– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

All of us, through Katrina,

really went through a lot of stuff.

But to try to bring a restaurant from the top,

rip it down to the bottom, and

then return it all the way to

the top was probably the hardest work of my life.

And taking 220 employees, reducing that to

about 30, trying to hire in 190 more brand new

people that had never worked here before.

And a lot of them were

people who weren't even from New Orleans.

So to try to explain to a kid from Idaho what

New Orleans is all about, much less cook it,

cook it well, and well enough to put it on

the menu here, was a massive undertaking.

Literally from six in the morning to midnight at

least, every single day for months and

months and months.

And as you cruise around here, I mean,

there's just so many stations.

Tonight we're going gonna run four, five, six,

seven, eight, nine full stations on the hot line.

A lot of times, the smaller restaurants,

you're gonna have two.

You're gonna have three.

There's just a lot of more complex,

complicated dishes just based on that.

To try to get this place back up to where it

was was a pretty big feat, but we did it.

And I think the awards on the wall and everything

else that's come out of that really speaks to

the success of what the owners, and the rest of

the chefs, and the restaurateurs bring here.

[MUSIC]

[SOUND]

[MUSIC]

What's up, Kenny Meyer?

How are you, brother?

>> Bring that rabbit?

>> Yeah. Make some

saltimboccas tonight.

My name is Tory McPhail and

I'm the Executive Chef at Commander's Palace.

[MUSIC]

Here in the city, it's all Creole food.

And Creole food is really refined version of Cajun,

and it's more of like French,

Spanish, African, Haitian, or

Creole-Caribbean influences.

Really, it's kind of

America's first melting pot or fusion food.

It really dates back about 250 years.

[MUSIC]

This is all about seasoning.

We season all of our food very well.

So when you make this, you butcher the rabbit,

you season the rabbit,

you stuff it with pastrami,

prosciutto, some fresh tasso, whatever you have.

Crawfish boil mozzarella.

You get all that mozzarella curd in

the bowl and start ladling on

all those great Louisiana crawfish boil.

Same thing we boil up all of our seafood in.

It really helps to give our

hand pulled cheeses that much Louisiana flavor.

You can't just simply add salt and

pepper to the end and

expect you're gonna have a, a Louisiana dish.

You'll get laughed right out of

town if you do that.

I grew up in a tiny farming town in northwest

Washington State, and ended up enrolling into

culinary school when I was just 16.

They told me in culinary school, look, man,

if you really want to be a great chef one day,

you gotta work for the best.

And if you wanna do that,

you only have two options in life.

Either go to, directly to New York City, but

if you really wanna learn how to cook,

you come down to New Orleans.

And if you're lucky enough to come here,

get an interview at Commander's Palace and

do anything you can possibly do to

start working in this kitchen.

And that's the advice I took when I

was younger and started out making salads and

charcuterie, worked up through all the stations.

Now been back here as the executive chef for

about 12 years.

[MUSIC]

I go through literally,

probably 200 of these things every single day.

Tasting the entire kitchen about 20

minutes before the start of every service to make

sure that everything is absolutely perfect.

Soft shell crab, extremely seasonal,

they're hand selected just for our restaurant.

So they can go from alive and

the most beautiful fresh seafood to on your

place in about four minutes.

We pair that with some fresh stone ground grits.

We fold in a ton of fresh goat cheese,

three sauces around the outside,

a ton of fresh herbs, a bit of butter.

Heirloom tomatoes right off the farm.

We're one of the last states in the country

where you can literally buy fresh fruits and

produce right out of the back of

somebody's dusty pick up truck.

You know, for us growing up in the northwest,

you literally had to

get all your food from like a certified vendor.

It wasn't nearly quite that farm to table.

But here, as you can see,

we do all of our own jarring.

Pickles, okra, fresh tomatoes, hot sauce.

There's like three or

four different varieties over here.

And it's literally just food that's picked from

the farm that day,

brought to a great restaurant like this,

were the Sou chefs with the years and

decades of experience will be able to kind of

continue on the Louisiana traditions that way.

>> [MUSIC]

Last night was a blast.

I get to hang out with all my buddies, eat,

drink, do what I love to do and

that's what helps me collect a paycheck.

That's ridiculous.

I'm gettin my, first cocktail of the evening.

Normally I'm just so hot and

so full when I get outta here,

the last thing I want is like a,

big glass of red wine or a, a cocktail.

Just give me an icy, cold beer.

[SOUND] I'm good.

Pop, pop these in the to-go cups and

head down to the Quarter.

>> How's that? >> Good.

[MUSIC]

>> [INAUDIBLE]. >> All right.

Let's go have some fun.

>> Back.

>> This is Brit.

She's my girlfriend.

Right, this is my buddy Joy, and

I've known her for years and years and years.

And of course, Darla.

She like my work wife.

She keeps me, she keeps me in line.

Now that I've had, like a first beer,

I'm kinda in the mood for a proper cocktail.

>> Proper? >> Yeah.

>> What do you consider a proper cocktail?

>> Something better than like gin and tonic.

>> One not in a to go soup bowl?

[LAUGH] >> Yeah, something not in

a plastic soup cup.

So right now we're in the Garden District.

We're gonna head down to our newest place SoBou.

It's in the French Quarter, so we go from

fine dining restaurant all of a sudden to

the best cocktail bar in the South.

There we picked up Juan Carlos Gonzales,

our executive chef.

>> It's been a cool year and a half.

>> Juan Carlos Gonzalez, Executive Chef, Sobou.

>> You know,

hanging out with Tory.

You know, messing around.

Coming up with some cool food, good cocktails.

This is what it's all about.

>> Abigail Guillo, Bar Chef,

Sobou >> And

Abigail Guillo, she's our bar chef.

>> I heard someone say,

what do you got over there?

I said kittens.

>> What you got?

>> Barrel aged white Vieux Carré.

The Vieux Carré, which is French for "Old

Square," which is what we call the French Quarter,

is equal parts of cognac, sweet vermouth, and

rye whiskey with a little bit of Benedictine and

two different kinds of bitters.

[SOUND].

>> [CROSSTALK].

>> Yeah. >> Cheers.

>> [FOREIGN].

>> If that's any indication on

how our evening's gonna go,

I think it's pretty indicative.

Yeah, Abigail starts breaking out all

this like cool, funky bourbon, right?

She's got some stuff where she made her own

fire ball [LAUGH] and,

we start pouring off some of that.

She made rum-dum-dums and

served those in a little cocquetier.

It's stainless steel, aluminum little cups.

That's why actually the cocktail got its name.

After people imbibe, and they really start to have

a couple of cocktails, the word cocquetier got

slurred into cooktail/g,or cocktail.

That's how that whole thing came about.

>> We got a bunch of stuff going on for us.

>> See what we got.

>> These right here,

these are what we call shrimp and caso pinchos.

Pineapple's being grilled and

marinated in a bunch of molasses and

a bunch of rum for like couple days.

We have a little chimichuri sauce with

a little bit of Crystal beurre blanc, as well.

This right here, this is a yellowfin tuna and

it's got veche.

This tuna has been

caught five o'clock in the morning.

Super, super, super fresh.

On top of that,

we have some Scotch bonnet pickled fennel,

some grilled red onions, and

some beautiful local satsuma.

[MUSIC]

>> Rock star, great.

We had some beignets last night with some Louisiana

sweet potato, sticky cane syrup, and some sea salt,

some foie gras jelly across the top.

Juan and I met 12 and

a half years ago at Commander's.

And it's like slammed packed busy,

and I kept on calling him Jose all night and

he wouldn't respond to me.

I'm like, motherfucker.

>> [LAUGH].

>> I said look man [COUGH], I don't

know what your deal is, okay?

I need food and I

gotta have it right fucking now.

Not responding, not responding.

I'm like dude, what the hell is your problem?

He's like, my name's not Jose, it's Juan.

I'm like, great.

>> [LAUGH].

>> Great, man, right?

So we've actually finally talked it out,

did all that stuff.

And we've been, he's

been one of my best friends ever since.

It's been great. So we had

some proper cocktails last night at Sobou, and

then went to the Chart Room.

We had a couple of libations, should we say.

So what are we drinking?

>> I'm drinking the La Bon but

I think we should have some Jameson.

>> For the last hurricane,

Hurricane Isaac.

>> Yeah? >> I was right

here in this bar.

>> I was here with you.

>> That's right. [LAUGH]. >> Remember, me and Erin?

Remember?

Remember we had like, our boots on?

>> That's right. >> And our dresses?

And you're like, whoo!

>> Trouble!

>> Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And I remember being freaked out.

I was like, there's nobody around.

Oh my god!

It's so weird.

>> Yeah. >> And then I saw

the Traffic Tranny, and

she was directing the National Guard.

And I was like, oh, thank God!

>> Yeah. >> It's back to normal.

Traffic Tranny is

directing the National Guard through the empty

French Quarter after a hurricane.

>> Indeed. The Chart Room became

kinda local hangout after we started opening Sobou.

So we'll get off from Commander's,

come down here, check in with all the gang,

make sure everybody's good.

And they'll come right next

door to the Chart Room.

Swing over, gra, grab a couple of tequila drinks,

icy cold beers and then, relax.

Just like it should be.

We actually just became friends with the,

the bartender, Lisa.

And so when we had a chance to be able to

come and hang with extra buddies, we decided to

take them to the Chart Room all the time.

We're, we're gonna suck these down and

we're gonna, go up to Silvane.

>> Really? >> You all right?

>> Yeah. >> Yeah.

>> Get more good stuff [INAUDIBLE].

We're just leaving the Chart Room, and so

we're cruising down the street, all of a sudden,

look over and there's a second line, right?

Brass band marching right down

the middle of the street.

Jump in, we start dancing and partying in

the middle of the streets of the French Quarter.

[MUSIC]

I just love having

impromptu stuff like that.

That's why I love New Orleans.

How cool is that?

>> That was freaking awesome.

>> I can promise you that's not happening in

Idaho tonight [LAUGH].

Second line goes into the bar,

we go on along our way, end up at Sylvain.

[MUSIC]

It's kind of precursor into

modern New Orleans French Quarter restaurants.

They serve late so we get outta the restaurants and

you can sit down and

have like small little tapas-style food, but

very New Orleans too.

So what's the deal with cocktails, babe?

>> You can count on everything being

absolutely delicious here.

It's like everything's really simple,

really approachable and just delicious.

>> Order a selection of your favorite cocktails,

and Walter and I can order a bunch of food.

[MUSIC]

We have, like, champagne and

french fries, killer soups,

chicken liver mousse is very popular down here.

We call it Poor Man's Foie Gras.

>> Wagyu beef belly.

>> I don't know anybody else in

New Orleans that's serving Wagyu beef belly.

>> Really?

I don't [CROSSTALK]. >> And, and

ripping it off like that.

[SOUND]. >> Nope, that's amazing.

>> It's sweet.

It's salty.

It's rich, huh?

That sticky sauce on top.

I don't know, it was like a beet of root beer, or

some kind of like sugar cane or molasses glaze.

Very rich, very satisfying.

What's?

>> What? >> What's happening

over here?

>> This is coming in a go cup.

I am getting this to go, cuz this is a civilized

city, where you don't need to chug your booze,

you don't need to chug your wine,

you can just put it in a go cup and

you could saunter on to your next place.

I pour things for a living.

So I'm actually good at this.

>> Thank you all so much.

Thank you, thank you.

>> Hannah!

[SOUND] I gotta, I'll meet you there.

I gotta go in here.

It's okay. I gotta go get someone.

>> No, no, we need our crew, man.

[LAUGH].

>> Hannah! >> All right,

her and Leela.

>> Oh, lord.

>> Finding some boyfriends along the way.

It's French Quarter, New Orleans,

man you walk out of a place they are like hey,

what's up what's going on?

>> [LAUGH]

>> We are going to Sobou that's what's going on.

So we bounce from Sylvain,

walk back up to Sobou.

Sous Chef Smitty put in a bunch of pork butts about

six o'clock yesterday morning.

We took those, we pulled them out,

oh man it's going to be awesome.

All this meat's just like,

literally, just falling right off.

All that au jus on the bottom.

All that stuff goes back into the meat, so

you kinda re-absorb all that great,

great seasoning.

[MUSIC]

That's really, really, frigging' good.

>> So we got amazing like cuchandole.

And we're just gonna fry

some beautiful Louisiana oysters to go with it.

And we're gonna make our own little tacos to

go with it.

>> So as we're pulling all this stuff out,

Abigail says, God, that's so good.

>> I got this.

I got the drink for this.

I just got, I, I, I got the drink for this.

I gotta make it.

I'm gonna make it.

>> And so she jumps behind the bar, starts

pulling out all these really good scotches and

then makes a brand new cocktail just based on

what she was smelling in the kitchen and

it worked perfectly, you know?

You got smokey pork,

a couple crispy oysters, pickled okra,

cilantro, fresh mirliton, pickled carrots and

vegetables, foie gras aioli across the top,

that paired with good scotch,

that was like the capper for

the entire evening, man.

I don't know about y'all.

>> I know, right?

>> [SOUND] [APPLAUSE].

>> Like we didn't already have enough.

>> You get the right group, the right table,

and some good tacos,

my friend, it's gonna be a good night [LAUGH].

>> [LAUGH] [SOUND] Ole.

>> [CROSSTALK] Ole.

>> Yes, man.

>> All the steps you go to [INAUDIBLE].

>> Like immediately.

>> Mm. >> Could we bring this to

life tomorrow?

>> This is so good.

>> It's already on the menu.

>> [LAUGH]

[MUSIC]

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
restaurant /ˈrɛstərɒnt/ B1	noun - a place where people pay for and eat meals
employees /ɪmˈplɔɪiːz/ A2	noun - people who work for a company
undertaking /ˌʌndəˈteɪkɪŋ/ B2	noun - a task or project, especially a difficult one
massive /ˈmæsɪv/ B1	adjective - very large; huge
stations /ˈsteɪʃənz/ A2	noun - a place where something is located or where an activity happens
complex /ˈkɒmpleks/ B1	adjective - consisting of many different and connected parts
feat /fiːt/ B2	noun - an achievement that requires great courage, skill, or strength
awards /əˈwɔːdz/ A2	noun - prizes or honors given for achievement
success /səkˈses/ A2	noun - the accomplishment of an aim or purpose
refined /rɪˈfaɪnd/ B2	adjective - elegant and cultured in appearance, manner, or taste
influences /ˈɪnfluənsɪz/ B1	noun - the power to affect someone or something
seasoning /ˈsiːzənɪŋ/ A2	noun - the addition of spices, herbs, or salt to food
butcher /ˈbʊtʃə/ A2	verb - to kill and prepare an animal for food
stuff /stʌf/ A2	verb - to fill something with a material
prosciutto /prəˈʃuːtoʊ/ B1	noun - an Italian dry-cured ham
tasso /ˈtæs.oʊ/ B2	noun - a type of cured pork shoulder, popular in Louisiana Creole cuisine
ladling /ˈleɪdlɪŋ/ A2	verb - to transfer liquid using a ladle
flavor /ˈfleɪvər/ A2	noun - the taste or smell of food