Ugly Delicious (2018–…): Season 2, Episode 3 - Steak - full transcript

♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪

- What is this?
- Steak.

- What is in it?
- Cow.

- ♪ Sometime, I like it cold ♪
- Pure beef.

♪ Sometime, I like it fresh... ♪

Where's the steak?

Burnt to a crisp
or bloody as hell?

Bloody as hell. And, oh, yeah,
look at this--

Vanilla Coke.

Medium rare. An aristocrat.

I'm gonna want the milksteak
boiled over hard.



♪ I just like it
Like I like it... ♪

Don't overcook it.
You overcook it, it's no good.

It defeats its own purpose.

- What's that?
- That's well-done.

That is well-done.
So, stop bringing me shit!

♪ I just like it like I like it... ♪

I don't know why steak
is considered manly.

It's not as if hunting a cow
was ever that hard.

- Ew!

Let's just hear about today's prizes.

Well-done steaks.

If I see a speck of red,

- it's goin' back.

Beef.
It's what's for dinner.



You got a steak?

Ah, yes. You got any A.1.?

And don't forget the ketchup.

When my parents immigrated
to this country,

they ate so much beef.

My brothers call me
a product of bovine growth hormone...

...because I'm so much bigger
than everyone else in my family.

But, uh, you know, it's funny.

It's like, growing up, steak was something
that my mom would cook in a toaster oven.

And when it was, like, a special occasion,
it was a steak house.

Yeah.

- This is dining.
- Mm-hmm.

It's the ritual.
Steak isn't a food; it's an experience.

Everybody wants to say they've made it,
and if a steak means we've made it...

But it's also, like, as a cook...

Mm-hmm.

...when someone puts an order in,
it tells you so much about a person.

- So much.
- So much.

- And I--
- I fully agree with that.

I fully agree with it.

I do,
but I was reading this thing that--

they were attempting to argue

that people who ordered well-done steak
were more risk-averse.

- Was I the one who wrote that?

Wait a minute. Yes, yes!

- Yeah?
- And it turned out not to be so clear.

I've seen every kind of disrespect

- to the well-done order possible.
- Yeah.

I've worked in restaurants where,
uh, someone has ordered well-done,

- and we just threw it in the fryer.
- Wow.

I could never. I would die.

I don't know, I think that, like,
the well-done/rare debate

is the obvious one,
which we should get into,

but I also judge people
by which steak they order.

- Yeah.
- You know,

I mean, you've got the filet-mignon crowd.

I mean,
I don't even serve filet mignon here.

- Why?
- And if we do-- Because I like the fat.

I have a friend...

I'll just say it.
It's Bill Simmons, right?

- And he loves...

loves the bone-in filet,

and I give him a lot of shit for it.

Might I say a few a words
in defense of the...

- ...the suddenly humble filet?

I do like the filet.

He's just taking this absurd position
for the sake of argument, right?

I like being ridiculed.

This is why
I'm taking this absurd position.

- No, I love filet.

I-- I don't think
you can actually judge anyone,

- Mm-hmm.
- but we do it all the time.

Mm-hmm.

Smells delicious in here.

How do you guys like your steaks?

- I like medium rare.
- Yeah, rare to medium rare.

- Um...
- Medium well.

- Medium well?
- Yeah. I'm that-- I'm that asshole who,

if you ask me and I'm honest,
I'll say "well."

- It's okay. It's okay!
- Yeah.

I feel like, when I was a kid,
we would order things well-done,

but I grew out of that
once I became a man.

- Yeah.

We should've just gone real hard
the other way

and said we liked it raw.

- Oh, thank you.
- Yours is still cookin'.

- It looks great.
- It'll be ready tomorrow.

Is that--
You want it more or less?

- More cooked?
- More cooked.

- Yes, please.
- God damn it!

I'm going to
the cool side of the table, guys.

- Mm-hmm?
- Mm-hmm.

All right, let's dig in.

When all the orders come in,

like, you know what kind of person it is

- by the orders of food that they're...

- Yeah.
- You really-- Pretty accurately, I think.

- Mm-hmm.
- And one of the big markers for,

like, judging someone,
just reading a ticket, is... "well-done."

- Yeah, like--
- "Whoa! This is not acceptable."

You're like, "Alert the back.
We have a murderer in here."

It takes courage to be like,
"Fuck it. I like it well-done."

I do think a lot of people,
when they say they want it rare,

they don't really mean it.

"Rare, because I'm-- I understand
how this should be eaten."

Yeah, you want to be seen as,
like, intelligent.

These are well-done.

- Those look delicious.
- You think this is delicious?

- Oh, come on, that's so good.

Right? You just love it, right?

- Mm, it's so good.
- Oh, my gosh.

Mm!

I'm privately, like, trying to not judge
all four of you right now.

What are your thoughts
on steak sauce? Is that taboo?

I don't think it's taboo,
but I always try the steak

- before I dip it into a sauce.
- Yeah.

And if you go to, like, a fancy,
three-Michelin-star restaurant

- and you ask for hot sauce,
- Mm-hmm.

I can imagine the chef, like,

throwing the plate
across the room, you know?

- Mm-hmm.
- Have you guys gone to steak houses

in other countries?

There's a killer steak place
in Sydney...

- that I... that I love.
- Yeah, that place is awesome.

It's in Bondi Beach.
It's called Macelleria.

It's fast-food steak.

You order at the counter.

All the steaks are right there,

and you can pick in the room, like,
"I want that one."

You can get a steak for like ten,
12 bucks.

Of all the things I've seen you do,
your Australia commercials

were my favorite thing.

All right there, mate?

Just gettin' a clean shave
with my machete.

That's 'cause I was fueled
on Macelleria the whole time.

Danny McBride says
this is one of his favorites,

if not favorite, places to eat steak.

So, we prepare everything. We dry-age it.
We have the portions ready.

You just pick your steak,
you pick your sides.

I'm gonna get the McBride,
the Wagyu rump.

I want the Cape Grim Angus.

- I want a bone.
- Well, the T-bone.

Have you ever seen
a steak house like this?

For me, growing up,
steak was, like, celebratory.

We only ate steak when it was...

A special occasion.

Yeah. I didn't have like proper,
proper steak until I moved to the States.

Any time we would eat, like,
a proper steak,

that's our attempt at being, like, white.

Sorry.

It's like, "We're real Aussies now.

Here's my steak."

That's the T-bone.

That's the Wagyu rump.

Your regulars,
do they come in all the time?

- Yeah.
- Like every week?

Every day? Multiple meals?

My average customer comes in
multiple times a day or week.

So, this is almost like a canteen.

So, this is not seen
as a celebratory thing, right?

Not here. It's Bondi.

People want to sit down together
and eat communally,

meet a stranger next to you.
You don't have a choice.

You gotta sit next to someone
you don't know.

Guess what? They love it that way.

It's a good steak.

What are our thoughts on Wagyu?

- Do you rate Wagyu above other...
- Meat?

...meat?

- I'm more--
- Or is it like a status thing?

I don't know.

You know,
a lot of high-score Wagyu is just so rich.

I also find it doesn't taste as,
for lack of a better word, "beefy."

At least,
a beef that I'm accustomed to.

- So, $200... for that?
- Yes.

It's really good.

Currently,
Japanese beef is expensive

not because it's tasty,

but because the quantity of available cow
is limited.

I don't know.
Has it become like an expensive steak?

Like, a Wagyu is, like-- I don't know...
feels like you're driving

- a yellow Ferrari or something.
- It's a status thing, yeah.

Mmm.

It's like,
are we actually eating it

because we think it tastes good,
and it's 'cause it's, like--

But sometimes, it does taste fucking good.
It really is like--

It is, like, now being brought...
blown so out of proportion

that people don't know
why they're eating it anymore.

- I know.
- Because it's, like, this buzzword.

Yeah.

I feel bad because when Danny says,

"Oh, you gotta come here,"
my snob, foodie person was, like...

"Danny might as well have said,
'I like Outback Steakhouse.'"

But I'm-- I'm happy that I'm here
to check it out

with my own two eyes and my taste buds,
'cause it's really good.

It's, uh, accessible.

This is the thing,
we all... hang out with food people.

We-- What our reality is,
is not everyone's reality, too.

That's pretty much
what I'm realizing, too.

It's like, I'm actually...
Maybe we're the problem.

And maybe we've lost that ability to...

...just, like, not judge,

but just say, like,
"Is someone leaving happy?"

Yes.

"Is someone leaving happy?"

After I wrote that article
about how we can judge Donald Trump

for eating his steak well-done,
my mom e-mailed me, and she's like,

"You know, your grandfather
always ordered his steak well-done

because he was an observant Jewish man,

and kosher law says that you can't eat
the blood of an animal."

Even though we know that the redness
that you see in meat isn't blood,

he was terrified of any trace of blood
being in there.

And it really opened my eyes

that there are cultural reasons
and religious reasons

that I might not have access to

why someone might want
a steak that's well-done.

- All right, cheers, everyone.
- Oh, my God.

- There it is.
- Oh, yeah.

All right, so...

this is all of the dry-aging
that we do in-house here.

A rib eye, dry-aged for 60 days.

So, no specialized technique,

just beautiful, dry-aged beef.

And this is the whiskey-aged beef.

So, this is actually 160 days old.

- Wow.
- Yeah.

- So, this is a lavender-aged...
- Wow.

- Mm!
- ...103.

So we-- It--
We smoke this in French oak,

- Mm-hmm?
- and then bury it in lavender,

and then it ages for 90 days.

I'm sitting here, thinking,
like, "Oh, my God.

How much money is the inside
of my stomach worth right now?

This is extraordinary."

The question is,

do replicas,
the things that hint at the actual luxury,

like the Costco steaks...

Do those devalue our ability to appreciate

- the Beatrice Inn rib eye?
- One-hundred percent.

But how do you argue against it

when you want a steak
and you want it affordable

and you buy it from Costco,

which is the same reason
why someone thinks

you know, a chain steak house

is their best version
of a steak house, right?

Like, it's so hard to tell them,
"You're wrong."

Well,
we're talking about democracy here.

The question of the extent
to which we're all equal,

and therefore should all have access
to these things.

- I have a confession for you.
- Yeah?

I've never been
to an Outback Steakhouse before.

- What?
- Yeah.

As a kid,
I remember that's where you get the onion

that I'd never seen before,
the Bloomin' Onion.

I have a confession to make.
I have been to an Outback.

- 'Cause...

I've had the Bloomin' Onion before.
Where would I have had that?

- We gotta get the Bloomin' Onion.
- Yes!

I'm gonna go
for a bone-in, natural-cut rib eye.

- Medium rare.
- We're ordering steaks.

I'm getting the filet mignon
'cause filet mignon's the best.

- How did you want your steak cooked?
- Medium rare.

I don't know.
Is that weird if I eat off your plate?

- Just get a steak.
- Yeah.

- I'll get the--
- It's super weird. We're adult men.

I'll get the Melbourne porterhouse

and the potato,
loaded up with the fixings.

- It's like a Memphis-Australian accent.
- Not even.

It sounds
like apartheid-era South African.

- Can you do--
- He's like Leo DiCaprio in Blood Diamond.

- Can you do an Australian accent?
- I can't.

That's not a requirement to work here?

No.

Oh. Yeah, load that shit up, the potato.

- All right, thank you, guys.
- This is great.

- Some warm honey wheat bread for ya.
- Ooh.

Do you know
if they cooked my steak yet?

- Not yet.
- Can I get it Pittsburgh style?

- Absolutely.

- You like that shit?
- What the hell?

You know that?
Its like, they burn the shit out of it,

and then it's raw in the middle.

- It sounds disgusting.
- Yeah, you're a dumbass.

So, Choe and I,
we don't understand this dry-age thing.

What was wrong with steak
that we had to dry-age it for 380 days?

Dry-aging steak is a more delicious way
than quote, unquote, "fresh steak."

I don't even know--

But is "more delicious" an opinion,
or is it a fact?

Because what if I just like steak?

It is a more delicious thing.

- That's your fuckin' opinion, dude.
- That feels like an opinion.

- Oh, shit, there it is.

Bloomin' Onion
with our famous bloom sauce.

This is really great.
Whoever made this is a goddamn genius.

I love it. I think
they should make up a whole story.

This, uh, aborigine went on walkabout,

and on his spiritual journey,
he came up with a Bloo--

Like, I mean,
they should just come up with a full myth.

His name was--
His name was John Blooming.

All the steaks are cooked
in, like, a marsupial pouch of a kangaroo.

I'm, literally, in my head,

- "Why did we invite fucking Choe?"
- Food is here.

I have the Pittsburgh-style charred steak.

- Yes! Did you load up the potato?
- Yes, extra loaded.

How many people order it Pittsburgh style?

- Yes.
- No one.

No one?

I'm sure you've had
more difficult customers before,

but would you put him in--

Like, when you go back,
and you're, like, refilling water,

you're, like,
"Man, table eight is, like, a nightmare.

- No, not at all.
- This fuckin' guy."

- Thank you.
- Not at all.

Do you guys have a steak knife?

Yeah, this is it.

That's not a knife. This is a knife.

- Why'd you--

That's a knife.

Dude, I waited the whole day
to do my Paul Hogan joke.

- Oh, my God.
- You never seen Crocodile Dundee?

- No.
- What's wrong with you?

- You brought that with you?
- Yeah.

You're so ridiculous.

That's, like, perfect.
That's nicely cooked.

Oh, this is really nice.

It's really good.

- This is really good.
- It's really good.

We've taken something
that's been a very special thing,

and now it's something that people can eat
on a regular basis.

- That means--
- It probably costs one-third as much as--

My steak last night was $600.

- Seriously?
- Yeah.

- You're such a rich asshole.
- I'm just saying, like, when--

Why was it $600?

Dry-age.

Someone told me to come here
and look for a guy named Rambo.

- Who told you that?
- Is that-- Is that you?

- Yup.
- David. Nice to meet you.

David Chang.
Tell me a little bit about this Schvitz.

We used to have orgies
back in this place, bro.

Today, if I go in there,
there's no orgies happening.

No, no.

What's the most fucked-up shit
you've ever seen here?

I used to get paid to fuck guys' wives
when I was younger.

So you're saying,
I could've got a schvitz,

watch you fuck my wife,

- and then got a T-bone steak?
- Yup.

- Paddy Lynch.
- Dave Chang. Nice to meet you.

- Good to meet you.
- How's it going?

Good, come on in.

Whoa!

- This is the Schvitz.
- Okay.

- That's cool.
- Detroit's original...

traditional bathhouse.

People have been coming here
for nearly 100 years.

Mostly men,
but we have two days a week

that are women-only, now.

Two days a week,
men and women can come here together.

Has this place always been a steak house?

Yeah, the reason this one survived

is because it was associated
with the Purple Gang,

and they were responsible
for about 80% of the booze

coming into the country
during Prohibition.

They couldn't wear a weapon here,
and they couldn't wear a wire,

so they knew every conversation
that they had was confidential.

These fuckers never thought
to just wear a hat?

They wanted to sit around
and smoke and drink.

And what did they want to eat?
They wanted to eat steaks.

But, really, down here
is the heart and soul of the place.

Nothing has changed down here
in almost 100 years.

Oh, wow.

Oh, shit, this is awesome.

This is a real cast of characters.

- Dr. Howard. Big P, my father.
- What's up? Hey.

- Scott the Master.
- Hey.

- Daniel the Stocky Soviet.
- Oh, man.

This is what
we're gonna start you off with.

Where's that gonna go?

- It's gonna go all over your body.
- All over your body

We call this a "raw dog."

I'm gonna get raw-dogged by the Master?

It's my first time. Be gentle.

The oak does possess minerals

that are blood thinners,
anti-inflammatories.

It's like nature's aspirin.

Just, everything you guys just said
sounds like complete bullshit, man.

- Ah, fuck.

- Yeah!

I'm trauma bonded to this place.

I'm starving.

Oh, my God.

Is that what's for dinner?

The way it was described to me was,
"The heat is the foreplay,

the cold dip is the orgasm,

- and the steak is anal... after," so...

I like it!

- How you doing?
- ...the original dressing.

Oh, you made the original dressing?

- What is that? Steak sauce?
- Yeah. Yeah.

- You put steak sauce in the dressing?
- Yeah. What do you think?

This is the fucking manliest salad
I've ever had.

I appreciate it.

I got you something.

- You guys know what this is?
- Kimchi.

The only Korean guy
I've ever seen in Detroit

just gave me a jar of kimchi for dinner.

- I love kimchi.
- This place is amazing.

- Thank you.
- You're welcome.

- Very nice.
- Yeah.

All right, who wants some steak?

All right.
All right, let me try this. Here goes.

Here you go, guys.

Oh, shit. Goddamn.

This is, like, one of the best steaks
I've ever had.

Maybe it's 'cause my body's
in, like, complete shock right now.

That's a man bite.

- I love it. You guys are like a family.
- Yeah.

This is a place where men can come,

and they can be gentle with one another.

I think that's super-important

because when you use the word,
like, "intimacy,"

it's usually referred to in a romantic...

- with, like, a man and a woman or--
- Whatever it might be.

But just to be intimate with men,

and not in a romantic way,
but just like, "You're my brother."

- "You're my brother."
- "You're my friend."

It all kinda comes back,

at the high-end especially,
to this masculinity thing.

So, I go to Keens all the time.

- I love Keens. Love it.
- It's the best, right?

It's the oldest steak house in New York.

You can feel the history
as soon as you walk in.

The ceilings are covered
with the pipes of thousands of people

who used to go there.

And until 1905,
it was a men's-only restaurant,

and they still, to this very day,
have on their menu a burger,

and then a Miss Keens burger,
which comes without the bun.

There's such inherent gendering

- to all of this.
- Mm-hmm.

If you associate steak houses
and meat-eating with dudes and bro-y

and man test--
like, testosterone culture...

But it also, to me, is synonymous
with unwillingness to accept "new."

Feminine is, "We're open to change,

and we're open to thoughtfulness
and critical thinking."

Well, this is the real
selling point for modern feminism.

The pursuit of feminism
makes life better for men,

- just as much as it does for women.

- Honey, I'm home.

Welcome home, Dave.
Do you want to watch some TV with me?

- I'd love to.
- Let's go.

So obviously, steak, unto itself,
isn't a gendered thing.

It's a food,

but in culture,
it comes to be understood as masculine

and that eating meat
is how you prove your manliness,

and sort of become masculine.

It is such a powerful signifier.

Whenever I start teaching food and gender
with my students,

the easy one you start with
is "steak is masculine."

Bon appétit.

- Salad is feminine.
- Oh, good God.

So, this one is for Burger King.

- ♪ I am man, hear me roar ♪

♪ In numbers too big to ignore
And I'm way too hungry ♪

♪ To settle for chick food ♪

So, the idea that fine dining
is not enough.

It's "chick food,"

♪ My stomach starts to growl
And I'm goin' on the prowl... ♪

- "Prowl," like he's hunting.
- ♪ For a Cheesy Bacon XXL ♪

♪ Man, that's good! ♪

Eat like a man.

Literally, "Eat like a man," right?

Then like, that becomes the tagline
of how to sell a cheeseburger.

When you see a commercial like this,
do you get angry?

Yes!

When you market to men
with misogynistic messaging,

then it has this oppression of women
baked into that sort of strategy.

They're not just selling to dudes;

they have to denigrate women
and femininity

- in the process of doing it.
- Can you explain that some more?

So, instead of just selling soap, right?

It's like, "Use this,
and you won't smell like a chick!"

- Like, it has to make fun of women

in order to sell you soap
that would just make you clean.

All of these things in the world,
particularly in food,

women have to constantly fight
for equality

- when it should just be a given.
- Yeah.

The traditional
New York City steak house

with the mahogany wood
and the sort of cigar-like smoke...

It just, like, reeks of dudes.

Yeah,
you feel like it's an eating experience

- that's from another time.
- It really is.

I feel like I go to steak houses
for the sides, you know?

So, we have cornbread, a wedge,

- a little coleslaw here.
- Wedge salad, coleslaw.

We got your mashed potatoes.

Ah, yes.

What are your go-to sides
when you go to a steak house

and you want something classic?

Glazed carrots.
I think some kind of spinach, right?

Sautéed or the cream.

Then you have all kinds of potatoes:
home fries, french fries,

- rösti, purée.
- Yeah.

- Always gotta go shrimp cocktail.
- Always.

- With strong horseradish.
- Oh, yeah.

- Some things are just delicious.
- Give me that Bloomin' Onion.

You gotta get the obligatory wedge salad.

Yeah, the wedge.

Like, crab cakes, macaroni and cheese,

potatoes au gratin,
or something like that,

in some skillet
that will give you third-degree burns.

- Bacon with the steak house sauce.
- Ugh.

If you think about it,
the caloric intake so far,

- you should be theoretically done.
- Yeah.

That's what happens
at every restaurant.

That's-- Isn't that part
of a steak house excursion is, like,

to go all out.

- Like, "What have we done?"
- Yeah.

I don't think I've ever been
to a steak house

where, by the time the steak comes,

people are like, "Ah, I'm already full.
I can't even eat this."

- Totally. It's part of it.

Somehow,
you find that second stomach.

- Oh, yeah.
- What about dessert?

- Do you even make it to dessert?
- Oh, yeah.

We've gone this far. Why not?

We knew.
We knew what we were up against.

The American steak house experience
is what I grew up eating, and...

you think
that's the only way to eat steak.

It's cultural. Like,
for example, if we were to go to London,

and I would grab a lamb chop,
they're gonna want their lamb well-done.

But, like, the whole US vocabulary
of meat consumption has been collapsed.

- To like...
- Yeah.

You know, there's a porterhouse,
there's a filet mignon,

and there's a boneless,
skinless chicken breast,

- and that's all there is.
- Right.

But the Denver cut
is a new invention by the meat industry.

- What the fuck is a Denver cut?

- Right?
- Well, also, be careful, though,

because Argentina and France and England,

- they cut steaks differently.
- Right.

The only constant that I see
in steak around the world

- is that it's a celebration.

At Firedoor,
Lennox is making it hard,

and that's what makes it
so fuckin' beautiful.

There's no gas.

You can't even boil water
without starting a fire.

So, this is as pure of cooking
that you could possibly do.

I haven't had
a better expression of cooking a steak

than over fire.

And the beef deserves
the highest amount of respect.

So, every fortnight,
when they slaughter the animals,

uh, only about three or four percent
make this really high grade.

This is fat aging.

We dry it for two weeks,
and then we render the fat down.

So, what you see around the outside
is actually the fat of the animal.

- Right.
- So, it's sealed in its own fat.

By the time it comes to us,
it's already an amazing piece of beef.

You realize that once you eat it,

you're not gonna want to eat
any other beef, right?

I-- I'm good-- I'm totally good with that.
Yeah.

I've ruined steak
for quite a lot of people.

You've actually got to immerse yourself
in the process.

And everyone's gonna-- You--
I'm gonna grill differently

to the way you grill.

And that's the beautiful thing
about it is,

at the end of the day,
it's an expression of the human heart.

- So poetic.
- It is.

- And the accent makes it really nice.
- Yeah.

- Fuck you, guys.

- This is really... really good.

It's really, really good.
I have nothing more to say.

I don't sound poetic.
"Really, really, really good."

- Dude.

- This is good.

This is clean.

For certain, this is the best bone
I've ever had in my fucking life.

We're at-- We're at a critical stage
where beef's gonna disappear,

- and we're gonna have to--
- What do you mean?

- It's-- It's not good for the environment.

It's not environmentally friendly.
It's not the future.

But this is about celebrating the now
and what we have now.

So, the future is no steak.

- It really is, right?
- Not beef.

- That's for sure.

The future, to be honest, in Australia,
is gonna be camel and kangaroo.

There's camels everywhere,
and there's kangaroo everywhere.

- I don't want it to go to kangaroos, man.

And now we take you
to our protein alternative correspondent,

Walter Green.

We're here today in the east wing
of my Brooklyn home,

and we're tasting alternative meats.

The best part about alternate meats,
I would say, is sharing them

with someone that you love.

- Coming, sir.

Good evening, Bob.

This evening, your first meal

is vegan black pepper steaks.

Would you like to share a bite
with me, perhaps?

It's against union rules, sir.

I give it two meats

- out of five potential meats.

- I'm ready to call it on this one.

- Bob.
- Was this to your satisfaction?

Just being here

and experiencing it with you
was all the pleasure in the world.

Traditional seitan.

I believe it's pronounced
"traditional sei-tan."

Perhaps, sir.

Could we lock arms?

I'm putting the food into my mouth,
and you're putting it into your mouth?

It violates union law. Sorry, sir.

Can we do something where your arm
is at least there,

and I'm just wrapping around it
and putting it into my mouth?

Perhaps that would be fine.

Was that satisfactory, sir?

Thank you, Bob. That'll do.

There's barely any flavor.
I don't want to be rude to anybody, but...

- Two nuggets out of five for seitan.

- Good day, sir.
- Oh! Ooh!

This is known as the Impossible Burger.

Oh, okay.

To me,
it tastes like a McDonald's hamburger.

Yeah,
it's a pretty convincing alternative.

I give it a vegetarian Big Mac...

- ...out of one regular Big Mac.

You know,
I don't eat a lot of alternative meat,

but it might be something
that we should all strive for.

How delicious does something have to be
to kill the earth over it?

It's undeniable

that cattle ranching
is extraordinarily destructive

to the planet.

The way it's currently done,
and the scale at which it's done,

the methane emissions
and the environmental impact...

I mean, it's-- it's massive.

But there are ways of making
these things manageable, I think,

that we haven't explored.

Because the American ethos is,
"More is better,

and unless I'm making more profits
with each quarter,

then I somehow have failed."

Mm-hmm.

There are a lot of other approaches
that are possible

that don't mandate us
tearing something out of the...

the food chain.

So, this is where
you grow the steak?

- Yup. Nice to have you here.

Climb on here.

- Oh, there's feathers!
- These are the only two horses

that we have on the ranch.

A Honda and a Suzuki.

Where are we headed?

We're gonna go out in the field,
and we're gonna move a group of cows

from one field to the next field.

They get moved every day.

- I should have worn a cowboy hat.
- You shoulda worn a cowboy hat.

- Okay.
- By the end of the day,

you might have one.

- All right.
- Yep.

This is a lot-- Oh, my God.

- This is like Ponch and John.
- Yeah.

All in!

So, how old are they
when they have their one bad day?

Uh, around 24 to 28 months, usually.

Compared to the conventional industry,

those cattle are 14 to 18 months.

Cattle ranching is not the greatest
for the environment, right?

We're carbon neutral...
we're carbon positive on this operation.

- And--
- Carbon positive?

Like, not even "neutral"?

- Yeah.
- You're fixing other people's problems.

We're workin' on it.

We're trying our best
to have bigger groups of cattle.

We rotate 'em around.

They rest the soil,

so we have lots more biodiversity
in the soil,

- lots more plants growing.
- That's amazing.

The cattle basically harvest
the grass for us,

turn into protein,
and that's what we sell.

It's so efficient.

It's such a logical, beautiful,
natural system.

- I think it's nature's way.
- Yeah.

About ten years ago,
I had sent a group of animals

to a feed lot,
and about 30% of 'em got sick.

And at the same time,
we started to have a family.

And it made me think, like,

"Oh, there might be a different way
of doing things."

We put a line in the sand

and said,
"We're gettin' certified organic.

We're selling everything
direct to consumers,

and we're gonna do our best
to help the planet."

They're born and live in the field

their whole life.
There's no barns, or--

Nothing but grass?
That's pretty amazing.

A lot of times, feedlot beef
will taste more bland and greasy,

and grass-fed beef
actually has more flavor.

So most of our customers say it's
the best grass-fed beef they've eaten.

Because you taste,
not just the grassiness,

but sort of a clean, floral flavor.

We get the message all the time
that we're not supposed to eat steak

'cause it's the worst thing
for the environment.

And I've always felt like,
as long as it's happy cows

that are raised in a sustainable way,
that steak's not so bad.

I kind of live by the...

by the example of, "Eat less meat.
Eat higher quality meat."

This is the future of cattle.

Green hills, blue skies.

I think so.

As meat becomes more scarce

because of environmental issues,
because of cost issues...

um, you know, that easy,
low-hanging protein source

is not gonna be cheap anymore.

And the future of steak maybe looks
something like what we see in Japan

more than anything else.

Smaller, sliced
is the future of steak houses.

When I really
want to have beef,

this is the place I get the max out
of the beef.

There's a lot of people that Instagram

or do social media about food,

but there's a small, small list of people

that actually know
what the hell they're talkin' about.

Little Meg is one of them.

She eats an extraordinary amount of food,
and she knows...

where all the delicious restaurants are
in Japan.

So, quick question.

Why do you never show your face
or your identity?

You know, uh, at first,
I was still working in an office.

And I just don't want my boss
to know that I'm on Instagram.

And I just feel more comfortable
if I can walk into a restaurant

and just be one of the customers.

Yakiniku is what? Grilled meat?

- Fire-roasted meat, right?
- Mm-hmm.

Personally, I like it, actually--

Yakiniku more than steak.

Just on technical cooking,

it makes more sense to cook Wagyu thinly

because the Maillard reaction,
and you get caramelization,

- the whole thing.
- Exactly.

And then you can still wrap it up
and have the thickness of a thicker steak.

That-- The mouthfeel's there,
but it's just more balanced.

And there's so many variations.

Mm.

- Tongue.
- Tongue.

- Heart. Heart.
- Heart. Heart.

- Shoulder.
- Shoulder.

- Shoulder.
- Mm.

He's looking at this grill,

he's moving around the meat.

Without any, like, equipment,

he knows the temperature.

Like, he, like, you know...

He literally know it
like it is like his baby or something.

He is the one who know,
for each piece of meat,

what is the best usage of the grill

- to make the perfect, optimal outcome.
- All right.

It's really good.

Wait until the signature.

So, he's going to grill it on the grill
very quickly

and then fold it.

And then, he'll put it in the middle sauce

and then put it in your egg.

So, look at how...
And then you bite into it.

- In here? Or just...
- Oh, no, no, no. No.

Yes. I want to see you eating, actually.

Isn't that, like...

Fuck.

This is...

I had that exact same reaction
when I first had it.

That's... insane.

- That's insane.

That's really one of the best bites

- I've ever had in my life.
- If you--

Unbelievable, right?

Unbelievable.

This is why it's the signature here.

- It really is unbelievable.
- Yes, right?

I'm trying to act cool right now.

All right, kicking things off
with the lavender.

- Mm.
- Wow.

Oh, my God.

- Are you putting truffles on that?
- Yeah.

I feel like the guillotine
is right outside for us.

- It's right here.
- Yeah.

Can someone get some cake
for the people outside?

I know, they seem hungry.

Oh, my God.

So, we just finish this
with a little bit of langoustine butter.

Because, like,
the funky shellfish flavor...

it's, like, so sweet, and it's got
all these beautiful, like, high notes.

What did you finish this one with?

It's got a bit of anchovy crust on it.

So, this is your idea of surf and turf?

- Yeah, and then...
- That's not what that term means,

- you know. It's not.
- It is here.

It's really interesting to me

that you add
so many additional complimentary flavors

to cuts like this
that have been aged like this.

Because I feel like there's such a focus
on purity. Like...

just salt and pepper, and that's it.

It's not
the traditional fine dining

that I grew up going to.

We're expanding our ideals
of what fine dining is.

And, um, especially with this restaurant,

I wanted to create an environment

that had all those fine dining ideals
but was fun.

- Mm-hmm.
- Because food should be fun.

- You good?
- It's so good.

It's actually...

- It's actually amazing.
- Mm! It's, like, destroying me.

Like, oh, my God.

- I've never had anything like this.
- No? Good. That's the idea.

That is a totally unfamiliar...

- Try the bone.
- All right.

And pass it around.

We're talking
about food a little bit,

but what we're really talking about
is how a guest is made to feel.

And we can pull away from that,

like, "What is the best possible state
for this piece of meat?"

But that's inherent
to the piece of meat itself.

And when you put it in the entire economy

of a person sitting at a table
with someone that they love,

at a certain time of day,
on a certain day of the week,

at a certain time of the year,
spending a certain amount of money,

it's so much more
than just the meat on the table, right?

But it's the experience.
It's everything.

And, at the end of the day,
it's like, yeah.

Is it about this? Yeah, it is.

But it's also about all of this.

One of my favorite restaurants
in the world is called Shima Steak House.

And there are probably places
that serve better

or fancier steaks, but...

it just--
it has an emotional thing for me.

It's, like,
one of the first expensive meals

I ever had, and...

it's beef that is raised a certain way.

And I think, for me,

so much of a steak house
has to be tied to the nostalgia.

- Yeah.
- It has to mean something to me.

I've think one of the reasons I love it

is that it defies my understanding
of what a steak house can be.

When I look at that oven,
and the fact that he designed it himself,

I see someone who, like,
strives for independent thinking.

If he's gonna build this oven
that's one of a kind,

this is about feeding someone
and making them full of, like,

- warmth and love.
- Exactly.

How do we push the idea of food forward?

I think that the solution is...

I don't know.

I mean, if I had an easy solution,
I'd be a billionaire,

- and I'd be running the world--
- Eating well-done steaks.

- It's-- It's to make meat special.

I just had my first son
about six months ago.

- Oh, hey.
- And so, I imagine the possibility

of a family diet

which is vegetarian
two, three, four, five days a week,

and steak, or whatever meat,
becoming a special thing.

Which is to say,
the conception of luxury may be evolving.

You look at places like France
and like England and Ireland,

and it's a focus
on actually raising the beef.

They're working animals.

When you go to Europe,
and you experience the way

that farmers and ranchers
and butchers and cooks relate to a cow,

it's as a cow,

not necessarily as, like,
one of 7,000 animals

that is being processed
on the kill line today.

I have about 15 different breeds.

Uh, they're all Iberian breeds.

I like to let them eat everything
that they need to eat.

They're here to enjoy,
they're here to rest, to eat,

and... and to be as happy as possible.

Is your passion for the cows,
or for the beef, or for both?

First of all,
I had the restaurant.

I always wanted to have the best products.

I was obsessed
with having the best product,

and I learned that, in order to have it,

I should make it myself.

Does the meat of an older cow

taste different
from the meat of a younger cow?

Yes, I think that the age is key.

We're going to visit a bull
that's 14 years old.

Hi, Bonito. Hi, Bonito.

Pretty boy.

Pretty boy.

Good boy, good boy.

Good boy, good boy.

He's very noble.

"Noble" is that it's...
that he's never going to betray you

You can stand by this animal
without fearing that he may play hard,

that he may hit you.

Why have you kept this bull for 14 years?

Because I have a huge bond with him and I.

And we should have slaughtered him
a few years ago,

but in the end... By now, I haven't.

I don't know. I can't...

And in front of him,
we can't talk about that.

Maybe he understands us.

Is it difficult
for you to eat the meat of an animal

that you've had this kind of bond with?

No, we must honor them.

We must honor them somehow,

and this is the best way
in which we can honor them,

enjoying their welfare,

enjoying how well they lived...

It's going to give us its good energy.

Mm-hmm.

- Cheers. Cheers.
- Cheers.

Mm!

Now, how did you learn to cook?

My mother taught me.

During times of austerity,

she could make great food
with few ingredients.

Tell me about this meat.

What are we eating?

We are eating roast beef
made from the sirloin cap.

The best part is mixing this fat,
which is part of the beef,

which is delicious, in my opinion.

Mm!
Even the fat is good.

This is one of the most traditional

and special dishes from here.

It's aged for over three years.

Mm!

Smell it.

It smells like cheese.

We have a saying here,
"It smells of everything and of nothing."

This bull...

was six years old.

And it was aged for 140 days.

Oh, man.

Yes.

Six years old.

It's beautiful.

In the US,

we say we don't want to eat an older cow

because it'll be tough.

This is not tough.

This is due to the aging process,

but I also think
that everything has a role to play.

The way it was raised, the way it lived,

the way it died.

What I've learned about cooking
is that generosity always comes back.

People have cried at the table,

due to the emotion caused by the food.

And they will say,
"Thank you for your work."

And that's the best thing
that can happen to someone.

Mm-hmm.

Here's my terrible confession,

after I've spent
all this time judging people

for ordering meat well-done,

is, like, after years of being
a "medium rare or-- or die" person,

- Mm-hmm.
- I have... come to terms

with the fact
that I like my steak done medium.

- Mm-hmm.
- And, like,

I spent probably a solid two years
knowing I wanted my steaks medium

and ordering them medium rare anyway,

because I felt...

- uncomfortable with the truth of myself.
- You had to?

I didn't want to be the person
that I had judged for so long.

We're talking about
changing people's conceptions

- of who they are.
- Mm-hmm.

And that is hell.

Because I cling to that,
as unimportant or as wrong as it might be,

I cling to this notion of who I am,

and goddammit,
you ain't gonna take it away from me.

Absolutely.

That's the truest thing
that's ever been said on this TV show.

- How you doing?
- Good. How are you?

- Pleasure to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.

I-- I just met your husband,

and he said RBG married you guys?

- Yeah.
- That's amazing.

I grew up in the suburbs of Virginia

with all of these prejudices.

One of which was,
"Don't hang out in Dupont Circle,"

because it's where
all-- all-- all the gay people live.

My experience at Dupont Circle
is the exact opposite of yours,

'cause when I heard Dupont Circle
is where the gay people are, I was like...

"I wanna go to Dupont Circle!"

This restaurant's been here...

forever.

Since, what, '48?

It started off down the street,
a couple blocks.

A lot of gay guys
just kind of gravitated to the place.

All the people who worked there as servers

were older,
middle-aged women who were motherly.

Annie kind of became the face
of the place.

Now you can buy
a bobblehead of her behind the bar.

There's a famous story that was told
and retold about Annie,

especially after she died in 2013,

that two guys were holding hands
under the table,

and she told them,

"You can hold your hands
above the table here."

It was just that kind of environment.

- Good afternoon, gentlemen.
- Hi.

Welcome to Annie's.
What would you like, please?

What type of steak would you like?

The biggest porterhouse.

- Yeah, a porterhouse.
- Two porterhouse.

And how would you like it cooked?

- Medium rare for me.
- Medium for me.

When you tell people,
"Let's get dinner or lunch at Annie's,"

are people thinking of it
as a steak house?

- They think of it as Annie's.
- You know, it's funny.

I grew up thinking that steak
was the ultimate dining experience.

My first restaurant job
was at Sam & Harry's Steakhouse.

Mine was at Sir Loin.

- Where is that?

It was in Pittsburgh.

So, what do you think
that steak represents... today?

Uh... uh, I have to say,

there are steak houses in my mind
where I...

I would probably stay away from them
because of what I think is...

Come on, let's name names.

Capital Grille, for instance,
is a place where...

Republican... men...

congregate to do business,

and that is not an environment
that I feel comfortable in.

When it's put down in front of me,
and I look at the steak,

I'm like, "Wow, that's really thin."

Like, "Oh, and it's not medium.
It's well-done."

- Yeah. "Oh, it's well-done."
- And, like... And I'm eating it anyway.

- I love the fact that we...
- I'm eating... I'm--

Like, I would eat the whole thing.

It's not...

- This is not what we ordered.
- It's not what we ordered.

- And I'm completely fine.
- And I'm fine.

And I'm not gonna send it back,
and I'm not...

I'm fine with it.

That's not why we're here. Like...

I don't really care how this steak tastes.

The halo effect
is kind of kicking in already.

I mean, this is a place
where I feel comfortable

and I'm gonna be more forgiving.

I thought a steak
was a very easy way

to talk about someone's politics,

without talking about politics,
economics, and socioeconomics,

without talking about it.

And, uh, I proved...

nothing.

I think we've lost what it means
to eat steak.

Some caveman was like,
"Hey, I just finally got this wildebeest.

This is a celebration.
Let's cook it over fire."

It's gotta be in our DNA,
even if you're a vegan, right?

- Life is hard...
- Thank you for having us.

...but we're gonna celebrate this moment,

and the time we have with each other.

And that is so fuckin' beautiful.

Community is the most important part

of the food experience.

Which, ultimately, I think,
why restaurants

- were created to begin with, right?
- Well, yes.

I mean, without community,

a restaurant is just what?

Eating.

- Cheers
- Cheers.