TV Recaps Reviews

Food Porn 2 starts with an ad that is similar to a phone sex ad, but the ad is for food. Yes, the entire episode has this tongue-in-cheek, old style porn film feel, including cheesy porn style background music, snippets by porn star Ron Jeremy and porn-like descriptions of food Tony enjoys in the episode.

Tony visits various New York restaurants to imbibe in delicious food. As Tony narrates about the wonders of food there are filmed bits following regular people on the street, showing pixelated portions of bodies and blacked out eyes, all in jest of course. Tony begins his venture into food porn reciting the glories of homemade broth with noodles, one of Tony’s favorite foods.

Tony visits Chef Daniel Boulud at his restaurant Bar Boulud in New York. Chef Boulud shows Tony the head of two boars, which they both hold with reverence. Tony samples some of New York City’s best charcuterie. The house special is engorged with blood, blood sausage that is. The sausage is presented with onions and mashed potatoes. Next is head cheese, made of bits of head and tongue. A chicken liver pate, rabbit terrine and the best, according to Tony, is pate en croute, a puff pastry stuffed with wild boar, pheasant, elk, foie gras and wood pigeon, then served with golden aspic.

Tony tells the television audience chefs love cured meats, Tony says chefs “get a boner” when it comes to cured meats. Tony visits with Chef Cesare Casella at his favorite salumeria, Salumeria Rosi in New York. Tony and Chef Casella dine on proscuttio on bread, mortadella, smoked spec, salami and shaved meats topped with white truffle. Tony tells the audience “you don’t get more luxurious or sexy than this…it’s like a waterfall of porky goodness”.

Tony says Chef Naomichi Yasuda is a master of the best sushi ever. Tony joins the chef for a true sushi experience at Sushi Yasuda in New York. Tony tells the audience “it’s all about the rice, not just the fish, it’s first about the rice”. Tony watches as master sushi maker Chef Yasuda creates three pieces of eel, home cured salmon eggs, expensive toro tuna and sea urchin sushi for him to enjoy.

Tony tells the audience we are meant to eat meat and says its nice to have someone else cook your meat. Tony waxes on about the glory of meat as he prepares to eat cowboy ribeye steak, a 36 ounce porterhouse, and partaking in a 24 pound rib roast that blows Tony away. Tony quips he saw this massive 24 pound rib roast on “www.holyf**k.com”. As Tony eats, he says it is “fatty, fatty goodness”.

What would a food porn show be without the addition of delicious alcoholic beverages? Master mixologist Dale Degroff creates classic drinks for Tony, who enjoys a Manhattan and a Negroni, or a sidecar. Tony tells the audience after drinking Dale’s concoctions “you’ll end up with your head in a bidet”. In the next sequence Tony talks about BBQ, he says “BBQ is like chocolate for men, men can agree we want BBQ”. Tony partakes of BBQ at New York’s Rub BBQ Restaurant. Tony digs into the burnt end of a brisket, making a sandwich out of it with crusty bread and BBQ sauce.

Tony tells the audience he is not hooked on chocolate although he understands the intrique towards it. Tony hangs out with Jacques Torres, master of chocolate, who makes him the richest, decadent hot chocolate that takes Tony back to his childhood.

Next Tony, Chef Daniel Boulud and former New York Times food critic and writer Frank Bruni visit DBGB to indulge in a sausage feast, sampling duck sausage, veal, cabbage and apples, homemade beef hotdogs, Thai sausage topped with a quail egg and the last item, Tony exclaims, a “boneless pig’s feet for dessert, it’s a torpedo of meat”.

Tony visit Chef Michael White at Marea restaurant in New York. Tony and the chef sample sea urchin with lardo (Tony is in heaven), marlin with caviar, cuttlefish, red-wine-braised octopus, lobster and eggplant which Tony says “this time it tastes like shame”, and bone marrow pasta with turbo to which Tony proclaims it “the most magnificant pasta dish in memory”.

Tony suggests for a real food aphrodisiac, stick with alcohol and caviar. Tony visits the House of Caviar Petrossian, sampling a wide variety of expensive caviar, then washing it down with fine champagne. In contrast to this classy scene, Tony takes the viewers to the streets, saying “I like it dirty”. Street food is close to Tony’s heart and ending at a street vendor selling “street meat” seems only natural, to which Tony says “it may not be elegant, but it’s classic”.