Forking Tasty

P.I.E. WITH Mike and Mark

It had been a long two months leading up to this meal. Mike and Mark were instrumental in helping me pull off the yodel studio project. They were even more valuable on the ground with me in Mumbai. We had finally just finished the whole project and caught our breath and it was time to celebrate. For our celebratory meal we headed down to Leopold’s in Colaba for a good ex-Pat Indian meal.

Mike is a SO CAL guy, bringing that calm and chill behavior to the crazy world of Mumbai. Mark is a NO CAL guy, also a calm person, but in a different way than SO CAL. If you have ever lived in California you know the difference. My relationship with these guys has only been a short 2 months but in that time we talked a lot about the project details. Mark and Mike thanks for all the help with the studio. Ohh, and Mark, I will be out to take you up on that kayak offer one day.

What we ate:

Chicken Tikka Masala
Tandoori chicken
Lamb Rogan Josh
Garlic naan
Plain Naan

McDesgusting

I had no choice during my event build but to eat McDonald’s. Normally I am not a McD’s fan but in India the cow is sacred and so the international icon does not have a Big Mac. (two all beef patties special sauce….you get me, right?) What do they have instead? Ohh, they have the chicken maharaja mac. This is not quite chicken and not quite a “mac”…

Sustainable London

This is a bit of a dated post as I finally get around to a bunch of experiences that have been half written for the past month or so. This one was my last meal in London from the scout trip I did for the Yodel Studio Project. Jen, Britt and I headed up to Clerkenwell, one of my favorite London hoods, for a sustainable meal at a restaurant that only serves dinner on Thursdays. Delicious and super cool environment as well.

Clerkenwell Kitchen
31 Clerkenwell Close
London, EC1R, United Kingdom
+44 7989 304795

Finally, Local India is Mine

I’m back in India if you have not been keeping up. This time I am determined to out score this country. I am starting in Mumbai because of my latest Yahoo! project.It was insane pulling of this project in India. Things do not work the way they do in the states EVER but India is a special exception. The project went off fantastically but not without a few grey hairs and a bunch of screaming by me. Yes, screaming. Seems to be the way you get Indians in Mumbai to listen to you.

In between yelling and sweating I managed to score a crew meal backstage. Masala chicken with rice and some chutney was the standard issue lunch today. I sat amongst the guys scooping up my grub the same way they were. I savored every last bite, the same way they did. And, I smiled when done, the same way they did.

A few moments later we were back at work. Me yelling at them and them NOT listening to me. Ahh India, I guess we are just going to have to take this one step at a time.

P.I.E. WITH Vik and Bryan

Vik and Bryan are my documentary crew in India. They are in India, with me, to film Behind the Scenes footage for a documentary we are doing on the October project (Yahoo! Yodel Studio). As part of the documentary, each city has profiled a local, up-and-coming artist. Shaa’ir and Func are our India profiles. Before they got off to shooting we sat down for a breakfast.

I met Vik and Bryan about a year ago through my friend May. Of course they are also the other two thirds of Disposable Television along with Brendan. Seems I have had a lot of disposable face time in the last 3 weeks. Low and behold they both know my friend and documentary producer Elliott Phear.

Vik is the tallest and nicest Indian guy I know. May always raved about him but until this trip I didn’t know exactly why she raved so much. He also has shot all over the world and has stories to prove it. His calm and mild mannered attitude is a pleasure especially when in a crazy ass country like India.

Bryan makes me laugh when I look at him. Not because he is funny looking but because he is absolutely hilarious. More funny comes out of his mouth than one should be exposed to. HE is fearless in talking to strangers and that only adds to the comedy.

Thanks guys for killing it on the doc and making Mumbai even more pleasurable.

What we ate

Yogurt and musli
crab and cheese omelette

New Old Fashioned at Tom’s

You all know I am not the biggest fan of London food. But this meal definitely turns that idea on it’s head. I am going to let the pics speak mostly for themselves here. Before we get into that here is some ambiance. We arrived in a quaint part of chelsea and sauntered into the clean but rustic feeling restaurant. Because we were a bit early we were asked if we wanted to have a cocktail at the upstairs bar. (part of Tom’s). We headed up the steps, parked ourselves at the slightly more modern designed bar and ordered…

P.I.E. WITH Ken Graham and the boys of ADK

It was last Wednesday and I was sitting in Adirondack Studios conference room surrounded by the crew that had built the latest project squeezed from my head. From a marker sketch 2 months ago I had just scene the real life version of a structure I had only imagined what it would look like. I was blown to bits with the attention to detail that was carried through from phone conversations and emails to hammer and paintbrush. As I took my last bit of turkey sandwich my attention turned to Ken Graham as he started, yet another unbelievable but true story…

P.I.E. WITH Maria Rivera and Matt McCutchin

Teachers beget learning. I hooked up with two more University at Texas Professors my second night in Austin and was schooled. Maria Rivera and Matt McCutchin both teach portfolio classes at the University. Earlier in the day, Matt invited to talk to one of his first year portfolio classes. Teaching is something I have long resisted but truly love to do. Thanks Mom. After the talk Brad, my host and previous meal partner, suggested we grab a bite to eat later and of course I was up for that. The first bit of learning came when we arrived at the Eastside Cafe, our dinner spot. The huge garden out back and chicken coop made my eyes grow and mouth water immediately as I realized that our dinner would be extremely fresh. More on what I learned at this meal in a post coming soon.

As dinner got going I started to learn more about my dinner partners. Matt has worked all over the country in a ton of agencies and has crazy agency chops. He even knew Chinnici Direct. He is a native Texan and has that hip Austin Texan look to him Complete with the Thick framed specs. Talking with Matt brought me back to my agency days. We playing the “do you know” game while jumping from agency to agency in our minds. Thanks Matt for inviting me into your class and calling up all the memories.

Maria is originally from Alabama and has been to my favorite of favorites in the BBQ world, Dreamland. She also did some time in NYC and eventually settled in Texas as a teach and a copywriter. As we progressed into entrees I learned of a project Maria created for her 35th Birthday. She created a video that asked a simply question, “What do you know for sure?”. Then she sent it to everyone she new from family to random happy hour acquaintances. The response was bountiful and educational. I love projects like this. Maria is planning on making a little book of all the responses. Hopefully she will share it with us when its done.

Special thanks to Brad Love for hooking it up in Austin.

What we ate

Fresh raw garden greens from out back
Super fresh Salmon, Trout and Chicken

British Contrast

This was the largest gnocchi I have ever seen. It was tender and dripped with a marscapone cheese sauce. What could go wrong? It was lunch time and I sat at a long table just off of Covent Garden with 8 colleagues who were helping me figure out the details of my October Project. Our surprisingly alcohol-less table quieted up so that we could fill our empty bellies with round one of what I will dupe the flip lunch…

Full English. Boooyahh!

A few posts ago I mentioned it was hard to find tasty in London but breakfast is the exception to that rule. A good Full English is a great way to start the day. It’s virtually everywhere, packs a punch and always leaves you happy. This particular FE was consumed in the restaurant of my hotel.