Latest / Drama, Darling: A Real Housewives Comedy Podcast / Top Chef 20th Anniversary Dinner @ Craft & Interviews

Transcript

Top Chef 20th Anniversary Dinner @ Craft & Interviews · Drama, Darling: A Real Housewives Comedy Podcast

0:00
Okay, I am here at Kraft What we are going in for the Top
0:04
Chef twentieth anniversary celebration. Guess who's with me? Angela Quintana the best of
0:10
my life? Me too. I can't believe we're about to enjoy some top
0:14
chefs. Can you stand this? Can you stand it? Drama? Darling?
0:28
Drama, Darling, Drama, Darling. Hello, welcome back. It's
0:41
me Padma, joined by my good friend Angela Quintana. Hello, Angela,
0:49
Hello Adma. I wasn't at the dinner last night. I'm so sorry,
0:54
but I don't waste my time with underlings such as Amy Phillips's drama Darling.
1:03
Also, it was sponsored by what's the new water? Oh, Saratoga Springs,
1:08
and I'm still angry about that, Oh Angela. We are here to
1:17
discuss our Top Chef. What shall we say? Adventure, journey, love,
1:23
affair and experience. It wasn't experience. I'm still floating on the high
1:29
like same same. I was literally buzzing when I got home. You were
1:34
buzzing. Okay, Well, first of all, I have to ask you,
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did you eat the cookie yet? I haven't had I haven't eaten the
1:38
cookie. I was so full last night. Oh really, I could have
1:42
eaten much more everything. But I also wanted to save it because there were
1:47
two so Dan and I told Dan I would wait to eat it because he
1:51
was wow, so excited that he gets to have a cookie that a marmaide.
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I know Brett too. I swear to you I would have eaten that
1:57
too. In the car, I had to take a lot of control over
2:01
myself and say, don't eat the cookie, gave it, give it to
2:04
your husband. You also had a longer commute home, so I did.
2:07
Yeah, I had a lot of time. I would have probably dug into
2:10
that had I had more time. It is so good. So obviously we
2:15
kind of cut to the end, but the point being that at the very
2:21
end, when you're walking out, you got a cookie, two cookies wrapped
2:23
in a top chef wrapper, and they were made by a mar and oh
2:30
with love, and I'm telling you and you know what and a spoiler alert,
2:32
angela tell me a heavy a heavy salt, A heavy salt. I
2:38
love it and you're gonna love it. Oh, I like a salt and
2:42
a cookie and oh my god, it was so just a simple chocolate chip,
2:46
by the way, simple chocolate chip which is my favorite me as well,
2:51
the consistency, the softness, everything. But I digress. Angela Quintana
2:55
is here. She is joining me from her A friend if you cost your
3:00
wall, slash, A friend to alter, whatever you want to call it,
3:04
to honor the loved ones, and the A friend of meets the cheating
3:07
room. Yet again, we are here to break down our Top Chef dinner
3:14
journey now to bring you up to speed. And this is something that we
3:16
learned last night as we spoke with one of the incredible pr people over at
3:21
Bravo shout out to beca you know, they put she put together this incredible
3:28
dinner and it was really a celebration of the Top Chef being in its twentieth
3:32
season, So we were not witnessing an episode of Top Chef. This was
3:38
a celebration dinner yeh, where they took the chefs that made up the Team
3:46
United Kitchen in the episode from Restaurant Wars, and that was the winning team
3:51
from Restaurant Wars, which was about three episodes ago if we're talking real time
3:55
right now. So the food that they made from Restaurant Wars, they recreated
4:00
and served to a group of about seventy five people, and it was at
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Tom Colliquio's Michelin Star restaurant, Craft and Angela and I had never been there.
4:17
I've always wanted to go. I almost went there this year on my
4:20
birthday, but because it's so far I decided not to do it, you
4:26
know, But we've logged it up, which we've got pictures, we've got
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video, all this great stuff and interviews, interviews, pictures of the food.
4:39
So when we entered into Craft, we had a great time just being
4:45
there at that landmark, right. It was kind of fun because we were
4:48
like one of the first people there. Oh yeah, and the last people
4:53
to be left. That is a fact. Those are facts. I didn't
5:00
expect that to be the case. I am one to be known for my
5:04
Irish exits, and in fact there was you do. Yeah. I'm always
5:10
like, oh, this is a good time to just yeah, just you
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know, I don't need no one needs to say goodbye, no one.
5:15
You don't need to do an official gobye. It's a whole thing, and
5:18
no one's got time. But and I was real close. You saw me
5:24
teetering on the edge of scooting out of there because we both were And then
5:28
yeah, but then we had to wait it out because we were allowed to
5:31
interview the contestants, but not until after the dessert course, and there was
5:36
a lot of hubbub going on. After the dessert course. There were pictures
5:40
being taken of the of all the chefs, so we had to really wait
5:43
around and wait our turn, and and the PR people were great because they
5:46
let us talk to everybody. But at one point I was like, you
5:50
know what, I'm good on interviews. I want to just go home.
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But we stuck it out and we got everything we needed, which was really
5:56
great, and I'm glad we did too, because I have a tendency to
5:59
want to be like, you know, but that's enough. I need to
6:00
I am tired, you know, I've been up since five am. But
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also like I didn't feel rushed, like nobody made us feel like, oh,
6:10
come on, let's get this time. It was. Well, that's
6:13
because you didn't see them giving the wrap up sign. I did know.
6:16
We were definitely to I was given the wrap up sign, but you were
6:19
holding the camera. You're like, so tell me more about it. I'm
6:25
like, we gotta go, we gotta go. Let's talk about drinking.
6:30
Oh my god. But let's just start at the beginning. When we arrived
6:33
there, obviously we were thrilled. Angela was like breaking out in hives because
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she was so excited. Plus you had to really kind of haul it from
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the parking structure because we got there so early that the valet wasn't even set
6:45
up yet, and so we had been circling waiting. Finally, the valet
6:49
was set up when we went in, but we approached we were greeted with
6:54
an immediate validation of not only our person but of our parking, and escored
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it over to the bar, in which there was a gorgeous menu of Top
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Chef World All Stars cocktails. There's the SETAs Padma, pack your bourbon and
7:13
go, and that's bourbon, lemon and honey. And then we've got good
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Judge's Choice pink gin apparel, bubbles, lemon, pink peppercorn, and then
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we have Top Chef Mule Vodka, ginger beer, lime, butterfly peaflower,
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how playful, quickfire tequila, hibiscus lime agave. That's texture. And then
7:50
of course wine pino noir and Salvignon blanc. Okay, and we got twenty
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twenty two Okay, pretty good So, okay, Angela, which one did
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you pick? I had the top Chef mule, so did I gin and
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the vodka. But I am a sucker for a mule. But I did
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love the woman that we met. Was she from Taste of Home? I
8:15
don't remember. She was super kind whatever, sweet? Yes, she was
8:20
like, I love butter peet? What what was the flower butter pee?
8:24
Pea butter What was o butterfly? Pea flower? Butterflower pee? How don't
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you know what I know? I was like, how the hell? How
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do you know butterfly pea flowers? How dare you? Well? She's said
8:37
Taste of Home, so that does make sense. But she's got like a
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blog, a blog and Instagram. She was reporting, she had like a
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notepad. Yeah she was. She came prepared to. But we you're the
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only ones with the blogging equipment and you became a vlogger last night. You
8:54
know what, you guys, this is a new era in my life.
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Evan Reel said it. Evan Reel said it correctly from page was there and
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table eight so great. We had some fun. We had the best table
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because we were the Bravoholic Press and there was really only two for six of
9:11
us at this table, like I said, very quaint, And it was
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Evan Reel from page six and his fiance Lenee from the Messenger. You gotta
9:20
get on that again. I get on that site. They get all the
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tea and then Adrian from everywhere. I mean, what where doesn't she work?
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She's a pr person for everything, A list of her past, like
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she's amazing, she's amazing, both ladies and and like his fiancee, like,
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oh, we had so much fun, such a great table, talking
9:39
shit, having so much fun. And so when we sat down, obviously
9:46
we knew that what chefs were going to be there, and I'll explain it
9:48
was. It was Chef Amar, it was Chef Ali, and it was
9:54
Chef Buddha and Chef Sarah. Yes, we had a first first we met
10:00
Chef Sarah and she was brought over to us and we had a great us.
10:05
She looks incredible. Oh my god, she looks so great. She
10:07
looked refreshed. You would have never known that she's gone through this entire season
10:13
with two kids, one that's nine months old. And actually we have a
10:18
great interview with Chef Sarah. She's awesome. She's a badass. I love
10:22
her. This was my first interview of the night. Let's listen now,
10:24
I hear you. We're You're a fidgit, I'm a fidgitor. We're fidgetters.
10:28
Oh my god, this incredible woman, Sarah. So tell me your
10:31
experience this season, this epic season, Season twenty. How do you feel.
10:35
I mean, it's just been so amazing. I love this season even
10:41
more than my original season. Oh, I mean, you killed it.
10:43
You always kill it. So what's the difference. I think I'm a little
10:48
more grown up, and I just think the caliber of chef on this season,
10:52
not that the caliber of chef on my season wasn't there, right,
10:56
But we've all done so like our expectations, ourselves and the other chefs were
11:01
so high. So I think we just held each other accountable to be so.
11:05
So, could you anticipate that going in where you're like, I,
11:07
this is going to be the next level of competition? Yeah, and I
11:11
knew there would be winners there, you know, and I was the runner
11:13
up, and so yeah, I kind of went in this whole season.
11:16
I was like, this is my redemption, Like, this is redemption.
11:20
You powered yourself up? How did you prepare a lot of positive affirmation,
11:24
a lot of like I would look at myself in the here and I would
11:26
be like, Sarah, you can do this. Like every morning I would
11:30
like tell myself, Yeah, I loved it. And this time around,
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I have two daughters at home. How old. Well when I left,
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Hazel was nine months and Lula was straight. And I've talked the entire time
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I was there and shipped home. God, yeah, it was awesome.
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What I'm saying, moms, we can do any week and this is a
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perfect examining thing. I am so impressed. I have no idea. Oh
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yeah, she's the only female left. I know. I care. I
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am the only tell your daughters buy out? You did? You know?
12:01
I know it's like you just don't get that opportunity to have someone document a
12:07
journey for you. And so when they call and ask if I wanted to
12:09
do it, I was like, didn't even have to think about it.
12:11
Absolutely not. What are you the most proud of this season? I'll be
12:16
most proud of this season. I mean so much. Every every challenge,
12:20
every step of the way has been a knockout. I mean, I think,
12:24
you know, I think this season, I just I performed much better
12:28
like across the board like from the beginning than I did on my season,
12:33
and I right now, as of now, I have been eliminated. I'm
12:37
in Last Chance Kitchen, Charbelle and I are there. You'll find out on
12:39
Thursday. Who makes it back. We want you back. You better,
12:43
you are coming back because I'm doing I'm doing all the positive affirmations for you.
12:48
We are everyone is rooting for you. You're still gonna get favorite.
12:52
I got a million percent and and what okay, so beyond Top Chef,
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what are your aspirations? What is it that you really what's the next step
12:58
for you? Well, I'm currently I have just started working on a book.
13:03
And I love to do I mean, I love I love this TV
13:07
thing, like I want to do more TV. And I love being part
13:09
of the Top Chef family, you know, like I just I love all
13:13
about it. Maybe a new restaurant. You know, there was workshop,
13:18
there was stuff in the works before COVID and we put it on the back
13:20
burner. But you know, now you're making a researcher. Yeah, we're
13:24
so happy for you. Congratulations, Thank you so much for taking it time.
13:28
Thanks you guys, all right, you get away, all right?
13:31
Thanks and I know she's coming back. She's definitely coming back. She's so
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so great, so fun to meet her. And then we ended up meeting
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Francis Berwick, who was an executive producer over Bravo. I literally bowed and
13:46
then I actually physically kissed her ring. I said, I'm sorry to do
13:50
this to you, but I and I hope I have your consent, but
13:52
I'm going to have to kiss your ring. And I was like, how
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great was she? She was like, it's so nice to me, Absolutely
14:01
wonderful. I mean, she's like this classy British lady who was behind the
14:05
scenes, who's so kind, and she just wanted to say Paduca Kentucky,
14:13
Paducah, Kentucky, Croppy Lake. Yes, you're going to love Croppy Lake.
14:18
It's absolutely extraordinary. And she loved Amy. She was so thrilled to
14:22
me Amy as well. She was just I was surprised that she even knew.
14:26
I had a feeling she probably knew love me and heard of my but
14:28
I didn't know, you know. Yeah, it was very nice to get
14:31
a pat on the back from Francis Berwick, so that was great. We
14:35
got to talk to her, no interview, but that was already told to
14:37
me. I was like, can I please interview with Francis Berwick. They're
14:39
like, what exactly do you want to talk to her about? I was
14:43
like, I'll just meet her. Before we sat down to eat, we
14:46
got to talk to Gail Simmons. That was an amazing interview. I had
14:50
some listener questions, and you know, one of which is the most popular
14:56
question. When I had posted please send in your questions? What do you
15:01
want me to ask Gail Simmons and the contestants? The biggest question was how
15:05
do they stay so fit after eating so much food? How do they prepare
15:11
for that? How do you stay looking so great? That was the number
15:15
one question that people were sending in, and you know, among other things.
15:20
But I asked her that question off the top and it really went into
15:26
an area. Her answer went into an area that I did not expect.
15:30
It was real, It was amazing and deep and we can listen to that
15:35
now. Yeah. Is that okay? This is this is real? Gai.
15:41
How are you? It's so good to see you. You met you,
15:45
Gail Simmons. Oh my gosh, I met you on zoom for your
15:48
cookbook. You did an amazing I mean that was so fun. Thank you
15:54
during the pandemic right, which, thank goodness, we've we've made it through
15:58
past and here we are and you the flat wrote a book like during the
16:03
Pandemic. What a great way to spend it. You know, there's a
16:07
lot of things I would do differently, but I'm glad. You know,
16:11
in retrospect it was a productive time. It didn't feel like it at the
16:14
time, I know, but boy, you killed it. I'm so excited.
16:18
Congratulations, Kenny Sees. Thank you very much. So many, so
16:21
many viewer questions. I've got a lot of people tell okay, great,
16:23
okay, so I love that. First of all, so many people want
16:26
to know, how do you stay and this is a quote, how do
16:30
you stay so hot while you eat all this food? How do you premiare
16:37
It's a complicated question, okay, only because I don't I'm not like a
16:45
I don't believe in diets. I don't believe in like shaming or worrying about
16:48
spending all my time on what I weigh and how I look. Because I
16:53
love food and that's honest and authentic and I'm never not eating and we do
16:57
not fake it. And I'm not and like how do we do it?
17:03
We love what we do, and if it means I have to gain a
17:04
few pounds, sometimes I do. But I also know that with my job
17:08
comes the responsibility to take care of my health, so I exercise. I
17:15
don't have to finish my plate on every episode. But also you'd all be
17:19
fine, Everyone would be fine. You take a few bites. It's delicious.
17:23
I'm not afraid of food, yes, And I think that's a big
17:26
thing. I think a lot of people are so afraid of food because they're
17:30
afraid that they're gonna eat something and have to and feel guilty about and it
17:34
comes with all these strings attached, and God forbid, I get fat.
17:37
Like people are so worried about how they look and they forget about the pleasures
17:42
eating preach scale. See this is the thing. This is why I love
17:45
not only Top Chef, but I love you on the show, not only
17:48
your passion for food obviously, your skill, your intelligence, the way you
17:52
articulately going keep going, the way you walk now, but like you know,
17:59
it's IMpower powering for women because there are and I wasn't even planning on
18:03
getting into like food stuff about with women and body images and things like that.
18:07
But it is so empowering to hear you say stuff like that and thank
18:10
you. Well, I believe it, I truly do. And I always
18:12
say, like, people ask me this question in a lot of different ways,
18:17
and I get frustrated because I wonder, like, are they asking Tom
18:18
that same question? People are so like obsessed with They're always asking me and
18:25
Podma, And Podma talks all the time about how much weight she gains on
18:27
the show. And that's fine and it's true, but at the same time,
18:32
that is not the point for me, you know what. That's like
18:37
my that's a problem I'm never going to complain about because I get this incredible
18:41
opportunity and I want to take care of myself and I'm not sample size.
18:47
I'm not gonna starve myself to fit into address because it's not important enough to
18:52
me. What's important is somehow I manage to find a job that I love
18:56
and great friends and relationships and found a partner in life who loves me and
19:03
not just because of how I look, you know, like, and my
19:06
job requires me to be on television. So that's like there's a lot of
19:08
like complicated relationship with yourself because you are constantly looking in the mirror. But
19:14
I also want to set a really good example for my daughter and my son
19:18
to treat themselves with respect and love themselves and also just like get down to
19:22
the business of living and not worrying about it so much? Can you write
19:25
another book? I mean from your heart, you know, And you really
19:30
blew my mind. And you said, are people asking Tom? And they
19:33
do ask Tom, but it's not the same. How do you how do
19:37
you digest? You know? It's more like it's not like that because with
19:41
women it is. There is such a body about your body and how you
19:47
look, and God forbid, you aren't perfectly slim. And I can spend
19:52
a lot of time if I wanted to, getting real dark with myself about
19:56
why I'm not perfect, Like we all stare in the mirror and we all
20:00
want to lose five pounds or wish time. It's like you and you look
20:04
fantastic, like why it's just and then you like, what's it worth?
20:10
Because I promise you we are not going to the grave worrying about not having
20:12
eaten that chocolate, right, like we're gonna just enjoy that we ate that
20:15
pizza? Yes, please? What is the best dish that you make on
20:22
Sunday for your family. Oh God, well, it changes a lot.
20:26
It depending on the time of year and the season. What we're inspired by
20:30
what my kids are into is everything's a phase for them. Right now,
20:33
we're in a waffle phase, which took me by surprise because I discovered I
20:40
really I never owned a waffle maker until the quarantine. I got a waffle
20:44
maker during the pandemic, and my kids were never pancake eaters, And I
20:48
was like, what's wrong with you, your children? I want to make
20:49
you blueberry pancakes every day, like every kid loves a pancake, right,
20:53
No, my kids never eat pancakes, never want a pancakes. And so,
20:59
but then I got a waffle machine, and I realized you can put
21:00
so many things in a waffle maker. And so we put like cheesy eggs
21:06
in the waffle maker, and we take like leftovers of the smoothies that I
21:10
make them during the week for breakfast, and we pour that into the batter
21:14
of the waffles, and we put and then we put like my kids really
21:17
love this waffle recipe that I also mash up a banana and fold into the
21:22
waffle because otherwise waffles and piccic don't actually have that much flavor. They're really
21:26
like a blank canvas for Yerrup, right, But there's anyway we've been making
21:30
a lot of Sunday morning waffles. That's so wonderful. Yeah, congratulations on
21:36
season twenty. Thank you. I mean, it just gets better and better.
21:38
We feel very proud and privileged that we made it to this day.
21:42
Anything you want to say about this season, in particular about how it struck
21:48
you with having all sure around the world, I mean, the fact that
21:51
we were able to become such a global sensation and bring to this season winners
21:56
and runners up from the four corners of the Earth. Because there are versions
22:00
of our show all over the world, from Jordan to Italy, to Thailand,
22:06
to Poland to South America. I mean, it's just mind blowing.
22:10
To my homeland of Canada, it was like, it's very humbling, and
22:14
we took it very seriously. From that perspective. The fact that we were
22:18
able to go abroad for the whole season and shoot in London in Paris was
22:21
something we've been wanting to do for ten years, in the seventeen years of
22:26
the show, and we finally got to do it, and so it just
22:27
fell big and I think it comes across in the season and I'm really happy
22:32
that we get to share it with everyone. I can't wait, you're I'm
22:37
excited that I get to eat this meal for a second time. Oh oh
22:40
my god, thank thank you much. So I kind of felt bad asking
22:45
her that question after a while, because I was like, you know,
22:47
she's right, like, why aren't we asking men this? It's all about
22:49
appearances for women and body images and stuff like that. But I was so
22:53
happy that she attacked it in such a way, like we were saying with
22:56
grace and with vigor and with you know, opening my eyes up to a
23:02
thing that's like, why am I, as a woman, drawing attention to
23:04
that? You know, I want to be better? Why am I pointing
23:07
a you know, shining a light on her body or whatever? You know,
23:12
I should do better in terms of don't acknowledge that, Let's acknowledge other
23:17
things. And so that was really eye opening. But I was like,
23:19
I think she should write a book about body image and food and eating,
23:23
because I think it's it's freeing to have someone in the public eye like her
23:30
to look to for that outlook a healthy, healthy outlook on food and body
23:37
and just being so aware of it. And I and Padma has the same
23:40
thing too. But I wasn't there keep my name out of your mouth.
23:45
Yeah, but she yeah, I agree, like she It was so thoughtful
23:51
her answer and so like insightful and like you said, she was just so
23:56
gracious about it, and the fact that she was like, I mean,
23:59
nobody asked Tom that, I bet yeah, And then we did ask we
24:03
did ask Tom that actually, no, did you. I thought that they
24:07
we didn't think that we were going to get a talk to Tom. So
24:10
that was I didn't think we were going to talk to Tom Colichio. We
24:12
got to talk to Tom. We got to talk to him. And Okay,
24:15
so this was the funniest, one of the funniest nights, one of
24:18
the funniest moments of the evening. Like, I want to talk to Tom.
24:22
I was like sure, Yeah. So they bring us over to this
24:25
one little nook and and I've got oh yeah, so I've got my vlogging
24:30
equipment, which I didn't just it's not huge. It's just my phone on
24:34
a little hold handheld stand with a tiny square led light and a microphone sticking
24:41
out, but you know it's it's aggressive. When the light turns on,
24:44
Yeah, the light is pretty. And then the PR woman said, you
24:48
need to ask him if he's okay with the video because I don't know if
24:51
he will be. You know what you had done already with both Sarah and
24:55
Gail. Yeah, I had done videos okay, yeah, but yeah,
24:57
and they were fine, right, Okay. So then I asked Tom and
25:03
he's like, well, what is this for? And I'm like, drama
25:07
darling. He's like, what don't we just do the audio? Yeah,
25:14
He's like, let's just do audio. I have a feeling that we might
25:21
have that on tape. It's incredible season. How are you feeling when you
25:25
look back? Well, I I so those that told me not to do
25:32
the show, Oh, my wife was dead set against it. Various family
25:37
members thought it was a bad idea, and so I was right every holiday,
25:47
you know what what I'm doing? Well, we don't. We don't
25:51
like to discuss that much. But no, no, what I'm what I'm
25:53
really stoked about looking back on it is that we stayed really honest and true
26:02
to our industry. And that was my That was my biggest concern was that
26:07
my industry, we looked at the show was something that was worthwhile. It
26:10
was it was, uh, you know, we weren't we weren't making a
26:15
TV show like a fluck show, and that it was like really sincere and
26:19
honest, and and I think the industry has accepted it. But that the
26:26
fact that you know, over the years that we've we've seen a lot of
26:30
really talented chefs and cooks come through the show. They've gone on some open
26:34
multiple restaurants, win awards, and so it's like the real deal. I
26:38
mean, to look at any other reality competition show, I'd venture to say
26:45
that we've actually launched more careers than any other show. Yeah, the cookbooks,
26:49
the amount of television shows, the notoriety, the restaurants, it's unbelievable.
26:55
If you were to ever go back and change anything about any season,
26:59
is there anything you would do differently? I don't think so. In terms
27:03
of winners, no, I stand by every single I think we all do.
27:10
Listen, you know, there's so much that goes into making decisions that
27:17
the viewer doesn't really understand. And part of it is what part of it
27:22
is. We shoot with six cameras about sixteen hours a day, it takes
27:26
two days shooting episode you see forty eight minutes of that, and two days
27:32
shooting episode you see forty eight minutes there. So there's a lot of stuff
27:37
that happens, and I love when people go, well, you said this,
27:40
I said a lot of other things that you didn't hear. A lot
27:42
of stuff that goes to making decisions. Everyone talked about doing more uncut versions
27:48
of Top Chef because there's so much that you know that we love hearing from
27:52
the judges, the judges panel, all your feedback. Yeah, I don't
27:57
think they have. I mean, I guess they could. I just I
28:00
don't know why they haven't. I think it's also where do you put it?
28:03
I still have to edit it, and it's all about budgets and stuff
28:07
like that. So seems to be doing a whole lot of stuff. I
28:10
would love to see more of it on there. And one last question,
28:12
how do you keep looking so phenomenal after all these years? Yeah? I
28:21
looked at we did a panel discussion two days ago and they looked at some
28:26
photos from like beginning. I was probably thirty pounds heavier when we started shooting
28:30
the show that I am now. Oh yeah, yeah, seventeen years ago
28:36
because we're twenty seasons, but seventeen years because we used to do three every
28:41
two years. Yeah, but we ever drink with him. The crazy about
28:56
season one is they were sitting right there. Judge them, they were sitting
29:00
your crew. That was so bizarre. It's grown so much, I think
29:03
I NK. So first episode, first day on set, first day,
29:11
first app We're in San Francisco in a restaurant and we had just I think
29:22
eating eating chef's foods and they were standing like in this kind of hallway across
29:26
from us, and we were making comments and then they did production cut for
29:32
a second and somebody came over and they were like dabbing my head or something.
29:36
And one of the contestants, when it was completely unhinged, like like
29:40
crazy office men, said yeah, wanted to put some hair on his head
29:42
while you're at it, And look at this guy. I'm like, dude,
29:45
like wrong with you? Well, so I was so glig just like
29:52
freaked out. So I go to the bar and I'm sitting at the bar
29:56
and bartenders like if you want to drink, and I'm like, I don't
30:00
know if like I could drink on his set I have no idea. So
30:04
I hate vodka and at the time didn't drink gin. But I wanted something
30:11
clear because I didn't want to look kill. I thought I was hiding,
30:14
but I didn't want it to be so obvious. And so the guy said,
30:15
well, this gin, that's really great to try it. And that
30:18
was the first Gin and tonic I ever had, and so that and that
30:22
became the tradition. I always had Gina tonic, but never another problem.
30:26
I never were never drunk. It was like I'd have a drink, yeah,
30:29
I'd have a cocktail now. But I'm so honored to speak with you
30:32
after all these years. Truly one of the greatest days of our lives.
30:34
Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank
30:37
you, thank you, and thank you for this season congratulation. Thanks.
30:41
So we got an interview with Tom that was great and loved talking to him,
30:47
and I got the wrap up sign pretty quickly into that, and then
30:52
we finally sat down to dinner and my god, you guys this so wow
30:57
wow wow. All right, let's just break on this food situation. So
31:02
while we were in one uh Moscow mule, rather we had one Moscow mule
31:07
and then we had a glass of wine. So by the end of the
31:11
night I was calling Gail Simmons, Gail can not to her face. Don't
31:18
worry not to her face, just once at the end of the night.
31:22
But anyway, so okay, we were given by Chef Buddha. We were
31:29
given a full English breakfast which was a coddled egg, truffle toast, and
31:37
tomato tea. And then also on top of that truffle toast, yes that
31:44
age. Yeah, it was pruscutto and pinto beans. It were like navy
31:51
beans cooked. Yeah, it was like a mashed navy bean. Right.
31:56
The cold thing was that they each came out again before their dish and presented
32:00
their dish, and then I mean we really did like Tom said he gave.
32:06
Tom gave that little speech that was like feel free to pretend you're a
32:08
judge. And then you know, the contestants come out and they present their
32:13
dishes, and it was just like what is on the menu does not do
32:17
what I put in my mouth. Justice. It was divine. I was
32:22
really thrown I was just blown away by this tomato tea because I never had
32:29
anything like that. It was like this kind of a champagne, not a
32:34
flute, but a tall kind of yeah, champagne, I don't mind.
32:38
I don't know what kind of glass where that was. It was almost like
32:40
a tulip kind of Yes, it was a tulip glass, good call.
32:46
So and it was and it looked like tea, so it was kind of
32:50
yellow, like yellowish. And then but it was warm and tasted like tomatoes,
32:54
but it wasn't as thick as a tomato. So it was just but
32:59
the coddled and you guys, you know, I'm a sucker for an egg.
33:01
I mean, and then it had like closed on the bottom, and
33:06
then you had the truffle, the consistency, the textures, and then there
33:09
were some hints of sour here and there, which I don't know what anything
33:15
was. I don't know what was happening. All I know is well,
33:16
that first course, we all did start eating before the chef spoke about the
33:21
meal, which I don't know if that was wrong or right, but we
33:24
did what we did. I I did eat the first two completely, and
33:31
then I was like, I'm making a huge mistake because I kept looking around
33:36
and it was our table. We were the only table that was eating before
33:38
anyone else because we were the only ones that don't know the rules because we're
33:44
not foodies at these that's one. Then Adrian was like, you know,
33:49
the judges do that too. As soon as they sit them down. If
33:52
you notice on the show, they start eating because you want to eat it
33:53
while it's warm. Right, that's true. That's true. That's true.
34:00
Well, that full English breakfast was incredible. Then we moved on to the
34:04
scallop tartar served to us by chef Amar. Yes, and I remember seeing
34:10
that on like yeah, big Poppy, right, yeah, Big Poppy and
34:15
hobby Bee or Poppy and hobby Bee. Oh Poppy and hobby Bee. Yeah,
34:19
I keep thinking big Papa, you know whatever. It's so funny they
34:22
cross over because yeah, they were calling you big Poppy, but hobby Bee
34:25
is also like Luan when they were in moroccriously. That's exactly. I wanted
34:31
to ask about that, but I was like, don't stop it, stop
34:35
yourself, You're gonna like like an idiot. So that was absolutely incredible.
34:40
A lot of like pickled vegetables. What did you think about that sauce that
34:45
was very mustardy. It was it was like tangy and mustardy, but like
34:51
it was I didn't think it was overpowering. No, yeah, because they
34:58
made such a big deal of and putting a warm sauce on a cold dish.
35:02
They sure did. But I didn't even really notice that it was just
35:07
warm. Everything was warm. It was perfect, like it was perfect.
35:12
It all work together perfectly, like I want to go back. I know,
35:16
I want to go back. I know that shell was incredible cool.
35:21
I should have put it on my purse. Oh dang it, you're right.
35:25
We should have put a lot more on ours. Yes, and put
35:29
it on my purse, just casually brought it to the to the bathroom and
35:32
washed it off. The next course was from Chef Sarah and this was culin
35:39
skink. Now, this was amazing. If those of you who don't know
35:45
what colin skink is, it is known as it's one of Scotland's most famous
35:50
dishes. It's a soup and it's traditionally made with smoked haddock. It you
35:57
know the Gaelic word of skink it means essence. And this was happening during
36:05
a time in Scotland when they couldn't really get you know, beef, the
36:09
scrapings from beef and like legs and cattle and stuff like that to make broth,
36:15
and so they started to use fish, they started to use hat.
36:20
Yes, so this is and so it wasn't a soup, but it's I
36:23
guess you could say it's kind of a deconstructed Colin skink, because yeah,
36:29
the English Breakfast was deconstructed, like they kind of just want the striver of
36:35
a Colon skink. Yeah, put together differently, but not a soup.
36:38
I mean there was a sauce. The presentation, they come and do the
36:43
sauce on your table. Do the sauce they sauce. My god, I
36:47
know. I love table side sauce saucing. I love table work. I
36:52
love table work. I love people dancing on tables. I love But it
36:57
was cod. And the cod was wrapped in what I think was potato.
37:01
I think right, was it potato or was it it was cucumber. It
37:06
was leak. Oh, it was leak, leak. It was wrapped in
37:09
leak. It was wrapped in leak and go, yes, okay, that
37:15
makes sense. And there was like a potato. There was a little onion,
37:19
and then I swear there was like a couple of clamps muscles. Okay,
37:22
yeah, yeah, it wasn't sure, everything worked so lovely unbelievable,
37:29
so we I love that. That was one of my favorites. Then we
37:31
moved on to Chef Ali's lamb. This was incredible. Did not forget the
37:38
sauce? This? Oh well, he you know, he did have the
37:43
sauce. In his defense, he had the sauce on the episode and he
37:46
said, it is there, It's just underneath these two things. And they
37:52
were like, not enough au jou. And if you saw a Restaurant Wars,
37:54
you saw that Tom Calichio got up from his chair and went into the
38:00
kitchen because he saw Amar putting a jo on something. He's like, wait
38:06
a second, he's got yeah, did they forget I'm gonna go look for
38:09
it. So he goes marches in the kitchen and you don't want that,
38:12
right and you, I mean in the middle of that challenge that is like
38:16
Restaurant Wars. For those of us who watch these shows, it's like snatch
38:21
game on RuPaul's Drag Race. It's like that. To me, it's like
38:24
the big like episode. Yeah, yes, I can't imagine Tom coming back
38:31
in the middle of your service on Restaurant Wars. But is there sauce on
38:36
that. Yeah, there can I get that sung he's on there. Sorry,
38:40
I like, I'm going home, but he's I know, I'm out
38:45
of here. I'll pack my own knives and go. I'll take my top
38:49
chef cookie and see myself out. I mean, I definitely think that they
38:52
did the right thing by adding more, because like that sauce was incredible,
38:57
delicious and it had a little bit of app caught, you know, sauce
39:00
on the side. Today it was it was absolutely perfect. Now was that
39:05
what PASTI as well? Was the past he served with that? Yes?
39:07
That little that wasn't that got? I tell you, it's really hard to
39:12
choose between those two. Is my favorite? The English breakfast, the full
39:16
English breakfast and then the lamb were my favorites. But we did have the
39:21
dessert, okay, Angela, and that was by Chef Buddha. And this
39:24
strawberries and cream, basil ice cream, milk gel and meringue. Okay,
39:31
Angela, this was your jam. This was your jail all the way,
39:35
so so good, and it's so funny looking at the menu now, I
39:38
feel like, are you sure you got everything on there? Because I felt
39:43
like I tasted so much more that was on the menu. It was just
39:46
that basil ice cream, the strawberries that he said were marinate and the lime.
39:52
They were so perfect, and like Tom told us, he was like,
39:54
oh, you should enjoy it because there's strawberries are in season, in
39:58
season he came to our table. He did, and I felt like an
40:02
idiot when I was like, well, I'm really excited for this assert because
40:05
you said it was the best dessert you'd never had, and he was like,
40:07
did I I know? I like, yes, you did. We
40:12
watched the show. Yes, Papa Tom, you did drama, Darling drama,
40:16
Darling Tom okay, drama. Put your camera down. Yeah it was.
40:23
It was delicious, and I mean, let's be honest, these are
40:30
all top chefs from around the world, so every single dish was delicious.
40:37
But I have to say, I think as much as I loved the PASTI
40:43
pasty right, Yes, the full Buddhist dishes were ended up being my favorite,
40:50
the top and the bottom. Like I can see why he keeps winning.
40:53
I know, like he's he's a GENI He's gonna win. I mean,
40:58
we did try to know. We had a great interview with Buddha and
41:04
we can we can listen now, sweet Oh my gosh. Hello, I'm
41:09
very excited. I'm videotaping video. It's the Californian Son. I'm so excited,
41:16
the Californian Sun. It's some weather, that's How are you feeling,
41:22
Oh my gosh, what a day. It's been a great day. Actually,
41:24
it's been not too bad. Actually, can you believe that? Actually
41:29
restaurant was was worse. So I did, and there's a team here.
41:34
They helped us out, and we didn't have two and a half hours to
41:36
coolly. So were you able to drink back there and just relax a little.
41:39
Not really, No, None of the guys helped me out. They
41:43
let me do all the editions by myself back there. So, so,
41:45
what is it like being so perfect? How do you do it? What
41:49
do you ordering that perfect? No, it's a lot of training, you
41:52
know, it's perfections a lot of failures as well. You know, I
41:54
think that I failed more times than anyone's ever seen before I got onto the
41:59
top chef. And thing that the best thing about being on the show,
42:04
especially right now, is that I got on to a time where I've failed
42:08
enough to be good at what I do. And I think without the failures,
42:12
I wouldn't be there. You know, I sliced my I cut my
42:15
finger before I learn how to dice properly. I burn myself before I can
42:17
cook properly. You know, I make all those silly mistakes, and so
42:21
all those silly mistakes I'm leading up to now makes me who I am.
42:25
And what you see on the camera is just someone who's been cooking for twelve
42:30
since twelve and you know, be working at places that started six thirty in
42:35
the morning to one thirty in the morning. So yeah, my gosh,
42:37
that's amazing. I love that your the way you articulate your success is due
42:43
to failure. Yeah, it is one hundred percent. And and you know
42:46
they call it steps to success, and without those and without any good grade
42:52
chef, you know, every single grade chess to you know, you actually
42:55
learn a lot more from your failures than you do for your successes. Because
43:00
if you if you burn yourself once and you know not to burn yourself again,
43:02
but if you've never burned yourself, you're going to get a real woo
43:05
rude awakening when that day comes, and it could be on the show as
43:08
well, And that's what you don't want. What was it like in the
43:13
season at the season is it's been incredible. I think that Actually my wife
43:21
was kind of telling me, like, oh, you should have been season
43:22
twenty. It's international. You stuffed up, you should have you know,
43:25
why did you go in season nineteen? I was like, oh, yeah,
43:28
Season twenty would have been cool. I heard it's in England and it's
43:30
going to be international. And then you didn't think you were going to be
43:32
able to do Season twenty. Well, I didn't even know that it was
43:35
going to be the concept. I didn't even know what they were going to
43:37
do. Maybe they just got all the you know, another cast and just
43:40
decided to film it overseas. And nor did I think even if it was
43:44
a World All Stars that I'd be invited because I just recently won, and
43:49
n winners don't come back. This is the first season that I'm the first
43:52
US contestant to ever come back as a winner. As a contestant, there's
43:57
winners that have been there's winners that have done two seasons. That's because the
44:00
first time they lost. No one's ever Melissa King, you know, she's
44:08
done it twice, but she came back because she didn't win her original season.
44:14
The runner up. Yeah, So I'm the first US contestant in twenty
44:17
seasons to come back and ever come back as a winner. And you know,
44:22
I can't say from most of them, but from what I've heard that
44:24
a lot of them they actually declined it really and I was the only one
44:29
that said, yes. Well, now that I'm uncovering it, I'm starting
44:35
to realize, you know, how busy my schedule's starting to look. And
44:38
I've been able to have like a little bit more time off after the win
44:44
from from Houston, but not actually not a lot of time. But when
44:47
I came back from London, I was able to see put you know,
44:52
put some fillers, get an agent, get a manager, put fill some
44:54
events. And once you start doing that and didn't start going, well,
44:58
June's done, I've done. You know, it's not just like one day.
45:01
It's a whole month. You know, you got like four events,
45:05
you got a white you know, you're signed to do all food festival here
45:07
and it's like top Chef for three months. Like that's a huge commitment.
45:12
And a lot of the chefs probably a the traumatized by it. You know,
45:16
they loved it. And if you look and if you look from season
45:21
probably one to ten onwards. They're probably not interested in it. Yeah,
45:24
because the if you look at season nineteen compared to season one, it's chalk
45:30
and cheese, you know, the season one that had a similiar that had
45:34
a CIA student. They the drama was huge, and but the caliber of
45:40
cooking wasn't as season nineteen. And that's what I love about Top Chef is
45:46
that he's really doing wonders for the industry. It is really leading the way.
45:52
You know, there's other shows that I'm not going to mention that want
45:54
you to cook with can chicken and gummy worms and make it and make a
45:58
main course out of it pitifoff. But I think I think, you know,
46:04
really highlighting what a chef can do and showing you know, and and
46:07
even yeah three Wellington's in three hours for thirty people, it's insane. But
46:13
at this calibar, it's Top Chef World all Stars. Like if you if
46:17
they have this one moment to pitch this one idea at a specific moment,
46:22
specific moment, that was it. It's I say this to everyone, I
46:29
think Wellington's ad a pinnacle of cooking. Well, you know, because it's
46:34
it's there's no if you overcook a If you undercook a steak, you can
46:39
throw that steak in the oven and keep cooking it. If you undercook a
46:42
fish, you can put it back in the oven. If you're under season
46:45
something, you can put some more salt on her if you if you don't
46:47
like how it is, you can chop it up and make it into a
46:50
salad. You can't do that with a Wellington. Yeah, yeah. And
46:57
the thing is it's completely different to how you would normally cook any protein.
47:00
So because naturally you're baking something and the and the pastry is actually steaming the
47:07
protein inside of it. And when you got something it is delicate, a
47:10
salmon which can be cooked even putting it underneath the Californian sun. So you
47:16
have to make it crispy, you have to make it flaky, you have
47:20
to make sure the proteins cook perfectly. And that's why I says the pinnacle
47:22
of cooking, because this is there's no molecular astronomy to it. There's no
47:25
smoke and mirrors. This is just you an oven cooking one on one protein
47:31
cooking pastry. That's it. And that's what I loved about it because I
47:35
don't you know could they do that in the next season. No, it
47:37
probably looks silly maybe, yeah, you know, maybe, but but but
47:40
if you have World All Stars and the winners and violence from all around the
47:45
world, well that's the perfect time to pull out the pinnacle. Yeah did
47:52
you win? You graduations for everything? Oh? Thank you, thank you.
48:00
I really appreciate it. Yeah. So I think you and I both
48:02
probably know Buddha. I'm sure he won. I mean, he has to
48:07
have won. It makes sense because just tasting his food from last night,
48:10
and I feel bad saying because every other dish was also so delicious and amazing,
48:15
but there was just something about his that was like for me and match
48:21
up, I know. Okay. Well, so also after so after our
48:27
dinner, we you know, as well as talking to Buddha, we got
48:30
to talk to some more of the chefs. We talked to Chef Ali,
48:34
and he had some inspiring things to say. So sweet, I'm so excited
48:37
to meet you. Congratulations. I mean, this is tell me a little
48:42
bit about in Los Angeles. What's really Yeah, it's my first time in
48:47
LA like I have I have, I have been to the States, like
48:50
this is my third time. My first time in LA and I'm enjoying it.
48:53
I'm loving goods and it's great speaking and honestly like having get Us turned
48:57
tours in La again, it's amazing. Yeah, she's amazing. Yeah.
49:00
And so you know, what is your message to family, to friends and
49:06
you know, because you've talked a lot about that on the show, Yeah,
49:07
really moving. I found that to be a really powerful moment. Can
49:10
you talk a little more about that? So basically, I always believe that
49:15
the most important thing for success is having these kind of circles of support and
49:19
trust within your community. The first time to start with your family like your
49:23
mom and your dad, your siblings, and then it goes and expands to
49:27
your friends, your colleague, is your classmates and someone. So if you
49:30
have all of this, I would say stepping stone, you can make it
49:35
in life because life can get hard, but I mean, hey, if
49:37
we push it, we can make it happen. What is your preparation for
49:40
that? I mean, you obviously have a great mindset. Is that does
49:44
that come from that? Like your family? That are something that you've gained
49:49
on your own? Is you? I would say this is something that I
49:52
have developed with time because I started working as a chef I was only seventeen
49:57
when I was started sending sandwiches to my classmates and school. Oh no,
50:00
yeah, and that's how I discovered my passion towards cooking, Like I used
50:02
to sell sandwiches for them. So yeah, so I learned that I have
50:07
to take care of myself, work hard enough so I can make it in
50:10
life. And hey, if you follow your passion, you can. You
50:14
will do great eventually. If you love what you do, you will be
50:16
great. You'll do great. So how have you felt so far in this
50:21
season? Yeah? This season is just amazing, Like coming back to the
50:25
competition after four years, it's just amazing. Like I never imagined that that
50:30
I will be back, but I always I always had this question in me,
50:34
like what's next after Top Ship with the I'm Not Africa? Yeah,
50:37
like I always wondered, but then like Universe kind of answered my question,
50:42
like okay, top Ship for those stars is next, and being back after
50:45
four years feels truly priceless, truly priceless. Yes, it's the Top Shops
50:53
World All Stars, different from yours than it was. A yeah, yeah,
51:00
so I get this question a lot, and uh, but enough to
51:05
that different, you know, Like I would say it's ninety percent the same.
51:08
Like we have the quick fires, we have the emission challenges, and
51:12
the challenges were also like the verse, like one day you will do you'll
51:15
be doing like a rice challenge, the next day will be doing something at
51:20
cook to do, and the third day you'll be doing something fine, done
51:22
and crazy like again and like a core with the clear Smith. So I
51:27
would say it's the same. But we never had Last Chance Kitchen. We
51:30
never had a Yeah, yeah, and I've never been to and I was,
51:36
I was, I was hoping I would never go, and I never
51:37
went, So that's I know, it's incredible. It was a bit different
51:45
because like freaking had the smoker's flavor into it and with the appricate, the
51:50
sweetness and the lamps, it's to be that's solved with the fat part.
51:53
Yeah, liked so grateful. We're truly honored to be here tonight and you
52:00
see your journey and this season has been absolutely spectacular. Thank you so much
52:04
for me, and thank you congratulations so much, thank you for having me.
52:08
Then we got we got ahold of two chefs at the same time,
52:13
Amar and Ali everybody's favorite bro mance. That was so fun. They were
52:21
fun, and of course I had to ask about Scanna. All that was
52:27
hilarious. They had no clue they in the house. So, guys,
52:36
let me introduce you to one half of the fish and chip and the other
52:39
half of the fish and chip, one half of the puppy and Habibi and
52:42
one half of the puppin so ships and fish and no it's fish, So
52:50
who decided who was? So it just happened up naturally because we were in
52:54
the kitchen. They were like habib, how bib? And then I'm like
52:58
he's like okay, poppy pop, and then it's like from there it's like
53:00
pay and trust me. Everything everything happened because of one single ingredient, and
53:06
that's the fat cheese, feta cheese. So the very first challenge quick for
53:10
a challenge, we we didn't even know each other. Then we're running around
53:15
the kitchen for three minutes looking for five ingredients and we all grab different stuff
53:17
and then everybody pair with each other. And then I see a lad just
53:21
looking everybody. He doesn't have a partner yet, and he looks at me.
53:23
I looked at him. We both looked in the basket. We pulled
53:27
out the feta cheese, and I was like, we have to work together.
53:30
We have the same thing because we have feta cheese. And we had
53:34
a beautiful card of selfish shellfish and fish from like Scotland. Everyone it was
53:37
beautiful, funny enough, both of us had no idea what to do with
53:40
the feta cheese, so we didn't use it. We just look at that
53:44
like that. But it wasn't fad of cheese. I put us together.
53:47
Yeah, what's next to you, guys? I mean, I mean we
53:52
all want to see individually, you know, but what do you guys?
53:54
Okay, so we're gonna give you like a little inside. Yeah, we
54:00
planned. We're planning to do our own show, Patty and Hadidi conquering the
54:05
World. Yes, yeah, have that goes out. Yeah, but it's
54:08
gonna happen. It happen. He happened. He's driving the motorcycle. I'm
54:12
in the side car. Yeah, that's gonna have happening. You guys think
54:15
a scandabal. Okay, well we'll go back to that. What like being
54:22
one of the most favorite romances I know ever. I mean, it's amazing.
54:27
Yeah, I mean, but it happened naturally. It's not like we
54:30
okay it ha From the beginning, we said, okay, we're gonna be
54:31
this kind of like because when whenever you're on the show, when you plan
54:36
things like that, it never happened, you know, But for us,
54:38
just prey organic, it's just like and then and then we have a lot
54:43
of chefs from you know, every episode, every season, you got you
54:45
know, from the first day, everybody kind of picks the own little group,
54:49
right, So from the very first day, it was me and him
54:51
and Scharbelle that were hanging out the same room, and then you got the
54:53
other group over here, you got the other group over there. But it
54:55
was it was like that the whole time. And we had that build up
55:00
like organically and naturally because in every episode it's either we're on a team,
55:04
or are we walking next to each other or do we either land on top
55:07
together or we together? It was always together. Yeahs that we didn't see,
55:14
yeah, any lovers. There was no fight. I mean, you
55:20
know, like this this you know, top ship. Nowadays, I feel
55:22
like it's stirring away from more than that reality drama TV and it's focusing more
55:28
like the quality of the chef from what we could do was yeah, you
55:30
know, because I was talking to myself about season two. How how eighteen
55:35
years ago you wanted the drama, you wanted the fights, you wanted the
55:37
shaving head. But now like the show had lasted so long because it's about
55:43
the you know, the chefs, the caraftsmanship. Yeah, the craftsmanship of
55:45
what we do. And then yes you want some reality, it'll be,
55:49
but it doesn't you know, we don't fight in the kitchen. Yeah.
55:51
You want the stories, stories, you don't want the drama. Yeah.
55:54
So this time it was different because we have mutual respect. We mostly all
55:59
of us are accomplished and like we're established, Like we have our own things
56:02
and we're coming to this version of Top Chef like to expand them, to
56:06
showcas our skills and our our background. Basically, so we had this miteal
56:09
respect and my personally, I always I'm Alsot twenty five percent Lebanese too,
56:13
so that's why I'm also part of I'm also part of the family right in
56:17
him. Wow. So tell me a little bit about your restaurant that you're
56:21
talking about. So, so I have two restaurants in Orange County. One
56:24
is called Broadway by a Mars Santana. We're open for twelve years, and
56:27
the other one is called back Up, so it's a Spanish staff as a
56:30
cow. So that's the one I'm opening here in La That's very exciting.
56:35
I think you have a space over. Yeah, we're in the design process
56:37
right now, so we should be open February March. Can I walk to
56:42
it? Of course? I mean I finally. I mean I've been trying
56:45
to come to a l a f but me and Orange County for sixteen years,
56:46
and I was like, okay, so it will say with the r
56:49
ideal, that's about time. Yeah, it's about time. Do you think
56:52
would you ever come here and do like a little pop up? Yeah?
56:57
Something this We're got to go to Jordan. Yeah, this is at the
57:00
end of this relationship. Basically my plan based so because I'm planning like a
57:02
Jordani' put any tour and Mars the first person would come to Jordan explore the
57:07
country and the traditions every day. So we're gonna be having a pop up
57:09
dinner, enjoy cook in the desert. He's going to be exploring the whole
57:13
country. When it comes to the culture that the sort of made me look
57:15
like him, I'm gonna get it everything, and I'm gonna be from hair
57:17
to tell baby. Have you ever been No, I've got to Morocco a
57:22
lot. My business partner is Moroccan, so but yeah, initially I would
57:23
love to come here to La or to the city in general, and to
57:27
have Ali opening here to find any I think that would be great. Yes,
57:32
you never know, you never know. Maybe we do it together.
57:37
You never know. We thank you so much, so much, thank you,
57:39
thank you so much, thank you so much, thank you. They
57:46
just looked at each other like yeah, and then we just moved on with
57:52
no explanation. But they did talk about like how they met and how they
57:57
fell in love. Just their friendship is such a joy to watch and like
58:04
in real lives, seeing them interact with each other. I don't know if
58:07
you you, I know you didn't notice because your back was turned. But
58:09
while you were interviewing Ali, Amar was behind you pretending to moon Ali as
58:16
he's like, so Ali looking at you, You're looking the other way,
58:21
and Amar was behind you pretending that he was like mooning Ali during his interview,
58:23
and it was just like, oh my god, that's hilarious. Oh
58:28
my man, I wish I would have gotten that that is so funny.
58:31
I love it. Have a picture of it of him doing that. I'll
58:34
send it. Oh oh my god, yes, please do. Yeah.
58:37
Another thing that we noticed is that there were several Tom Calichio doppelbas that were
58:45
scattered throughout craft and we're wondering if that's purposeful, if he sends them out
58:52
as decoys because he doesn't want to be, you know, swarmed by the
58:57
polock and he's like, you you go out the front, you go out
59:00
back, you go out the side, and I'll go underground, you know.
59:02
But we literally were like, oh, there's Time. That's not Tom.
59:07
Well, there's Tom over there, that's not Time. I mean there
59:09
was a Tom Clickio behind us, there was a Tom Klickio over there.
59:12
I mean everywhere you look there was a Tom Colichio. Yes, so many
59:15
bald, handsome, bald gentlemen with glasses and blazers. They were literally toppel
59:22
gamers. Well, we had such a great time. We obviously left with
59:29
the incredible cookie, Yes, which was incredible, Like I told you,
59:32
one of the best cookies I've ever had, no joke. Yeah, wait,
59:36
I'm so excited for the salt content. Yes you should be. And
59:40
now we have a few more episodes left because we know we obviously at this
59:45
point we didn't get any ins as to who was the winner, obviously,
59:49
and tried, we tried, we did, We tried to be kind of
59:52
sly, but pr was was lurking. So not that anybody would ever say
59:58
anything. They would never, they would never. Sarah at this point had
1:00:02
she has, since she's in Last Chance Kitchen in real time for us right
1:00:07
now or I mean last night, as of last night, I mean as
1:00:10
of on the show. She's in the Last Chance Kitchen. So there are
1:00:15
like four contestants left right now and then so if it airs this Thursday,
1:00:22
in this episode will probably come out Thursday or Friday, so there might be
1:00:27
five now because maybe one of us has come back from Last Chance Kitchen.
1:00:30
Who I'm hoping it's Sarah, I know, I know, I'd really love
1:00:35
to see her. She's so good, she's so good, and she and
1:00:39
Ali are doing that pop up in her restaurant on May thirty. First,
1:00:44
she said, oh my, because I wonder how long he's going to be
1:00:47
here because obviously he's in Jordan and he has this amazing restaurant there. I'm
1:00:52
sure, but I think it's cool that he's staying here and doing some fun
1:00:55
stuff with other chefs. Yes, Angela knows her stuff. Man. Wow,
1:01:01
I couldn't think of a better person to go with me. I mean,
1:01:04
I can't thank you enough, Angela. You were so great, you
1:01:06
were so fun. I'm so glad we had a blast. I hope that
1:01:10
there's another one that we get to enjoy and highlight of my year so far.
1:01:15
And we signed off outside with me calling you know, maybe a little
1:01:20
tipsy, and with me calling Gail Simmons, Gail King. I mean,
1:01:24
both amazing, Gails. Yes, truly, I love you so much,
1:01:30
Angela. Ok I love you back. You're coming back soon, Okay,
1:01:35
And well until then, Drama Darling, I'll see you then, Drama Darling.
1:01:51
Drama Darling, Drama Darling.