Hello and welcome to Cooking Issues. This is Dave Arnold, your host of Cooking Issues coming to you live from the Heart of Manhattan, Rockefeller Center, New York City News Stamp Studio. No one in the studio from the normal crew except my man Joe Hazen rocking the panels. How you doing? I'm doing great.
Who's on the phone? Uh do we have someone on the phone? We have no one on the phone. So as far as I know, the entire West Coast of North America has split off and sunk into the ocean. So we got no one over there.
Good news though. Good news. We have not just longtime friend of the show, actual longtime friend. Like how long have we known each other? Um 2008.
Nice. So almost 20. Yeah. Yeah, nice. Almost 20.
Uh Nick Wong. Nick Wong is here. So uh for those of you that don't remember, he was famous for coming on the show once and back on the Voldemort days and saying nothing. Just sat there, said nothing. I asked him a bunch of questions.
He said nothing. I'm hoping that's not gonna happen this time because he actually has a restaurant to push. Yes. Yeah, yeah. So I don't think it's a good thing.
Also, Nastasha's not here, so she can't egg me on. Uh so uh if you have any, if you're listening live on Patreon, you can call in your questions too, 917-410-1507. That's 917-410-1507. And since I'm the only one here who can do this, uh, the reasons you might want to join the Patreon are you get discounts on things like uh Kitchen Arts and Letters. You get to listen live, you get your questions hopefully and I have to answer like a technical question on drinks later.
I apologize, Nick. You don't gotta apologize to me. All right. Uh you get your questions answered, you know, uh hopefully sooner or at all. Because I don't think we even look at other questions anymore.
Really, other than the ones that come in on on the Patreon. Uh and you know, occasional discounts, things like Kitchen Arts and Letters, uh, Edwards Age Meats, uh, etc. etc. Uh yeah. So anyway, there you have it.
So, Nick, I looked up on the internet and it says you went to this place called the French Culinary Institute. Fake news. Fake news. I looked up on the internet said that you were a director of culinary technology at the French Culinary Institute. Is that true?
No. Okay. All lies. All lies. So for those of you who don't know, before we get into, well, I guess we should we'll put it out there because I always forget, but we're gonna talk about the restaurant for a lot.
So, like uh, you have a new ish restaurant, Agnes and Sherman in Houston. Uh what neighborhood is it in? It's in the Houston Heights. Right. And how long ago did it open?
Uh just over a year ago. We opened April 17th last year. And one of the earlier reviews came in and said, so the theory of operation, correct me if I'm wrong, is it's like diner feel like Asian plus American writ large influences like together in like delicious food. This is wrong. Yeah, Masabanos.
Yeah. So so the argument, someone was like, uh, I love it, except for it's not open enough to be a diner. And then they were mad because they couldn't get your food all the time. That feels right. That feels like a criticism we've gotten.
Yeah, but then you now you're open for lunch. It used to be you started just dinner, now you're open for lunch and brunch. Yeah. But we're still closed two days a week, so they still hate us. Sweet.
See. Yeah. Well, you know, listen, if you does anyone do a high quality 24-7? But listen, I love you diner folks out there, real diners, like 24-7, like old school Greek diners, love them. But does you can't do a high food concept like that?
You can't. You need some downtime. I don't got it in me to do that. I don't think I was I don't know that people were, you know, claiming for everyone's like, oh, I want a late night spot. Yeah, you want a late night spot one day out of the week once a month, and then every other time, like, oh, there's nobody here at three in the morning.
Right. I mean, but here's the thing. I think you're right, especially for like, you know, food that you care about making, right? However, every like town in Westchester, not every town, but like within a 20-mile radius, there is a 24-hour diner, and it's usually has people in it, at least when I was a kid. You know what I mean?
Because they they're drawing from a huge reservoir. Like anyone who is like Jonesing at three within a 30-mile radius, that's the place to go. But Houston's not like that. There's some spots, but I mean, those are all those are all, you know, established. Right.
You don't know. You know the spot. I don't yeah. You don't have to do that. I don't want to do that.
No. I don't want to do that. All right. Uh another thing, and this is actually fake news. So it's not cool, whatever, you're not allowed to do it.
But like Nick came on. I met Nick because when he started at the French Culinary Institute, he joined what we had called the culinary technology internship program. And we probably did things that we should not have done. I don't know what you're talking about. Well, I don't know what you're talking about.
So well, just give you an idea. Like when Nick graduated, his gift to me was a set of throwing axes, and the Gurkha was then or the Gurkha was later. Uh I think I got you like a tactical hatchet. Yeah. Well, that was the one we could throw.
Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if I got you a Gurkha. I think you had the Gurkha already. So what so then we had this unused, because they hadn't built out the fifth floor yet.
So I had a hellhole. So like we were cooking out of a trash room on the fifth floor, and right up by that time and using the Italian classroom. And then we would go up to the fifth floor, which was completely empty, and just throw hatchets at like wooden blocks and use that as a proxy for learning how to cook. Is that accurate? Not quite.
We also threw knives. Uh there's a bull whip involved. Yes, yeah. There's some rebreakable karate boards. You know, I still have some of those.
So for those of you that don't know, it's incredibly wasteful to break pine boards all the time. But you can buy re breakable boards, and then when things go poorly, you can uh break them and then break them again and again, and they have a repeatable break force. And so you can kind of get a feel for, you know, how you're doing. And you start out with the lower level colors and you work your way up to black. And then you work your way up to multiple blacks.
And yeah, we probably shouldn't have done many of the things that we did. Here's another thing that you can't do anymore, I don't think, or shouldn't be able to do anymore. Like everyone the nickname thing kind of died out. It it used to be everyone had to have a nickname. And a special talent.
The special talent stayed for a long time. So everyone we felt it was kind of like a team. And so to come on the team, we we made everyone have a different special talent. Only a few people ended up keeping their nicknames, like gutter ball. But like the talents, like were real.
Like Nick didn't have a talent for a long time other than like working hard and cooking well. Which a what a stupid talent. So dumb. So dumb. Yeah.
So, you know, we had like, you know, like one guy's special talent was that he had is not, I won't even say. But anyway, like, so like uh point being, what was it? Was uh who did cartwheels? Was that Mindy? It was Mindy.
Yeah, Mindy could do cartwheels between rows of chairs. Yes, between a very narrow aisle of chairs. Yeah, correct. Yeah. Um, so Nick didn't have a talent, and we were riding him pretty hard.
Yes. And he's like, All right, listen, I'm gonna they would they had a hot dog eating contest. First annual, first annual hot dog eating contest. And I was like, yo, this is your chance. He's like, What?
I was like, You're gonna go win this contest. He's like, I will. I'm like, you win this contest or you don't come home. It was like basically it's like that is your skill or your toast. Of course, it wouldn't have toasted you.
Yeah, but you won. I was not gonna lose though. Yeah, you won handily, yes. You crushed them by like 30 seconds, yeah. You obliterated them.
And for the record, it was not a how many can you eat? It's how fast one 30-inch hot dog. That's how that that was. And you just obliterated people. Like after you left, because the program's only like six months or whatever, after Nick left, and he was already working at Sanbar full-time, I think.
Yeah, uh, they had the contest again. And I I had to go defend your honor on behalf of the team. By that time, they had moved to a how many can you eat in a fixed time limit, and again, we wet the floor. So showing that like our team does it when we need to. Yeah.
But you can't make people have a special skill anymore. No. It's like boarding on hazing. Yeah. I mean harassment at least.
Yeah. Like m yeah. But I mean, we was it in good fun? I think it was in good fun. For me it was good and good fun.
Yeah. I don't think we like no one actually had to leave because they didn't have a special talent. My special talent wasn't actually that I could eat the hot dog really fast. My special talent was I said I would win and I went to go win. I did the thing that I said I would do.
Right. That was my talent. Which is, by the way, incredibly important. And something I think people don't do anymore. Like I feel like ha like saying you're gonna do something means you're gonna do it a hundred percent isn't a thing anymore.
Yeah. I'm just I'm I'm doing this right now. Yeah. Doing it. Oh yeah.
If you're ever gonna go work for Nick, PS, like what he likes the best, his favorite thing is if he is doing something and then you ask him how to do the thing that he is literally doing in front of you right now. So if you ask him, how do you want these things chopped while he is literally chopping the thing? He loves that. It's my favorite question. My favorite.
Yeah. At which point he will say to you, I'm I'm literally doing it right now. You look, it I'm literally doing it right now. The one thing I will t say, I didn't I didn't teach Nick much except for this one thing. If you have a station and it's totally hosed.
Yeah. Like just like totally messed up. What is the proper thing to do? You leave and find a new station that is clean because it's faster. Just go to the next clean station.
Why do you what why do you have to worry about cleaning your old station when there's a brand new shiny one that you can get dirty? Yeah. Uh that's terrible advice, people. In case you didn't know, terrible advice. We have a call or call, you're on the air.
All right. Uh got a question about uh the spins all on continuous mode. Okay. Um, for like a large 20-liter batch or just a large batch, when you blend everything together and dump it into the camber. After you let the pec mix kind of set for a day, kind of striates into clearish liquid and then a big splop.
Are we meant to mix that back together before we process it? Or not matter. No, do not, do not. Do not like in fact, if you can wait, that's even better because all of that stuff that's clear, you've just been saved a whole bunch of work. Just stick the pump into it and pump it directly into your I'm done.
Or if if there's floaty crap on top, you can't, then you have to pour if there's floaty stuff on if there's floaty crap on top, then you have to like stick the pump in and just pump the clear stuff out without putting it through the rotor at max speed. If there's no crap on top, just pour all the clean stuff into a bucket, and guess what? That stuff's good. And then you only have to spin like half. Like most of the time I find that you you if you have the time to let it settle, you only really need to spin like a third to a half of the total batch because you can usually get a a a pretty hard settle out of it, and you should always take that win.
Cool. All right. Winning. This is the first time we've done straight just tech support, which I kind of appreciate. I'm sure your listeners also appreciate it too.
We have another caller. Caller, you're on the air. Hi Dave. Hi Nick, this is Angela. Who?
Angela Garbitz. Hi guys. What? Uh I don't no. No.
Wrong number. Who? No. Oh nice. What's up?
Hello. Um hi Nick. I was just wondering how many opportunities that Agnes and Sherman you've had to uh push any equipment down busy roads. All right for before you answer this, Angela Grobotz was on the show once for her when her cookbook came out and she runs a uh a popular inclusive bakery in uh in uh Lincoln Lincoln right Lincoln uh where possibilities are endless even though they have changed the motto of your whole state which is the reason maybe I haven't been there yet it's not for everyone is that really what the motto is now unfortunately it is yeah the motto of your state is it's not for everyone I am yes I think we talked about this on the last pod I think the possibilities unfortunately not for everyone but the possibilities are endless at Agnes and Sherman I do know that because I have been there. But hold up hold up hold up and I haven't I know that's a slight dig but listen hold second before we go into that so like you run an inclusive bakery that is for everyone in a state that is like says as their motto that they're not for everyone.
So is that a clash? The good thing is that the state politics also makes sure that the state is not for everyone. So it's nice that they're kind of in line with the state motto. Right. Right.
But yeah, the bakery's great. Colin rod's great, but I miss you guys, and I had to call in. Nice. Uh I told you uh a couple of months ago I biked past a place that said they were opening an inclusive bakery, and I don't think they gave you your your money. People need to hand you money.
It's like no one hands Marco money when they make bone broth. People need to hand you money. Yeah. What are you gonna do? I don't know.
I guess not get money handed to you. That's that money's not for everyone, you know. It's not for everyone. The money's not for everyone. Yeah.
So Nick and Angela were Nick and Angela were interns at the same time, and we would have to push heavy equipment at all. Have to? Did we have to? I mean we have to. I don't know if we had to.
But we did take, was it the was it the vacuum? It was the chiller. Did we take the there's a couple of there was a couple of scenarios. I once pushed a full size, like the huge multivax size vacuum from Del Posto to the FCI, uh on those crappy cobblestone roads full of anger and hate. But uh the one that I remember that we all did was we went to Taylor.
Yes. And we wheeled Taylor. We wheeled a chiller, a rotovap, and like a whole bunch of carts. And for those of you that don't know, if you've ever worked at a culinary school, here's what you are not allowed to take out of the building. You're not even allowed to like sequester them in your area, carts.
Carts are like money. Like carts and lexans are like money. If you have a cart, because a culinary school is actually all about getting food from point A to point B so that all the students can cook it. So if you take carts, you are widely hated. I'm gonna tell you this.
I was widely hated because we took so many carts all the time. That's the only reason. Do you think that that's why they put you in like a storage closet? I feel like I because they put me, it was I wish it was storage closet. It was a trash closet.
Uh I I I I feel like that also made me feel okay about doing things that I shouldn't ought to have done. Also, for those of you that know me, I'm not so good with uh what are those two like communication and admin? Would you say that's fair? Amongst other things. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. So I would just go into the storeroom and take crap. And they really hated that. I'm not talking about crap that they needed to order.
I'm talking about spices they had anyway. No, because you don't need to order spices. Dude, they have like 50 things of coriander, and I'm smelling them all to see which one is the good smelling coriander. And they're like, What are you doing? I'm like, Well, half of these are trash, dude.
I don't want the trash ones. And then they would give me the stink eye. You know what I mean? Yeah. All right.
So are there any communal storage closets that you can take from? Can you take do you wish that you just had a place like that where you could just run and get all his black beans? Literally, they're all his. Yeah. Everyone in Houston belongs to Nick.
No, you're like everything in his envelope is at his command, right? So like he would never walk up and short someone on some crap they needed for service, because in the end, that shoots him in the foot. But if he wanted to, he could be like, Get give me those scallions. It's a lot of power. By the way, it's a lot of power to wield.
I watched a video of you showing someone how to make your scallion waffles. And do you actually slice your scallions backwards like a brute? No. Wait, what's backwards? Dark first.
Oh, yes. You slice dark first? Yes. Green first. Really?
Yes. Huh. Okay. I I don't want to make a tangent Tuesday out of Nick's time. So I'm gonna get off and let you guys go.
But I just want to say that we went to opening night at Agnes and Sherman, friends and family. It was incredible. And Nick, if you can't shout out one of your best friends on one of your mentors and best friends podcasts, when can you? Nick had been talking about Agnes and Sherman forever. And not the specific name, but the concept and the time and energy and focus and dedication that Nick put into that.
Incredible. I could never do it. Incredible. And that first night, you know, you always expect there to be like bumps and like it's gonna be great. That's why you do friends and family, it's people you love, people you trust.
There was not one bump from our side, it was perfect. It was amazing. It was so good. And I expected it to be good, but we were all blown away at the table. It was so good.
And I'm just so proud. I'm so excited and so happy, and I think it's great, and they're getting so much recognition, and they should. So that's mostly why I called in. Nice. So you didn't like it.
I thought that overall it could have been a lot better. Um there was not a Hot Wheels racetrack for my toddler. Um, but you know, other than that, I thought it was pretty okay. Nice. Thanks, Angela.
Room for growth, Hot Wheels. Trying to trying to be like you and be for everyone. Even when people tell us we can't be for everyone. I'm really happy for you. And Dave, thanks for giving us the opportunity to be friends and to build kitchens and communities and food that really try to be for everyone.
Well, uh I appreciated working with you, and like uh the best part about that job was the team that we created. So it was uh special. We had a really good time. Yeah. You were especially good team that that section, like that chunk that like we were running on a whole bunch of still special skill.
We were the best. Yeah, what was your special skill? I didn't have one, unfortunately. Come on. She did.
But she did have one. What was it? I don't know what it was. I could do the alphabet backwards, but um, making sure that you could take the class sometimes. Remember, your skill is you could drop it like it's hot.
Remember? That was your skill. Yeah. Yeah. Getting a little old for that.
But I do have somebody here prepping for a pop-up, so I should go. But you guys are the best. Nick, I wish I could be your pop-up there. Have a great time. I can't wait to listen to this episode.
Oh, yeah, I should mention I think his pop-up is sold out, but he's doing it or almost sold out. Uh it's at Golden Diner downtown with uh Sam, who we had uh on the show last year, maybe when he when he was opening Goldenhoff. So you s you slip. Okay. So you s you slice your things what I like.
I always go white first. You go green first. What do you do with the white? Then I cut the white. I cut the green, then I cut the white.
What do you do with the sad crappy part of the green? It's like all split and nasty. Cut it off, throw it away. And do you cut it as wide as she does you? Are you a wide flat?
I try to go thin thin flat, but also as I've gotten older and I'm less uh rigid in my thoughts. Different applications of different sizes of scallions are okay. Nothing they don't all have to be paper thin scallions. I see. I'm sure somebody on the internet is gonna be like, what a hack.
I made a made a potato salad the other day, and the person who was working with me in the kitchen, I I was putting some scallions in, and the pieces were big. And I was like, oh that's the wrong application of a big scallion. I was like, oh. But then I had to be okay with them being randomly recut into pieces instead of into you know, discs. Yeah.
Or moons. And you know what? It it was fine. Do you know what it tasted? Fine.
So like like my whole life like like inside, something deep inside was like, and uh, yeah, it was fine. You gotta let it go. Yeah. Do you know what I add to everything now? I said this on the air about a million times, but I'm gonna say one more time.
I add grated radishes to everything now. What what kind of radishes? You talk like daikon? No, no, no. Like, no, like standard, like euro garbage, filth salad radishes, not like fancy, not like you know, you know, red butter, like like ball-shaped, like in a bag, 89 cent radishes.
I s I grate them in my salad master so it's like, you know, like almost like a latka grate, and then like I can't cook with a lot of raw onion in my house. Because I have people who don't tolerate it. And so, like, where do you tolerate the raw radish? Yes. So where where because the raw radish doesn't like come out of your skin, it doesn't like affect like all of that.
Like it's not like a long term, it has like aroma and a bite, but it doesn't have a long-term presence. And so anytime that I want crunch and like some like spiciness, I'll add like a little bit of something like a scallion and then a bunch of grated radish. So my potato salad had grated radish in it. Don't hate me for it. You know what I mean?
I'll have to try it next time. I mean the grated rash and potato salad's new. What's not for everyone? What's the what's the nutritional value of uh of radish? I think probably zero.
Like black pepper. I think it's like zero. Yeah. I mean, it's like I think it's like one of those things where bigger water. Yeah, maybe it's healthy.
Maybe someone believes it's healthy. I don't I don't believe in things being particularly healthy for me or unhealthy. Yeah. So long. My earlobes now like on the floor, and I didn't even have to use those like stretchy, those stretchy earrings for it.
You know what I mean? It's like I'm like Dumbo. I can fly. I believe I can fly. You know what I mean?
All because of radishes. Someday I'll eat carrots until I turn orange, which wouldn't take much. I'm so pale. Like I'm already basically orange. Yeah.
You know what I mean? I have straight beta carotene powder, which is the strongest orange. I bet you two spoonfuls of that. And if it if it doesn't do something horrible, like put me in the hospital, I would go straight orange. I bet you I will go straight orange.
Maybe I'll do it for one of the shows. I have to look up whether it's dangerous. No, you don't. Just try it. Just try it.
Just do it. You're not a coward. Coward. Run, coward. We were talking about that before the show.
Anyway. All right. So I have some questions in for you. Let's get to questions first. First of all, Agnes and Sherman, as Angela said, restaurant named after your parents with your started business partner and friend, now fiance.
Yes. So what's that like? That was a very big surprise. Um, but it we've been friends for over 20 years. So it really feels like a big step, but at the same time, not like a crazy step, because nothing about our dynamic has really changed all that much.
Really funny. So, what made her want to be in the restaurant business though? Uh, she got burnt out of working in corporate tech. So I was like, and you know, since we've been friends since college, she's always said that she's she'd be willing to help me open up a restaurant when the time came. And then the time came, and I was like, Do you still want to do this?
She said, Yes. I was like, this is a very bad financial decision. This is the worst financial decision of your entire life you're about to make. You give me the money that you would want to invest in a restaurant, I'll put in a dumpster, I'll throw some gasoline on it, and I'll light on fire. And you can warm your hands by that fire.
That's the best thing that you can do with this investment. And she's like, I'll still I still want to do it. I was like, all right, I warned you. That is the best case scenario because then you get warmth. Yeah, you get warmth, and no one complains.
Yeah. You know what I mean? Everyone loves a dumpster fire. Oh, god, yes. Especially like outside, like if it's like not quite their neighborhood, if it's almost their neighborhood.
Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. You don't want it like right next to your house. Yeah, no.
No. But uh, all right, okay. So uh, did you know my theory? I know you do, because I've told you. Interesting thing about fiance is that it is the least permanent of all of the relationships.
So to me, I never used fiancé. I never said it. I said my girlfriend and then my wife, because I didn't want anyone being like fiance. I'm gonna try to, I'm gonna try to go for it. Because I feel that like people they hear fiance or the person's fiance, they're like they're like they're at that moment.
They've made the decision, but they're thinking about it. So it's a good time to attack. So I was like, nah. Who's trying to attack you? Not me.
Like, you know, like I I wasn't the catch, you know, in in this scenario. We're aware. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're aware. So I was like, I was like, yeah, no, no.
I'm not gonna let I'm not gonna let on. I'm not gonna let on because I don't want anyone like being like, uh I'm gonna see how sure she is about marrying this dude. Because I know, you know, if it's boyfriend, you know, you don't really want to go in on that because like you don't know what's the dynamic is messy, whatever, right? Fiance, you know they're about to either like, you know, do their business or get off the pot. You know what I'm saying?
I do know what you're saying. That's the time. That's why. No. No.
And I know people that have done it. I know people that have gone down the finance route and they're you know what I mean? I won't call them out unless they tell me I can, in which case I'll come back and tell you who it is. You all know who it they are. It's it's like a it's people you know.
Anyway, so uh so nice. So uh are you gonna get married? Are you gonna use your kitchen to do the uh wedding? No, why would I do that work? You personally get someone else to do it.
It's still at work. The physical big thing. What are you gonna do? Don't know yet. We'll figure it out.
You know what Wiley did, Popeye's chicken. That sounds amazing. Yeah, I love Popeyes. He just they rented a big hall and they called Popeyes and they said, bring all the chicken. And they brought all the chicken, you know.
They had uh a friend of theirs make a cake, and then they brought all the chicken. I mean, that sounds great. Yeah, right. 'Cause like, especially if it's a lot of food weasels. What's one way to get them to shut up is to just give them something they all know what it is that they're like, oh, strong move.
But they're like they're not like it's it's kind of like a reverse flex. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Who's gonna complain about Popeyes?
A bad person. Well, they're not gonna be the wedding. Ding ding. No one that you would invite to the wedding would complain. Yes.
Yeah. Popeyes. Clearly the best of the chain fried chickens, I think. Yeah. And the winner of the chicken sandwich wars of 21?
Is is that a real thing? There's the big old like it was uh what? Chick-fil-A versus Popeyes versus like I think Wendy's or something like that, because Popeye's got in the chicken sandwich game. People were lining up and like getting like punched in the face for like cutting in line. It was like that swatch AP collab that just happened.
Someone got punched in the face? Amongst other things. Nice. I got punched in the face by a biker once. I remember this.
Wasn't about Popeyes though. Yeah. Although guess what? It was right in front of a Popeyes. Maybe it was about Popeyes.
Maybe it was about the Chick. Maybe they thought that you were cutting them in line for the chicken sandwich. It's like not today. Not today. Pow.
Yeah. So they beat Chick fil A. I mean, they both still exist. I've never had a Chick fil A sandwich because I don't think I have either. I'm not gonna go there.
I don't know. I don't I don't go either. I'm not gonna go because if you if you if you if you have to hate on people that I consider to be in my community, that I don't have to go. And am I wrong? Also, there's Popeyes.
There is Popeyes. Yeah. Um Chick fil A is weird chicken. Is it? Yeah, it's weird.
I've never had people love it. No, I mean it's good, but it's a little it's a little weird. The texture or is it what what's the it's like too young. Whoa. Whoa.
I'm gonna say a little too. You can't see not for everyone. I'm stepping back. It's not for everyone. Not for everyone.
All right. Uh all right. So I have a question in from Mike on the Patreon that's about hot dogs, but I think Michael's a little confused because a hot dog person, uh, she's coming on not this week, in a couple of weeks. Uh Faraday's coming on for with her hot dog book. June 9th.
June 9th with her hot dog book. And you you we will ask her the hot dog questions. Although I will tell you this as a spoiler spoiler alert, because I've read the book already. She does not recommend specific hot dogs, usually. Like unless it has to be something from a neighbor.
Like, she'll call out the fact that Vienna Beef is a a brand of hot dog in Chicago. You know what I mean? But I and I don't know, I'm gonna ask her about it when she comes on. I don't I think she wants to be more inclusive, so she doesn't want to make you feel like if you can't get the hot dog of note where this hot dog comes from, that you can't make this hot dog. So it's more about the the bun and the toppings list.
You know what I mean? Anyway. Anyway, I'll say that. So like we can ask. I'm sure she has tasted many of these hot dogs and probably has personal opinions, but you will not get them from reading her book.
Maybe another reason to tune in. Do you have a do they have any hot dogs of note in Houston? Nah, not that I can really think of. Is it a hot dog town? It's uh it's a big pho town.
Yeah. Becoming a big barbecue town, becoming a big pizza town. A lot of lots of good pizza places opening recently. Like good or good with air quotes? No good.
Yeah. Good period, no air quote. Not air quote. No hot dogs. I'm also not a hot dog guy.
I'm a burger guy. If it's burger's hot dogs, what are you choosing? You're at the barbecue. Don't do that to me. Do the barbecue.
You get you choose one. Who's doing the barbecue? Doesn't matter. You can't. That's that's not a condition.
I need to look and see what they're because like there are things people can do to burgers that make me not want them anymore. There are things people can do to hot dogs that make you not want them anymore. That is true. Like, what's your what's your what's the biggest crime? Biggest hot dog crime and biggest burger crime.
Biggest hot dog crime. I'm not a big blended meat, like a chicken pork if it's like it just looks weird. So you're like an all beef. All beef. Gotta be an all beef.
All beef. All right. Huh. But uh you don't care like that they leave it on the grill forever and like it turns into like basically like half jerky. That's not what bothers you is the fact that there's chicken in it.
It's the it's a weird texture flavor thing. You know what's a weird texture favorite thing is cutting up hot dogs and putting it into your burger meat and trying to make a hamburger out of it. Oh. Oh. Who does that?
I tried it once. Oh. Didn't work. Needs the meat glue. Uh Nick, can you meat glue your face to your hand?
Yes. Yes, you can. Dave, how would I go about meat gluing my hand to my forehead? Oh, it's very simple, Nick. What you do is is you uh you take a whetstone or a sandpaper, and you rub it on your forehead until you're bleeding.
Then you do the same to your palm, then you apply meat glue to both surfaces. Then you put your palm on your forehead and you have someone wrap a an ace bandage around it, and you wait for four hours. Then you're good. Yep. So we used to do, we can't actually say the real thing because it's a family show, but like we used to do demos.
Like w one of the most fun things about the intern program was is that we've had a crazy unlimited budget to do demonstrations for students to show off like what can be done. And so we were uh we had also great chefs coming in and doing demos from their actual kitchen restaurants, but like so like the interns, we would get together and we would try to figure out like cool, fun things to do with fundamentally unlimited budget. So like, you know, live live king crab, like just crazy stuff, ekigime, like with nuts. Anyway, so uh we use meat glue a lot, which is as you know, anyone who listens to this knows is the is the enzyme transglutaminase that can bond meats together. And so always a new student, because you get a new crop of students all the time.
Like a new student would be like, Can you accidentally make all your hand to your to your forehead? And like the Nick would always like if no one asked it, he would just ask it. He was just ask it. And then we had the standard response. The other one, which we can't say, we could do a clean version.
Yeah. You're like raise do a clean version. So like I'm a plant in the crowd at your demo. Right. Yeah, right.
We plant so everyone's wearing their whites anyway, so it's fine. Like he you can't tell who's a student and who's working if you don't know. Any questions? Yeah, I got a question. Oh, yeah, well, what?
Are you frigging kidding me? Are you freaking serious? Yeah, and you have to say it at the end of the demo, and that's it. And you have to have a real angry look on your face and like uh oh, we always wanted to do it to someone else too. We never did.
It's so rude. It's so messed up. Yeah. Are you serious? Are you serious?
Yeah. And that was it. That's the only question. Are you kidding me right now? Yeah, yeah.
It's like everything you've done is trash. It's filth. I do remember my most memorable demo with you when I was a student was it was during New York Food and Wine. It was being hosted at FCR or one of the events, and you're showcasing how to use a rotive app, the one that you had built and Frankenstein's off of eBay parts. And maybe 10 minutes before your demo started, you realized that the gasket had broken.
So the seal on the rotive app was not working. And like, well, we can't find this very bespoke piece that you found on eBay. And what you did is like, I'm in a French culinary school. What do I have available to me? You know what I got?
Tempered butter. So you slathered tempered butter all around the seal and it held. It held long enough for you to complete the demo. I was like, this is insane. This is next level MacGyver.
We got stuff done. We just got stuff done. Which is, I guess, also semi-a good lesson. Yeah. Get it done.
Yeah. You but like that's like during that time was when I developed what I hope is just the right level of anger to make you fruit, make it through those situations. Yeah. My wife hates it when I get in that mode. She's like, you're in that mode where you're just gonna get it done.
I'm like, yes. Yes. You know what I mean? I I call mine spite mode. I'll do this just to spite you.
Yeah. I'm gonna get it done. Uh also, funnily enough, I was talking um to somebody about this a while back of like of all the mentors and bosses and chefs I've ever worked for, you're the only one that I actually still like keep in contact with on a very regular basis because believe it or not, you're the least problematic, which is hilarious. I have different kinds of problems. Yeah.
Different kind of problems. You know what I mean? It's fun to deal with people who have different kinds of problems. Yes. Um.
All right. Danny G wants to know. So we're gonna go over. I I I took the liberty of printing out your menu, and we're going to go over it and uh just like shoot the breeze on the menu. But uh Danny G wants to know can you ask Nick, how can I make the cheeseburger fried rice at home?
That stuff is wild. It's like eating a cheeseburger. However, it's rice. But make it rice. But make it rice.
Also, can you ask about the scallion waffle, so crispy and delicious? What waffle iron you use? We use the Carnival King Belgian waffle maker. It's the double waffle maker that you see like at like a hotel brunch. Right.
We've burned through like four of them. With a timer? There is a timer, but we don't really it the timer breaks within like a couple weeks of us opening a new one. Dude, you have to try. It's not worth it for the money, but you have to try one of the HVDs.
What is this? What's an HVD? It's a $4,000 waffle iron. Okay, I think this is the Waffle House button because I looked up. Surely Waffle House must have like some sort of tank of a waffle iron.
I looked it up and it's like, it's like $4,000. Like, ah, no. HVD is God's waffle iron. It's four grand. It's CNC cast iron.
Like, not just cast, CNC cast. So they cast it and then they CNC it, so it's perfect. It weighs 90 pounds. The waffle iron for a single unit weighs 90 pounds. Just just the metal.
Or do you mean the whole unit? The whole thing, but it's not like a bank of them. It's just the one, 90 pounds. Uh the second level from that is uh Krampus makes one that's like 1,200. But like, I've never used the cramped one, so I don't want to talk smack about it.
But like if you go to Belgium, the one they all use is the HVD, I have the A57. But like I have it in one 110. It's not quite fast enough. So you need to wait in between, but if you have the 220 version We go through waffles so fast that we don't we can't make them we have to we have to cook them a little ahead of time in the flash but it actually works out better. Flash them in the oven.
Could we crisp them up? Yeah. That's why so uh Danny that's why they're so freaking crispy dude. We also replace part of the flour with cornstarch. I saw that.
And I also noticed you have both baking soda presumably to neutralize the buttermilk and yeast. They are a yeast risen. So at least you're doing a yeast at least you're do you're doing a yeast risen waffle and I love the flavor of yeast in a waffle. Yeah. The the yeast really helps with the just the flavor development and then also kind of like eats it away a little bit so it's like a little more tender.
I now do you do any like uh pre-areation or do you zap the batter with a with a blender to get air into it so that the yeast has like pre-bubbles to work on? No. We just mix it all up, let it hang out, it does its own thing. And then we finit we finish yeah four to six hours or you know we can also get it and just leave it overnight to ferment. Well okay I was gonna say like how long's the window like but if you're sandbagging you can kind of get like a bunch done are you still making them throughout service or do you sandbag the whole service?
You mean cooking the actual waffles. Yeah. Uh throughout service like we don't I'm not we sell a lot of waffles so it's like you know we're maybe like four five waffles ahead. Okay so Agnes and Sherman is doing a pop-up I mentioned this I think already at Golden Diner downtown my neighborhood, uh uh, you know, Sam who's on the show, that they're known for their giant pancake. So are you gonna have giant pancake versus versus Skyin waffle?
Well, it's gotta be versus why can't why can't they just hold hands? Uh that's not how things work. We're for everyone, Dave. Uh I don't know if you know this, not for everyone. By the way, Danny G, the hamburger fried rice tastes like that because we make a hamburger tate to season the rice.
So we cook a bunch of ground beef and deglaze it with some tamari, reduce it down a little bit, let it sit, and then strain off all the fat and meat and use that as the seasoning for our fried rice. So the beefy flavor comes through. When do you add it? Right at the end. Just like you're making fried rice, whenever you add soy sauce, we add that.
And what rice do you use? Uh just jasmine. And do you cook it the day before and then use it the next day, or do you do it fresh? We cook it like a couple days before and just let them hang out, dry out in the fridge. Now, do you break it up beforehand or break it up right before you fry it?
Break it beforehand. Yeah. Before it, yeah, because like don't you hate when there's a clump left? It's like it's like a a rock. Yeah, it's and then like you try to break it up and it shoots out of the yeah, it's a pain in the butt.
Hate. Now egg in, egg with both. Egg in? Hmm. I start it goes eggs, then onions and cooked ground beef, then rice, then the hamburger tate and the iceberg lettuce.
Iceberg is a good product, as we all know. People who hate on iceberg lettuce, they need to they need to rethink their life choices. It's like, you know what, people who I love icebergs. People who hate on butt button mushrooms, why are you hating on button mushrooms? They are delicious.
Just because they're common doesn't mean that they're not good. Take this one. Uh do you agree with me or disagree with me? All mushrooms. I love all mushrooms.
Right. Why hate a button mushroom just because they're there all the time? Sounds like a skill issue. They don't know how to use the bunchrooms. Right.
Or it's like one of these people, it's like it's like the kind of people that like hate everyone around them. They think that everything that they don't have is good. You know what I mean? Just because you have it doesn't mean it's not good. You know what I'm saying?
They're not for everyone. Not for everyone. Well, they are for everyone. Button mushrooms are for everyone. Now, on the rice, back to the rice.
Uh, Mindy, who was uh, you know, the person who was uh a student and then ended up like you know running the the program, the culinary program with me. She always wanted to know what format the egg was going to be in a fried rice. So she wanted some that was kind of mixed in like a glue, and she wanted some that was like omelet shreds. I like in at the beginning, and then you throw all the rest of the stuff and it breaks up the egg. But are they still recognizable egg or does it become that like thready?
It's not gluey. No, it's not gluey. It's discrete pieces of egg. Alright. And uh wait, was there cheese on top?
I don't remember. Cheese on top. Cheese on top. We scored a little patty melt sauce on top, put two pieces of American cheese and some sesame seeds on, throw it in the cheese melter. What's patty melt sauce?
Is that ketchup with onion in it? Pickled onion, some paprika, mayo, garlic powder, onion powder, some other stuff. I don't really remember. Cooked onion? Uh pickled onion.
Pickle, pickle, pickle, pickle. Blended. Pickled red? Yes, pickled red. Man, we went through a lot of pickled red onion back in the day.
What was your least favorite thing we did at the French Culinary Institute? Um You weren't there for ketchup chocolate, right? Uh I I heard about ketchup chocolate, ketchup chocolate. That was everyone's least favorite. Who was there at that time?
I don't know. Of the stuff that we did, honestly, the the gelatin uh clarification, just because it's just kind of boring. Like you said it and it's like, okay, now I get all the stuff thought. It does suck, especially if you have to do a lot of it. You have to like take up a whole bank of refrigerators just for the space.
Can we talk about pressed duck or can we not talk about pressed duck? We can talk about it. Can we, though? I think we can. What's the statute of limitations on that?
Uh so at the French Culinary Institute, it's French, P.S. Uh was. Was French. They had a duck press that Daniel Bellou had given, I believe, to I think like Jacques Papin who gave it to the school. So we had this duck press in the library.
And no one used it. So for those of you that don't know, in uh in a this famous restaurant, uh Tour d'Arjon in Paris, they get ruined from ru I don't even know how to pronounce we don't have John here, so he can't pronounce it for us. They get these ducklings. They this is how they do it. Don't get mad at me about it.
They asphyxiate the duck when it's young, the Kennetons duckling, so that the blood stays inside because what they want to do is par roast the duck and then put it in this press and squeeze all the juices out of it, and then then they well, first they cut off the breast, then they cut off the legs, then they put the carcass in, they squeeze it, and then they make a sauce from the stuff. And so students wanted to do it. Is this accurate so far? I don't know if the students want to do it, because I don't think they knew that it existed. Well, people.
Someone someone said what's this duck press for? But I could not be involved with it. We got in big trouble. I I don't remember. I think I was already graduated by the time you did this.
I thought you did. I thought you were there with Ross going to get the duck. I think you I I don't know. I didn't I didn't go. I know that it had been acquired.
But I didn't I I was not a part of the case. If you weren't if you weren't there, we will not discuss it. We will not discuss it if you weren't there. Um save that for the patriot Patreon. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Also, Danny G wants to know when are you going to get me down to Houston for another event like you did at UB Preserve back in the day? Uh have I even been to Agnes and Sherman? All right, don't rub it in, Danny G. Don't rub it in. I don't know who this Danny G person is, but apparently he's an OG at UB Preserve.
Yeah. So all right, are we ever gonna do a a thing? Are you gonna come and do a thing with us? Yeah. That's up to you.
I already invited you. You already forgot. No, we need to find some sort of liquor company who will pay for it. If you're listening out there, liquor companies, Dave Arnold, the liquid intelligence man himself is looking for a sponsor to come down to Texas and to do maybe Texas Cocktail Week at Agnes and Sherman. When's Texas Cocktail Week?
September, I want to say. Hmm. Depending on when. I'm I think I'm around. I think I'm I don't know if you know.
You're kind of a big deal in the cocktail world. No. Kind of a big people enjoy seeing you. No, no. No, not true.
Fake news. All right. So let's go on to the Agnes and Sherman Emani. Well, let me let me answer this one question first because speaking of cocktails. So uh Aaron S.
wrote in a long time ago. I owe Aaron an answer. Hey Dave, hope you're well. Try messaging you a couple times on the cooking issues chat and on Instagram. Listen, I I'm not so much with communication or admin.
Did we already establish this? Yes. Okay. Uh I'm interested in how you arrive at your specs for the Catamarva Dakalak. Now here's what happened from my Compari Academy event that I did in Los Angeles.
So, first of all, the title of that comes from the the the rich boys, you know, just bought a Cadillac, throw some D's on it, right? Throw some throw some D's on that. Yeah, throw some D's on it. Yeah. Just bought a Cadillac, throw some D's on it.
Throw some throw some D's on that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which, PS, Dayton Rims. Yeah. Uh and the thing is is that what happens is is we had to make a margarita.
And in my mind, anything like that, any shaken sour drink is a daiquiri. The period. And so like I have the numbers for what's in a daiquiri, and I have the num what I have in my daiquir. So my daiquiri is uh two ounces, uh 60 milliliters of white rum, then um three-quarters of an ounce, 22.5 milliliters of uh fresh lime juice, a couple drops of salt, and crucially a flat three-quarters of one-to-one simple save, 20 mils. How many Ds?
Uh well, you need four, otherwise, I mean you're not gonna have three. You know what I mean? What are you gonna put three? Two? Just one?
By the way, speaking of rims in Houston, you ever you ever want to get the big elbows on your car? Called Swangers. You gonna get them? I can't. You don't have a slab?
I have a I have a Prius. What? Can you put those rims on uh can you put those things on a Prius? That'll be sick. I mean, I think I'd have to get them gifted to me.
I listen, that culture's not my costume, you know. Can you tilt can you tilt that has Paul Wall been to your restaurant? No, Paul Wall, if you're listening, please come. Dude. Johnny Dang, if you're listening, please come.
Oh my god. You know, I hear that the that they still have a grills business. Yes. I hear he's a nice guy. He is.
Dude, Sitting sideways is a great song. Imagine you come into Houston for Texas Cocktail Week. Paul Wall, liquid nitrogen. There's gotta be some sort of cocktail. Get a styro styro cup with full of that oil.
Yeah. Yeah. All right. Frosty. Stay frosty, you know.
Yeah. I hear the guy in the last couple of years who sings uh I want to be a baller shot collar, 20 inch blades on the impala diet. That's sad. That's one of the best all-time hooks. No?
It is. Yeah. Houston's got some good stuff. Yes, it does. Anyway, uh, so uh I've turned it into uh into a daiquiri.
So that I happen to have done the calculations for uh how much sugar is in Grand Marnier. Grand Marnier is actually less sweet than you think it is based on its aroma. And so what I do is I said, okay, I peg the amount of uh alcohol, acid, and sugar, and then you just need to juggle them to get them to be the same numbers as a uh as a daiquiri. And so the answer there, and I also I try to base things around, I try to base things around a certain number of whatever you're looking for. So if I'm looking in this case because it's compari, I'm looking to highlight uh Grand Marnier because they own Grand Marnier.
So I'm gonna put a full three quarters of an ounce of Grand Marnier in, right? So you have to peg one number, and then once you peg one number, then you can work backwards and get the alcohol level right. So the answer for that when you do all the math is three quarters of lime juice, three quarters of Grand Marnier, uh 45 milliliters, an ounce and a half of uh Espallone, and to actually get the sugar where you need, here's where people mess up, you need uh a quarter ounce of simple syrup, and that will get you uh at the targets that you no, that's what they use. Sorry. What you should use, sorry, is actually more simple syrup than that.
It's 22 and a half of Gram Marnier, 45 of that's an ounce and a half, of uh Espalone, that's because it's compari, that's what they own. A little salt, fat, three quarters of lime juice, 24.375 mils, and almost a half ounce. That's how less sweet grandma is than uh than you think it is. That it takes 13 mils of simple syrup to get it up. That's how you do it.
You just do math. Anytime I'm doing a cocktail, I have a computer program that does it for me now, but like I just write, okay, this many mils has this much alcohol, this much sugar, this much acid, do the math, do the sum, and then I just juggle until it's right. Always. Catamarga Dakalak. You have to say it like that, or I won't serve it to you.
Throw some D's on it. Yeah. Have you ever had a uh I've always wanted to do and I've never had the the stones to do a menu item that if someone doesn't order it the way you want, you tell them they can't have it. Like you come up with a dumb name, but if they don't say it the way you like, they don't order it. You can't do that.
Should yeah? Are you a coward? Because it's not for you. It's not for everyone. If you can't say it right.
Yeah. You know what I mean? So we have a we have uh one of our bartenders, Daniel, we call him Dancing Daniel because he's also a ballet dancer, like an actual professional ballet dancer. And so he was talking telling us about dance notation. So it's like, you know, it's like a a way to write how to dance on paper.
Dance notation, like music notation, but for dance. And so I was like, yo, you should come up with a cocktail and we'll write it on the menu in dance notation. And if they can't do it, they can't order it. But like I'm if they say with these squiggles, I'm like, I don't I don't know what you mean. You don't say no, you're just like, I don't understand.
Yeah. But we can't do that. What if people can't do it? What if they can't do the notation? What if they're physically not able to?
Then you get them, you let it slide. Yeah. Anyway. Alright. So on your starters for dinner, you have chilled cucumbers, and then you have tomb, which is basically just a way to make someone look up what aioli is, right?
I mean, is it any different from aioli? No, there's no isn't it garlic? Isn't tomb garlic and oil? Isn't it just like an aioli? Lemon juice.
Oh, and there's no lemon juice in a standard aioli? No, but it's just garlic and lemon juice. There's no oil. You just you whip it and it's flow. Oh, no, there's oil.
Yeah. But it's not like it's not creamy like an aioli. Not the same creamy. There's no egg. There's no.
You don't need egg and an aioli, though. Did you use egg to make your I thought you just needed the garlic. No, no. Mayo, yes. But like if you're just doing like a you don't, because like the whole point is that the garlic will emulsify the oil without the need for the egg yolk.
I don't know. I don't know maybe maybe I've never made a problem. We need to have all three of these side by side. We need to have like, you know, the aioli queen, the tombmaster, the tomb raider, and and yeah, and you know, Monsieur Lemonnaise. I think mayonnaise is the god of condiments, though.
Because it's not just a condiment, it's a dressing, it's an ingredient. If I I love mustard, I love ketchup. I love mustard the most, but if I had to only keep one, I would keep mayonnaise. Yeah, I think that's fair. Yeah.
That's fair. Uh and is salsa matcha just a not chili crisp, chili crisp. Yeah, more more more Mexican, less Asian. Right, but it's like if chili crisp had come from Mexico. Yeah.
But I I feel like salsa matches tends to be like spicier than I never find chili crisp very spicy. It's more just like savory. Yeah. And texture. That's why people are like, why are you putting so much chili crisp on?
I'm like, it's not spicy. It's not spicy. You get you want more of it. Yeah. I I what are you straight up La Gama or what do you what do you chili crisp?
I I like the OG La Gama. Yeah, me too. I don't need it. I don't need I don't need a different one yet. Even if people try to trademark it, but that's another one.
I don't want we're not gonna get into that because we have history. So okay, so all right. So uh on your wedge salad with uh Chinese sausage ginger ranch and Chinese donut, is that just a standard curler? Yeah. How old?
Is it croutinized? Uh they get deep fried before service. But like fresh deep fried or like oh no, uh pre par pre pre-service fried. In other words, is it the change? We use them like croutons.
They're like croutons. Yeah. So they're not like they're fried, like they we slice them up and then fry them. Oh it's not soft. They're fried, cut.
Okay. Instead of crouton. That's what I want. Instead of crouton. Wet salad.
So and so the Chinese sausage is taken to place of the of the bacon. Now, how does the ginger rally scallion ranch take the place of blue cheese? Does it work? It doesn't. It's just a different sauce.
I really just need an out for the scallion, the ginger scallion sauce, because the waffle was the first dish that we that I came up with for the restaurant. And I was like, oh, let me just sub all the fat for scallion oil after I scaled all this ginger and scallion with this blazing hot oil. This is the oil that I don't want to use for my waffle. I was like, I've got a bunch of ginger scallion solids left, so I gotta figure out what I'm gonna do with this. It's like let me let me make some ranch out of it.
Make some ranch on it. Throw some ranch on that. Yeah. Throw some ranch on it. See, that's good thinking right there.
Do people notice that you're double dipping? Do they care? I care. I'm I'm happy about it. And that then yes.
And it's great. But do you think the average person, like I worry about it? Like we went our opening menu, I think over half the drinks had some form of plum in them. And I was like, oh crap. No one noticed.
I mean, I I've this is it's a diner concept, and I feel like at other restaurants I've worked, like, oh, you can't repeat the ingredient. You can't repeat the flavor profile in multiple different. I'm like, mm, I don't really care about that as much now. Do you have a way to make wonton chips not fragile or do you like them as fragile? They're so fragile.
They're very fragile. My son loves it. There's no special secret. But you're using like regular wonton skins, fragile as hell when you fry them. My son loves that crap.
Loves them. He I have I'll always have one in my fridge, freezer frozen. And he's like, would you make the I'm like, no. No. I'll tell you when.
That's why I say to him, I'll tell you when. Even though they're easy as hell, I gotta bust out of deep fryer because I don't have a deep fryer like set up in my house all the time, like I did when you used to come over. Anyway, uh pork gravy. Talk to me about pork gravy. What kind of pork gravy is it?
Because most people, pork gravy is not what people normally think of when they think of gravy. It's more of a uh take on like the Taiwanese I'm gonna butcher the pronunciation, lurofan. Luruofan. Oh. Nice.
Alright. Now, your crispy shellon shrimp. What kind of shrimp you use? Uh 20, 24, twenty-five. And shrimps.
And how do you what's your technique to get the uh the shell edible crunchy? It's a one-to-one rice flour, tapioca flour, deep fry. See deep finishing the walk. Deep fry, then finishing the walk. So I was also gonna ask your salt and pepper fries.
Do you fry them till they're done and then hit them in a walk? Yeah. Well, the the aromatics. Like the Right, but you know what's like they could they just get like they're like garlic fries, you just toss them all together. Right.
But in other words, like you take the fry that someone else might just eat, and then you toss it in and ch chuck. Yeah. And is that also add some crispiness or no? No. No?
Just but Christmas crispiness is coming from the fryer. What's your fry technique? Dump them in the fryer and lower the basket. No, but you don't you don't do like a double or get a frozen fries, Dave. Dude, what's the Cisco?
What kind of walks do you use? Uh I don't are there different kinds of walks? We got we got we at one big dog walk, it's like twenty-four inches. Right. And the other ones are like eighteen inches.
The other ones are long handles so that you could do the shaka shaka, or is it all spoon work? It's all yeah. No, they got the handles. We normally like using the spade over the the spoon because I don't got the skills like that. Right.
But then the big one's like sick for doing like, you know, big prep projects like big batch. And do you do you have like the the swing over water arm and the runaround? Yep. And the waterfall in the back. Yes, nice.
I wish I had one of those. Uh and does the average person eat the actual shell of the shrimp, or do they not know what to do when they peel it off and you look at them, give them stink eye? You know, a lot more people have been adventurous and going in on chomping right through the shell. Some people still do peel it off. They's a little bit weirded out, but you know, we've gotten a lot of people that are like, I'm this is the first time I've ever had the shell of a shrimp.
Eat the shell. It's got all the flavor. Yeah, please. Alright, so I got two questions. Sorry, Joe, we're gonna have to do this.
First of all, I love that you only sell a JV sweater for your merch. Listen, we can't all be varsity, you know. Right. Varsity's not for everyone. Exactly.
That is a power move. Is that you? It's my dad. My dad only made JV, so it's his sweater. Sick.
Is that real? Yeah. It's a it's actually a cardigan. It's hanging up at the restaurant. But you can buy one.
We have other sweaters available. You can't buy his. Alright. And I'm gonna go out with uh a friend of uh all of us who's on the uh in our team at that time. You have something called Eng Su's chicken.
Eng Su Lee was uh one of the great interns of all time. Yes. I regret that I never went to his restaurant before he died in uh Singapore, where he I think literally bought a coconut plantation so that he could have the coconut milk that he wanted, or the coconut cream that he wanted. So what is Eng Su's chicken? It's his recipe for the chicken marinade, and it's basically a lot of like gongal, turmeric, onion ginger.
Um I tried to get around it because I didn't want to fry just like marinated chicken raw in the fryer. I was like, oh, maybe I can souve eat it or I can park it and it's like it doesn't come out the same way. And he he told me, like he gave me the recipe, he's like, it's gonna mess up your fryer. And I hate it because it messes up my fryer, but it tastes so good. Can you can you par fry it in like a pot and then hit it in your fryer without it messing up your fryer?
No. I mean, we just kind of just eat it. We're like, we're gonna have to change out this fryer oil very frequently. Yeah. People like it.
Yeah. It's hard, like, it's hard to keep up sometimes during service because like, you know, you gotta drop a half a chicken. It's a 12 minute pickup. And you can only fit a few chickens in. But it's angry at once.
But Seng Su. So you have su. All right. So listen, uh Nick, uh pleasure as always. Hopefully, I can make it down to Houston Cocktail Week and congratulations coming up on a year, and hopefully, you know, you get this fiance thing straightened out so that it goes into a more permanent situation.
Cooking issues.
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