Podcast Companion: The Guys Shoot the Sh**, and Jesse Finishes Discussing his Crazy New York Trip *Extra Raunchy This Time*

Photo by Florian Wehde on Unsplash

What's up, hot dog nuts, caviar fanatics, and other friends and coworkers of ours that haven't written us off as people, it's time for the long-awaited next episode of Hot Dogs and Caviar!  (Well, long-awaited by TK and Nate, anyway, Jesse took forever to get this one done.)  {Hey, man, having jobs changes the whole equation!  -js}

In it, the dudes mostly goof on each other and swear a lot, but in the meantime, Jesse finishes discussing the important meals of his trip to NYC, and the dudes discuss some culinary philosophy.  

Seriously, though, anyone offended by profanity, skip this one.  We hadn't talked in a while, and we were in rare form.  This podcast is the closest to us bantering in the kitchen we've come to yet.  

Time Stamps:

2:30 On the Great Joey Chestnut

3:55 On to Chuck Norris (Funny Story)

6:00 More Hot Dog Talk than is Normal, Even For Us

14:14 On Mister Happy, Bygone Sushi Master

15:16 Meditations on the Intensity of Cooking at a High Level

16:58 The Rest of Jesse’s NYC Trip

17:42 Jesse’s First Real Restaurant Meal, and on Being Jaded

21:00 Xian’s Famous Foods

27:03 Ernesto’s

40:30 An Anchovy Tangent (The 2 Amy’s Story)

42:12 TK Finds His Anchovy Compound, and the Guys Descend into Chaos

47:37 Nobu (Jesse Gets Serious, and Waxes Philosophical)

58:20 The Nobu-Peru Connection, and a Hasty Outro

Editor's Note:  During the episode, we made reference to a 'Mister Happy,' a Charleston, SC sushi chef.  When we were at the Woodlands, we were cultish about his sushi.  His restaurant, Kobe, was located on a particularly unsavory frontage road off of Ashley Phosphate, in a rather industrial part of North Charleston, but it was an oasis of gastronomic culture.  Fantastic sushi, with some truly innovative touches (the deep-fried shrimp heads come to mind).  The place is gone, but not forgotten.

Jesse's Note: When discussing Nobu, I inadvertently came off like I was dragging the French Laundry.  Allow me to clarify.  I have nothing but respect for TFL.  My point was this: TFL Cookbook, like the Nobu Cookbook, was incredibly influential, to the extent that nearly every chef of my generation has tried some of their dishes (or at least techniques) at their restaurants.  The effect this has (at least, it had this effect for me at Nobu), is that dishes that were revelatory when their creators first did them became so ubiquitous that by the time I experienced them, they were already part of the accepted repertoire.  SEVERAL things the French Laundry Cookbook did were similarly influential.  It touched off the popularity of several techniques and dishes that are now all over American haute cuisine: butter-poached lobster, foie gras au torchon, agnolotti, to name just a few.  Sure, the Laundry continued to innovate, but imagine trying all of these foundational techniques, for the first time, at the same restaurant.  That's no longer possible, meaning that, at least in my imagination (haven't actually eaten there) a meal there can never be as revelatory now as it was in, say, 2000.  THAT'S all I meant by that.  No disrespect whatsoever to Thomas Keller and company.

Links:

The article TK referred to on glutamates and nucleotides (a very science-y word, to paraphrase the man himself) is from the always-delightful-and-informative Cook's Illustrated magazine, and can be found here.

The dudes briefly discussed 2 Amy's Pizza, an incredibly Washington, DC pizzeria.  Check out their page here.

Jesse raved about the greasy, awesome noodles at Xian's Famous Foods, so check out their website.

Jesse's buddy from school, Ryan Bartlow, owns the amazing tapas restaurant Ernesto's, and you need to check out their website as well.

And finally, not that you needed a link, but here is the website for Nobu NYC.  Totally worth checking out.