We're gonna be visiting three places throughout this episode.

You're gonna get a tasting of different styles of gumbo.

I'm telling you, man, we're eating like kings today, and we're starting here at the legendary, the institution known as Dookie Chase.

Have you had gumbo before?

What is your gumbo experience?

I have never had gumbo before.

My first time in New Orleans, first time in Louisiana.

I've heard a lot about it.

It looks incredible, but yeah, never tried it before.

I cannot wait.

What actually is gumbo?

Obviously, I've heard a lot about it.

It is sort of a stew, not really, but its flavors are all its own in this area because it draws from French-Canadian.

It draws from the Caribbean.

It draws from Africa.

It draws from Native American.

So what's interesting about a gumbo is, although it could be technically made anywhere in the world, the only place where gumbo could have been born is right here in this part of the world and this part of the country.

We are at the source.

Wow, so it sounds like gumbo is literally a melting pot.

Yes, correct.

An actual pot of stuff going into it.

That's a good way of putting it.

And it's also a cultural melting pot because it's really drawn from everywhere.

That is an excellent way of putting it.

I wish I said that.

Of the many influences of this cuisine, there's a high French influence.

You live much closer to France.

What are your thoughts on French food?

Yeah, I mean, you have the bases of these sauces.

Obviously, you have like a roux, which I think is used to thicken things, which I think looks very different in France as it would over here.

In France, you also base a lot of stews with what they call a mirepoix, which is that like carrot, onion, celery mixture, which I think is tweaked a little bit for the kind of Creole-Cajun palate, right?

Right, you mentioned that they have a vegetable trinity, which I believe is celery, onion, bell pepper.

Okay, so you're swapping out the carrot for the bell pepper.

Yeah, and I prefer that, right?

That's the beauty of like a stew or a stew-like dish as well, like a gumbo, because you can really take that base and then just put whatever you have into it and it'll come out tasting pretty delicious.

So, I mean, you've already mentioned that you could find like chicken in here, there might be seafood in here, there might be duck in here.

You're just kind of taking whatever you have available, getting it in there.

Making something delicious.

Making something delicious.

I'm starving.

I'm really ready to eat.

Thank you so much.

Yes, sir.

I mean, I take a bite first because it's incredible.

I know there's more stuff you want to explain to me, but I need to eat.

This looks crazy.

Perfect.

Like trying to get like a bit of everything is going to be a challenge.

I'm going to go for the sausage.

Oh, man.

I want to get a little rice in here too.

Flavors, the spices, everything hits you at once.

Wow.

All the protein from the chicken, the shrimp, the sausage cooked perfectly.

The broth.

Yeah, brothy is definitely the word I'd use for this.

While it's quite a light broth in terms of like it's not too thick, the flavor in there, man, the concentrated flavor.

Yes.

Chef Leah Chase, who was here for decades and the menu here is based around her cooking.

She was named the queen of Creole cooking, even honored by the James Beard Foundation for her work.

Blessed by the Pope.

Come on.

A self-taught chef.

All the recipes that she perfected here was what she ate growing up, perfected over decades.

No formal training.

Literally just like she ate it growing up, perfected these recipes, and we're still eating it today.

It's really, really cool.

This is the shrimp clemenceau.

Oh, yes, yes, thank you.

That's about it.

So shrimp, peas, mushrooms, brown potatoes sauteed in a garlic butter sauce.

Fantastic.

Thank you so much, sir.

Enjoy.

Thank you.

Yes, sir.

I read about this online.

This was introduced to the menu because Chef Leah was like, we gotta have something on the menu that isn't like deep fried.

Not everybody wants fried food.

I saw Obama on the wall.

Yes.

I saw George W. Bush on the wall.

I think Beyonce's eating here.

Yep.

They've covered a lot.

Stevie Wonder.

Ray Charles mentions it in a song.

There you go.

Can't get much more historic or important to New Orleans than that, can you?

Absolutely.

I do love how our recurring theme of food tours is that we go to places that Obama has been to or Guy Fieri has been to.

That's right, one or the other.

Two biggest culinary icons of mine,

Obama and Guy Fieri.

Yeah, I don't think I've ever had a mouthful like this gumbo, which is a compliment because we've eaten a lot of food on this show and I've eaten a lot of food in my life.

Yeah, and you're from Europe, sort of, where there's a lot of different cuisines there but nothing over there is even close to what's happening here.

I don't think so.

Not at least when this specific dish is concerned.

I want to try this.

I'm so glad I got,

I wasn't sure I was going to be able to try this.

Yeah.

I think one thing that's impressive, given the different proteins in here and the number of proteins, to make sure that everything still has its perfect texture, it's really impressive.

Chicken isn't mushy, it's still got a bite to it.

I want to point out,

I know this is a gumbo episode, but look at me, you need to try that right now.

That's what we've got here.

Peas, there's some mushrooms, the shrimp.

This is incredible.

Sauteed in butter and garlic.

Mmm.

Those shrimp are incredible.

I know.

Oh my goodness.

The amount of garlic in there as well.

As an Italian, I can say,

I have finally found a dish with the right amount of garlic.

Mm-hmm.

They did it.

They figured it out.

They got it right here.

The number of proteins in here is so interesting to me.

Like, generally speaking,

I haven't had too many foods that combine this many proteins.

You're getting, like, a kind of land, air, and sea effect.

There's a lot going on, but it's all really working.

It's not like they're contrasting or conflicting.

Yeah.

You can tell that something like this has been worked on all day.

Slow simmer, concentrated flavor.

I mean, we're eating a bowl of history right now.

Mm-hmm.

Which, I'm sure other people could look at gumbo and be like, yeah, yeah, soup, stew, I got it.

Like, no, you don't got it.

No.

Right?

I could not think of any other gumbo that could be this flavorful, this delicious, this well put together that didn't take decades to perfect.

Funny story that I heard when Obama was here, about to dip into her gumbo.

I don't know if he did this or almost did it, but apparently he went to put hot sauce in the gumbo in front of her, and she was like, what are you doing?

I don't know if the sauce actually hit the gumbo, and it intervened before then.

You really have to back yourself to correct the President of the United States, though, to be like, oi, oi.

No, no, no, no.

I don't care what you're running, the food is fine, eat it.

Secret service diving in front of the hot sauce.

That's really funny.

They've also brought out fried chicken, and I do really want to try that.

This looks amazing.

It could have been in a fried chicken episode.

To be clear, we kind of wanted to include this in the fried chicken episode, but we didn't want to double feature someone.

But we're getting the best of both worlds now.

Okay, let's go.

Oh, man.

I'm cleaning this bone.

Dude.

Seasoned perfectly.

The skin is so perfectly crisp, right?

Yet inside, the chicken is incredibly juicy.

And you can tell the flavor's marinated inside the chicken.

Without trying to rewrite history too much, if this had been in the best fried chicken episode, it's a contender, for sure.

Absolutely a contender.

I'm sort of telling myself this is healthy because it's kind of like a soup.

There's enough rich things in here.

No, I look at it like if it was made with love and you're enjoying the meal with friends or coworkers, that's gotta be good for you, right?

I think so.

It's good for the soul.

Soul food.

Yes, there you go.

All right, well, I would love to stay here and finish this entire meal.

They've set the bar very high.

They certainly have, but I think we have more spots to hit, right?

We have two more spots to hit.

So let's hit it.

All right, man, let's go.

I have to apologize, Joe.

Go.

Once again, I've brought the weather with me.

Yeah, this is ridiculous.

We came to LA and it rained for like two weeks, which is unheard of.

I think it rains a lot in this part of the country, though.

This makes it, I feel less bad for this part, at least.

You know what would really brighten up our day?

What's that?

Another bowl of gumbo.

Some more gumbo.

We're heading to Gabrielle, also in the same area, the Treme area.

Spot number two, please put your phone away.

Yes.

Thank you.

There's plenty of Pokemon to catch after this.

For once, I wasn't on Pokemon, but carry on.

All right, spot two, Gabrielle.

Right down the street from the place where we just were, we do have a production van, so we had to get in, find new parking, drive down the street.

Quicker to walk, but it's not just us, so, but yeah, I mean, it really is a hop, skip, and a jump away from the first place we were just at.

Here they have a 24-7 perpetual stock, so the stock they use to make the various gumbos is going 24-7, they're throwing stuff in there, so it's like just absorbing all of the flavor of all the delicious food that's been coming out of the kitchen since probably the beginning, right?

It's all in there, and they even add scraps from other meats, drippings from the duck, they're adding leftover wine.

Not from glasses, from the bottles.

So, what we're having today, you cannot get anywhere else in the city, or dare I say, the world.

That sounds absolutely fantastic.

I'm very into it.

When you get a perpetual situation like that, like a constantly simmering pot, again, you're getting the flavor of what you're putting into it right now, but also the flavor of all the stuff you put into it like a week ago, which I personally love.

I feel like, also, it means it'll just be a little bit different every time.

You could probably come back here like two weeks' time and have a slightly different tasting dish.

Well, gnolland.com had a best gumbo bracket on their site.

With tens of thousands of votes, this was voted the best gumbo in Gnolland.

Okay, the people's champ.

People's champ right here.

People's champ gumbo.

So, I am really excited.

I noticed they have three different gumbos on here.

Seafood, pen, a gluten-free one.

Getting no thanks.

Barbecue shrimp pie.

I mean, come on.

Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme.

Anything else on the menu catch your eye?

Yeah, the alcohol.

It's time to start drinking.

We're here in New Orleans.

We've gone out every night and every morning I wake up and I'm like, ugh, can't be doing that again.

And then every day, I'm on the last one.

Five o'clock.

It's like, all right.