These wings,
they’re going to be the best wings
you’ve ever had in your life.
Think of like Chinese takeout wings on steroids.
[upbeat lo-fi music]
Hey, what’s up, y’all?
I’m Kwame Onwuachi
and I’m going to be taking you
to some of the best restaurants in New York City.
This is Where the Chefs Eat.
[upbeat music]
So right now we’re in Fish Cheeks.
We’re in NoHo.
There’s so many Thai restaurants in New York City,
like why is this one special?
To me, it’s the love that they put in this food.
It’s family style.
And when I first walked in here,
it smelled like the streets of Thailand.
[upbeat music]
Today I’m going to be eating with Nana,
who is a critically acclaimed author
and a lover of all food.
My guy. What’s good, bro?
Good to see you. Good to see you, man.
Good to see you. How you doing, bro?
I’m good, I’m good. I’m good.
You ready to eat?
Yo, I’m too ready.
Well, I’ve ordered a lot of food.
Well, I love eating with chefs
because y’all just order like-
Everything. Everything.
We get a plethora of stuff, that’s the only way to eat.
And this place is family style, so it’s meant for that.
Hey, chef. What’s up, man?
A lot, man. Thanks for joining us today.
Of course. You already know what time it is.
Some apps, and then the entrees will be right out.
So this is the wings, the Zabb wings,
and the pork cheeks, crispy garlic.
Thanks, bro. Thanks.
Appreciate it.
Appreciate you.
These wings,
they’re going to be the best wings
you’ve ever had in your life.
Why? Whoa.
Think of like Chinese takeout wings on steroids.
I tell you, that’s my favorite food ever.
Yeah, I mean, we’re from the Bronx,
so we speak the same language of food.
They have this like sweet and tangy seasoning
on the outside of them.
Yeah. So like every single bite
leaves you like wanting for more.
So without further ado, you should dive in.
[upbeat music]
Hmm. Wow, what a great day.
It tastes like the cilantro and the mint.
Yeah. Like dehydrated lime.
It’s kind of almost refreshing somehow.
[Kwame] Yeah.
It’s a weird thing to say about a-
A wing. A chicken wing.
It’s light. Yeah.
This is the best wing in New York City. Hands down.
[upbeat music]
Look at that.
First, we have crab curry.
Crab fried rice,
steamed fish Thai style.
Enjoy.
So whenever there’s a whole fish on a menu,
I have to get it.
It’s something like visual about seeing the whole fish.
It’s like celebratory.
This is the whole branzino
and it’s steamed in this ginger broth.
Anytime I bring someone here before I let them eat the fish,
you got to taste the broth.
Here I’ll pass this to you.
Yeah.
I’m not going to feed you. I’ll pass it to you.
Thank you.
[Kwame] It’s hot.
Oh my god.
[Kwame] That’s great, right? Oh lord. Yeah, yeah.
So lime, ginger, chilies.
So much flavor, so much flavor.
[Kwame] Fish sauce.
I would drink a cup of that.
Yeah. Yeah.
But then come in,
come in and get this piece right here.
This is the belly.
Yeah, go for that.
I want to see your reaction.
Let’s zoom in on his reaction
real quick. [Nana laughs]
Straight from heaven. That’s incredible.
I love bringing people here because it never fails.
That’s one of the best fishes.
And that’s the next thing that always comes.
It’s one of the best bites of fish
I’ve ever had in my life.
Mm, mm.
Before we even get to the curry,
we’re going to focus on this crab fried rice.
Oh, this is another staple in Thailand.
You’ll see it all throughout the markets.
Okay. And they serve it
with these two different sauces, so build a spoon.
Like take a spoonful of the crab.
Okay.
I’m going to put a little bit of each
of this sauce on there.
It’s not too spicy, so- Okay.
I won’t embarrass myself?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then just hook you up.
Now take a bite of that.
That’s magic. [Kwame laughs]
It’s marvelous. It’s marvelous.
That’s what I love about New York City.
You know, we have some of the best restaurants,
you know, and that’s not a secret,
but they’re really authentic.
They’re the best restaurants that the people
that are from the region, they actually eat it.
Now, the last instruction.
Get a little bit of that, get a spoonful of that.
Now.
Oh, I see. Okay.
Now, we get a little freaky.
Okay. Yes.
[Kwame] I see the vision. Yeah.
This is why you eat with chefs.
That is the best bite you’ll have in a couple years.
For a couple years, I would say.
My job is done here.
My job is done here.
[upbeat music]
We’re here.
We made it. We’re here.
I haven’t taken the train in a long time.
[Nana] Bro, are you sure this is a restaurant?
Yes, man, I promise you.
There’s a restaurant here, man. Relax.
So right now we’re in Joji.
It’s a restaurant tucked in Grand Central Station.
Because of its location, you might walk past it,
but if you do find it,
you’ll find one of the best omakases in the world.
So an omakase is a selection of dishes
by the chef themselves.
What’s special about this restaurant
is that you get the same chef every single time.
[George] Welcome, chef.
[Kwame] Sup, baby? Came to see you in.
Good to see you. Pleasure to meet you.
Always excited to be here.
Great to have you guys back.
[upbeat music]
For this dish, this is kegani, Japanese hairy crab.
Uni both from Hokkaido with cucumber vinaigrette.
[Kwame] Beautiful. Wow.
Just a little bit, huh? [Nana laughs]
You can smell it too, it’s like,
it’s so clean, so pristine. Oh wow.
I feel like a better person just from smelling it.
[laughs]
You know, this flesh of the crab is so sweet.
And then the uni as well.
It’s like slightly briny.
It’s creamy.
It like creates the perfect bite together.
I thought I had uni before and now I’m like,
What was that?
[upbeat music]
The final shooter, if I may,
of all the juices of the crab and uni.
Thank you, chef.
Thank you to this hairy crab. Wow.
So for next course, this is grilled kinki fish
with daikon, chives, dashi, and Osetra caviar on top.
When you say kinki fish, people are like,
Did he really say that? [Nana laughs]
It’s spelled differently.
Geez. It’s like an art piece, look at that.
The little flowers.
This is a kind of a dish that really speaks for itself.
Like there’s nowhere to hide in a dish like this.
The fish is really, really fresh.
The Osetra caviar is obviously topnotch.
If you want to taste something that is best in class,
like that’s what this dish is.
So for next dish, this is fatty tuna,
lightly seared with a hot rod.
Because otoro has white sinew in them,
searing it breaks down the sinew and it melts in your mouth.
Thank you, chef.
Enjoy. Thank you.
Visually, it’s stunning.
You know, look at the brightness
from the chives right on top.
You know, the beautifully pink tuna belly.
Then you see the daikon like slightly waving out the side.
[Nana] Yeah. Of the tuna.
And then it all sits in this ponzu, you know,
which is like soy, acid, like lemon or lime juice.
It’s just a perfect bite.
So dessert, we have Hochija ice cream,
which is roasted green tea ice cream,
but you don’t really taste the green tea.
With truffle, it just goes super well together.
You have almost equal parts
like grated truffle on top of the ice cream.
You have this drizzle of honey.
You can see flakes of sea salt on there.
I’ve never had ice cream with truffle,
but I’ve never had a lot of things we’ve had today, so.
Oh my god. It’s so good, right?
[George] The saltiness of the-
Whoa. And the sweetness. Yeah.
Nothing like anything I’ve ever tasted before.
This is beautiful.
You know, it’s like bold, it’s earthy.
It’s sweet, it’s salty. It’s like New York on a bite.
You ain’t going to find this anywhere else in the world.
I believe that. You may not even find this
if you’re looking for it because it’s in the train station.
Alright, our next stop is going to be a hit of nostalgia.
[upbeat music]
So we’re at our last stop of the day.
We’re in midtown and we’re at the Halal Cart.
Halal carts feed all of New York City
and it is one of my favorite things to eat.
What’s up? What’s up?
How you doing, man?
You didn’t think I was going to take you here.
[Nana] Halal Cart, a classic.
I mean, you know the kind of food I eat.
I love it too though.
Yeah, we grew up eating this food.
I know my order from here.
Yeah, what’s your order?
I like half chicken, half lamb,
lettuce, tomato,
and then hot sauce and white sauce.
But more white sauce than hot sauce.
Yeah, you have to just put a little bit of hot sauce.
[Producer] Kwame, what’s the white sauce?
Who knows? [Nana laughs]
It’s a mystery. I don’t know.
Hey, what’s in the white sauce?
The white sauce is like mayonnaise,
a little bit of lemon juice,
a little bit of water, oregano.
And then the hot sauce is like,
[whistles]
like Kashmiri chili and what’s in there?
He said yes. Yeah.
So mine is same, chicken and lamb over rice,
white sauce, just a line of hot sauce.
That’s it. Wow.
But don’t chop it up too much.
Don’t chop it up too much. I like the large chunks.
This isn’t Joji.
They’re not going to be talking
about the nuances of the fish.
This is different from Joji. Yeah.
It’s high quality meat. It’s seasoned to perfection.
And it also feeds New Yorkers.
Pound for pound, dollar to food,
it’s probably the best it could get in the city.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yes, boss. Thank you so much.
Thank you, boss man.
Thank you, brother. Good to see you, man.
[Nana] I appreciate it. Appreciate it, bro.
[upbeat music]
The first bite of like Halal Cart to me is just like,
it’s all encompassing, you know?
Like it’s a full meal.
[Nana] It’s not all cute,
but it’s going to get the job done in a real way.
You know, this isn’t fancy food to a lot people,
but it doesn’t mean it’s less sophisticated.
You know, there’s a lot of technique
that goes into this.
Cooking rice perfectly.
I’ve brought a lot of cooks in my kitchen
that cannot cook rice perfectly.
[Nana] Right. And then it’s
scented with like cardamom and clove and turmeric.
Then you have your Kashmiri chili, you know,
the hot sauce.
It’s the hottest hot sauce I’ve ever had
in my life. Oh my God.
I mean, you can put like a one drop on
and it seasons the whole dish.
And then there’s like, you know, sauteed onions and peppers.
The lamb is spiced. I love it.
And then the chicken is marinated in like yogurt.
It’s incredible.
This is New York City on a plate.
It feels like home. Mm-hmm.
Well, it’s been great taking you around, man.
You know, we visited some of the best restaurants
in New York City.
Some of my favorite restaurants in New York City,
including Halal Cart.
But I’m going to go to my actual favorite restaurant
in New York City, my restaurant.
I’ve got a restaurant to run. It’s freezing.
I’ve heard of it. I’ll check you later, man.
Peace, bro. We would’ve went there,
but we couldn’t get a reservation.
[Nana laughs]
[upbeat music]
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