NY vs. LA Whites, R Kelly & The Cheesecake Factory with ThemJeans

Summary

Canal Street Dreams – Episode Summary

"NY vs. LA Whites, R Kelly & The Cheesecake Factory with ThemJeans"

Podcast: Canal Street Dreams
Hosts: Eddie Huang, Natashia Perrotti
Guest: Chris Duffy (Them Jeans)
Release Date: November 7, 2025

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Episode Overview

This high-energy episode features Eddie and Natashia in a sprawling, unfiltered conversation with iconic podcaster Chris Duffy (Them Jeans). Together, they swap stories about New York vs. LA culture, spin wild tangents about food, nightlife, parenting, and creative process, and reflect on the ingredients that define true American dining. The trio also dives into deeper territory, exploring whether greatness demands a dark side, and the enduring problematic power of R. Kelly's music. Throughout, the conversation pivots from the deeply personal to the irreverently funny, with food and pop culture always on the table.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Podcasting and Creative Process

• Legend in the House: Eddie introduces Chris ("Them Jeans") as a “pod-father” who influenced the early days of podcasting.
  Notable Quote (00:27):
  “This is a KRS one of the temple of podcasting.” — Eddie Huang

• Keeping it Simmering: Discusses intentional low-key approach to podcast growth and promotion, taking pride in slow builds and community over hype.
  Notable Quote (04:01):
  “We just enjoy the pod simmering. This is a stew.” — Eddie Huang

• On the Nature of 'How Long Gone': Chris reveals the pod's 'coastal elite' vibe was originally a pun, not a goal. Notable Quote (51:30):
  “When the pun is too ill, nobody gets it, so it defeats the purpose of the pun.” — Chris Duffy

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2. Food as Identity and Culture

• From Food Snobbery to Slutty Dining: Eddie reflects on his evolution from gatekeepy foodie to embracing the joy and accessibility of “slutty” and “horny” food, championed by Natashia.
  Notable Quote (05:18):
  “If I was copy editing you, I might say, maybe let's strike two of those out [horny, slutty]... There's a lot of them.” — Chris Duffy
  Notable Quote (05:19):
  “And I said, more horny more. Put slutty more.” — Natashia

• Cheesecake Factory & Solo Dining Rituals:
  Natashia details her iconic Cheesecake Factory solo order and the subtle performance in dining alone (“low cut shirt, tits up and out”).

  • Order: Buffalo Blasts (like a buffalo chicken crab rangoon), Caesar salad, maybe the Louisiana spicy pasta (13:06–14:20)

• Hurricane Menu & Food Under Duress:
  Discussion of “death row meals” in hurricane situations highlights food as a comfort in crisis. Eddie insists spinach dip is a must-pack, even during evacuation (09:52).

  Notable Quote (10:15):
  “He made us all wait about an hour so we can make a fucking spinach dip.” — Natasha

• "Floridian White Trash meets Houston's" Cuisine:
  Eddie proposes embracing his Orlando roots and the “wigger Floridian” food identity.
  Notable Quote (08:14):
  “My true identity is, like, wigger Floridian cuisine, you know, like, we can't lie about that.” — Eddie Huang

• American Comfort Food, Houston’s, and ‘Sluttiness’:
  Critique of how food at classic chains is “elevated” and sanitized, losing its roots. Call to “get sluttier”—more welcoming, less curated. Timestamp (28:57–29:40):
  “I think people just need to be sluttier with it. Like, get stupider, get sluggier, get back to the essence, where this food came from.” — Eddie Huang

• Drink Pairings and Indigenous Food:
  Toasting the joys of pairing fruit punch Gatorade with comfort sandwiches and exploring hybrid drinks like fruit punch sangria and Pedialyte Bloody Marys (47:45–49:50).

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3. New York vs. LA (and Their Whites)

• Cultural & Culinary Contrasts:
  Eddie and Chris poke fun at the differences between New York and LA “whites”—particularly LA’s insistent awe over “Chinese Chicken Salad.” Notable Quote (16:00):
  “Mouth breathing folks in LA would constantly grab my shoulder at parties or dinners nutting over a simple Chinese chicken salad. And it ruined it for me.” — Eddie Huang

• LA White Folk Stereotypes:
  Eddie and Chris riff on the idea that LA whites “weren’t cooked long enough somewhere” (17:05), mocking performative cultural surprise.

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4. Restaurant / Hospitality Philosophy

• Kitchen vs. Front-of-House:
  Eddie prefers laboring in the kitchen over schmoozing, while Natasha takes on the natural “room worker” role—echoing a DJ/chef parallel. 35:01
  “It’s the champagne room. Like, you wouldn’t go, yo, jeans, what up?… Like, there’s things going on in here.” — Eddie Huang

• Room and Memory Over Food Quality:
  For weddings and standout celebrations, the “room” or ambiance often trumps the food. Michael’s in Santa Monica, The Grill, and Mr. Chow are discussed as ideal venues—even if the food is only fine. (40:20–42:33)

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5. Music, Greatness, and the “Dark Side”

• The Problematic Genius of R. Kelly, Michael Jackson, etc.:
  Wide-ranging discussion on whether evil or suffering is required for creative genius.

  • R. Kelly’s music is still undeniable, despite his crimes (62:54–66:38).
  • Question: “Does it take a person so evil to create something so great?”

  Notable Quotes:
  “[R. Kelly’s] voice just feels like it could be a representative of God.” — Eddie Huang (66:30)
  “Once you go to that far and you push it…the. Your life and your brain, it’s done.” — Chris Duffy (64:07)

• Who Stays Good?:
  Pondering whether fame inevitably corrupts. Daniel Day Lewis is proposed as a possible pure “genius” (67:34).

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6. Parenting, Growing Up, and Hangover Cures

• Parenting in the Food World:
  Natashia and Eddie juggle parenthood and the restaurant grind, with practical hacks (Pedialyte popsicles for hangovers, 49:07–49:52).

• Food as Survival and Ritual:
  Packing comfort food (like spinach dip) for emergencies is recounted as both humor and necessity.

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7. Hot Takes, Rapid-Fire, & Memorable Moments

• On Guy Fieri as a guest:
  • “He’d be incredible...I did it in the dock and I had to do it for multiple hours. Like I had to be Guy Fieri for five hours…Residual effects lasted two years.” — Eddie Huang (38:05–38:23)
• What’s Them Jeans listening to?
  • “Mostly just listen to ambient mixes on NTs…In the afternoon, I’ll smoke a little, listen to some dub, dub, techno, reggae…” — Chris Duffy (60:31)

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |------------|-------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:27 | Eddie | “This is a KRS one of the temple of podcasting.” | | 05:19 | Natashia | “And I said, more horny more. Put slutty more.” | | 08:14 | Eddie | “My true identity is, like, wigger Floridian cuisine…” | | 10:15 | Natashia | “He made us all wait about an hour so we can make a fucking spinach dip.” | | 14:29 | Eddie | “I always get the Bang Bang chicken… I love Bang Bang chicken and shrimp.” | | 16:00 | Eddie | “Mouth breathing folks in LA would constantly grab my shoulder…nutting over a simple Chinese chicken salad.” | | 17:05 | Eddie | “White people in L.A. just different…like they weren’t cooked long enough somewhere.” | | 28:57-29:40| Eddie | “I think people just need to be sluttier with it…get back to the essence, where this food came from.” | | 35:01 | Eddie | “It’s the champagne room. Like, you wouldn’t go, yo, jeans, what up?...there’s things going on in here.” | | 51:30 | Chris Duffy | “When the pun is too ill, nobody gets it, so it defeats the purpose of the pun.” | | 62:54 | Chris Duffy | “I listen to R. Kelly song now and I’m like, the shit is good. I mean, obviously he’s done bad stuff, but I think there’s going to be a reserve. I’m predicting it. The rise of Kels.” | | 66:30 | Eddie | “[R. Kelly’s] voice just feels like it could be a representative of God…” |

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00-05:00: Welcome Chris (Them Jeans), podcasting lineage, food and nightlife in the pod.
• 05:00-14:30: Gatekeeping food culture, “horny/slutty” food writing, Cheesecake Factory rituals.
• 14:30-20:00: New York vs. LA Whites, Chinese Chicken Salad discourse, food identity.
• 20:00-30:30: Brown rice vs. white rice, Houston’s/Margaritaville/American comfort food, ambiance over cuisine.
• 30:30-34:40: DJing, playlist creation, vibe setting in restaurants and weddings.
• 34:40-45:00: Restaurant work-life, kitchen vs. front of house, room magic vs. culinary excellence.
• 45:00-50:00: Go-to LA and NY eats, neighborhood gems, hangover food and drinks.
• 50:00-59:00: "How Long Gone" podcast ethos, musical influences, food inspiration.
• 59:00–68:00: LA vs. NY, proliferation of chains, moral complexity of creative excellence (R.Kelly, Michael Jackson, etc.)
• 68:00–End: Can true greatness exist without darkness? Parenting, closing thoughts.

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Final Thoughts

This episode is an eclectic, kinetic ride—mixing food philosophy, irreverent storytelling, and honest exploration of ambition, community, and the cost of genius. The chemistry between Eddie, Natashia, and Chris Duffy is palpable, yielding a rollicking yet thoughtful hang that leaps from “slutty spinach dip” to the legacy of problematic artists—always with flavor, wit, and zero filter.

For food, pop culture, or deep-in-the-weeds podcast fans, this is a feast.

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Transcript

[Eddie Huang]

Yo, we have a legendary guest today. We've said this many times, but we actually have the pod father on the pod today. This man is the founder, creator of so many of your favorite pods. Might have even introduced me to the technology of podcasts. I didn't even know what the fuck podcasting was when he was doing podcasting the stew.

[Chris Duffy]

Tall tale Osiris of this shit. He's.

[Eddie Huang]

He's Osiris, like KRS1 is the God of the temple of hip hop. The.

[Chris Duffy]

This is.

[Eddie Huang]

This is a KRS one of the temple of podcasting.

[Chris Duffy]

I'll take it.

[Eddie Huang]

Them jeans is in the fucking building. Welcome, welcome jeans.

[Chris Duffy]

Thank you, guys. Thank you for having me in your home, in your Australian restaurant.

[Eddie Huang]

Welcome to Australian.

[Natasha]

Welcome to our Australian home.

[Chris Duffy]

I was just eating some of this delicious dip.

[Eddie Huang]

Mmm. Mmm.

[Chris Duffy]

So this is like a spinach dip that you would normally get at a regular white people restaurant, but you flipped it with pickled mustard greens.

[Eddie Huang]

Exactly. A little Szechuan chili.

[Chris Duffy]

There's a little tingle.

[Eddie Huang]

I was gonna say a little tingle. There's some goat cheese in there. You know, we put some goat.

[Chris Duffy]

This is an Australian place, so you have to say goats plural, when you say cheese.

[Eddie Huang]

Oh, really?

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah, they say goats.

[Eddie Huang]

What? They do. Oh, goat's cheese.

[Chris Duffy]

Goats cheese. Not goat cheese.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, no. They got a lot of interesting sayings. They got a lot of interesting things.

[Chris Duffy]

Australia.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, I definitely have an offensive accent that I bust out every once in.

[Natasha]

A while when they give me an Australian accent. It's like my favorite thing in the world.

[Eddie Huang]

Oh, yeah, give me 1.

[Chris Duffy]

1. And I'm doing it all night, baby.

[Natasha]

Yeah, yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

And if you keep giving the Australians a bump. They let you do it.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, they let you do anything if.

[Natasha]

You give them a bump. You could open a restaurant at her bar. You could open a restaurant. You could do a podcast every week.

[Chris Duffy]

So this is a private room in the restaurant, or this is a place where you can just hang out when you're waiting for a table.

[Eddie Huang]

Anyone can come play pool. Not even waiting for a table. Come have a drink. The basement.

[Chris Duffy]

Public clubhouse.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. Yeah. The basement is really like your basement growing up. The homies crib. Just go down there, like, do drugs, do whatever. You know, dudes are making out, trying to figure out how to make out together down here.

[Chris Duffy]

This is a place where you could kiss your first guy.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. Kiss your first homie. Learn how to do it, test it out, then go upstairs and try it on.

[Chris Duffy]

Is there. Is there video games to.

[Eddie Huang]

No, no video games.

[Natasha]

There's movies like that.

[Chris Duffy]

Beautiful.

[Natasha]

Fun.

[Chris Duffy]

Oh, I brought you more weed, by the way.

[Eddie Huang]

Thank you. Did this. Honestly, though, this was the most fire weed I've had in many, many months.

[Chris Duffy]

Wow. Okay.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, I coughed. I coughed. I. I hit the how long gone pure beauty joint, and I coughed.

[Chris Duffy]

Have you smoked on camera on this pod yet, or would YouTube take you down? I'm not saying that you should have.

[Eddie Huang]

Smoked on the pod. I have not. I feel like. I feel like I slippery once you.

[Chris Duffy]

Start doing drugs on the pod.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

You wouldn't do that, would you?

[Natasha]

I would.

[Chris Duffy]

Okay.

[Natasha]

I would do, yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

Like, quite anything.

[Eddie Huang]

Can we smoke cigs down here?

[Natasha]

I mean, I would definitely smoke.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

Did you have a lighter?

[Chris Duffy]

I've never been here before.

[Eddie Huang]

Okay. Okay. Yeah, we'll procure. We'll procure, and when you come back, we'll take a break. Halftime. Oh, yeah, Halftime joint. We will taste. We will test your product on the show.

[Chris Duffy]

Because I. Like I was saying, I've done a thousand podcasts, but I've done, like, two on video. And, you know, it's very Joe Rogan to have a drink on the table, have a cigar, smoke a joint with Elon. It's true. So when I see the cameras, it's making me want to do transgressive behavior.

[Eddie Huang]

Have you done Rogan?

[Chris Duffy]

No.

[Eddie Huang]

Okay, Okay.

[Chris Duffy]

I ain't that big.

[Eddie Huang]

Okay, okay.

[Chris Duffy]

And I don't know if he would have me, but I would love.

[Eddie Huang]

He would have you go. You go to Rogan's and he offers you, like, three different types of black rifle coffee, and then a joint. And then it's like, you want mushroom? You want.

[Chris Duffy]

You've done it.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, I've done. I've done, I think Rogan five times.

[Chris Duffy]

You've done Rogan five times?

[Natasha]

A lot of times, bro.

[Chris Duffy]

This podcast should be bigger by now. I got to say, for real, we're just not.

[Eddie Huang]

We're not promoting. What are we doing?

[Chris Duffy]

Drop shit. Do you get a big bump after going on Rogan? Do you see it? Does your team notice the difference early on?

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. You get a huge bump. Like when we did separate bedrooms, this was originally separate bedroom. Huge bump from Rogan initially. And then I just. We never had a social media person. We never, like, really pumped it. We're opening the restaurant, but we just enjoy the pod simmering. This is a stew. Have you had a pod called this? You had this?

[Chris Duffy]

I had a food podcast called the Stew.

[Eddie Huang]

So we're basically following your model to just simmer and stew.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah, but you guys don't talk about food. 100. But you talk about it a lot.

[Eddie Huang]

We talk. Yeah. I would say we talk more about sex and nightlife. Like, sex and nightlife is like 60%, 20% food, 20% my sports gambling.

[Chris Duffy]

Right.

[Eddie Huang]

And then I miscalculated. There's also like 10 children.

[Chris Duffy]

We need to get the prize picks ad. Yeah. Okay. So we got 10% babies, 20% sports.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

And then food and food sex.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. Which is the world you come from?

[Chris Duffy]

It is. You know, I do come from the world of nightlife and food. So this is the streams are crossing. I was reading your most recent substack, and the word horny and slutty appeared. If I was copy editing you, I might say, maybe let's strike two of those out. There's a lot of them.

[Natasha]

And I said, more horny more.

[Chris Duffy]

Really?

[Natasha]

I said, put slutty more.

[Chris Duffy]

Double down on the slutty.

[Natasha]

He actually passed the laptop in front of me and I started doing more sluts. Like, I just started typing slutty.

[Chris Duffy]

Okay, so why were you. Why were you trying to make it more. I don't know. Why are you trying to hold up?

[Natasha]

I don't. I just feel like, like, that's a slutty spinach dip. I love. I don't know you restaurants.

[Chris Duffy]

Is there a shortage of horniness?

[Eddie Huang]

You will appreciate this because you've known me, like, a decade. We've known each other for a long time as homies. I think for a while, I was like an annoying food person. Like, a very obnoxious, gatekeepy food person. That was like, that's not good. And that's not good. And that's not good.

[Chris Duffy]

I met say, like, it's a bad thing, man.

[Eddie Huang]

I was an annoying, gatekeepy food person, I think, for like three to five years of my life.

[Chris Duffy]

Okay.

[Eddie Huang]

You know? And like, you would even put me on a. Like, well, it's fine.

[Chris Duffy]

But this is whack if.

[Eddie Huang]

You know. And you'd be like, whatever.

[Chris Duffy]

No, I like that. I like that.

[Eddie Huang]

Good.

[Chris Duffy]

I like that. I mean, it's no fun to talk to people who are like, so good. Have you been here? So good.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

So good.

[Eddie Huang]

This is the worst.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

If somebody's like, oh, I fucking hate that restaurant, you're like, what? And then we. We argue for an hour. And that's fun.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. I always enjoy talking to you about. I remember, like, conversations specifically at, like, Dan O's house. And Chris got fucking no socks on and shoes. You know what I mean? And doesn't give A fuck about food. And we're just, like, arguing. And he's like, you two idiots are, like, arguing over, like, what kind of fish that is. I'm like, yeah, like, it bothers me. It bothers me that they're using tile fish.

[Chris Duffy]

Right, right. I mean, I heard the skate wing discourse as well. You know, there's a lot, lot to cover.

[Natasha]

Yeah, the skate wing.

[Eddie Huang]

You guys, like, really don't want kids getting into these joints. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You're a stronger man.

[Natasha]

I appreciate that. Because he really will just be leaving his weed around. Thank you, thank you.

[Chris Duffy]

You're like, why do they have childproofing this motherfucker.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, this guy. And I thought about it since I met her.

[Natasha]

She.

[Eddie Huang]

When I met her, I'd be like, where are you at? She's like, oh, I'm just solo dining at the Cheesecake Factory. And I was like, if you would, dudes, you could just tell me you would. Dudes. You don't got to be like, I'm.

[Chris Duffy]

At the Cheesecake Factory.

[Eddie Huang]

Solo dining, you know? But no, she really was solo dining at the Cheesecake at the Grove. And I was like, that's so hot. And I hadn't been to a Cheesecake Factory since I lived in Orlando, and she got me back into the Cheesecake Factory. We went into Margaritaville. I was like, these are actually my native restaurants. This is my native restaurant.

[Natasha]

So essentially what he's saying is I've completely ruined his life. Just like, downgraded his cultural taste in every.

[Chris Duffy]

He went from three Michelin star tasting menu to maybe it's not so bad at Tommy Bahama.

[Natasha]

Yeah. And I'm like, it's so sick here.

[Chris Duffy]

I've never eaten. Eaten there. I've eaten at Houston's, and I've eaten at Cheesecake and Applebee's and all that Sizzler and all that stuff, but never Tommy. I'll give it a shot, cuz, you.

[Eddie Huang]

Know, like, in New York, I was always known Taiwanese, Chinese food, street food, things like that. But, like, my true identity is, like, wigger Floridian cuisine, you know, like, we can't lie about that. Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah, Chef.

[Eddie Huang]

Chef Du Wegar is.

[Chris Duffy]

Have you thought about weaving in a pub sub? You know, pub sub?

[Natasha]

That would go crazy.

[Eddie Huang]

What do you. Since you brought it up now you come and we do our pub sub. That's what we're going to do.

[Chris Duffy]

Okay. Yeah. My Cali flavor, the inclusion of sprouts and avocado in the mix.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. We also wanted to get to Delta but you need to come one day and we just need to chef together.

[Chris Duffy]

Okay.

[Eddie Huang]

Now that I have a full service, we can do this.

[Chris Duffy]

Okay. I would love to get into the lab with y'. All.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

Pub. So, okay, so what's your solo dining at Cheesecake one?

[Eddie Huang]

Sorry. I'm so sorry. What we need to do is a hurricane menu. A menu as if the hurricane is coming to Florida. And it's me and Dizza Jamaica still in our hearts.

[Natasha]

Yeah, yeah. Shout out.

[Eddie Huang]

Big up Jamaica. You know, the bumble clatter. Okay. I hope everybody is okay.

[Chris Duffy]

And a good bumble clock to you and yours.

[Eddie Huang]

I really, you know, praying for all our homes.

[Chris Duffy]

It's all being cut. It's all being cut.

[Natasha]

We're gonna leave with that.

[Eddie Huang]

We need to do the hurricane menu as if the hurricane is coming. What would we die and what would we make? What would be.

[Chris Duffy]

So that's like the. That's the Floridian death row meal. Like, since it's inevitable that you're going to either die from. From a lethal injection or a hurricane related incident. What is your hurricane. What's your hurricane meal?

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, me, you and Dizza do the Hurricane Andrew dinner. Like, let's pretend Hurricane Andrew is coming again. What are we eating?

[Natasha]

I love that. Do you know that when the fires happened in LA and we had to evacuate our house, he made us all wait about an hour so we can make a fucking spinach dip. I did. I'm packing our goods. Like, we have a. We have a literal 15 month old son. I'm packing our goods. I'm like sweating around that. I'm like, oh, my God, what should I get? Like the baby photos. Like, what's sentimental? And he's making a spinach dip that he then packed and brought, you know, and that was his contribution. He got the leather goods, the cash and the spinach dip.

[Eddie Huang]

Watches and Nick's jerseys.

[Natasha]

Watches, Knicks jerseys.

[Chris Duffy]

Go yard.

[Natasha]

Hermes. Like, didn't miss a. Didn't miss a single handbag. But the spinach dip was cooked and ready to go and he brought like multiple bags of chips to eat it.

[Chris Duffy]

Okay, so is that the Asian mom in you? Like, we. You have to pack this meal, go down with the ship regardless. Wrap.

[Natasha]

No, I think it's like you guys are talking about your death row meal. I'm like, he literally wasn't.

[Chris Duffy]

That was. Okay.

[Natasha]

He was in that position. And this was the meal. Like, you did choose this.

[Chris Duffy]

Is that. Is that like a Virgo thing to where, like, I'm going to. I started making this Dip. And nothing is going to stop me from finishing this.

[Eddie Huang]

And completely the opposite. That the wind was coming and that there was potential for fire. They, like, told everyone in the neighborhood. And then I was just like, well, if the end is near, we need spinach dip. You know, Must bring spinach dip. I will say this. This joint is incredible. You know, Like, I coughed the first time. Now I'm used to it. I'm good, but hints of hojicha. Just hojicha tea, man. What did you do? Did you.

[Chris Duffy]

Hints of hojicha.

[Eddie Huang]

Hints of hojicha. Do you put a little barley in there?

[Chris Duffy]

As far as I know, there's no hojicha in here. Shout out to Rocky's Matcha. Would you like some?

[Natasha]

Okay.

[Eddie Huang]

Thank you.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah. This. This weed, it's. It's three existing strains that Pure Beauty already makes. And then I just created a, like a ratio. Once you have your ratio down, you know.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. That is kind of how, like, collab blending goes. Like you blend a bourbon. They're like, all right, we got these three barrels. Just tell us how you blend it and we're gonna put your face on it. But this. I love what you did.

[Chris Duffy]

Okay. Because I'm a. I'm an indica guy. I like to slow down. You know, I'm not trying to get geeked out on it. I'm trying to slow down. So it's. It's mostly that with a dash of sativa and a little bit of cbd thca to just kind of give you a boost. So you could. You could go to sleep or you could go to pilates.

[Eddie Huang]

I'm gonna go to kids Halloween.

[Natasha]

You can also go to kids.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, I'm a kid.

[Natasha]

That's a good one for trick or treating. Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Natasha]

Because then you can, like, have a snack.

[Chris Duffy]

You're real good and high while you're supervising small children now.

[Eddie Huang]

Well, that's why.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah. Cuz nyc, sober, famously chill on Halloween.

[Natasha]

Right?

[Eddie Huang]

Very, very chill.

[Natasha]

Especially initiating our son into.

[Chris Duffy]

I mean, what's the costume?

[Natasha]

Oh, he's a dinosaur. And we're dinosaurs. We're all dinosaurs. He's going to be either a T. Rex or a pterodactyl, depending on his mood.

[Chris Duffy]

You have multiple dino options.

[Eddie Huang]

I'm a dinosaur hunter with a toddler.

[Natasha]

You have to. Because.

[Chris Duffy]

Feels like a porn website.

[Natasha]

Yeah, we're, well, dino hunters.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah.

[Natasha]

Yeah, Dino hunter.

[Eddie Huang]

Start that. Yeah, okay.

[Chris Duffy]

Sorry.

[Eddie Huang]

Let me get chasing down milfs as a T. Rex.

[Chris Duffy]

I wanted to go back to. What is your solo performative female dining alone. At cheesecake order. And what book are you reading?

[Natasha]

Low cut shirt, tits up and out.

[Chris Duffy]

Okay.

[Natasha]

To start. Right? Because this is.

[Eddie Huang]

That's the kind of like when you do under boob. I like when you do.

[Natasha]

Okay, so I'm wearing a half shirt, no bra. Boobs are spilling out the bottom.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, yeah.

[Natasha]

I'm totally doing. If I'm by my. We're doing Buffalo Blast in a Caesar salad to start.

[Chris Duffy]

What exactly is a Buffalo Blast?

[Natasha]

A Buffalo blast is kind of like a crab rangoon, but with just. Just with like, shredded chicken and buffalo sauce. Like, it's a. And then it's like, you know, essentially.

[Chris Duffy]

A crab rangoon cranberg with buffalo sausage.

[Natasha]

And you get about, like, four of those. And then you get the Caesar salad on the side. And then I think after that, I mean, I usually just keep it to that if I'm by myself, but if I was going for a meal after, I'd probably can't do much more than.

[Chris Duffy]

That with under titty go.

[Natasha]

I would do like. I can. Because I'm just.

[Chris Duffy]

Watch me.

[Natasha]

Genetically blessed. I mean, you. Okay, I can do it. I'd probably go. What's like the Louisiana pasta?

[Chris Duffy]

Jambalaya.

[Natasha]

No, it's not a jambalaya, but it's like the Louisiana, like, spicy pasta.

[Eddie Huang]

Oh, yeah. The Cajun.

[Chris Duffy]

Cajun bio blaster.

[Natasha]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

Fettuccine gumbo situation.

[Natasha]

4, 000 calories.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, it's like a fettuccine Alfredo with creole seasoning.

[Natasha]

If we go together, we keep it, like, a little bit more Asian. We'll go like. We keep it. We keep it a little bit more Asiatic. We keep it, like, you know, true to our roots.

[Eddie Huang]

Okay, well, I always get the Bang Bang chicken.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

But I can't help it. I love Bang Bang chicken and shrimp.

[Natasha]

And then I'll go like the Thai, like, chili chicken or something. But the honey chicken is really good too.

[Chris Duffy]

Okay.

[Eddie Huang]

I tell Justin from Anajak all the time, like, bro, you should really go to the cheesecake because they have fire Thai food that you could learn a few things from.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah, yeah. And they can turn tables a lot faster than. And Jack over there too.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. They're not drying fish, but they make them fire.

[Natasha]

Yeah. I don't know about their wines at the Cheesecake Factory, but.

[Chris Duffy]

No. Yeah, don't. Don't recommend. Yeah, don't dabble in the wine. I finally ate inside of there.

[Eddie Huang]

It's good.

[Chris Duffy]

It was good.

[Eddie Huang]

It's good.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

I actually really. I really like their lobster supreme dish. They got A big lobster. That's very delicious. I mean, the tostadas are fire, you know, always fire. Not mad. And I do. I'm a. Are you a wine dude?

[Chris Duffy]

Not really, no.

[Eddie Huang]

Okay.

[Chris Duffy]

I appreciate it, but I'm not a wine hunter.

[Eddie Huang]

Word. Yeah. See I. It's like watches and wine. I'm only gonna talk to people about if they're like idiots like me. Otherwise you're just a jerk off. You know, you're just jerking off into the air in front of someone that doesn't care, but, you know. Yeah. So. Okay, la. We haven't. I haven't dined there in a while since the, the. The big barbecue.

[Chris Duffy]

Speaking of la.

[Natasha]

Yeah, the big LA barbecue.

[Chris Duffy]

I was reading your sub stack and I pulled a quote. I personally love a Chinese chicken salad, but mouth breathing folks in LA would constantly grab my shoulder at parties or dinners nutting over a simple Chinese chicken salad. And it ruined it for me. Okay. Yes. So that is.

[Eddie Huang]

Would you like me to reenact?

[Chris Duffy]

It's more of a. No, I think I got it.

[Natasha]

And I could be the LA person.

[Chris Duffy]

The overarching point is I'm noticing some LA slander on this podcast.

[Eddie Huang]

Very much, very much.

[Natasha]

Ye.

[Eddie Huang]

There's a lot of la. I mean, but this is.

[Chris Duffy]

Okay. I don't mind.

[Eddie Huang]

True to form, this is part of my native identity. I don't think I ever liked la.

[Chris Duffy]

Okay.

[Eddie Huang]

I have homies. You, you know, I got a lot of homies in la.

[Chris Duffy]

I just don't like a blanket statement, you know what I mean?

[Eddie Huang]

Could be unfair. Could. But, but actually here, you, you have a lot of Asiatic friends. You, you, you might be honor. You're honorary Asian at this point.

[Chris Duffy]

No, no, no. I could never accept that.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. Last Samurai, at least you're at least at like Tom Cruise Last Samurai.

[Chris Duffy]

Actually, you know, to double down on that. Last night I was, when I was walking through jfk, I was, I was like delusional and off edible. And I was like, I overheard people having convos and I said, I'm comfortable knowing what language everyone is speaking by walking past them. Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, any of the flavors. I can identify it.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, you know their cooking techniques and language. Just walking.

[Chris Duffy]

I know about the walkway.

[Eddie Huang]

I never, I never saw seen you without an Asian homie. You know, you're honorary bro. So I would say this. When you see like white people in la, like white people in L. A just different than white people in New York, you know, like it's almost just like they weren't cooked long enough somewhere But.

[Chris Duffy]

But.

[Eddie Huang]

But they're just like, oh, my God, the Chinese chicken salad. Oh, my. It's so good. And the emphasis on the Chinese chicken salad.

[Chris Duffy]

That white face, I just like.

[Eddie Huang]

My white face goes crazy.

[Chris Duffy]

Your white face goes cr.

[Eddie Huang]

But it was just like that. And I'm like, it's fine. But it's just spicy, sweet mayonnaise.

[Chris Duffy]

It's just spicy, sweet mayonnaise to a white mouth. That's crazy.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

You know, to have the salt, fat, acid heat coming from.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

Celestial regions.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

We're not used to it.

[Eddie Huang]

It bothers me that they're still. White people are still astounded by this. That'd be like if people in Chinatown, every time you went, you're like, caesar salad so good. So good. Caesar salad so good. It would be like, fuck Caesar salad, man.

[Chris Duffy]

Well, I'm sure the same thing happened when you. You know, when your family came to this country at some point and you're like, damn. Have you guys had this bagel with cream cheese? And everyone. All the white people are like, yeah, bro. That's. We eat that every day. And you're like. You would say, this is so good. I'm not gonna do the voice, of course.

[Eddie Huang]

You know, the food item that my mom was astounded by was an enchilada at this place, Anita's New Mexican Food enchilada. And you said enchilada in the whitest.

[Chris Duffy]

Way I've ever heard in my life.

[Natasha]

You're doing it right now.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, I'm doing the opposite. Of what? Spanish.

[Chris Duffy]

Can I have a enchilada this weekend? The.

[Eddie Huang]

Extra iglesias.

[Chris Duffy]

My favorite newscaster is probably Mario Lopez.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. This week in Guadalajara. I know I get you speak Spanish, but can you do the white boy version?

[Chris Duffy]

Okay, so your mom was geeking over enchiladas.

[Eddie Huang]

Geeking over enchiladas. And green bean casserole.

[Chris Duffy]

Green bean casserole is good. That was. That was a dish that I made every year for Thanksgiving when I was. When I was a youngster.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

Love it.

[Eddie Huang]

If you were an alien coming from America descending on this planet called, like, China, who had never seen America or the food, what dish would you show them?

[Chris Duffy]

To show. To show aliens coming to this country? Is that what you said? I don't mean illegal aliens. I mean interplanetary aliens.

[Eddie Huang]

Let's say China was his own planet and America was his own planet.

[Chris Duffy]

Okay.

[Eddie Huang]

And you are our representative of America. We are sending jeans.

[Chris Duffy]

Okay, okay.

[Eddie Huang]

To make contact with China for the first time. What dish do you bring as an offering Texas barbecue. Good call.

[Chris Duffy]

Because Asian people love that.

[Eddie Huang]

We. We do love that you appreciate the.

[Chris Duffy]

Level of skill, technique, time, and discipline. But it's also flavors that you're not used to and. And don't normally use.

[Eddie Huang]

Yes. 75 children may have been punished from the time the brisket was put in the smoker till it was done.

[Chris Duffy]

They had to sit in the closet with their hands in the air. Close the door.

[Natasha]

Kneeling on rice.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, there's dis.

[Chris Duffy]

Kneeling on rice. Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

Oh, I kneeled on rice, bro. I kneeled on rice.

[Natasha]

Chinese family disappointment.

[Chris Duffy]

I'm assuming the grains are uncooked. Absolutely uncooked. That sounds more comfortable.

[Eddie Huang]

That sounds nice. Uncooked, raw, short grain. New crop don't bring out the brown. Ooh, arsenic.

[Chris Duffy]

Ooh. How do you feel about brown rice? While I have an Asian person here, I've heard so many. You know, I grew up health food, vegan, so it was like brown rice. You got to get brown rice. That's where all the nutrients are. Blah, blah. Then you get older, and they're saying, you know, Chinese people, that's what they feed to the peasants. You know, real people don't eat the white or.

[Eddie Huang]

No, I actually think brown rice, especially like new crop, short grain brown rice, maybe Nishiki brand. Quite luxurious. I like the texture. I like a brown hunter.

[Chris Duffy]

You like a brown rice?

[Natasha]

You know, I'm. No, I think I'm a white rice kind of girl.

[Eddie Huang]

I'm a pre. Pause. But I like the nuttiness of brown rice. I was a prematurely paused brown.

[Chris Duffy]

I like the way the nuttiness plays with some things.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, yeah. I like the nutty. It's a little hint of marcona almond in there, you know?

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah. I used to. I used to have this brown rice with tahini, this, like, thick tahini sauce, which was like tahini and tomatoes and oil and garlic and all these things. And it was like a thick, you know, pasty kind of thing. But the sesame and the brown rice together with the fattiness.

[Eddie Huang]

See, I think brown rice has uses. For instance, if I'm gonna make, like, a seared salmon salad with tahini yuzu and, like, a little garlic and soy. Brown rice gotta be brown rice. I actually kind of like poke with brown rice. But if I'm doing drugs, like general toast chicken, gotta be white rice.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

And you can't fry brown rice. It looks crazy. Tastes. Gets soggy. Fried white rice.

[Chris Duffy]

Never thought about frying the brown.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, try fry. It's not good. If you would like to ruin the.

[Chris Duffy]

Evening, I should at least know.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

Okay. Yeah. So I was thinking about your. The restaurant menu and you're describing it as being like, you know, the Floridian white trash meets Houston's with the Asian flavor. I just ate at Momofuku's new restaurant, Super Peach.

[Eddie Huang]

Oh, the restaurant.

[Chris Duffy]

The what? The mall restaurant.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. How is it?

[Chris Duffy]

It was reminding me a lot of sort of Asian Houstons without the only kind of food menu wise are me.

[Eddie Huang]

And Chang about to beef again.

[Chris Duffy]

Mongolian beef.

[Eddie Huang]

We just got along. We just became like good friends.

[Chris Duffy]

I think it's just, you know, you guys got there independently. I don't think one person stole the idea from another.

[Eddie Huang]

We are always getting to the same place. Like literally, his son and I have the same birthday. Like, there's some weird cosmic shit between me and Chang that is undeniable.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

So I've had to just.

[Chris Duffy]

You guys are two Asians, bee sting in the food game. You're. You're bowed, bound to butt heads at some point.

[Eddie Huang]

We're from the same hometown. Fairfax, Virginia.

[Chris Duffy]

I didn't know that.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. Like, it's really like our stories are ridiculous.

[Chris Duffy]

It's his version of Houston's.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

With some Asian twists on it.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

Well, like, it has the Margaritaville energy to it. It has the, like, it's five o' clock anywhere. Flip flops. Key West.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

Sunglasses on the back of that.

[Natasha]

It's very like Parrot Head.

[Chris Duffy]

Lana Del Rey's husband. Swamp dwelling.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

So there's. There's a swamp shui kind of thing.

[Natasha]

It's like gator head. It's not parrot head. It's like gator.

[Chris Duffy]

It's gator head.

[Natasha]

It's gator something gator.

[Chris Duffy]

You ever cooked up gator?

[Eddie Huang]

2025 cracker barrel.

[Chris Duffy]

You gotta put gator on the menu.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. Oh, I love gator. You should put some gator.

[Chris Duffy]

People actually like eating gator.

[Eddie Huang]

I love fried gator tail.

[Natasha]

I've never.

[Eddie Huang]

I'm also Asiatic and like, like weird textural things. It definitely tastes like you're eating a fried like leather belt, but fire like conch. Do you like conch?

[Chris Duffy]

I can't say I've really had too much conch.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. So Florida just love conch because you just used to. It like dizza just sits there. La Comaronetta and just like eats kong.

[Chris Duffy]

He conks down.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah. I mean, Asian people, like. Like the abalone, like the crunch, the chew, the tendon, that kind of. Yeah. I hope to have the ability to appreciate that mouthfeel at one point in my life.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

To be like a tendon hunter.

[Eddie Huang]

Tendon.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah. I ain't really attendant hunter.

[Eddie Huang]

I love it. What if we call it off track betting cuisine? Because I do feel like the culture that fits in. Yeah. Off track betting.

[Chris Duffy]

I don't know if that's really going to be good for the check totals. It's not screaming money printing machine. Yeah. I'm thinking I want there to be a lot fried lobster tail, but like a lobster roll kind of thing, you know? 48 for that.

[Eddie Huang]

I agree.

[Chris Duffy]

Totally.

[Eddie Huang]

I like that.

[Chris Duffy]

I like that swampy tarragon.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. Yeah. I feel like it's time to define this. This American cuisine that we put a.

[Natasha]

Mudslide on the menu.

[Chris Duffy]

Mudslides, good.

[Natasha]

Yeah. Have a mudslide with your gator Hojicha.

[Chris Duffy]

Mudslide.

[Eddie Huang]

I did ask to put a White Russian on the cocktail menu and everyone just looked the other way. Everyone was like, knob.

[Natasha]

Especially in the winter.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah.

[Natasha]

The.

[Chris Duffy]

The prince in Koreatown. In la, they have my favorite White Russian. It's quite good. Fresh nutmeg on top.

[Natasha]

Very L. A to me.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. I will associate because of the Lebowski. That is something I will give la.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

I love the Lebowski.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah. But I think that's the only thing that makes it la, because I would say milk based cocktails are extremely on Southern California.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Natasha]

You know what?

[Chris Duffy]

We don't even put fucking sugar in our cocktails.

[Eddie Huang]

You know, no carbs.

[Chris Duffy]

No carbs, no sugar. So milk cocktail. To me, that feels more Pittsburghian. Clevelandian.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. Iron, steel, black lung.

[Chris Duffy]

People that don't have a problem consuming milk at any hour of the day.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, I have problems consuming milk, but I just love a White Russian.

[Chris Duffy]

Have you had a Black Russian?

[Eddie Huang]

Are we allowed to say that?

[Chris Duffy]

I used to drink those. It's just a White Russian with no milk. So it's a twist. It's literally Kahlua and vodka on the rock. That's like off. Off track betting type.

[Eddie Huang]

I like that.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah. That's like pop off vodka in the coffee cup.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Natasha]

Bostonian. I like.

[Eddie Huang]

That's hot.

[Natasha]

Yeah. That's when you're like working construction in Boston in the morning. Gotta be out there.

[Chris Duffy]

It's going through the day.

[Natasha]

It's snowing. You're like breaking rocks.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

The last time I had a bar, I was making milk tea Hennessy. I was just shaking.

[Natasha]

That's nice.

[Eddie Huang]

Like milk teas with Hennessy. That was fire.

[Chris Duffy]

It sounds a little diarrhea zone to me.

[Eddie Huang]

Very diarrhea. Everybody in the karaoke is shitting their pants.

[Natasha]

Farting. Crazy.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah. I mean, maybe like a flavored boba ball of some sort. Who knows?

[Natasha]

A Hennessy boba ball.

[Chris Duffy]

Hennessy Boba balls.

[Natasha]

Pop it. You get a little, like, Hennessy.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah. At Superiority Burger, they had the. It was like a Mexican Coke with peanuts. And then I would order it with, like, makers or something like that. And then so you get the crunch, the salt, the sugar, the, you know, the bitter and all that stuff. Maybe you can explore something like that.

[Eddie Huang]

Superiority Burger does that, like. I would guess I would call it vegan diner food, but, like, sophisticated, incredibly. Like, I think everything that comes from the mind of that kitchen, I'm just constantly impressed.

[Chris Duffy]

I think one day a month, they shouldn't make meat on them. Put meat on the menu, though, or like one once a year, just do meat.

[Eddie Huang]

I would love, love to see what they do with that. I would love to.

[Chris Duffy]

I would love. It was a little cheaper for vegan food, but, you know, I still love and support it. I love the, The. The high octane seltzer machine.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

But I gotta ask, how was. How was Chang's Mall food restaurant?

[Chris Duffy]

Some things were good. It was friends and family, so it was, like, very early, so I can't really judge it, but I liked it. It was fun. But the, The. The Houston's part of it was lost on the interior because I feel like at least half of the. The charm of Houston's is like the lighting and the level of service and. Yeah. The comfort of the booth. You never feel like someone is, you know, looking over your shoulder or listening to your convo. Like, it. Like at many restaurants in New York.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. Houston's feels like just a place where, like, your parents take you out to eat and you don't got to worry about the bill, you know, that's just always a feel. Those are the type of restaurants like Marie Calendars take you out to. Yeah, I love Mary Calendars.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah. Yeah. But I think the Houston, now that Houston's is. Everyone loves it. And it's like, to me, it's. It's only there because it's like a comfort thing. Like, I think the food is fine, but I don't think it's transcendent the way some people love it. And I think now all it takes is restaurants to just do a good job with lighting and ambiance and that's all you need.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. And they put, like a French dip on the menu, you know, but that. That's the thing is, I actually like the genre of food at a Houston's at a Margaritaville. But I was like, I think people just get. Need to be sluttier with it. Like, get stupider, get sluggier. Like, get back to the essence, where this food came from. Because I do feel like the Houston's version is, like, elevated, and these are people with, like, stock portfolios and IRAs and things like that. Like, it's a nice restaurant.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

But it's common food from the bar in your neighborhood.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

And I wanted to, like, get back to the bar in the neighborhood. Like, a little more chili is a.

[Chris Duffy]

Little less South Beverly Grill.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. I want to see Blake Lively's character from the town come do oxys and eat this spinach dip. Like, that's my ideal customer.

[Chris Duffy]

Okay.

[Eddie Huang]

Smoked it to the filter.

[Chris Duffy]

I would like to see that as well.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

So that being said, are you doing anything to create a more Parrot Heady environment in here?

[Eddie Huang]

I have a Jimmy Buffett playlist I have locked and loaded ready to go. I would like for them to put it on next week.

[Chris Duffy]

Okay.

[Eddie Huang]

That's. That's my big thing.

[Chris Duffy]

Okay. Little things.

[Eddie Huang]

Little things. The cheeseburger and the fried fish sandwich are very Parrot Head. Very, very, like, Key west, you know.

[Chris Duffy]

I've never been to Key West.

[Eddie Huang]

Caribbean. Like, he loves that, I think. Well, I know Jimmy Buffett loved that hamburger in Saint Barts at a place called Select. And, like, I actually got to party with him one night in Saint Barts, and this dude in the living room on the coffee table just had a giant ashtray full of different pills at Jimmy Buffett's. Like, villa in St. Bart's pills only. Yeah.

[Natasha]

And he would just be.

[Eddie Huang]

Sleep in the room, wake up, pop something, have a drink, say, what's up? And then go back.

[Chris Duffy]

I mean, that's a. That's a wild way to live, because you go to the weddings, and there's, like, the tray with cigarettes, and you're like, ooh, yeah.

[Natasha]

But you know what you're getting.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. Jimmy had, like, the tray, but a.

[Chris Duffy]

Variety of loose pills.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

That feels like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

[Eddie Huang]

Like, 70 loose pills.

[Chris Duffy]

Jimmy said, try me. Yeah, he's clean.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, I. With Jimmy. I mean, I remember when Jimmy Buffett got kicked out of a Miami Heat game. Like, he doesn't give a.

[Chris Duffy]

Why would. Why did you end up hanging out them? Have you. And if you've already told the story. Oh, no, no.

[Eddie Huang]

I was. I was just with homies in Saint Barts that year. I think it was like 2016 New Year's, and it was like, Dan Auerbach, Harmony Corinne, and, like, at the time, Shane Smith, too. Bunch, like, crowd of, like, 30 people. We all just, like, went to Jimmy Buffett's villa and just wallowed out. Damn, it was incredible.

[Chris Duffy]

No cameras, though.

[Eddie Huang]

No cameras. No cameras. I didn't take any photos. I didn't even take a photo of the pills. I was just like, I'm gonna respect this because. Yeah, like, lawsuit.

[Chris Duffy]

You know, I really would have. I would have taken a photo of the pills, but not published it on Instagram stories. No, just keep it from myself.

[Eddie Huang]

I should have taken a photo because it was. It was good, but I just didn't want to be, like, the one Asian tourist, like, oh, yeah, with a selfie.

[Natasha]

Stick with the pills. Yeah, yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

No, it's too risky.

[Eddie Huang]

If one of the white dudes took the photo first, I would have.

[Natasha]

Can you airdrop me that?

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. It's our job.

[Chris Duffy]

It's our job to open the door for you, isn't it?

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, exactly. Like, you guys embarrass yourselves first. I can't be the first one to embarrass myself.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah. So how are you involved in. In the restaurant goings on?

[Natasha]

Oh, I'm just, like, trying the food.

[Chris Duffy]

Okay.

[Natasha]

Just here? No, I'm just here to taste the food. No, I've been, like, working the room for friends and fam and, like, when gazebo's here, hanging out with everyone, like, making sure everybody has a drink and is having.

[Chris Duffy]

Being the room worker.

[Natasha]

Yeah, it's natural. I, like, grew up in. As a kid, you, like, grow up in a restaurant, you're, like, naturally the room worker. You're like, I'm cute and small. What's up?

[Eddie Huang]

She's a personality. Because I actually prefer to be in the kitchen honing my craft.

[Chris Duffy]

Like. Sure.

[Eddie Huang]

I hate when people come say, what's up in the kitchen? Like, it happens all the time, and I don't hate the people doing it. So if you've done it, don't be mad. It's just. I hate the practice of going into the kitchen to say hi to a chef. I lose my mind.

[Chris Duffy]

Okay. What? Do you think you'll ever reach the point where you're comfortable, where the kitchen is flowing so well automatically that your friends are able to come in and talk to you for five minutes without being a stressor?

[Eddie Huang]

No, I still feel like it's the champagne room. Like, you wouldn't go, yo, jeans, what up? What's going on in here? Like, yo, hold on. Like, there's things going on in here.

[Chris Duffy]

Let me record a TikTok of the cheese pull.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

Of the Szechuan cheese bowl.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm just like. Like, I will come to the dining room. So Natasha just handles the crowd. And, like, that has allowed me to focus and just cook food.

[Chris Duffy]

Front of house shouty. Back of house shouting.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly.

[Chris Duffy]

And every good restaurant needs it.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. I think I've been mistaken as a personality. I actually just. I like to work. Yeah.

[Natasha]

I was gonna say, I think everyone thinks that you want to be social while you're cooking, but you don't.

[Chris Duffy]

Well, it's very. It's very DJ coded. Everyone always says, you know, the most antisocial person is the dj because they have an excuse to say, yeah, you know, I don't. You one person in the club who doesn't have to talk.

[Natasha]

No. It is very similar, though, like, DJing and cooking, because I think you have control of the crowd, right? Like, you're cooking, you're controlling the crowd. You're, like, keeping them fed, you're keeping them happy, you know? And you don't want to be with, like. I get that.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Natasha]

I wouldn't want to be with.

[Eddie Huang]

I mean, all my friends are DJs. I don't really hang with chefs like that, you know, like, all my friends are DJs.

[Chris Duffy]

Interesting how that works out.

[Natasha]

This is a DJ podcast.

[Chris Duffy]

It is a DJ friendly podcast.

[Natasha]

Every single guest on this podcast has been a DJ at some point.

[Chris Duffy]

I'm gonna be back here in two weeks. I'm DJing a wedding at the Grill.

[Natasha]

At the Grill.

[Eddie Huang]

Wedding. Oh, somebody married very well.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah, that's right.

[Eddie Huang]

Wow.

[Chris Duffy]

Shout out, Matt.

[Eddie Huang]

But, yo, I feel like that's a curse. I feel like it's a cursed place to have a wedding because of what has, like. Like jfk, Marilyn Monroe, you know, like, interesting things have happened.

[Chris Duffy]

Interesting.

[Natasha]

I like that.

[Chris Duffy]

What are the. Could you explain some of these backstories for our listeners at home who don't know?

[Eddie Huang]

Oh, well, I don't want to be inaccurate, but I just know, like, jfk, Marilyn Rose stuff went down when that was. I didn't know this building was a restaurant with believers. The Four Seasons.

[Chris Duffy]

Okay.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. People should check that out.

[Chris Duffy]

They had pros coming in.

[Eddie Huang]

Okay.

[Natasha]

So basically, yeah, there's pros. There's like, hot.

[Eddie Huang]

You know, I think it's a magical birthday. Was there.

[Chris Duffy]

Whose birthday?

[Eddie Huang]

I think JFK's birthday was there when Marilyn Monroe was there.

[Natasha]

So happy birthday, Mr. President.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, I think that was in that building at that restaurant.

[Chris Duffy]

Hey, to me, that's not. That's. That's good vibes.

[Natasha]

Yeah, I like that.

[Chris Duffy]

I mean, cheating bad. Of course.

[Eddie Huang]

Bad. Bad. Okay.

[Chris Duffy]

But of course never.

[Natasha]

But I mean, okay to me, I'm like, if you're having a wedding at the Grill and we're not going to see a mistress in the future, I don't know. Feels written in the stars.

[Chris Duffy]

Hot.

[Eddie Huang]

Okay.

[Natasha]

And it feels kind of hot and sexy.

[Eddie Huang]

Where did you get married?

[Chris Duffy]

Italy.

[Eddie Huang]

Oh. Oh, that's hot.

[Chris Duffy]

In a villa.

[Eddie Huang]

Oh, yeah. That's romantic. Yeah, that's romantic.

[Natasha]

Under the Tuscan sun.

[Chris Duffy]

It was. It was in the. The land of Tuscana. Yes. It was small wedding. It was like 30, 40 people. It all happened. The house and the wedding and everything was all in the same property.

[Eddie Huang]

Who DJed?

[Chris Duffy]

I had to deejay, but I pre recorded. You can't DJ your own wedding. So I prerecorded a four hour set. The set of my life. I prerecorded it and then just played it on the speakers.

[Eddie Huang]

Could I listen to this set or no. This is like locked. This is personal.

[Chris Duffy]

I have the MP3 files. And then somebody who listens to my podcast made like a Spotify playlist of all the songs.

[Natasha]

Wow.

[Chris Duffy]

So it's not necessarily like my favorite music, more so my ideal of what wedding sets should be. And that doesn't mean that I love every song, but that.

[Eddie Huang]

See, I. I like to think like that too, in terms of like genre. Do you know what I mean? Like, you're thinking about genre and you're like, what does a wedding sound like? Like, what does a slutty restaurant taste like?

[Chris Duffy]

What. What are we celebrating? What are we not celebrating?

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, what kind of universe?

[Chris Duffy]

What? We're world builders. You know what I mean?

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, no, that's fly.

[Chris Duffy]

But you want to make a universe that's, that's, that's enjoyable to be in. And it doesn't have to mean that it's the best everything. It's just like, I like being here because. Because of xyz, I. I think my.

[Eddie Huang]

Favorite playlist I ever made was a collab when we made at. We were at the Encore Casino Hotel in. In Massachusetts.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

And we just.

[Natasha]

Everett, Massachusetts.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, we. We were partying. He was like launching his new tequila into the sky. Like physically launching it.

[Chris Duffy]

Okay, okay, we party.

[Natasha]

My fun.

[Eddie Huang]

And then like he spilled mad tequila on us. So we went upstairs and then we just made this fire playlist. Cap Venus playlist Very, very nice.

[Chris Duffy]

Okay. Is this available publicly?

[Eddie Huang]

No, no, but we, I'll, you know, maybe I'll show you. I'll show you.

[Natasha]

That's good.

[Chris Duffy]

Do you think Guy Ferry would be a good podcast guest or do you think he'd be too media trained? Oh, hell yeah. Of course he lets us spray.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, he'd be incredible.

[Natasha]

Have you ever seen him do a Guy Fieri impression? I'm so good.

[Chris Duffy]

I surely must have.

[Eddie Huang]

He's definitely caught a little Guy Fury. But I, I, I did it in the dock and I had to do it for multiple hours. Like I had to be Guy Fieri for five hours.

[Chris Duffy]

Oh, wow.

[Eddie Huang]

So the residual effects lasted two years?

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Natasha]

Randomly. Guy Fieri.

[Chris Duffy]

You couldn't shake the guy out again?

[Eddie Huang]

No, I can't stop. I can't.

[Chris Duffy]

You have long. Go.

[Eddie Huang]

How's it going, brother? Like, I just kept doing that.

[Natasha]

Our son now says brother. Because we then started saying it so much. We'll be like, we'll be like, put your shoes on, brother. And he's like, hey, brother.

[Chris Duffy]

I'm like, I'm going to push back. Is this a little Hulk Hogan? A little more Hulk.

[Eddie Huang]

But I think a good guy.

[Chris Duffy]

They are definitely cut from similar cloths. Bleaching hair.

[Natasha]

It's slippery, it's very blurred.

[Chris Duffy]

But I, I think that, I think that Guy is a little, I like a more subtle guy.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, Guy has a little squeaky.

[Chris Duffy]

I like a sing Sonic. We're cooking up scratch made biscuits at this.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, yeah.

[Natasha]

Like the beat the front of the episode, not the back. Yeah, yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

Big time flavor. Oh, yeah, Stuff like that. Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

But yeah, the wedding was great. The playlist was great. But you know, I can't afford a real, like a great DJ that I would want. And you can't trust a local, you know, Tuscan DJ guy who's gonna play. Okay.

[Eddie Huang]

If you had all the money in the world to host a wedding in any American restaurant. Which restaurant or which dj?

[Chris Duffy]

I mean, it's, it's, honestly, it's hard to beat the, the grill for a wedding restaurant. I think I don't like the food at Mr. Child, but I think that's a really great wedding room also.

[Eddie Huang]

You have a lot of Asian friends that would feel comfortable there.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah, but do Asian. I feel like Mr. Child is more for white. The white homie. Because it's like Mr. Child Food. It has a lot of white synagogue. You know, it's a synagogue. We don't separate the milks and the meats on the plate there yeah. So I'm living in Southern California, near the San Gabriel Valley. I've experienced true Asian flava, and Mr. Chow does not necessarily have that. You know what I mean? But obviously it's enjoyed by many people.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, I'm sure that's the key for a wedding. It needs to be enjoyed by many people.

[Chris Duffy]

You don't want to have like, a fucking bubbling frog and turtle stew, you know, you don't want to go too far at the wedding.

[Eddie Huang]

No. And as much as I would pick a New York restaurant for a wedding, I actually think Michael's in Santa Monica in the fall.

[Chris Duffy]

Great room.

[Eddie Huang]

Is like an ideal wedding restaurant.

[Chris Duffy]

Very good.

[Eddie Huang]

Like, fantastic art. Like, I think that's the best art collection in a restaurant I've seen. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Natasha]

I would agree with that.

[Chris Duffy]

Let's see how long Michael stays open. Teetering on the brink.

[Eddie Huang]

I know, man. Like, that's an iconic restaurant that has to stay open. Incredible. And, like, also, like, beautiful. A perfect example, I think, of California cuisine in la. Not like Sonoma, California or not like, yeah, you know, where they make bad wine, but like an LA example of California.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah, but I mean, if the food was good enough, it wouldn't be at risk of closing, you know, even if.

[Natasha]

It was like 10 better, it's fine.

[Chris Duffy]

I mean, they're just so like, you go to Spago. You can say the same thing about Spago. I went to Spago a couple years ago and it wasn't good.

[Eddie Huang]

I don't enjoy Spago. I don't enjoy Spago because they're, like, doing it, to me, the charm of Michaels. And maybe it's because we're 80s babies, but there is a vintage feel and a memory that arises of like, oh, this is just the food a white dude makes that went to Fort French Culinary Institute. You know, like, it's. It's the culinary food that they teach you in, like a French school.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah. But I guess if. If cafe. If Zuni cafe in San Francisco can thrive doing the same thing, why can't Michael's? I think it's the food. Because nobody. I've never heard anyone say, I went to Michael's, and oh, my God, it was so good. No, they're old idea and I want them to survive.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, yeah. No, he's basically doing what cocaine was like the generation before us, you know, like, here's a bouillabaiss, here's a coca vin. Like, really old ideas. And like, if it's going to be old ideas on a plate, it has to Be the best version of it.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

And I wouldn't say the best version of those old ideas are at Michael's, unfortunately, but.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

What a room. Yeah. I agree with you. I. Wow. We all chose restaurants with not great food but fantastic rooms.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah. The. The food at the grill is fine. I don't. I'm. I'm never mad at it. I, I, But I'm never like, oh, yummy.

[Natasha]

I, I like it. I like the food at the grill.

[Chris Duffy]

But I'm also a hater. Like, almost everything isn't good enough for my palate.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. I love talking to you about it because you, you actually, you go even harder than I do on food, which I love, because I do. I enjoy the food at the grill, but I cannot tell you anything. I remember besides the screwdriver. It is the best screwdriver.

[Chris Duffy]

Like orange juice and orange juice.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, get the screwdriver. It. Like, I don't know what they're doing.

[Chris Duffy]

At what point in your meal does the screwdriver fit in between the, the duck press pasta and the.

[Eddie Huang]

Yo. So what happened was I feel like.

[Chris Duffy]

That would destroy my palate. No shade.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. The first time I went, I, like, ran that restaurant like a Dallas BBQs. Because I looked on the menu and I was just like, what's a screwdriver doing here? And then like, what are some of these other slutty dishes? So I just went for. I was like, I'm gonna just pick the weirdo things. And that screwdriver was so fire.

[Chris Duffy]

So everyone goes to the grill and has a martini, and you're like, do you have anything with blue carousel in it?

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. Can I get a Blue Hawaiian? Like, that's, that's, that's me bringing my culture there.

[Chris Duffy]

Sure, sure, sure. I think that's cool. I mean, I like it when restaurants put those little Easter eggs on there where you're like, why is this on the menu at this place? I now have to order it.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

And those are things you never forget. Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

And I also hate the level of curation that people like, this is the order at this restaurant. It's like, I mean, I think there's more. If a restaurant's good, there's multiple ways to.

[Chris Duffy]

That's the order for your inferior mouth.

[Eddie Huang]

Exactly.

[Chris Duffy]

For mine.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. That's what your mouth do. It's not what my mouth do.

[Chris Duffy]

My mouth would never do.

[Eddie Huang]

My mouth. Not doing that.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah. So when are you guys coming back to. To Los Angeles?

[Eddie Huang]

I mean, I went back for a speaking engagement for just three days and I. It was so foul. I just ate every meal downstairs at the Sunset Tower. That was so boring, but I was so tired.

[Chris Duffy]

Sure, sure.

[Eddie Huang]

But what are other exciting places to eat in la?

[Chris Duffy]

I don't, I don't really. I. I just cook at home mostly. I don't really go out to eat that much. Yeah, it's.

[Eddie Huang]

You still on the east side?

[Chris Duffy]

I'm still in east side. Glendale. I mean, I go eat local spots. Persian food, Armenian food, things like that. We'll grab sushi every once in a while. Thai food every once in a while. You know, love to eat Thai bistro. Yeah, Stuff like that.

[Eddie Huang]

You eat like we used to eat in. L. A is just the old neighborhood spots. Go east, go suv and then, like, if you're in L. A, just pick a nice room.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah. And there's. There's other. There's new spots I like, like this spot called Etra in Melrose Hill. It's just simple, you know, good Italian food. But in the world of, like, the hamachi crudos, where it's like, so blown out, they. They always have new, interesting, good, good sets of that. That change every month versus the same old.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. What about when you come to New York? What have you been excited to have here?

[Chris Duffy]

Nothing really. Wow. I mean, I. I like. I tried that mommy pies spot. The. The Thai diner knew yes to go.

[Eddie Huang]

Free chicken.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

And that was good.

[Eddie Huang]

It looked good.

[Chris Duffy]

It was good. I liked it. You know, little things like that. But I just. To me, I get decision fatigue when I come to New York. There's so many restaurants. They're so hard to get into. There's so much buzz and everything around it. I mean, I always go to one. Like, I went to Le Vaudor the last time I was here and got treated very well. And it had a nice meal, you know, but. But JG Melon, I always try to make sure I hit that every time I come if I'm in town. And then my wife and I always hit Chinatown for some, you know, some things like that.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

The Banh Mi spot or the noodle spot.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, that. That is one of the things we love the most about New York is that, like the Chinatown, you don't got to drive 45 minutes. You could just like, walk and just get fire. Asian food.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. When I met Wima at nine Orchard, you just walk out and you're up in there.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. I have to live in a place with fire, Asiatic food within, like, three.

[Chris Duffy]

Blocks, you know, or else you get.

[Eddie Huang]

Really sad Yeah, I get really bummed out. I really. I honestly do. But, yeah, I like JG Melons. I like PJ Clark's a lot, too.

[Chris Duffy]

Never been. Oh, are we just picking restaurants where two initial first name and last name?

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, but they're both tavern.

[Chris Duffy]

J. Clark, J.G. mellon. There's got to be one more.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, both things you can monogram on, like, a.

[Chris Duffy]

A.

[Eddie Huang]

A L.L. bean tote bag.

[Natasha]

One's east side, one's west side.

[Chris Duffy]

Okay.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Natasha]

J.G. melon, Eastside. P.J. clark, west side. Okay.

[Chris Duffy]

But my. My favorite is just, like, whatever. The best, you know, 2am Deli sandwich, bag of chips, and a blue Gatorade type after a heavy night. Blue Powerade, you know, whatever it might be, but just like, getting, like, the. The big, dumb, fat sandwich, you know?

[Eddie Huang]

I like. I like a hydrating, electrolyte drink guy.

[Natasha]

Gatorade, like your favorite drink. If you're having dinner somewhere and you're. You order something that's not a cocktail, what are you gonna order?

[Chris Duffy]

Coca Cola on the rocks, period.

[Eddie Huang]

Okay, okay, okay, okay.

[Natasha]

Do you think a Coca Cola is better than a Gatorade?

[Chris Duffy]

It depends on the meal. There's certain things that the Gatorade is better. I say Coke better for evening and Gatorade. So if I'm having, like, hangover pho, it's Gatorade. But if I'm having hangover dinner, pizza, it's Coca Cola.

[Eddie Huang]

Oh, see, I'm gonna serve fruit punch Gatorade here because we got, like, a tuna melt on the menu. We have, like, a fried mortadella sandwich. You know, these are all things that.

[Chris Duffy]

Classically pair with fruit punch.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, this is indigenous food, dude. So fruit punch Gatorade.

[Natasha]

You should do a fruit punch sangria.

[Eddie Huang]

Oh, my God.

[Natasha]

Does that work? I don't know. I haven't had, like, many a sangria, but I just feel like that's the way to do it. Like, if you're.

[Chris Duffy]

I had this recipe one time for a really. I was trying to, like, undo the hangover before you drink, and it was a Bloody Mary with the clear Pedialyte.

[Natasha]

Oh, salty.

[Eddie Huang]

Smart.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

The salt is there because you want salt in there. You mix, like, a little concentrated tomato juice, and it turns into that. And so you're. You're hydrating with the electrolytes while you're drinking the vodka.

[Eddie Huang]

Damn, you're like a physician.

[Natasha]

You know what I had that was actually amazing?

[Chris Duffy]

Baby physician. Yeah. I just had 500cc's of Pedialyte.

[Natasha]

You have the dropper, the syringe so good. No. The other day, I had a couple cocktails here. The other night when we were doing friends and family, and I woke up, I had to take our son to school, and I was not doing well. Haven't been in that position in a very long time. And I had Pedialyte freeze pops for him because he doesn't like drinking Pedialyte, but when he's sick, he likes chewing it. Freeze pop. And I had one just to, like, get myself going. He was still sleeping. He's, like, in charge of coffee in our house. So I was like, let me have a freeze pop. It was genuinely, like, got me through the day.

[Chris Duffy]

Really.

[Natasha]

It's the best. I was like this. I need to tell more people about this.

[Chris Duffy]

That was your liquid IV just chewing.

[Natasha]

On the freezer pop. So much more delicious. It was like blue raspberry Pedialyte popsicle in the morning. Hit that. And then I went to Pilates. I was, like, doing great.

[Eddie Huang]

Look, fire.

[Natasha]

I was doing great.

[Chris Duffy]

Okay.

[Natasha]

I was fine. No food, just, like, fully.

[Chris Duffy]

I feel like Asian people will make their beverages chewy.

[Natasha]

So that's gelatinous for sure.

[Eddie Huang]

Aloe drink.

[Chris Duffy]

There's always balls and penny wart gel solutions, but there's that.

[Natasha]

There's that Thai drink that's, like, very gelatinous. Don't sleep on the. So good.

[Eddie Huang]

Oh, yeah, the Thai one with the green.

[Natasha]

Yes. I don't know the name of it, but I used to get it all.

[Chris Duffy]

Nobody knows the name of it.

[Natasha]

I was just like that.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah, it's one of those things that's really bad for you, but they say, like, oh, it's very good for you healing.

[Eddie Huang]

So I've. We have multiple questions for you. Rapid fire.

[Natasha]

Yeah, we're gonna wrap this.

[Eddie Huang]

Did how long question begin as a pod for coastal elites, or did it grow to becoming a pod for coastal elites?

[Chris Duffy]

It was never a goal to have it be a coastal elite podcast, because I don't consider myself to be a coastal elite.

[Eddie Huang]

I think Chris does.

[Chris Duffy]

Chris about. Yeah, I mean, the. The play more so him than I. Yeah, I'm definitely more in the trenches. I'm a little more gutter with it than he is. Yeah. You know, haven't done tons of dirt, but more than him. Perhaps none of it cool, though.

[Eddie Huang]

Dirt.

[Chris Duffy]

I get busy. I got the thing on me. No, it was a play on words because we were recording it bicoastally. I was in la, he was in New York. So when we call it a bicoastal elite podcast, it's like in my mind, the podcast is elite, and it's being recorded bicoastally. But you could also say these guys are pricks and calling themselves bicoastal elites.

[Eddie Huang]

Damn. I had no idea it was a pun. That's ill. Damn.

[Chris Duffy]

Well, that's the problem. When the pun is too ill, nobody gets it, so it defeats the purpose of the pun.

[Eddie Huang]

Wow, we have uncovered a pun.

[Chris Duffy]

It could also just be an excuse that works out well, you know what I mean? Who knows?

[Natasha]

Damn.

[Eddie Huang]

I was just like. Because it does feel like a coastal elite pod now, you know? But I was like, did you grow to it or did you start from it?

[Chris Duffy]

You know, it started as calling each other on FaceTime during COVID just being like, what are you doing? I don't know. What are you doing? I'm gonna smoke weed and do some kettlebells in. In my driveway and then maybe make dinner later.

[Eddie Huang]

It is elite, though, because even my agents talk about it. They're just like, this is. This is the elite pod in the category. It is elite pod.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

Thank you. Thank you. Well, you know, I would say that as podcasting has grown in popularity and every famous person has decided to do one because it's a great way to. You know, the best way to make money, opening a restaurant is already being rich. You know, all those. All those sayings, like, the best way to have a good podcast is already be famous. And most people realize it's. It's not easy.

[Eddie Huang]

No, there's actually a skill to it, and, like, you gotta love it. You have to love it.

[Chris Duffy]

You have to love it. You have to want to do it. And you could tell when. When a celeb is doing it because they have eight more episodes, contractually, before they get the other half of their check.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

And they're just going through the motions and saying, like, oh, did you have fun filming this movie? Oh, it was good. That's awesome.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, usually those shows are on wondry, you know, shots. Okay. Who were your early musical influences, and where did you find inspiration?

[Chris Duffy]

Early musical inspirations? I remember when I was a kid, I got. I got a few. I guess when I was a little kid, it was like, 80s hair, metal, guns N Roses. All that was was my shit, Metallica, all that stuff. And then once I got old enough to get in, you know, when you, like, reach the age where you're, like, you want to, like, open things and see how things work. And I would, like, get a little, like, tweaker with it and, like, take apart, like, an old stereo in the garage, like that type of. And I remember listening to Nine Inch Nails a lot during that time, so it was very like, I'm in the system, I'm rewiring the mainframe, and I'm listening to industrial goth kind of hacker music. Yeah, that shaped me.

[Eddie Huang]

And I. I think Trent Reznor is like, an actual peak in music. Like, there's very few dudes like him that completely.

[Chris Duffy]

He's in the. His jersey's in the rafters.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, absolutely. It's. It's up there.

[Chris Duffy]

You can't. You can't touch him.

[Eddie Huang]

No, I think. I think top 10 producer.

[Chris Duffy]

What's. What's. What's the rapper version of Trent Reznor, and then we'll move on RZA for sure.

[Eddie Huang]

Wow. I don't think there's.

[Chris Duffy]

He had that one already ready to go.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think there's just also. They both kind of have that industrial chamber music element to it. The reverberation of, like, the sound. I mean, obviously, I think Riza got all the soul samples, you know, but.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah, but he's also digital with it.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, he's digital with it. And, like, I always saw them, too, as corollaries.

[Chris Duffy]

Like, okay.

[Eddie Huang]

Kind of the greatest of those.

[Chris Duffy]

Your autistic ass mind lumps those into a category.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know.

[Chris Duffy]

What.

[Eddie Huang]

Who would you have put up there?

[Chris Duffy]

I mean, I don't. I would. It was. I was more into the question than the answer.

[Eddie Huang]

Word, word, Word.

[Chris Duffy]

I'll come back to you on that one.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. I mean, someone could say Kanye because he got the. The Yeezus album kind of. But, like, I really think it's Rizza. I think Riz is more technical.

[Chris Duffy]

That's a good answer. Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

All right. What. Oh, what got you, like, what got you into food and then what. Cuisine is the most inspiring, I think.

[Chris Duffy]

I got into food when I was, like, 14. I turned, like, straight edge vegan guy, so I had to learn how to cook. And then I. It was very easy to learn how to cook, like, vegan food, like tofu and things like that. It's very cheap. It's very forgiving. It's just kind of like a blank canvas for whatever you want. So that was my. That was my door in just trying to figure out how to make vegan versions of foods that I liked. And at that point, it was not, you know, it's like turkey and cheddar sandwich, you know, on supermarket bread with iceberg lettuce type shit. Like, how do I add the vegan bacon bits to that to make it meatier or something like that, you know.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

But also Mexican food is probably my first, you know, non white people thing growing up in SoCal.

[Eddie Huang]

That's what's up. I some of the best walk. Yeah. Some of the best food I've ever seen. And like, technique wise was like at places like Angelica kitchen here on 10th street, used to be here and then like now a superiority Burger. But the like kind of when you look at vegan and vegetarian food, it breaks you out of like the box. And once you're out of the box, then you can come up with anything, you know. And so I really enjoy eating vegetarian vegan food just to get out of the box of like this is how you would make this dish.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah. And it's also this, you know, you learn one technique and you can apply it to everything. Like you have a salt and pepper squid ish dish on the menu and you could swap that out with. With tofu just as easily if you're not feeling squiddy, you know, get jackfruit.

[Eddie Huang]

Ye know, it's always jack.

[Chris Duffy]

I don't do no jackfruit.

[Eddie Huang]

You don't do jack?

[Chris Duffy]

It's a bridge too far for me.

[Eddie Huang]

Wow.

[Chris Duffy]

It's just so pulled porky. I don't know.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, it's true.

[Chris Duffy]

I like a tempe bacon.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. I like Satan. Satan is good.

[Chris Duffy]

It's giving gluten though.

[Eddie Huang]

Okay. New York or la? Like, how would you compare New York to la? I'm not going to say best, but like, you eat in both cities, you know them well. How would you compare the two?

[Chris Duffy]

I would say New York is a better food city than LA for sure. Because, you know, everything is at your fingertips. Whatever you want, whenever you want, you can get it oftentimes on foot only. And a lot more leg. You know, it's an older city with more history, so just has just that alone. But you know, la, it's different if you're not from here, if you're not from there, then you're not really going to understand and be able to navigate it in a way that's not annoying to you.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, I like the culture and the way we eat in New York, much better. But la, what do they say?

[Chris Duffy]

Better food in la? Better restaurants in New York?

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, I think so, yeah. Because in la, as a tourist or as visiting la, I love it. Because you're like, every day I'm gonna do something. You can drive 30 minutes in LA and go get the best version of something you've never had or, you know, like, I think some of the best Korean food in the world is L. A. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Same with Taiwanese. Same with.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah, maybe. I mean, I think because everywhere in the world comes to America to do their best. And, you know, Vegas poaches a lot of amazing chefs internationally. New York and la, those are the other two. You know, sometimes Miami and then you go down to smaller places. But the best of almost every cuisine is available in LA and New York, you know.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

Korean, Japanese, Mexican, Italian. Obviously better here, but, you know, across the board, crazy Thai in la, Middle Eastern in la, Crazy Middle Eastern. All the. All the types.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. And I do feel like there's just less of a rivalry between LA and New York now than when we were growing up. I feel like everyone, a lot of people are very bi. Coastal now and seeing what's going on in both cities. And so, like, there's like almost like a combined narrative between the two cities.

[Natasha]

There's also like, now I feel like so many things that are in one city are. Will be in every city. Like c. The list goes on. It's like, if it's in New York, now it's in la, now it's in Miami, now it's in Chicago, now it's in Boston, which I don't like.

[Eddie Huang]

Do you like that? Not at all.

[Chris Duffy]

No.

[Eddie Huang]

I'm like, keep it to there.

[Natasha]

Yeah. I'm like, why do we need a catch steak in every city you've ever been to? And you're like, I love cat steak. I'm up in a cat steak. But I'm also.

[Chris Duffy]

I don't eat anything unless it has gold on it.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. I gotta identify it when I poop.

[Chris Duffy]

But no, I agree with that 100%. And yeah, that to me, it's just lazy dining, you know.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

There's no foreplay. You want to. You want to miss a restaurant? Totally have something to look forward to. I'm going to Chicago. I'm going to call ahead. I'm going to get the Res at blah, blah, blah. You can only get it here. They don't have it anywhere else. Joe Stone Crab in Miami, like all that shit, you go to the other Joe's, it just don't hit right. Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

You know. You know what would be one law that would just make food around the world better is you can have franchises and you can open other units, but they cannot have the same menu. You can bring your sensibility to the restaurant, but you need to do other.

[Chris Duffy]

It's very Hillstonian.

[Natasha]

We're not putting the calories on the menu here.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, yeah. And just has to be different items, you know, Like, I don't want the same restaurant in different cities.

[Natasha]

Yeah, I agree.

[Chris Duffy]

Well, once Zoran is elected, he'll put that into effect, I'm sure. Hopefully working big to small.

[Natasha]

Yeah, we'll start with that.

[Eddie Huang]

Okay. What are you listening to now?

[Chris Duffy]

I mostly just listen to ambient mixes on NTs. That's pretty much it, you know, because I'm always spending hours and hours listening to audio, editing the podcast and things like that. So when it's time to listen to music, it's usually to, like, calm down and zen out. But in the afternoon, you know, once I'm done with the work, I'll smoke a little, listen to some dub. Dub, techno, reggae, shit like that.

[Eddie Huang]

Word.

[Chris Duffy]

I still listen to some metal and like, hardcore music. And I wish hip hop was in a better place right now. I'd be listening to more of it.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, I think hip hop is in a terrible place. Like, there's. I just ever. Ever since drill, I just. I'm not interested in anything.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah, I was. I did an episode yesterday, and the guest lived in New Orleans. So I put on Hot Boys, Hot Girl. The. The song Hot Girl.

[Eddie Huang]

I need a hot girl.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah. And I hadn't listened to it. I've heard the song a million times, and I hadn't listened to it in years. And just listening to music from whatever the 90s or 2000s, just having it just has life to it. I mean, this sounds so fucking unked out old head shit. But, like, just hearing the beat, you're just like, oh, this is like music where the guy's having fun rapping on this and making the beat. Everyone, it just feels alive. And now when you listen to.

[Eddie Huang]

To.

[Chris Duffy]

To now, for the most part, I mean, it's coming back, but it's just really minor. Down, down tone, just.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, this is the most unk. But it's just like I do feel everything is a business now. Everything is a job. And I remember in high school, like, the homie that got turntables first, the homie that wanted to rap first, you just wanted to do it for, like, respect or whatever, because you had this urge to do this. And I feel like, like, even, like when you look at basketball now, like kids that are 9, 10 years old are in AAU programs. It's like pre professional.

[Chris Duffy]

They already have sleeves.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, yeah. They already got the desert. Desert camo.

[Natasha]

They're getting at nine.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. And yeah, everybody is treating it Like a job or a business. Looking at mood boards, looking at what's going on. It's not.

[Chris Duffy]

You're.

[Eddie Huang]

You're just not school.

[Chris Duffy]

So they have to. Yeah. That's the only way out.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, man. I want more aliens. But.

[Chris Duffy]

But I think. I think hip hop and R and B is in such a lull that Chris Brown is selling out stadiums.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

I listen to R. Kelly song now and I'm like, the shit is good. I mean, obviously he's done bad stuff, but I think there's going to be a reserve. I'm predicting it. The rise of Kels.

[Eddie Huang]

I mean, he's just kind of. The music is undeniable. And we saw this with Michael Jackson as kids. Do you know what I mean? Like, there wasn't, like, full canceling back then, but it definitely. Michael Jackson became like a joke and a pariah. I felt like in the early 90s. And then in a way, like, once he passed, everyone was able to be like, dude, yeah, the probably the greatest of all time.

[Natasha]

I mean. Yeah, you can't.

[Eddie Huang]

I don't think.

[Natasha]

Whatever.

[Eddie Huang]

Debatable.

[Natasha]

Yeah. You can't debate. Like, he had, like, women passing out on the street. Nobody. Anyone passing out on the street.

[Chris Duffy]

But does it take a person so evil to create something? You know, like, are you. You know, like on Woody Allen or whatever or, you know, some R. Kelly or Michael Jackson, like magic. Sorry. Michael Jordan.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

You know, best player of all time basically imploded his life from the inside out. He looks like dog. He's a gambling addict. He's alcoholic. You know, Tiger woods keeps crashing his car and hitting these snow bunnies on the golf course.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

Like, once you go to that far. Like that. That far and you push it to that level, I think the. The. Your life and your. Your brain, it's done.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. I think that I've thought about this a long time. I do think to make anything great, like, pain needs to be involved. Pain needs to be felt, experienced, exercised. But then I think it's just like Professor X Magneto. Right? So it's like if you take the pain and use it to, like, make something for others.

[Chris Duffy]

Cool. If you start, like Linkin Park.

[Eddie Huang]

Like Linkin Park. Okay, right. Like Incubus.

[Natasha]

All right.

[Chris Duffy]

Incubus had less pain.

[Natasha]

Their.

[Chris Duffy]

Their songs were like, man, I went. I wanted to go surfing today, but the waves are small.

[Eddie Huang]

This is so me, like, getting white groups confused. I meant to say Limp Bizkit, and for some reason I said Incubus. Okay. Yeah, that's because I Had the guy with the red hat in my head and. But yeah, no, I think then sometimes people though, they get. Get. Once they start to get navel gazy looking at themselves. That's where the evil comes from. I'm the man.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

Like everybody sucks.

[Natasha]

I think that when you even happened to Prince. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know if it's comes from pain, but it's just.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah.

[Natasha]

Something happens when you become that famous and beloved and when you believe you're that good.

[Eddie Huang]

It leads to isolation and loneliness and then loneliness just leads to evil. I think that's.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

I mean, because being lonely and not connected allows you to do just terrible things. It's my opinion.

[Chris Duffy]

No, I agree, I agree.

[Eddie Huang]

You know.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah.

[Natasha]

I will say though, I did listen to N R Kelly song recently and it hit so hard.

[Chris Duffy]

Which one do you remember?

[Natasha]

Hard? I don't even remember. But it came on just like I was like on shuffle at the gym and I was just like, God damn. You know, like I'm so.

[Chris Duffy]

Just the tones of those of the beat beats, just the drum sounds, the teardrop sounds.

[Natasha]

Coming of age moment for me was like sitting outside at my mom's house one summer, like listening to Trapped in the Closet, watching it like hitting. Passing around a bong with my friends and just being like, this dude's a genius. Like, how did this man create this 11 part series? The like there's just so, like, just all of it. It was like the most like genius. Like, I'm not an apologist. It was. He was Stanley Kubrick to me. I want. That was my. That was my space odyssey. Like my awakening was trapped in the closet.

[Eddie Huang]

And his voice just feels like it could be a representative of God. Like I would believe you if you represented. Voice is crazy.

[Chris Duffy]

Do you believe that if he didn't pee on teens, he wouldn't have a voice of God?

[Eddie Huang]

Oh, I think he had the voice and then it enabled him to have so much power to pee on children.

[Chris Duffy]

Has anyone ever reached that godlike level without having their. Their good heart and soul compromised and gone to the dark side? Yo, let's talk about Matthew McConaughey. Is he up there?

[Natasha]

I think he might be, but I think something.

[Chris Duffy]

He might have some dirt in there.

[Natasha]

Something might come out.

[Eddie Huang]

He seems insufferable at college football games, like when he Dr. Like does the whole Texas law. That's the only version of McConaughey.

[Chris Duffy]

He might have like hit a kid with his car and it went away kind of thing.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. And just he always Always seems to be acting like, I don't know if we've ever seen.

[Natasha]

Not genuine. This is an act. The thing about all these other people, they're genuinely like, Michael Jordan has a genuine gambling addiction. Like, that's coming from a real place. He's performing.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Natasha]

He's like, always on set.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

And he's always.

[Natasha]

I don't buy it.

[Eddie Huang]

Daniel Day Lewis is so fire and has never done anything bad. I feel like he's intense and probably tough to work with, but that comes with the territory. Like, I, I, Yeah, he's. He's the greatest.

[Chris Duffy]

You, you know what you're signing up for, being on set with him, he's going to method your ass. It's going to suck, but we're going to get the Palme de Or.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. And, and it's just like the, the whole kind of like how you work in the workplace doesn't apply to that method. Like, that method. He's. He's going to be the dude drilling oil for the six months you're making that film.

[Natasha]

Yeah, he's going to say something up.

[Eddie Huang]

Three, you know, like, he's like that. But, But I don't. Anyone. Anyone else that's godlike and fantastic.

[Chris Duffy]

I mean, I. Godlike and fantastic.

[Eddie Huang]

David Chase that wrote the Sopranos. Kind of incredible.

[Chris Duffy]

J.K. rowling. Just kidding.

[Eddie Huang]

Hey. Unstoppable Series.

[Natasha]

Depends who you ask. Someone on the far right might.

[Chris Duffy]

She had one of the boxes checked. Not the other one.

[Eddie Huang]

She forgot the other one.

[Natasha]

Not that I know of. No. I can't think of anyone.

[Eddie Huang]

I mean, you are the Podfather. You haven't done any dirt. Really?

[Chris Duffy]

Nothing.

[Eddie Huang]

You know, Podfather, Touch wood. Who else?

[Chris Duffy]

No, I don't. Yeah, I don't think I'm ever gonna be famous or successful enough to really become a demon like one of those people.

[Eddie Huang]

Okay, here's the. I think Cameron's the greatest rapper of all time. He's done a lot of stuff that it's. I find hysterical, but other people may find foul. I mean, is he of it? He's. I don't find for Cam to be a villain.

[Chris Duffy]

I don't think he's a bad person or a villain, but he has. He has definitely said a lot of things that women wouldn't like.

[Eddie Huang]

He's popped a squat in the drop.

[Chris Duffy]

He's even done that.

[Natasha]

But do you think that if Cameron had been, like, so paid, like just so, so, so pockets lined like Kanye, he might have gone a little Kanye? Because I think part of the problem is like, with so much money, you just start like you. It's called money.

[Chris Duffy]

Turn him into a monster.

[Natasha]

Saying some wild. When you don't. You're not looking for a check from anybody. Like, the real essence of your evilness can come out. That is saying some wild.

[Eddie Huang]

I do think that's why Cam has been ill the whole time, is because he never got the crazy, crazy bag. He's always had just enough, but still needs to work good.

[Chris Duffy]

He's beasting in the underground.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah, Yeah. I. With Cam.

[Chris Duffy]

Yeah, of course.

[Eddie Huang]

Kill is the greatest.

[Natasha]

I agree.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah.

[Chris Duffy]

To Cameron. It'd be weird if we didn't talk about Cameron on this podcast, right?

[Eddie Huang]

You kind of have to. I mean, we're talking about greatest of all times. Like, you kind of have to talk about killer.

[Chris Duffy]

I agree.

[Natasha]

Yeah.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. But is there anyone. I don't know of anyone else? Those. There's very few people.

[Chris Duffy]

Very few listeners. Sign in in the comments.

[Natasha]

Comment down below.

[Eddie Huang]

Yeah. Well, thank you for coming on the pod, bro. Incredible.

[Natasha]

This is a lot of fun.

[Chris Duffy]

My pleasure.

[Eddie Huang]

True legend here today. Thank you.

[Chris Duffy]

I appreciate it.