- What the--
- Wait, you ain't even seen the head yet.
- That is not an alligator!
- What's up y'all?
I'm Timothy DeLaGhetto and this is Acquired Taste.
I'm on a mission to expand my horizons by trying all types
of interesting foods from different cultures
and sharing them with my homies.
Cheers. - Cheers.
- Cheers. - Cheers
- So good.
- Those are good.
- Because you know there's no better way
to explore different cultures than through their food.
Today, we're in Chicago, but it's not for deep dish.
Today, we're going to be having some whole smoked alligator.
Eating smoked alligator is a bayou tradition.
People in the southern states like Florida, Louisiana,
and Mississippi have been chomping on it for generations.
But there's been a recent spike in popularity
because many people consider it
a healthy alternative to red meat.
If you're from the north
and you've never heard of eating alligator,
that's because it's a super regional tradition
and it's pretty uncommon to find it outside
of areas where gators are found.
It's often served as gumbo, fried, or as ribs,
but today we're going to be eating it whole and smoked.
We're here at Frontier,
which is a restaurant known for its whole smoked animals.
Today I'll be joined by my homegirl, Leah Van Dale,
AKA Carmella, who's a WWE Superstar.
So hopefully she doesn't hit me
with a clothesline or a leg drop.
Let's do it.
How's it going?
- [Chef Brian] Hey, what's happening?
What's up? - So sir, how you doing?
- Good to meet you.
- Tim, nice to meet you.
- Pleasure, pleasure.
- Okay, so, what's going on here?
- We got a whole alligator.
- I see that.
I feel like I'm on "Naked and Afraid" right now.
- Right?
So yeah, at Frontier we do
a bunch of different whole animals,
but the alligator has began
to really gain a lot of popularity.
- So how does one become like an alligator-cooking expert?
Did you grow up eating it or--
- I'm from New Orleans.
- You're from New Orleans?
- Okay, okay. - Yeah, so--
- So, this is like a common thing in New Orleans?
- Yeah, I mean down in the Gulf States in general, you know.
One thing people don't know, it's very lean, you know?
And so cooking it
is not necessarily the easiest thing either
and having it actually taste good.
- Oh, I see, I see.
- So, one thing that we try to do over here at the Frontier
is showcase different parts of the alligator.
So, we've had the alligator legs,
and we've had the alligator ribs
and things like that that we've run.
But, preparing 'em in ways
that people wouldn't freak out about.
- You telling me you're trying to do in a way
that people won't freak out,
but you got his gloves on
and you got the head here, chilling.
- Well, that's for identification.
- Otherwise it would just look like,
I don't know, - [Chef Brian] A lizard.
- [Timothy] A fish with some legs.
- [Chef Brian] Yeah. - Do you have
any like specific food memories
that maybe shapes how you cook or what you cook now?
- I mean growing up in Louisiana gives you
a different outlook on food in general
because everything's so different down there, you know?
You have so much influence
from so many different cultures
that's built in to what makes New Orleans food what it is.
- [Timothy] Right. - And so, yeah,
that was always a part of what I did, you know,
and I grew up cooking with my grandmother.
I grew up cooking in restaurants in New Orleans,
but it was never at the forefront of my style, per se.
I wasn't only a Cajun and Creole cooking chef.
- Right.
- But it made me know how to season my food.
- [Timothy] Oh okay, yeah, I bet, I bet, yeah.
- It made me cook with flavor.
For sure.
- All right, so I'm excited to try this out.
How do you prepare it?
What's going on?
- So, a little bit of oil first
and that's just to help the seasoning stick
to the meat itself.
All right, so in this mixture we have some Cajun spices,
like paprika and garlic and oregano.
It actually has a little bit of sugar,
some lemon zest.
We want to be pretty liberal with the seasoning
because alligator is pretty much a blank canvas,
so it doesn't really have a strong flavor.
What you apply to it
is what you're going to get back from it.
- What would you compare it to
in terms of another type of meat?
- So the legs are very much like chicken wings.
- [Timothy] OK.
- [Chef Brian] I can cook them down and you'll be like,
"okay, I can tell you it's a chicken wing."
But, the tail pieces are more like a pork loin almost.
- Oh, do tail.
- Do tail.
And some chicken thighs that we smoked in the smoker.
I like to put that stuffed chicken right
into the cavity here.
- [Timothy] Oh my god.
- Just in case somebody's a little freaked out,
we got some chicken in there for them.
- Just cut that open and get you some chicken.
- [Chef Brian] And these cheeks,
you know everyone loves the pork cheek.
The alligators cheek gets love too,
so they're very nice cheeks
on the alligator, as well. - [ Timothy] Man,
they're looking tender.
What's your favorite part?
- [Chef Brian] I like the legs the most.
- [Timothy] You like the legs?
Okay.
- So, we'll get this big guy onto the sheet tray there
- Oh my gosh. - and into our smoker.
- Okay. How long does that smoke for?
- We're going to let him smoke for about four hours.
- Wow.
- They vary in size
and so that's going to change your cook time.
- So do people have to order this ahead of time?
- Yeah, so people order them about five days in advance.
- Oh, okay, so this is special?
- Special, special.
- All right.
- All right, well you make yourself comfortable.
I'm about to take our seasoned gator
on outside to the smoker.
- Okay cool,
I'm going to go ahead and greet my homegirl, Leah,
who's here and not tell her what we 'bout to eat.
- [Chef Brian] There you go. Surprise, surprise.
- Sounds good.
- All right. - All right.
Eat you later, alligator.
- What up?
How are you? - Good. How are you?
- Thanks for coming.
- Thanks for having me.
- I'm glad you could make it.
- I'm scared. - Are you?
- I feel like I need a bottle of wine before we start.
Like two bottles. - What a coincidence.
I got some wine right here for you
and this is your wine.
- Capo Cagna.
- It means boss bitch.
- Boss bitch.
- Yes - Oh, what's that named after?
- Me, duh. - Oh, well damn.
I knew that one. Cheers.
- Cheers to that.
- Cheers, cheers, cheers.
Oh, that's good.
- I'm getting hints of oak and--
- Pear?
And-- - And a bunch of bull shit.
- All right, so I hope you're hungry.
- I'm starving, but I'm scared.
- Don't be scared!
Are you a picky eater?
- Well okay, so my boyfriend would tell you
that I'm a picky eater,
- Oh, okay. - but I feel like
I'm pretty open.
Most of the time, I have to eat healthy
because of my job and yadda yadda yadda, but --
- Right, 'cause you're a WWE Superstar.
- Yes.
I'm adventurous, like I'll try anything once.
- All right, well that's good 'cause that's
what this is all about. - Yeah
- This show is all about, you know,
going outside your comfort zone.
- Sure.
- Maybe trying out something interesting
from a different culture or a different part of the world.
Then, you know, you got a few little appetizers
we're going to bring out. - Okay.
- Before I bring out the main event.
- The main event,
I like that. - The Title Match
- Okay.
- Wrestlemania. - Okay.
- You know what I'm saying? - Right.
So, there's two rounds?
- There's two rounds, yes.
- Gosh, okay.
- You ready for this?
- No.
Yes.
- You got this! - No.
Okay, I'm ready. - You're a WWE Superstar!
- I'm ready. I'm ready.
- Oh yeah, oh wow, that's so much food.
- That's a lot of food.
- [ Chef Brian] It is a lot of food.
- Chef Brian Jupiter.
- [Brian] Hello, how you doing?
- [Leah] Brian Jupiter!
This looks--
- So, what do we have here?
- All right, so this is all part of the feast.
- Uh-huh.
- [Chef Brian] Some mac and cheese here.
Some mixed seasonal vegetables
and then we have our Caesar salad with lots of croutons,
and a little bit of a jambalaya
to show the New Orleans roots.
- Do you have any food for him?
This is all for me, yeah?
- We got him a little to-go box.
- Okay, perfect, yeah.
- Yeah, we'll bring that out a little later.
Well, you all get started.
I'm going to go get the main feast.
- Cool.
- Does it have bugs in it?
- [Tim] Shhh, dont tell her. - [Brian] I can't tell you.
I've been sworn to secrecy.
- Okay.
- All right, appreciate it. - Thank you so much.
- Thank you so much. - No problem.
- [Timothy] All right, see? I told you it was nothing crazy.
- [Leah] Yeah, I can mess with this.
- Yeah. - [Leah] Yeah,
like I don't even know where to start.
- So, what would you say
is the most unique, adventurous thing you've ever eaten?
- It sounds stupid.
Chicken.
Everyone loves chicken, right?
- [Timothy] Okay. - Anyone can eat a chicken,
but the way they served it...
- [Timothy] Yeah. - was basically a chicken
on the platter that they just cut up,
like the head was still on it.
- Oh yeah. - Everything.
The chicken head was on the plate.
- It's just the head on there that throws you off.
- It threw me off.
And like I eat chicken all the time,
but seeing it like that, I was like,
"Oh, no. Nope."
- Seeing the head on things would
throw you off a little bit.
- Totally. The eyes are still in it.
And I'm like,
"How am I supposed to eat this when I'm looking into
"its eyeballs right now?"
- So you are Italian, but you spend a lot of time in
Florida, right?
- I've lived in Florida for six years.
- [Timothy] For six years? - Yeah.
- [Timothy] Okay. Down South?
- Down South.
- So there's that whole debate whether y'all call
the pasta sauce or gravy.
- So my family always called it gravy,
like growing up,
it was always gravy,
but I looked it up and I've done a lot of research on this.
Apparently gravy is if you have meat in a sauce.
- What? - And then sauce is like just
the sauce with the pasta.
- This is an Italian thing?
- [Leah] It's an Italian thing.
- Word. - [Leah] Apparently.
- I learned something new today.
- You're welcome.
- Is there anything you would never eat?
- I mean, we're talking about bugs here.
I'm not saying I'm going to go out
and eat a grasshopper.
- Didn't nobody say nothing about bugs.
- Are there bugs?
Someone tell me if there's bugs in this mac and cheese
because if there are, they taste really good.
No, I'm open.
I'm open to trying something
and I hate when people are like,
"Oh, I don't like that."
It's like, well have you tried it?
- Exactly 'cause how you going to know if you don't do it?
- Exactly.
(beep)
- The main course kind of takes up some room,
so I'm going to clear these plates--
- Takes up some room. - if you don't mind.
- Do you need help?
I can help you.
- No, it's okay, you're a Superstar.
You sit tight.
- Stop saying that I'm a Superstar.
- You are a WWE Superstar, I'll clear this. All right?
Where am I putting this?
All right.
Now it's time for the main event.
- Main event.
This is what I've been waiting for.
- This is Wrestlemania right here.
- This is Wrestemania.
Tensions are high. The crowd is --
What the --
- Wait, you ain't even seen the head yet.
- That is not an alligator!
- Oh... - [Leah] Is that a--
What is that? - but it is.
- And it has a head.
- Yes.
Wow.
- What's in his mouth?
- [Chef Brian] A little chicken.
- [Timothy] A little chicken.
(Chef Brian and Timothy laugh)
- [Leah] Where did it come from?
- The swamp.
- For real?
- Tell us about this alligator.
- Yeah, so we cook whole alligators here.
- [Leah] Oh, really? - We smoke 'em
and so this guy is stuffed with a little chicken
in the middle.
- So, what do you do?
You just cut into it? - Yeah.
How do you eat this?
- Yeah, I'm going to grab-- let me grab some gloves.
- I'm dying right now.
- [Chef Brian] We like to start with the legs
'cause they come off just very easily.
- Oh, okay. So we got to finish this whole thing, all right?
- Got to eat the whole thing.
That's the rules.
- If you want to win a T-shirt.
- All right. - Oh, it's like a wing.
- Just like a wing and now the bulk of the meat
comes from the tail.
- It's like a Disneyland turkey leg.
- So each tail has like four loins on the tail.
- You said loins?
- Yeah, it looks like pork loins.
You'll see.
- Oh. Oh, okay.
- So we have four of these guys on each one.
When you're dealing with the wild animals,
you don't really have the controls over diet
and things like that.
- You don't have no like Wagyu alligators.
- No.
No Wagyu alligators.
Not yet, at least.
Inside you'll see some smoked chicken that we have inside.
- [Timothy] Now I know chicken is a little crazy for you.
- It's the craziest thing I've ever eaten!
- This is actually the surprise is this chicken.
- Alligator, whatever.
Chicken. What?
My mind's blown.
- All right, y'all enjoy.
- Thank you so much. - [Timothy] Thank you.
We should start off here.
I'm going to grab me a little leg.
- Yeah, I want a leg here.
Cheers.
This is a lot of meat.
- Hmm, you know what?
- Okay
I'm into it. - That tastes like a rib.
- Yes.
- Like the parts of the rib that are super close
to the bone,
you know what I'm saying?
- I closed my eyes to pretend I'm not eating alligator.
- The seasoning is bomb.
- [Leah] The seasoning is so good, like the flavors.
- Like a little spicy.
- I really want to try the other pieces he's talking about.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's do it.
- This looks like squid.
- I'm going to try me a fatty piece.
That's fire!
- Okay, this is good.
- That is so good.
- It's weird, I feel like I'm eating fish/meat.
- That's what they say, like it tastes like --
- Like am I eating octopus or am I eating a chicken?
- Yeah, because when he cut it up, right,
it looked like some grilled octopus.
- It does 'cause it almost looks slimy,
but it doesn't taste slimy.
- Beefy, chicken, --
- Like a turducken, but --
not.
It's a beef-squid-cken.
- Beef-squid-cken.
- Beef-squid-cken is what that is.
- Yeah, that's actually...
- Yeah, wow. - really good
- I liked the fatty piece actually.
Yo, try a fatty piece.
- [Leah] Okay I'm going to try a fatty piece.
- [Timothy] They're a little more like --
- Oh yeah.
I mean obviously that's better.
- Damn...
This is bomb! - I can't believe I'm
eating alligator.
- I feel like if they don't serve it with the head,
people would be down with it.
- For sure. I think that will throw people off.
- But, I mean, you serve the head with anything
and it'll throw 'em off.
- Chicken!
- [Timothy] Like chicken. - Hello!
- [Timothy] Oh yeah, speaking of which.
- Oh yeah, we have to try the chicken.
Is it good?
- It is good, but I'll tell you what.
Trying it after the alligator,
I think I like the alligator better.
- I'm down with the fatty alligator,
like that fatty piece was --
- [Timothy] Mhm.
So is this better or worse
than what you thought it was going to be?
- Seeing the whole thing on display threw me off, for sure,
but I was open.
- You know what?
The gator really has some bite to it.
- [Leah] Do you think this alligator had a name?
- [Timothy] Shirley - Shirley?
Awe like Shirley Temple. - Awe.
- Look at this.
Shirley Temple.
Shirls, I call her.
- Shirls.
- Oh Shirley, a kiss.
- [Timothy] Awe, that was nice.
- Yeah. I feel bad, you know?
- I'm also creeped out.
Did you enjoy your alligator experience?
- I actually really did.
Shirley was delicious.
- [Timothy] Uh-huh.
- And I don't regret it at all.
- Well, I'm glad you enjoyed your experience.
- I did.
- You see what I'm saying?
Sometimes things might be a little weird,
a little scary, but just try it out.
- [Leah] Try it out.
- And then you learn that you love it.
- You opened my eyes.
Like, for sure, first when I saw it, I was like,
"What the?"
But you try it, it's good. It's amazing.
You have to be open-minded to it.
- Oh yeah, just be open-minded.
- [Leah] Yeah. - Try it out one time
'cause you never know what you're going to like or not like,
you know? - Exactly. Don't judge.
- Don't judge.
Cheers to that.
- Cheers to that.
- Acquired Taste (beep)!