- [Chef Phillip] Everything that we do here
is done in like 40-gallon batches.
Every week, 40 gallons, 40 gallons, 40 gallons.
This is the turtle soup today.
Tomorrow, we're probably gonna do duck and andouille gumbo,
and then seafood gumbo,
and then we start the whole process again next week.
This is my Sous Chef Kyle.
- How are you guys doing today?
- [Chef Phillip] He's a character.
Frowny face, but fun.
- Something of the sorts.
- Turtle soup is one of those staples.
We always use fresh turtle meat.
Comes in. We grind it.
A lot of places tend to mix in veal.
That's a no-no here at Galatoire's.
It's always turtle meat.
And Louisiana's known for that turtle.
Here we go. 50 pounds.
(laughs)
50 pounds of turtle meat.
- Yeah. There's really no pretty way to do this.
Turtle cooks a lot like beef,
that's why so many people hide it,
but not here.
So, you start out browning the turtle meat
with a bunch of aromatics.
Oregano, clove, thyme, chili powder.
And this will all be in about a three-step process.
Just to keep layering those flavors.
- You hit it with our famous trinity, right?
The holy grail, which is celery, onions, and bell peppers.
It's my early morning steam bath.
- A little spa day.
(chef laughs)
- You have people who come here when they were little kids.
Their grandparents have taken them to Galatoire's,
and now they come back as grandparents taking
their grandchildren.
What they had 100 years ago is what they try now,
with the same flavor.
But, on the back end, our technique has to be different,
evolving and changing constantly.
To be honest with you,
they were taking a lot of shortcuts
when I stepped into the kitchen for the first time.
I can't speak for the people before me,
but I want to make sure that we're always
making the fresh stuff.
My job is to modernize it.
Take ingredients and simplify the technique,
but also intensify the quality.
That's really what my job is here at Galatoire's.
- [Kyle] Sherry. And red wine.
Could be a gallon of each for this recipe.
Two gallons of booze.
It wouldn't be New Orleans food without booze.
- [Chef Phillip] Most important ingredient besides turtle,
in the turtle soup, is sherry.
Once everything's added, then we got to add the stock.
You always add the stock before your roux,
especially in the turtle soup.
- So now, considering I can't see anything,
you can smell how that alcohol's not quite as abrasive.
So I know it's time to go in with the veal stock.
This is the real love right here.
So from here, we're going to let this come up
to a nice hard simmer, we're going to add the roux.
- [Chef Phillip] And roux is everything.
But it's got to be roux the right way.
If it goes too dark, it becomes too bitter.
If it's too light, it's not the right color.
Roux is that flavor, and it's really about balancing out
the bitterness in that with the sweetness, the saltiness.
- [Kyle] So I always start with a gallon,
and adjust from there.
Freshly squeezed lemon juice. A little parsley.
Let it simmer for a little bit, let the roux cook out,
and then I'll call Chef over.
- [Chef Phillip] I was born here in New Orleans.
I remember, as a little kid, coming here.
My mother would wake me up early in the morning,
get me dressed in my Sunday best.
And that tradition of being able to come in
and sit in the main dining room of Galatoire's
has stuck with me my whole life.
Being able to come back
and lead the kitchens of Galatoire's,
it's a big undertaking.
So, for me, personally Galatoire's is special.
- [Kyle] It's good.
- Pinch of salt?
Delicious!
The key is, making sure you cook that roux out,
because you don't want to get that bitter flavor.
Once that goes out and we do one final seasoning,
just to make sure that spices and everything else
and salinity is perfect. Then we're good to go.
- [Kyle] So the reason we bag it,
is to make it more efficient to transport, to heat.
It's a lot easier to heat a bag of soup
than have pots and pots going.
(snare drum solo)
- We're out here at American Seafood.
This is one of the stops,
usually once a week, once a month,
we try to get out here.
They get in 100 pounds of crab meat,
I'm already ordering 80 pounds.
The amount of fresh seafood that Galatoire's goes through,
it's enormous.
- This is all fresh caught jumbo, just came in.
Chef's going to give it the old test-ola.
We pride ourself on crab meat.
Look at that jumbo lump all the way through and through
the whole cup full. Nothing but jumbo lump.
'Course we do our own crawfish meat too,
we process on crawfish tails.
- [Chef Phillip] I got this private party tomorrow.
I need the best lemon fish you got.
This guy right here.
- This over here, all right?
- [Chef Phillip] Oh my goodness, yeah.
Chef picked this one out.
(chef laughs)
- [Chef Phillip] I tell you what, we'll do three of these.
And we'll do four of these as well.
We couldn't do our part at Galatoire's
without this man, and without these guys right here.
I mean, what is it? 800 pounds of fish?
We go through at least-
- At least 800 a week.
- Yeah, at least.
When you're sourcing so many different ingredients,
and when you're sourcing the best at all times,
there's a lot of different personalities
you got to deal with, especially when it comes to
foragers, fisherman, crabbers, even the guys
who raise pigs and meat up in north Louisiana.
And a lot of times, those relationships are very important.
So, the more you take care of them,
they're going to take care of you.
Everything's related to the weather, right?
- [Wayne] Weather.
- [Chef Phillip] Weather, and the guys out in the boat.
If it's stormy out there, they can't get out there
and they can't catch like they're used to.
I can rely on Wayne to call me up and say,
"Hey guys, you're not going to be getting
your full load of crab meat this day
because of this reason, that reason."
- [Wayne] Working with Phillip, knowing that every day
I know pretty much what he's going to order,
and I know how to order because our relationship
and how we work so close together.
- [Chef Phillip] He won't say it on camera,
but I can tell you right now,
Galatoire's gets first right of refusal
for all crab meat that comes in.
(Wayne laughs)
Just don't tell Commander's, and just don't tell Antoin's.
- [Wayne] I take care of the people who take care of me.
And those people who buy from me 24/7,
they get taken care of.
There's one of my drum fisherman, him and his wife,
they fish out of Lafitte, and they bringing in some
local-caught black drum. Some of this will be
processed and delivered tomorrow to Galatoire's.
Hey, appreciate you, chef. Love you, baby.
- Always.
It's 11:15.
(rhythmic marimba music)
It's the calm before the storm.
Once it starts, there's no stopping.
It's going to be busy, busy, busy, all the way through.
That's one of the most famous dining rooms
in all of New Orleans right there.
- Who was that? Me and you that got that?
- Oh, bro, you and me.
There are more contracts, deals, handshakes,
done on the tables of Galatoire's
than in lawyer's offices, churches, weddings, divorces,
all celebrated here at Galatoire's.
- So this is Lariana. She is the souffle master.
This is a 115 year old tradition.
This is the lifeline of Galatoire's.
If we don't have souffles, then we just have upset guests.
- [Lariana] This is what I do all day. Potato girl.
(Lariana laughs)
- [Chef Phillip] He's a new addition
to our kitchen.
He just started recently, but the boy is
mayhem on this station.
He can hold it with the best of them.
The fish comes in the door, it gets broken down,
and then it goes right to him.
It gets breaded, fried, and then literally out the window.
There's no downtime.
(mysterious string and vibraphone music)
To keep up with it on a daily basis is challenging.
Us and the sous chefs, we got to take over that,
we got to make sure we stay ahead.
But that's the life of the kitchen, right?
One of the dishes that sells the most
in this restaurant is sauteed red fish with crab Yvonne.
This is how the fish has been cooked for 70, 80 years.
Before flat-tops, they used cast iron skillets.
It's important that mushrooms get caramelized.
We add a mixture of a little bit of clarified,
and also brown butter.
Poached, seasoned artichoke hearts.
It's really about making sure that all the ingredients
we're bringing in has got to be fresh.
Making sure that we're picking the ingredients
at the highest quality during the season.
Sometimes we'll do chanterelle mushrooms,
when chanterelles are in season.
The mushrooms are cut every day.
The artichokes are cut every day.
It's just, like I said, nonstop.
Once the mushrooms and artichokes have been caramelized,
a little bit of green onions,
and then we're going to finish it
with that jumbo lump crab meat that came in today.
So it's a lot of work on the back end.
One, sourcing the ingredients.
Two, prepping the ingredients.
We don't want to change the true nature
of each individual ingredient.
It's all about bringing it out in the best possible way.
We're so close to that gulf, and that's really
how you highlight it.
These guys are good right now.
I'm going to come back in a little bit,
it's time to get some more stuff done.
It's the only time I get to sneak away.
If not, I'll be here
until 4:00, 5:00 in the morning.
One of the biggest money-makers for any business,
and any restaurant, is private events and parties.
At Galatoire's, we do a ton of that.
Tomorrow, we have a few of them on property,
and one off property.
So, not only are we doing big production stuff
for the regular a la carte menu,
but we also have to be mindful
of production for private parties.
And this one in particular, it's a chef's tasting menu.
It's 30 people, but it's multiple courses.
Very different than what you would find
on the Galatoire's menu.
But still, there's some influence that we use
of our regular menu to put in because,
obviously you never want to shy away from who we are.
I cannot come in here and not put 100% or 150% in,
because you have to lead by example,
always in this industry.
So, I don't ever ask my guys or gals
to do anything that I wouldn't do.
To work hard, just as hard as me.
All right, let's go see how these guys are doing.
Give them a hand.
- [Jeff] That's Mama over there,
go say hello to Mama.
Mama!
She's a great cook.
If I could multiply her, I would.
So it's about to be 5:00,
we have about 250 on the books tonight.
First tickets can start rolling in
within the next 30 minutes or so,
and we'll have some fun tonight.
- There's something that we do.
Our good friends at Drago's,
that's another big restaurant in the city,
they are the masters at shucking oysters.
There's literally oyster-shucking competitions,
and three of them are grand champions over at Drago's.
So, we buy our freshly-shucked oysters
from Drago's every day.
And you know, the comradery in the city,
the relationships that you build,
this is the kind of stuff that we want to keep going.
We're lending a hand to somebody else,
and they're hooking us up with some awesome oysters.
So, each box probably holds about 14 dozen,
and we'll go through six cases in the morning,
probably another six cases at night.
It's ridiculous.
Usually six oysters per order.
Each one gets piped with about
an ounce and a half of Rockefeller.
So the oysters, the oyster Rockefeller itself,
is literally a spinach puree
that's seasoned with Herbsaint.
That gets topped on top of the oyster, and then broiled.
So, you get this sweet, sour, salty mix,
and then that fresh luscious oyster on the bottom.
You can see you start to get a little browning
on top there, that's what you're looking for.
Once we pull, the next one goes in.
So, it's a dance all night long,
and Sharon does a great job orchestrating that dance.
- Yeah, you definitely do the circle.
(Chef Phillip laughs)
- You walk outside on Bourbon Street, and it's just nonstop
music, and drinking, and just revelry.
And that has to carry through into the dining room. And so,
that chaos is really what makes Galatoire's so special.
It's the heartbeat and DNA of who we are.
It's 8:05, and as you can see, the shit has hit the fan.
(chill rhythmic music)
- Mama, what's up with the kids meal?
- Can you give me 20 bread pudding going? 20 for everybody?
- Yeah.
- Percy. We need to get 10 bread pudding on this.
- 10 bread puddings?
- 10 bread puddings on this, I need 20 all day.
- All right.
- Get them on there, get them hot.
- [Chef Phillip] Tom, you ready for them chips?
- [Mama] There we go.
(dishes clinking)
- [Chef Jeff] B-25.
- Yvonne on here, Sam. On that steak, please.
So, a lot of people don't realize,
that even in the middle of the service,
we're still in production.
We're peeling shrimp, we're chopping parsley.
Mama, you're fried trout's going with this right here, okay?
- [Mama] Okay. Send it down right now.
- You mean right now, or right now?
So, it's nonstop. Both dining rooms are packed right now.
And, it's probably not going to stop
until about 10:30, 10:45.
Earlier today, Wayne gave us a bunch of crawfish.
And it's just a light saute.
Crawfish, garlic, onions, creole spice.
So, this is the fish that Wayne dropped off to us earlier.
Simple. Flour, egg wash, flour. Seasoned, of course.
You can't come to New Orleans
and not try fried fish at Galatoire's.
We don't ever skimp on the portion size, ever.
Those ingredients that they got, when they were little kids,
the size, the portions, it's always got to be the same.
When you come to Galatoire's
and get a fried drum with crawfish tails on it,
it's going to look like this every single time.
The staff that I work with,
the front of the house waiters,
the back of the house kitchen,
the intermingling of those personalities
is something special.
Really, the individual people that I have grown to love,
all together at one time and one place, it's insane.
You already took out the kids, right?
- Yeah, I already took it out.
- All right.
- You can go on that veal chop table with the shrimp,
if you're ready.
- Eggs Benedict, yup,
Hollandaise, poached eggs, a little seared ham,
and some English muffin.
Breakfast at night.
- That's it, though?
- You want jokes too? Jokes are extra.
- [Chef Phillips] Jokes are extra?
- Yeah.
- How many you got there, Mama?
- 14.
(Chef Phillip laughs)
- We're in love, she's my second love.
My first love is at home.
I give her a hard time because she was running late today.
- Stop treating me like a stepchild, okay?
(laughter)
- [Chef Phillip] Come on, where the servers at? Let's go.
Martin, let's go. Seamus, let's go.
Seamus, let's do it!
When I first started here,
it was really about not changing the DNA of Galatoire's.
Because you can't.
Because, if somebody's been doing something so good
for so long, and then you throw a stick into the spoke
of that high-flying wheel, there's going to be a crash.
It's a treasure trove of history.
We want to be able to save and preserve
the recipes of the past.
But still, with my tenure,
being able to push these guys into the future,
because it has to last another 100 years, right?
And hopefully, another 200 years.
That's the goal.