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Begin every what you’re talking about >> In the 1950’s 60’s 70’s Black owned restaurant were just places to get the 7 becoming crucial meetings after this at the forefront of the civil rights movement. The family still operating these reforms today are committed to honoring their historic like it.
>> It’s time to head out of studio one a and hit the road for a new kind of culinary adventure. Follow me as I take some of the most eye kind of foods around the country and meet the families behind together, we’re going to learn
How a good meal has the power to connect this to our past our future. >> We’re in heart the epicenter of black culture in the United States. Many historians agree the Harlem Renaissance pave the way for the civil rights movement of the 1950’s 60’s.
So in this episode were traveling across the country to explore 3 legendary black owned restaurant for generations. The beloved leaders have been serving up dishes to historic figures and those fighting for change. First up, we’re heading south to visit and iconic establishment that defied segregation law.
>> New Orleans, a city that celebrates with food music, Nightline and history. In the Big Easy, you’ll find many historic sites. They played a vital role in the civil rights like William Frantz Elementary School, where 6 year-old Ruby bridges barriers in 1960. Well, New Zion Baptist Church activist and remains one of the
Oldest black neighborhoods in America. Here you’ll find the only rest on the U.S. civil rights straight. >> The Chase restaurant definitely is a historical landmark institution to on. >> This popular event is a living testament to a woman who changed the face of ongoing in America. Chef Leah Chase.
>> I was stellar. Chase Threes. And I am the president of the Copper Ation here to continue. Ended the chase before. And I second that show, too. >> Still as grant first open to change as a potent becoming a full-service restaurant in 1940. >> African-Americans didn’t have that place to celebrate.
To celebrate birthdays, to celebrate promotions, to celebrate good grades, weddings, proms. So they opened up a place where that could happen. >> But the next generation had a new vision for the future. >> Was my father and could chase junior and his wife. We lanes chains that continue the legacy that might
Grandparents started. >> Dooky Chase Junior was an avid jazz musician who promote some of America’s First integrated concert. >> His friendship with all the musicians, Ray Charles and Duke Ellington and Sarah Vaughan. We would hear stories of them after their performance coming here than a dozen times.
>> And Lia was determined to bring in elevated dining experience for her black people. >> She wanted the best China’s XI morning linens. She wanted them to be served the best they could be served because she didn’t want our community to be deprived than anything else and any other community had.
>> That community was on the brink of a revolution years in the making. >> Host 18 65 in the Emancipation Proclamation which the masses of African American people now worry the country was overwhelmed. Hierarchies needed to be re-established. It was important from a white supremacist point of view that
Black folks knew their place. >> By the late 19th century, Jim Crow laws legalizing racial segregation in the former Confederate states. Those laws we’re further cemented by the Supreme Court case Plessy versus Ferguson which upheld the separate but equal doctrine but Dooky Chase’s 5 of those laws welcoming patrons of all
Races to die and discuss political issues facing the black community. >> Their willingness in an openness to everyone in the community, make them of safety, get them of belonging. >> But that opened this also made the change family a target. >> There were times that we had people throw things in and try
To, you know, destroyed the peace. But that didn’t like my parents. They continued because they know what they were doing was the correct thing to do. >> By the 1960, Dooky Chase had become a go-to spot where activist could connect and strategize.
>> We had the opportunity to serve many of our civil rights leaders. Martin, the key Jesse Jackson rose up on 3rd March 2. The list goes on and on and then freedom bus ride as they came here. My parents realize that until we all learn to
Enjoy life together and get to that point where social justice would be for everyone that this community are any of the community in our country would not grow. It will not be better. >> And the 1970’s we’re becoming passionate about promoting black artists.
>> A love of art was also celebrating here at Dooky Chase’s when she gave African-American or does the opportunity to actually display their art on how? Well, because if a time they had no police to display their art. >> Her extraordinary life even becoming the inspiration for Disney’s first Black Princess Tiana.
>> Meant a lot for her because she did have some of the kids dress up. They come here. >> Leah Chase. The queen of Creole cuisine passed away on 6/1/2019, but her spirit. >> And her culinary traditions are and vigilant in capable hands.
>> This is the case of catching it set up the same way. And we love it like that because as you know, she’s still with us. He still watching. >> Just to continue to serve Creole cuisine. That’s been on the menu for decades from red beans and rice. Just shrimp Clements
And the famous chicken ala do. But the restaurant’s most popular dish gumbo. >> We think back to the civil rights era when we had leader strategizing and I’ve says time if Adam, do you think about presidents so day, President Barack Obama, President George
Bush came and we always thought of them with gumbo because my grandmother always believed that her combo solve any problems. And we like to say how gumbo change the course of America. >> Gumbo in official state food to Louisiana Dooky Chase’s version as a little something for everyone, not one but 2
Types of sausage, some Louisiana blue. >> We do is we take the top selloff. We clean it up and we just pack it in half. Really? Some of those flavors, chicken and shrimp coming up to forgot gumbo, simmering until that’s ready to serve. I mean, if you just smell the neighborhoods, everybody knows
That he tases him down. >> Today, the Chase Empire is expanding. Chef do. >> Just open the families who was best Chapter 4 in the 4th generation African-American refer to as few many generations. Now working side by side. >> The interim, my family as the biggest lesson.
>> With the selmon not going down to defeat. Changing it myself. Some gumbo but services, right? It 3, 2, >> The whole restaurant Dooky Chase’s that is a gift to the family that was given by my great grandparents. And so we want to make sure that the restaurant sustains that legacy
And all the traditions. We chased it. >> Food bills. Big bridges. If you can eat with someone you can learn from that. When you learn from someone you could make, we chose we contains the course of America and this restaurant over ball of gumbo. We can talk to each other and relate to
Each other. >> A trip to Harlan just wouldn’t be complete without a meal here at Sylvia’s Restaurant. This neighborhood, it’s Bush has been serving up soul food since 1962, what started as a small margin debt has now become a family empire, beloved by tourists, locals and plenty of famous. They said the
Corn borer was sweet. It was warm and it just reminded me of >> Took me back to my grandmother’s cooking. So I really enjoyed it. >> What brought me here today was that I was hungry and wanted some good, some food. So where do you go in our la Sylvia’s?
So food is the cultural. >> Identity marker really? My XYZ. Our journey. People living in America. >> Yes, Woods black is the granddaughter of the legendary Queen of Soul Food, Sylvia Woods. >> So if you grew up in Hemingway, South Carolina where
She met her, love her but will 11 and about a lot of people >> But this entrepreneur to be wasn’t content with life on the floor. >> My grandmother, she came to New York when she was 16. She knew that this was a place that was more palatable for African-Americans, select really live.
>> Sylvia and her were among the estimated 6 million African Americans left the Jim Crow South during the great migration. >> We had Cain, you know, north to escape all of the atrocities that were happening and to really be in control of their lives. You are
Black. You know, Harlem was the place to be. >> So the finding work at a diner Johnson’s luncheonette which eventually purchased from the owner with a loan from her mom. >> Mister Johnson knew that my car with me and on 8/1/1962 Sylvia’s Restaurant was point.
>> As the Cultural Center of Black America, Harlem became a crucial site for demonstrations organized by leaders like Martin Luther King Junior and Malcolm X, according to professor psyche Williams Force. >> The heart of civil Rights is America because it wasn’t limited to one area, though folks were in
The Northeast, still experienced poverty and inequality in voter suppression and homelessness will be made the restaurant a welcoming place for activists. >> She played her role as ensuring that the community leaders had a case to to me and said you strategize.
>> He was signed that. So he is a lefty of the day. The Ruby Dee, you know, these are actors and actresses that were on the front line. >> And by the 1960, the movement had achieved major games like the historic Brown versus Board of Education and successful boycott.
>> The racial discrimination and police brutality against black Americans persist resulting in deadly riots throughout the day to devastating events just 4 years apart. Spark destructive riots throughout Shelby as always. >> Allen was on fire and my grandmother have the restaurant open. The grocery stores were not open. Nothing was open. You
Know, people going to be there is and she was in the kitchen making food. >> So that this community would have something to eat. >> This strong connection with Harlem nights as continue for decades. >> We had guessed that with every single day and sometimes
We have people that you with us multiple times a day. >> I learned the secret to suit his needs. Sylvia’s in Harlem has been serving up soul food since 1962 and this native New York. Good way to get back to their historic dining.
>> Make it’s been way too long is too. I’ve missed you, too. But you know a thing about building into its like that. So yes, it’s coming home is coming home. >> The dining room walls showcasing famous faces and political figures along with treasured memories.
>> This picture is one of my grandmother’s favorite was wet and windy. And Nelson Mandela came to New York. >> When he was free eating here has become a rite of passage for many candidates. >> As a young man, I don’t know. One of the half of that
Is all I think he might have turned out. Okay. I think, you know, after a meal here at this is what set him on his part. That’s right. Check it. But the heart of so be it is hard protests enter have worked hard to stay active in the neighborhood.
>> From funding college scholarships for local teams to supporting Black Lives Matter is what is it about this restaurant? The country people coming. >> Weapons to city times love. So the is becoming so he is you know what you’re going to get.
You’re going to get some good that’s going to make you feel warm. >> Today over a dozen family members helped run Soviet empire, which includes a catering business, a successful food product line. >> What’s it like working with them? Because I know your brother, Marcus. Yeah, baby brother. My brother has that.
>> Watching my brother rode down in the kitchen is something that we always knew was going to happen. >> Executive chef Marcus Woods has been at the helm for 5 years. >> Sylvia’s Grants. So it is so good to see you. Yeah. And you’re back here. You’re running the kitchen. What?
What’s that like for you and me knowing that his legacy, your grandmother. >> I’m honored modest against people like you and community Harlem. So as long as I could do that at always on it last, you know, the amazing thing is food brings people together. You look at that that that dining room,
Everybody is that this was so we used to always say that the first time to come Sylvie is your guest. Second time. The family, according to Marcus Fried Chicken. >> The most beloved men you like. So did your grandmother take you out?
>> Yes, she taught me how to project everything down to the seasonings. You always say no moisture, ice check-in and their native like you put the most on the baby. >> I know I can’t get that image out of my one. Secret chef Marcus. First dry run to marry. You know, that’s just
Plain plane flown. Yeah, this is plain flour. Got a little coarse, black member to it on. I’m all in there. We just want to give it a little mix again. The baby, the baby. Like you’re tossing the baby after the chicken is coated, gets a general shift and gets into the deep fryer.
That looks like tender loving care, right? Oh, yeah. That was going to get in there with the baby to bed. We’ll let you know when they’re ready. Wake up. What’s the best part of working every day? When I walk in, I get to feel like my grandma. I feel her. I really feel
I’ve every time you go a little ways is by our the base worker. This might have known about everyone to she was. I’m going to try to after about 15 minutes, Golden perfection. That looks perfect years old while the seasoning boys wrist. >> We’re mother smiling, right? A Soviet project right there.
We did the baby while Marcus. This is fantastic. It’s so great to see you. If you don’t mind, I’m going to take this to go on the back of a home run to thank you. >> Welcome back in Oakland, California, lowest the pike has been serving up southern specialties, hospitality and of course.
>> I’ve used cars since the 1950’s. >> But it’s more than just a space for delectable food. It’s a well-known political activist, artists, musicians and everyday people to meet next and collaborate. >> Come on down to know is the pike. We get a job and then me
>> Well as the pike, which is serving up much more than a brunch. >> This is a great place for local succumb. Great place for people to connect. And this is awesome that I could come to a place like this. Have some soul food.
>> My name is Chris Davis and I’m owner of Laws. Pike Ring. We served proved that warms the soul. This family’s roots run deep in northern California. Lois Davis Chris’s month began selling homemade pies at her church in the 1940’s they were in. Instead, her husband,
Roland, dubbed her the Pie. And so a new business opportunities. My dad was a chef at TNT Foods in San Francisco and they combine both of their efforts to open that the restaurant and serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. >> In 1953, the duo opening their Oakland restaurant.
>> So my mother of and the restaurant for 40 years and started at 04:30AM in the morning for her and the 11 at night. And she was a pure perfection. This Lois perfecting recipes she enjoyed growing up. The recipes were my grandmother’s recipes. My
Grandmother was from taxes and they have maintained the test of time. All of the items that are on the menu. We’re pretty much on the menu when my mom started the restaurant. >> From key lime pie topped with raspberry jam to been in a cheesecake. Sweet treats are always popular, but there are
Plenty of savory staple that keep customers coming back every morning. And there’s one ditch with a special place in many folks heart. >> You might not find Santa croak. It’s on the menu anywhere in the Bay area. >> Some of her cats are part center. Part macro, yellow
Onions, salt and pepper tally and bread crumbs. >> These pro cats which originated in the south where a meal staple for many black family. Most black folks couldn’t afford craft, you know, once it became popularized. But in the absence of that canned fish salmon Croquettes became a major filler.
>> With a couple of cans, families could make an affordable yet. Delicious me Lewis’s dishes have brought in celebrities from Sammy Davis. Junior does end and sports icons like Reggie Jackson hear so often they actually named a pork chop special after.
>> So here’s my what Wall of fame and some of those special people that are up here. This is Black Panther Party minister Eldridge Cleaver. >> In the 1960’s 70’s lows, welcome members of the newly formed Black Panther Party restaurant is a short drive
From their community come. We’re activist up new at Bobby Seale. First met founding the party in 1966. Crist attended merit with both of them. >> I had Eldridge Cleaver, Angela Davis, Bobby Seale, European to come to the restaurant. Civil rights leaders and organizers and community leaders would come
And meet and organize and strategize. There was a lot of electricity and the restaurant when they visited the Black Panthers have a controversial list. >> This story we tend to hear is one of violence. What we do hear about is what are the various lunch programs engine
Free breakfast. They saw a black communities as in and of themselves, resilient, capable of being self-sufficient. >> Lois and Chris were not members of the party, but it was during this air of the restaurant became an important gathering space in the Oakland community from different walks of life.
>> When people come and are needy and ask for food, we always do what my mom did, which was we always take care of them. >> We always give them a meal. >> The restaurant expanding this mission amid the pandemic providing 16,000 meals to locals in need.
>> It is a place for people to come and get together and trying to figure out how to make our community and our world a better place today. That mission to help others has evolved. >> Chris used as a platform to support local musicians and
Keep the restaurant. But by bringing in younger generation agreed with that. >> Aspect of music and musicianship is something that is in the U.S. the restaurant. Hey, Mister Jackson. How are you? Good. I’m good feet good. We recently started a music management company.
4 wise men detained that he and officially runs from the tables it lowers. >> It’s not an accident or coincidence that you look around and see a lot of photographs of, you know, famous post does a lot of people that he supports and only supports my putting up pictures that will cultivate
Young artists that are looking to get an opportunity to get a platform where they can be seen and heard. Would you like hash Browns Richer X? >> Chris is determined to keep the restaurant and his son. Cory Jackson has been overseeing the day-to-day of lows for nearly 5 years. Working with my dad
Gave me understanding not only the hard work my grandma put forward. >> And how much my dad is trying to fill those shoes. And now I’m trying to feel this. >> We’re hoping his son will share the passion for the family business.
>> They can’t stale and they have a job right now. A full so where it’s great to see my kids and their pop-up Chris Bond. >> Chris thinks that would be incredibly proud to see her restaurant continuing to thrive. We are the oldest black restaurant in the Bay Area.
>> Is a tribute to my mom’s efforts to support her community and 2 create a place that was a home away from home and a place to serve food that warm the soul. >> As you might imagine, keeping the restaurant looking for decades is no easy feat, especially in the face of adversity.
But with delicious dishes and unwavering hospitality, these are store hot spots with newer generation fighting for social change. These places now stand as symbols of resilience, inspiring and needed a new generation of community >> There are dozens of China towns all across America with interesting architecture diverse restaurants, and
Specialty shops, it’s no wonder they’re popular with locals and tourists alike. They also provide places for new immigrants and for families to create communities but with gentrification and all sorts of problems from the pandemic it’s no wonder that all these Chinatown are rapidly changing.
>> It’s time to head out of studio one A and hit the road for a new kind of culinary adventure follow me as I take some of the most I kind of foods around the country and meet the families behind together we’re going to learn
How a good meal has the power to connect us to our past our future. >> Okay so it’s no surprise there’s incredible food to be found here in Manhattan’s Chinatown folks lining up all the time, but there used to be Chinatowns in cities and towns,
Big and small all across this country. In fact the longest running family owned Chinese restaurant is in a place you might never think of Butte Montana. >> At the turn of the century Butte Montana was a bustling mining out the invention of electricity leading to a demand for
Conductors like copper. Mining boom, the city flourished the demand for labor book, thousands of immigrants to Butte they came from so many countries, including Italy, Ireland and China it was the classic portrait of the American West with gambling so lose. Red light district
By 1914 Butte China town was thriving with over 60 Chinese owned businesses. >> Now we’re going to prepare broadly beef and Jerry Tam and I’m the owner of the Pekin noodle parlor. >> The peak first opened as a tobacco shop and casino run by
Jerry’s great uncle yeah 2 years later, I’m adding a restaurant and the Pekin noodle parlor was born. >> This building has 3 different levels, the top level obviously is that Pekin noodle parlor and then the second level on the main Street used to be a herbal medicine shop.
>> That shop was run by Jerry’s great grandfather. Kim Kwan, it’s crazy to think that. >> Everything came over from China. >> At one time like they didn’t make soy sauce in America, the noodles for pride and brought over chefs because they didn’t make fresh kills so the history of this place really
Holds true that this is a Chinese restaurant from Chinese immigrants. >> I met up with culinary historian grace young to learn more about America’s earliest Chinatown where was the first Chinatown and how to get started. >> The first trying town is San Francisco, the first Chinese
Came to California. For the Gold Rush and that was 1848, and they can because America needed cheap labor and so from Gold Rush they ended up doing farming manufacturing and then eventually they worked on the transcontinental railroad and the first trying time for him because America wanted cheap
Labor, but they didn’t want the Chinese to live with lights so they were ostracized from white communities. >> So talk to me about that first wave of of Chinese immigration to the U.S.. >> The Chinese came from 7 Shiner from principally from the area can Tom and there was tremendous prejudice against
The Chinese they were Lynch and because the Chinese were willing to work for lower wages. They were seen as the reason why Americans are suffering so much of the blame was unfairly placed on the Chinese. >> In 1882 Congress side, the Chinese exclusion act into law.
It banned Chinese from migrating to the U.S. it marks the only time in American history that entire race or ethnic group was banned from immigrating. >> But the interesting thing about this exclusion act was that there was actually exemption for Chinese tourists students, teachers and also merchants.
>> A landmark court case in 1915, classified Chinese restaurant owners as merchants. >> And it gave them a way to circumvent exclusion act of 1882. >> It was this exemption that allowed Jerry’s great uncle to open Pekin noodle parlor in Butte paving a path for more
Family members to immigrate to the U.S. and help the business. Jerry father Danny want arrived in the U.S. in 1947 as a team. >> Ever since he was 14 years old he’s been working at the peak of little parlor and he just started with the support
Walls of Washington says, and then he learned how to cook and he slowly just started to grade himself into managing that and working with the director says the staff. >> Danny taking over the restaurant in the 1950’s spending years turning it into a pillar of the local community
I’ve been coming here for at least 50 years the give me plenty of food I never walk away hungry. >> I love coming to work because of all the people I work with like they choose really nice people and your father probably played over 10,000 people at this you know
Throughout this whole entire life. So it’s interesting to know that fish nearly 5 to 6 generations of people that you know have worked there. >> The menu of Pekin noodle parlor hasn’t changed much over >> We do what they call chop suey what shops who he is is to the years.
That of leftover vegetables that are kind of mix together some gravy and served on top of our main goals we’ve been sitting there for over a 110 years. >> Shops is in large part why Chinese became so popular across the United States. >> Chop suey was the first time America experienced a culinary
Craze, a food critics and it’s starting at the end of the 19th century that there are Americans who are venturing into trying to out the way they got them to even experiment with Chinese food was to make a stir fry that was actually quite bland so they used bamboo shoots water chestnuts onions
Oftentimes that were celery for many years. >> Chinatown’s with the only places where 9 Chinese Americans could sample Asian flavors. >> Americans are going to Chinatown some were curious. They watch experience curio shops, Chinese opera. >> With increased tourism Chinatown’s of large cities groove.
It was a different story in the tent like many mining towns Butte lost many of its workers as production slowed in the 1950’s. >> But the copper who ran dry and the people start to pick up and just kind of move it move on and move back to their families and the
Bigger states. >> As miners left Butte for new opportunities, it’s Chinatown disappeared in the early 1900 there were 7 chop suey restaurant listed in the Butte city directory today only the Pekin noodle parlor remains open. Jerry Tim runs the Pekin noodle parlor in Butte Montana.
>> People may know this is all the changes, fresh eye of America. Hello, it is so much history. >> Despite peak its historic status. Jerry says he was never pressured by family to join the business. >> I never learned to cook and tally came back back in round 2009. Because light,
Any Asian American and parents what are their kids to go to college so we all went to college is up around the nation and to get a better education to become a lawyer or a doctor and what have you but I would just caution and what is great
About that as I got to see the world because of it. >> In 2004 Jerry even appearing on Bravo’s project runway. But a few years later family duty calling him home. >> And the First Amendment had a stroke so my dad news help
You know taking care of her and take care of the restaurant, it was really my father because they were in a generation where they loved each other every day. And they were just best >> After Jerry’s mom passed Jerry and his dad begin friends. operating Pekin together.
>> He never stopped working so he was working here all the way up to 85 to we couldn’t make up the stairs anymore my father and I spent every day together at a church he was that he was healthy all the way to the air. The best of my ability I can
Do. My father passed in November. And it was really you know heartbreaking he didn’t want to say goodbye to my sisters are being here this restaurant or the community, he loved the Montana. >> Jerry now runs Pekin noodle parlor with his cousin Nelson together they’re working to preserve a family legacy.
Keep a piece of Chinese American history alive in an unlikely place. >> I’ve been asked the question was the future the peak and and the best answer I can give you is, let’s just keep it the wet start to change anything because that’s what people come state
Here for the and have their parking spots they have their boost they have their favorite place at the Mar think they want any change because this is a place that just Michael. >> While New York City is home to America’s largest Chinatown the honor of the older, those to San Francisco and that’s
Where the Far East Cafe is located it is one of the last remaining historic Chinese banquet Hall. After a two-year hiatus, this celebrated venue hosted the 64th annual missed Chinatown USA pageant a lunar New Year tradition. The occasion marking a triumphant milestone for the century-old institution.
>> Bill Lee has owned the farm I think since 1999 his daughter, Kathy working by his side as the manager. >> He put me into the restaurant to kind of understand the roots of our culture he wanted me to remember that you know China town is about community is about traditions is about
Culture. >> For many in the community Chinese banquet halls are more than just venues for special events. >> I feel that far East is kind of like a second home for you know a lot of our peaches that come in because they feel so
Comfortable so much history and so many memories, you know, a lot of patients that have been here they told me they’re like home. My parents had my rage in your party, it’s very similar to like about his and that was like 50 something years ago.
>> And that history is everywhere you look at far >> The ceilings like my dad mention the high ceilings moldings modems are all regional no match in trouble on 40 from China. In the 1920’s. So there are over a 100 years old. >> For the last few decades, there were 5 giant banquet
Style restaurant in San Francisco’s Chinatown but with rising rents and gentrification most have since close their doors. By early 2020. Only 2 banker has remained. >> The Far East Cafe planned to celebrate its 100 year anniversary with a big celebration instead it’s now planning to close its doors.
>> At the start of the pandemic the restaurant state afloat by cooking meals for senior citizens and low income residents in China to that cold but hahntown night we applied for it PPP loan suddenly got over $200,000. We also received money from the feed and flu program and our
Landlord gave us 6 months of free rent some thought beyond covid a different type of Irish brought more harm Chinatowns across the country. Anti Asian hate crimes soaring by nearly 340% in 2021. >> When this started happening, I felt very very sad and also
Very angry because I liked why is this happening to trying town why is it happening to our country we know for these people to target elderly people to pushing down to rob them don’t be realize that they have grandparents to or they have unsettled by Beach and the happened to their parents POW
With the field then. >> People saw the attacks when they watch the news and heard reports, and they got even more scared, they don’t want to go out even for special events like the mid autumn festival. We tried to invite them, but they didn’t want to come.
>> We used to be open until 10 o’clock before pandemic sometimes was stay out here until midnight if we had events now we can’t we can’t do that we changed the business hours to close at 7, 7, 30 because safety is the most important >> Business owners across China town still face hostility.
Thing. George and Cindy Chen open China live in 2017. >> We’ve been lucky, I’m we’re going to have a couple instances where you know people scream anti-asian slurs we’re concerned about our employees you know coming to work in and being harassed. I think that ignorance is very unfortunate.
>> China live is a massive market place with multiple restaurants, it’s in a building that once housed a banquet Hall like far East. >> I remember coming to away here when I was in college I who I think will be 5,000 people in life 6 restaurants.
But unfortunately, you know real estate was getting very expensive. So it’s not very cost effective if you don’t have that business. >> 2 years ago the couple had to lay off 200 workers. However with the support of partners, George and Cindy were able to pivot their business on a few fronts.
>> We did you know the ghost kitchen was something outside the box. So we have 10 locations in the Bay Area. Sauceda Berkeley. And and they can order food from those ghost kitchens. >> Ghost kitchens, prepare restaurant, quality food exclusively for delivery or takeout.
>> We sold so many key conducts we didn’t know what to do with all that that that so what do you do make popcorn with it. So that’s why we have a different popcorn. >> As business picked up on China live was able to rehire 100 workers.
Despite an uncertain future these restaurants remain hopeful that business will rebound. >> More police presence people are more as a community standing up for ourselves making sure that we have like the buddy system making sure that we’re together and we feel safe that were walking together that we have each other’s back.
>> We need it. I was an essential part of life I one more fun is that look forward to having dinner with friends you haven’t seen a new place for favorite place. >> But some old favorites just can’t be replaced. Why your mind that during the pandemic many restaurants have shut down
8 so far East is now the biggest restaurant in Chinatown the ball far East has to be space big enough to host large events for the community. >> We were overjoyed having that Mister trying to tell us a event here. A press conference and just being able to
Reconnect with the community. It warmed my heart and my dad was like so overjoyed that people are coming in just to celebrate. >> To learn more about the future of Chinese American restaurants. I went to visit chef Lucas in in New York City
This savvy ship is on a mission to save mom and pop shops from closing putting a spin on the classics. >> Hey, yeah, I mean to you all right can’t wait to Yahoo. >> Lucas was born and raised in Hong Kong growing up he had never heard of dishes like general tso’s
Chicken what was your first experience with Chinese American yeah, and did you go. >> What the heck is this. I was here for summer camp and on Tuesdays at 10 o’clock or so right before bedtime this Van would pull out in the front of the school. And you can pick
Between since we checked in general, so she can orange chicken with broccoli and fried rice or what race or whatever it was. The first thought was that this is the security situations where it’s been my whole life and the second thought is that what in the world of difference in orange
Chicken Jones has taken and says we take and why is there so much that don’t understand about this if last time I checked was trying to ease. >> Lucas actually study cognitive scientist Gayle, but he always had a passion for cooking. His summers spent training award-winning restaurants in Hong Kong and Japan
After graduating in 2015 Lucas opened his first restaurant with Yale classmate John’s out June, the kitchen is a fast casual chain that serves modern Chinese fair, but Lucas remained passionate about the Chinese American cuisine he first tasted visible. >> So so how did Chinese American food, the food that we
Have become a familiar with how did that develop that. >> Now Chinese takeout is interesting right because it’s all over the United States. So these folks come in the front is in a restaurant right they learn those recipes and it goes somewhere else right over there actually and then their
Cousins come from fees and then those recipes are passed on and there’s a remarkable similarity to to to these dishes. >> Despite the popularity of Chinese American food, many family owned restaurants that want got a Chinatown and other urban areas have been closing for years. >> Open restaurants really difficult and running
Restaurants is perhaps even more difficult these moms and dads over these Russians that their kids can go to University and become lawyers and doctors and television host and whatnot and now that they’re finally able to do that they don’t need to run these restaurants anymore. Right the light suddenly
Livelihoods have changed that’s a good thing. >> Lucas and young hatched an idea to help smaller businesses in 2019 nice day seeks out restaurants facing closure then works with the owners to remodel the space and update the menus. The pandemic stall the team’s initial plant, but the second
Location in Long Island is slated to open this spring. >> It’s important to me that these new Chinese American takeout restaurant so we’re building called nice day work with the previous generation of owners because they have a lot of knowledge that we don’t they know their
Customers you know what sells I think how to cook these dishes and recipes. >> You raise an interesting point that you talk to these retired this Chinese restaurant owners is that part of the sense of trying to memorialize what could be lost. >> Now preserving recipes as part of it.
The other important parts preserving the way business is done to take a restaurants and one of the few restaurants in the world that if they’re open from 11 to 10 and the work hours are 11 to 10 you don’t have any prep hours, the same Cook cent
Do the walks are fries are also prepping during the day, it’s ridiculous the efficient and it’s got to do with the set up and the waves because of the run, but it’s also important to us that we give back this last generation that we can make sure that
Owners want to retire retire, well, and that that legacy can be preserved a new type of American trying to take a rest >> While nice day pays homage to popular Chinese American room. recipes Lucas has been celebrated for his innovative fusion dishes.
In 2021, he was named one of food wine’s best new ships. >> We serve oppo Mac and cheese air which is a variation on that fish. Fusion the kind of silly and it’s just an attempt to something ridiculous it doesn’t make any sense if it rains
Every chef sensibility that I have but unfortunately is delicious and it’s interesting and it gets people talking. >> Finally it’s time to eat Locust showing me how to make his signature dish. >> How do we get sort so the Michael Mac and cheese. Here in the Mac and PC the audience are vigorously
America. We have this Elmo macaroni right top way and this is be there. But the model is going to be in the form of up sauce if you will the last 2 elements that really sort of take us over the edge is Chinese sausage. It can
Function like bacon and some giant you’re talking about streams that we’ve rehydrated so to start off with just it cut a couple of things and this for we will then put into the fire. There’s can close the jumping portion of our progress. Garlic and ginger are cooked to freight.
>> Spicy bean paste and soybeans are added to start the songs. >> The mixture to a boil to the flavors infuse. >> So you’re less and a lot yeah. What’s coming up. That’s why the pros do it baby. >> At this point everything so also the macro he’s going to
>> As this is just a. Once it boiling and happy. Few flashes of the best of the best. We will be American is wait for that via Al com see that’s a very good time together. >> We like to play this dish in
Chinese takeout box while so we. But it’s some fried total process croissant over the top that’s a little bit of texture. The so the amount of help from these fresh show is actually really important because they cut through the heaviness of there is this out. Wow was a little surprise for a minute.
The launch of the tofu I hope we have the act on that the U.S. also said yeah. >> You’ve never had that Jews had this. >> Amid a global pandemic changing family dynamics and anti Asian races Chinatowns across America and the communities that sustain them face a challenging road ahead.
>> Every business that is open right now is still fighting for its life and I think that the best way to fight the anti-asian hate is to show our love for the community come to Chinatown or your local Asian American Pacific Islander, the restaurant store market give them your business we have
Lost so much during the pandemic and I think it makes us all so much more conscious that we have to protect what we love. >> New York City is home to so many iconic foods well when the city that never sleeps wakes up for breakfast, they want a
Bagel with cream cheese we’re piled high with locks. There’s no other. >> City that makes a bigger like a New York City. >> I have not had good bagels in the inner city came out the wounds, even biggest. >> It’s time to head out of studio one A and hit the road
For a new kind of culinary adventure follow me as I take some of the most high kind of foods around the country and meet the families behind together we’re going to learn how a good meal has the power to connect us to our past our future.
If New York known for anything it’s it’s bagels and we’ve got them all everything bagel rainbow bagels pumpkin bagels Chris and bagels and of course you can’t happen without a schmear well the bagel first came from Poland. Many food, historians say it’s pairing with salmon and cream cheese
Originated right here the big out. In this town few specialty food shops are as beloved and has this story as Russ and daughters. >> I’ve been waiting in line probably 1520 minutes, but it’s definitely worth it. I like the contrast of the flavor is like a nice little
Bagel with the Smith’s off the last of this. >> And then in cream cheese together like I try to make up almost nothing compares arrest and daughter. >> They’ve been serving premium smoked fish to 100 New Yorkers and folks from around the world for over 100 years.
Just a few blocks from the store is the Russ and daughters >> Oh yeah. Have year thanks for having us this is beautiful. Thank you. >> Nikki rest better and Josh Russ Tupper are the grandchildren of the original daughters. These cousins, our 4th generation owner carry on their family’s pool in every Lakers.
>> So this is Russ and daughters are great grandfather, Joe Morris started the business is why well, and 3 daughters. We just same grandmother and she was the youngest of the 3. >> Wasn’t unusual at that time for you because you usually see
So and so and Sons but to see Russ and daughters variant. >> But I mean honestly if it had some Hollywood since he did like. As a feminist, but he was a good business back. >> Joel Russ immigrated from Poland in 19 ’07.
>> And he started to standing on the streets of the Lower East Side selling small tearing out of the barrel and of family could feed itself for 2 nights with one pitch. >> In 1940 he opened his first brick and mortar shops, JD, Russ national appetizer, Joel and his wife and 3 daughters
Had e I du N when they turned 11 each daughter began working with their dad. What was their relationship like with the eye because is your dad but he’s also your boss, yeah. >> And I think he cared more about being. The boss and the shopkeeper he was a new immigrant to this
Country who is just trying to survive and make a place for his family. And that was his focus and he saw his children this as you know she flavor. >> The sisters grew up learning all aspects of the business in 1935 Hadi Ida and N became Joel’s partners, the shop was
Renamed, Russ and daughters, making it the first in America to bear and daughters in its title when your great grandfather decided to start Russ and daughters. One of the Lower East Side. >> After Ellis Island, this was a starting off point for the majority of
For Jewish immigrants, this is where they landed and they got their start and so he was just eating basic. 2 other for immigrants like himself. >> At the turn of the century this neighborhood was one of the most densely populated places on the planet.
Many immigrants from all around the world live in overcrowded tenement buildings, the conditions having a profound impact on their diet. >> One of the things about Lower East Side Jewish to get a lot of to help when you don’t have running water and we don’t have
Electric or gas stoves is really hard to do very much cooking and so for women who are responsible for feeding their families they had to get food from push carts from restaurants from it. >> Joe Ross was one of many vendors catering to this new population.
I’m always curious. How did it come about. >> Well what you think that somebody thought hey you know, here’s this round bread will put some fish on the by the way before we do let’s put some cream cheese some dairy off >> Russ and daughters is the torch bearer of what’s called
At the time saying and this is a food tradition born here in New York. And it’s the sister food tradition to the test. Both of which come up through the Jewish kosher dietary rules you have to separate and they’re Ephraim meet so delicatessen strictly speaking is for me the
Advertising store is where you go for fish and dairy things like smoked fish when we say bagel and lox most people are you know we’re friend to smoke salmon, you’re regional Bay, long locks was not was sent. >> Technically locks or belly locks is salmon cured in salt which preserves fish without refrigeration
There’s no smoking involved and if you read ubly salting so impaired perfectly with tangy cream cheese. But who is the first person to put locks on a bagel. >> So no one really knows how bagels lox and cream cheese all came together, we know that big goals come from Eastern Europe,
We know that locks comes basically from Scotia kind of we know the cream cheese is an American too. But what we know that these things come together as part of a compromise between different generations of Americans. >> Jewish law prohibits cooking with most heat sources on the
7th, so the combo of bagels and lox created a filling meal for observant Jews to enjoy on the day of rest. >> It’s good for a family, but you or your daughter-in-law didn’t have to be spending the previous 10 cooking. >> As one of the country’s oldest appetizers the bus and
Daughters has been serving kosher meals for generations. I still the busiest day. >> I can’t think really of the anything that’s more New York than lox and bagels. >> Yes I agree I think that this is the food that came up >> The Eastern European Jewish immigrants to New York. through.
But now it’s transformed and just become New York food, it belongs to all New Yorkers. >> In the United States women on less than 20% of all businesses at the iconic Russ and daughters Conor Nikki rest Fetterman is building on the legacy of her grandmother and
Great aunt, growing up you you follow in the footsteps of of storm with. We’ve got a chosen this but took it on and obviously made a really successful. What is it like for you following the news. >> It’s a tremendous feeling to be now and great granddaughter.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a customer of ours family came from the Lower East Side. He once said that before she knew the family. He looked up at the side, Russ and daughters, she understood that women have an impact. >> Your family’s business possibility as the sun is survived 2 world.
New shot of the world treats yes. Why has this case it to not just survive, but thrive. >> I think because a new generation there has been someone who wanted to do this. This is food that people turn to for comfort in hard times. And during the pandemic that’s all that
Before shipping lost daughters all over the country to their loved ones because they couldn’t get together and so sending al Fayed has a lock and vodka say you know I love you I miss you here on the PGA commissioner euro vision. There was a lot of
>> OK, so you can get smoked fish pretty much everywhere these days but not quite like this. The salmon sold Russ and daughters is prized for its high fat content from the milder gasping Nova to the smoke, you’re Scottish and this gourmet fish.
All sliced by hand when you hold it up, I mean it’s it’s almost like a translucent yeah I think we should show you how we get that. Yeah, the the sharp utensil haha it takes up to 6 months of training to master the slicing technique yet.
>or 2, but the probably nothing glike your show. If you’ve been slicing cent then at the store for 20 years. 7 slicing for a while all right so that so I watch people slice and I I’m amazed that to help Haitian because it seems like that’s part of the skill.
>> The reality is when you I know how to slice it is one of the most relaxing things we’ve been there is very meditative right. The trick is don’t look anywhere on the fish, you have to really feel the first the the fish.
B the fish which is a very difficult concept to train someone that and particularly the first couple slices don’t be upset, okay, if they don’t look great. The idea is to make it consistently thick slice faces me not just watching you not watch the fish. The officials.
You should you should look I said you got a sharp knife in an hour. And you can see that as you change the angle of the night that changed the thickness yeah right. >> To that dry more than anything that’s more the oh my
Gosh that’s a very think all those that relate this to date that’s it shops that’s going to say that so that the 19 that’s a good dish to me does the way you cut it affect the taste of the >> The texture which affects the experience of assignment. texture.
>> It’s almost like you’re eating the essence of 7. >> Salmon, it’s very delicate. It’s a very appealing texture and mouthfeel yes, but better. >> Josh thanks so much this meeting you such a pleasure to have you smoke them if you’ve got. >> How fresh he gets turned on the light.
>> I’m here at the acme smoked fish back to now there is something fishy going on in there and you better believe I’m going to find out what it is. The folks at Acme process smoke and. >> I nearly 8 million pounds of fish every year they sell to
Eateries all over the country, including Russ and daughters. >> It smells of smoke and it smells of fish. >> That’s the way it’s supposed to be all right New York City asked. All right so as you know in any food that food plant food
Safety is of paramount importance I see you got your boots, I just happen to be wearing them also. We’ll walk you through the process of how 7th runs into smoked salmon. >> Adam cazler is the 4th generation owner of Acme smoked fish. His great grandfather, Harry Brownstein started
Selling fish after immigrating from Russia to Brooklyn. >> We started with a focused business in the early 1900 in 19 ’06 to be exact. >> I was out of a push far out of the a lot of horse drawn. Why wow he would go around buying this from different
Smokehouse throughout Brooklyn and Queens. And how himself to cells around you know, he works close to 45 years of his dream was to open up his own smoke has been taken 45 years to finally achieve that. >> Adam now runs a massive smoke missions or supply many
Of New York City’s popular bagel shops from H one H S a Acme also selling the National grocers like trader Joe’s. >> We have the day it’s all about the fence. We bring in this from all over the world smoked salmon is probably the most popular thing that we make
In our salmon come from different places, Norway, Scotland to and Alaska. >> It can take up to 5 days to make smoke cent every order is made to the buyers taste from that type of salmon to curing the first step got a whole fish and the latest.
>> Well. Yeah, so this is a. Well the long haul family unity iPod over here clouds out on this. This is and when examined. Armrest we use a Lenox and then you have the most fact and that >> Alright, we’ve got to happen like the backbone carving into officiant this requires expert
After the fishes for late, it’s preserved with some of the fish is then treated with a wet brine or a dry cure. Okay, so let’s try right here some. >> Some 7 yeah, first thing we’re going to get it on to be a raft of that so
See if you can pick up the sand and gravel find it by the tail okay. Grab would your honor we’re going to wait on to this screen right. >> With just a thin layer. Along the top of the charts. All right on down the barrel. That’s that. This is a rather large, so.
That right you are about 24 hours. That’s a huge. >> After curing the full laser cold smoke for up to 20 hours this process imparts a subtle smoky flavor. >> When we say of the smoke or work. A collection of that would ship plan that we’re talking about
>> There are different ways to smoke fish. The latest hot smoking results and flaky people A’s unlike traditional locks smoke, salmon, it’s cold smoke below 85 degrees. This helps the fish retain its silky texture and makes it perfect for slicing. Hey now >> After the smokers, the fish is cool then packed for
Shipping. Well if your great-grandfather say if he could do all of it. >> I think you’d be a man is of out. Difficult it was for him to achieve his dream right now is descendants have been able to build upon that tree and bonus into one of the preeminent smokers in the U.S..
>> Up next a vegan deli taking on tradition with plant based locked and cashew cream cheese. You don’t want to miss this. >> Back on the Lower East Side 2 sisters inspired by their Jewish heritage we are on a mission to make the food, they loved growing up in a more sustainable way.
>> Ladies nice to meet you show me around his lead or what. >> Erica and Sarah could burst other co-owners of orchard grocer it entirely be get Mark inspired by classic delicatessens are. They want to make the vegan lifestyle easier for all right after college they opened their first
Business, a shoe store called new shoes. >> Open our begin to start 20 years ago. >> About 5 years ago we decided that we were going to update it by adding in our view can grocer basically because it seems like that’s what our customers want. After asking us
What our shoes are made of probably where should I go he was. The second most common questions so we decided to create an experience where they can just go next door. >> Growing up in Queens, the sisters, Jewish culture who were closely lot they had 10 Jewish deli in their neighborhood along.
>> Probably every Sunday the tradition in our family doesn’t bagels the bagel store doesn’t always meant 15, I don’t know why that was but and what the cream cheese and lox and that was just how we spend our Sundays. >> Both sisters became vegan teenager, but felt they lost a
Piece of their roots by giving up certain foods. >> I think our parents were supportive of our changes to the lifestyle, we grew up in a very culturally Jewish household, so all of our traditions were just based around food. >> Today a lot of folks are going vegan for a variety of
Reasons from reported health benefits. >> To concerns over animal welfare for the sisters, it’s also a matter of global importance. >> We’re watching climate change happen right now and I think that’s causing a lot of people to think twice about what they’re eating and how they are contributing so it
Makes sense to us that it is becoming so mainstream. >> In 2017 Sarah and Erica, so I’m not just an opportunity to satisfy a growing market but to pay homage to their Jewish roots. >> We wanted to have a good sandwich selection that really
Up in my XYZ like New York deli food so obviously a pickle and mocks with going to be there. >> Orchard grocer sells a variety of vegan sandwiches, including rubins and to the belts. But the sisters are most passionate about serving up a sense of nostalgia.
>> People are so worried about giving things up so I think just creating those alternatives and just something that people are familiar with and given that feeling of home. Yeah like we haven’t had to give up our Sunday tradition-bound bagels a lot. >> To help make their unique Delhi, a reality, the sisters
Hired vegan chef Nora Vargas. Nor shared a passion for plant based food, she also knows how to turn carrots into salty locks. >> How did you come up, I mean you have to think okay what can mimic. Smokes and yet so how did you was it looked like that.
Well, the only orange vegetables. Sweet potato and carrot we know the texture that we need to go before we know the labor that we want to go for so we started with the color and then you kind of build it. Okay so let’s get started,
I’m really passionate okay all right, I’m excited so we have prepared. We have maybe 10 pounds of carrots. Yeah, or you these are huge these would have been huge carrot seriously. Yeah, this as my 4, but you have you have sliced very thin on a mandolin
Yes, yeah, exactly all right so world loved up and we’re going to the next step in this process is too apply our rub, your carrots so in here we have a mixture of sugar solved end there as I can tell you about she could have came in this
This would be kind of like the Brian that you would use the drive right at you, yes on fish exactly what’s going on vegetable yeah we got our inspiration for a lot of different components of this recipe from the way that you would actually prepare fish if you are repairing fish and not
Care right. Code everything I’m not going to figure out the secret to okay now because if I figure it out he’s going to kill. So I’m just going to start robbing just smashing everything in there. Once we get everything coated, we would let this sit for
3 to 6 hours probably pay great, so I think leave I think we nailed it okay and here is another secret ingredient to death. Yeah, I think a lot of secrets here and I’ll tell you a little bit okay, so it’s a combination of olive oil and I want to you
From all your that I don’t know you know when you’re opening up a can of beans right and you have to drain. Yes, the stuff that you drain out that Aqua fog. Bien y it’s the the Jews. Yes exactly okay, yeah, so I’m going for McCain, you can come
To the same process location across this question on their way. Yeah, perfect. After we had let our care it’s set for 3 to 6 hours. We lost in the oven so they they will call it cold smoking all sound like. I like the process of making smoked actually. Yeah.
>> That does look very much like smoking who and what would a bagel and lox be without the cream cheese. This beacon spread is made withdraw cash. Some secret spices and coconut all blended together with soft tofu when they come to your let’s do it. 2, this is a really terrific.
>> Idea thank you thank you for opening my. Thank you so much appreciate that yeah and a half. >> Great way to finish things up. I mean we’ve we’ve seen the history we’ve got to the past we were in the present and you have brought us. >> The lox and bagels
>> a bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon is a uniquely American combination born from Jewish was transported by local ingredients and carried on by new generation. This breakfast British has truly stood the test of time when it comes to food in New York City. I’ve been coming here for years.
And if there’s one thing I know, the city of Baltimore is serious about his crab. – I love Baltimore crabs. – This is the stomping ground of crabs. – If I could describe the taste, you can’t, you just have to try it. You just have to try it. [Al] It’s time to head out of Studio 1A and hit the road for a new kind of culinary adventure. Follow me as I taste some of the most iconic foods around the country and meet the families behind them. Together, we’re going to learn how a good
Meal has the power to connect us to our past, our future, and each other. [Al] When you think Maryland, you got to think blue crab an essential part of the state’s culture and cuisine. And no place knows how to cook it up quite like Baltimore. I mean, just as many ways as you can count, you can find ways to eat crab. Of course, there’s your basic, your steamed crab with the beautiful spices. And you just start whacking that bad boy. You can get all that beautiful meat out. You can get canned crab if you’d like.
Of course, there’s also the fabulous crab Mac and cheese with a hot dog. There’s the crab dip. There’s your crab soup. And, of course, the king of crab, the crab cake. Yes, but this is a cake that needs no icing. Mmmmm. Crab cakes have been enjoyed by many for centuries throughout the Chesapeake region. But here in Baltimore, they’re a way of life. And one of the city’s most popular go to’s is tucked away just inside the world famous Lexington Market. – We’re headed back to Houston today
And we wanted to have the best crab cake in town. – We’re from Orlando. Glad to be here. – People been coming to Faidley’s for years, ever since I was little, and I’m, umm… 25. – People from all around the world come here to Baltimore just to grab a bite of the famous Faidley’s crab cake. It’s made with fresh Maryland crab and family love. Everybody looks the same. How are you, my dear? – Hello. – Hello. Hello. – So good to see you. – How are you, sir? You’re looking good. – You’re looking great. Got something for you. – All right. There you go. – There you go. You need one of those. There you are!
– Now I’m feeling really crabby. Pardon me. I’ve got to get a lawyer because there’s a clause I have to have checked. I’ve known the folks at Faidley’s Seafood for years, but they’ve been serving up fresh crab cakes even longer. – Hi, I’m Nancy Faidley Devine. I own Faidley’s Seafood. It’s been in my family now for four generations, and the fifth is coming up. So we’ve been around a long time.
– I think people are astonished to see my parents at 84 and 89, still working. – We can get another five pans and do a second batch if we need to for them. People ask her for autograph. They ask her for a picture. They ask her to hold their babies. It’s really fun.
– I mean, here’s this company that’s been part of Baltimore for over 130 years. – Right. – What is it about your place that has people coming back? – Right. I think it’s that people come in here and go right away. There’s a warmth. It’s like walking in somebody’s home
That they’re happy to have you. – Uh huh. – Come and you feel. Oh, my gosh. I feel at home. And I got people… We were here 20 years. It’s exactly the same. [Al] In fact, Faidley still stands in its original location. Founded here by John W. Faidley Sr. in 1886.
Started off as a seafood stall, but over the generations grew into a Baltimore tradition led by Bill and Nancy Devine, along with their daughter. – Damye Hahn. And I am the fourth generation of Faidley’s. So… I do everything. Give them a little bit of a smorgasbord. Going over here to filet a fish
Over here to shuck an oyster over there to steam a crab. Back here to fry, up here to make a crab cake, back down on the phone, running in the shipping department. A tray like that is about let me see 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, 8 bushels of crab. In order to get that tray.
That’s a lot of picking. And I don’t think people realize how much work goes into getting an all jumbo lump. – Growing up. Did you think you were going to end up here? You are going to be doing this? – No,
But it was hard to get away from, and I couldn’t see it going away. I couldn’t see it ending with my parents. – The pandemic hit. – Yes. – You really had to step up. – My father called me, and I said, dad, you guys cannot come in here.
We don’t know anything about this virus and the effects, especially on the elderly. And I know you want to be here, but you can’t. And he said, Dayme, do whatever you do, whatever you can to make payroll. It just makes me cry when I think about it.
He said, Just make sure that we don’t have to lay anybody off. I don’t want to lay anybody off. I don’t want anybody to lose their job. And we did it. – And I saw it when I came here in the 90’s. And I still see it today. It truly is a fam.
– Oh, it is a fam. And it’s funny because I often tell people, Mom and Dad don’t treat the employees any differently than they treat me. That’s the gods honest truth. – Which could be good or bad. – That’s the gods honest truth. And that’s why you end up
Having so many multigeneration families staying here. – That’s right. Faidley’s isn’t just a family owned business. It’s run by family as well. Multiple generations of employees, father and daughter, father and son, mom and daughter all building a home here. – I’ve been here since a junior in high school.
So I’ve been doing this thing for a while. – I would say it’s been around 33, 34 years. – I started at 14 years old, and I’ll be 42 years old in December. – It’s always a challenge working with family. A lot of personalities, but you love each other, and it always works. It always works well. – What’s really bad is when your kids or grandkids… – Mom, we were in the middle of an interview. You just broke in. – Do you have to start over? – Yes. – You were saying about the challenges of working with family? – It’s just a few of them, you know? – While the family spirit makes customers feel at home, it’s Faidley’s crab cakes that keep them coming back. – What kind of oil do you cook your crab cakes in? – Soy bean. – Soy bean. Thank you. – And I watch people for the first time
Put it in their mouth and they go, oh, my God. And they’re standing at a table in a market. They’re not sitting down to a white tablecloth and having somebody serve it on a silver platter. It’s on a paper plate. But it belongs on a silver platter.
– Nancy created her recipe in 1987, saying she’s never changed it. So Besides yourself, how many other people know the Faidley’s crab cake recipe? – He doesn’t even know how to make a cup of coffee. Why would I tell him? So, some people use breadcrumbs. You use broken saltines. – Broken saltines. Yes. And not fine, because you have to use more. And then this is the magic sauce. – This the secret sauce? – Yes.
– So it’s just enough to mix the ingredients – Right. – And nothing more. – That’s right. – Big ball of crab right there. Boom. [Al] Look at this. Oh boy. Oh… It’s just like I remember eating a 26 years ago. – You know what? I’m told that all the time when people come in here. The best part about this is you haven’t changed a thing. – Now, this is a legacy.
We know how the crabs end up, but how do they get them? Let’s go find out. Coming up, the generations of black watermen who’ve made a living pulling in Maryland’s most famous catch. [Al] The Chesapeake Bay men and women who work these waters are probably just as famous as the legendary catch that they pull out. And, in fact, it’s backbreaking work that is passed on from generation to generation. Including Blackjacks. Those were the black watermen
Who worked these waters all the way back into the 1800’s and are a vital part of this community. The Chesapeake Bay is home to a vast variety of seafood, but none as valuable or as well known as the blue crab. The catch here makes up over a third of the nation’s supply,
And on average, more than 50 million pounds of blue crabs are harvested from the Bay. – I’m Captain Tyrone Meredith. Charter boat captain, owner, operator of the Island Queen Two. [Al] Captain Meredith knows these waters well. He grew up on them. – I’m the fourth generation watermen and my great grandfather, he worked on the water. My grandfather and my father. We’ve been here ever since the 1860’s,
Making a living working on Chesapeake Bay. [Al] This has been the way of life for generations of watermen here in Kent Narrows, a town just 50 miles south of Baltimore. For hundreds of years, they’ve caught, processed and sold blue crabs to markets up and down
The Eastern shore. By the mid to late 1800’s, Kent Narrows had also become one of many unlikely havens on the Bay for free and enslaved African Americans. – There was more black watermen anywhere on the whole East Coast, probably in the United States. – Those watermen, also known as Blackjacks,
Forged their path to liberation on the water. Their expertise, essential to the booming seafood industry. So much so the government granted some black watermen Siemens protection certificates, providing sailors with American citizenship and a path to economic freedom. – Hey, Lawrence, I’m coming up on you now. Okay. I got you. How are they biting today? Being out here, you’re your own boss. You do what you want to do. Have nobody to tell you, go get me this or go get me that. [Al] 75 year old Lewis Carter
Still finds that same sense of freedom on the water today. He’s also one of the last generations of black watermen alive. Every morning before the sun Right now I’m going to catdown the line.e Bay. And when I get to the other end, I’ll throw it off. Crabs will come up on it, bait.
The pressure from the water pushes them back in this dipper. Okay. These are the big, large male. You put them in one basket. That’s a female with red claws. Put them in one basket. – He’s one of the last Mohican’s left. Not too many people that still
Work make a living from the water. Most of them moved away, got other jobs, and it’s changing because it’s harder to make a living from the Bay. [Al] Crabbing season runs from spring into late fall, but changes in climate, cost, and labor have made each successive year more challenging.
As younger generations take up new trades, there are less people working the waters and ultimately fewer black watermen. [Al] Captain Meredith estimates there are fewer than a dozen black watermen on the Bay. Like many of his peers, he’s had to turn to other work. – Back when I was crabbing teenager,
I caught as high as 50 bushel a day. Right now, crab is catching two or three bushel a day. Now I started running charters, fishing charters because crabbing started declining and fishing was more lucrative money wise. [Al] And educational. His charters are an opportunity to keep stories
Of the Blackjacks alive for generations ahead. Although tradition on these waters is changing, one thing remains the same. – Nothing tastes like the Chesapeake Bay Maryland crabs. It’s got a certain taste to them. The only place like that in the world is the Chesapeake Bay blue crab. [Al] Next, an up and coming Baltimore chef inspired by his family’s love of cooking. [Al] Back in Baltimore, a new generation is putting a spin on the crab cake. – I’m Alex Perez I’m the owner of Papi Cuisine. I’m an artist at heart, so cooking the arts of culinary that’s something that I’m very passionate about. Not necessarily having a recipe to go off of and just get
In the kitchen freestyle and coming up with masterpiece. [Al] It’s that freestyling approach that brings people through these doors clamoring for a taste. – Crab is King of Baltimore, so you’re going to see crab cakes, crab cake fries, crab cake egg rolls. Everyone’s been going crazy over it as well.
This is the bomb. – So I just come back to that and I enjoy it every time I come here. – We actually live in DC. So we rode all the way up here an hour just to come here. – Right now, I’m drizzling our warhead and our aioli sauces on it.
I have a family from the Dominican Republic. I’m Afro-Latino. I’m black on my mother’s side and pretty much has always had a love for food and cooking food, eating food. So learning how to cook from my dad. My dad taught me how to cook at the age of ten.
I grew up watching my grandmother cook a lot as well. So I started pretty much combining the foods that I learned to cook from my grandmother with the foods I learned how to cook from my father. And that’s kind of like how the whole Papi Cuisine was born in her kitchen, essentially.
[Al] That was eight years ago. While working a fulltime job, Alex began building a new business on the side, catering food out of his grandma’s kitchen. In February 2020, he was finally able to open a restaurant. Then the pandemic hit. – Of course, a month later,
We get the news that we have to shut down and only do take out. So that just open up the flood gates, essentially. And you have people standing in line, hundreds of people on the block. And that mass cars double parked up and down the street. And it was mayhem.
[Al] During a global crisis, the city Alex was born and raised in rallied around him. Now, Papi Cuisine is packed with locals and tourists alike, but the chef stays true to his roots, running it with close family and friends. – My little sister, Natasha. – Hi. – How’s it going, Natasha?
– My big bro, Alex. – I can employ family members, friends and so forth, people I grew up with, people that I’m close to, and it’s very rewarding. [Al] Coming up, I’m going to grab my apron and join Alex and Grandma Gloria for a lesson in cooking crab. – Hello? Ah! Chef Alex. – Hey, how’s it going? Nice to meet you. – I wanted to meet Alex and his Grandma Gloria, the inspiration behind his cooking. So I dropped by their kitchen to say hello. – Well, what I know, I picked up from my grandmother, my mother-in-law,
And just put my own spin on certain dishes. I didn’t follow it to the recipe to the letter. – You were able to adlib a little bit. – Yeah, but he’s always asked me when I fixed the dish. What did you put in this?
How did you do this? And I would tell him. I said, you don’t have to follow to the letter. Put your own spin. – And Alex has done just that, turning the classic crab cake into an egg roll. Genius! The ingredients simple. A pound of jumbo lump crab, panko breadcrumbs,
Aged cheddar cheese, egg roll wrappers and a couple of sauces and microgreens to top it off. There’s the star of the show, the crab meat. Put on an apron. I’ve got rubber gloves on. All right, patient’s ready! So how do we get started, Alex? – So first what we want to do
Is we have some Maryland jumbo lump crab here. For the most part, it shouldn’t have much shells in, but typically, I like to sift through it. Just got to see if there’s any shells. And if so, you can put the shells right back in this container. – There you go.
Gloria, did you know you were helping raise a culinary genius? – Well, no, I know he liked to eat. – This sauce particularly is our crab sauce. Next that we’re going to drizzle a little bit at a time because I don’t want to put too much. Just enough to bind. – Yep, I think I have enough. – I like this lady. – This is why I’m so particular
About when I’m doing things in the kitchen. Start actually rolling these things up. – Why do you think this recipe is so popular? The most popular? – Well, I think because it pretty much gives you the ability to take a Baltimore favorite, and then you’ll make it handheld and on the go, throwing it in your hand.
I think that’s one of the biggest reasons it’s very popular other than the taste as well. – Right. Yeah. (laughs) You can take it with you, but if it doesn’t taste good– – Right! So what we’re going to do is we’re going to take a pinch of crab,
A quarter cup or so it’s going to sit in the middle. – That too much? – We want to take a little bit out. A little bit. Actually, we want to put a little bit more in. – Which is it? – That’s perfect right there. Perfect. Perfect.
And we’re going to literally fold them up envelope style. – What is it about cooking and family that is so important? – I think for me, living a busy life as a business owner and a dad, a husband, things like that. I feel like food is an opportunity for family to come together,
Talk about things, especially if you haven’t seen each other in a long time. It’s a way for us to connect. – Gloria, Is it true you’ve never done this before? – No, I haven’t. It’s true. Damn! Done! – Faster than I did! – Wow! That natural grandma thing. Love it.
The deep fryer up here and find these bad boys up? – Absolutely. If you had to describe the heart of your cuisine. What is it? And how does Baltimore kind of be part of that? – Pretty much my story. I think that connects very well to Baltimore because
I grew up here all my life. And I think everything that I faced during the time that I started this company up until now, I’ve been transparent about and it resonated very well with the people in Baltimore. They watched my journey through the years and that’s really the heart of what I do.
Press around the edges and things like that. That’s why I keep turning them so it doesn’t fry on one particular side too much. Want an even fry. – Nice and golden. – So you want to cut these diagonally. I’m going to drizzle, this is our aioli sauce. House made.
This is our warhead sauce right here. This sauce is kind of sweet. Has a tangy bite to it. – Kind of like Gloria. (laughter) – Yep! That’s right. – One thing left to do. – Gonna eat these. – Yes! – Crab cake egg roll. – Here we go. – Wow! Chef Alex, you have done Baltimore proud. – Thank you. [Al] Our time here in Baltimore is coming to an end. We tried the traditional crab cake. Tasted a modern spin with crab cake egg rolls. And it’s even went straight
To the source on the Chesapeake Bay. At the center of it all, one thing still ringing true, food tastes better when you eat it with family. >> In the 1950’s 60’s 70’s Black owned restaurant were just places to get the 7 becoming crucial meetings after this at the forefront of the civil rights movement. The family still operating these reforms today are committed to honoring their historic like it.
>> It’s time to head out of studio one a and hit the road for a new kind of culinary adventure. Follow me as I take some of the most eye kind of foods around the country and meet the families behind together, we’re going to learn
How a good meal has the power to connect this to our past our future. >> We’re in heart the epicenter of black culture in the United States. Many historians agree the Harlem Renaissance pave the way for the civil rights movement of the 1950’s 60’s.
So in this episode were traveling across the country to explore 3 legendary black owned restaurant for generations. The beloved leaders have been serving up dishes to historic figures and those fighting for change. First up, we’re heading south to visit and iconic establishment that defied segregation law.
>> New Orleans, a city that celebrates with food music, Nightline and history. In the Big Easy, you’ll find many historic sites. They played a vital role in the civil rights like William Frantz Elementary School, where 6 year-old Ruby bridges barriers in 1960. Well, New Zion Baptist Church activist and remains one of the
Oldest black neighborhoods in America. Here you’ll find the only rest on the U.S. civil rights straight. >> The Chase restaurant definitely is a historical landmark institution to on. >> This popular event is a living testament to a woman who changed the face of ongoing in America. Chef Leah Chase.
>> I was stellar. Chase Threes. And I am the president of the Copper Ation here to continue. Ended the chase before. And I second that show, too. >> Still as grant first open to change as a potent becoming a full-service restaurant in 1940. >> African-Americans didn’t have that place to celebrate.
To celebrate birthdays, to celebrate promotions, to celebrate good grades, weddings, proms. So they opened up a place where that could happen. >> But the next generation had a new vision for the future. >> Was my father and could chase junior and his wife. We lanes chains that continue the legacy that might
Grandparents started. >> Dooky Chase Junior was an avid jazz musician who promote some of America’s First integrated concert. >> His friendship with all the musicians, Ray Charles and Duke Ellington and Sarah Vaughan. We would hear stories of them after their performance coming here than a dozen times.
>> And Lia was determined to bring in elevated dining experience for her black people. >> She wanted the best China’s XI morning linens. She wanted them to be served the best they could be served because she didn’t want our community to be deprived than anything else and any other community had.
>> That community was on the brink of a revolution years in the making. >> Host 18 65 in the Emancipation Proclamation which the masses of African American people now worry the country was overwhelmed. Hierarchies needed to be re-established. It was important from a white supremacist point of view that
Black folks knew their place. >> By the late 19th century, Jim Crow laws legalizing racial segregation in the former Confederate states. Those laws we’re further cemented by the Supreme Court case Plessy versus Ferguson which upheld the separate but equal doctrine but Dooky Chase’s 5 of those laws welcoming patrons of all
Races to die and discuss political issues facing the black community. >> Their willingness in an openness to everyone in the community, make them of safety, get them of belonging. >> But that opened this also made the change family a target. >> There were times that we had people throw things in and try
To, you know, destroyed the peace. But that didn’t like my parents. They continued because they know what they were doing was the correct thing to do. >> By the 1960, Dooky Chase had become a go-to spot where activist could connect and strategize.
>> We had the opportunity to serve many of our civil rights leaders. Martin, the key Jesse Jackson rose up on 3rd March 2. The list goes on and on and then freedom bus ride as they came here. My parents realize that until we all learn to
Enjoy life together and get to that point where social justice would be for everyone that this community are any of the community in our country would not grow. It will not be better. >> And the 1970’s we’re becoming passionate about promoting black artists.
>> A love of art was also celebrating here at Dooky Chase’s when she gave African-American or does the opportunity to actually display their art on how? Well, because if a time they had no police to display their art. >> Her extraordinary life even becoming the inspiration for Disney’s first Black Princess Tiana.
>> Meant a lot for her because she did have some of the kids dress up. They come here. >> Leah Chase. The queen of Creole cuisine passed away on 6/1/2019, but her spirit. >> And her culinary traditions are and vigilant in capable hands.
>> This is the case of catching it set up the same way. And we love it like that because as you know, she’s still with us. He still watching. >> Just to continue to serve Creole cuisine. That’s been on the menu for decades from red beans and rice. Just shrimp Clements
And the famous chicken ala do. But the restaurant’s most popular dish gumbo. >> We think back to the civil rights era when we had leader strategizing and I’ve says time if Adam, do you think about presidents so day, President Barack Obama, President George
Bush came and we always thought of them with gumbo because my grandmother always believed that her combo solve any problems. And we like to say how gumbo change the course of America. >> Gumbo in official state food to Louisiana Dooky Chase’s version as a little something for everyone, not one but 2
Types of sausage, some Louisiana blue. >> We do is we take the top selloff. We clean it up and we just pack it in half. Really? Some of those flavors, chicken and shrimp coming up to forgot gumbo, simmering until that’s ready to serve. I mean, if you just smell the neighborhoods, everybody knows
That he tases him down. >> Today, the Chase Empire is expanding. Chef do. >> Just open the families who was best Chapter 4 in the 4th generation African-American refer to as few many generations. Now working side by side. >> The interim, my family as the biggest lesson.
>> With the selmon not going down to defeat. Changing it myself. Some gumbo but services, right? It 3, 2, >> The whole restaurant Dooky Chase’s that is a gift to the family that was given by my great grandparents. And so we want to make sure that the restaurant sustains that legacy
And all the traditions. We chased it. >> Food bills. Big bridges. If you can eat with someone you can learn from that. When you learn from someone you could make, we chose we contains the course of America and this restaurant over ball of gumbo. We can talk to each other and relate to
Each other. >> A trip to Harlan just wouldn’t be complete without a meal here at Sylvia’s Restaurant. This neighborhood, it’s Bush has been serving up soul food since 1962, what started as a small margin debt has now become a family empire, beloved by tourists, locals and plenty of famous. They said the
Corn borer was sweet. It was warm and it just reminded me of >> Took me back to my grandmother’s cooking. So I really enjoyed it. >> What brought me here today was that I was hungry and wanted some good, some food. So where do you go in our la Sylvia’s?
So food is the cultural. >> Identity marker really? My XYZ. Our journey. People living in America. >> Yes, Woods black is the granddaughter of the legendary Queen of Soul Food, Sylvia Woods. >> So if you grew up in Hemingway, South Carolina where
She met her, love her but will 11 and about a lot of people >> But this entrepreneur to be wasn’t content with life on the floor. >> My grandmother, she came to New York when she was 16. She knew that this was a place that was more palatable for African-Americans, select really live.
>> Sylvia and her were among the estimated 6 million African Americans left the Jim Crow South during the great migration. >> We had Cain, you know, north to escape all of the atrocities that were happening and to really be in control of their lives. You are
Black. You know, Harlem was the place to be. >> So the finding work at a diner Johnson’s luncheonette which eventually purchased from the owner with a loan from her mom. >> Mister Johnson knew that my car with me and on 8/1/1962 Sylvia’s Restaurant was point.
>> As the Cultural Center of Black America, Harlem became a crucial site for demonstrations organized by leaders like Martin Luther King Junior and Malcolm X, according to professor psyche Williams Force. >> The heart of civil Rights is America because it wasn’t limited to one area, though folks were in
The Northeast, still experienced poverty and inequality in voter suppression and homelessness will be made the restaurant a welcoming place for activists. >> She played her role as ensuring that the community leaders had a case to to me and said you strategize.
>> He was signed that. So he is a lefty of the day. The Ruby Dee, you know, these are actors and actresses that were on the front line. >> And by the 1960, the movement had achieved major games like the historic Brown versus Board of Education and successful boycott.
>> The racial discrimination and police brutality against black Americans persist resulting in deadly riots throughout the day to devastating events just 4 years apart. Spark destructive riots throughout Shelby as always. >> Allen was on fire and my grandmother have the restaurant open. The grocery stores were not open. Nothing was open. You
Know, people going to be there is and she was in the kitchen making food. >> So that this community would have something to eat. >> This strong connection with Harlem nights as continue for decades. >> We had guessed that with every single day and sometimes
We have people that you with us multiple times a day. >> I learned the secret to suit his needs. Sylvia’s in Harlem has been serving up soul food since 1962 and this native New York. Good way to get back to their historic dining.
>> Make it’s been way too long is too. I’ve missed you, too. But you know a thing about building into its like that. So yes, it’s coming home is coming home. >> The dining room walls showcasing famous faces and political figures along with treasured memories.
>> This picture is one of my grandmother’s favorite was wet and windy. And Nelson Mandela came to New York. >> When he was free eating here has become a rite of passage for many candidates. >> As a young man, I don’t know. One of the half of that
Is all I think he might have turned out. Okay. I think, you know, after a meal here at this is what set him on his part. That’s right. Check it. But the heart of so be it is hard protests enter have worked hard to stay active in the neighborhood.
>> From funding college scholarships for local teams to supporting Black Lives Matter is what is it about this restaurant? The country people coming. >> Weapons to city times love. So the is becoming so he is you know what you’re going to get.
You’re going to get some good that’s going to make you feel warm. >> Today over a dozen family members helped run Soviet empire, which includes a catering business, a successful food product line. >> What’s it like working with them? Because I know your brother, Marcus. Yeah, baby brother. My brother has that.
>> Watching my brother rode down in the kitchen is something that we always knew was going to happen. >> Executive chef Marcus Woods has been at the helm for 5 years. >> Sylvia’s Grants. So it is so good to see you. Yeah. And you’re back here. You’re running the kitchen. What?
What’s that like for you and me knowing that his legacy, your grandmother. >> I’m honored modest against people like you and community Harlem. So as long as I could do that at always on it last, you know, the amazing thing is food brings people together. You look at that that that dining room,
Everybody is that this was so we used to always say that the first time to come Sylvie is your guest. Second time. The family, according to Marcus Fried Chicken. >> The most beloved men you like. So did your grandmother take you out?
>> Yes, she taught me how to project everything down to the seasonings. You always say no moisture, ice check-in and their native like you put the most on the baby. >> I know I can’t get that image out of my one. Secret chef Marcus. First dry run to marry. You know, that’s just
Plain plane flown. Yeah, this is plain flour. Got a little coarse, black member to it on. I’m all in there. We just want to give it a little mix again. The baby, the baby. Like you’re tossing the baby after the chicken is coated, gets a general shift and gets into the deep fryer.
That looks like tender loving care, right? Oh, yeah. That was going to get in there with the baby to bed. We’ll let you know when they’re ready. Wake up. What’s the best part of working every day? When I walk in, I get to feel like my grandma. I feel her. I really feel
I’ve every time you go a little ways is by our the base worker. This might have known about everyone to she was. I’m going to try to after about 15 minutes, Golden perfection. That looks perfect years old while the seasoning boys wrist. >> We’re mother smiling, right? A Soviet project right there.
We did the baby while Marcus. This is fantastic. It’s so great to see you. If you don’t mind, I’m going to take this to go on the back of a home run to thank you. >> Welcome back in Oakland, California, lowest the pike has been serving up southern specialties, hospitality and of course.
>> I’ve used cars since the 1950’s. >> But it’s more than just a space for delectable food. It’s a well-known political activist, artists, musicians and everyday people to meet next and collaborate. >> Come on down to know is the pike. We get a job and then me
>> Well as the pike, which is serving up much more than a brunch. >> This is a great place for local succumb. Great place for people to connect. And this is awesome that I could come to a place like this. Have some soul food.
>> My name is Chris Davis and I’m owner of Laws. Pike Ring. We served proved that warms the soul. This family’s roots run deep in northern California. Lois Davis Chris’s month began selling homemade pies at her church in the 1940’s they were in. Instead, her husband,
Roland, dubbed her the Pie. And so a new business opportunities. My dad was a chef at TNT Foods in San Francisco and they combine both of their efforts to open that the restaurant and serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. >> In 1953, the duo opening their Oakland restaurant.
>> So my mother of and the restaurant for 40 years and started at 04:30AM in the morning for her and the 11 at night. And she was a pure perfection. This Lois perfecting recipes she enjoyed growing up. The recipes were my grandmother’s recipes. My
Grandmother was from taxes and they have maintained the test of time. All of the items that are on the menu. We’re pretty much on the menu when my mom started the restaurant. >> From key lime pie topped with raspberry jam to been in a cheesecake. Sweet treats are always popular, but there are
Plenty of savory staple that keep customers coming back every morning. And there’s one ditch with a special place in many folks heart. >> You might not find Santa croak. It’s on the menu anywhere in the Bay area. >> Some of her cats are part center. Part macro, yellow
Onions, salt and pepper tally and bread crumbs. >> These pro cats which originated in the south where a meal staple for many black family. Most black folks couldn’t afford craft, you know, once it became popularized. But in the absence of that canned fish salmon Croquettes became a major filler.
>> With a couple of cans, families could make an affordable yet. Delicious me Lewis’s dishes have brought in celebrities from Sammy Davis. Junior does end and sports icons like Reggie Jackson hear so often they actually named a pork chop special after.
>> So here’s my what Wall of fame and some of those special people that are up here. This is Black Panther Party minister Eldridge Cleaver. >> In the 1960’s 70’s lows, welcome members of the newly formed Black Panther Party restaurant is a short drive
From their community come. We’re activist up new at Bobby Seale. First met founding the party in 1966. Crist attended merit with both of them. >> I had Eldridge Cleaver, Angela Davis, Bobby Seale, European to come to the restaurant. Civil rights leaders and organizers and community leaders would come
And meet and organize and strategize. There was a lot of electricity and the restaurant when they visited the Black Panthers have a controversial list. >> This story we tend to hear is one of violence. What we do hear about is what are the various lunch programs engine
Free breakfast. They saw a black communities as in and of themselves, resilient, capable of being self-sufficient. >> Lois and Chris were not members of the party, but it was during this air of the restaurant became an important gathering space in the Oakland community from different walks of life.
>> When people come and are needy and ask for food, we always do what my mom did, which was we always take care of them. >> We always give them a meal. >> The restaurant expanding this mission amid the pandemic providing 16,000 meals to locals in need.
>> It is a place for people to come and get together and trying to figure out how to make our community and our world a better place today. That mission to help others has evolved. >> Chris used as a platform to support local musicians and
Keep the restaurant. But by bringing in younger generation agreed with that. >> Aspect of music and musicianship is something that is in the U.S. the restaurant. Hey, Mister Jackson. How are you? Good. I’m good feet good. We recently started a music management company.
4 wise men detained that he and officially runs from the tables it lowers. >> It’s not an accident or coincidence that you look around and see a lot of photographs of, you know, famous post does a lot of people that he supports and only supports my putting up pictures that will cultivate
Young artists that are looking to get an opportunity to get a platform where they can be seen and heard. Would you like hash Browns Richer X? >> Chris is determined to keep the restaurant and his son. Cory Jackson has been overseeing the day-to-day of lows for nearly 5 years. Working with my dad
Gave me understanding not only the hard work my grandma put forward. >> And how much my dad is trying to fill those shoes. And now I’m trying to feel this. >> We’re hoping his son will share the passion for the family business.
>> They can’t stale and they have a job right now. A full so where it’s great to see my kids and their pop-up Chris Bond. >> Chris thinks that would be incredibly proud to see her restaurant continuing to thrive. We are the oldest black restaurant in the Bay Area.
>> Is a tribute to my mom’s efforts to support her community and 2 create a place that was a home away from home and a place to serve food that warm the soul. >> As you might imagine, keeping the restaurant looking for decades is no easy feat, especially in the face of adversity.
But with delicious dishes and unwavering hospitality, these are store hot spots with newer generation fighting for social change. These places now stand as symbols of resilience, inspiring and needed a new generation of community >> There are dozens of China towns all across America with interesting architecture diverse restaurants, and
Specialty shops, it’s no wonder they’re popular with locals and tourists alike. They also provide places for new immigrants and for families to create communities but with gentrification and all sorts of problems from the pandemic it’s no wonder that all these Chinatown are rapidly changing.
>> It’s time to head out of studio one A and hit the road for a new kind of culinary adventure follow me as I take some of the most I kind of foods around the country and meet the families behind together we’re going to learn
How a good meal has the power to connect us to our past our future. >> Okay so it’s no surprise there’s incredible food to be found here in Manhattan’s Chinatown folks lining up all the time, but there used to be Chinatowns in cities and towns,
Big and small all across this country. In fact the longest running family owned Chinese restaurant is in a place you might never think of Butte Montana. >> At the turn of the century Butte Montana was a bustling mining out the invention of electricity leading to a demand for
Conductors like copper. Mining boom, the city flourished the demand for labor book, thousands of immigrants to Butte they came from so many countries, including Italy, Ireland and China it was the classic portrait of the American West with gambling so lose. Red light district
By 1914 Butte China town was thriving with over 60 Chinese owned businesses. >> Now we’re going to prepare broadly beef and Jerry Tam and I’m the owner of the Pekin noodle parlor. >> The peak first opened as a tobacco shop and casino run by
Jerry’s great uncle yeah 2 years later, I’m adding a restaurant and the Pekin noodle parlor was born. >> This building has 3 different levels, the top level obviously is that Pekin noodle parlor and then the second level on the main Street used to be a herbal medicine shop.
>> That shop was run by Jerry’s great grandfather. Kim Kwan, it’s crazy to think that. >> Everything came over from China. >> At one time like they didn’t make soy sauce in America, the noodles for pride and brought over chefs because they didn’t make fresh kills so the history of this place really
Holds true that this is a Chinese restaurant from Chinese immigrants. >> I met up with culinary historian grace young to learn more about America’s earliest Chinatown where was the first Chinatown and how to get started. >> The first trying town is San Francisco, the first Chinese
Came to California. For the Gold Rush and that was 1848, and they can because America needed cheap labor and so from Gold Rush they ended up doing farming manufacturing and then eventually they worked on the transcontinental railroad and the first trying time for him because America wanted cheap
Labor, but they didn’t want the Chinese to live with lights so they were ostracized from white communities. >> So talk to me about that first wave of of Chinese immigration to the U.S.. >> The Chinese came from 7 Shiner from principally from the area can Tom and there was tremendous prejudice against
The Chinese they were Lynch and because the Chinese were willing to work for lower wages. They were seen as the reason why Americans are suffering so much of the blame was unfairly placed on the Chinese. >> In 1882 Congress side, the Chinese exclusion act into law.
It banned Chinese from migrating to the U.S. it marks the only time in American history that entire race or ethnic group was banned from immigrating. >> But the interesting thing about this exclusion act was that there was actually exemption for Chinese tourists students, teachers and also merchants.
>> A landmark court case in 1915, classified Chinese restaurant owners as merchants. >> And it gave them a way to circumvent exclusion act of 1882. >> It was this exemption that allowed Jerry’s great uncle to open Pekin noodle parlor in Butte paving a path for more
Family members to immigrate to the U.S. and help the business. Jerry father Danny want arrived in the U.S. in 1947 as a team. >> Ever since he was 14 years old he’s been working at the peak of little parlor and he just started with the support
Walls of Washington says, and then he learned how to cook and he slowly just started to grade himself into managing that and working with the director says the staff. >> Danny taking over the restaurant in the 1950’s spending years turning it into a pillar of the local community
I’ve been coming here for at least 50 years the give me plenty of food I never walk away hungry. >> I love coming to work because of all the people I work with like they choose really nice people and your father probably played over 10,000 people at this you know
Throughout this whole entire life. So it’s interesting to know that fish nearly 5 to 6 generations of people that you know have worked there. >> The menu of Pekin noodle parlor hasn’t changed much over >> We do what they call chop suey what shops who he is is to the years.
That of leftover vegetables that are kind of mix together some gravy and served on top of our main goals we’ve been sitting there for over a 110 years. >> Shops is in large part why Chinese became so popular across the United States. >> Chop suey was the first time America experienced a culinary
Craze, a food critics and it’s starting at the end of the 19th century that there are Americans who are venturing into trying to out the way they got them to even experiment with Chinese food was to make a stir fry that was actually quite bland so they used bamboo shoots water chestnuts onions
Oftentimes that were celery for many years. >> Chinatown’s with the only places where 9 Chinese Americans could sample Asian flavors. >> Americans are going to Chinatown some were curious. They watch experience curio shops, Chinese opera. >> With increased tourism Chinatown’s of large cities groove.
It was a different story in the tent like many mining towns Butte lost many of its workers as production slowed in the 1950’s. >> But the copper who ran dry and the people start to pick up and just kind of move it move on and move back to their families and the
Bigger states. >> As miners left Butte for new opportunities, it’s Chinatown disappeared in the early 1900 there were 7 chop suey restaurant listed in the Butte city directory today only the Pekin noodle parlor remains open. Jerry Tim runs the Pekin noodle parlor in Butte Montana.
>> People may know this is all the changes, fresh eye of America. Hello, it is so much history. >> Despite peak its historic status. Jerry says he was never pressured by family to join the business. >> I never learned to cook and tally came back back in round 2009. Because light,
Any Asian American and parents what are their kids to go to college so we all went to college is up around the nation and to get a better education to become a lawyer or a doctor and what have you but I would just caution and what is great
About that as I got to see the world because of it. >> In 2004 Jerry even appearing on Bravo’s project runway. But a few years later family duty calling him home. >> And the First Amendment had a stroke so my dad news help
You know taking care of her and take care of the restaurant, it was really my father because they were in a generation where they loved each other every day. And they were just best >> After Jerry’s mom passed Jerry and his dad begin friends. operating Pekin together.
>> He never stopped working so he was working here all the way up to 85 to we couldn’t make up the stairs anymore my father and I spent every day together at a church he was that he was healthy all the way to the air. The best of my ability I can
Do. My father passed in November. And it was really you know heartbreaking he didn’t want to say goodbye to my sisters are being here this restaurant or the community, he loved the Montana. >> Jerry now runs Pekin noodle parlor with his cousin Nelson together they’re working to preserve a family legacy.
Keep a piece of Chinese American history alive in an unlikely place. >> I’ve been asked the question was the future the peak and and the best answer I can give you is, let’s just keep it the wet start to change anything because that’s what people come state
Here for the and have their parking spots they have their boost they have their favorite place at the Mar think they want any change because this is a place that just Michael. >> While New York City is home to America’s largest Chinatown the honor of the older, those to San Francisco and that’s
Where the Far East Cafe is located it is one of the last remaining historic Chinese banquet Hall. After a two-year hiatus, this celebrated venue hosted the 64th annual missed Chinatown USA pageant a lunar New Year tradition. The occasion marking a triumphant milestone for the century-old institution.
>> Bill Lee has owned the farm I think since 1999 his daughter, Kathy working by his side as the manager. >> He put me into the restaurant to kind of understand the roots of our culture he wanted me to remember that you know China town is about community is about traditions is about
Culture. >> For many in the community Chinese banquet halls are more than just venues for special events. >> I feel that far East is kind of like a second home for you know a lot of our peaches that come in because they feel so
Comfortable so much history and so many memories, you know, a lot of patients that have been here they told me they’re like home. My parents had my rage in your party, it’s very similar to like about his and that was like 50 something years ago.
>> And that history is everywhere you look at far >> The ceilings like my dad mention the high ceilings moldings modems are all regional no match in trouble on 40 from China. In the 1920’s. So there are over a 100 years old. >> For the last few decades, there were 5 giant banquet
Style restaurant in San Francisco’s Chinatown but with rising rents and gentrification most have since close their doors. By early 2020. Only 2 banker has remained. >> The Far East Cafe planned to celebrate its 100 year anniversary with a big celebration instead it’s now planning to close its doors.
>> At the start of the pandemic the restaurant state afloat by cooking meals for senior citizens and low income residents in China to that cold but hahntown night we applied for it PPP loan suddenly got over $200,000. We also received money from the feed and flu program and our
Landlord gave us 6 months of free rent some thought beyond covid a different type of Irish brought more harm Chinatowns across the country. Anti Asian hate crimes soaring by nearly 340% in 2021. >> When this started happening, I felt very very sad and also
Very angry because I liked why is this happening to trying town why is it happening to our country we know for these people to target elderly people to pushing down to rob them don’t be realize that they have grandparents to or they have unsettled by Beach and the happened to their parents POW
With the field then. >> People saw the attacks when they watch the news and heard reports, and they got even more scared, they don’t want to go out even for special events like the mid autumn festival. We tried to invite them, but they didn’t want to come.
>> We used to be open until 10 o’clock before pandemic sometimes was stay out here until midnight if we had events now we can’t we can’t do that we changed the business hours to close at 7, 7, 30 because safety is the most important >> Business owners across China town still face hostility.
Thing. George and Cindy Chen open China live in 2017. >> We’ve been lucky, I’m we’re going to have a couple instances where you know people scream anti-asian slurs we’re concerned about our employees you know coming to work in and being harassed. I think that ignorance is very unfortunate.
>> China live is a massive market place with multiple restaurants, it’s in a building that once housed a banquet Hall like far East. >> I remember coming to away here when I was in college I who I think will be 5,000 people in life 6 restaurants.
But unfortunately, you know real estate was getting very expensive. So it’s not very cost effective if you don’t have that business. >> 2 years ago the couple had to lay off 200 workers. However with the support of partners, George and Cindy were able to pivot their business on a few fronts.
>> We did you know the ghost kitchen was something outside the box. So we have 10 locations in the Bay Area. Sauceda Berkeley. And and they can order food from those ghost kitchens. >> Ghost kitchens, prepare restaurant, quality food exclusively for delivery or takeout.
>> We sold so many key conducts we didn’t know what to do with all that that that so what do you do make popcorn with it. So that’s why we have a different popcorn. >> As business picked up on China live was able to rehire 100 workers.
Despite an uncertain future these restaurants remain hopeful that business will rebound. >> More police presence people are more as a community standing up for ourselves making sure that we have like the buddy system making sure that we’re together and we feel safe that were walking together that we have each other’s back.
>> We need it. I was an essential part of life I one more fun is that look forward to having dinner with friends you haven’t seen a new place for favorite place. >> But some old favorites just can’t be replaced. Why your mind that during the pandemic many restaurants have shut down
8 so far East is now the biggest restaurant in Chinatown the ball far East has to be space big enough to host large events for the community. >> We were overjoyed having that Mister trying to tell us a event here. A press conference and just being able to
Reconnect with the community. It warmed my heart and my dad was like so overjoyed that people are coming in just to celebrate. >> To learn more about the future of Chinese American restaurants. I went to visit chef Lucas in in New York City
This savvy ship is on a mission to save mom and pop shops from closing putting a spin on the classics. >> Hey, yeah, I mean to you all right can’t wait to Yahoo. >> Lucas was born and raised in Hong Kong growing up he had never heard of dishes like general tso’s
Chicken what was your first experience with Chinese American yeah, and did you go. >> What the heck is this. I was here for summer camp and on Tuesdays at 10 o’clock or so right before bedtime this Van would pull out in the front of the school. And you can pick
Between since we checked in general, so she can orange chicken with broccoli and fried rice or what race or whatever it was. The first thought was that this is the security situations where it’s been my whole life and the second thought is that what in the world of difference in orange
Chicken Jones has taken and says we take and why is there so much that don’t understand about this if last time I checked was trying to ease. >> Lucas actually study cognitive scientist Gayle, but he always had a passion for cooking. His summers spent training award-winning restaurants in Hong Kong and Japan
After graduating in 2015 Lucas opened his first restaurant with Yale classmate John’s out June, the kitchen is a fast casual chain that serves modern Chinese fair, but Lucas remained passionate about the Chinese American cuisine he first tasted visible. >> So so how did Chinese American food, the food that we
Have become a familiar with how did that develop that. >> Now Chinese takeout is interesting right because it’s all over the United States. So these folks come in the front is in a restaurant right they learn those recipes and it goes somewhere else right over there actually and then their
Cousins come from fees and then those recipes are passed on and there’s a remarkable similarity to to to these dishes. >> Despite the popularity of Chinese American food, many family owned restaurants that want got a Chinatown and other urban areas have been closing for years. >> Open restaurants really difficult and running
Restaurants is perhaps even more difficult these moms and dads over these Russians that their kids can go to University and become lawyers and doctors and television host and whatnot and now that they’re finally able to do that they don’t need to run these restaurants anymore. Right the light suddenly
Livelihoods have changed that’s a good thing. >> Lucas and young hatched an idea to help smaller businesses in 2019 nice day seeks out restaurants facing closure then works with the owners to remodel the space and update the menus. The pandemic stall the team’s initial plant, but the second
Location in Long Island is slated to open this spring. >> It’s important to me that these new Chinese American takeout restaurant so we’re building called nice day work with the previous generation of owners because they have a lot of knowledge that we don’t they know their
Customers you know what sells I think how to cook these dishes and recipes. >> You raise an interesting point that you talk to these retired this Chinese restaurant owners is that part of the sense of trying to memorialize what could be lost. >> Now preserving recipes as part of it.
The other important parts preserving the way business is done to take a restaurants and one of the few restaurants in the world that if they’re open from 11 to 10 and the work hours are 11 to 10 you don’t have any prep hours, the same Cook cent
Do the walks are fries are also prepping during the day, it’s ridiculous the efficient and it’s got to do with the set up and the waves because of the run, but it’s also important to us that we give back this last generation that we can make sure that
Owners want to retire retire, well, and that that legacy can be preserved a new type of American trying to take a rest >> While nice day pays homage to popular Chinese American room. recipes Lucas has been celebrated for his innovative fusion dishes.
In 2021, he was named one of food wine’s best new ships. >> We serve oppo Mac and cheese air which is a variation on that fish. Fusion the kind of silly and it’s just an attempt to something ridiculous it doesn’t make any sense if it rains
Every chef sensibility that I have but unfortunately is delicious and it’s interesting and it gets people talking. >> Finally it’s time to eat Locust showing me how to make his signature dish. >> How do we get sort so the Michael Mac and cheese. Here in the Mac and PC the audience are vigorously
America. We have this Elmo macaroni right top way and this is be there. But the model is going to be in the form of up sauce if you will the last 2 elements that really sort of take us over the edge is Chinese sausage. It can
Function like bacon and some giant you’re talking about streams that we’ve rehydrated so to start off with just it cut a couple of things and this for we will then put into the fire. There’s can close the jumping portion of our progress. Garlic and ginger are cooked to freight.
>> Spicy bean paste and soybeans are added to start the songs. >> The mixture to a boil to the flavors infuse. >> So you’re less and a lot yeah. What’s coming up. That’s why the pros do it baby. >> At this point everything so also the macro he’s going to
>> As this is just a. Once it boiling and happy. Few flashes of the best of the best. We will be American is wait for that via Al com see that’s a very good time together. >> We like to play this dish in
Chinese takeout box while so we. But it’s some fried total process croissant over the top that’s a little bit of texture. The so the amount of help from these fresh show is actually really important because they cut through the heaviness of there is this out. Wow was a little surprise for a minute.
The launch of the tofu I hope we have the act on that the U.S. also said yeah. >> You’ve never had that Jews had this. >> Amid a global pandemic changing family dynamics and anti Asian races Chinatowns across America and the communities that sustain them face a challenging road ahead.
>> Every business that is open right now is still fighting for its life and I think that the best way to fight the anti-asian hate is to show our love for the community come to Chinatown or your local Asian American Pacific Islander, the restaurant store market give them your business we have
Lost so much during the pandemic and I think it makes us all so much more conscious that we have to protect what we love. >> New York City is home to so many iconic foods well when the city that never sleeps wakes up for breakfast, they want a
Bagel with cream cheese we’re piled high with locks. There’s no other. >> City that makes a bigger like a New York City. >> I have not had good bagels in the inner city came out the wounds, even biggest. >> It’s time to head out of studio one A and hit the road
For a new kind of culinary adventure follow me as I take some of the most high kind of foods around the country and meet the families behind together we’re going to learn how a good meal has the power to connect us to our past our future.
If New York known for anything it’s it’s bagels and we’ve got them all everything bagel rainbow bagels pumpkin bagels Chris and bagels and of course you can’t happen without a schmear well the bagel first came from Poland. Many food, historians say it’s pairing with salmon and cream cheese
Originated right here the big out. In this town few specialty food shops are as beloved and has this story as Russ and daughters. >> I’ve been waiting in line probably 1520 minutes, but it’s definitely worth it. I like the contrast of the flavor is like a nice little
Bagel with the Smith’s off the last of this. >> And then in cream cheese together like I try to make up almost nothing compares arrest and daughter. >> They’ve been serving premium smoked fish to 100 New Yorkers and folks from around the world for over 100 years.
Just a few blocks from the store is the Russ and daughters >> Oh yeah. Have year thanks for having us this is beautiful. Thank you. >> Nikki rest better and Josh Russ Tupper are the grandchildren of the original daughters. These cousins, our 4th generation owner carry on their family’s pool in every Lakers.
>> So this is Russ and daughters are great grandfather, Joe Morris started the business is why well, and 3 daughters. We just same grandmother and she was the youngest of the 3. >> Wasn’t unusual at that time for you because you usually see
So and so and Sons but to see Russ and daughters variant. >> But I mean honestly if it had some Hollywood since he did like. As a feminist, but he was a good business back. >> Joel Russ immigrated from Poland in 19 ’07.
>> And he started to standing on the streets of the Lower East Side selling small tearing out of the barrel and of family could feed itself for 2 nights with one pitch. >> In 1940 he opened his first brick and mortar shops, JD, Russ national appetizer, Joel and his wife and 3 daughters
Had e I du N when they turned 11 each daughter began working with their dad. What was their relationship like with the eye because is your dad but he’s also your boss, yeah. >> And I think he cared more about being. The boss and the shopkeeper he was a new immigrant to this
Country who is just trying to survive and make a place for his family. And that was his focus and he saw his children this as you know she flavor. >> The sisters grew up learning all aspects of the business in 1935 Hadi Ida and N became Joel’s partners, the shop was
Renamed, Russ and daughters, making it the first in America to bear and daughters in its title when your great grandfather decided to start Russ and daughters. One of the Lower East Side. >> After Ellis Island, this was a starting off point for the majority of
For Jewish immigrants, this is where they landed and they got their start and so he was just eating basic. 2 other for immigrants like himself. >> At the turn of the century this neighborhood was one of the most densely populated places on the planet.
Many immigrants from all around the world live in overcrowded tenement buildings, the conditions having a profound impact on their diet. >> One of the things about Lower East Side Jewish to get a lot of to help when you don’t have running water and we don’t have
Electric or gas stoves is really hard to do very much cooking and so for women who are responsible for feeding their families they had to get food from push carts from restaurants from it. >> Joe Ross was one of many vendors catering to this new population.
I’m always curious. How did it come about. >> Well what you think that somebody thought hey you know, here’s this round bread will put some fish on the by the way before we do let’s put some cream cheese some dairy off >> Russ and daughters is the torch bearer of what’s called
At the time saying and this is a food tradition born here in New York. And it’s the sister food tradition to the test. Both of which come up through the Jewish kosher dietary rules you have to separate and they’re Ephraim meet so delicatessen strictly speaking is for me the
Advertising store is where you go for fish and dairy things like smoked fish when we say bagel and lox most people are you know we’re friend to smoke salmon, you’re regional Bay, long locks was not was sent. >> Technically locks or belly locks is salmon cured in salt which preserves fish without refrigeration
There’s no smoking involved and if you read ubly salting so impaired perfectly with tangy cream cheese. But who is the first person to put locks on a bagel. >> So no one really knows how bagels lox and cream cheese all came together, we know that big goals come from Eastern Europe,
We know that locks comes basically from Scotia kind of we know the cream cheese is an American too. But what we know that these things come together as part of a compromise between different generations of Americans. >> Jewish law prohibits cooking with most heat sources on the
7th, so the combo of bagels and lox created a filling meal for observant Jews to enjoy on the day of rest. >> It’s good for a family, but you or your daughter-in-law didn’t have to be spending the previous 10 cooking. >> As one of the country’s oldest appetizers the bus and
Daughters has been serving kosher meals for generations. I still the busiest day. >> I can’t think really of the anything that’s more New York than lox and bagels. >> Yes I agree I think that this is the food that came up >> The Eastern European Jewish immigrants to New York. through.
But now it’s transformed and just become New York food, it belongs to all New Yorkers. >> In the United States women on less than 20% of all businesses at the iconic Russ and daughters Conor Nikki rest Fetterman is building on the legacy of her grandmother and
Great aunt, growing up you you follow in the footsteps of of storm with. We’ve got a chosen this but took it on and obviously made a really successful. What is it like for you following the news. >> It’s a tremendous feeling to be now and great granddaughter.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a customer of ours family came from the Lower East Side. He once said that before she knew the family. He looked up at the side, Russ and daughters, she understood that women have an impact. >> Your family’s business possibility as the sun is survived 2 world.
New shot of the world treats yes. Why has this case it to not just survive, but thrive. >> I think because a new generation there has been someone who wanted to do this. This is food that people turn to for comfort in hard times. And during the pandemic that’s all that
Before shipping lost daughters all over the country to their loved ones because they couldn’t get together and so sending al Fayed has a lock and vodka say you know I love you I miss you here on the PGA commissioner euro vision. There was a lot of
>> OK, so you can get smoked fish pretty much everywhere these days but not quite like this. The salmon sold Russ and daughters is prized for its high fat content from the milder gasping Nova to the smoke, you’re Scottish and this gourmet fish.
All sliced by hand when you hold it up, I mean it’s it’s almost like a translucent yeah I think we should show you how we get that. Yeah, the the sharp utensil haha it takes up to 6 months of training to master the slicing technique yet.
>> So I hear you have some nice goals well I’ve been in a fight or 2, but the probably nothing like your show. If you’ve been slicing cent then at the store for 20 years. 7 slicing for a while all right
So that so I watch people slice and I I’m amazed that to help Haitian because it seems like that’s part of the skill. >> The reality is when you I know how to slice it is one of the most relaxing things we’ve been there is very meditative right. The trick is
Don’t look anywhere on the fish, you have to really feel the first the the fish. B the fish which is a very difficult concept to train someone that and particularly the first couple slices don’t be upset, okay, if they don’t look great. The idea
Is to make it consistently thick slice faces me not just watching you not watch the fish. The officials. You should you should look I said you got a sharp knife in an hour. And you can see that as you change the angle of the night that changed the thickness yeah right.
>> To that dry more than anything that’s more the oh my gosh that’s a very think all those that relate this to date that’s it shops that’s going to say that so that the 19 that’s a good dish to me does the way you cut it affect the taste of the
>> The texture which affects the experience of assignment. texture. >> It’s almost like you’re eating the essence of 7. >> Salmon, it’s very delicate. It’s a very appealing texture and mouthfeel yes, but better. >> Josh thanks so much this meeting you such a pleasure to have you smoke them if you’ve got.
>> How fresh he gets turned on the light. >> I’m here at the acme smoked fish back to now there is something fishy going on in there and you better believe I’m going to find out what it is. The folks at Acme process smoke and.
>> I nearly 8 million pounds of fish every year they sell to eateries all over the country, including Russ and daughters. >> It smells of smoke and it smells of fish. >> That’s the way it’s supposed to be all right New York City asked.
All right so as you know in any food that food plant food safety is of paramount importance I see you got your boots, I just happen to be wearing them also. We’ll walk you through the process of how 7th runs into smoked salmon.
>> Adam cazler is the 4th generation owner of Acme smoked fish. His great grandfather, Harry Brownstein started selling fish after immigrating from Russia to Brooklyn. >> We started with a focused business in the early 1900 in 19 ’06 to be exact.
>> I was out of a push far out of the a lot of horse drawn. Why wow he would go around buying this from different smokehouse throughout Brooklyn and Queens. And how himself to cells around you know, he works close to 45 years of his dream
Was to open up his own smoke has been taken 45 years to finally achieve that. >> Adam now runs a massive smoke missions or supply many of New York City’s popular bagel shops from H one H S a Acme also selling the National grocers like trader Joe’s.
>> We have the day it’s all about the fence. We bring in this from all over the world smoked salmon is probably the most popular thing that we make in our salmon come from different places, Norway, Scotland to and Alaska.
>> It can take up to 5 days to make smoke cent every order is made to the buyers taste from that type of salmon to curing the first step got a whole fish and the latest. >> Well. Yeah, so this is a.
Well the long haul family unity iPod over here clouds out on this. This is and when examined. Armrest we use a Lenox and then you have the most fact and that >> Alright, we’ve got to happen like the backbone carving into officiant this requires expert
After the fishes for late, it’s preserved with some of the fish is then treated with a wet brine or a dry cure. Okay, so let’s try right here some. >> Some 7 yeah, first thing we’re going to get it on to be a raft of that so
See if you can pick up the sand and gravel find it by the tail okay. Grab would your honor we’re going to wait on to this screen right. >> With just a thin layer. Along the top of the charts. All right on down the barrel. That’s that. This is a rather large, so.
That right you are about 24 hours. That’s a huge. >> After curing the full laser cold smoke for up to 20 hours this process imparts a subtle smoky flavor. >> When we say of the smoke or work. A collection of that would ship plan that we’re talking about
>> There are different ways to smoke fish. The latest hot smoking results and flaky people A’s unlike traditional locks smoke, salmon, it’s cold smoke below 85 degrees. This helps the fish retain its silky texture and makes it perfect for slicing. Hey now >> After the smokers, the fish is cool then packed for
Shipping. Well if your great-grandfather say if he could do all of it. >> I think you’d be a man is of out. Difficult it was for him to achieve his dream right now is descendants have been able to build upon that tree and bonus into one of the preeminent smokers in the U.S..
>> Up next a vegan deli taking on tradition with plant based locked and cashew cream cheese. You don’t want to miss this. >> Back on the Lower East Side 2 sisters inspired by their Jewish heritage we are on a mission to make the food, they loved growing up in a more sustainable way.
>> Ladies nice to meet you show me around his lead or what. >> Erica and Sarah could burst other co-owners of orchard grocer it entirely be get Mark inspired by classic delicatessens are. They want to make the vegan lifestyle easier for all right after college they opened their first
Business, a shoe store called new shoes. >> Open our begin to start 20 years ago. >> About 5 years ago we decided that we were going to update it seems like that’s what our customers want. After asking us what our shoes are made of probably where should I go he
Was. The second most common questions so we decided to create an experience where they can just go next door. >> Growing up in Queens, the sisters, Jewish culture who were closely lot they had 10 Jewish deli in their neighborhood along. >> Probably every Sunday the tradition in our family doesn’t
Bagels the bagel store doesn’t always meant 15, I don’t know why that was but and what the cream cheese and lox and that was just how we spend our Sundays. >> Both sisters became vegan teenager, but felt they lost a piece of their roots by giving up certain foods.
>> I think our parents were supportive of our changes to the lifestyle, we grew up in a very culturally Jewish household, so all of our traditions were just based around food. >> Today a lot of folks are going vegan for a variety of reasons from reported health benefits.
>> To concerns over animal welfare for the sisters, it’s also a matter of global importance. >> We’re watching climate change happen right now and I think that’s causing a lot of people to think twice about what they’re eating and how they are contributing so it
Makes sense to us that it is becoming so mainstream. >> In 2017 Sarah and Erica, so I’m not just an opportunity to satisfy a growing market but to pay homage to their Jewish roots. >> We wanted to have a good sandwich selection that really
Up in my XYZ like New York deli food so obviously a pickle and mocks with going to be there. >> Orchard grocer sells a variety of vegan sandwiches, including rubins and to the belts. But the sisters are most passionate about serving up a sense of nostalgia.
>> People are so worried about giving things up so I think just creating those alternatives and just something that people are familiar with and given that feeling of home. Yeah like we haven’t had to give up our Sunday tradition-bound bagels a lot. >> To help make their unique Delhi, a reality, the sisters
Hired vegan chef Nora Vargas. Nor shared a passion for plant based food, she also knows how to turn carrots into salty locks. >> How did you come up, I mean you have to think okay what can mimic. Smokes and yet so how did you was it looked like that.
Well, the only orange vegetables. Sweet potato and carrot we know the texture that we need to go before we know the labor that we want to go for so we started with the color and then you kind of build it. Okay so let’s get started,
I’m really passionate okay all right, I’m excited so we have prepared. We have maybe 10 pounds of carrots. Yeah, or you these are huge these would have been huge carrot seriously. Yeah, this as my 4, but you have you have sliced very thin on a mandolin
Yes, yeah, exactly all right so world loved up and we’re going to the next step in this process is too apply our rub, your carrots so in here we have a mixture of sugar solved end there as I can tell you about she could have came in this
This would be kind of like the Brian that you would use the drive right at you, yes on fish exactly what’s going on vegetable yeah we got our inspiration for a lot of different components of this recipe from the way that you would actually prepare fish if you are repairing fish and not
Care right. Code everything I’m not going to figure out the secret to okay now because if I figure it out he’s going to kill. So I’m just going to start robbing just smashing everything in there. Once we get everything coated, we would let this sit for
3 to 6 hours probably pay great, so I think leave I think we nailed it okay and here is another secret ingredient to death. Yeah, I think a lot of secrets here and I’ll tell you a little bit okay, so it’s a combination of olive oil and I want to you
From all your that I don’t know you know when you’re opening up a can of beans right and you have to drain. Yes, the stuff that you drain out that Aqua fog. Bien y it’s the the Jews. Yes exactly okay, yeah, so I’m going for McCain, you can come
To the same process location across this question on their way. Yeah, perfect. After we had let our care it’s set for 3 to 6 hours. We lost in the oven so they they will call it cold smoking all sound like. I like the process of making smoked actually. Yeah.
>> That does look very much like smoking who and what would a bagel and lox be without the cream cheese. This beacon spread is made withdraw cash. Some secret spices and coconut all blended together with soft tofu when they come to your let’s do it. 2, this is a really terrific.
>> Idea thank you thank you for opening my. Thank you so much appreciate that yeah and a half. >> Great way to finish things up. I mean we’ve we’ve seen the history we’ve got to the past we were in the present and you have brought us. >> The lox and bagels
>> a bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon is a uniquely American combination born from Jewish was transported by local ingredients and carried on by new generation. This breakfast British has truly stood the test of time when it comes to food in New York City. I’ve been coming here for years.
And if there’s one thing I know, the city of Baltimore is serious about his crab. – I love Baltimore crabs. – This is the stomping ground of crabs. – If I could describe the taste, you can’t, you just have to try it. You just have to try it. [Al] It’s time to head out of Studio 1A and hit the road for a new kind of culinary adventure. Follow me as I taste some of the most iconic foods around the country and meet the families behind them. Together, we’re going to learn how a good
Meal has the power to connect us to our past, our future, and each other. [Al] When you think Maryland, you got to think blue crab an essential part of the state’s culture and cuisine. And no place knows how to cook it up quite like Baltimore. I mean, just as many ways as you can count, you can find ways to eat crab. Of course, there’s your basic, your steamed crab with the beautiful spices. And you just start whacking that bad boy. You can get all that beautiful meat out. You can get canned crab if you’d like.
Of course, there’s also the fabulous crab Mac and cheese with a hot dog. There’s the crab dip. There’s your crab soup. And, of course, the king of crab, the crab cake. Yes, but this is a cake that needs no icing. Mmmmm. Crab cakes have been enjoyed by many for centuries throughout the Chesapeake region. But here in Baltimore, they’re a way of life. And one of the city’s most popular go to’s is tucked away just inside the world famous Lexington Market. – We’re headed back to Houston today
And we wanted to have the best crab cake in town. – We’re from Orlando. Glad to be here. – People been coming to Faidley’s for years, ever since I was little, and I’m, umm… 25. – People from all around the world come here to Baltimore just to grab a bite of the famous Faidley’s crab cake. It’s made with fresh Maryland crab and family love. Everybody looks the same. – Hello. Hello. – So good to see you. – How are you, sir? You’re looking good.
– You’re looking great. Got something for you. – All right. There you go. There you are! – Now I’m feeling really crabby. Pardon me. I’ve got to get a lawyer because there’s a clause I have to have checked. But they’ve been serving up fresh crab cakes even longer. – Hi, I’m Nancy Faidley Devine. I own Faidley’s Seafood. It’s been in my family now So we’ve been around a long time. – I think people are astonished to see my parents at 84 and 89, still working.
– We can get another five pans and do a second batch if we need to for them. People ask her for autograph. They ask her for a picture. They ask her to hold their babies. It’s really fun. – I mean, here’s this company that’s been part of Baltimore for over 130 years.
– Right. – What is it about your place that has people coming back? – Right. I think it’s that people come in here and go right away. There’s a warmth. It’s like walking in somebody’s home that they’re happy to have you. – Uh huh. – Come and you feel. Oh, my gosh.
I feel at home. And I got people… We were here 20 years. It’s exactly the same. [Al] In fact, Faidley still stands in its original location. Founded here by John W. Faidley Sr. in 1886. Started off as a seafood stall, but over the generations along with their daughter. – Damye Hahn.
And I am the fourth generation of Faidley’s. So… I do everything. Give them a little bit of a smorgasbord. Going over here to filet a fish over here to shuck an oyster over there to steam a crab. Back here to fry, up here to make a crab cake,
Back down on the phone, running in the shipping department. let me see 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, 8 bushels of crab. In order to get that tray. That’s a lot of picking. And I don’t think people realize how much work goes into getting an all jumbo lump. – Growing up.
Did you think you were going to end up here? You are going to be doing this? – No, but it was hard to get away from, and I couldn’t see it I couldn’t see it ending with my parents. – The pandemic hit. – Yes. – You really had to step up.
– My father called me, and I said, dad, you guys cannot come in here. We don’t know anything about this virus and the effects, especially on the elderly. And I know you want to be here, but you can’t. And he said, Dayme, do whatever you do, whatever you can to make payroll.
It just makes me cry when I think about it. He said, Just make sure that we don’t have to lay anybody off. I don’t want to lay anybody off. I don’t want anybody to lose their job. And we did it. – And I saw it when I came here in the 90’s.
And I still see it today. It truly is a fam. – Oh, it is a fam. And it’s funny because I often tell people, Mom and Dad don’t treat the employees any differently than they treat me. That’s the gods honest truth. – Which could be good or bad.
– That’s the gods honest truth. And that’s why you end up having so many multigeneration families staying here. – That’s right. Faidley’s isn’t just a family owned business. It’s run by family as well. Multiple generations of employees, father and daughter, father and son, mom and daughter all building a home here.
– I’ve been here since a junior in high school. So I’ve been doing this thing for a while. – I would say it’s been around 33, 34 years. – I started at 14 years old, and I’ll be 42 years old in December. – It’s always a challenge working with family. A lot of personalities, but you love each other, and it always works. It always works well. – What’s really bad is when your kids or grandkids… – Mom, we were in the middle of an interview. You just broke in. – Do you have to start over? – Yes. – You were saying about the challenges of working with family? – It’s just a few of them, you know? – While the family spirit makes customers feel at home, it’s Faidley’s crab cakes that keep them coming back. – What kind of oil do you cook your crab cakes in? – Soy bean. – Soy bean. Thank you. – And I watch people for the first time
Put it in their mouth and they go, oh, my God. And they’re standing at a table in a market. They’re not sitting down to a white tablecloth and having somebody serve it on a silver platter. It’s on a paper plate. But it belongs on a silver platter.
– Nancy created her recipe in 1987, saying she’s never changed it. So Besides yourself, how many other people know the Faidley’s crab cake recipe? – He doesn’t even know how to make a cup of coffee. Why would I tell him? So, some people use breadcrumbs. You use broken saltines. – Broken saltines. Yes. And not fine, because you have to use more. And then this is the magic sauce. – This the secret sauce? – Yes.
– So it’s just enough to mix the ingredients – Right. – And nothing more. – That’s right. – Big ball of crab right there. Boom. [Al] Look at this. Oh boy. Oh… It’s just like I remember eating a 26 years ago. – You know what? I’m told that all the time when people come in here. The best part about this is you haven’t changed a thing. – Now, this is a legacy.
We know how the crabs end up, but how do they get them? Let’s go find out. Coming up, the generations of black watermen who’ve made a living pulling in Maryland’s most famous catch. [Al] The Chesapeake Bay men and women who work these waters are probably just as famous as the legendary catch that they pull out. And, in fact, it’s backbreaking work that is passed on from generation to generation. Including Blackjacks. Those were the black watermen
Who worked these waters all the way back into the 1800’s and are a vital part of this community. The Chesapeake Bay is home to a vast variety of seafood, but none as valuable or as well known as the blue crab. The catch here makes up over a third of the nation’s supply,
And on average, more than 50 million pounds of blue crabs are harvested from the Bay. – I’m Captain Tyrone Meredith. Charter boat captain, owner, operator of the Island Queen Two. [Al] Captain Meredith knows these waters well. He grew up on them. – I’m the fourth generation watermen and my great grandfather, he worked on the water. My grandfather and my father. We’ve been here ever since the 1860’s,
Making a living working on Chesapeake Bay. [Al] This has been the way of life for generations of watermen here in Kent Narrows, a town just 50 miles south of Baltimore. For hundreds of years, they’ve caught, processed and sold blue crabs to markets up and down
The Eastern shore. By the mid to late 1800’s, Kent Narrows had also become one of many unlikely havens on the Bay for free and enslaved African Americans. – There was more black watermen anywhere on the whole East Coast, probably in the United States. – Those watermen, also known as Blackjacks,
Forged their path to liberation on the water. Their expertise, essential to the booming seafood industry. So much so the government granted some black watermen Siemens protection certificates, providing sailors with American citizenship and a path to economic freedom. – Hey, Lawrence, I’m coming up on you now. Okay. I got you. How are they biting today? Being out here, you’re your own boss. You do what you want to do. Have nobody to tell you, go get me this or go get me that. [Al] 75 year old Lewis Carter
Still finds that same sense of freedom on the water today. He’s also one of the last generations of black watermen alive. Every morning before the sun Right now I’m going to catdown the line.e Bay. And when I get to the other end, I’ll throw it off. Crabs will come up on it, bait.
The pressure from the water pushes them back in this dipper. Okay. These are the big, large male. You put them in one basket. That’s a female with red claws. Put them in one basket. – He’s one of the last Mohican’s left. Not too many people that still
Work make a living from the water. Most of them moved away, got other jobs, and it’s changing because it’s harder to make a living from the Bay. [Al] Crabbing season runs from spring into late fall, but changes in climate, cost, and labor have made each successive year more challenging.
As younger generations take up new trades, there are less people working the waters and ultimately fewer black watermen. [Al] Captain Meredith estimates there are fewer than a dozen black watermen on the Bay. Like many of his peers, he’s had to turn to other work. – Back when I was crabbing teenager,
I caught as high as 50 bushel a day. Right now, crab is catching two or three bushel a day. Now I started running charters, fishing charters because crabbing started declining and fishing was more lucrative money wise. [Al] And educational. His charters are an opportunity to keep stories
Of the Blackjacks alive for generations ahead. Although tradition on these waters is changing, one thing remains the same. – Nothing tastes like the Chesapeake Bay Maryland crabs. It’s got a certain taste to them. The only place like that in the world is the Chesapeake Bay blue crab. [Al] Next, an up and coming Baltimore chef inspired by his family’s love of cooking. [Al] Back in Baltimore, a new generation is putting a spin on the crab cake. – I’m Alex Perez I’m the owner of Papi Cuisine. I’m an artist at heart, so cooking the arts of culinary that’s something that I’m very passionate about. Not necessarily having a recipe to go off of and just get
In the kitchen freestyle and coming up with masterpiece. [Al] It’s that freestyling approach that brings people through these doors clamoring for a taste. – Crab is King of Baltimore, so you’re going to see crab cakes, crab cake fries, crab cake egg rolls. Everyone’s been going crazy over it as well.
This is the bomb. – So I just come back to that and I enjoy it every time I come here. – We actually live in DC. So we rode all the way up here an hour just to come here. – Right now, I’m drizzling our warhead and our aioli sauces on it.
I have a family from the Dominican Republic. I’m Afro-Latino. I’m black on my mother’s side and pretty much has always had a love for food and cooking food, eating food. So learning how to cook from my dad. My dad taught me how to cook at the age of ten.
I grew up watching my grandmother cook a lot as well. So I started pretty much combining the foods that I learned to cook from my grandmother with the foods I learned how to cook from my father. And that’s kind of like how the whole Papi Cuisine was born in her kitchen, essentially.
[Al] That was eight years ago. While working a fulltime job, Alex began building a new business on the side, catering food out of his grandma’s kitchen. In February 2020, he was finally able to open a restaurant. Then the pandemic hit. – Of course, a month later,
We get the news that we have to shut down and only do take out. So that just open up the flood gates, essentially. And you have people standing in line, hundreds of people on the block. And that mass cars double parked up and down the street. And it was mayhem.
[Al] During a global crisis, the city Alex was born and raised in rallied around him. Now, Papi Cuisine is packed with locals and tourists alike, but the chef stays true to his roots, running it with close family and friends. – My little sister, Natasha. – Hi. – How’s it going, Natasha?
– My big bro, Alex. – I can employ family members, friends and so forth, people I grew up with, people that I’m close to, and it’s very rewarding. [Al] Coming up, I’m going to grab my apron and join Alex and Grandma Gloria for a lesson in cooking crab. – Hello? Ah! Chef Alex. – Hey, how’s it going? Nice to meet you. – I wanted to meet Alex and his Grandma Gloria, the inspiration behind his cooking. So I dropped by their kitchen to say hello. – Well, what I know, I picked up from my grandmother, my mother-in-law,
And just put my own spin on certain dishes. I didn’t follow it to the recipe to the letter. – You were able to adlib a little bit. – Yeah, but he’s always asked me when I fixed the dish. What did you put in this?
How did you do this? And I would tell him. I said, you don’t have to follow to the letter. Put your own spin. – And Alex has done just that, turning the classic crab cake into an egg roll. Genius! The ingredients simple. A pound of jumbo lump crab, panko breadcrumbs,
Aged cheddar cheese, egg roll wrappers and a couple of sauces and microgreens to top it off. There’s the star of the show, the crab meat. Put on an apron. I’ve got rubber gloves on. All right, patient’s ready! So how do we get started, Alex? – So first what we want to do
Is we have some Maryland jumbo lump crab here. For the most part, it shouldn’t have much shells in, but typically, I like to sift through it. Just got to see if there’s any shells. And if so, you can put the shells right back in this container. – There you go.
Gloria, did you know you were helping raise a culinary genius? – Well, no, I know he liked to eat. – This sauce particularly is our crab sauce. Next that we’re going to drizzle a little bit at a time because I don’t want to put too much. Just enough to bind. – Yep, I think I have enough. – I like this lady. – This is why I’m so particular
About when I’m doing things in the kitchen. Start actually rolling these things up. – Why do you think this recipe is so popular? The most popular? – Well, I think because it pretty much gives you the ability to take a Baltimore favorite, and then you’ll make it handheld and on the go, throwing it in your hand.
I think that’s one of the biggest reasons it’s very popular other than the taste as well. – Right. Yeah. (laughs) You can take it with you, but if it doesn’t taste good– – Right! So what we’re going to do is we’re going to take a pinch of crab,
A quarter cup or so it’s going to sit in the middle. – That too much? – We want to take a little bit out. A little bit. Actually, we want to put a little bit more in. – Which is it? – That’s perfect right there. Perfect. Perfect.
And we’re going to literally fold them up envelope style. – What is it about cooking and family that is so important? – I think for me, living a busy life as a business owner and a dad, a husband, things like that. I feel like food is an opportunity for family to come together,
Talk about things, especially if you haven’t seen each other in a long time. It’s a way for us to connect. – Gloria, Is it true you’ve never done this before? – No, I haven’t. It’s true. – Could have fooled me that you never did this before. Damn! Done!
– Faster than I did! – Wow! That natural grandma thing. Love it. So now we’re going to get the deep fryer up here and find these bad boys up? – Absolutely. If you had to describe the heart of your cuisine. What is it? And how does Baltimore kind of be part of that?
– Pretty much my story. I think that connects very well to Baltimore because I grew up here all my life. And I think everything that I faced during the time that I started this company up until now, I’ve been transparent about and it resonated very well with the people in Baltimore.
They watched my journey through the years and that’s really the heart of what I do. Press around the edges and things like that. That’s why I keep turning them so it doesn’t fry on one particular side too much. Want an even fry. – Nice and golden.
– So you want to cut these diagonally. I’m going to drizzle, this is our aioli sauce. House made. This is our warhead sauce right here. This sauce is kind of sweet. Has a tangy bite to it. – Kind of like Gloria. (laughter) – Yep! That’s right. – One thing left to do.
– Gonna eat these. – Yes! – Crab cake egg roll. – Here we go. – Wow! Chef Alex, you have done Baltimore proud. – Thank you. [Al] Our time here in Baltimore is coming to an end. We tried the traditional crab cake. Tasted a modern spin with crab cake egg rolls. And it’s even went straight
To the source on the Chesapeake Bay. At the center of it all, one thing still ringing true, food tastes better when you eat it with family. >> Good Wednesday morning. There’s new chaos in Washington