No Reservations Season 6 Episode 7: Obsessed
This episode focuses on Tony’s interest in chefs and bloggers food obsessions. In the opening sequence we see Tony butchering a whole pig while talking of his obsession with pork. Sequences between conversations with bloggers and chefs continue with Tony’s colorful remarks and the butchering of the whole hog.
Tony visits author Josh Ozersky (aka Mr. Cutlets) whose food obsession is meat. Josh has been recently diagnosed with gout resulting from his meat-laden diet. Josh meets Tony at Minetta Tavern in New York where Josh says the best burger in the country is made. Josh insists that the flat top grill is the secret to keeping the fatty juices in the hamburger (sorry grill champs) and states you cannot desecrate the $26 burger with ketchup as Tony reaches for the ketchup. Tony and Josh bite into the juicy burger and Josh is mesmerized.
Tony visits with Dave Blackhorn, another meat obsessed guy who takes Tony on a tour of his cattle farm in the Yarra Valley outside of Melbourne. Wagyu beef, also known as Kobe beef, is the most expensive cut of beef in the world. His chef cooks up the tender, melt in your mouth Kobe beef for their meal. The camera shifts back to Tony in the studio where he is butchering the pig. As Tony strokes the beheaded pig’s face, he proclaims as good as Kobe beef is, he still loves pork more than beef.
Tony waxes on about Jim Lahey, founder of Sullivan Street Bakery, obsessed bread maker and yeast lover. Lahey’s bakery in New York is Lahey’s labratory for fermenting dough. Lahey says his secret to bread making is to let the yeast dough rise for 24 hours with no kneading. As Lahey works with his dough creations he asks the camera “Am I the dough whiperer?”.
The camera turns to another obsessed guy, Ron Cooper of Mezcal Del Maguey in Mexico. Cooper makes prime mescal – the Ur-tequila, roasting Agave then fermenting, as Cooper calls it “pissing alcohol and farting carbon dioxide” until the tequila is ready.
Tony talks about the obsessed food blogging wars of three co-founders of the popular website eGullet.com, a forum for discussing cooking in all forms online. Two of the co-founders left the organization to start competing food websites. Jason Perlow remains the founder of eGullet and chats with Tony about the founders war of words. Jason is relegated to eating a salad at a burger joint because of his extremely high cholesterol, while Tony eats a burger and shake. Tony meets with Steven Shaw, publisher of Fat-Guy.com, at Cambodian restaurant Kampuchea in New York. Next Tony meets with Steve Plotnicki, founder of food blog Opinionatedaboutdining.com, at the New York Basque tapas restaurant, Txikito. After talking to the three co-founders of eGullet, Tony says “it’s just food” and still doesn’t understand what happened to send these guys over the edge.
Next we visit cheese obsessed Chef Terrance Brennan, chef-restaurateur behind Picholine and Artisanal in New York. Tony says Chef Brennan invented the cheese course in New York restaurants. Chef Brennan says whatever the cows are eating makes the color of the cheese. Chef Brennan shows how artisanal cheeses are made and admits he even enjoys looking at and smelling cheeses, proving this is one obsessed cheese guy.
In the final sequence we see Tony visiting Chef Dave Pasternack, obsessed fish guy, who serves the freshest fish at his restaurant ESCA in New York. Chef Pasternack is obsessed with fish and that means fishing too. Tony and Chef Pasternack fish in nearby waters before partaking of the fresh fish at ESCA.
As Tony finishes butching the pig he confesses his food obsession is and always will be pork. Clips of his eating pork of every kind flash on the screen as Tony admits at 53 he had a choice: go on cholesterol medicine or give up pork. It was an easy choice for Tony to go on meds because he cannot give up his beloved pork, “one gift” he says “that keeps on giving”.
