New Menu With Chef Ray & The Baohaus Boys

Summary

Podcast Summary: "New Menu With Chef Ray & The Baohaus Boys"

Canal Street Dreams with Eddie Huang & Natashia Perrotti
Episode Date: July 16, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this lively episode of Canal Street Dreams, hosts Eddie Huang and Chef Ray take listeners behind the scenes at Baohaus to break down the evolution of their latest menu. With help from the kitchen crew, they reflect on the challenges and triumphs of pushing culinary boundaries and coming home to what makes their food—Chinese, Taiwanese, and Asian flavors—so craveable. The episode is a candid, funny, and passionate roundtable about creativity, teamwork, and the pursuit of excellent cooking in the ever-changing world of New York restaurants.

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Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Origins & Evolution of the New Menu

[00:20 – 04:10]

• Eddie recalls how Baohaus started with a classic lunch spot menu, mixing Chinese/Taiwanese basics with a few personal innovations.
  • "When we started, it was very much Chinese, Taiwanese lunch spot menu with a few innovations."
• Continuous Innovation: Eddie admits his constant new ideas can be a lot for Chef Ray ("It's actually hell on earth" – Chef Ray, [00:41]), but that creative tension keeps them sharp.
• Friendship & Passion: Eddie and Ray bond over their craft and share how their collaborative process and mutual obsession keeps the kitchen energized.
  • “Our friendship has become, like, a very cool thing in my life... revolving around this craft we really love.” – Eddie, [01:26]

2. The Italian-Chinese “Marco Polo” Experiment

[01:55 – 07:00]

• They recount creating a Chinese-Italian summer menu—freaked-out chicken parm, eggplant, and lots of pasta. It was fun, but not as craveable or repeatable as traditional rice dishes.
  • “We stopped putting buckets of rice on the table. We went from rice to gluten pasta.” – Eddie, [02:37]
  • “Literally within a week and a half, all the guys were like, so when do we change the menu to Chinese stuff?” – Chef Ray, [02:53]
• Both customers and staff quickly yearned for the return of Chinese staples, demonstrating the importance of culinary comfort and identity.

3. Candid Conversations with the Kitchen Crew

[04:30 – 24:04]

Featuring: Jaden, Jasper, Ibrahim, and others

• Recognition & Kitchen Hierarchies: Eddie spotlights Jaden as the #1 cook, sharing how ambition is essential in their kitchen culture.

  • "This is the number one ranked cook in the kitchen." – Eddie, [05:07]

• Team Input Shapes the Menu: Crew members admit initial excitement about Italian dishes gave way to longing for familiar flavors like rice and mapo tofu.

  • “White rice is back. Sasha's back, thrice cook mapo tofu classic. We have all our classic dishes, and we're putting a modernized twist to it.” – Jaden, [06:33]

• What Makes the New Menu Work: Jaden and others discuss loving the return of Asian ingredients, standout dishes (mapo tofu, shrimp vermicelli, eggplant, bay scallop dandan noodles), and the “rush” of dinner service.

  • “I love the rush of a busy night... bossing around. Screaming, chaos. All of that just feeds my soul.” – Jaden, [08:32]

• Kitchen Motivations & Learning: Crew members share their origin stories—many started as dishwashers, driven by love for the kitchen environment, and persistence.

  • “I started as a dishwasher... I want to do this for my career.” – Jaden, [09:14]
  • “Close mouth don't get fed.” – Eddie, [09:46]; echoed by Jasper as his mantra [14:35].

• Reflections on Menu Identity:

  • “We kind of strayed away from what made Baohaus Baohaus.” – Ibrahim, [21:08]
  • There’s consensus that innovation is important, but the core Asian identity and flavor profile are what make the restaurant and its staff feel at home.

4. Kitchen Culture & Creative Collaboration

[12:26 – 27:33]

• Intuitive Cooking & Training: Jasper reflects on how Chinese cooking felt immediately intuitive compared to Western restaurants, with techniques that "just make more sense."
  • “The techniques in Chinese cooking are just, to me, just make more sense.” – Jasper, [13:03]
• Persistence & Team Dynamics: Ibrahim shares a convoluted interview process but affirms his drive to be part of Baohaus' unique culture.
  • “Even if I might need to work for it a little bit harder, you know, I’m gonna go and get it.” – Ibrahim, [18:02]
• Division of Labor & Growth: Crew discuss their preferred stations, desire for mastery, and ambitions within the kitchen.
  • “I’m more interested in sautéing and stuff... eventually I’d like to expedite.” – Ibrahim, [19:29]

5. Leadership, Critique, and Lessons Learned

[24:10 – 29:43]

• Menu Development Stress/Excitement: Chef Ray details how onboarding staff to new items is stressful, but the team’s competence has improved dramatically.
  • “Biggest point of stress is just onboarding everybody onto the new stuff...housing a lot of hours just kind of micromanaging.” – Chef Ray, [24:33]
• Taking Criticism Seriously: The crew recounts a stinging review and how it fueled their perfectionism for the new menu.
  • “We rewrote this menu, and we're just like, we are not going to have anything on here that will be destabilizing.” – Eddie, [28:15]
• Trust and Maturity: Eddie acknowledges Chef Ray’s growth in trusting the team and designing intuitive dish pickups that won’t get lost in translation.
  • “I’m very proud of you in that I think you trust people more with your food.” – Eddie, [26:48]
• Aim for Consistency: Chef Ray stresses the focus on reliable execution: "I think we focused a lot more on real consistency throughout." [28:41]
• The Competitive Spirit: Their response to negative press: “Let’s be even better. So no one even dares to come fuck with us again.” – Eddie, [29:30]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Eddie’s Relentless Creativity:
  • “He has no ideas. He will not stop with the new ideas. It’s actually hell on earth.” – Chef Ray, [00:41]
• On Kitchen Camaraderie:
  • “Our friendship has become, like, a very cool thing in my life... We're inspired, we're passionate.” – Eddie, [01:26]
• On Menu Regrets & Returns:
  • “I’m full. I don’t want to eat anymore pasta... we want Chinese food back.” – Eddie, [02:29]
• On Culinary Intuition and Bias:
  • “We cut everything on the bias because chef feels things taste better cut on the bias. I do the garlic bulbs ugly and big like this, because I think they taste good pickled.” – Eddie, [12:48]
• On What Drives the Cooks:
  • “I love the rush... Expediting. Screaming, chaos. All of that just feeds my soul.” – Jaden, [08:46]
  • “The techniques in Chinese cooking... just make more sense.” – Jasper, [13:03]
• Honesty about the James Beard Review:
  • “He ambushed us. He came during the finals. It was whack. But I was like, let’s be even better.” – Eddie, [27:45]
• On Growth:
  • “Every new menu is tough. You got this done in two and a half weeks. I’m proud of us, man.” – Eddie, [27:33]

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Key Timestamps

• [00:20 – 04:10]: Introduction to new menu ideas and creative process
• [01:55 – 07:00]: The Italian-Chinese fusion experiment & why it didn’t last
• [04:30 – 10:16]: Jaden’s rise in the kitchen, love of Chinese classics
• [10:28 – 16:44]: Jasper and Ibrahim’s entry into kitchen, learning environment
• [19:00 – 21:59]: The right and wrong risks of menu innovation
• [24:10 – 29:43]: Chef Ray on leadership, training, feedback, and designing for consistency

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Overall Tone & Takeaways

Canal Street Dreams welcomes listeners into a vibrant, jokey, and deeply candid kitchen. The team’s willingness to experiment is counterbalanced by a fierce respect for tradition, intuition, and flavor. Through humor and self-awareness, Eddie, Ray, and the Baohaus crew bring to life the grit, growth, and good taste behind their latest menu—the result of hard-won lessons and relentless, collaborative passion. Whether you’re a chef, creative, or just hungry, this episode serves up delicious wisdom with every story.

Transcript

[A]

All right, welcome back. Canal Street Dreams. Very exciting episode. We are here at Bauhaus. Big Chef Ray is in the building again.

[B]

I'm a regular.

[A]

Yeah, he is a regular on the pod now, and his family's very worried for him. But we have. We wanted to show you the new menu today.

[B]

Pretty much, yeah.

[A]

Yeah. So when we started, it was very much Chinese, Taiwanese lunch spot menu with a few innovations. We were really just getting the spot open, getting settled into the kitchen as things have progressed. We've just pushed ourselves every single day. We have new ideas. We want to be better cooks.

[B]

He has no ideas. He will not stop with the new ideas. It's actually hell on earth.

[A]

Is it annoying?

[B]

It's not annoying. It's just. I'm like, fuck, my God.

[A]

I do have, like, a new dish every few days.

[B]

It's not every few days, man. It's like, every fucking night. Fucking text me.

[C]

What?

[B]

What about?

[A]

I kind of can't stop thinking about it, though. But tell me if it's annoying. I want to know. Like, it's not. Okay.

[B]

It's my job.

[A]

Your passion. Do you. Okay, yeah. Because I will say, when I was on the food tour, you did text me one day. You were like, yo, I miss cooking.

[B]

No. 100%.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

You missed my ideas.

[B]

No, I miss having someone with, like, a sense of, like, you know, good food sense as opposed to the fucking chimps back there.

[A]

But, you know, I will say that, like, one. Our friendship has become, like, a very cool thing in my life. Like, I will say that the friendship and revolving around, like, this craft that we really, really love and enjoy. It's been cool. We're inspired, we're passionate. So the second menu, I feel like we were sitting on the bar one day and we were just like, yo, what if we did, like, a freaked out chicken parm dish? What if we did a freaked out eggplant dish? Right. And that led to kind of like the Marco Polo fusion Chinese Italian menu.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Which was fun for the summer.

[B]

Yeah. We didn't really think it through, to be honest. You, like, beyond, like, oh, how. How will I be able to, like. Well, will people be able to crave this and, like, want to eat it, like, multiple times in a week?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Which is kind of like, the first menu was really good at. We would have a lot of regulars would come, like, you know, two, three times a week.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Getting something. And then with the new menu, it was generally received very well, but everyone, including myself, would be like, I'm full.

[A]

I don't Want to eat anymore pasta? To us, I think just. We don't crave pasta. Like, we crave rice.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And it was that one change because we stopped putting buckets of rice on the table. We went from rice to gluten pasta. And I think after eating through the menu three, maybe four times, every single one of us was like, we want Chinese food back.

[B]

Yeah. It was like, literally within, I'd say, like, a week and a half, that all the guys were like, so when we change the menu to Chinese stuff. Yeah.

[A]

And even the customers, like, the first menu, there were customers that ate that menu seven, eight, nine times.

[B]

Yeah, for sure.

[A]

The second menu, I would say everybody came. Some people ate it maybe three, maybe five times as they were here for the next stuff. But after that, they were like, let's get back to Chinese food.

[B]

Yeah, pretty much.

[A]

Let's do Chinese food.

[B]

Asking us about, like, all, like, these one or two favorite, like, menu items for the first menu.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I was like, yeah, we're working on it. Maybe, you know. Yeah.

[A]

And I don't think anyone was like, the second menu's bad. It was just like, it's. It was Italian food.

[B]

So when you want to talk about when we first. No, we were. We were schwitzing. Shout out to Russian bathhouses.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

And then we're just in the steamer. We were. We were wearing trunks. We were clothed.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

Towels.

[A]

Sandals.

[B]

Sandals. And then he just comes up. He just walks. Not walks up, but he's just like. So, like, you want to. I. Stop me if I'm being too crazy. Should we talk about new menu or. I'm just like, honestly? I was like, honestly. Yeah.

[A]

Well, I always feel bad because I do know. I am aware at this age now that I'm a psychopath. Like, mainly because Natasha has pointed out, she's like, I don't know how anybody lives with you or is in relationship with you. You have crazy ideas all the time. So now I'm very apologetic to the people I respect. Like, yo, can we talk about this? But luckily, you were like, yo, let's do this.

[B]

I was in a good mood.

[A]

You were in a great mood.

[B]

I think I got late.

[A]

You got laid also. The guys were up your ass too. They're like, we want Chinese food.

[B]

Yeah. They're so fucking annoying.

[A]

Let's bring them one. Jaden. Can we get Jaden on the show? All right. Let's get big Jaden on the show.

[B]

Big baldy.

[A]

Yo, yo, Jaden. Come on. Come on. The POD brother. Yup. All right. Just for anyone that doesn't know and doesn't see, Jaden does have true religion socks on. Well, would like it to be known he truly true religion head to toe right now.

[B]

True to this. True to this. Not new to this.

[A]

Yup. And Jaden doesn't like to toot his own horn. All right, but this is. This is. Yeah, pause.

[C]

This is.

[A]

This is number one. This is the number one ranked cook in the kitchen.

[C]

Right?

[A]

I would say yes.

[B]

Out of the stuff.

[A]

This is our guy.

[B]

Jaden is someone I trust very much.

[A]

So we lean on you. You know, we trust you. You've earned it. And one of my favorite things that happened was the third day Jaden worked with me. I had had him doing knife cuts and prep for two days. And the third day, he comes to me, goes, yo, Chef, you think I'm ever good to cook?

[E]

Yo, Chef, I'm trying to cook. I'm just sitting here watching you. I'm, Chef, I'm trying to cook Subway.

[A]

It was. It was my favorite. And I was just like, this guy loves this as much as we do. And I really feel you've been a leader here ever since. So thank you, bro.

[E]

Yeah, man.

[A]

Of course.

[E]

Yeah. I love this.

[A]

Talk to us. You were a big complainer back there. You were complaining to Chef Ray a lot about wanting to cook pasta because he's.

[B]

He's black and Italian. He's battalion.

[A]

Not for nothing, you were the one that wanted to cook Italian food when you first got here.

[E]

Me? Nah, I never said that, man.

[A]

You wanted pasta all the time. All the time.

[B]

You would cook noodles like, an Asian way. You'd be like, what are y' all doing? What is happening? It's not al dente. What the.

[A]

You're kind of a catalyst for the Italian menu. And then you were the first hater too.

[E]

Mixed emotions about that.

[A]

All right, what happened? Talk to us.

[B]

What.

[A]

What was it that made you miss rice?

[B]

Why do you hate Asian people so much?

[E]

Oh, I love Asian people. I'm like Chinese myself now. I'm actually really excited about this menu. White rice is back. Sasha's back thrice Cook Mapo Tofu classic. We have all our classic dishes, and we're putting, like, a modernized twist to it.

[C]

But.

[A]

But don't be afraid. I want to know what. What was it that made you feel the moment that you were like, I'm sick of this menu. What was it?

[B]

And was it. And was it the second day that we launched?

[A]

It's not going to offend us, man.

[B]

Let's fucking say It.

[E]

Honestly, it was the. Was the orechetti map.

[D]

No key.

[A]

I wasn't.

[E]

I wasn't jacking it, man. I'm not going to lie.

[D]

Word.

[E]

I wasn't jacking the pasta, I'm saying.

[A]

But that's what makes our kitchen good. All right, Everybody got an opinion? We got a comment box. And I've been encouraging you guys to talk. Your. Right. You talked your. We waited till the book tour was over. What's your favorite dish on the new

[E]

menu right now, man, I gotta say, those damn. The bebe scallops. Fire mapo tofu. Classic Sasha.

[B]

It's a damn baby.

[A]

Scallop, Dan.

[C]

Done.

[A]

Base scallop. All right. Base scallop.

[B]

Dan. Dan. Noodle. Say it with me. Dan, Dan, Dan, Dan.

[E]

Eggplant Fire mapo tofu.

[A]

The shrimp vermicelli, too?

[E]

Yeah. Shrimp vermicelli is fire.

[A]

Yeah.

[E]

I mean, I can't. I don't have a favorite dish because everything is, like, everything.

[A]

I'm gonna guide you through this because you don't pod much, and we want your opinions. We want. We want what's in your head. Pause. What is it about the dandan bay scallops that you really like?

[E]

I like the. I like the sweetness, the acidity, and the. The vinegar is all there. Like, all the flavors and one.

[A]

The layers.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Work.

[E]

When you take one bite, it's like everything comes together.

[A]

I really like that as a cook. When you back here, what is it that excites you?

[B]

What gets you hard? What gets you culinary.

[E]

What gets me bricked up.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

There we go.

[B]

There we go. He's activated.

[E]

I love the rush, man. I love the rush of a busy night. Screaming at people back there, bossing around.

[A]

I might get you a job at Noma.

[E]

I love this.

[A]

Nah, that's good.

[E]

Expediting.

[C]

Yeah.

[E]

Screaming, chaos. All of that just feeds my soul.

[A]

Word.

[E]

I love that. I love the. The hecticness before.

[A]

Before you started cooking, was there anything else like that?

[E]

Before I started cooking, man, I was. I was just a douchebag.

[A]

Word.

[E]

And like, this just saved my life, man.

[A]

Honestly, no respect.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

How did you come into it?

[E]

How did I come into cooking?

[A]

Yeah.

[E]

I started as a dishwasher, just looking for a job, and the chef was like, I look back in the kitchen, I'm like, yo, all those dudes look like pirates. You know, I'm saying with the hats all like.

[A]

Yeah.

[E]

Do rags. I'm like, I want to do that. They looked so cool to me. I was, like, 15 years old. Washing dishes.

[A]

Yeah.

[E]

I'm like, I want to do this for my career. I want to do this for the rest of my life. So I asked the chef, like, yo, I want to cook. Same way I asked you, like, yo,

[D]

yeah, I want to cook.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

There's one thing about Jay. He's consistent.

[A]

That's cool.

[E]

And he just let me start cooking, man.

[A]

Like, yeah. Close mouth. Don't get fed.

[E]

Nah.

[A]

You know. Respect. Thank you. Thank you. Look at Jasper. Jasper. Get Jasper on the show. Respect.

[E]

Thank you guys for having me. Of course.

[B]

Thank you, Jaden.

[A]

Thank you for everything you're doing. All right, Jasper, take your apron off.

[B]

What did I. I've raised you better than this. Damn.

[A]

Is Ibrahim still here? All right, cool. We get Ebon after we get. We got quiet Miguel on, too.

[B]

He's not gonna talk.

[D]

I love it.

[A]

Come on and say nothing. All right, Jasper, tell us what moment did you get bored of the last menu

[D]

at the tasting? Yeah, I saw red sauce, and I was bored immediately. No, everything else was pretty good. I. I was. I was really trying to avoid Italian when I came to work here.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Oh, yeah. Shout out. Yeah.

[D]

And then we like immediate Italian. And I was like, ah. But then it was. And it was fun, and it was, like, good to do. But I think, like, post Knicks season, it was like, just time for a change. Like.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

I sort of felt like that was, like, our next season menu, you know, I mean, it was fun.

[A]

That was the finals menu, you know, we'll always remember the finals menu.

[D]

Exactly.

[A]

I can't front. I enjoyed it three times.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Three times I enjoyed it. And then I. Every single one of us just, like, we need Chinese food.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

What is it about Chinese food you love?

[D]

I mean, a lot of things. For one, it's like, I think. I think it's the most intuitive food I've ever cooked. All, like, my background is, like. Is, like, new American. My fault. New American, French, Italian stuff.

[B]

His background is one year of cooking.

[D]

Yeah, but that's.

[A]

You know, but not only that.

[D]

So even before. Even before I was cooking professionally, like, the stuff that I cooked at home, everything was just like, you know, Western cooking. And a lot of it is, like, really, to me, like, mad counterintuitive.

[A]

Yes.

[D]

And I remember the first day I came to work here, you. You asked me to cut chives, and I started doing them, like, really, like, trying to be like. Like skinny and shit. Like the French. I could curse. Yeah, yeah.

[E]

Skinny.

[D]

And then. Yeah. I've realized halfway through, I was already cursing. I was like, I gotta film me. And then you were like, like, stop doing this shit. And you. And you took the knife from me, put my knife down, picked the cleaver up and just hacked him into, like, five pieces.

[B]

Yes.

[D]

Threw them sitting in the third round, I was like, oh, this is fire. This is the one right here. Yeah. And I don't know, I grew up eating it all the time, and, like, I was working at French restaurants and shit, and then I was getting off work and ordering Chinese food every day.

[A]

Yeah. And that's the thing. I think that our restaurant endears itself to customers, but I think the press, critics, things like that don't necessarily always understand what we're doing, because we are intuitive cooks, and we do everything to taste good. Like, we cut everything on the bias because chef feels things taste better. Cut on the bias.

[B]

They literally do.

[A]

I do the garlic bulbs ugly and big like this, because I think they taste good pickled. And you get a big bite of garlic. Every single decision we make is for actual flavor, is not as much aesthetic. So I like that you appreciate that.

[D]

No, also, like, just the techniques in Chinese cooking are just, to me, just make more sense. Like. Like, if you. If you've never cooked an egg before, you, like, you rip that pan because you just don't know. You put it in there and it burns. Filming.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

But, like, with Chinese, you know, get the wok as hard as you can. Yeah, toss that shit.

[A]

Yeah, it's fine. It's cool. Everything makes sense. It was cool, too, because I remember the day you came in. You didn't even. We never called you to come in.

[B]

You talk about his interview.

[A]

Yeah. He pulled up with the homie Josh with the skull hoodie, zips all the way up. I couldn't even see Josh's face. But I see this fool come down with the Norse face on and goes, yo, I want to cook. And I was like, what? This shit is like king of New York. Like, dudes just meeting at the Plaza Hotel. And you're like, yo, yo, yo. I was a dishwasher here. I built some of the cabinets here. I was a server here. And this was the first place they let me cook. But then I left. I went to diner. You were a good cook at diner. And you came back, and I remember you go. I go, why do you want to be here? You go, I want to learn how to cook Chinese food.

[D]

Absolutely.

[A]

And I was like, word. I'll teach you how to cook Chinese food.

[D]

Nah, dead ass. I remember. I'm not going to lie. I Was pretty drunk that day. I was with Josh. I was walking around and I knew they were opening Bauhaus here because I'd seen on Instagram. And I was like, oh, that'd be sick. And I was like, I was drunk enough. I was like, man, like, fuck that. I'm walking in, right? I seen you. I was like, yo, I'm walking in right now. I don't care, like, like filming, like, what I got to lose. And I remember I said. I said, do you close mouths, don't get fed.

[A]

Yes.

[D]

And then you were like, nah, fuck with that heavy. And that's when I knew I got hired. Like, already?

[A]

Yeah, because motherfuckers in jail always say that.

[C]

Dude.

[A]

Straight dudes in jail say that. Dudes fresh out of jail say that. And I was just like, this dude has spent some time in jail.

[D]

Very brief, very brief. You don't got to get into all that. Shout out to Josh.

[A]

Yeah. And. But no, I. I respected it. I. I respect people who. They just show up for themselves. You know what I'm saying? You want something, you go get it. I don't really like passive aggressiveness or people being coy. Like, you know, I like that you were aggressive and you were like, I want to be here.

[B]

Yeah, Jasper is definitely a go getter, I'll give him that. It's like his one redeeming quality as a cook. Because he's so green.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

But no, I respect the fact that he really does. He just. He knows when to just shut the fuck up and listen to me. It's very rare that he actually, like, does exactly what I tell him to do. But when it does click, it's fucking great.

[A]

It's interesting because you're opposite them too. Yeah. Jasper and Jaden were both like, yo, I'm get that job. I need that job right now. Give me that job. Yeah, you. I offered you the job on the spot, and you go, I'm gonna think about it. We'll talk to my sake. The is wrong.

[B]

I'm a hot commodity. What can I say?

[A]

No, you like to play hard to get, bro.

[D]

I've never been in a position to ever be, like, hard to get filming, like, professionally. Know what I mean? And so it really is. Like, I learned when I was like 16, like, you just got to walk around and ask people for shit, and they give it to you, man.

[A]

You gotta ask.

[D]

Just bother. Like, I started cooking cause I bother the head chef for six months. I was dishwashing, and I was like, bro, like, let me cook, bro.

[A]

Please, please.

[D]

And he was like, no. Like, go back to washing dishes. Like you're retarded. Yeah. And then.

[A]

My fault, My fault. It's fine. It's fine. Most people is like, oh, I'm gonna go to. I know people that are like, I'm gonna go to culinary school, I'm gonna learn, and then I'll get hired. Is just like, yo, you just gotta ask, like, give me the pan, give me a spatula, and let's get busy.

[D]

That ass.

[A]

You know, I did that shit, like,

[D]

I asked every day for months. And then eventually he was just like, yo, sure.

[B]

I don't think anybody in our kitchen went to culinary school except for Calvin.

[D]

Shout out to Calvin.

[B]

Oh, my God, Calvin.

[A]

Yeah. He also wants a handsome boy. Modeling school. All right, let's get Ibrahim on the show, bro. Thank you, Jasper. I app.

[D]

Thank you, thank you.

[A]

I love this episode. All right, yo, we got Ibrahim on the show.

[B]

The legend.

[A]

The legend. This is Bowman.

[B]

This is the bow.

[A]

All right. If you getting a bow during prime time rush hours, this is the man making your bows. All right? African Chinese bows is what we serve.

[B]

The man that took one month to interview because he kept the most difficult person to schedule.

[A]

It was my fault, though.

[C]

There was some miscommunications.

[A]

It was. I will take the blame because you came in on a day where I scheduled you, but I think you might have been like, five, six minutes late. And there were people just running in here wanting jobs, like Jasper and Jaden.

[C]

Right.

[A]

And I think I gave one of the spots and you came and I was like, yo, my fault. Can you hit me next week?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And then I handed you off to Chef, and Chef was out of town, so a lot of signals got crossed. But I'll take the blame.

[C]

I actually went to the first location.

[B]

Yeah, that's when I saw him. I saw him, I saw him and then his stupid ass one in this abandoned building. I was like, what the.

[C]

I didn't go inside. In my defense, I didn't go inside. I looked at it.

[B]

I was like, you probably used to be here.

[C]

I was like, all right, let me find the new address.

[B]

And you think they posted a new address inside the old one?

[C]

No, I found it somewhere else. I found it on Instagram.

[A]

So what made you stay persistent, though, after that terrible interview process?

[C]

Because I was like, I was in Nami Nor. I was in a non disclosed location before that. And then. Yes, and then I was like. I was like, bauhaus is fly. I'm trying to work there. Even if it's like, I might need to work for it a little bit harder, you know, I'm gonna go and get it.

[A]

No, that's what I did. You've been. You've been great since day one.

[C]

Appreciate you.

[E]

Sure.

[A]

I. I sincerely appreciate working with you. Chef Danny Bowen showed you. Well, you know, Chef Danny definitely showed you a few things.

[B]

He had.

[A]

Of everyone, Ibrahim had the most experience cooking Chinese food.

[B]

I thought his last name sounds Chinese.

[A]

Yeah, no, but, like, it's. It's been a cool journey. Like, you have been on battle station. Of everyone, I feel like you get killed the most. What. What is it like working battle stations?

[C]

I feel like you just got to dissociate, honestly. You just got to forget about everything. Just think of bows. Just do that.

[A]

Do you ever get pissed off when Jaden is expediting and he's not doing shit, and you just got 70 bows on the board?

[C]

He's like, you got 15 bows? Let me get that right now. But, yeah, no, it's all good. At the end of the day, like, they help out when they can, and, like, we all help each other out. We have good vibes.

[E]

Good.

[C]

We stick together. And, you know, like, I figured out at the end of the day, I. As I said, I just dissociate and do that.

[A]

Do you want to expedite? Do you want to. Do you want to, like, have that spot sometimes?

[C]

Right now, I'm not too interested in it. More in, like. I'm more interested in, like, sauteing and stuff.

[B]

Oh, word.

[C]

And then I think eventually I'd like to expedite. Is. There's that. I think I'm working up.

[B]

Yeah, I've seen you expedite. You'll be. We'll work on it together, brother.

[A]

You're going to be good, you know, you, Ibrahim.

[C]

I stay focused, though.

[A]

Yeah. And honestly, I do feel Chef's training is incredible.

[B]

You know, we'll get you that. Don't worry.

[A]

Yeah, this is. It's a cool team, I feel, because I got the ideas, but I'm not necessarily the best person at training. I'll be like, it's just like this. It's easy. And then y' all like, what the. What the hell did you just do? What did you just do?

[B]

He's doing old uncle Chinese. Sometimes I'm just like, what the. You just do. What the is that?

[D]

Figure it out.

[B]

You tell me. We gotta only rotate the meatball one way.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

I'm like, all right, man. Whatever.

[A]

That is the trick to Making a good lion's head meatball is mixing it only in one direction. Super smooth. If you mix it in multiple directions, it's. It's a clumpy, not consistent. It becomes racial Italian. Yes. What? Okay. How did you feel about the last menu?

[C]

The last menu, we're talking about the pasta.

[A]

Yeah.

[E]

Right.

[C]

I think there were some. Some good ideas. I think I liked the map. Gnocchi, I think, was. Have potential to be really fly. And it was. At points, it was just, like, finicky.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And I think in general, we tried some new things, and it can either work or not work. And it's like, some people like this, some people didn't. Some of the dishes I still like to this day. But I think we kind of strayed away from what made Bauhaus Bauhaus in a way also.

[A]

I agree.

[C]

But that's a risk that was taken. And it can go. It could go either way, I think.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I think it's. It's important as a kitchen to be like, yo, let's try some shit. Let's see where the boundary is at.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

I think that menu was Chef and I being like, all right, how far can we throw this ball? And we threw it damn far. A little bit past the boundary. And now it was really cool to hear from everybody. Yo, get back to the Chinese shit. And we still got a grilled romaine salad.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

We still have a blanched chilled bean salad here, but I think everything has very, very Chinese, Taiwanese, or Korean, Japanese flavors applied to it.

[B]

Silk Road summer. Silk Road summer.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

Right.

[A]

What's your favorite dish on the new menu?

[B]

Yeah, I'd say the. It's a tie between the prawn vermicelli or shrimp vermicelli. And honestly, I'm so geeked about the map of tofu being back.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Because, like, I think that's one of our, like, best shits ever.

[A]

Yes. I.

[B]

Especially after, like, the adjusted sauce.

[A]

Yeah. And it's on a bigger plate now. This is the big plate, Mapo.

[B]

It's a me size plate.

[A]

Yep. The shrimp vermicelli, which we ate it. It didn't make it to the table.

[C]

It was too good.

[A]

Yeah. What about you, Ibrahim?

[C]

Honestly, the meatball was really good. I had that earlier. And peanut. The. The peanut fish stir fry preserve for stir fry was one of my favorite dishes, so I'm so glad it's coming back.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

On a new. In a new way, that salad was really good. And I think that beef cheek also. I haven't tried it yet, but that looks fly.

[A]

Beef cheeks. Crazy that my two favorites are the shrimp vermicelli and the beef cheek.

[E]

Right.

[A]

And did the debate the. The base gallop dandan noodle. Very unique. It has the mushed up chickpeas as well. Yeah, I think it's fly.

[C]

I love a dandan noodle.

[A]

Okay. You. You said in your future you want to be on walkstation more? Yeah, eventually. Expo. I would love to see that.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

For Bauhaus. What would you like to see for

[C]

this place for what it becomes? I don't think I have that many expectations beyond, like, us just making fire food and having fun and everything coming out great.

[A]

Agree.

[C]

Everyone being happy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I think when you go that. I think when we all approach it that way, it's just, yo, we just want to come every day, be inspired, have fun, and make great food.

[C]

Exactly.

[A]

That will take care of the restaurant. The passion will take care of the restaurant. If we have a vision of, like, this is what it is, I actually think that makes it very boring.

[C]

Exactly.

[A]

So it was a trick question.

[C]

Well, I hope.

[B]

Old Chinese tricks.

[A]

Old Chinese tricks. Thank you, bro.

[C]

Appreciate it.

[A]

Yeah, definitely. Thank you for all your hard work.

[C]

All right. Thank you.

[A]

Yep. All right, chef. I feel like. I feel like we. We covered new menu.

[B]

Any.

[A]

Any thoughts? What are you thinking?

[B]

I'm excited to eat this, honestly. I'm excited to come to work and, like, just save money in Uber eats. I'm just like, I was coming. Hey, 1pm Yo, Miguel, fire. Fire a beef chick for me real quick.

[A]

Yeah. When we. When we do these menus, what's your biggest point of stress? What's your biggest point of, like, excitement? Oh, my God.

[B]

The stress. Probably biggest point of stress is just onboarding everybody onto, like, the new stuff. And just, like, it's usually probably me spending a week or two here, just, like, you know, a lot of hours just kind of micromanaging. Everybody just so, like, they get the standard of, like, how we wanted to go out, especially because, like, they're learning all these new pickups. So making sure that is going out correctly is probably the main thing. Ordering and stuff like that, it's, like, annoying, like, finding new purveyors and stuff like that, but it's pretty whatever. It's mainly just, like, QC everything, especially the new stuff and just, like, not kind of giving up standards.

[A]

I will say I have seen a change in you that I really like, though. With the guys, I think you trust them.

[B]

All right, I'll give it to them. Fine. Yeah. I do Trust them. I do trust them a lot, but

[A]

I think it's more changing you, to be honest. It's a good thing.

[B]

Like, I deleted the apps, guys.

[A]

Yeah, you deleted apps. I think you're, like, out of. Out of anxious crisis. It's just like. I think the thing with this is we. We designed this menu and the pickups this time with a lot more thought towards what are the pitfalls.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I think I will blame myself a little bit on some of the dishes on the last menu. Some pickups are easy for you or they're easy for me, but, like, can get lost in translation with other people. And I think this time we do not have a pickup that people can't pick up and understand.

[B]

Yeah. I think everything's very intuitive.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

It's not like, oh, how do you want the map? How do you want the gnocchi cooked? It's like.

[A]

Yeah, like, the hardest pickup is probably the eggplant.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And, you know, we made Jasper ask his questions today because we saw the first one he did. It was bald, and I was just like, alopecia.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Alopecia, eggplant. And I think that's the only one. Everything else we've thought out for the guys, we've done our jobs. And I will say, man, I'm very proud of you in that I think you trust people more with your food.

[B]

Yeah. I think it's. Again, what you're saying, like, we spent a lot of time on, like, together, but, like, thinking about the pitfalls of the menu and, like, how they could, you know, because obviously we need a day off.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

No, maybe I'm not running service. Maybe, like, Jay's running service. You're taking the day off.

[A]

Yeah,

[B]

Those, like, it's. We thought about those nights a lot and, like, how, like, how could they possibly fuck this up?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And then we made it so, like, I'm pretty sure it's almost impossible for them to fuck it up because, like, again, we've spent a lot of time training them.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

And, like, getting them up to speed.

[A]

They've become really good cooks.

[B]

They're pretty. They're all pretty solid.

[A]

Yeah. I'm proud of the guys, but thank you, man. Seriously, every. Every new menu is tough. You got this done in two and a half weeks. I'm proud of us, man.

[B]

For sure. We did o work. Yeah.

[A]

I mean, we were Sunday. I think we put in 12 hours on Excel sheets.

[B]

Yeah. But easily. Oh, man. I was going. You. You went crazy with the descriptions. Oh, my God.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I just.

[A]

I Was like, honestly, we'll. We'll talk for one second about this. The Ryan Sutton thing, I felt was unfair. I felt like he ambushed us. He came during the finals. It was whack. But I was just like, look, I don't want to give anyone an opportunity to pick on our shit. And I think there were certain dishes on that menu. Like, he shouted out, like, rubbery clam bao. Look, I never had a rubbery clam bao, but I could see how that dish, if not fired correctly, could be temperamental.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And we rewrote this menu, and we're just like, we are not going to have anything on here that will be destabilizing. I think that was a. That was a word and a thing that we spoke about a lot was, do you want to add stabilizers to this? Do you want to do this? Is. We made sure there was not a dish on this menu that had a high probability of being fucked up.

[B]

Yeah. I think we focus a lot more on, like. Like, real consistency throughout. Like, you know, because I think the past menu, there's a lot of really good highs. But then it's usually when I made it or you made it. No offense to the guys, but, like, it was, like, perfectly in our vision when we fired it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And then I think small little details got missed while, like. Like, other people are picking it up.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And then, you know, because I took the. I took the review more, so, like, I should have done better. Like, you know, I take it more, like, on the chin, because for me, it's like, I grew up. I mean, we both grew up in Asian households.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So I take criticism very hard, but, like, in, like, an accepting way.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Because I just want to be better. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. I felt like he was being kind of an unfair Asian dad, but I was like, you know what, herd? And even though I've been making fun of him, and it, to me, still pisses me off.

[B]

No, for sure it does.

[A]

I was just like, let's be even better. So no one even dares to come fuck with us again.

[B]

Pretty much. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. This pretty much the entire menu.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like, come fuck with us.

[A]

Yeah, exactly. I like it. I love it. I love this energy. Thank you, bro.

[B]

Of course.