has his sights set
on the dishes every Dane grew up with.
And he makes them exciting again
at their restaurant, Barr.
Oh, whoa.
First dish.
That's a first dish?
- Yeah, first dish. Yeah.
- A big first--
- I like when you hit 'em hard right away.
- Yes.
This is actually where we
dig into some of the regional classics.
It's baked codfish
with white sauce and bacon.
So, this is actually not baked,
it's glazed.
You have a heater which has top heat.
- Yeah.
- We just glaze it.
And turn it and glaze it.
And turn it and glaze it.
He says it's taken out and glazed
and put back and glazed like 14 times.
I'm gonna do it 14 times now for you.
Double that.
What does that do to the food?
It makes it unbelievable.
Oh, wait a minute.
Ah.
Wow.
You get the juiciness,
but you get the glazing
and we put it on bread
so you can eat the bread afterwards
- with all the juices.
- Good idea.
It looks rustic and it tastes like
- absolute four-star fine dining.
- Yes.
The trick is to get the love of grandma...
Yeah.
...with the talent of a chef.
Yeah. Sometimes we humans
have a tendency to do,
"Oh, back in the days,
everything was better."
Yeah, because we were kids.
If you could go back and be analytical...
you'd say, "Maybe that wasn't
the best piece of fish."
- No.
- But this is the best piece of fish.
You're borrowing from that shelf
of fine-dining knowledge
and you put it, you know,
in a setting like that.
- Casual.
- Casual.
This is just casually amazing.
- Yeah. Yeah! That's a good term actually.
- Casually amazing?
Casually amazing.
- Did I write your catchphrase?
- You did actually there.
- I'm going to try Mr. Schnitzel over here.
- Just dig in.
This sauce is pickled ramson seeds,
fresh horseradish,
and underneath there's a cream,
whipped cream with horseradish.
Wow.
Can we go back?
We should go back.
We should go back just for the--
Meatballs.
Here comes a meatball.
This is called a frikadeller.
- Ah. Underneath the--
- Yeah, we need to frikadeller ourselves.
We need to frikadeller.
Get your frikadeller on.
Yes. Danish people-- It's like frikadeller
is the most Danish thing ever.
- Right.
- That's a cultural thing
you can find all over.
They're like meatballs.
- Every country has a meatball.
- Every country has a meatball.
Frikadeller is just
the Northern Europe-y part of it.
And we serve it here with summer cabbage,
a little brown sauce.
And underneath are the frikadeller.
So, I hope you were hungry.
Yeah, I see it. It's good.
What!?
Oh, my God.
The juiciest like--
And crispy on the outside,
sumptuous meatball.
Best freaking frikadeller I've ever had.
- I'm so grateful to you.
- Yeah.
Here. These are for you.
Oh, thank you.
And I paid, myself, for them. So great.
My kids do that to me all the time.
- "Thank you, Daddy. You're so good."
- "Here's your thing."
While we're here,
my wife and daughter came to visit.
My son is working on the crew
and it's my son's birthday,
and we thought,
"What if we had a birthday dinner
at one of the best restaurants
in all of Denmark?"
So we hopped
on one of these great water taxis...
Hello, people!
- Didn't wave back.
- Nobody waved.
Nobody cares.
And we go three stops
and we're at this field.
The restaurant is in the distance.
Ahoy.
- Ahoy.
- I say "Ahoy" because I'm a sailor man.
- Took one boat ride...
- We're by the water.
...and now he's a sailor.
Welcome.
Matt!
Matt Orlando is a chef
from San Diego, California.
And Matt has worked at Per Se,
Le Bernardin, and Noma.
But now, Matt has
an incredible restaurant called Amass.
Matt sticks to the number one rule
of new Nordic cuisine:
everything he cooks is influenced
by what's near the restaurant.
- The family! There's Lily!
- Hello.
- Hello.
- There's Monica!
- There's Ben!
- Hi.
- Happy birthday and...
- Yes!
- Thank you.
- Yeah.
Of course. I got something special
for your birthday.
- Something we don't always do, so...
- Really?
So, no trip to Copenhagen is complete
without a frolic
through a field of alfalfa.
- Oh, my God.
- I love frolicking.
- If you say "frolic," I'm doing it.
- Of course.
Embarrass the children.
You guys have frolicked before,
haven't you?
So, alfalfa.
It's beautiful.
Look at the purple flowers.
- You can eat it.
- Yeah.
- Really?
- The whole thing?
I'm doing it.
Oh, wow.
- It's like a vegetable.
- Like a great sprout.
- It's like a sweet sprout.
- Yeah.
- You took the words right out of my mouth.
- Amazing.
These are called yarrow flowers.
- It starts to taste like pine a little.
- Very interesting.
- And then a little bitter aftertaste.
- Exactly.
- This is...?
- Corn flowers.
Wow! Remember Room With a View?
She puts them in her hair.
One of my favorite herbs and flowers
of all-time is here.
Marigolds.
There's a small window
within the season
where the leaves
taste like the skins of mandarin oranges.
- What?
- Yeah.
Oh, my God,
that is exactly what they taste like.
The skins of mandarin oranges.
Mm.
- Wow.
- Yeah.
Here, I'm going to make
a little salad in your hand.
Then he says, "Hold out your hand.
I'm gonna make a salad in your hand."
Now, I've heard this before,
and it didn't always work out so nicely.
There you go. Arugula.
When you eat peas and arugula
together, you get this sweet spicy.
- We'll top it off with thyme flowers.
- Excellent idea, chef.
- All about presentation, right?
- Yeah.
Oh, there you go. Know what we call that?
We call that raw talent.
- Get it?
- Whoa.
- Yeah. Thank you.
- Somebody throw her in the water.
- Eat your salad.
- One-biter.
Mm.
- That's so good.
- Yeah.
Why don't I just graze here
for dinner?
This is your birthday surprise.
Sit in the field and eat all night.
While Monica and the kids
collect the appetizer,
I head into the kitchen
with Matt for the main course.
Matt's surprising Ben
with his famous fried chicken.
Oh, sorry if I drool a little.
That's my piece. That's my piece too.
Ben happens to love fried chicken.
Why? Because he's a person.
I'm going to cry.
- Recognize these?
- Yeah.
Now you get to use your extensive
knowledge of flowers.
We're gonna go head-to-head.
See who plates it better.
Oh, well...
Fresh tomatoes
that we've just peeled.
Tomatoes that we have put
in the dehydrator.
Now this is a premiere dish?
You have not made this?
Yeah. We have never made this dish.
These are rose petals.
Pickled in apple vinegar.
I'm a fine-dining chef.
This is tomato water.
Oh, boy, that's intense.
This is the oil
that's made out of the Douglas fir pine.
Oh, look at that.
Look how it beads.
Will it bead like that for me?
- Yes.
- Nice.
But what I did
that I noticed you didn't do--
- Hit the edge.
- I hit the edge.
- That's a little sloppy. That's an old--
- That's all right.
- That's a warning, not a firing.
- Yes. Okay.
- Next time...
- Yes.
There's no rules with flowers.
Let it rain.
Take a little bit of the salt,
just finish it with it.
- You get that little bite.
- Yeah.
And we're done.
- Shouldn't I go like this? Like the guy?
- Oh, don't do Salt Bae.
Don't do it.
I've ejected people from this kitchen
for less than that.
# Happy birthday, dear Ben #
# Happy birthday to you #
- We should've had candles.
- Fried chicken!
What?
Yes! And what do you call it?
What are you calling this?
This is Phil's Frolicking Flowers.
- I love that!
- Isn't that sweet?
Philip, did you help?
- I actually helped.
- Did you?
- I apologize if it's terrible in advance.
- He was key in our success.
- Thank you so much.
- Of course. Happy birthday.
It looks beautiful.
- I am happy to be here with my family.
- Oh, sweetie.
- Matt, you're now in the family.
- Perfect. I'll take it.
There's a lot of downside,
but I'll tell you about it later.
They're gonna have to eat that.
- This is--
- Mm.
This totally works.
- Yeah?
- Come on.
So good.
- This is delicious.
- I know you wanted the leg.
This is vinegar powder over the top.
All right, here we go.
Wow, that's like
no fried chicken I've ever had.
- Yeah.
- We use a flour called aryon,
which is a darker flour.
- A bit more rustic so you really taste it.
- Wow, it's delicious.
Look.
Monica.
Oh, man.
Look at the sunset, Monica!
If you were looking, you would be saying
"ooh and ah" more.
No, this is not--
- This feels unreal. It really is.
- Yeah. It really is.
- I mean, it never gets old.
- Look at us.
- I know. Phil--
- Matt, what can we offer you? Yes.
All right. Sorry, everybody.
- Sorry you had to see that.
- You ruined it.
- You ruined Ben's birthday. Jeez.
- Ben's birthday.
Any place that's on the water,
you want to see it from the water.
Anders Selmer is another alumni of Noma.
Anders!
- Hello, my friend!
- Nice to see you!
- Yeah.
- Am I climbing down this thing?
You have to.
All right. Tell my wife I loved her.
I met him actually in Mexico City.
He was friends with some of my friends
that I made there.
And he said,
"When you're in Copenhagen, look me up!"
So, I did. And he has a boat.
So, I'm lucky.
All right! I'm in! Let's go save Dunkirk.
All right. Phil, Copenhagen.
I can't believe I'm here.
It seems like a fairy tale.
And what a day we have.
We have so much of the year
where we stay indoors.
- Yes.
- That's why, in the summertime,
Copenhagen is amazing.
- Yes. Yeah.
- Because everything happens.
- This is one of the most charming streets.
- Isn't it wonder-- Yeah! I love it here.
Well, I never.
Hello, people.
- Friendly town.
- It is a friendly town.
- Wow. Look at this.
- We're in the big harbor now.
So of course you see
the beautiful old buildings.
And then you see
the most modern coolest buildings.
This is beautiful here.
The bridges for the bikes and the people.
- Yeah.
- It's sweet.
Oh, now we're going.
Come on!
Where are we headed now?
We are going to meet Joachim.
Joachim has a project here in the harbor.
Anders turns down
a little residential canal
full of adorable houseboats,
and we float over to his friend Joachim.
- Joachim! This is your house.
- This is my house, yeah.
You like living on a boat?
Best place in the world.
They run something called
the Maritime Nyttehaver
in the very canals that we're on.
The project is teaching people
about sustainable local food production.
Yeah.
They're hanging rope under the water.
And what happens then?
Mussels come and cling
and grow on the rope.
And they grow for three, four, five years
before you can eat them.
All you did was hang rope?
Yeah, basically if you put your foot
in the water in April...
- Yeah.
- ...and take it up again in September,
it'll be full of baby mussels
growing on your foot.
- Really?
- Yeah.
If only I could put
my whole body in the water
and come out with, uh, big muscles.
- People swim in the harbor.
- Isn't that great?
- It's that clean. No problem. Yeah.
- That you can swim.
Look at this. This would be
like doing this in the Hudson River.
Kids jumping and playing in that water.
And the boats are going by,
but the water is clean.
Clean enough to support food
that they're going to eat!
We could do this. This seems smart to me.
It's a lesson in sustainability
for the world.
I read that the Danish people
are the happiest people on Earth.
- Or at least in the top three.
- Yeah.
- Are you?
- We weren't 15 years ago.
Before 15 years ago,
you weren't happy here?
- No good restaurants, no good food.
- Really?
It was gray and boring.
We have in many ways
a very Protestant way of looking at life.
Yeah.
- What is that?
- Protestant way is not enjoying anything.
- Not being extravagant in anything.
- Wait a minute.
That's the Jewish way.
It's, uh, very much the Protestant way.
See? We're all the same.
It's good to hear
you can't enjoy things also.
- Yeah. Yeah.
- It makes me feel better.
The church dictated that everything
that was joyful was sinful.
So, singing, dancing--
Eating. Having a party.
Anything was sinful.
So, your country,
you're just now in recent history
waking up to the idea of enjoying life.
Yes. But Copenhagen
is becoming a fantastic place to live.
The beauty and quality
of so many things in this city,
like the architecture,
the way we build things,
- the produce we have, is exceptional.
- Yeah.
Party boat!
Yeah, look, they're enjoying life.
I'm gonna call the church.
Yeah.
I got a good look at the water
with Anders in his boat.
Now he wants to show me
what he gets there
at his seafood restaurant, Fiskebaren,
in Copenhagen's meatpacking district.
So you wanted to make
the best seafood restaurant
in Copenhagen,
- and you put it in the meat district.
- Yes, exactly. We needed it.
- You can't live on meat all the time.
- No.
Fiskebaren chef Jamie Lee
joins the table
with something that's definitely not meat.
- Oh, baby!
- Here's your welcome.
These are massive!
- These are local oysters.
- Yeah.
This oyster here is
what we call a flat bottom oyster,
and the French call it Belon.
It's the last native oyster in Europe.
Really?
These ones.
Then this one is the Pacific oyster.
And it's an invasive species,
so we have to eat these fast
because they take over from these guys.
I can help with that.
They're big.
Yeah, they're big.
That is tremendous.
That's like the freshest, most delicious,
hugest oyster I ever had.
- Each one is a meal by itself.
- Yeah.
Until Anders
opened this place in 2009,
seafood here wasn't easy to find.
Back then, there was
one fish restaurant in Copenhagen.
- What?
- One fish restaurant.
You're on the water
and there's one fish restaurant?
There was one.
And they wore white gloves.
- You had different cutleries meant for--
- Fancy schmancy.
Yeah.
What were they doing
with all the fish they were catch--
the fisherman were catching?
Were they exporting?
Ninety-eight percent goes
to Spain, Italy, and France.
They love the fish from here,
because it's the best quality.
It must be human nature that we don't
appreciate what's right around us. Right?
- We think it's better from over there.
- Yeah.
- Oh, beautiful! Wow!
- So, gentlemen.
This is caught
from a coastal fishery as well.
We had
a beautiful, beautiful local lobster.
It looked like jewelry.
Everything we do here is so seasonal.
Denmark is extremely dependent on season.
- What!?
- Yeah.
What!?
- Danish lobster?
- Yeah.
- I never had that.
- It's called blue or black lobster.
- Really?
- It's the best lobster.
Here comes, in a newspaper cone...
- Fish and chips!
- Yes!
Come on! Who doesn't like this?
- Everything we do...
- Yes.
...we think about sustainability
and using all parts of the fish,
and fish and chips came out of--
We have
all of these beautiful main courses,
and then, at the end,
we have all these tail pieces
that's actually extremely juicy
and fantastic meat.
- It's so smoky. What's so smoky?
- We make it--
We smoke it in oak. Oak wood.
You have elevated the fish and chips.
Mm.
- You're from London?
- I'm from London.
You know your fish and chips.
A bit of a connoisseur, actually, yeah.
This is undeniable.
I mean, you would put this up
against anything in London.
- Copenhagen vs. London. That'll be good.
- No, you win.
- Really?
- I'm not kidding. The best ever.
Whoo-hoo!
Bicycles are a way of life
all over northern Europe,
with Copenhagen leading the way.
It's actually considered
the most bike-friendly city on the planet.
And I was born to ride.
I'm going to meet Matt so he can
show me around his favorite part of town:
a magical land called Christiania.
Christiania was formed
by hippies, squatters,
and they formed
their own self-sustaining community.
So, when was this established?
-1971.
- Yeah.
That's when the military moved out.
And before they could do anything,
hippies moved in,
and they squatted and they used
their squatter's rights to keep it.
How long do you need to squat
before it's yours?
- I don't--
- Because I have my eye on some properties.
The way it's set up is that
if you want to move
into a house on a block...
- Yeah.
- ...or in this area,
then you have to be
approved by the people.
- Like a co-op board? Yeah.
- Allow you-- Exactly.
But then, once you're in,
you get the house for free.
You don't pay for it. But when you leave,
you leave with nothing.
You move out,
you don't get anything for it.
Who would leave?
Exactly.
It's what the '60s
were supposed to turn into,
you know, instead of all those people
going into hedge funds.
Uh... This is the idealized community.
They have built an infrastructure,
so they don't have to depend on--
- They're not dependent on the city.
- The city. No. No.
- Do they pay tax to the city?
- Not at all. No.
Back here is
the best falafel in Copenhagen.
- What?
- Yep.
Oh. I like his squirt.
He's got a good squirt.
Lookie, lookie, everybody.
- Here are some vendors.
- Yeah.
And we're not gonna film them
because they like their privacy.
Yes. There's some, uh... marijuana use.
So police don't bother them
as long as they stay contained here.
It's almost like the Wild West out here.
- Yeah.
- You can get away with so much more.
So, it's probably a good idea
that the place is car-free.
But they hardly even need them
thanks to the Christiania cargo bike
that they invented.
You see them all over,
even in the non-stoner parts of town.
Another graduate of Noma
is former pastry chef Rosio Sanchez,
who's now blowing a lot of Danish minds
from a little stand
called Hija de Sanchez.
At the Torvehallerne.
Did I say that right? No.
Torvehallerne.
She found something missing
in Copenhagen: tacos.
One of Rosio's many fans is my new friend
Marie, so she joins us for lunch.
These are kind of the cravings
I had when I was younger.
- The chilies we bring from Mexico...
- I'm getting it.
...the corn and the spices,
and then everything else is from here.
Danish food doesn't have
a lot of spice like this.
No.
So what did people do
when they first started having it?
Were they like,
"I can't! What are you doing to me?"
Well, I'm clearly still not used to it.
That's crazy. It's pretty mild.
Ooh.
Really?
Is my head on fire?
- Yeah, your hair turned red!
- Only my hair.
The next tacos Rosio brought us are
what she learned from being in Denmark,
and she's using indigenous ingredients
in these tacos.
Oh.
We have the quesadillas and gordita.
We definitely use
the cheese from here.
One of the other things
that I said we have to have is tomatillo.
- I love tomatillo.
- I know, but you can't get it here.
And then I remembered
the gooseberries have that same acidity.
- So we make a--
- A gooseberry salsa! Oh, I got to go.
This one is cod skin.
- Wow.
- Chicharrón.
- Yes, cod skin chicharrón. I will.
- You want to try that first.
Usually in Mexico you have
a green salsa with pork skin.
- Yeah.
- So in this case we did it with fish skin,
- so it's a lighter version of that.
- Ah.
- You know, crunchy and...
- I can't deny you.
...it's a little bit fried.
And then we have, um...
Oh, wow.
Ah, this is my favorite. This is so good.
Don't you want to take over the world?
I had a friend from L.A.
who said if that taco was in L.A.,
- it'd be the best taco in L.A.
- Yes!
That's what I'm saying.
I think you still want dessert, right?
- I'm never gonna say no to you.
- Perfect!
Then Rosio, because she's
a pastry chef first,
makes these Danish-inspired
Mexican paletas!
- Paleta!
- Oh, wow!
You know what paletas are, right?
Mexican ice cream pops.
- Wow, artwork!
- So this is--
This one is avocado ice cream
with cajeta and raspberry.
And then this one is sea buckthorn.
The little orange, bright, acidic berry.
Mm.
I don't know if you have this word here,
but this is a creamsicle.
Yes!
Right?
This one is coconut with fried cacao,
candied cacao nibs.
So, we just make it, you know,
very nice and creamy,
and, you know, elegant.
Which one is your favorite?
- This one?
- Really? Nice!
It's only because I really like you
that I give this to you...
- You can have...
- ...because that's pretty awesome.
- Fantastic.
- That's good.
This has been the best day.
Rosio Sanchez, everybody!
There's a famous architect here
named Bjarke Ingels.
He's one of the greatest architects
in the world
and he's got incredibly creative
and important buildings in many countries.
And I fell in love with him
and his work, and I said,
"Can we meet him? Maybe there's
something new that we can explore."
Yes, there is!
It's a park.
Tell me about this place.
This is Superkilen.
This is actually
the most ethnically diverse neighborhood
in all of Denmark.
We said, like, this project
is going to be all about ownership.
Why don't we look at ethnic diversity,
cultural diversity as a positive?
Then we could actually maybe
do something good.
We reached out to the local community,
and we asked people what elements
from your former hometown
do you miss or think could actually be
a great part of your new neighborhood?
We have a Moroccan fountain because
Moroccans actually have amazing traditions
for architectural water features.
Over there you have
this fiberglass octopus.
- Yeah.
- It's from Tokyo.
- It's like a children magnet.
- Fantastic.
This is a Mexican love seat.
- The S curve...
- Yeah?
...means you're looking the person
you're sitting next to in the eyes.
Really?
- Let's try it, shall we? Hello.
- Hello.
Oh, look at you. You're very nice.
Thank you very much. You too, I guess.
- Phil.
- Ronnie.
- Hi, Ronnie, where are you from?
- I'm from right here.
Do you like this neighborhood?
Do you know who this is?
Yeah, I know who it is. Hi, Bjarke.
Morning. Nice to meet you.
When Copenhagen transforms
because new people move here
and start expressing themselves,
Danish identity also transforms.
So, it becomes a true expression
of the cultural diversity
of contemporary Copenhagen.
- Architecture of inclusion.
- Exactly.
His park is all about the future,
but Bjarke's past was the starting point
for one of his favorite projects.
- This was your high school!
- My high school.
I think back then,
high schools and hospitals
were designed in a very similar way.
They want you to know
you're in an institution.
- Yes, exactly.
- You're not here for fun.
My old math teacher called me,
and she said she wanted us
to look at making an actual sports hall
dimensioned to play handball.
So, if you're standing
down in the sports hall
and you throw a handball,
- it'll trace this arch.
- Wow.
The fun is built into it,
and I feel like I would have been bullied
a little bit less
if my school had
this sense of fun about it.
Although, they would have probably
rolled me down this.
It never occurred to me
that this was the roof of something.
Whoa.
So, this is inside the mole hill.
When we design things,
it's a bit like when you cook.
You try to somehow listen
to the ingredients
and you try to find out
what does this thing want to be.
- Right.
- And in this case,
there is something
about the purity of the ingredients...
- Yeah.
- ...that in a way,
we haven't covered anything
in icing or sauce.
It's the bare bones of the building
that become the expression.
You're doing
what I love about chefs
who idealize something
from their childhood.
- That's what you've done here.
- Yeah.
You've idealized your childhood,
literally.
You practically owe it
to the next generation.
And you make the world better.
How many people--
How many people have that?
Some people are blessed, you know,
with this way of seeing the world
and imprinting onto the world
in a way that helps.
You might not know this
about Copenhagen,
but it is famous for its hot dogs.
And since I am famous for loving hot dogs,
this is going work to out very well.
I'm not kidding.
Just any hot dog from any cart
is gonna be one
of the best hot dogs you ever had.
But today I'm going
to a gourmet one called DØP.
D, O with a line through it, P. DØP.
Are you Matilde?
Yeah, I'm Matilde.
I've done my research.
I'm trying all of them.
Okay.
Anything you think
I should have on it, I want.
Okay. First of all, mustard.
Then the Danish sauce, rémoulade.
It's like mayonnaise
with onions and pickles in it.
Wow.
- Some ketchup.
- Yeah.
- Fried onions.
- Brilliant.
- Fresh onions.
- Fresh.
And pickles on top.
So that's the traditional Danish toppings.
You know, in Chicago you call this
dragging it through the garden.
- This is the Danish garden.
- There you go.
- Classic!
- Classic one.
Wow!
There is nothing wrong with this.
Now, I don't want you
to think I'm crazy
that I'm eating seven hot dogs
every night.
I'm going to share
with these poor unfortunate...
- Hello.
- ...souls.
- Richard.
- Thank you.
Okay, the next one
is pork with wild garlic in it.
- Oh.
- Yeah.
Mm. Wow.
I hate to give this one away!
- There you go, a vegetarian hot dog.
- A vegetarian dog.
- What do you say?
- I say it's good.
But if you do eat meat,
you don't really need this one.
Sorry, animals.
This one is chicken.
This one is spicy beef sausage.
And I can put on some spicy ketchup
if you want it.
- Do it!
- Perfect.
The next one is pork with cheese in it.
Wow.
Now, you know
what I have to chase this with?
Chocolate milk.
Because you're not childish enough
with your hot dog.
Oh.
It's my new favorite combo.
Like champagne and caviar.
Goat sausage. Goat meat with bacon in it.
- Goat is very underrated.
- Yeah.
Is that a traditional sausage?
- It is. It is. Yeah.
- It is?
If I didn't tell you...
you wouldn't think goat.
You would just think... "Mm."
Matilde you're doing phenomenally well
considering you have
an animal outside the window.
Yeah.
Now that I've had my hot dogs,
how about some drinks?
There's a New Yorker here
named Geoffrey Canilao.
He opened a bar called Balderdash.
Geoffrey's friends
with some of Noma's former staff.
Balderdash, I say!
So, Rosio is here
to show me what's going on.
I hear you're doing crazy stuff.
We like being crazy first
with a nice shot. To say hello.
We always get a shot.
- Always a shot?
- Yeah.
Always a shot to say hello to Rosio,
to any of our friends here.
- Copenhagen snaps?
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- Good thing I had food.
- Skål.
- Skål.
But you got to say it
the way they do it in the bodegas here.
How do they do it?
You gotta go...skål!
- All right.
- All right.
Ready?
Skål!
- Feels stupid.
- Gotta do it with everybody.
Oh, everybody, please.
Do it again. Okay.
Skål!
- You're in Copenhagen.
- Okay. Shoot it?
- Down the hatch.
- Mm!
Are you all right?
I'm glad the seat is low
so I can hang on.
It was, uh, potent.
How did you two become friends?
When I worked at Noma,
everyone went to this bar.
And it was, like,
one of the craziest bars ever.
Maybe one of Geoffrey's specialties
has a little to do with that.
Booze-infused ice cream treats.
So, one thing I found out, that during
the prohibition in the United States,
bartenders ended up working at soda
fountain joints and ice cream parlors.
- Yes.
- So taking that creativity
- of mixing different flavors...
- Yes.
...they started doing milkshakes,
they started doing floats,
they started doing sundaes.
So I just added booze.
So, he made this particular creation
for Rosio and her friend Laura.
It's called Rosio and Laura.
It was inspired by the avocado paleta
I had at Hija de Sanchez.
Avocado ice cream, yes.
With freeze-dried raspberries on top.
Then, just for fun,
he puts crickets on it.
Chapulines.
It's a salted grasshopper with spice.
- Enjoy!
- You've had grasshoppers, huh? In Mexico?
No?
What takes your mind off of that
is that it's soaked
through and through with tequila.
- Please.
- Yeah.
Yum.
- I'm not avoiding the grasshopper.
- But if it falls, you won't pick it up?
Whoa, I got a tequila brain freeze.
Oh, boy.
It's fantastic.
- I love the salt in there.
- Like a cocktail,
but the key is to find, like,
childlike sensation.
- By the way--
- Eating ice cream and a milkshake.
Yes! I'm a child again.
And soon I'll be dancing around
like a child.
Then he makes us a banana split.
And the bananas are soaked in rum
with chocolate, vanilla,
and strawberry ice cream
also infused with alcohol.
And then the whipped cream,
it's infused with something
called beaver castoreum.
It's beaver gland.
Beaver what?
Beaver gland.
- Gland?
- Yes.
They use beaver gland
for synthetic vanilla extracts.
- Didn't know that.
- They were cheap.
It doesn't make me want it any more.
Want to smell it?
- No!
- As is?
I do. I want to smell it.
It says beaver on it.
It's beaver juice.
And you have a little chocolate syrup.
That I like.
But we did it with seaweed,
a kombu.
So, just a touch of that to give
that saltiness or umami background.
All right, you're very strange,
but I like you.
Enjoy!
- Excellent beaver, Geoffrey!
- Oh, perf!
Now, wait, we didn't have yours.
The one about you.
We did have it.
- Which one, this one?
- That one.
- Yeah, that's the Rosio and Laura.
- Oh, that's you!
Maybe I'm drunk and I forgot.
I maybe had too many ice cream treats,
and then I needed a ride home.
And speaking of rides...
Ben and Lily's birthdays
are actually one day apart.
Yes, that's how we do it.
So, we're also celebrating Lily's birthday
while we're here.
She actually found out
about Tivoli Gardens,
and she said,
"Can we do that for my birthday?"
So, you know,
I'm a stupid dad, and I said yes.
A little more beautiful
than amusement parks at home, right?
- Yeah, a little.
- It is gorgeous.
Look at all the trees and flowers.
It's beautiful, first of all.
It's from, like, 1843,
and it's one
of the world's first amusement parks.
And Walt Disney was inspired here to
return to America and take all our money.
This is the original happiest place.
Although the Danish Goofy costume
is a little different.
- You've been on every ride?
- Yes.
- What's your favorite?
- The old wooden rollercoaster.
- So, um... want to go on that one?
- I want that one.
We will.
We might have to work up to it.
Look at the swings.
- Let's do it! Let's do it!
- No, no.
- I believe in you.
- No, I'm afraid.
It is amazing that for hundreds of years
people have sought out
this feeling of wanting to get nauseous.
This I might be able to handle.
I like a nice ride.
A Ferris wheel is a nice ride.
Not if it goes too fast, but just nice.
I'm scared!
Is it going too fast, Lily?
- It's not going fast--
- A little fast for me.
Is it too fast? You're going
to do that one, too. The rollercoaster.
I remember when I took you to Disneyland.
I think you were five, maybe.
- And you said...
- This story is terrible.
- ..."I want to go and stay overnight..."
- Yes.
"...and have two days
and I want to go to both parks."
So, I got the both park tickets.
We got to the rooms
at the big Disney hotel.
And we got there, and we waited
on line for the Dumbo ride.
And we went on the Dumbo ride.
We waited for an hour,
and we went on the one ride,
and you said, "Okay, let's go home now."
- I'm sorry.
- It cost $850.
- I'm sorry.
- You owe me!
- This is pretty good though.
- This I like.
This you like.
Lily wanted
to go on the rollercoaster.
This is something
I stopped doing 20 years ago
because, I don't know,
if you're like me, you hit a certain age
and that whoo-hoo feeling
turns into, "Oh, no."
Ready? Are you ready?
This is so great!
I read this,
that when you're on such rides,
the reason you feel like you're,
you know, getting a little sick
is because your organs are literally
moving around in your body.
Don't move my organs!
I like them where they are!
Look at Dad.
All right, we leave Phil now.
All right.
Can we go?
I'm stuck.
All right, Dad.
Good luck to you. I'm gonna go.
That is Copenhagen.
You can be having
the sunniest, most perfect day
and all of a sudden, rain.
Crazy. Got to go underneath something.
Play one of those games
where your little girl beats you.
This is a stupid game because
I am very bad at it.
- Yes!
- What!?
Boo!
Oh!
I can't win today,
but it doesn't matter.
There's nothing better than seeing
your kid's face light up like that.
And because I'm a nice dad
and because this is Copenhagen
and the rain stopped after seven minutes,
I took Lily on one last ride.
This is the Dumbo ride.
This is the Dumbo ride, but it's
better because we're in Copenhagen.
Take us up. Up!
- I'm going up!
- All the way.
See? I'm brave.
What we do for our kids.
All right. Sorry.
I need a little something
to settle my stomach.
So, people are telling me,
"You gotta have this burger."
I'm like, "I didn't come to Denmark
for a burger. I can get a burger at home."
Just like the hot dog...
you have to try this.
Klaus Wittrup was an exchange student,
lived in Indiana for a while,
and then he worked
in Jackson Hole, Wyoming,
and he fell in love with burgers.
And he opened a burger stand
in a gas station.
This is the Gasoline Grill.
I love the smell of gasoline
when I'm eating!
Yeah!
- How are you? Klaus. Nice to meet you.
- Great to meet you. How are you?
I have to say, the moment you smell this,
all thoughts of a gas station go away...
- Yeah.
- ...and you're just in burger land.
- I hope so.
- In heaven.
- Do you run the gas station, too?
- No, no, unfortunately not.
Just the burger place.
What made you go into burgers?
My first meal
when I got to America was a burger.
- Of course.
- Yeah.
They don't let you in the country
without giving you a burger.
Exactly.
I remember that really like
juicy and fatty taste.
- Yes.
- And I wanted to replicate that.
I'm getting a little excited.
They tell me you have a line all the time.
Yeah. See, we make
a fixed number every day.
And then we sell out every day,
and then we close.
Oh.
That's not for me?
No.
Oh, we had to wait
for the line to die down. Now, I go.
- We're sold out now.
- Is that true?
Yeah, we're sold out.
We don't have any more burgers.
That's not funny.
What's your name?
I'm Johannes.
- Johannes.
- Yeah.
- How long have you worked here?
- I actually just started last month.
- You did?
- Yeah.
- How's he working out?
- Good.
'Cause he's got an attitude. I'm not sure.
We've had worse.
There's an endorsement!
Yeah, I'm glad I'm not the worst one here.
Put that on the resume.
"They've had worse than me!"
Yeah.
No, he's really good.
- What? Me?
- Yeah.
I think you should try
the butter burger.
- Butter burger?
- Yeah.
So, there's no cheese on this burger.
- No. Yeah.
- There's a slab of butter on this burger.
You know, it sounds odd at first,
but when you think about it,
- you get a steak with butter.
- Exactly.
- Fried meat and butter is really good.
- Here we go.
Fried meat and butter
is really good. Go figure.
Let me get you some napkins.
Wow.
Come on! What's on there?
There's onion on there.
Onion, pickles, and butter.
- I need to eat more.
- Yeah.
To come somewhere,
have an experience,
love that experience,
be so influenced by the experience
that it changes your life.
- Yeah.
- Right?
- This is you now.
- Exactly.
But then me traveling here to discover
someone who traveled to where I live,
came back and did something
that's as good, if not better...
- Thank you.
- ...than what's at home.
One more, you don't mind.
- Johannes?
- Yeah?
This is very good!
Thank you very much.
Don't take credit.
He's standing right here.
I know, I know, but I work here too.
- Okay.
- That's right.
Good job!
- Thank you very much!
- He can stay.
- I'll give him a raise.
- Okay.
A raise! Yes! Give him a good raise.
In fact, a raise for everybody.
I'll remember that.
I'm in a gas station!
Oh!
What a nice shirt you have on.
Oh. Thank you. I'm glad you like it.
When were you in Copenhagen?
About ten years ago, I think.
You liked it?
Loved it.
It's very beautiful.
- Yeah.
- Did you have breakfast yet?
- No, I'm having my coffee.
- No. Me too.
You know what you get
in Denmark, right?
Herring.
Danish in Denmark! Danish!
Oh, it's a Danish.
That looks very sweet.
You know what they call them here? Pastry.
- Well, it is pastry. That's what it is.
- Yes!
They don't need to call it Danish.
We call it Danish.
We spoke to your wife yester--
a couple of days ago.
No, yesterday.
I have to, but you?
She likes Copenhagen.
I think she likes Copenhagen.
And Lily. Lily loved Copenhagen.
But I had to go on the rollercoaster
with her twice.
I almost threw up.
She likes rollercoasters?
- She wanted to go!
- You went with her?
I went. The whole family went.
Ben and I, we were not crazy about it.
How's Ben?
Ben is good! You want to say hi to Ben?
- Yes.
- Say hello to Ben.
Ben, come here!
- Oh, please stop...
- Look! Here's my boy. Look!
- Hello.
- She's leaving.
- Oh, bye. Hi, Grandpa.
- Hi!
- You look great, Ben.
- Thank you.
- Are you enjoying it?
- Yes.
Are you enjoying your time there?
Yeah, it's great here. Yeah.
- Very nice.
- Hi, Grandma.
And...
Hi, there.
So, how do you like Copenhagen?
It's really fun. I've been working.
But it's really nice here.
We went for fried chicken
on Ben's birthday.
How is the fried chicken over there?
Good. It was special fried chicken.
It's not like normal--
It's not like New York?
- No.
- How was it different?
- It had vinegar powder.
- Spice--
Vinegar? Forget that.
That's the end of that chicken.
You know--
- Bye. Have a good day.
- Good to see you.
Thank you. You too.
Listen, let me show you
the weather outside. Wait one second.
Max, you got to--
What are you doing?
Can you see?
- Yes. That's fantastic.
- It's a little hazy, but...
That's a very good view
everyone's getting.
Thank you.
I think this will be our shot
from now on when we call you.
What?
Instead of looking at you,
we'll just look at this.
Right. Isn't that nicer?
Stay well and regards to Richard.
Nope.
Sometimes there's this thing
called vacation magic,
where if you think something's
not gonna work out,
it works out better
than you could have imagined.
So, we were just about to leave town
when I get a call from Geoffrey.
He wants me to meet him and his friend
Sune at this place down by the water.
So, I go, and it turns out
it's not just some place by the water.
It's a Noma pop-up.
Yes! Noma under the bridge.
By some miracle, I'm actually gonna get
my taste of Noma after all.
I can't believe it.
Here you've got
these beautiful, local fjord shrimps.
Take a good spoonful of them
into the middle of the taco.
Tacos, people!
The chefs from Noma, while they're
waiting for Noma 2.0 to be built,
are making food
that they would want to eat.
This is our warm broth
of smoked cod heads and bones,
with grilled baby cucumbers
and spicy ginger oil.
Mm.
Yeah. That's what I mean.
There's so much flavor!
- Hello, again!
- Hello!
You are my favorite people.
Have I told you?
Well, that's beautiful!
How good could a potato be?
You know, do I have to go to Noma
for a potato?
It turns out, yes, you do.
It's not just me, right?
This is crazy delicious.
Look at that!
This is two Magnums. It's a Jeroboam.
Jeroboam! It's my second favorite size
after Nebuchadnezzar.
I got to say, I'm a little in love
with wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen.
The Danish love of style and creativity
that Noma reignited is alive and well,
but it's more than that.
Maybe it's what Bjarke calls
hedonistic sustainability.
Listen, why can't environmentalism
be sexy?
Healthy food actually be
the more delicious choice?
It just seems like everybody here
is looking out for everybody else.
And that feeling is all around,
and it's really nice.
It doesn't hurt
that these are all around you too.
- Hi! Number four.
- Hi.
- Yes. With everything?
- With everything.
Why'd you get another hot dog?
I've got the fever,
and the only cure is more hot dogs.
# So come sit at his table #
# If you're happy, hungry
Willing, and able #
# To see how breaking bread #
# Can turn a stranger
Right into a friend #
# 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 #
# Oh, please somebody
Somebody feed Phil #
# Somebody feed him now #
Well, that combined
everything that I love.
A long schlep to the top of a thing,
to a terrifying height, with just a thin
little guardrail between me and death.
And not even any food at the top,
by the way.
Stupid Richard.
# 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 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 #
The first recollection
I have of Copenhagen
was the Hans Christian Andersen
musical movie starring Danny Kaye.
Hans Christian Andersen wrote
some of your favorite little stories
like "The Ugly Duckling"
and "Thumbelina" and "The Little Mermaid."
The songs are amazing.
And the thing that became
the theme song in my mind
for this place:
"Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen."
And then you get here,
and I have to say it kind of is.
It's beautiful.
It's like an idealized society
where you walk and you bike
and it's clean.
The tax bracket is like 50 percent,
but you get free education,
free health care, free-- Free everything.
Clean air, clean water, and the food!
The Nordic cuisine celebrates
the forest and the sea and the field.
They're celebrating what's around them.
Take all that
and put it on a slice of amazing bread
and you have
the most traditional Danish food there is.
Just don't ask me to pronounce it.
I'm going to Aamanns Deli.
Chef Adam Aamann makes these things
better than anybody else.
And Copenhagen food writer Marie Olesen
will keep me from looking
like too much of an idiot.
I'm ready for a smørrebrød.
- Smørrebrød.
- Did I say it right?
- Yeah, almost. Smørrebrød.
- Smirbroad.
Is that right? Smirgabroad.
Smirgabroad? Smirgbroad.
The world's hardest language.
A piece of bread and you--
Something you smear on it.
And then you layer it and you layer it.
And you put little beautiful things on top
- and it's delicious.
- I love it.
- Open face sandwich.
- Open face sandwiches, yeah.
These are like gourmet smears.
Not like some peanut butter and jelly
that I would do at home.
This is a piece of art for sure.
- There you are. Hi.
- You're Adam. The owner and chef.
Have you tried smørrebrød before?
I have tasted it,
but I'm hearing that this is the place.
It's like the rye bread
is the canvas for the art, right?
- Exactly.
- Then you do what you want.
This is
like a Scandinavian tradition.
I'm hungry, I'm ready.
And thirsty I hope. Yeah?
- Yeah.
- For some snaps?
- I'll do anything you say.
- Great.
I mean, it's Monday so... hard liquor.
That's the way to start the week, I think.
- In the middle of the day?
- That's what all Danes do for lunch
when they come to eat smørrebrød.
Snaps traditionally goes with smørrebrød.
That's what they do here.
It's not me. I'm not demanding alcohol.
I prepared some snaps.
- Sounds excellent.
- Here we go.
And a little bit of beer, you know,
to make the hard liquor flow more easily.
Goodbye, everybody.
So, we're going on a picnic
in Østre Anlæg park
with these nice people I just met.
Now if someone hasn't had any before,
what would be the first one
you wanted them to try?
- Herring.
- Really?
Herring is the natural place to start.
- Number one?
- Number one. Marinated herring.
Wow, that's gorgeous. Look at that.
- And Phil?
- Yes.
I know you're an American
and you like to eat with your hands,
but you need to let it rest on the plate
- and use your knife and fork.
- Sorry, everybody.
Sorry. I'm the American embarrassment.
As if we don't have enough.
This is matured herring
in vinegar brine,
with marinated new Danish potatoes,
homemade sour cream
and then fried buckwheat on top.
Mm.
So, important thing when you eat herring
in Denmark is the snaps.
This is our own invention
made of rye bread actually.
Skål, my friends.
- Skål.
- Skål.
Have you been told why we say "skål"
in Denmark, by the way?
- Why you say skål? Tell me.
- Yeah, what it means.
Skål apparently means--
It's-- It means skull.
Oh.
So, the white Vikings would cheer
in an actual skull after a victory.
We need a skull. Anybody?
- A bowl. So like a bowl on your head.
- Somebody's head.
Like the ac--
The actual skull of their enemy.
- They would use after victory.
- Oh, the skull.
- Richard.
- To cheer.
- We need your skull.
- It's very, uh...
Could you lie down for a moment?
Hello, pretty.
This is braised pork with rhubarbs,
some crumble of dry salted bacon.
And this is the picnic way
of opening a beer, right?
Yeah, that sounds good!
Goodbye, water.
Smørrebrød is something from,
I'm guessing, your childhood
that you always loved and said, "Someday
I'm going to open a place that does this."
When I opened the shop, the smørrebrød
was at a really low, kind of low peak,
even though it's like the major--
Sorry, I'm not listening.
Great.
Pork wins!
I did hear you.
Even though it's the major
Danish contribution to world gastronomy,
nobody really wanted to touch it at that--
Ten years ago.
Because it was considered old-fashioned.
In the old days, you would
make a really large piece of smørrebrød.
It would be like a small piece of bread
with a tsunami of meat on top.
That's gonna be my life story.
A tsunami of meat.
- Very far from fine dining.
- Yes.
For the past ten years, things have been
developing, so this is what it's come to.
I'm very glad I've come here
at the right moment in time.
Give me that sandwich!
So, I think if you're into food
and you're coming to København,
you've heard of Noma.
It won best restaurant in the world
over and over again
thanks to the vision
of new Nordic pioneer René Redzepi.
So, when we get here, Noma is closed.
It's set to reopen in another space
in 2018, but in the meantime,
the old Noma space has found
a perfect new tenant.
Thorsten Schmidt. He's known
as the Nordic alchemist, right?
Because he was so inventive
and so creative.
Partnered with Redzepi,
Thorsten has his sights set
on the dishes every Dane grew up with.
And he makes them exciting again
at their restaurant, Barr.
Oh, whoa.
First dish.
That's a first dish?
- Yeah, first dish. Yeah.
- A big first--
- I like when you hit 'em hard right away.
- Yes.
This is actually where we
dig into some of the regional classics.
It's baked codfish
with white sauce and bacon.
So, this is actually not baked,
it's glazed.
You have a heater which has top heat.
- Yeah.
- We just glaze it.
And turn it and glaze it.
And turn it and glaze it.
He says it's taken out and glazed
and put back and glazed like 14 times.
I'm gonna do it 14 times now for you.
Double that.
What does that do to the food?
It makes it unbelievable.
Oh, wait a minute.
Ah.
Wow.
You get the juiciness,
but you get the glazing
and we put it on bread
so you can eat the bread afterwards
- with all the juices.
- Good idea.
It looks rustic and it tastes like
- absolute four-star fine dining.
- Yes.
The trick is to get the love of grandma...
Yeah.
...with the talent of a chef.
Yeah. Sometimes we humans
have a tendency to do,
"Oh, back in the days,
everything was better."
Yeah, because we were kids.
If you could go back and be analytical...
you'd say, "Maybe that wasn't
the best piece of fish."
- No.
- But this is the best piece of fish.
You're borrowing from that shelf
of fine-dining knowledge
and you put it, you know,
in a setting like that.
- Casual.
- Casual.
This is just casually amazing.
- Yeah. Yeah! That's a good term actually.
- Casually amazing?
Casually amazing.
- Did I write your catchphrase?
- You did actually there.
- I'm going to try Mr. Schnitzel over here.
- Just dig in.
This sauce is pickled ramson seeds,
fresh horseradish,
and underneath there's a cream,
whipped cream with horseradish.
Wow.
Can we go back?
We should go back.
We should go back just for the--
Meatballs.
Here comes a meatball.
This is called a frikadeller.
- Ah. Underneath the--
- Yeah, we need to frikadeller ourselves.
We need to frikadeller.
Get your frikadeller on.
Yes. Danish people-- It's like frikadeller
is the most Danish thing ever.
- Right.
- That's a cultural thing
you can find all over.
They're like meatballs.
- Every country has a meatball.
- Every country has a meatball.
Frikadeller is just
the Northern Europe-y part of it.
And we serve it here with summer cabbage,
a little brown sauce.
And underneath are the frikadeller.
So, I hope you were hungry.
Yeah, I see it. It's good.
What!?
Oh, my God.
The juiciest like--
And crispy on the outside,
sumptuous meatball.
Best freaking frikadeller I've ever had.
- I'm so grateful to you.
- Yeah.
Here. These are for you.
Oh, thank you.
And I paid, myself, for them. So great.
My kids do that to me all the time.
- "Thank you, Daddy. You're so good."
- "Here's your thing."
While we're here,
my wife and daughter came to visit.
My son is working on the crew
and it's my son's birthday,
and we thought,
"What if we had a birthday dinner
at one of the best restaurants
in all of Denmark?"
So we hopped
on one of these great water taxis...
Hello, people!
- Didn't wave back.
- Nobody waved.
Nobody cares.
And we go three stops
and we're at this field.
The restaurant is in the distance.
Ahoy.
- Ahoy.
- I say "Ahoy" because I'm a sailor man.
- Took one boat ride...
- We're by the water.
...and now he's a sailor.
Welcome.
Matt!
Matt Orlando is a chef
from San Diego, California.
And Matt has worked at Per Se,
Le Bernardin, and Noma.
But now, Matt has
an incredible restaurant called Amass.
Matt sticks to the number one rule
of new Nordic cuisine:
everything he cooks is influenced
by what's near the restaurant.
- The family! There's Lily!
- Hello.
- Hello.
- There's Monica!
- There's Ben!
- Hi.
- Happy birthday and...
- Yes!
- Thank you.
- Yeah.
Of course. I got something special
for your birthday.
- Something we don't always do, so...
- Really?
So, no trip to Copenhagen is complete
without a frolic
through a field of alfalfa.
- Oh, my God.
- I love frolicking.
- If you say "frolic," I'm doing it.
- Of course.
Embarrass the children.
You guys have frolicked before,
haven't you?
So, alfalfa.
It's beautiful.
Look at the purple flowers.
- You can eat it.
- Yeah.
- Really?
- The whole thing?
I'm doing it.
Oh, wow.
- It's like a vegetable.
- Like a great sprout.
- It's like a sweet sprout.
- Yeah.
- You took the words right out of my mouth.
- Amazing.
These are called yarrow flowers.
- It starts to taste like pine a little.
- Very interesting.
- And then a little bitter aftertaste.
- Exactly.
- This is...?
- Corn flowers.
Wow! Remember Room With a View?
She puts them in her hair.
One of my favorite herbs and flowers
of all-time is here.
Marigolds.
There's a small window
within the season
where the leaves
taste like the skins of mandarin oranges.
- What?
- Yeah.
Oh, my God,
that is exactly what they taste like.
The skins of mandarin oranges.
Mm.
- Wow.
- Yeah.
Here, I'm going to make
a little salad in your hand.
Then he says, "Hold out your hand.
I'm gonna make a salad in your hand."
Now, I've heard this before,
and it didn't always work out so nicely.
There you go. Arugula.
When you eat peas and arugula
together, you get this sweet spicy.
- We'll top it off with thyme flowers.
- Excellent idea, chef.
- All about presentation, right?
- Yeah.
Oh, there you go. Know what we call that?
We call that raw talent.
- Get it?
- Whoa.
- Yeah. Thank you.
- Somebody throw her in the water.
- Eat your salad.
- One-biter.
Mm.
- That's so good.
- Yeah.
Why don't I just graze here
for dinner?
This is your birthday surprise.
Sit in the field and eat all night.
While Monica and the kids
collect the appetizer,
I head into the kitchen
with Matt for the main course.
Matt's surprising Ben
with his famous fried chicken.
Oh, sorry if I drool a little.
That's my piece. That's my piece too.
Ben happens to love fried chicken.
Why? Because he's a person.
I'm going to cry.
- Recognize these?
- Yeah.
Now you get to use your extensive
knowledge of flowers.
We're gonna go head-to-head.
See who plates it better.
Oh, well...
Fresh tomatoes
that we've just peeled.
Tomatoes that we have put
in the dehydrator.
Now this is a premiere dish?
You have not made this?
Yeah. We have never made this dish.
These are rose petals.
Pickled in apple vinegar.
I'm a fine-dining chef.
This is tomato water.
Oh, boy, that's intense.
This is the oil
that's made out of the Douglas fir pine.
Oh, look at that.
Look how it beads.
Will it bead like that for me?
- Yes.
- Nice.
But what I did
that I noticed you didn't do--
- Hit the edge.
- I hit the edge.
- That's a little sloppy. That's an old--
- That's all right.
- That's a warning, not a firing.
- Yes. Okay.
- Next time...
- Yes.
There's no rules with flowers.
Let it rain.
Take a little bit of the salt,
just finish it with it.
- You get that little bite.
- Yeah.
And we're done.
- Shouldn't I go like this? Like the guy?
- Oh, don't do Salt Bae.
Don't do it.
I've ejected people from this kitchen
for less than that.
# Happy birthday, dear Ben #
# Happy birthday to you #
- We should've had candles.
- Fried chicken!
What?
Yes! And what do you call it?
What are you calling this?
This is Phil's Frolicking Flowers.
- I love that!
- Isn't that sweet?
Philip, did you help?
- I actually helped.
- Did you?
- I apologize if it's terrible in advance.
- He was key in our success.
- Thank you so much.
- Of course. Happy birthday.
It looks beautiful.
- I am happy to be here with my family.
- Oh, sweetie.
- Matt, you're now in the family.
- Perfect. I'll take it.
There's a lot of downside,
but I'll tell you about it later.
They're gonna have to eat that.
- This is--
- Mm.
This totally works.
- Yeah?
- Come on.
So good.
- This is delicious.
- I know you wanted the leg.
This is vinegar powder over the top.
All right, here we go.
Wow, that's like
no fried chicken I've ever had.
- Yeah.
- We use a flour called aryon,
which is a darker flour.
- A bit more rustic so you really taste it.
- Wow, it's delicious.
Look.
Monica.
Oh, man.
Look at the sunset, Monica!
If you were looking, you would be saying
"ooh and ah" more.
No, this is not--
- This feels unreal. It really is.
- Yeah. It really is.
- I mean, it never gets old.
- Look at us.
- I know. Phil--
- Matt, what can we offer you? Yes.
All right. Sorry, everybody.
- Sorry you had to see that.
- You ruined it.
- You ruined Ben's birthday. Jeez.
- Ben's birthday.
Any place that's on the water,
you want to see it from the water.
Anders Selmer is another alumni of Noma.
Anders!
- Hello, my friend!
- Nice to see you!
- Yeah.
- Am I climbing down this thing?
You have to.
All right. Tell my wife I loved her.
I met him actually in Mexico City.
He was friends with some of my friends
that I made there.
And he said,
"When you're in Copenhagen, look me up!"
So, I did. And he has a boat.
So, I'm lucky.
All right! I'm in! Let's go save Dunkirk.
All right. Phil, Copenhagen.
I can't believe I'm here.
It seems like a fairy tale.
And what a day we have.
We have so much of the year
where we stay indoors.
- Yes.
- That's why, in the summertime,
Copenhagen is amazing.
- Yes. Yeah.
- Because everything happens.
- This is one of the most charming streets.
- Isn't it wonder-- Yeah! I love it here.
Well, I never.
Hello, people.
- Friendly town.
- It is a friendly town.
- Wow. Look at this.
- We're in the big harbor now.
So of course you see
the beautiful old buildings.
And then you see
the most modern coolest buildings.
This is beautiful here.
The bridges for the bikes and the people.
- Yeah.
- It's sweet.
Oh, now we're going.
Come on!
Where are we headed now?
We are going to meet Joachim.
Joachim has a project here in the harbor.
Anders turns down
a little residential canal
full of adorable houseboats,
and we float over to his friend Joachim.
- Joachim! This is your house.
- This is my house, yeah.
You like living on a boat?
Best place in the world.
They run something called
the Maritime Nyttehaver
in the very canals that we're on.
The project is teaching people
about sustainable local food production.
Yeah.
They're hanging rope under the water.
And what happens then?
Mussels come and cling
and grow on the rope.
And they grow for three, four, five years
before you can eat them.
All you did was hang rope?
Yeah, basically if you put your foot
in the water in April...
- Yeah.
- ...and take it up again in September,
it'll be full of baby mussels
growing on your foot.
- Really?
- Yeah.
If only I could put
my whole body in the water
and come out with, uh, big muscles.
- People swim in the harbor.
- Isn't that great?
- It's that clean. No problem. Yeah.
- That you can swim.
Look at this. This would be
like doing this in the Hudson River.
Kids jumping and playing in that water.
And the boats are going by,
but the water is clean.
Clean enough to support food
that they're going to eat!
We could do this. This seems smart to me.
It's a lesson in sustainability
for the world.
I read that the Danish people
are the happiest people on Earth.
- Or at least in the top three.
- Yeah.
- Are you?
- We weren't 15 years ago.
Before 15 years ago,
you weren't happy here?
- No good restaurants, no good food.
- Really?
It was gray and boring.
We have in many ways
a very Protestant way of looking at life.
Yeah.
- What is that?
- Protestant way is not enjoying anything.
- Not being extravagant in anything.
- Wait a minute.
That's the Jewish way.
It's, uh, very much the Protestant way.
See? We're all the same.
It's good to hear
you can't enjoy things also.
- Yeah. Yeah.
- It makes me feel better.
The church dictated that everything
that was joyful was sinful.
So, singing, dancing--
Eating. Having a party.
Anything was sinful.
So, your country,
you're just now in recent history
waking up to the idea of enjoying life.
Yes. But Copenhagen
is becoming a fantastic place to live.
The beauty and quality
of so many things in this city,
like the architecture,
the way we build things,
- the produce we have, is exceptional.
- Yeah.
Party boat!
Yeah, look, they're enjoying life.
I'm gonna call the church.
Yeah.
I got a good look at the water
with Anders in his boat.
Now he wants to show me
what he gets there
at his seafood restaurant, Fiskebaren,
in Copenhagen's meatpacking district.
So you wanted to make
the best seafood restaurant
in Copenhagen,
- and you put it in the meat district.
- Yes, exactly. We needed it.
- You can't live on meat all the time.
- No.
Fiskebaren chef Jamie Lee
joins the table
with something that's definitely not meat.
- Oh, baby!
- Here's your welcome.
These are massive!
- These are local oysters.
- Yeah.
This oyster here is
what we call a flat bottom oyster,
and the French call it Belon.
It's the last native oyster in Europe.
Really?
These ones.
Then this one is the Pacific oyster.
And it's an invasive species,
so we have to eat these fast
because they take over from these guys.
I can help with that.
They're big.
Yeah, they're big.
That is tremendous.
That's like the freshest, most delicious,
hugest oyster I ever had.
- Each one is a meal by itself.
- Yeah.
Until Anders
opened this place in 2009,
seafood here wasn't easy to find.
Back then, there was
one fish restaurant in Copenhagen.
- What?
- One fish restaurant.
You're on the water
and there's one fish restaurant?
There was one.
And they wore white gloves.
- You had different cutleries meant for--
- Fancy schmancy.
Yeah.
What were they doing
with all the fish they were catch--
the fisherman were catching?
Were they exporting?
Ninety-eight percent goes
to Spain, Italy, and France.
They love the fish from here,
because it's the best quality.
It must be human nature that we don't
appreciate what's right around us. Right?
- We think it's better from over there.
- Yeah.
- Oh, beautiful! Wow!
- So, gentlemen.
This is caught
from a coastal fishery as well.
We had
a beautiful, beautiful local lobster.
It looked like jewelry.
Everything we do here is so seasonal.
Denmark is extremely dependent on season.
- What!?
- Yeah.
What!?
- Danish lobster?
- Yeah.
- I never had that.
- It's called blue or black lobster.
- Really?
- It's the best lobster.
Here comes, in a newspaper cone...
- Fish and chips!
- Yes!
Come on! Who doesn't like this?
- Everything we do...
- Yes.
...we think about sustainability
and using all parts of the fish,
and fish and chips came out of--
We have
all of these beautiful main courses,
and then, at the end,
we have all these tail pieces
that's actually extremely juicy
and fantastic meat.
- It's so smoky. What's so smoky?
- We make it--
We smoke it in oak. Oak wood.
You have elevated the fish and chips.
Mm.
- You're from London?
- I'm from London.
You know your fish and chips.
A bit of a connoisseur, actually, yeah.
This is undeniable.
I mean, you would put this up
against anything in London.
- Copenhagen vs. London. That'll be good.
- No, you win.
- Really?
- I'm not kidding. The best ever.
Whoo-hoo!
Bicycles are a way of life
all over northern Europe,
with Copenhagen leading the way.
It's actually considered
the most bike-friendly city on the planet.
And I was born to ride.
I'm going to meet Matt so he can
show me around his favorite part of town:
a magical land called Christiania.
Christiania was formed
by hippies, squatters,
and they formed
their own self-sustaining community.
So, when was this established?
-1971.
- Yeah.
That's when the military moved out.
And before they could do anything,
hippies moved in,
and they squatted and they used
their squatter's rights to keep it.
How long do you need to squat
before it's yours?
- I don't--
- Because I have my eye on some properties.
The way it's set up is that
if you want to move
into a house on a block...
- Yeah.
- ...or in this area,
then you have to be
approved by the people.
- Like a co-op board? Yeah.
- Allow you-- Exactly.
But then, once you're in,
you get the house for free.
You don't pay for it. But when you leave,
you leave with nothing.
You move out,
you don't get anything for it.
Who would leave?
Exactly.
It's what the '60s
were supposed to turn into,
you know, instead of all those people
going into hedge funds.
Uh... This is the idealized community.
They have built an infrastructure,
so they don't have to depend on--
- They're not dependent on the city.
- The city. No. No.
- Do they pay tax to the city?
- Not at all. No.
Back here is
the best falafel in Copenhagen.
- What?
- Yep.
Oh. I like his squirt.
He's got a good squirt.
Lookie, lookie, everybody.
- Here are some vendors.
- Yeah.
And we're not gonna film them
because they like their privacy.
Yes. There's some, uh... marijuana use.
So police don't bother them
as long as they stay contained here.
It's almost like the Wild West out here.
- Yeah.
- You can get away with so much more.
So, it's probably a good idea
that the place is car-free.
But they hardly even need them
thanks to the Christiania cargo bike
that they invented.
You see them all over,
even in the non-stoner parts of town.
Another graduate of Noma
is former pastry chef Rosio Sanchez,
who's now blowing a lot of Danish minds
from a little stand
called Hija de Sanchez.
At the Torvehallerne.
Did I say that right? No.
Torvehallerne.
She found something missing
in Copenhagen: tacos.
One of Rosio's many fans is my new friend
Marie, so she joins us for lunch.
These are kind of the cravings
I had when I was younger.
- The chilies we bring from Mexico...
- I'm getting it.
...the corn and the spices,
and then everything else is from here.
Danish food doesn't have
a lot of spice like this.
No.
So what did people do
when they first started having it?
Were they like,
"I can't! What are you doing to me?"
Well, I'm clearly still not used to it.
That's crazy. It's pretty mild.
Ooh.
Really?
Is my head on fire?
- Yeah, your hair turned red!
- Only my hair.
The next tacos Rosio brought us are
what she learned from being in Denmark,
and she's using indigenous ingredients
in these tacos.
Oh.
We have the quesadillas and gordita.
We definitely use
the cheese from here.
One of the other things
that I said we have to have is tomatillo.
- I love tomatillo.
- I know, but you can't get it here.
And then I remembered
the gooseberries have that same acidity.
- So we make a--
- A gooseberry salsa! Oh, I got to go.
This one is cod skin.
- Wow.
- Chicharrón.
- Yes, cod skin chicharrón. I will.
- You want to try that first.
Usually in Mexico you have
a green salsa with pork skin.
- Yeah.
- So in this case we did it with fish skin,
- so it's a lighter version of that.
- Ah.
- You know, crunchy and...
- I can't deny you.
...it's a little bit fried.
And then we have, um...
Oh, wow.
Ah, this is my favorite. This is so good.
Don't you want to take over the world?
I had a friend from L.A.
who said if that taco was in L.A.,
- it'd be the best taco in L.A.
- Yes!
That's what I'm saying.
I think you still want dessert, right?
- I'm never gonna say no to you.
- Perfect!
Then Rosio, because she's
a pastry chef first,
makes these Danish-inspired
Mexican paletas!
- Paleta!
- Oh, wow!
You know what paletas are, right?
Mexican ice cream pops.
- Wow, artwork!
- So this is--
This one is avocado ice cream
with cajeta and raspberry.
And then this one is sea buckthorn.
The little orange, bright, acidic berry.
Mm.
I don't know if you have this word here,
but this is a creamsicle.
Yes!
Right?
This one is coconut with fried cacao,
candied cacao nibs.
So, we just make it, you know,
very nice and creamy,
and, you know, elegant.
Which one is your favorite?
- This one?
- Really? Nice!
It's only because I really like you
that I give this to you...
- You can have...
- ...because that's pretty awesome.
- Fantastic.
- That's good.
This has been the best day.
Rosio Sanchez, everybody!
There's a famous architect here
named Bjarke Ingels.
He's one of the greatest architects
in the world
and he's got incredibly creative
and important buildings in many countries.
And I fell in love with him
and his work, and I said,
"Can we meet him? Maybe there's
something new that we can explore."
Yes, there is!
It's a park.
Tell me about this place.
This is Superkilen.
This is actually
the most ethnically diverse neighborhood
in all of Denmark.
We said, like, this project
is going to be all about ownership.
Why don't we look at ethnic diversity,
cultural diversity as a positive?
Then we could actually maybe
do something good.
We reached out to the local community,
and we asked people what elements
from your former hometown
do you miss or think could actually be
a great part of your new neighborhood?
We have a Moroccan fountain because
Moroccans actually have amazing traditions
for architectural water features.
Over there you have
this fiberglass octopus.
- Yeah.
- It's from Tokyo.
- It's like a children magnet.
- Fantastic.
This is a Mexican love seat.
- The S curve...
- Yeah?
...means you're looking the person
you're sitting next to in the eyes.
Really?
- Let's try it, shall we? Hello.
- Hello.
Oh, look at you. You're very nice.
Thank you very much. You too, I guess.
- Phil.
- Ronnie.
- Hi, Ronnie, where are you from?
- I'm from right here.
Do you like this neighborhood?
Do you know who this is?
Yeah, I know who it is. Hi, Bjarke.
Morning. Nice to meet you.
When Copenhagen transforms
because new people move here
and start expressing themselves,
Danish identity also transforms.
So, it becomes a true expression
of the cultural diversity
of contemporary Copenhagen.
- Architecture of inclusion.
- Exactly.
His park is all about the future,
but Bjarke's past was the starting point
for one of his favorite projects.
- This was your high school!
- My high school.
I think back then,
high schools and hospitals
were designed in a very similar way.
They want you to know
you're in an institution.
- Yes, exactly.
- You're not here for fun.
My old math teacher called me,
and she said she wanted us
to look at making an actual sports hall
dimensioned to play handball.
So, if you're standing
down in the sports hall
and you throw a handball,
- it'll trace this arch.
- Wow.
The fun is built into it,
and I feel like I would have been bullied
a little bit less
if my school had
this sense of fun about it.
Although, they would have probably
rolled me down this.
It never occurred to me
that this was the roof of something.
Whoa.
So, this is inside the mole hill.
When we design things,
it's a bit like when you cook.
You try to somehow listen
to the ingredients
and you try to find out
what does this thing want to be.
- Right.
- And in this case,
there is something
about the purity of the ingredients...
- Yeah.
- ...that in a way,
we haven't covered anything
in icing or sauce.
It's the bare bones of the building
that become the expression.
You're doing
what I love about chefs
who idealize something
from their childhood.
- That's what you've done here.
- Yeah.
You've idealized your childhood,
literally.
You practically owe it
to the next generation.
And you make the world better.
How many people--
How many people have that?
Some people are blessed, you know,
with this way of seeing the world
and imprinting onto the world
in a way that helps.
You might not know this
about Copenhagen,
but it is famous for its hot dogs.
And since I am famous for loving hot dogs,
this is going work to out very well.
I'm not kidding.
Just any hot dog from any cart
is gonna be one
of the best hot dogs you ever had.
But today I'm going
to a gourmet one called DØP.
D, O with a line through it, P. DØP.
Are you Matilde?
Yeah, I'm Matilde.
I've done my research.
I'm trying all of them.
Okay.
Anything you think
I should have on it, I want.
Okay. First of all, mustard.
Then the Danish sauce, rémoulade.
It's like mayonnaise
with onions and pickles in it.
Wow.
- Some ketchup.
- Yeah.
- Fried onions.
- Brilliant.
- Fresh onions.
- Fresh.
And pickles on top.
So that's the traditional Danish toppings.
You know, in Chicago you call this
dragging it through the garden.
- This is the Danish garden.
- There you go.
- Classic!
- Classic one.
Wow!
There is nothing wrong with this.
Now, I don't want you
to think I'm crazy
that I'm eating seven hot dogs
every night.
I'm going to share
with these poor unfortunate...
- Hello.
- ...souls.
- Richard.
- Thank you.
Okay, the next one
is pork with wild garlic in it.
- Oh.
- Yeah.
Mm. Wow.
I hate to give this one away!
- There you go, a vegetarian hot dog.
- A vegetarian dog.
- What do you say?
- I say it's good.
But if you do eat meat,
you don't really need this one.
Sorry, animals.
This one is chicken.
This one is spicy beef sausage.
And I can put on some spicy ketchup
if you want it.
- Do it!
- Perfect.
The next one is pork with cheese in it.
Wow.
Now, you know
what I have to chase this with?
Chocolate milk.
Because you're not childish enough
with your hot dog.
Oh.
It's my new favorite combo.
Like champagne and caviar.
Goat sausage. Goat meat with bacon in it.
- Goat is very underrated.
- Yeah.
Is that a traditional sausage?
- It is. It is. Yeah.
- It is?
If I didn't tell you...
you wouldn't think goat.
You would just think... "Mm."
Matilde you're doing phenomenally well
considering you have
an animal outside the window.
Yeah.
Now that I've had my hot dogs,
how about some drinks?
There's a New Yorker here
named Geoffrey Canilao.
He opened a bar called Balderdash.
Geoffrey's friends
with some of Noma's former staff.
Balderdash, I say!
So, Rosio is here
to show me what's going on.
I hear you're doing crazy stuff.
We like being crazy first
with a nice shot. To say hello.
We always get a shot.
- Always a shot?
- Yeah.
Always a shot to say hello to Rosio,
to any of our friends here.
- Copenhagen snaps?
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- Good thing I had food.
- Skål.
- Skål.
But you got to say it
the way they do it in the bodegas here.
How do they do it?
You gotta go...skål!
- All right.
- All right.
Ready?
Skål!
- Feels stupid.
- Gotta do it with everybody.
Oh, everybody, please.
Do it again. Okay.
Skål!
- You're in Copenhagen.
- Okay. Shoot it?
- Down the hatch.
- Mm!
Are you all right?
I'm glad the seat is low
so I can hang on.
It was, uh, potent.
How did you two become friends?
When I worked at Noma,
everyone went to this bar.
And it was, like,
one of the craziest bars ever.
Maybe one of Geoffrey's specialties
has a little to do with that.
Booze-infused ice cream treats.
So, one thing I found out, that during
the prohibition in the United States,
bartenders ended up working at soda
fountain joints and ice cream parlors.
- Yes.
- So taking that creativity
- of mixing different flavors...
- Yes.
...they started doing milkshakes,
they started doing floats,
they started doing sundaes.
So I just added booze.
So, he made this particular creation
for Rosio and her friend Laura.
It's called Rosio and Laura.
It was inspired by the avocado paleta
I had at Hija de Sanchez.
Avocado ice cream, yes.
With freeze-dried raspberries on top.
Then, just for fun,
he puts crickets on it.
Chapulines.
It's a salted grasshopper with spice.
- Enjoy!
- You've had grasshoppers, huh? In Mexico?
No?
What takes your mind off of that
is that it's soaked
through and through with tequila.
- Please.
- Yeah.
Yum.
- I'm not avoiding the grasshopper.
- But if it falls, you won't pick it up?
Whoa, I got a tequila brain freeze.
Oh, boy.
It's fantastic.
- I love the salt in there.
- Like a cocktail,
but the key is to find, like,
childlike sensation.
- By the way--
- Eating ice cream and a milkshake.
Yes! I'm a child again.
And soon I'll be dancing around
like a child.
Then he makes us a banana split.
And the bananas are soaked in rum
with chocolate, vanilla,
and strawberry ice cream
also infused with alcohol.
And then the whipped cream,
it's infused with something
called beaver castoreum.
It's beaver gland.
Beaver what?
Beaver gland.
- Gland?
- Yes.
They use beaver gland
for synthetic vanilla extracts.
- Didn't know that.
- They were cheap.
It doesn't make me want it any more.
Want to smell it?
- No!
- As is?
I do. I want to smell it.
It says beaver on it.
It's beaver juice.
And you have a little chocolate syrup.
That I like.
But we did it with seaweed,
a kombu.
So, just a touch of that to give
that saltiness or umami background.
All right, you're very strange,
but I like you.
Enjoy!
- Excellent beaver, Geoffrey!
- Oh, perf!
Now, wait, we didn't have yours.
The one about you.
We did have it.
- Which one, this one?
- That one.
- Yeah, that's the Rosio and Laura.
- Oh, that's you!
Maybe I'm drunk and I forgot.
I maybe had too many ice cream treats,
and then I needed a ride home.
And speaking of rides...
Ben and Lily's birthdays
are actually one day apart.
Yes, that's how we do it.
So, we're also celebrating Lily's birthday
while we're here.
She actually found out
about Tivoli Gardens,
and she said,
"Can we do that for my birthday?"
So, you know,
I'm a stupid dad, and I said yes.
A little more beautiful
than amusement parks at home, right?
- Yeah, a little.
- It is gorgeous.
Look at all the trees and flowers.
It's beautiful, first of all.
It's from, like, 1843,
and it's one
of the world's first amusement parks.
And Walt Disney was inspired here to
return to America and take all our money.
This is the original happiest place.
Although the Danish Goofy costume
is a little different.
- You've been on every ride?
- Yes.
- What's your favorite?
- The old wooden rollercoaster.
- So, um... want to go on that one?
- I want that one.
We will.
We might have to work up to it.
Look at the swings.
- Let's do it! Let's do it!
- No, no.
- I believe in you.
- No, I'm afraid.
It is amazing that for hundreds of years
people have sought out
this feeling of wanting to get nauseous.
This I might be able to handle.
I like a nice ride.
A Ferris wheel is a nice ride.
Not if it goes too fast, but just nice.
I'm scared!
Is it going too fast, Lily?
- It's not going fast--
- A little fast for me.
Is it too fast? You're going
to do that one, too. The rollercoaster.
I remember when I took you to Disneyland.
I think you were five, maybe.
- And you said...
- This story is terrible.
- ..."I want to go and stay overnight..."
- Yes.
"...and have two days
and I want to go to both parks."
So, I got the both park tickets.
We got to the rooms
at the big Disney hotel.
And we got there, and we waited
on line for the Dumbo ride.
And we went on the Dumbo ride.
We waited for an hour,
and we went on the one ride,
and you said, "Okay, let's go home now."
- I'm sorry.
- It cost $850.
- I'm sorry.
- You owe me!
- This is pretty good though.
- This I like.
This you like.
Lily wanted
to go on the rollercoaster.
This is something
I stopped doing 20 years ago
because, I don't know,
if you're like me, you hit a certain age
and that whoo-hoo feeling
turns into, "Oh, no."
Ready? Are you ready?
This is so great!
I read this,
that when you're on such rides,
the reason you feel like you're,
you know, getting a little sick
is because your organs are literally
moving around in your body.
Don't move my organs!
I like them where they are!
Look at Dad.
All right, we leave Phil now.
All right.
Can we go?
I'm stuck.
All right, Dad.
Good luck to you. I'm gonna go.
That is Copenhagen.
You can be having
the sunniest, most perfect day
and all of a sudden, rain.
Crazy. Got to go underneath something.
Play one of those games
where your little girl beats you.
This is a stupid game because
I am very bad at it.
- Yes!
- What!?
Boo!
Oh!
I can't win today,
but it doesn't matter.
There's nothing better than seeing
your kid's face light up like that.
And because I'm a nice dad
and because this is Copenhagen
and the rain stopped after seven minutes,
I took Lily on one last ride.
This is the Dumbo ride.
This is the Dumbo ride, but it's
better because we're in Copenhagen.
Take us up. Up!
- I'm going up!
- All the way.
See? I'm brave.
What we do for our kids.
All right. Sorry.
I need a little something
to settle my stomach.
So, people are telling me,
"You gotta have this burger."
I'm like, "I didn't come to Denmark
for a burger. I can get a burger at home."
Just like the hot dog...
you have to try this.
Klaus Wittrup was an exchange student,
lived in Indiana for a while,
and then he worked
in Jackson Hole, Wyoming,
and he fell in love with burgers.
And he opened a burger stand
in a gas station.
This is the Gasoline Grill.
I love the smell of gasoline
when I'm eating!
Yeah!
- How are you? Klaus. Nice to meet you.
- Great to meet you. How are you?
I have to say, the moment you smell this,
all thoughts of a gas station go away...
- Yeah.
- ...and you're just in burger land.
- I hope so.
- In heaven.
- Do you run the gas station, too?
- No, no, unfortunately not.
Just the burger place.
What made you go into burgers?
My first meal
when I got to America was a burger.
- Of course.
- Yeah.
They don't let you in the country
without giving you a burger.
Exactly.
I remember that really like
juicy and fatty taste.
- Yes.
- And I wanted to replicate that.
I'm getting a little excited.
They tell me you have a line all the time.
Yeah. See, we make
a fixed number every day.
And then we sell out every day,
and then we close.
Oh.
That's not for me?
No.
Oh, we had to wait
for the line to die down. Now, I go.
- We're sold out now.
- Is that true?
Yeah, we're sold out.
We don't have any more burgers.
That's not funny.
What's your name?
I'm Johannes.
- Johannes.
- Yeah.
- How long have you worked here?
- I actually just started last month.
- You did?
- Yeah.
- How's he working out?
- Good.
'Cause he's got an attitude. I'm not sure.
We've had worse.
There's an endorsement!
Yeah, I'm glad I'm not the worst one here.
Put that on the resume.
"They've had worse than me!"
Yeah.
No, he's really good.
- What? Me?
- Yeah.
I think you should try
the butter burger.
- Butter burger?
- Yeah.
So, there's no cheese on this burger.
- No. Yeah.
- There's a slab of butter on this burger.
You know, it sounds odd at first,
but when you think about it,
- you get a steak with butter.
- Exactly.
- Fried meat and butter is really good.
- Here we go.
Fried meat and butter
is really good. Go figure.
Let me get you some napkins.
Wow.
Come on! What's on there?
There's onion on there.
Onion, pickles, and butter.
- I need to eat more.
- Yeah.
To come somewhere,
have an experience,
love that experience,
be so influenced by the experience
that it changes your life.
- Yeah.
- Right?
- This is you now.
- Exactly.
But then me traveling here to discover
someone who traveled to where I live,
came back and did something
that's as good, if not better...
- Thank you.
- ...than what's at home.
One more, you don't mind.
- Johannes?
- Yeah?
This is very good!
Thank you very much.
Don't take credit.
He's standing right here.
I know, I know, but I work here too.
- Okay.
- That's right.
Good job!
- Thank you very much!
- He can stay.
- I'll give him a raise.
- Okay.
A raise! Yes! Give him a good raise.
In fact, a raise for everybody.
I'll remember that.
I'm in a gas station!
Oh!
What a nice shirt you have on.
Oh. Thank you. I'm glad you like it.
When were you in Copenhagen?
About ten years ago, I think.
You liked it?
Loved it.
It's very beautiful.
- Yeah.
- Did you have breakfast yet?
- No, I'm having my coffee.
- No. Me too.
You know what you get
in Denmark, right?
Herring.
Danish in Denmark! Danish!
Oh, it's a Danish.
That looks very sweet.
You know what they call them here? Pastry.
- Well, it is pastry. That's what it is.
- Yes!
They don't need to call it Danish.
We call it Danish.
We spoke to your wife yester--
a couple of days ago.
No, yesterday.
I have to, but you?
She likes Copenhagen.
I think she likes Copenhagen.
And Lily. Lily loved Copenhagen.
But I had to go on the rollercoaster
with her twice.
I almost threw up.
She likes rollercoasters?
- She wanted to go!
- You went with her?
I went. The whole family went.
Ben and I, we were not crazy about it.
How's Ben?
Ben is good! You want to say hi to Ben?
- Yes.
- Say hello to Ben.
Ben, come here!
- Oh, please stop...
- Look! Here's my boy. Look!
- Hello.
- She's leaving.
- Oh, bye. Hi, Grandpa.
- Hi!
- You look great, Ben.
- Thank you.
- Are you enjoying it?
- Yes.
Are you enjoying your time there?
Yeah, it's great here. Yeah.
- Very nice.
- Hi, Grandma.
And...
Hi, there.
So, how do you like Copenhagen?
It's really fun. I've been working.
But it's really nice here.
We went for fried chicken
on Ben's birthday.
How is the fried chicken over there?
Good. It was special fried chicken.
It's not like normal--
It's not like New York?
- No.
- How was it different?
- It had vinegar powder.
- Spice--
Vinegar? Forget that.
That's the end of that chicken.
You know--
- Bye. Have a good day.
- Good to see you.
Thank you. You too.
Listen, let me show you
the weather outside. Wait one second.
Max, you got to--
What are you doing?
Can you see?
- Yes. That's fantastic.
- It's a little hazy, but...
That's a very good view
everyone's getting.
Thank you.
I think this will be our shot
from now on when we call you.
What?
Instead of looking at you,
we'll just look at this.
Right. Isn't that nicer?
Stay well and regards to Richard.
Nope.
Sometimes there's this thing
called vacation magic,
where if you think something's
not gonna work out,
it works out better
than you could have imagined.
So, we were just about to leave town
when I get a call from Geoffrey.
He wants me to meet him and his friend
Sune at this place down by the water.
So, I go, and it turns out
it's not just some place by the water.
It's a Noma pop-up.
Yes! Noma under the bridge.
By some miracle, I'm actually gonna get
my taste of Noma after all.
I can't believe it.
Here you've got
these beautiful, local fjord shrimps.
Take a good spoonful of them
into the middle of the taco.
Tacos, people!
The chefs from Noma, while they're
waiting for Noma 2.0 to be built,
are making food
that they would want to eat.
This is our warm broth
of smoked cod heads and bones,
with grilled baby cucumbers
and spicy ginger oil.
Mm.
Yeah. That's what I mean.
There's so much flavor!
- Hello, again!
- Hello!
You are my favorite people.
Have I told you?
Well, that's beautiful!
How good could a potato be?
You know, do I have to go to Noma
for a potato?
It turns out, yes, you do.
It's not just me, right?
This is crazy delicious.
Look at that!
This is two Magnums. It's a Jeroboam.
Jeroboam! It's my second favorite size
after Nebuchadnezzar.
I got to say, I'm a little in love
with wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen.
The Danish love of style and creativity
that Noma reignited is alive and well,
but it's more than that.
Maybe it's what Bjarke calls
hedonistic sustainability.
Listen, why can't environmentalism
be sexy?
Healthy food actually be
the more delicious choice?
It just seems like everybody here
is looking out for everybody else.
And that feeling is all around,
and it's really nice.
It doesn't hurt
that these are all around you too.
- Hi! Number four.
- Hi.
- Yes. With everything?
- With everything.
Why'd you get another hot dog?
I've got the fever,
and the only cure is more hot dogs.
# So come sit at his table #
# If you're happy, hungry
Willing, and able #
# To see how breaking bread #
# Can turn a stranger
Right into a friend #
# 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 #
# Oh, please somebody
Somebody feed Phil #
# Somebody feed him now #