Netflix's Somebody Feed Phil | Phil Rosenthal
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Welcome to the Talks at Google podcast, where great minds meet. I'm Kyle, bringing you this week's episode with Phil Rosenthal, creator of Somebody Feed Phil and Everybody Loves Raymond. Talks at Google brings the world's most influential thinkers, creators, makers, and doers all to one place. You can watch every episode at youtube.com slash talks at Google.

Phil Rosenthal is the creator, executive producer, writer, and host of Somebody Feed Phil, the Netflix show with seven seasons and counting that combines Phil's love of food and travel with his unique brand of humor. Phil has traveled to countless destinations around the world to take in the local cuisine and culture, including Kyoto, Mumbai, Oaxaca, Iceland, New York, and many others. Somebody Feed Phil has garnered two Primetime Emmy nominations and won two Critics' Choice Reel TV Awards.

Phil has also been nominated twice for Male Star of the Year and won in 2021. Phil also has a podcast, Naked Lunch, and a book, Somebody Feed Phil, The Book. Originally published in May of 2022, here is Phil Rosenthal, Somebody Feed Phil. Please welcome Phil Rosenthal. Hello, Megan. How are you? Happy to see you. I'm coming to you live from my son's old bedroom.

It was after he moved out and started life. My wife put a Pilates machine in here and I just got rid of it. I said I should have an office in my own house, which I never had before. And now this is kind of.

Needs work. Well, it looks great. It looks great. And we like seeing you wherever you are. And so that leads to my first question, which is we have a new season coming out of somebody feed Phil. Yes, yes, yes. Season five. We're going to Oaxaca. We're going to Maine. We're going to Helsinki, Portland, Madrid. What can we expect from season five, Phil?

Me eating. I don't know if you've heard, but I eat a little bit in the show. And the locations are spectacular. Just great. Oaxaca is the first one up. And it's, I think, one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Have any of you been to Oaxaca? If not, I really recommend it. You know, I love Mexico City. I don't know if you saw that episode, but Oaxaca.

I just love the Mexican culture. I love the Mexican people. I love the land. I love the sunsets are so spectacular. Everything about it is gorgeous and I love the food. And then Oaxaca is this like condensed, beautiful, colorful explosion of, it's the gastronomic center of Mexico, even though it's much smaller Oaxaca city than Mexico city. And it's the cultural center as well.

It's the most colorful place you've ever seen. And everything about it is just great. Then we go to Maine, where I have some relatives. And I think you saw in the opening credits, you saw me chasing a sheep with a shepherd's crook. And I did that. I sheared a sheep. I'm not cut out for this, but I actually have relatives who are. And of course, I don't even understand how they got in the family because we are not shepherds as people.

- Weren't the Jews shepherds though? Were some of the Jews shepherds? - Maybe way, way, way back. - Way back. - But no, this is not for me. If I want lamb, I go to Postmates. - Me too, me too. - And then where else did we go? Oh, both Portlands, Portland, Oregon, Portland, Maine. - Cute, cute. - Really great food scenes there. And then Helsinki, Finland, you ever been there? - No, no.

I ate reindeer. Ooh. And what, how was it? You know what? If you didn't know, and that just came and you started eating it, you'd say, this is one of the best steaks I ever had in my life.

It's just a fantastic, gamey. I thought it might be gamey. It's not. It's just a very clean, pure, much better for you, of course. Everything is than beef. And it tastes like a great steak. That's all. It's fantastic. And then Madrid, Spain. Come on. Amazing. You can't do better.

Well, we cannot wait to see it. But here's my big question. So we're off of meat a little bit, but how do you stay so skinny? I've heard that you taste everything, you finish nothing and you share. But is that the key?

That's one of the keys. The other key is the magic of television, which is we film for a week and you're seeing a week's worth of film condensed into less than an hour. So it looks like I'm a pig, but, and I am to an extent, but you know that each scene, that's probably all I ate that day. You know how they make a dog food commercial. They don't feed the dog until the commercial. So I'm the dog.

I don't really eat until the scene because I do want to be excited. I know people say it looks like he loves everything. Yes, I'm very happy to be eating at that moment. And I do love almost everything. If I don't like it, really, I'm polite to the people, you know, unless it's outrageously horrible. Like in All About Phil's Having I Ate, the thousand year old egg in Hong Kong. That was egregiously, you know, did not agree with me at all.

But I still chewed and swallowed it because I'm very, very brave. You are very brave. You are very brave. And that was actually one of my questions was because you always look happy to be eating. Like it's always like you love the food. And I'm like, there's got to be something that Phil hasn't liked. Yeah, that's one of them. I'm not crazy about black licorice. I don't seek out bugs.

But now, you know, the more we do the show, it's been like seven years of doing it between the two series. If it's served to me, I taste it. I taste everything. If I have a way to get out of it, though, if I if somebody gives me the choice, I'll probably avoid the bugs. But if it's there, there's grasshoppers in season five. Yes, I do it now. I do it. I'm proud. No, I'm not. Again, I'm not ordering it.

but if it's there, I'll taste it. I'm okay. Here's the thing about the weird stuff, what we consider weird. It's only weird in our heads. Once it's in your mouth, it's like everything else. You know what I mean? It's the idea. I went to an Indian restaurant in New York that's so fantastic. Damaka, you know it? It's in that Essex street market.

It's one of the best Indian restaurants I've ever been to. But one of the things that the owner wanted me to try was goat testicles. Yes. Now, I don't say, hey, honey, you know what I'm in the mood for tonight? I don't say that to my wife. Who does? Once? Maybe once. That'd be funny if you did. Again, if you didn't know. And everything is, everything in the world, the world cuisine is,

The way foods propagate through the world is what spices and what sauce they're in. And that's, you know, someone who doesn't have a lot of means, can't get the best cuts of meat, takes maybe the worst part, let's say goat testicles, and says, how can we make this edible and appealing and even great? Put in a great sauce and don't tell anybody what they are.

It tastes good. That is true. That is true. And not knowing sometimes is better, right? If you just don't know. And then it's okay. It tastes good in the sauce. I think that's how we get our kids to eat, right? You don't tell them everything. Don't tell them everything. We're not going to tell you everything. Don't tell them there's broccoli in the chocolate milkshake. That's what people do now.

So I want to talk a little bit about your history. You know, everyone, everybody loves Raymond was so successful. And I heard that the whole idea for all of this and you're a foodie came from the fact that Ray Romano had was is Italian, had never been to Italy and you couldn't believe it and you got him to go. So and then we started on I'll have what Phil's having. So I just want to hear a little bit about sort of.

how you went from being a super successful behind the scenes care, you know, guy in Hollywood to, to switching to this food career. Easy. I kept failing. I kept after Raymond, you would think, Oh, I guess they'll put anything on that. He does. No, no, that's not how it works. I, I,

In the nine years that Raymond was on, and it did very nicely, I saw that the business changed. They wanted shows that were hipper and younger and edgier than Raymond. By the way, they said that that was the number one note I got on Raymond. Can it be a little hipper and edgier? And I said, well, you got the right guy. I'm Mr. Hip and Edgy. But that was...

So we had trouble getting on the year we got on. We would not have got on the year we went off the air, and nor would we get on today. Why? Because the executives don't seem to realize that the family sitcom is kind of a building block of television. And once every five years about, one of them breaks through and becomes the number one show on TV. But they don't want to acknowledge it. Why? Because I think it doesn't make the executives themselves look cool enough

to program that, right? All as a way of saying, I kept striking out after Raymond. I couldn't even get a spinoff of Raymond on the air. That's crazy. They didn't want it. They said, well, honestly, the cast is everyone that's over 40. Wow. I said, the audience doesn't care. You know who the number one testing characters in Raymond were with young people? The grandparents. Yes. Yes.

Kids like to see the old people, it turns out. Why? Because it reminds them of their grandparents. - Right, like your parents on the show. - And they're funny. - I've seen your parents, yeah. - And they're funny. They don't care. Kids don't care. Young people don't care about age or any of that stuff. They just say, "Is it funny?" I remember when I was a kid, I liked everything. I didn't think about race. I didn't think about, "Is that person funny?"

That's all I cared about, right? I could care less about. This is like network sort of overthinking. Ageism is a bad thing. It is. Look at me. I'm almost finished. No, no, you're not. We have lots more seasons in you and lots more places to go. I mean, in television, but they, I knocked my head against the wall. I was trying to write pilots after Raymond, one, two, three a year.

Just me, just collaborating. Maybe I was a one-hit wonder. I had no idea why I couldn't get another show. I couldn't even get shows filmed as a pilot. They would just say, we don't like the script. We're not doing this. This has old people in it, meaning anyone over 30. And so I thought, hey, I like...

This food and travel thing and this this thing that you mentioned about taking Ray to Italy to do that episode of Raymond that stayed with me because I saw Ray Romano, the person change as a human being from the magic of travel. And I thought then and there that was your 2000. What if I could do this for other people? Right. Because it's such a high. I dare say you do what you do, Megan, because you like turning people on to stuff you like. Right.

Totally. So that's all I do. That's what most people do. And so this was in the back of my head. And I thought, you know what? Instead of trying to write the sitcom pilot, why don't I try to do this? So I'd take my phone and I would just film us eating around and just start collecting, see what I like. And we got the attention of American Express. American Express said, hey, do you want to go to? Oh, they had seen Exporting Raymond, which was the first time it was in front of the camera.

The Russians had asked me if I wanted to take my sitcom over there and help them turn it into Everybody Loves Kostya. And I said I would do it if I could film the whole thing. And they let me. And people can see that on iTunes or Amazon right now if they want. It came out 10 years ago. But, hey, Russia's back in the news. Right here. So not for the best reasons.

But this shows, you know, how hard it is to just get your idea across to anybody else. And you'll see that networks are the same all over the world. The no is the same in every language. And so that American Express saw that. They said, hey, would you like to go to London with a chef? I said, of course, this is the beginning now. This is how I'm going to do this food and travel show. So I went with Thomas Keller to London and said,

We spent a week there and the crazy producer booked us into 27 restaurants in seven days, which is way too much. That's more than breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. And because it was Thomas Keller, one of the best chefs in the world and kind of fancy chef, everything was three star Michelin. Everything was, you know, crazy white tablecloth for five hour meals. And I thought I was going to die. I said, here's a good way not to do it.

And so I learned a lot from that experience. I thought that was going to be I thought they were doing it as a pilot for a show. No, it was just for a card member experience. They wanted to take clips from that and then have an event for rich people where they showed the clips and Thomas Keller made them dinner. And then American Express, you know, had, you know, a big card member event.

So I was I was a little disappointed because I thought this was now the beginning. But what I did was I took my own clips from the thing in the couple of places where I took Thomas. I asked to take Thomas Keller to like Borough Market and try, you know, real people food because that's interesting. Sure enough, PBS saw that. I said I sent it to them and I had a meeting with them. I did. And I said wait for them to see it.

I wanted I thought I thought I'd be great on PBS. I thought I would be the young buck on PBS. Right. But it turns out they said, well, so what is this show? What is it going to be like? And this is what I said to sell the show. This is all I said. I said, I'm exactly like Anthony Bourdain if he was afraid of everything.

I love that. And they got it. And they said, we've been looking for a food and travel show with humor for years. So I was in the right place at the right time after trying for 10 years, I was suddenly in the right place at the right time because nobody else wanted the show. They didn't. And especially my agency, uh,

You know, I come from sitcoms. Sitcoms did okay. They want more sitcoms from me. And they want me to keep trying that. When I walked into my agency and said, I'd like to try the food and travel thing, they acted like I pooped on their desk. That's what happened. And so I'm fighting them even to get on. But then PBS does it. And then we won the James Beard Award for Best Travel Show. Amazing.

And after six episodes, I recommend those episodes to people because they're cities that are like we started with Earth's greatest hits like Paris and Tokyo and Barcelona. You have to see that. That's that's also available on iTunes or Amazon. But I want you to see it because it's the same exact show. We just have a theme song now. And it's a great theme song. After one season, PBS couldn't afford to do the show anymore, to be honest. And thank God Netflix came along.

They actually asked me, this was the best creative meeting I ever had in my life. How's this for a question to be asked in your, in your meeting? Was there anything you wanted on the other show that you'd like to have now? I'm like, nobody's ever asked me that. I don't get asked that in my house. What would you like? And I said, I'd like a theme song. So I got Lake street dive to make the, probably the best theme song in TV. I agree. I totally agree. And it's won some awards. I mean, it's,

It's fabulous. So let's I want to I want to go back to something you said about Bourdain. So I know there have been other there. Right. He's one of your heroes. And now there's Tucci. You know, what is your relationship like with sort of, you know, there's obviously, you know, you made this amazing pivot to food and there's other food shows. Your food show is different. What do you think of those shows? Oh, I want them all to stay out of my lane.

Fair enough. And what is your life? Especially Tucci. Tucci really bothers me because he has such a following. He mixed a drink on the internet and now, you know, the women just like fall over for him. I don't understand it. I really don't. They're falling over for you too, though. Oh, nice. No, he's fantastic, of course. It's a whole different thing. All these shows...

If you like the person, right? It's just like any TV show. If you like the character, the person, you'll follow them. So it's all different. You know, I would say Tucci's show is so different from mine. It's a whole other feeling. He's suave and debonair. He speaks Italian. He's an expert. He knows how to cook. I'm none of those things. So if you'd like the opposite, I'm over here.

Do you know how to cook? Do you speak another language or you really don't? Oh, no. I'm just a tourist and I'm a fan. But listen, people say to me, you have this show with food. You don't even know how to cook. I said, listen, I meet great chefs around the world. They can't write a sitcom. So we all contribute in our way. Right. And the whole point was what I said about Bourdain. I would watch Bourdain and go, wow, he's amazing. I'm never doing that.

I'm never going to like it. Did you see the episode where he was in Borneo, I think, and he gets drunk with the tribesmen? And then he says, you know what? I'd like a chest tattoo. So he lies down on the forest floor and they're drinking. He's drinking. And they pound painted nails into his chest with a hammer. And he's fine. I would die if that happened. With the first nail, I would be dead.

Okay. So, well, I'm glad we know, we know where to draw the boundaries. So that's, that's good. But I thought maybe there's a show for people like me who, who, who, you know, just if they see a putz like me going out there, maybe they'll go outside. Maybe, you know,

The adventure is just getting off the couch for some people. Right. So this is a show for them. I love that you're inspiring people to do that. And it's I can't tell you how much I love when people DM me on Instagram or or comment on Twitter or Facebook that they went because they saw the show.

And I know it changed their life. I know because that's the power of travel. And all I'm trying to do is say in my stupid way, there's no more mind expanding thing we can do and it will make the world better. I honestly believe that the world would be better if we all could experience a little bit of someone else's experience. We'd be better off at home.

The world would be better. You know, just if we, if we go and we're just nice, just be nice, just be a half decent human being you're putting out. You represent, right? You represent you, you represent your family, you represent your town where you're from, your country where you're from. And just here's how we want to be as human beings. That's all. I think that's an amazing message. And I'm so glad you're inspiring people to get off their couch and see the world because there's a lot to see. And so, um,

My question for you is sort of, you've talked about the filming process is very fast. It's like five days or something. Yeah, we're there six, seven days. Yeah. Each place. In each place? In each place, yes. And sometimes what we'll do is if there's something in the neighborhood, meaning let's say we're in Europe, we'll do two shows back to back. We will run them back to back, but we'll do them while we're there. Saves money, saves time.

It's a whole there's a whole art to it, which I have nothing to do with. It's all about my brother, the producer. Right. And ZPZ, who happened to be the production company for Anthony Bourdain as well. So I have the benefit of all their knowledge and experience because he was on for 18 years. So they have like fixers all over the world.

So there's not a place that I can say, hey, I'd like to go to Madrid. And they say, oh, we have a fixer in Madrid. Here's what here's the newest, coolest stuff in Madrid. Here's the best stuff. And then we always leave room in the schedule for some kind of serendipity. Like that's not the best ice cream. This is the best ice cream across the street. Oh, let's go. And we go.

Yeah. And who decides where you're going? Like, is it you? Me. I get to decide ultimately where we're going. Sometimes it starts with me. You know, I haven't been to Madrid. Let's go to Madrid. I think there's a good hour's worth of material we could get there. Right. That's all we want to do is find out, is it can we get a whole show out of it?

We take sometimes one side trip per show because I think that's how people vacation. If you're going to Madrid, you say, oh, Toledo is 40 minute train ride. Got to see Toledo. So we do. Right. Sounds great to me. Are there just an endless amount of places on your list? You know, is it just so we can have how many seasons, 500 seasons, something like that? Well, as long as Netflix doesn't get sick of me.

I don't think anyone's getting to do you. I mean, it doesn't mean I don't want to do other things. I'm happy to do other things. I'm happy to do sitcoms. I still have, I have two scripts out there right now that are in various stages of nothing's happening, but good. Let's add everyone. I love it. But if I can just do this the rest of my life, I think you're talking to the luckiest person you're ever going to talk to. That's how I feel.

Yeah, I think I think I think it sounds fair, like a very lucky life unless you hate leaving your house. So is it is it dizzying being on the road? You do this, you film it so quickly. And like, what would be your travel tip for for people? What's your number one travel tip? Oh, that's a great question. Thank you. I never thought about that. Like giving tips.

I want everyone to look at their phone and think of a place that they've always wanted to go and just Google. How's that for Italian? Google best place to eat Lisbon. You're going to start planning your trip right away. You're going to feel better about life. Just the planning, just not even the planning, the looking to plan.

or just fantasizing about where would I go if I could go anywhere? That's my biggest tip because once you get that going, I always say, especially during COVID, we couldn't go anywhere, right? So how do you travel during COVID? Well, I'm very lucky because people watched our show during COVID. We became Netflix's number one food and travel show during COVID. By the way,

I think this is a rumor that I've heard is that Netflix started COVID. Oh, interesting. Interesting. But you were filming the show during COVID, yes? Who had the most to gain? Them and Postmates. Yep. Yep, absolutely. We filmed this season in the sweet spot between Delta and Omicron.

That's when we filmed the show. Yeah. Thank God. You just need that five or six week period to just make it happen. But how do we travel during that time? So you watch these things, but also you order in. You order in. And I would tell people, you want to travel? Order from an ethnic restaurant that you never thought of before because you didn't know anything about it. So look on your phone. Oh, but Peruvian, I don't know anything about Peruvian.

Yeah. Look, look at, just look at the menu. Oh, they have chicken and rice. I liked, oh yes, you like that. So you order it. Next thing you know, you like it. Next thing you know, when the world opens up, you go to the restaurant, you try something. Next thing you know, you're in Machu Picchu. I love that. That's how it happens. That is how it happens. That's totally how it happens. So-

Let's talk about your parents. We were talking about them before. They're so adorable. We've talked a little about ageism, but the fact that people actually do love older, older people. It is Jewish heritage month. We talked about how your parents came from Germany. They were German immigrants to New York. Um,

How did they get to be so funny? And do they ever say a lot of funny stuff that gets edited out? Can we have a show that's just of funny things that Max and Helen say? I'm going to do that show. Netflix has graciously allowed me to do that show. And you'll see it next season. Yeah. I can't wait for you to see it. They're so good. And starting with exporting Raymond, which is the first time I Skyped with them.

Quite by accident, they just happened to be up and I thought it'd be funny to Skype with them from Moscow. And of course, they were the funniest thing in that movie. And then when I got my own show like this, a travel show, I thought two things. One, what is the modern day equivalent of the postcard? It's this, what we're doing right now.

You're where you are. I am where I am. If I tilt my computer, I can show you where I am. Right. I can hold up food from the place and eat it. And I would do that with my parents. The second reason they're in the show is because they're funny. And coming from sitcoms, you want funny characters in your show.

You also want some kind of structure to the show. So I thought a great way to tie up the show every week would be check in with the parents. Not only will I get a little bit of a recap, but just checking in. It's what we do as tourists. It's what we do. We check in at home. We tell them how it's going. New things, new ideas might have formed in my head from being there that I can tell. And you're getting what is life at home like?

Right. From the parents. And they're going to be funny. And they always, always deliver. They were always there. Now, my mother passed away from ALS two years ago and my dad passed away this past year. And so there was a year of him being on the show without her. My wife would be with him. He was very sweet and he would have a joke for us.

Every week, right? Right. Just because that's his personality. That's that. And that's you asked, how are they so funny? It was just the currency of the house. That was it was love. I say we were either yelling or laughing. That's the that was my house. But the laughs, I think humor is the most underrated personality trait that human beings have. I think it's how we choose our friends. I'd even dare say it's

how we choose who we're going to marry, you know, because the sense of humor, that's what keeps you alive, which is what keeps you going. My wife and I have that. I'm so lucky. And the kids have it. And it all comes from my upbringing and my background because my parents valued that so much. Listen, it's the number one coping mechanism in the world, right?

is laughing. Absolutely. And so they were very good at it. So now that they're not here, what happens on the show? Well, you'll see. I Google chat with my family, my wife and kids once in the show. And then I spread out to comedian friends who all do a joke for Max.

as a tribute to them. And that keeps the spirit alive. So I thought that was a good idea to do. It seems to be working. I hope when you see the show, you'll agree. I mean, we have phenomenal people, phenomenal people. So I don't think anyone will be disappointed. I mean, yes, we're all disappointed, but my folks can't be with us. But they live on in the show. If you want to see them, they're always there. And if you haven't seen Exporting Raymond, you could see their first appearance in

That's awesome. Do you think that there is a direct relationship between humor and food in particular? Are there funny foods? Are there funny foods? Cucumber is funny because it has. I agree with you. Pickle is funny. Words were, you know, there was a famous movie, The Sunshine Boys, where the old vaudevillian says words with a K in it are funny. Walter Mather. Right. Cockroach is funny.

Not if you get them. Only if you say them, he says. So those are the funny. They're funny looking foods, I guess. Bananas have always been funny for some reason. And listen, everything can be funny. Everything. It's all about your attitude towards it. I don't understand. Here's something about other shows that I don't understand. Why so serious? It's just food.

Food is enjoyment, isn't it? It's love. It's enjoyment. It's how we connect. I always say food is the great connector. But for me, laughs are the cement. Absolutely. So I might meet you over lunch, right? And already we have something in common. What? We like to eat or we have to eat. So right away we're connecting over the food. And if the food is good, we're already in a good mood.

Which might help us become friends. But if we share a laugh then over lunch, now we're friends, right? What's your favorite part about having a meal with somebody you don't know that well? That, that getting to know them and getting either a great story or a good laugh over it. That's my favorite thing. You know, listen, I know we like the food. I love it.

But it's not the main idea behind the show. I'm only using food and my stupid sense of humor to connect to the people. I want to get you to travel. I'm only getting you to travel. And why do I want you to travel? To meet these people. I think that is one of the great joys in life. And you love to talk to people. You are having a podcast coming out that we mentioned. It's called Naked Lunch. It starts tomorrow.

It's, oh my goodness, everyone, it starts tomorrow. It's with Rolling Stone journalist, David Wild. And you're going to be talking to people about their lives, not just sort of their projects like I'm talking to you about today. You're actually going to talk about their lives. And you're going to order lunch, right? Absolutely.

Absolutely. So David Wild and I have been friends for 25 years. We've been having these lunches. We know a lot of people in all our years in show business, him from more of the music world, me from more of the comedy world. But we bring disparate people to these lunches. And after lunch, I would always say, why are we taping this? Because the conversation was so fun and great. So now we are. And that's the podcast. That's it. We order lunch.

And we have the greatest people eat with us. It's so fun. Can you tell us who we can expect? What kinds of people? Tomorrow, they're dropping two episodes at the same time because they're so disparate that we thought, which one should we do first? This one focuses more on a music person. This one more on comedy people. Let's drop them both at the same time so people can have both and understand the breadth of the show. So Brad Paisley,

who did our theme song, by the way, which is also a phenomenal theme song. I don't know how I got so lucky to have two theme songs from the greatest people in the world. So Brad Paisley's one episode and a reunion of Brad Garrett and Ray Romano together from Raymond and me. And that's a really funny episode. Brad Garrett is one of the funniest people on the earth.

And he cracks it up. Yeah. Wow. That's a great project. I look forward to hearing that. And, and we have the cookbook coming out. Wow. Right. It's now the number one. We did a CBS Sunday morning piece. This just two days ago, the thing shot to number one pre-orders of, of any kind. It was crazy on Amazon. I mean, you can,

It's kind of weird how fast and how much impact something like that has. People just have to know about it, I guess. But it's a very good companion book and probably the best cookbook in the world because it's 60 recipes, the most requested recipes from the show, from the viewers. And every chef that we asked gave us the recipe from the first four seasons of the show. Yeah.

What are some of, are there some favorites of yours in there? I'll tell you the number one most requested recipe is something that we literally showed. It's not a, the show isn't big on process, like how they make the dish. We might show a little bit of their making, but we're not like dissecting the dish for you and doing it's not because it's not really about that. But there was one dish in Venice that we showed and this was a pork chop.

And I actually wanted the audience to see the process because why? It's so simple. All it is is a pounded and, you know, dredged in egg and flour and then fried in vegetable oil and then drained and then finished with white wine vinegar. That's it. Yeah.

And what that vinegar does to that pork chop is give it such a tang, such a thing, like such a flavor that you never had before. It sounds, it tastes way more complex than it is. That's the number one most requested recipe. And it's literally in the show if you watch it, but they want it written down. They want the exact. So we have it. Can you make it? That even I can make it.

Even you can make it. Usually, yes. If left to my own devices, I'm making you a hot dog. Oh, I'm making you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. That's it. I would tell the kids, oh, kids, you don't know what you're in for today. This is daddy's famous fried eggs. You can't believe you're so lucky.

But those are comfort foods. What were the comfort foods that you grew up with? I know I heard you say something about how you'd want to die eating your favorite childhood foods. Exactly. And then someone makes a joke about breast milk, and then we don't get to really hear what your favorite childhood foods are. So what are they? My favorite childhood foods are hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza, chicken, right? And then I think if it was the last meal, I think you should go back

to something your mom made. So my mom's best dish was matzo ball soup. I think I'd finish with that. That's my favorite as well. And that was one of my, the recipes that's been passed down in my family. Did she have a secret ingredient to her matzo ball soup recipe? Yeah, it was on the box. It was. Exactly. Exactly. Her mother though, didn't make it with matzo meal, which is just this powder that comes out of the box, right?

She literally took matzah, soaked it and formed the matzah into rib. My grandmother was hardcore. Oh, gee, matzah balls. Right. They were a little smaller and a little more forte, but they were delicious. Oh, yeah. I can imagine. I that that is comfort food to me as well. I like a filter fish. I like matzah ball soup. This is our soul food.

This is our soul food. So I totally get it. But do you have a favorite cuisine outside of Jewish food, comfort food? Italian. Yeah. So then you're back in Stanley Tucci's lane. It's true. Why doesn't he take me around? Why doesn't he take? I think that would be a great, that would be a great special episode. He would be, he would be so annoyed with me, I think. No, he wouldn't. He would love you. Oh, that's nice.

Stanley, if you're watching. We'll get it to him. We're going to take some questions from the audience. People are very excited. I like the audience. You like the audience. Okay. So can we get a question from the audience? Awesome. Matt Spector says, hi, Phil. Your New York City episode of Somebody Feed Phil was, in my opinion, the best representation of the food available here. How did you choose where to go?

So there are two kinds of shows, places I've been before and place I haven't been before. If I haven't been before, I'm listening to other people a lot more than if I have been there because I have some places that I like. So guess where I'm from? New York.

I had very definite opinions of things we had to hit. We had to do New York pizza. We had to do Peter Luger's Steakhouse, right? There's things I just had to do. And then I was open to trying other things, of course, new stuff, because now I live in LA. But I do visit New York a lot. My brother is still there, his whole family. I have many friends there. And of course, my parents lived there. So I would go all the time. I go several times a year. So yes, that was easy to choose where to go.

And we had talked about this before. Do you find that people prefer watching shows about...

where they've already been or where they live, or do they like the adventure of getting shows that give them something to put on their bucket list? Well, hopefully they get something from both, right? If you, if you've been to, let's say New York, you get to see, let's see if this idiot knows anything. That's not the best pizza. This is the best pizza. Let's say, you know, there's fun in that, in comparing and, or getting validated. Oh, they went there. That's my favorite, right? That's fun. Yeah.

Or you learn something new about your own place. I'm seeing stuff. Totally. I'll watch Roy Troy has a Los Angeles specific show called Broken Bread. And he turns me on to stuff I had no idea. I live next door. Right. So there's always that. There's always that. But I'll tell you the number one place that people DM me and send me pictures of themselves in from the show. You want to guess which in all the shows we've done, which place?

place on earth was the most, it got people to literally go more than any other. I don't know. It was Lisbon. Lisbon. But that is a popular place. And I think Oaxaca is becoming popular, but Lisbon I hear a lot about. And so you're responsible for that? I don't know, but I do know

that it's not on the radar as much as the more famous European cities, right? It's not Paris or Rome or Barcelona even. You think of Lisbon as maybe, I don't know, second tier of European destinations, but I'm here to say it's not. And when you see the episode, you go, oh, here's an under the radar place. Let's go there because it looks fantastic. And of course you get there and it is.

Wow. Has there ever been a time when you get somewhere and it's not fantastic? You think it might be and there are no undercover gems? Or do you find that when you really get to a place, there's always magic? You may not like the feeling of a city immediately. Even in Bangkok, I thought...

Oh, our hotel is gorgeous. But as soon as I get out into the city, this is a mishmash of, you know, it's so crowded. The traffic is so crazy. Everything is I don't I don't get it. I don't know if this would be my number one destination until I put something in my mouth and have the best food I ever had in my life. It was crazy how delicious just the street food was.

is in Bangkok, right? So I always, because this is the way the world is, you can get a great meal almost anywhere. And the people everywhere I go are always beautiful and great. And I, you know, I deduced from this that most people are so much better than their governments, you know? So meaning the way

the city is planned or the country runs or the, you know, whatever evils the government is doing, it's generally not reflected in the citizens, in the people who live there. They're just like us. They want clean food, air and water. They want a better life for their kids. They are loving and kind. They like to eat, right? So that's what makes it so beautiful to go.

Oh, absolutely. All right. We'll take another question from the audience. Okay, Phil. Tristan Shepard says, which city's food was the biggest surprise for you, either good or bad? I know you just mentioned Lisbon. I've had no bad. I have to be honest. No bad. No. I mean, yes, you can have an individual dish like a thousand year old egg in Hong Kong. Not my favorite.

Right. There's certain things, of course, you're going to like certain things better than others. But honestly, the way the world is now, you can get a good meal almost anywhere. And I attribute that to the Internet. A boy in Dubuque can see what a chef in Paris is doing and learn and emulate that chef and then taking local ingredients, transform something into a mashup that never existed before and becomes an amazing dish.

destination restaurant, right? Because of that innovation. But you know, the expression, the world is flat now. And that's because of the information that's available to everyone. So that's what I mean when you can get a good meal almost anywhere. And it doesn't have to be, it can be expensive. It can be not, you try to show a variety, right? On the show in terms of-

food. I don't want big fancy meals. I've had them. I'll do one per episode because I think that's when you travel, you go, Hey, let's splurge one meal. Right. Yeah. And that's really how I feel. And then it's a special thing and then that's it. And then I want to eat regular. What am I doing when I, when I go, go around, Hey, that is

Like you're walking in Bangkok and you hear about this lady who makes a crab omelet. Okay. Now it turns out that this crab omelet from this shack called J, her name is J5. She won a Michelin star. The only street food to win a Michelin star. She wanted to give it back because the business became overwhelming. She's in her seventies making this thing, standing over a hot wok and making this crab omelet. There's like a pound, a pound and a half in this thing.

of crab in this omelet that's like a football filled with crab and it's one of the best things you ever ate in your life. - I think that's great. Do you use the Michelin star guide? Is that, no. - No, obviously when we hear about a place, it's in the bio of the place. Oh, this is Michelin. Okay, I don't care.

You go by what? How do you find the places? What do you go by mostly? I do what everybody does. I Google what's going on. And then I have the production team who has fixers everywhere. And they tell us, you know, we cross-reference everything. We want to make sure. The team will Zoom with either the owner or the chef to see if they, you know, might –

have good personalities that I could connect with, but I don't meet them. I don't see them that way until we meet. I want it to be genuine and honest. Some people I've met before and I want to see them. I know that they'll be great, but a lot of people I'm meeting as you see for the first time. So a lot of research goes into this. Oh, of course it has to, but also room in the schedule to find stuff when we're there. I love flexibility. Okay. Next question. Yes. Okay.

Alicia Chan says, hi, Phil. Can't wait for season five. Are there any locations that you wish were part of season five? No, because I made a season six already. No, you didn't. We filmed we filmed 10 episodes at once. Five will be on in the in the spring and another five will be on in the fall. Oh, including that special about Helen and Max.

That's a lot of good stuff to look forward to and the podcast and the book. What else do you have going on that we haven't talked about? Isn't that enough in your life? I'm finished. No, that's it. Okay. I just want to make sure we cover everything. This is like a busy time for you. Yeah. Listen, I couldn't be happier. I'm doing everything. And I want to be with my family a lot. I'm going to take a little break. As soon as the season drops, I'll go just with Monica on a little vacation.

Can we ask where you're going? Is it back to someplace you've been? I'm going to do a little Italy and a little something else. I love that. I love that. Okay. I think we have time for one more question. Hi, Phil. As a big fan of your show from Montreal, what was your favorite memory from going there? Oh, okay. Ma Poule Moulier, I think it's called, which is a chicken place with fire roasted chicken poutine.

It's that's one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten is that. And that's in Montreal. I dream about it. I can't wait to go back. We went there. Usually we'll go somewhere on the show in the scene and the crew, you know, tastes because I taste give them everything that I'm eating. And usually there's one or two places per episode where we love it so much that we eat there off camera again. And that was that place in Montreal.

Wow. Yeah. Wow. Do you have a favorite restaurant somewhere in the world? No, I have lots. You have lots. Yeah. I love it. So you have, and you've got tips everywhere. I'm sitting in LA and that's, I have to tell you not to start a fight with you, Megan, but I think LA is the best food city in America right now. You do? And I'm a big worker.

Wow, better than Chicago. And you did a great episode. And I love Chicago. But you know why? Because LA has actually the biggest populations of people outside their native countries in the world. So the diversity is off the charts. So New York may have more representation, but we have the most of those people here. In other words,

The biggest Chinese population in the world outside of China is not in New York. It's in LA, in the San Gabriel Valley. You can visit every province of China just by going to the different neighborhoods. And so your chances of hitting a great meal are exponential. That's awesome. Well, we are so happy that you joined us. We cannot wait to see what is in store for season five, which is premiering on Netflix May 25th.

And I wish you all of the best travels and we can't wait to see where you go next. I love talking to you, Megan. And for those people who didn't get to, I didn't get to your questions. You can DM me on Instagram. It's phil.rosenthal on Instagram. And I'm on Twitter too. I'll try to answer your stuff. That's so nice. Thank you for being here, Phil. Thank you, Megan. It was a joy.

Thanks for listening. To discover more amazing content, you can always find us at youtube.com slash talks at Google. Talk soon.