MUNCHIES: Chef's Night Out with Red Medicine - VoiceTube: Learn English through videos!

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[MUSIC]
It's kinda hard to label yourself.
You call yourself an artist and
all of a sudden you sound like an asshole, or
you know, pretentious.
But I like to think that to have some maybe
slightly interesting skill sets, and at
the end of the day, I'm just trying to make food
that has an emotional connection to myself.
And something that is you know, beautiful so
you can take that however you want.
[MUSIC]
[SOUND].
[MUSIC]
My name is Jordan Kahn.
I'm the chef/owner of Red Medicine Restaurant in
Beverly Hills.
It's a modern, progressive restaurant.
We try to make our food as beautiful as we can.
And taking natural ingredients, and
turning them into things that, you know,
are really spectacular.
[MUSIC]
This is our newest edition to
the dessert menu.
I've actually been
a pastry chef my whole career.
Red Medicine is the first time I've
actually done savory professionally.
I mean, I've been cooking since I was very young.
My first cooking idol was Thomas Keller, for sure.
I got a copy of the French Laundry Cookbook
for Christmas one year when I
was in high school and that pretty much was
the day when everything changed for me.
Right when I went to culinary school I
wrote Thomas Keller a letter.
It was like an absurd, like,
eight-page letter professing my great love
for him and you know, all of these things.
Man, if I had a copy of that right now I
bet it would be hysterical.
He responded through email
like six months later.
When I opened my email that day,
like, that was a big freak-out moment.
I started there at the French Laundry when I
was 17.
I'm sure there's probably some nine-year-old
prodigy in there today, but it certainly,
at the time, what I was told by the chefs then is
that I was the youngest to start there.
This is actually
the second course on the tasty menu.
The base of it is a custard.
This is walnut marzipan, cuz we don't have
enough pastry techniques in our food already, and
we are rolling them in purple cabbage powder.
Color was always a big inspiration.
There's a lot of times when I want a certain
flavor or an ingredient or a texture in
a dish but I am not happy with the color so
I will change the color of it.
A walnut is not supposed to be purple.
A brown walnut didn't make sense in
the dish aesthetically so we made it purple so
that it would fit and
also you know, it bridges the taste as well.
This is the first course on our tasting menu.
It's based on trout roe.
You're eating raw snap peas with the trout roe.
The dual texture of the two sort of
spheres are kind of neat.
Because these are crunchy and these pop as well.
These are sort of pickled onion petals.
This is lemon curds.
So we're just gonna take our mineral oil,
all the area in there we just worked so hard for.
We're gonna cover it up,
try to make sure that everything is layered.
When you look at a Jackson Pollock painting,
probably the most fascinating parts of it
is, is the layering.
And like, you know that the first,
second, third, fourth,
and all the layers in-between that have the,
same amount of care put into it as
the final layer.
Which is the you know,
the one that's most in your face.
So we kind of try to make it similar where
you know, even though we're covering it up,
we don't just, we still care about
placing everything really properly.
That's the first course.
Next is a dish of mushrooms.
The finished dish version of this is actually gets
a glass close over it so
it actually looks like a living terrarium.
Nature certainly is a theme in our dishes.
When we first opened, my sous chef and I would go
to the farmers markets in Santa Monica, when we
were driving by it's like, holy shit, look at
that whole hillside is covered in you know,
fennel or, or nasturtiums or whatever it is.
And so we'd get out, we'd pick some, bring it back,
and then eventually we'd spend more
time picking and less time at the markets.
And then eventually we just cut out the markets
altogether and we just went foraging.
It's kind of a show-stopper, I suppose,
at the table when it drops cuz a lot of
people will just continue with their conversation,
whatever, which is totally fine.
But this one generally stops, so whatever.
[MUSIC]
>> You guys ready?
>> Yes, hey!
>> Oh, hey, what's up!
>> [LAUGH] >> How's it going?
Gloria and Mike
are really great to go out with.
Gloria is my girlfriend,
she's a sommelier at Spago.
Mike, oh man, he's a ball of fun.
It's kind of impossible to not fall in
love with Mike
the first five minutes that you meet him.
He's like a professional eater and
he likes to think of himself as a,
as a chef, but he's not a chef.
>> I'm a professional third wheel.
>> He even wore his button down shirt today.
>> It's a little too small [LAUGH].
It looks good.
>> No it's true.
But it. >> Powder blue is
a nice touch.
[MUSIC]
>> All right, so what's the plan for tonight?
Where we going?
>> First place is La Cevicheria.
Mike, I'm gonna order a special dish for
you called Bloody Clams.
Tastes like somebody microplaned pennies over
the clams.
>> Why would you want to eat that dish?
>> Some people love them.
>> Some people think they're amazing.
>> I like blood.
>> You may be one of those people.
>> Is it clam with like blood?
Seems like
there's something wrong with that clam.
>> Something like we should throw these away.
These are the people that save all those clams.
>> All the rejects.
>> All the discarded, rejected clams.
Who's ready for some blood?
>> Oh, they're closed.
Oh, they're open.
>> They're open.
[MUSIC]
We started with La Cevicheria and I chose to
go there because it's a small restaurant,
literally mom and pop.
It's owned by a husband and
wife, Catalina and Julio.
They're really, really sweet people, and
beyond that, the food is really delicious.
They don't make anything bad.
Everything there's really good and dishes that
you can't really get at most places.
>> My restaurant, La Cevicheria is open
since since 2002.
We opened at the end of the year.
And we've been you know, rocking all these years.
>> Are you ready to order?
>> Yes.
I want the la [INAUDIBLE].
As well as the shrimp tacos.
We're also gonna get fish tacos.
>> We're gonna get an order of
fish tacos for everybody.
We're gonna do an order of the bloody clams.
>> The half shell or the ceviche?
>> You want a half shell or ceviche?
>> Ceviche.
>> When Jordan comes to the restaurant he orders
the mariscala, which is New Zealand mussels,
shrimp, and calamari and in the sauce.
>> This reminds me of like my childhood.
My grandmother used to make Cuban seafood
>> Are you Cuban?
>> Yeah. >> I didn't know that.
>> You didn't know that?
>> I did not.
>> HIs mother's side.
You know, it's not like this is
like sitting back there in a, in a pot.
You know, everything takes time.
Because she does, she makes everything fresh.
>> [CROSSTALK] Oh, you can tell.
It's very, very good.
>> Oh, this is really good.
I've never had this.
>> Very good shrimp.
Really good.
>> Delicious, right?
>> Are you supposed to peel it?
>> Mm-hm. >> Are you sure?
I ate the peel and it's fantastic.
>> This is the bloody clam.
Meat and tomatoes and onions, a little bit
of ketchup, little bit of English sauce.
I don't, I can't tell the name.
It's Worcestershire, something like that.
I cannot say the name exactly of
that English sauce.
This is a very popular dish.
This is like our signature dish.
This is, wow.
How are you, Gloria?
>> Good, how are you?
>> Fine, thank you!
Hi! So nice to see you.
>> Good to see you.
>> This is the bloody clams ceviche.
>> Do you see that? That is a lot,
that's a lot of blood.
>> Go for it.
>> [LAUGH] Tiniest bite.
[LAUGH].
[MUSIC]
>> How is it?
>> Not bad at all.
Good.
They might want to change the name of
the dish, though.
>> To?
>> Juicy clams.
It's just like a half-shell and a,
a bloody clam inside.
>> And they're pure form.
>> Can I get one on the half-shell?
>> You can ask her.
>> I feel like >> Here you go, sir.
>> Oh, thank you.
Oh, beautiful.
Thank you.
>> Wonderful.
>> Okay, so now I can get the full experience.
So this is just how they come out?
Nothing to them.
It doesn't, like, drown in its own blood?
There's so much blood?
[INAUDIBLE].
>> Stop procrastinating.
>> Okay.
>> He's trying to buy himself time.
>> [LAUGH].
>> That's like, their own, their ink.
>> I prefer ink.
Ink is rare.
>> To ink yeah, to blood.
[MUSIC]
[CROSSTALK] So good.
>> Thank you so much.
>> Thank you.
>> Can you, can you come by
the restaurant tonight?
>> Yeah, what time?
>> Ten o'clock, 10:30?
>> Thank you so much.
>> I'll see you in a bit.
>> Bye.
>> Okay, bye bye, goodnight.
>> So, now we're going for ice cream?
>> Now, we're going for ice cream.
We're heading to Quenelle.
And the chef-owner of Quenelle used to
be my sous chef at 14.
I don't know if
you guys are familiar with Jamba Juice.
>> Oh, yeah. >> They have a drink on
the menu called the Orange Dream Machine.
>> Oh, I love that drink.
That's an incredible drink.
>> John, John invented it.
>> That's like inventing like the hole puncher.
[MUSIC]
[MUSIC]
Thank you so much.
>> Here you go.
>> Oh man. I know John,
I worked with John.
He makes really good ice creams.
That's basically the reason why we decided to
go, but I've been there before and,
you know, I know John can't say no to me.
I just kinda walk wherever I
want anyway, so.
>> Chef, what is that?
>> No, we have to guess.
>> Oh that's good, that's good.
>> Oh, we have to guess?
It's part of green.
[MUSIC] He's an awesome guy.
He's really nice. He's a lot of fun.
He's really quiet, like, whenever he speaks it's
always very important and, like, hysterical.
He's very poignant.
>> You wanna see a pastry chef freak out?
>> Yeah.
>> Just leave his freezer door open.
>> Really?
[LAUGH].
>> Closed, yeah.
>> One thing that makes his ice creams a bit
interesting.
Uses eggs in his ice cream, but
he doesn't cook them.
And it was fascinating.
The first time I ate his ice cream, I was like,
I was like, there are eggs in here.
And the texture's different.
And he goes yeah, they're not cooked.
I was like that's so weird.
I was like, how come?
And he explained it.
He's like, well, I wanted kind of
Philadelphia-style ice cream,
which is basically just milk and sugar.
Like ice cream that you buy
from the grocery store.
And it melts very, very liquid.
He's like,
I wanted to have that thin melting quality but
I still wanted flavor from the eggs.
So we still put, so
we put pasteurized eggs in it.
It's like it's really smart.
>> 'Kay. >> You wanna like cone?
>> Yes.
>> I was gonna go with cup.
>> Should I go cone?
>> A cone. We can
test the waffle cone.
>> Okay, okay, okay.
>> [LAUGH].
>> So, Mike got a cone and John put streusel in
the bottom, so Mike's goal was to get to
the streusel before it sogged out.
So he basically ate an entire massive ice
cream cone in about two minutes.
>> Yeah, I worked.
It was a long road, a lot of work.
I'm there.
Real good.
>> [LAUGH] Gloria went with a more traditional.
Did she go She went cup.
>> Oh, it's so good.
I got the blueberry pie and the root beer.
Epic.
Just epic.
>> And I decided to go with an off-menu item,
which is the ice cream sandwich.
>> Snickerdoodle cookie with
concord grape creamsicle.
And strawberry shortcake and caramel.
Aw, delicious.
>> John has two little baby boys.
They're both like super cute little Asian babies.
Got a huge blown up cut out of his son
Joshua's face.
>> That's amazing.
He's really cute.
>> How cute is that kid?
I know.
And he's right next to
the safe food handling guide.
Why is he there?
>> To make sure that people wash
their hands after they use the restroom.
>> He's the moral conscience of Pinnel.
>> Look at his eyes.
He's looking right at that, right at the sink.
>> They follow you.
[MUSIC]
>> You're gonna come with us, right?
Mike's got a spot for his spicy tuna hand-rolls.
We'll fill you in,
Mike is a spicy tuna hand-roll expert.
>> All right let's go.
>> Can I run the bathroom really quick?
I will wash my hands.
You're somewhat [INAUDIBLE]
>> Oh, where is the car?
Oh there it is.
>> So where are we going?
>> We're gonna go my friend, I started going
to this sushi place a while back and
he's a really nice guy,
unbelievable, West Hollywood.
We're gonna grab some hand rolls.
>> I have never been here.
This is Mike's hidden gem that he's recommending,
we're going in blind, and we're trusting him.
And you know, if it sucks, trust me, we'll,
we'll all give him a ration of shit afterward.
You don't see this everyday.
A grand opening and a for lease sign.
>> [LAUGH].
>> That business did not do well, fast.
That's like, that's like the equivalent of
how quickly I eat.
>> [LAUGH].
>> Forehand was really quick.
Is that good?
Oh, thank you so much.
Mike has has personal love affair with
spicy tuna hand rolls.
It's like, it's like, a frog's tongue,
you have to catch it in super slow motion to
see him eat it cuz it goes so fast.
[MUSIC]
>> Would you like another?
[LAUGH] >> That's how it's done.
>> The hand roll was, was great.
The rice was warm, it was properly seasoned,
nice amount of vinegar and sugar.
The fish was fresh you know, it was,
it was everything you look for
in a spicy tuna hand roll, I think.
Mike definitely knows his way around.
He's, he's been to enough places to
know who has the good ones and who doesn't, so.
>> Oh, this is good.
>> That was very good.
Really good [INAUDIBLE].
>> Delicious. >> I feel like,
just, yeah, now we gotta go back and cook.
>> Yeah. >> I'm exhausted
and full.
>> You cook, I'll be drinking champagne.
[LAUGH] >> I am so hungry and
ready to eat your southern food.
>> I'm ready, yeah, as well.
>> Can we make sweet potatoes?
[LAUGH] Cornbread?
>> We're gonna make some collard greens some
cornbread based on Mike's suggestion we'll, we'll
knock out some sweet potatoes [CROSSTALK].
>> Oh, nice. >> That was excellent,
that was excellent chef.
>> Thank you.
[MUSIC]
I thought it would be nice to invite every,
all the restaurants that we went to, and
invite those people back, to cook for
them, cuz they were so
generous to, you know, open up for us.
So, growing up in Savannah,
I decided to make some southern food.
So we did collard greens,
grits, cornbread smoked a pork butt, sweet
potatoes just, like, really comforting food.
It was nice, and
I think southern food is always a winner, and
also, it was late last night, so it's like.
It's nice, warm like comforting food to
have late at night.
>> So these are just roasted in the skins and
then we peel them.
>> Well John was easy.
I just put him on pastry and
he was done in five minutes.
The banana cream pie, whoo.
>> John's fucking.
>> He's crushing it over there.
>> Oh yeah, dude.
>> Mike I gave him the task of
the sweet potatoes.
And there was some bourbon involved and
he's like, is this gonna flame?
I was like, yes.
He's like, how does it work?
He wants to be a chef so bad.
But he's just so terrible.
Close and free.
Now you feel like a real chef.
>> I do. I really do.
Thank you.
It probably tastes horrible but
I do feel good.
[MUSIC]
>> Awesome.
>> Thanks guys for coming.
This is just some
southern food that I kinda grew up with.
There's two pork butts.
These are collard greens with bacon, sweet
potatoes, cornbread, and then Anson Mills grits.
>> Thank you so much.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> So excited.
>> Thanks. We had,
we had a fantastic meal in Las Cevicheria.
[MUSIC]
>> Delicious.
Really, really good.
I have not had a lot of southern food,
especially from this part of the south.
And it's very, very good.
>> I think the Munchies meal is a success.
Yeah, I mean, it's some, somewhat nostalgic for
me being back in the south.
>> OMG, what is that?
Is that banana pudding?
Cuz if it is, I'm gonna die.
>> Banana pudding [INAUDIBLE] very happy.
>> Oh my god.
>> Thank you guys for coming.
>> Thank you.
Thank you.
>> Great time.
>> Thank you everybody.
>> Last night was just kind of a gluttonous tour
of really good restaurants and
we ordered way too much food and ate way too much
ice cream, and you know, a, a lot of bloody clams.
It was just, it was delicious, but
by the end of it we were just spent and exhausted.
>> Is your shirt clean?
>> Yeah, I did it.
>> You did it?
That deserves an applause.
[APPLAUSE].
>> [APPLAUSE].
>> This button's gonna shoot off and
poke his eye out.
[LAUGH]. >> [LAUGH].
>> But I did, I did make it.
It is clean.
>> I would choke and die, and
that would really be the story.
>> That would, that would be an out.
They, they'd have their out.
>> [LAUGH] [SOUND]