Phil Rosenthal Tries America’s Must-Eat Food Spots ¦ Somebody Feed Phil

We need one big banger in this episode. So let's head to the Fountain Blue Hotel to this high roller temple of beef, Don's Prime. I saved my belly for this one. I'm bringing a couple of my old buddies with me. I think you'll know who they are. Should we do like we always do at the end of a meal? You and I pay? When does that happen? We're not the Rat Pack. We're more like the mouse pack. Look at this. Bring it. Oh, wow. Chef, what is this? It's just a big ribeye. It's a giant ribeye, yeah. Is that really what it is? That's what it is. So we're going to finish it off with a little Wagyu tallow. No, no. What is it? What's Wagyu? What is it? Fat. It's the fat juice? Fat, yeah. The juice of the fat. That's your next album. Yes, it is. You got mozzarella sticks? Oh, my God. Wow. Wow, that's incredible. Oh, my God, look at this. And last but not least, do some lobster mac and cheese. What? No. Holy moly. There you go, gentlemen. I'm a little speechless. Thank you so much. Beautiful. Don Prime, everybody. Give him a hand. Wowie, wow. Boy, this is incredible. I'm going to have to check the warranty on my stent after this. I really do want to bite into the bone. You want to zobble the bone? Take a bite from one end. Give it to me. I'll take a bite. Oh, my goodness. Are you really going to do that? Why not? You have to do it when you're here. Take a bite from one end. Start on the hoof. Oh, my God. See, we're brothers. We do it. You're going to do it, too. I ain't going to do it. All right. It's a tradition. The bone of peace. There he is. Wow. Good, right? Wow. Isn't that good? That's incredible. Let's go once around again. Do it again. No, I shouldn't be doing that with my cold sword. Very happy to be here with you boys. You too. Yeah. Ah, boy. Wow. Wish we could go back and take this with us. I miss those days. Who doesn't? But nowadays are good too. Easy for you to say because you have a show. Yeah. You go to Croatia and eat pudding. Exactly. I'm working the food court at the Golden Lion. Going on a pizza crawl. We're going to hit two classics and a new upstart. Number one, Totono's in Coney Island, Brooklyn. This is one of these places where the romance meets the reality. Ed Levine wrote the book on pizza, literally. And then he made a website, and that became Serious Eats. What's on there? Sausage and mushrooms. Yes, it is. Oh, a white pie. I'm excited. Pizza is, first and foremost, great bread. Right? So I always take a piece, a tear a piece off the crust. Right. To test it. To test it. Because I know it's perfect. That's great on its own. Mmm! This place was opened by a guy whose nickname was Totono. His real name was Anthony Harrow. But this was a middle-class Italian neighborhood. Right. It stayed in the same family for almost 100 years now. Nothing has changed. What do you mean they have current headlines? Exactly. They also have the sisters. Excuse me, you were in Positano with my plumber who's on the phone. I was in Positano with your plumber? Yes. So he remembers seeing me walking around Positano? Yes, of course he saw you. Here, say hello to... Hello, I remember you from Positano. You were the plumber. Antoinette and Cookie run the place now. They're Totono's granddaughters, and they're always up for a party. Oh, my God. Cookie, I'm going to come over here because I'm going to leave. She doesn't want to come. Come here if I hit you with this bottle. Cookie's very shy. It's not that I'm shy. Let her talk. She likes to talk. Nobody messes with Cookie. If anybody bothers me, I just throw them out. That's all. The answer to, what do you like about New York? Our grandfather, he brought pizza to America. In 1905, when he came from Italy on the, I think it was the Margherita was the name of the boat. The Margherita and the pizza, isn't that something? My family came over on the Ruggalo. Look at that photograph on the wall. It's got Lombardi's, which is widely considered the birthplace of American pizza. On the right is the owner, Mr. Lombardi, but next to him is the pizzaiola, the man who made the pizza, Anthony Totono Pero. He's the one with flour on his shoes. That to Cookie and Antoinette is the proof! There'd be no pizza if it weren't for Anthony Pero. To Anthony Pero! To Anthony Pero! It's right you're good at something you know it's in your blood. It's in your family you fight hard you keep it You make it great In our language the more chutzpah you have the better One of my dear friends is the hilarious and great Patton Oswalt. He happens to be in Philadelphia Oh, my God. Come here. And I'm taking him to one of the best restaurants in Philly. In fact, it was just put on the New York Times 50 Best in America. This is Laser Wolf. Oh, what are these? So these are called French fries, actually. Really? French fries. So there's like a French influence over in Israel, would you say? I'm learning so much stuff. And then we have a tahina ketchup here. It's going to have our favorite thing, amba, tahina, and then just some Heinz 57. That makes it, that's making, that's what makes it special right there. That makes it theirs, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love turning Patton on to food because, you know, he's Remy from Ratatouille. So were you already familiar and friendly with four-star dining before Ratatouille? No, not really. I mean, I knew a couple of restaurants that I liked because then as I started touring and traveling with other people, and especially, you know who really knows good restaurants? The rock bands. I became really good friends with the guys from Anthrax and those guys, Scott Ian is the biggest wine snob knows everything about the guy from Anthrax Anthrax, like I've been dining with him and he's like, this Nebbiolo is way too big for the bill, I have to send that back and he's right and then he goes on stage and he just knows because if I'm going to travel, I'm going to make it pleasant for myself I'm going to make it a fun adventure so that's what I do they really introduced me to the idea of Well, if you are going to go out, you're going to eat. Make it count, you know. But it took me a while to do that. Look who's here. How are you, man? You might remember my friend Michael Solomonoff from our Tel Aviv episode. It's been a while. It's been too long. It's so good to have you in our fair city. Have a seat. We were laughing how you brought this exotic symphony of food, and we keep just jumping back into the fries. That's the problem is that the French fries are so freaking good, right? I like to go. I actually like to do like this little section. Chef hack. Yeah, chef hack. This is my jawn. what does jawn mean? Jawn is any like is anything it's like a subject it could be whatever j-a-w-n j-a-w-n it means like pass me that jawn is like pass me the pita you know i just how would you have to be to use this expression i think that whenever you want you know you have literary lessons but there's certain things that you know if you're over 50 you can't say i think if you're over 50 saying it slaps just doesn't come out of you correctly you know it just and i see people on Twitter doing it, it was like, dude, don't. If you're over 50 and something slaps, you better see a doctor. You went to the bathroom and it slaps. I have to go to the gastroenterologist. And then this is our olive oil cake. It has a little bit of extract. Located in the hill country of central Texas, Austin is the capital and fourth largest city in the state. Their majestic Capitol building was built between 1882 and 1888, and it's actually taller than the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Bigger in Texas, people. It's not just a bumper sticker. The lead food critic at the Austin American Statesman's newspaper is Matthew Odom, a friend of mine for at least 10 years, and he's taken me to his new favorite place. This is Birdie's. Tracy Malachek and Arjav Ezekiel. They're the chef owners. She does the food, he does the wine. They came from New York. They both worked at Gramercy Tavern. They're doing beautiful pastas and delicious vegetables. You know, it can't all be barbecue people. Hello. Hi. Tracy. How are you? I'm thrilled to be here. What do you got here? Chickpea panisse. Ah. With pecorino and black pepper. Beautiful. It's almost like you've done this before. I see a lemon on the side. I feel like I have a purpose. It's a gourmet French fry. Yeah. And I've eaten this thing probably five times. And this is how it is every single time. Never underrate. I mean, too much lemon on it this time, but that's... It's kind of magical. It's great! You cook much? No! I eat much. Why have this show? So I don't have to cook much. Hello! Yay, Tracy! Look at this. So here's orecchiette with pork sausage, fennel, and black pepper. Nope. Oh! And here is cavatelli with anchovy and tomato. You like anchovy? I love. These are gifts. Thank you. So welcome. This tastes real. This tastes like I'm in Rome. There you go. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Yes, I know. That was my review. Hello again. Hello. Here's a Sicilian-inspired chocolate chip cookie. Spit take. And then this is our olive oil cake. Breathe, my man. How is a chocolate chip cookie inspired by Sicily? It has a little bit of extract. Yay! Citrus and fennel. And then the final thing is a vanilla gelato soft serve with tangerine agrumato. What do you think about that, Phil? You've had this? Oh, yeah. Then you won't mind if I eat the whole thing. This is a very special take-your-daughter-to-work day for Lily and me. We're checking out Locust, a new Asian-inspired dumpling house known for its tiny menu and giant flavors. Wow. Let me sit right here. Chef Trevor Moran moved to Nashville from Copenhagen, where he worked at one of my very favorite restaurants, the world-renowned Noma. Hi, Lily. Cheers. Here we are. So just some nice oysters for you. Oh, my God. I love oysters. These are your oyster condiments. So you have a frozen mignonette made from seaweed or a lime and a lemon. Yeah. This is beetroot hot sauce. I'm nervous it's going to be hot. Well, you can load it up. Really? For real? I'm like a baby, though. No, you'll be good. You'll be good. You get your baby. Dad. It's like a murder scene. The reason I took you here is because your mother makes a scene sometimes. And I didn't want a scene. Oh, it's... Oh, we're using it. Oh, no, please don't use it. Oh, we're... Uncle? Oh, we're definitely using it. This is a nice last television appearance for you. Dad, it was so big. I wasn't expecting it. Maybe this tuna belly will find its way into our mouth. Now, when you eat this... How do I eat it? Try not to spit up this stuff. I'm sorry. Boopity-boop-boop. Let me give my case. Oh, good? Fun. Awesome. I have to prove that I know how to eat. That's a power move, that. Wow. Right? Unbelievable. Unbelievable. I'm glad you like it. You ready for the next thing? OK, let's do it. Not minding our own business, we spy a kakigori being made. That's a Japanese shaved ice creation. And this one's got creme brulee, huckleberries, and candied pecans topped with black tea and raspberry. Surprise ending. Thank you. Amazing, original dessert. I love the shaved ice I had in Hawaii, but here, the cream he layers in there and the flavors he buries inside and the little ingredients for you to find like a treasure hunt, that's an absolutely original, incredible dessert. Dad, you happy? Thanks, Dad. Today, I'm invited to the Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church to judge the men's cook-off hi everybody hi I guess the different judges are judging different things is that right yes I'm good with appetizers who doesn't like appetizers I haven't judged many food competitions but I'm gonna take this very seriously tell me your name I'm Marion I'm Phil nice to meet you nice to meet you Marion all right should we compare notes. You're going with the tortilla soup first. All right, here I go. That's good. What do you think? Do you think it may be a little too much salt? A little salty, right? But I don't want to influence you. Okay, let's try the broccoli cheese cornbread. Broccoli cheese cornbread. I like that. Yeah, I like that too. That's pretty good. What's next? It looks like an egg roll. This is the soul roll. The soul roll. Marion, a little sweet. I didn't expect it to be sweet. I didn't either. Has anyone tried to bribe you yet? No, not yet. I'm hoping for a bribe. Yeah, that'd be nice. Excuse me, how is that chicken? She's not giving it up. Delicious. I see it. You don't have to say anything. You too? She sees it. I think you gotta know somebody to be... To be in the entrees. To be entrees, yeah. Mmm, this is good. No, what's this one? Taco soup. I like it. That one would be good with the cornbread dipped in it. Marion! They go together. They go together. What if we award two of them as a team, but we have to, from now on, you have to work together. That's the rule. Exactly. There you go. Yes! Dipping in the soup! Yes, Marion! Yes! Marion and I voted for the cornbread. So now we're free to mingle in the big room and gorge on everything else. Not again! I'm gonna sign you to a record contract. That big leg. What if I just take that big leg off your hands? I think we picked the winner. I hope it's ours, the one we like. Because if the one that we didn't like wins, I'm gonna start flipping some tables over. By the way, the broccoli cornbread won. Sitting on the Mississippi near the Gulf of Mexico, New Orleans is a great place to get seafood. Shrimp, oysters, crawfish, but its other major food group has gotta be pork. To test that theory, I'm going to a temple of pork called Koshan Butcher with one of my favorite actors, Wendell Pierce. Koshan Butcher specializes in Cajun-style cured meats and sausage, run by James Beard Award winner Steven Stradouski, with his partner, Donald Link. Crackling and syrup. And this is Steen's syrup. Now, is it a sweet syrup? Yes, it's the great condiment that you have on your table in old-school Louisiana. Look at that. A la bar, bruh. Say it again. A la bar, bruh. A la bar, bruh. What does that mean? That's very nice. A la bar, brother. Put a little swing in it, bruh. We say bruh. Hey, bruh. A la bar, let it be. There it is. A la bar, brother. I like your way, brother. A la bar, brother. Oh, hello. Hog's head cheese. Yes. Blood sausage. Oh, that looks beautiful. And then here's a little Cajun boudin Wow. For a point of comparison. Wow. Enjoy. Thank you. This blood sausage. Yes. Really, literally like right from the slaughter into the mixture, into the casing. That's how the early day was fed. I've had this before. This is easily the best I've had. Yes? This is the best. It's great. Great. It's great. Hog head cheese. Yes. It's every part of the head. It started with that. You leave nothing unused. You put that together and season it and put it in a pâté, really. And that's how I learned what pâté was. I was like, I don't know what pâté is. Oh, this is like hog head cheese. Good, Cajun, Creole pâté. Mmm. For dessert, we order the works, but the star of the show are the pralines. Oh my God, this praline really is classic. That's good. I cannot make these, man. Isn't it butter and sugar? Yeah, but see, I actually don't know what that taste is. I haven't figured out. Oh, I know what it is. What is it? Yes, Wendell, yes, there's bacon in here. Why is that so delicious? What could it be? There's like a magical flavor. What could it be that makes it so fantastic? I can't believe I have to tell you. Let's start with a couple of Chicago classics. A Jim's original Polish dog and my good friend Julia Sweeney. You might remember her as Pat from Saturday Night Live. You know, Saturday Night Live owes a great debt to Chicago. A lot of members of the troupe from the very beginning came from Second City, Miss Sweeney among them. She was in Chicago, so I wanted to treat her to some health food. I'm getting the Polish, right? I think that's the thing. Is that all right? My name is Tony. Tony, I'm Phil. Phil, tell them you want the Polish butterfly deep-fried, and you want the pork chop deep-fried. It's the best. Butterfly the Polish. Do it. Guess what? I'm gonna pay for y'all food. Why? Why? Because y'all good people. That's how we do it in Chicago, baby. Look how sweet. But you know, this is a TV show. This is big TV money here. Who's that gonna pay for my food? Alright, Richard. Phil's going crazy! Arrange with the people who work here, the nice establishment, that everybody gets a Poland. You should run for president. I hope you enjoy it, people. Holy moly. Julia, this is the butterflied, deep-fried Polish with everything. Oh, okay. You want to take a bite of that? Look at the size of these peppers. They look scary. Oh, my God. It's really good. You were right. The onions are really good. The sweet scent of onion is going to emanate from us. I know. This looks like a regular Polish. No, it looks the same, but just not butterflied and deep-fried. Right. That's a good snap. Maybe better. There's actually more flavor in the grilled one than the fried one. This is on the bone, so be careful, people, when you're eating a sandwich on the bone. I'm not going to bite that. Don't bite that part. He knows how to do it. You turn it around. You don't like you would, but it just happens to you. This way? Yes. You're doing such a public service film. This show is not only entertaining, it's helping people to understand how to eat. This place is open 24 hours. People come from all over, and there's no place to sit, so you got to stand, and maybe you got to dance. Tony, let me see your moves. I like it. He does up high, like this. It's the best club in Chicago. Oh, yeah. So we say goodbye to Jim's Polish and our health. This is called Mozzeria, and it's run completely by deaf and hard-of-hearing people. Did you know Washington, D.C. has one of the largest populations of this group in the U.S.? There's even a college here, specifically for deaf people, called Gallaudet. Ben and I are checking out what's supposed to be some of the best pizza in the country. This is the manager, Theo Miller. Great. Well, welcome, welcome. Thank you so much. I actually had your pizza about a year ago. I didn't even know, but it was delicious. So you're a repeat customer now, right? Look, this is the chef, Kristen White. Is this a sign for anything? because i seem to use it a lot for joy is it it's your sense of joy right it's true that works so this is our the mox bar with mozzarella cheese and basil and then these are the nana's meatballs so thank you so much i hope you enjoy any of the meatballs are also delicious and it's gluten-free when you come to a table right you're sitting we want everything to be equitable for people you're able to come and enjoy your food and enjoy your drink and then have a conversation with each other all at one table, no matter what your preferences are. So this is our Italian sausage pizza. Italian sausage is sprinkled on top, and then we have roasted fennel. Oh my goodness. So this one is our fici. So it's really a salad. Yeah, salad on pizza. What about you? Oh, you know that saying, I'm trying not to get high on my own products, right? I'm trying hard. But it's my favorite thing. It's so good. Don't get high on your own supply. This is not my supply, so we can get high. This is great. Right? The crust is so good. What's the sign for delicious? Delicious. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The food here is so good. I guess that explains this other background tidbit about Chef Kristen. She was a pastry chef in the Obama White House. You worked in the White House? Yes, I did. I did. It's such an honor to join that volunteer team during Christmas time. I really enjoyed it. It's hard for deaf and hard of hearing people to get into the food industry itself. Yeah, you have to educate people and show people how to sign and interact with me, and I need that eye contact. Coming here, it's really nice. It's a breath of fresh air because I have that access and I'm able to sign with everyone. I'm so proud to meet you. Thank you, thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Are you enjoying everything so far? You love it, great. Chef's kiss, beautiful. This is the Galley Diner. It's been serving up killer hash, eggs, and classic fare to generations of local dock workers and families since the 40s. Phil. Are you Phil? I am. So this is Frank and Terry, and on this side, Chris and Christy. How long you been coming here? Probably since about 2012. Yeah, I'm a longshoreman over at the port, right next to here. And you, how long you been coming? I am close to 15 years. This is how we met. Yeah, we met here. So you guys became friends at the diner. That's what's great about diners, isn't it? Well, that's it. This diner here is like a family place. And this is the family that runs it. Colleen Campbell and daughters Eileen and Mary Lou Skudris. Colleen's husband Paul passed away in 2019, and the ladies have been continuing his legacy of hospitality. All right. Corned beef hash with eggs over easy, and I have rye toast coming right up. How are you? Well, my husband, he picked this up. because it's like a hobby initially, but 30 years later, we're still here. But this is a full-time hobby. Oh, yeah, it is. It's more than full-time. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's good. Most important meal of the day, Phil. You want some butter? See how I said that, butter? Don't forget butter. You're in butter country. I am in butter country. Ooh, very good. The duchess, right, with the cornbread instead of the English muffin for your eggs benedict. That's a good idea Chris. Have you ever had this? No, what if it becomes your new favorite? Thank you, Phil You're very welcome. My friend. Just try that put it in there Put it in there. What if I turn you on to your new thing? would be Sweet that's good. That's good. Would you switch from the Benedict to that? I think I would have to My job is done here you guys know each other too we don't have you met formally say hello nice to meet you i heard you talking about the terminal over across the street the trucks don't come down east first anymore exactly put them out they built a new road so i always wondered if that like hurt the galley once once people know the galley they'll find their way i just love this place. It's just everything you want in a diner experience. Hey Rich, if I go see Marilyn, is this mic going to pick it up? Uh, yes. He said he needed to go see Marilyn. I'm like, what are you talking about? And then I look and there's a poster of Marilyn Monroe on the bathroom door. You can do it. We can turn off the mic or we boost the mic for fun. One of the great things about New Orleans food is that there's always room for creativity and experimentation. Turkey and the wolf has plenty of both. Their slogan should be, bring your appetite and your defibrillator. Mason Hereford and Lauren Holton, they're these beautiful young people with a lot of talent for sandwiches and booze. Two of my favorite things. Helping me eat and drink the day away is NOLA food writer and society lady, the great Julia Reed. Oh, hi, hi, I'm Mason. You are the man. Yes, sir. Pleasure to have you here. Are you the turkey or the wolf? I'm the turkey unfortunately That's me in my house, too. You guys want a cocktail? We should try a cocktail I am so entranced by the idea of it's got electrolytes Which is the name of this because who doesn't need electrolytes if you're either hungover or you're sweating so you need electrolytes What other cocktails we got y'all? Um, got Ma'am, Don't Be Hysterical, which is, like, a Campari gin house blackberry syrup. What's it called? Ma'am, Don't Be Hysterical. I need that for my house. There you go. I just need a sign, actually. Okay. You want to try? With the drink follow-up. Yeah. So, these are the tacos. I'm just gonna cut them up. So, yeah, we're calling them Tacos Inauthenticos, which we think is a clever name. But, basically, it was like, hey, let's make them taste like Taco Bell, but as if we were to make Taco Bell. So yeah, the crunchy stuff is just fried tortillas and we put enough spices on there to try to make it taste like Doritos. I mean this is a thinker, a great mind. I've always had like a problem where I take refined food and then I like dress it down so that it comes off really, you know, white trashy. He's not just some stoner who opened a restaurant where they would have food to get high by. This is an accomplished chef who worked in fancy restaurants and wanted to serve the people. Oh my God, that is obscene, Eric. It's a little afternoon cab here. Just to finish you off, in case you're not dead yet, here comes soft serve ice cream with cheese straws that he makes and sprinkles and everything. It's just this sweet, salty, crazy. Oh my God. Maybe it is just stoner food. I don't know if I want to get inside that head of yours, but I'm glad of what it comes out of. It's freaky, you want to stay out. Yeah, you thought it was gonna be gross too. It's like they gave a five-year-old a restaurant and they said, you can do what you want. And if the five-year-old was like a wunderkind genius.