This is a bonus clip of my conversation with Roy Choi. We talk about old and new wave of dining and the quality of produce in each region and the world.
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With a recondre. I only got into like following the food scene recently just because I didn't have any money until recently, So like I couldn't eat at a nice restaurant until.
Now, you're making enough for lost time. I see that you're not gonna that like fucking bowling things, man, but you're at the best of the vest.
You know what chef Renee told me when I went to Noma, He said, he goes, when I started fine dining, was only elderly people showing up. It was white tablecloths, and it would be like old white dudes in like double breasted brass button suits eating like like you were just cooking for like the Duchess of Whales or whatever. So he's like, I'm so fucking happy to be alive in this era where there's it's like you say, people showing up in short I was just like this he goes where people are like youth culture is invested in food and in chefs. He's like, I could have never predicted that it was so up its own ass and pretentious and stuffy when I started. I'm like so happy to see this new wave of like punk rock kids actually giving a fuck about food and fine dining and not seeing white tablecloths everywhere. And I was like, oh, I never even thought about that because I've only only got into it recently and only experienced it really in Los Angeles. Yeah, just starting for in this new form. So the new form to me is the norm and the old guard. These like New York Times guys and Michelin Star guys and stuff like that I never experienced. So like, to me, it is all these I guess I'm on the I just turned forty, so maybe I'm on the cusp of seeing that old wave and that old guard, the gatekeeper kind of guard, versus this new wave. So to me, all the best restaurants in the like LA is like the fucking gold Star. And also, I will say this, I just moved back to New York recently, and there's great New York restaurants. Not saying there's great restaurants throughout the world.
So there are great great New York, great chefs in New York, in Brooklyn and all throughout this you know, lower Lower East.
Side, Yeah, and even and and and what the fuck I just went to Aaron Franklin's in Austin, Texas, Like all over there. If you look, if you want to find a great chef, you're going to find great talent scattered throughout the world in all industries. But I will say the quality of produce, quality of vegeted fruits, vegetables and meats out here in California is not only way better than New York, I feel like it's like better than most cities I've been to in the world. And I noticed it in La and San Francisco, like it's the most robust and in good plants mean good animals. If the plants are happy, the animals are happy, it's the best quality I've noticed that after living here fifteen years and moving back to New York recently. There's just nothing like a fucking strawberry or tomato out here. Then almost anywhere Australia is pretty good. When I went to Sydney, it was pretty fucking good, pretty pretty on par. But like I think it's funny that you everything you're telling me about like this old guard is like shocking to me because in my mind it's the opposite, like La holds it and just all throughout California and San Francisco too, and and actually West Coast I would say, like Seattle, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, SF, LA. The quality of ingredients is unmatched almost anywhere I've eaten in the world.
Yeah, I mean, California's probably got the best produce in the world. Maybe, like you know, Sydney's great Australian. I think maybe the Mediterrane, like Greece.
You know. Yeah, I just ate my way through Greece and Italy and and and had some fucking killer meals in Spain and France. And I've had some killer fucking meals.
But the produces but I like, like.
It's also very hit or miss. But I will say this about Spain and France. Those servers don't go fuck about you man. They're rough, and that is that that taints the experience.
Like I remember, but then they're not working for tips.
I remember asking somebody in Madrid. I was like, does this have cheese in it? They were like, look, I don't know if it has cheese in it, and I was like whoa. I was like, dude, I just don't want to fart later I'm not here. Sorry, I didn't know. And then the rest of your meal you're like, fuck, you can't even enjoy it because you're like you just got scalded by I had this bartender. I was just like, hey, can I get one more glass of wine in Madrid? And he's like nah, and I go why, He's like, we're closed. I was like, it's eleven thirty. I thought you close at twelve and he's like, oh, I'm closing now. And I was like, well, you didn't even call last call. He's like, I don't need to. And I was like, I just want you to pour me. Why just pour me? The why? So that shit taints how I feel what I'm meaning. I wish it didn't, but I'm thin skin, I'm sensitive, so me too.
It happens in Asia too. Like people are tough everywhere around the world except which is weird, Like you know because us in America we think we're the t office, but like, you know, we're actually really kind to each other in these kind of social environments you know, around the world, like they're really tough, really tough, you know, and then and then you have to and the thing the culture is like, you know, my wife's from Koreas, so it's like I have she always like she kind of hits me in like the small the back when I'm being too nice at a like a Korean restaurant or something. She's like, you got to give it back, like the same you gotta go back with the same energy or else they don't respect you. So the problem is they don't respect you. So if you give it back, then they're okay, okay, then they're down for the you know, the joust.
I will say the first time I ate that Super Bowl Jeep, I was like, ship, are they mad at me?
I'm not mad?
Like, what do you want? I was like, whatever you want, I'm sorry.
No, you got to give it back. But yeah, fine dining used to be like going to the opera. That's basically what it was. And right.
Special in guys that came up in that opera. Yeah, fucking ship the motherfuckers give and your ship.
Especially in Europe, it still existed. Yeah, it used to be like that, and that used to be what was considered fine dining. And uh man, I'm so glad that Arizona. Yeah that ship, yeah, that ship
With Eric Andre