Every city has its own specialty and local food obsession, and after tonight’s new episode of No Reservations we’re going to be learning all about them. For instance, Tony heads with Josh Ozersky to the Minetta Tavern in New York City to talk about Josh's obsession with meat and La Frieda's Black Label Burger. This ground beef burger is so good "it floods your head with meaty goodness,” and all this meaty goodness can be yours for $26! Tony then visits with David Blackmore, who shares his knowledge of Wagyu beef and takes Tony on a tour of his farm located in the Yarra Valley, 2 hours north of Melbourne. Wagyu beef, sometimes improperly referred to as Kobe beef (Kobe is a place, not a type of cow), is a fatty, marbled meat that sells for well over $1,000 per sirloin strip in New York. That's $1,000 whole sale!
The next food obsession we learn about is bread, which takes Tony to the Sullivan Street Bakery. Founder Jim Lahey is THE “bread guy” and is himself obsessed with yeast and fungus. Instead of kneading his dough, he allows it to sit for 24 hours to rise. This obsession of his also happens to translate well into pizzas. And an episode of No Reservations is not complete without a segment on alcohol! Tonight we’ll learn about artist Ron Cooper’s obsession with Mescal. Cooper is an artist who turns to Mexico for inspiration for his art project that involved creating 50 blue bottles and filling them with prime mescal - the Ur-tequila. Del Maguey's mescals are produced slowly, naturally and in small quantities.
And last but not least, Tony explores the internet’s obsession with food by exploring food blogging. First Tony meets with Jason Perlow (of OffTheBroiler.com) to check out White Manna burgers and talk about blogger arguments over culinary minutia. Next, Tony takes a trip to Txikito with Steve Plotnicki, founder of the food blog Opinionated About Dining. Then Steven Shaw, publisher of Fat-Guy.com and co-founder of eGullet, takes Tony to the Cambodian restaurant, Kampuchea. It’s about time bloggers finally got their due!
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations airs Monday nights at 10/9c on Travel Channel.