WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.320 You're listening to Heritage Radio Network. Hi, 00:00:07.320 --> 00:00:14.580 everyone. Welcome to Potluck Food Talks, the 00:00:14.580 --> 00:00:18.559 show where we chaotically talk about food without 00:00:18.559 --> 00:00:22.719 a single direction or purpose. My name is Eric. 00:00:22.820 --> 00:00:25.859 I'm here with Phil Walter, straight from Dubai 00:00:25.859 --> 00:00:28.500 City. How are you doing, man? Yeah, I'm good. 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:34.679 I'm tired. My back hurts. I'm burned out. But 00:00:34.679 --> 00:00:37.719 we're still here. Yeah? What were you cooking 00:00:37.719 --> 00:00:40.039 last night? What were you doing? I was, yeah, 00:00:40.060 --> 00:00:42.219 I was cooking. Cooking service, Friday night 00:00:42.219 --> 00:00:45.420 service in Dubai is a lot of fun. We did almost 00:00:45.420 --> 00:00:48.920 700 covers yesterday. 700 covers in an a la carte 00:00:48.920 --> 00:00:52.479 restaurant is great. Yesterday there was a moment 00:00:52.479 --> 00:00:55.079 I haven't seen for a long time. There was a moment 00:00:55.079 --> 00:00:58.130 where the person on the pass You know, when you 00:00:58.130 --> 00:01:01.649 look in somebody's face and they just have this 00:01:01.649 --> 00:01:04.650 like thousand yards stare, you know, you have 00:01:04.650 --> 00:01:09.329 three rows of tickets, the ticket machine next 00:01:09.329 --> 00:01:13.010 to you printing, it's like hanging on the floor, 00:01:13.069 --> 00:01:15.010 literally, right? The ticket machine is like 00:01:15.010 --> 00:01:17.849 over here, like above your head. And the tickets 00:01:17.849 --> 00:01:20.530 are hanging onto the floor. You see the person 00:01:20.530 --> 00:01:22.769 just like staring. There's food everywhere on 00:01:22.769 --> 00:01:25.290 the pass, right? It needs to go out. And there's 00:01:25.290 --> 00:01:30.409 sort of like... and you're like oh no oh no it's 00:01:30.409 --> 00:01:36.870 happening no but like i get it yeah exactly yeah 00:01:36.870 --> 00:01:39.969 but i get it you know it's fucking when you lose 00:01:39.969 --> 00:01:43.030 it getting it back like getting your grip back 00:01:43.030 --> 00:01:45.709 is fucking hard and the same thing happened to 00:01:45.709 --> 00:01:47.909 the guys on the meat section three guys three 00:01:47.909 --> 00:01:50.250 chefs working on the meat side grill and like 00:01:50.250 --> 00:01:52.709 at some point i go over there and because they're 00:01:52.709 --> 00:01:54.310 getting backed up and i look at it and i'm like 00:01:54.310 --> 00:01:56.230 what the fuck is going on and it's like literally 00:01:56.230 --> 00:01:58.469 you know and you know people watch the bear and 00:01:58.469 --> 00:02:00.010 they're like haha yeah it's really funny but 00:02:00.010 --> 00:02:01.930 it's like there are moments like this where i 00:02:01.930 --> 00:02:03.969 just looked at it and i looked at it the ticket 00:02:03.969 --> 00:02:06.430 machine keeps going and there's no more space 00:02:06.430 --> 00:02:09.189 for the tickets to go on to the board right and 00:02:09.189 --> 00:02:11.030 i just look at them i look at all the tickets 00:02:11.030 --> 00:02:12.669 that i went like all the main courses that are 00:02:12.669 --> 00:02:14.830 away i start counting the meats that is like 00:02:14.830 --> 00:02:17.030 cooking on the grill and i just look at the guy 00:02:17.030 --> 00:02:18.870 i'm sort of like you're completely fucking lost 00:02:18.870 --> 00:02:20.469 aren't you have no fucking idea what's going 00:02:20.469 --> 00:02:22.909 on anymore and he just looks at me also just 00:02:22.909 --> 00:02:25.289 kind of like you know like he's just been through 00:02:25.289 --> 00:02:28.509 the trenches in world war one and he's like just 00:02:28.509 --> 00:02:31.919 shaking and i'm like fire everything just fucking 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:35.360 fire everything and he starts going like okay 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:37.780 i need he like goes to the fish section he's 00:02:37.780 --> 00:02:39.539 like i need five minutes i'm like fuck your five 00:02:39.539 --> 00:02:42.080 minutes just fucking give me the food just make 00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:44.860 it happen you know and yeah and like you get 00:02:44.860 --> 00:02:47.599 to a point where it's kind of like he start you 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:49.960 can't cook how you normally want to cook anymore 00:02:49.960 --> 00:02:53.319 you can't like sear the meat rest the meat you 00:02:53.319 --> 00:02:55.479 know like he sears the meat he puts it up i'm 00:02:55.479 --> 00:02:57.370 sort of like what are you doing And he's like, 00:02:57.430 --> 00:02:59.129 oh, I'm resting the meat. I'm like, how long 00:02:59.129 --> 00:03:00.449 is it going to be? He's like, oh, it's going 00:03:00.449 --> 00:03:03.849 to be 12 minutes. I'm like, fuck you. Fuck you. 00:03:04.509 --> 00:03:08.449 Give me the fucking meat. And he's like, but 00:03:08.449 --> 00:03:10.270 it's not ready. I'm like, make it happen. Just 00:03:10.270 --> 00:03:12.650 make it happen. I don't care how you do it. Just 00:03:12.650 --> 00:03:14.449 fucking make it happen. And you find ways to 00:03:14.449 --> 00:03:17.509 make it happen, you know? And you have two hours 00:03:17.509 --> 00:03:19.169 of that and then everything's fine. You have 00:03:19.169 --> 00:03:21.770 a beer and you cry a little bit and then you 00:03:21.770 --> 00:03:25.039 move on with your life. Yeah, I've been there. 00:03:25.500 --> 00:03:30.939 I remember hearing the ticket machine at night. 00:03:33.039 --> 00:03:40.240 And waking, you know, like cold sweating. It's 00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:45.460 horrible. It used to be bad for me. And now I've 00:03:45.460 --> 00:03:48.000 noticed these days I've become kind of numb to 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:52.129 it. you start getting into a headspace where 00:03:52.129 --> 00:03:53.830 you don't let yourself get overwhelmed anymore. 00:03:54.189 --> 00:03:57.229 Yeah, you have to detach. To understand that, 00:03:57.270 --> 00:04:01.550 you have to just do one thing at a time and execute, 00:04:01.770 --> 00:04:05.389 execute, this, out, this, out, and next. Exactly. 00:04:06.370 --> 00:04:09.370 It's impossible to do it otherwise. I think that 00:04:09.370 --> 00:04:17.110 mind control skill, it's key for a super... you 00:04:17.110 --> 00:04:19.370 know, like difficult service to pull it off. 00:04:19.509 --> 00:04:21.870 Have you ever listened to the podcast from Jocko 00:04:21.870 --> 00:04:24.250 Willink? You know this person, Jocko Willink, 00:04:24.290 --> 00:04:26.569 he's like, what would you call him? He's like 00:04:26.569 --> 00:04:29.029 an ex -Navy SEAL. He's got like a company where 00:04:29.029 --> 00:04:31.790 he helps businesses. I think you've talked about 00:04:31.790 --> 00:04:34.009 this guy before. I think you mentioned that this 00:04:34.009 --> 00:04:36.730 is a guy that if you're like, because I've thought 00:04:36.730 --> 00:04:39.459 about that after you said it. Like if you're 00:04:39.459 --> 00:04:42.019 like, I don't know, like scrolling down while 00:04:42.019 --> 00:04:44.980 you're having breakfast or like doing too many 00:04:44.980 --> 00:04:47.459 things, like first thing in the morning, like, 00:04:47.459 --> 00:04:50.560 you know, like reading emails and scrolling down 00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:52.699 and eating and drinking and planning the day 00:04:52.699 --> 00:04:56.180 at the same time that this is like neurologically 00:04:56.180 --> 00:04:59.879 super unhealthy for your brain, right? Yeah, 00:04:59.899 --> 00:05:01.500 absolutely. That's actually a different person, 00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:03.399 but it's similar. And that's Andrew Huberman, 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:06.360 also very, very cool. Jocko Willink, he wrote 00:05:06.360 --> 00:05:10.360 a book called Extreme Ownership about leadership 00:05:10.360 --> 00:05:13.819 and how to manage people and how to move through 00:05:13.819 --> 00:05:16.420 difficult situations and stuff like that. And 00:05:16.420 --> 00:05:20.100 he has a couple of things that are very, very 00:05:20.100 --> 00:05:22.019 interesting that are really related to it. One 00:05:22.019 --> 00:05:25.300 is prioritize and execute. It's like in any situation, 00:05:25.600 --> 00:05:29.639 you have a difficult task ahead of you that you 00:05:29.639 --> 00:05:32.550 don't know how to do. You prioritize and you 00:05:32.550 --> 00:05:35.029 execute and you just like work it off. Bam, bam, 00:05:35.029 --> 00:05:37.009 bam, bam, bam, you know? And I'm like, yeah, 00:05:37.050 --> 00:05:38.990 that's exactly what I do in a kitchen in like 00:05:38.990 --> 00:05:41.529 a difficult service, you know? Now I'm kind of 00:05:41.529 --> 00:05:44.610 like, I mean, as easy as set that done also, 00:05:44.689 --> 00:05:46.949 it gets to a point where it's really hard. The 00:05:46.949 --> 00:05:48.689 ticket machine goes, I'm sort of like, okay, 00:05:48.730 --> 00:05:50.529 I can't look at those tickets right now, you 00:05:50.529 --> 00:05:53.889 know? Like I got to prioritize and I got to execute. 00:05:54.189 --> 00:05:56.430 And that's what these guys aren't doing, you 00:05:56.430 --> 00:05:58.149 know? And I told the guy afterwards, I had a 00:05:58.149 --> 00:06:00.029 debrief with them after service. And I was like, 00:06:00.089 --> 00:06:02.189 well, what happened? And he's like, yeah, you 00:06:02.189 --> 00:06:04.250 know, there was a lot of straight fires and I 00:06:04.250 --> 00:06:06.829 couldn't get ahead. I couldn't get myself prepped. 00:06:07.110 --> 00:06:09.189 I couldn't get like all my meat going. I just 00:06:09.189 --> 00:06:10.790 got lost. And I was like, yeah, it's totally 00:06:10.790 --> 00:06:12.629 understandable. It was a lot, you know, it was 00:06:12.629 --> 00:06:15.209 a fucking lot. But I was like, in these moments, 00:06:15.250 --> 00:06:17.430 you don't have the luxury to be sort of like 00:06:17.430 --> 00:06:21.250 a ticket comes in, two lamb, right? And you look 00:06:21.250 --> 00:06:22.769 at the ticket and you're like, okay, two lamb. 00:06:22.870 --> 00:06:25.410 You leave it there. You tell your guy like, hey, 00:06:25.529 --> 00:06:27.629 can you get me this? You turn around, you do 00:06:27.629 --> 00:06:30.350 this. In the meantime. Three more tickets have 00:06:30.350 --> 00:06:32.370 come in. And you look at them, you're like, okay, 00:06:32.389 --> 00:06:35.110 two tenderloin, one sirloin, one ribeye. Okay, 00:06:35.310 --> 00:06:37.870 so two tenderloin, two lamb, one sirloin, one 00:06:37.870 --> 00:06:41.449 ribeye. If you don't fucking act in that moment, 00:06:41.550 --> 00:06:43.089 you're going to get overwhelmed. You have to 00:06:43.089 --> 00:06:45.790 have a monkey mind. It's like the ticket comes 00:06:45.790 --> 00:06:48.250 in, two lamb. You stop what you're doing. You 00:06:48.250 --> 00:06:50.290 take the two lamb out of the fridge. You put 00:06:50.290 --> 00:06:53.170 them somewhere, somewhere, right? Put them there. 00:06:53.670 --> 00:06:56.589 Put the ticket on the pass. Then fucking organize. 00:06:56.670 --> 00:06:59.019 The next ticket comes on. You have to stop. yeah 00:06:59.019 --> 00:07:02.160 three ribeye take out the three ribeye at some 00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:04.100 point you're not going to remember you got to 00:07:04.100 --> 00:07:06.819 get it fucking going you get it searing like 00:07:06.819 --> 00:07:10.000 in this is an example of a grill you get it out 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:13.040 you get it salted you get it searing and then 00:07:13.040 --> 00:07:15.519 like once it's brown you can like rest it and 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:17.079 then you can play with the things but you need 00:07:17.079 --> 00:07:19.459 to get it going the worst thing is that you forget 00:07:19.459 --> 00:07:22.980 that you lose it and then it's fired and suddenly 00:07:22.980 --> 00:07:26.279 you have a ticket away that's like three lamb 00:07:26.279 --> 00:07:28.550 two tenderloin one ribeye And you don't have 00:07:28.550 --> 00:07:31.290 it cooked. You have to start it from zero. You're 00:07:31.290 --> 00:07:34.269 fucking dead. It's going to take 20 minutes for 00:07:34.269 --> 00:07:36.370 that to get ready. So this table is going to 00:07:36.370 --> 00:07:38.189 wait 20 minutes. That table is going to delay 00:07:38.189 --> 00:07:41.029 all the other tables also. And the chances are 00:07:41.029 --> 00:07:43.009 that if you missed one table, you missed a couple 00:07:43.009 --> 00:07:46.610 of others. And then those are away as well. Plus 00:07:46.610 --> 00:07:49.610 you're getting straight fires. You're fucking, 00:07:49.750 --> 00:07:55.129 you're done. So it's a very crazy skill to have 00:07:55.129 --> 00:07:58.769 to prepare yourself. So that when it's away, 00:07:59.009 --> 00:08:02.310 and this is super stressful, but once it's away, 00:08:02.470 --> 00:08:04.810 you're like, okay, fire. Just fire, fire, fire, 00:08:04.910 --> 00:08:08.269 fire, and you just churn it out. Yeah, and also, 00:08:08.350 --> 00:08:11.329 it depends on the restaurant and the service 00:08:11.329 --> 00:08:13.910 and how it works, but I remember also taking, 00:08:14.569 --> 00:08:18.750 for a second, a step back, consolidating the 00:08:18.750 --> 00:08:21.540 whole mess that you have. Okay, here are in total 00:08:21.540 --> 00:08:26.079 12 lamps and 14 whatever, and boom. And then 00:08:26.079 --> 00:08:27.879 you throw the 12 lamps together, which are like 00:08:27.879 --> 00:08:31.660 seven different tables. And you have to do it 00:08:31.660 --> 00:08:35.480 like that, otherwise you're dead. Yeah, absolutely. 00:08:35.620 --> 00:08:37.919 If you do one ticket by itself after another, 00:08:38.179 --> 00:08:40.620 everything's going to get backed up. But the 00:08:40.620 --> 00:08:43.460 funny thing is also then, if you do too much... 00:08:43.710 --> 00:08:45.629 you're also going to get back up because then 00:08:45.629 --> 00:08:47.409 you're actually not being productive because 00:08:47.409 --> 00:08:49.649 you're doing too much at the same time. Everything 00:08:49.649 --> 00:08:51.470 comes to the past. The past is like, what the 00:08:51.470 --> 00:08:54.250 fuck do I do with 20 lamb? Yeah, the waiter is 00:08:54.250 --> 00:08:57.629 everyone. Exactly. Nobody can run the food. So 00:08:57.629 --> 00:09:00.190 it's like this really fine line of sort of like, 00:09:00.230 --> 00:09:02.509 okay, being efficient. And yeah, I mean, that's 00:09:02.509 --> 00:09:04.210 like, I really felt sorry for the guys yesterday 00:09:04.210 --> 00:09:06.970 and also for the person at the past because, 00:09:07.049 --> 00:09:10.070 but like, I was like, I was looking at it and 00:09:10.070 --> 00:09:12.710 I was kind of like, I was like, hey, do you need 00:09:12.710 --> 00:09:16.350 some help? um and she was like man i'm fucking 00:09:16.350 --> 00:09:20.070 lost i'm so lost and i was like okay and i was 00:09:20.070 --> 00:09:21.809 kind of like well i could either like jump in 00:09:21.809 --> 00:09:26.230 but i don't want to do that like also to this 00:09:26.230 --> 00:09:28.850 person because it would be a little bit of like 00:09:28.850 --> 00:09:31.950 a you know just kind of like okay step off the 00:09:31.950 --> 00:09:34.789 expo i was kind of like no let her work work 00:09:34.789 --> 00:09:37.129 through it she's gonna she's gonna be fine you 00:09:37.129 --> 00:09:40.509 know let her get her grip back and be fine and 00:09:40.509 --> 00:09:42.509 also yeah these like two guys i felt sorry for 00:09:42.509 --> 00:09:44.919 them but hey we've all been there we've all been 00:09:44.919 --> 00:09:47.460 there many times yeah yeah i was there i was 00:09:47.460 --> 00:09:50.220 there last time like i don't know like four or 00:09:50.220 --> 00:09:52.039 five months ago i think i had a service i just 00:09:52.039 --> 00:09:57.940 went down down now and i remember uh dude like 00:09:57.940 --> 00:10:03.480 one of the most difficult skills i think is one 00:10:03.480 --> 00:10:05.919 when you're in a restaurant where where all the 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:10.740 the tables or all the tickets are variable you 00:10:10.740 --> 00:10:14.500 know like chef says One, this, this, this, this, 00:10:14.539 --> 00:10:17.759 this. We chef. Blah, blah, blah, blah. We chef. 00:10:17.899 --> 00:10:21.440 Three chickens, two risottos, two soups, one, 00:10:21.539 --> 00:10:23.519 two. And you have to have everything in your 00:10:23.519 --> 00:10:26.279 mind. You know, like, you know, I mean, I remember 00:10:26.279 --> 00:10:28.059 taking notes at some point, like, you know, taking 00:10:28.059 --> 00:10:30.340 a pen and writing down what he just said, because 00:10:30.340 --> 00:10:32.440 you have to remember everything. Otherwise, you 00:10:32.440 --> 00:10:35.039 have to walk to the pass where all the tickets 00:10:35.039 --> 00:10:37.919 were back then and when we were in Margot, for 00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:42.169 example. And if you do that too much, the chef 00:10:42.169 --> 00:10:44.529 is going to get angry, you know? Like, if you're 00:10:44.529 --> 00:10:47.029 walking too much to read the tickets at the front 00:10:47.029 --> 00:10:49.490 because you're just basically saying you don't 00:10:49.490 --> 00:10:51.549 know what's going on, you know? I mean, it's 00:10:51.549 --> 00:10:53.309 a difference, you know? Like, I also get angry 00:10:53.309 --> 00:10:55.429 when, like, I see people, like, coming to the 00:10:55.429 --> 00:10:57.210 pass and just staring at the tickets and being 00:10:57.210 --> 00:11:00.330 sort of, like, open -mouthed and like, uh, you 00:11:00.330 --> 00:11:03.649 know? I'm like, what is happening? Are you okay? 00:11:05.230 --> 00:11:08.090 But if they're like... You know, like going there 00:11:08.090 --> 00:11:09.750 and being sort of like, okay, here, here, here, 00:11:09.809 --> 00:11:11.690 here. And you can see them like, you know, calculating. 00:11:11.970 --> 00:11:14.350 It's like, it's totally fine. Hoffman, you know, 00:11:14.370 --> 00:11:17.090 used to be just like unnecessarily shit about 00:11:17.090 --> 00:11:19.710 stuff that was like completely normal, you know? 00:11:20.830 --> 00:11:26.590 But I remember in that place was where I... develop 00:11:26.590 --> 00:11:29.909 the most that skill of you know having a mind 00:11:29.909 --> 00:11:32.649 map of the tables that are coming in like knowing 00:11:32.649 --> 00:11:35.809 okay like now i have like you know having six 00:11:35.809 --> 00:11:39.330 tables in my mind and knowing okay now we have 00:11:39.330 --> 00:11:42.110 this and that and i could put three three tables 00:11:42.110 --> 00:11:44.909 together you know is this skills like a blind 00:11:44.909 --> 00:11:48.970 chess player or like a taxi driver in london 00:11:48.970 --> 00:11:54.580 like this guy said Nowadays, that's a lost skill, 00:11:54.740 --> 00:11:56.480 you know, because you have Google Maps and this 00:11:56.480 --> 00:11:59.500 and that. But back in the day, these taxi drivers 00:11:59.500 --> 00:12:03.100 in London, they would know the whole city, all 00:12:03.100 --> 00:12:05.639 the streets, everything, you know, and it was 00:12:05.639 --> 00:12:08.139 something that I think it was even required to 00:12:08.139 --> 00:12:12.080 get the taxi license. Yeah, that these guys would 00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:16.320 remember all the directions. I think that those 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:19.320 kinds of things, yeah. definitely are getting 00:12:19.320 --> 00:12:22.460 lost among many, many, many other mental skills. 00:12:22.559 --> 00:12:26.500 We're losing daily more and more and more. Now 00:12:26.500 --> 00:12:31.320 more than ever with AI and all these chats and 00:12:31.320 --> 00:12:33.720 things. Chat GPT, yeah. Yeah, that you don't 00:12:33.720 --> 00:12:36.080 need to think, you know? Like, yeah, you ask 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:38.100 chat GPT, what's on table four, you know? And 00:12:38.100 --> 00:12:43.159 it will tell you. And if it doesn't know, it 00:12:43.159 --> 00:12:47.620 will make it up, you know? And that's it. Yeah, 00:12:47.659 --> 00:12:50.820 that's true. Yeah, but that's a good thing. I 00:12:50.820 --> 00:12:52.179 mean, the good thing about Margaux is that all 00:12:52.179 --> 00:12:53.759 the menus were the same. You either had normal 00:12:53.759 --> 00:12:56.580 menu or vegetarian menu. And there was like no 00:12:56.580 --> 00:12:59.360 deviation. In an a la carte restaurant, it's 00:12:59.360 --> 00:13:01.440 fucked, you know? Yeah, that's crazy. In an a 00:13:01.440 --> 00:13:03.419 la carte restaurant where people eat like four 00:13:03.419 --> 00:13:05.659 or five courses, right? So they would like make 00:13:05.659 --> 00:13:08.559 a whole tasty menu themselves, basically. There, 00:13:08.600 --> 00:13:12.240 I think it's impossible to keep it if you're 00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:13.899 so busy. You know, if you're a small restaurant, 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:16.230 you do like 100 covers a night, you know? I mean, 00:13:16.250 --> 00:13:18.629 for me, nowadays that's small. It's even not 00:13:18.629 --> 00:13:22.110 small. But then that's okay. But you do like 00:13:22.110 --> 00:13:24.909 300 covers, 400 covers, forget about it. You 00:13:24.909 --> 00:13:28.490 need a ticket. I recently found a spot I like 00:13:28.490 --> 00:13:31.950 in a pincho bar in San Sebastián that I like 00:13:31.950 --> 00:13:34.629 very much. And suddenly there is this spot where 00:13:34.629 --> 00:13:37.610 you walk in and you're just in front of the pass. 00:13:37.809 --> 00:13:39.470 And this is a restaurant where there's a small 00:13:39.470 --> 00:13:43.210 window. So you can look. into the kitchen that 00:13:43.210 --> 00:13:45.210 I never saw. It's like a sweet spot and you can 00:13:45.210 --> 00:13:48.610 actually see how they're throwing steaks to the 00:13:48.610 --> 00:13:51.429 grill and everything. And it's like, oh, nice. 00:13:51.509 --> 00:13:55.549 And also it's the pass manager, which is from 00:13:55.549 --> 00:13:58.129 the service side. And it's a person who is running 00:13:58.129 --> 00:14:01.340 the service, basically calling the tickets. organizing 00:14:01.340 --> 00:14:04.059 the tables and giving them to the waiters. It's 00:14:04.059 --> 00:14:06.360 a restaurant where it's someone from the front 00:14:06.360 --> 00:14:09.419 of the house that runs the pass and not someone 00:14:09.419 --> 00:14:11.659 in the kitchen. And I was there ordering some 00:14:11.659 --> 00:14:13.440 stuff, and at some point I said, can I have the 00:14:13.440 --> 00:14:16.379 check, please? But I saw she was dealing with 00:14:16.379 --> 00:14:21.100 50 things at the same time. She said, yes. And 00:14:21.100 --> 00:14:23.639 then, OK, this goes to table four, this here, 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:25.679 this that, this this, this this, da da da da. 00:14:25.899 --> 00:14:27.840 OK, and give me da da da. We're going with table 00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:32.720 six. And then she said for a second, like, the 00:14:32.720 --> 00:14:34.740 bill for you. OK, and turn around. You know, 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:37.700 like, it was in her to -do list. And she was 00:14:37.700 --> 00:14:39.919 just check, check, check, check. And there was 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:43.080 something else somewhere, right? And all mental. 00:14:43.179 --> 00:14:46.279 No notes, you know? Yeah, that was pretty cool. 00:14:47.210 --> 00:14:49.409 That's a real good skill to have, you know. That's 00:14:49.409 --> 00:14:52.710 a really, really good skill. Have you eaten somewhere 00:14:52.710 --> 00:14:55.570 recently? Yeah, I don't go to eat, man. I'm just 00:14:55.570 --> 00:14:57.490 fucking working. And then, like, I'm so destroyed 00:14:57.490 --> 00:15:00.690 the next day that I just, like, I sleep. I sleep 00:15:00.690 --> 00:15:03.370 in. I go to the pool. I go to the sauna. And 00:15:03.370 --> 00:15:05.629 I just, like, I'm dead. I need a whole day to 00:15:05.629 --> 00:15:08.429 recover. But you know where I went the other 00:15:08.429 --> 00:15:11.129 day? And I was so surprised at how good it was? 00:15:11.610 --> 00:15:16.809 Din Tai Fung. You know Din Tai Fung? No. So. 00:15:18.359 --> 00:15:22.419 Din Tai Fung, originally from Taiwan, is a chain 00:15:22.419 --> 00:15:25.480 restaurant that does soup dumplings, most famously. 00:15:25.620 --> 00:15:28.720 But they do all sorts of other stuff also. Interestingly, 00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:30.960 one of the most successful chain restaurants 00:15:30.960 --> 00:15:33.559 in the United States. You know, not that I care 00:15:33.559 --> 00:15:36.320 about the United States too much, but it's a 00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:40.139 reference. They have some here in Dubai. And, 00:15:40.200 --> 00:15:41.720 like, you see them everywhere. You know, you 00:15:41.720 --> 00:15:44.340 see them in, like, Hong Kong airport. And they're 00:15:44.340 --> 00:15:48.070 everywhere. A huge, huge franchise. and i went 00:15:48.070 --> 00:15:54.129 about a month ago you go in it's super like organized 00:15:54.129 --> 00:15:56.870 the front of house are like super like like a 00:15:56.870 --> 00:15:58.909 like an asian chain restaurant would be right 00:15:58.909 --> 00:16:02.169 super straight bam there's a system for everything 00:16:02.169 --> 00:16:03.690 you know you get shown to your table you get 00:16:03.690 --> 00:16:06.070 this little like you get a menu and then you 00:16:06.070 --> 00:16:09.750 get a a little board where you have to cross 00:16:09.750 --> 00:16:12.269 how much of which dish you want so all the dishes 00:16:12.269 --> 00:16:14.960 are listed there it's a big fucking menu They 00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:17.019 have obviously the dumplings is the main thing, 00:16:17.080 --> 00:16:19.519 but they also have rice dishes. They have vegetable 00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:23.379 stir fries. They have soups, all sorts of stuff. 00:16:23.620 --> 00:16:27.080 We went and we ordered like soup dumplings, but 00:16:27.080 --> 00:16:29.039 I also really felt like a soup because I was 00:16:29.039 --> 00:16:31.159 feeling a little bit ill. So I ordered like a 00:16:31.159 --> 00:16:33.279 beef tendon soup, Taiwanese beef tendon soup. 00:16:33.980 --> 00:16:37.980 I ordered some Mapo tofu. I ordered some Chinese 00:16:37.980 --> 00:16:42.240 greens, like sauteed greens. The food came in 00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:45.059 about five minutes, five to ten minutes. Bam, 00:16:45.179 --> 00:16:48.500 on the table, steaming hot and everything spot 00:16:48.500 --> 00:16:51.940 on delicious. Like couldn't fault it. Super nice. 00:16:52.399 --> 00:16:54.620 And I was like, man, I love going to restaurants 00:16:54.620 --> 00:16:57.740 like this because not only is it cheap, not only 00:16:57.740 --> 00:17:00.639 is it mega efficient, it's also fucking tasty, 00:17:00.779 --> 00:17:05.859 you know, and consistent. And I'm kind of like, 00:17:05.980 --> 00:17:09.660 man, this is this sort of thing. fascinates me 00:17:09.660 --> 00:17:12.539 just as much as like a cocina de outdoor you 00:17:12.539 --> 00:17:15.339 know where from like a business perspective i'm 00:17:15.339 --> 00:17:17.240 sort of like how are they doing this this is 00:17:17.240 --> 00:17:19.819 amazing because if you worked in a restaurant 00:17:19.819 --> 00:17:22.900 you know how difficult it is to stay consistent 00:17:22.900 --> 00:17:25.299 and blah and this and that you know and you can 00:17:25.299 --> 00:17:27.359 be good like all the time you know like you can 00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:29.900 be good most of the time you you definitely have 00:17:29.900 --> 00:17:32.819 deviations you know and these guys they're operating 00:17:32.819 --> 00:17:36.099 in the entire fucking world and it's just like 00:17:36.099 --> 00:17:41.380 one thing And I think it's amazing. I've always 00:17:41.380 --> 00:17:44.680 been a friend of little menus. It has always 00:17:44.680 --> 00:17:47.640 impressed me. You know, these Chinese restaurants 00:17:47.640 --> 00:17:52.079 that have... these booklets of 1 ,000 recipes, 00:17:52.279 --> 00:17:55.019 and that's a menu. It's a menu where you have 00:17:55.019 --> 00:18:00.700 sections, complete sections. Yeah, I want the 00:18:00.700 --> 00:18:08.799 243 and the 434. Those two, please. And they 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:13.640 come right away. Have you seen this stand -up 00:18:13.640 --> 00:18:19.599 comedian? I was just thinking about that, man. 00:18:19.640 --> 00:18:22.779 I was just thinking about that. How was it? What 00:18:22.779 --> 00:18:25.940 was the guy saying again? He's like, man, like 00:18:25.940 --> 00:18:28.180 chefs used to be so badass, you know, and now 00:18:28.180 --> 00:18:29.720 they're just like these like skinny tattooed 00:18:29.720 --> 00:18:31.559 guys in the kitchen. They're like, yes, chef. 00:18:31.640 --> 00:18:34.920 Yes, chef. Right away, chef. Sitting on top of 00:18:34.920 --> 00:18:39.140 the foie gras. Yeah, and he's like, and what 00:18:39.140 --> 00:18:41.220 are they making? Like truffle french fries, you 00:18:41.220 --> 00:18:44.279 know, like some bullshit. Meanwhile, in a Chinese 00:18:44.279 --> 00:18:47.019 kitchen, there's like one chef, there's 300 dishes 00:18:47.019 --> 00:18:49.220 on the menu. It's somebody's uncle from Hong 00:18:49.220 --> 00:18:52.640 Kong. And he just makes the dishes in under five 00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:56.900 minutes. Is that even a chef? It's someone's 00:18:56.900 --> 00:19:01.180 uncle. With a cigarette in his mouth. That's 00:19:01.180 --> 00:19:03.319 so true. Have you been to, at least I remember 00:19:03.319 --> 00:19:06.440 in Venezuela, these crappy Chinese places, which 00:19:06.440 --> 00:19:10.980 I love, and I would go always to get these stir 00:19:10.980 --> 00:19:13.619 -fried rices. When you look into the kitchen, 00:19:13.660 --> 00:19:16.779 it's literally, you know, someone's on cook with 00:19:16.779 --> 00:19:23.819 a cigarette in the mouth, you know. It's so true. 00:19:24.339 --> 00:19:28.170 But it's also like... I think this wok cooking 00:19:28.170 --> 00:19:31.670 is fucking amazing. I'm actually, I kind of want 00:19:31.670 --> 00:19:33.309 to look into it a little bit more. The other 00:19:33.309 --> 00:19:36.869 day, because it's like this a la minute cooking 00:19:36.869 --> 00:19:40.130 and it's so swift and it's so fast and so skillful 00:19:40.130 --> 00:19:42.809 also, you know. The other day I came across a 00:19:42.809 --> 00:19:44.710 video. I love watching these cooking videos from 00:19:44.710 --> 00:19:46.890 Japan, you know, where it's like no commentary. 00:19:47.789 --> 00:19:49.809 Sometimes there's like subtitles of what's happening. 00:19:50.190 --> 00:19:52.009 There's all sorts of stuff. Katsu restaurants, 00:19:52.529 --> 00:19:54.859 ramen restaurants, blah, blah, blah. There was 00:19:54.859 --> 00:19:57.660 one restaurant in some small town that I didn't 00:19:57.660 --> 00:20:02.720 know. It was a fairly old chef, right? And apparently 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:05.460 it's a very famous Chinese restaurant. And he 00:20:05.460 --> 00:20:11.619 was cooking Chinese food so uniquely and so skillfully. 00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:13.900 You know, the way he was making fried rice. He 00:20:13.900 --> 00:20:16.599 had like, he made his own like seasoning mixes 00:20:16.599 --> 00:20:19.559 where he had like, he had like a shio koji liquid. 00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:22.240 He had like a shoyu koji liquid that he would 00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:23.859 season. He would make things like white mapo 00:20:23.859 --> 00:20:26.480 tofu. White mapo tofu. I've never seen that before. 00:20:26.619 --> 00:20:29.000 He would like stir, like a la minute. Stir frying 00:20:29.000 --> 00:20:31.519 the meat, adding the tofu. He was making his 00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:36.160 like, his slurry, his cornstarch slurry mix. 00:20:36.779 --> 00:20:41.609 Thickening it, blah, it's like. um glazing prawns 00:20:41.609 --> 00:20:45.289 with like a slick of cornstarch sort of like 00:20:45.289 --> 00:20:48.609 slurry to poach them so that they're like really 00:20:48.609 --> 00:20:51.970 shiny amazing cooking like super high level and 00:20:51.970 --> 00:20:55.430 so swift out of like shooting from the hip and 00:20:55.430 --> 00:20:57.430 i was watching this and i was like man what the 00:20:57.430 --> 00:20:59.230 fuck you know like sometimes you see these things 00:20:59.230 --> 00:21:01.130 you know the other day i was like giving somebody 00:21:01.130 --> 00:21:03.960 shit and i told him i was sort of like you think 00:21:03.960 --> 00:21:06.740 you can bullshit me i have almost 20 years of 00:21:06.740 --> 00:21:08.400 experience in this fucking job and you think 00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:10.859 you can bullshit me and i realized i was like 00:21:10.859 --> 00:21:12.680 man fuck i've been doing this job for almost 00:21:12.680 --> 00:21:19.640 20 years that's and like you see a video like 00:21:19.640 --> 00:21:22.680 that and i'm like man i don't know anything about 00:21:22.680 --> 00:21:25.880 cooking like I don't know shit about cooking. 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:29.019 What I know is so limited. There's so many people 00:21:29.019 --> 00:21:31.460 out there in all the fucking corners of the world 00:21:31.460 --> 00:21:34.019 that are doing something that I have no idea 00:21:34.019 --> 00:21:37.960 about. And that's incredible. Have you heard 00:21:37.960 --> 00:21:43.900 of Javier Wong? That's like an OG of Chinese 00:21:43.900 --> 00:21:48.109 Peruvian cuisine. I think it has this... romantic 00:21:48.109 --> 00:21:51.289 vibe because it's like a restaurant that really 00:21:51.289 --> 00:21:55.950 feels like a tasca, you know, like a Latin American 00:21:55.950 --> 00:22:00.670 restaurant in the city center of Lima, you know, 00:22:00.690 --> 00:22:05.869 like with... unpretentious wood tables, you know? 00:22:05.930 --> 00:22:08.750 And just in the corner, the kitchen is literally, 00:22:09.049 --> 00:22:12.910 you know, like the size of a small table. And 00:22:12.910 --> 00:22:16.349 it's a one -man show. It was only he in the kitchen, 00:22:16.430 --> 00:22:19.910 and he had only two tools, a wok and a bowl. 00:22:20.450 --> 00:22:24.130 And the wok, he would do woks, basically. It's 00:22:24.130 --> 00:22:26.049 also pretty cool, his logo. His logo is like 00:22:26.049 --> 00:22:30.259 with his golf caps, you know? And his Chinese 00:22:30.259 --> 00:22:34.140 silhouette and a cigarette in the mouth. You 00:22:34.140 --> 00:22:38.259 know, like that. So he would do these walks, 00:22:38.440 --> 00:22:40.920 which are like, you know, chifa, which is like 00:22:40.920 --> 00:22:44.240 Peruvian Chinese. So I would say it's even more 00:22:44.240 --> 00:22:47.119 Latin American than Asian because it's like a 00:22:47.119 --> 00:22:49.380 very, first of all, because it's in Latin America. 00:22:49.819 --> 00:22:53.019 But yeah, it's like, I don't know, like Italian 00:22:53.019 --> 00:22:54.680 American, you know, that at the end of the day, 00:22:54.700 --> 00:22:57.019 it's more American than Italian. Well, it's the 00:22:57.019 --> 00:23:01.420 same thing with Chinese Peruvian. And in the 00:23:01.420 --> 00:23:03.859 bowl, he would do ceviches. So he would only 00:23:03.859 --> 00:23:05.779 do woks and ceviches. And that's what you get 00:23:05.779 --> 00:23:08.500 in that restaurant. He has a super cool book. 00:23:08.920 --> 00:23:12.259 It's called Best Ceviche in the World. Yeah, 00:23:12.279 --> 00:23:15.220 and he would go to, you know, the Madrid Fusion 00:23:15.220 --> 00:23:18.859 and all these international conferences. You 00:23:18.859 --> 00:23:21.160 know, he became really like a rock star with 00:23:21.160 --> 00:23:23.420 his super tiny restaurant. I have this romantic 00:23:23.420 --> 00:23:25.180 idea of running a place like that, you know, 00:23:25.220 --> 00:23:28.700 like just going there, doing two things, but 00:23:28.700 --> 00:23:33.880 doing them just, you know, making them hits so 00:23:33.880 --> 00:23:36.400 that people go back just for that. I mean, it's 00:23:36.400 --> 00:23:38.500 like Bordaberry in San Sebastian, you know, like 00:23:38.500 --> 00:23:42.559 it's a place, a bar that has only 12 items. That's 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:46.240 it. But I think... Maybe there's a veggie dish, 00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:48.720 there's usually like a veggie dish that is just 00:23:48.720 --> 00:23:51.579 like beans and mushrooms and something like that, 00:23:51.640 --> 00:23:55.920 which is fine. But everything, all of the others, 00:23:56.119 --> 00:23:59.119 they're all bangers, you know, like they're all 00:23:59.119 --> 00:24:03.880 top dishes that I go back every time to get them, 00:24:03.940 --> 00:24:05.779 you know. I absolutely also love places like, 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:09.000 I love Borderberry. Javier Wong is such a fucking 00:24:09.000 --> 00:24:12.660 legend. He doesn't give a fuck, you know, he 00:24:12.660 --> 00:24:15.079 just like does exactly what he wants. And I think 00:24:15.079 --> 00:24:18.019 there should be more places like that, that don't 00:24:18.019 --> 00:24:24.059 worry too much about concept and style and anything 00:24:24.059 --> 00:24:26.839 like that. You know, it's like everybody nowadays 00:24:26.839 --> 00:24:29.220 is sort of like, you know, if somebody told you, 00:24:29.259 --> 00:24:32.079 hey, I'm going to open a Chinese Peruvian place, 00:24:32.140 --> 00:24:33.880 I'm going to make wok dishes and ceviche, you 00:24:33.880 --> 00:24:36.940 know, if you're an unknown chef, they're probably 00:24:36.940 --> 00:24:39.039 going to tell you that that sounds like a... 00:24:39.230 --> 00:24:40.890 Very strange idea. Nobody's going to understand 00:24:40.890 --> 00:24:43.269 that. Fuck that. Like, just do it. If you have 00:24:43.269 --> 00:24:47.549 the expertise and you have a vision and you have 00:24:47.549 --> 00:24:49.950 the skill, like, just fucking do it and make 00:24:49.950 --> 00:24:56.069 it good and hopefully it'll work out. That's 00:24:56.069 --> 00:24:58.809 it for this week's episode of Potluck Food Talks. 00:24:58.809 --> 00:25:01.210 If you like what we're doing, make sure to subscribe 00:25:01.210 --> 00:25:03.450 to the podcast so you never miss an episode. 00:25:03.809 --> 00:25:05.910 You can also find us on Instagram and TikTok 00:25:05.910 --> 00:25:09.400 as Potluck Food Talks. The show airs every Monday.