Best Food and Booze in Brooklyn with Dale Talde

[MUSIC PLAYING]
DALE TALDE: The halo-halo is our one dessert.
It's our only dessert right now.
"Halo-halo" really means "mix-mix." And it is a funkier
Filipino version of a flavored snow cone.
In the Philippines, typically it's topped up with, like,
Rice Krispies that are like the bootleg version.
They're not even in a box.
They're in the bag.
They're like on the bottom shelf, and they're in the bag.
And it's like, hey, man, I looked at--
I was like, if I'm going to put cereal on this.
I'm going to put like dope cereal on it.
I'm going to put Cap'n Crunch.
It's my favorite.
Seriously, dude, some people get it, some people
just don't get it.
Well, people who do love it, they take a bite of it, and
there's this instant childhood memory.
And you could tell that it clicks with some people.
And when it doesn't, you're just like--
you had like granola and yogurt, right?
Your parents were hippies or some shit.
And they didn't give you crappy cereal.
Because I grew up on that, and I love that shit.
[CHUCKLES]
[THEME MUSIC]
DALE TALDE: Hi.
My name is Dale Talde.
This is Talde Restaurant, Park Slope, Brooklyn.
The food here at Talde is Asian-American.
It's holding on to some of these very traditional dishes
and then giving it a Brooklyn, local, American feel to it.
The neighborhood needed not just regular Tom Yum soup
because they can get that in any Thai place around here.
They wanted something more.

I love Pad Thai.
It's my thing.
So I put brunch and Pad Thai together.
And then I will just gild the lily a little bit and add some
more oysters to it.
If I was hung over and--like today--
and to fix me up, to me, Pad Thai is the
perfect hangover food.
It's starch.
It's greasy.
It soaks up all the poison.
And when I thought about it, I was like, you know what?
For me, if I could have it for brunch, I would every day.
First restaurant job was Outback
Steakhouse, Bloomin' Onions.
I was absolutely terrible.
Pretty bad when you get stoned before you go to work.
And then you're trying to work a station, and you're not
really good at cooking as it is.
And you're trying to do it stoned.
Didn't work out too well.
I love what I do, but I don't take myself too seriously.
Top Chef gave me enormous opportunities.
I mean, you get to travel.
You get to meet tons of cool people.
I mean, Dave recognized me walking into Enoteca, where at
the time he was the GM and recognized me because he
watched the show.
And honestly, if I hadn't gone on the show, I probably won't
be here right now.
So last night, David Massoni, my partner, and John Bush,
bartender and owner--
at the end of the shift we went to Franny's.
JOHN BUSH: I am hungry.
DAVID MASSONI: I am hungry, too.
DALE TALDE: Me, too.
JOHN BUSH: They know we're coming?
DAVID MASSONI: They know we're coming.
Martin and the boys are ready.
DALE TALDE: You don't need to go to Manhattan.
You really don't.
I mean, if you want to eat well, stay at the borough of
Brooklyn because they're doing a killer job.

MARTIN GOBBEE: Yeah.
Should we seat you, guys?
DAVID MASSONI: Shall we go ahead and have a seat, yeah?
DALE TALDE: Hi, how's it going?
Dale, Dale Talde.
It's nice to meet you.
He was a fucking big dude, man.
If he came around my kitchen, I was like--
I don't know.
I'm not exactly the tallest dude in the world, man.
You got to be like 6'4".

DANNY AMEND: Franny's is definitely a southern Italian
restaurant.
We do make hand noodles, but most of our noodles are dry,
which is what you would typically
find in southern Italy.
So this is definitely my favorite dish right now.
And it might be my favorite Franny's dish ever--
real basic citrus salad.
Growing up in California--
I'm from northern California.
My mom had a satsuma tangerine tree that grow on our deck.
And I used to eat this all the time.
So it tastes a little bit like home.
When I finish it, it has parsley.
It has red onion, pistachios, hot peppers that we
pickle in the house.
So it's got a lot more soul to it.
DALE TALDE: I mean their level of execution in what they're
doing is so spot on.
They were the benchmark for what we hope to be.
They are destination restaurant on Flatbush Ave.--
on Flatbush Ave., like four blocks away from where the
Mets are going to play next year.
People are coming out to see them because the food is
fucking dope.
And they're doing a good job.
They're doing everything in-house.
You can tell.
DANNY AMEND: Spigarello, which is basically broccoli leaf.
For me, I never had it before I came to Franny's.
And that's another cool thing about the restaurant is we do
a lot of things that most people have never had.
DALE TALDE: Mm.
It's so fucking good.
It's like the best cool flavor I've ever had.

What we're doing is just a craft.
With them, you could tell that the level of
craftsmanship is so high.
Hopefully, we can get there.
I mean, we're working hard every day.
This is the fucking pasta I want to do.
This kind of food makes you fucking jealous.
[LAUGHTER]
DAVID MASSONI: It makes you jealous?
DALE TALDE: Yeah, it's like-- what the fuck?
What have I done with my life?
[CHUCKLES]
I'm making fried rice.
DAVID MASSONI: This food makes you wish you were Italian.
DALE TALDE: It really does.
DAVID MASSONI: Cheers, guys.
The first night out since we opened the restaurant--
DALE TALDE: --together.
And it depends on the level of sobriety on that.
It's what I want to eat.
So I've had two whiskeys.
I'm being somewhat civilized.
And if I've gone on to, like three or four, then I'm really
starting to get into the gross, uncivilized pizza with
a ton a ranch and sriracha.
And it's total blasphemy, but I'm down.

I've got dope fat kid moves--
making a box of mac and cheese, eating half of it, and
then saving the hot sauce for the last half.
So all of a sudden it tastes different and shit.
So like, oh, no, I have a new mac and cheese.

Somebody farted.
DAVID MASSONI: It wasn't me.
DALE TALDE: Somebody farted.
DAVID AND JOHN (OFFSCREEN): Whoever smelt it, dealt it.
[CHUCKLES]
DALE TALDE: From Franny's we jumped in a cab and went to
Pearl's Social Club in Bushwick, deep in Bushwick--
those mad handlebar mustaches and really tight pants.
Goddamn, in the borough, you could tell, like
Monday is for pros.
Friday and Saturday is for amateurs, and Monday is for
the pros to go out because it was like all industry folks.
And it was two, three at the bar deep.
DAVID MASSONI: Hi, can I have three shots of Jamesons and
three Tecates?
DALE TALDE: People are drinking cheap beer.
And I was like good, this is getting fucked up, but I'm
having a good time.
And it's awesome.
That bar is awesome.
DAVID MASSONI: To hanging out again.
Salud.
DALE TALDE: So we all did a shot of Jameson, drank a beer.
And then Betsy, who owns the bar--
awesome, awesome person-- she made us a cocktail and made it
with the tobacco bitters.

JOHN BUSH: What are these called?
BETSY MAHER: Red dawn.
DALE TALDE: America, fuck yeah!
And that was it for me.
That was the--
you get to that point, and you just know that it's the end of
your night?
And that was the end of the night.
And we were only like 2/3.
[CHUCKLES]
We weren't even halfway there.
DAVID (OFFSCREEN): Can somebody get
Dale a glass of water?
DALE TALDE: It's like that big.
DAVID MASSONI: A glass of water?

DALE TALDE: I feel like a lot of pressure.
Like, I have to actually cook for people now.
And I'm going to get shit-faced and now, I have to
fucking cook.
JOHN BUSH: So Betsy, you want to come back and have some
food with us tonight?
We got some grub munchies.
DALE TALDE: And we asked all the guys, Martin, the chef of
Franny's, Betsy to come on in.
Hey, Bill, so we're on our way back.
DAVID MASSONI: [LAUGHTER]
JOHN BUSH: You better be good, man.
I'm hungry and I got to go bed.
DALE TALDE: Not really.
I'm not really prepared to cook shit.
I've been cooking fucking all day.
Now, I'm rundown.
I told my guys there better be like 3 pounds of butter
outside so I can make something fucking taste good.
Brought it back here.
And to be honest with you, I hope it tasted good because I
remember very little what the fuck happened.

Planning some black bean lobster--
uh, I'm sorry, black bean clams.
Where the fuck is everything?
Chow fun noodles--
I don't have the clams.
Clams seem to not be here.

No, I've no fucking idea what I'm planning to do right now.
[LAUGHTER]
I do not recommend using a wok when you're fucking hammered.
They're about 180,000 btus, jet flames that
pop out of that wok.
It's taken ice from ice to boiling in 4 minutes.
Do a little hot sauce.
Cooking is about fire and food and the application of heat
and/or salt and/or whatever.
But I'm not one of those cooks that are subtle.
And my food's always been "punch in your face" flavors.
I will sacrifice the way something looks
over taste any day.

Chili black bean, brown butter clams.

"Nooder?" Did anybody ask for some "nooders?" Chow fun
"nooder?"
I gotta serve you guys.
You guys hooked us up.
A little red-cooked pork shank with the chow fun noodle,
charred red cabbage, and some bean sprouts.
This restaurant is my last name.
It's kind of a tribute to my family and my mom and my dad,
who've helped me get to where I am.
When we ate celebratory meals, it was always like--
it was my mom and eight of her sisters and her entire family.
So it was all of us getting together and eating.
You have to love that part of restaurants, that atmosphere
of hospitality and cooking for others and
doing all for others.
Making people happy, that's what it's about.

[MUSIC PLAYING]