Alright, we're gonna meet a chef friend of mine and Gabie's.
Mr. Z?
He is not Mr. Z.
He was one of the judges when Gabie was on MasterChef.
So he is literally responsible for making her number two?
I'll let you ask him that.
He said he wants to take us to a couple of local spots.
Alright.
Let's try what the local actual chef in New York eats.
Hey!
It's good to see you.
This is the first spot for today?
Yes.
My favourite Mexican restaurant in all of New York,
Which also happens to be in the neighbourhood that I live.
So I've known this restaurant before it became famous and before it even received the Michelin Star.
This has a Michelin Star?
It's not fancy, as you can see.
Super unassuming.
- It just feels really casual. - Very affordable, very family friendly.
So that's why I brought you here.
Great!
Oh gosh, wow.
Look at that.
Fantastic.
Oh my gosh.
This looks good.
My mouth is watering.
I know.
It's just that colour.
I like to add a little bit of one of these salsas,
Because these are a little acidic and it gives the avocado guacamole a little bit more kick.
Alright.
Cheers.
Welcome.
Thank you so much.
Yeah.
Oh, that is really good.
Oh, with the salsa as well, it's really, really nice.
But how is it that some taste so much better than others?
You know, guacamole is one of the few dishes where it actually tastes better if you make it at home.
Because you don't use like blenders or big robo-cous or food processors.
It's tough to just do everything by hand when you're cooking for 100 people a day.
And plus, it's difficult to make things fresh all the time.
But here, they make it fresh.
They don't make each one fresh.
They wait till you get seven, eight orders, then they make one batch.
Okay.
Instead of having one person just constantly make it.
And there's some guy with a masher just waiting for the seventh order.
And he's like, go!
So that's why it's consistently good.
But sometimes you have to wait.
Okay.
Yeah, yeah.
It's totally worth it.
And the chips make a huge difference.
Oh, that's true.
Because most places, they just use store-bought chips.
And here, they make their own masa tortillas.
And whatever they don't sell that night.
I think they chop it up, dry it, and then they fry it the next day.
Wow.
This is so simple, but maybe the best nacho and guac I've ever had.
Ooh!
Amazing.
Oh, thank you so much.
Amazing.
Thank you.
Now, ceviche, a lot of acid, probably like grape juice or lemon juice and lime juice.
And the fish is cooked by the acid.
So it's actually cooked.
The colour, you could see the inside, it's sort of like it looks raw,
But the outside is all sort of like, it looks almost cooked a little bit.
Right.
Cheers.
Okay.
You do know that Ollie just put a jalapeno in his, like the one piece of spicy jalapeno.
Oh, really?
You just ate a whole jalapeno?
Was it spicy?
Yeah.
Do jalapenos also cook things?
I was a little surprised why you would grab that when you were definitely staying away from this salsa.
That's amazing, man.
It's got...
Very acidic.
Yeah.
It's more acidic than a gazpacho.
It's in that kind of sour soup, but the fish is lovely.
It really is an acquired, I want to say taste, but texture.
It's sort of like semi-cooked.
Right.
It's like half cooked fish.
Medium rare.
Yeah.
Medium rare fish.
So you get that sort of rubbery texture as well as the soft texture.
But once you get this taste acquired, you do crave it.
It's one of those things that you do crave.
Gets your mouth watering immediately because of the acid as well.
Yeah.
Josh was telling me on the way here that you were a judge on MasterChef Korea when Gabie, Josh's wife, was competing.
Yes.
Now I've got a bone to pick with you.
Okay.
Oh no.
Because yes, I do love to tease Gabie about the fact that she came second in MasterChef,
But I also love Gabie as my fellow wife to Josh.
You are one of the people responsible for labelling her number two.
I remember Gabie because the first episode, there were a lot of fish dishes.
Out of 100 people, Gabie was the only one who actually brought a fish to actually fillet and cook.
And we knew that was a big mistake because there wasn't enough time.
You're only given 10 minutes.
Oh really?
But she did it.
She did it.
So that's why we sort of put her in the next level.
I remember she was the only one to do that.
So what I'm taking from that,
No disrespect to Gwango, obviously another good friend of ours,
But you feel you made a mistake in...
Terrible mistake.
Labelling her number two.
I still have nightmares, you know?
Sorry Gabie.
All right.
Let's try some more food.
What's this?
So it's like a taco.
It's not folded.
But you know, you're right in that the ingredients are pretty much the same.
Because these tortillas are made out of corn masa.
What's inside is pretty much similar, but it's just much smaller.
And the tortilla is actually thicker.
Yeah. I can see.
Chonky.
Yeah. It's chubby.
Can't wait to try it.
It looks like the texture is going to be really interesting.
Okay.
Let's get stuck in.
The chorizo.
It is so smooth.
And is that bean underneath there?
Fried beans.
No, it's just fried beans.
The texture of whatever that taco like thing is, is incredible.
It's almost like it's been cooked like sort of al dente where there's like, you know,
stodginess left in it still.
Really like that.
It's doughy.
Yes, very doughy.
Yeah.
It's really good.
Look at that.
Oh my gosh.
That's exquisite.
That is very, very good.
This is veggie chilaquiles.
Oh wow.
Is this the chef's recommendation?
Yeah.
I've never had this before.
Wow.
Oh, thank you so much.
Sorry, what is this?
I've never seen anything like this before.
Oh my gosh.
So it's good.
Oh yeah.
The outside is softened.
Softened by the sauce.
But the inside is still crispy.
Oh, but it's spicy.
Wow. That is spicy.
Oh, that is.
That's got a kick.
It comes.
It just came into my nostrils.
It's spicy, but it's insanely moreish.
And the thing is you have to keep eating it for that spice.
Yeah.
You have to keep eating it.
If you stop, it gets worse.
It gets hotter.
I can see how that would be a brunch thing as well.
Especially if brunch went till 4 PM.
You know what?
I could see myself ordering this next time.
Yeah.
You could just work your way through that.
Okay.
Enchiladas.
This is the signature dish.
Here they use corn tortilla.
And for me, it gives it more of a body, more of a texture.
It's not just a wrap.
The star is the mole.
I'm hearing what you're saying, but I'm also just really struggling to focus.
And I think that's why we have to eat this first.
Okay.
This is like a soggy burrito covered in a...
Mole sauce.
A mole sauce is sort of...
Peppers and chocolate.
There's chocolate in here.
Chocolatey.
If you've never had mole, you can't really describe it.
Because it's sweet.
Not really spicy, but there is spices there.
It looks like feta cheese on top.
I think it's...
Different type of cheese.
Yeah, Mexican cheese.
Okay, that makes more sense.
I'm just going to eat this because it's really spicy.
Oh, that's good.
That is really good.
That's incredible.
It's not overly sweet.
Mostly savoury.
There's hints of chocolate in there, but it's not like chocolatey chocolatey, you know?
This is one of the dishes I enjoy eating after work.
After a long day.
Want something a bit warming, a bit hearty.
Especially in the winter.
Yeah, but bold flavours.
Wow.
This has been an amazing meal.
This is it for round one?
Yes, for round one.
I mean, New York.
Mexican food is doing great.
Chinese food is great.
Korean food is doing great.
But New York is about steak.
Look how big these are.
$30,000 worth of meat in there.
This is the porterhouse.
Now we go with the ribeye.
Oh my gosh.
Crust is just perfectly crunchy and crispy.
The inside is literally like butter!