Awkwafina: The Unlikely Cook (2026) s01e03 Episode Script

1
[traffic bustling]
- I'm Awkwafina…
- Hey!
- …also known as Nora Lum…
- [laughing]
…and you may be surprised to hear…
- There's a rib on fire!
- …I come from Chinese restaurant royalty.
My great-grandpa opened
one of New York City's
first ever Chinese-American
restaurants, Lum's.
And my grandma continued that tradition
with one of her own,
the restaurant I grew up in.
Lum's was kinda my family's
attempt at belonging.
So call me crazy, but I've set myself
the challenge of bringing Lum's back.
I might reopen Lum's.
- You gonna open a restaurant?
- Yeah.
- [laughing]
- [Awkwafina chuckling] Yeah.
But there's a problem.
I can't cook. Like, at all.
- [clattering]
- Oh, my God!
So, I'm traveling the country…
- That is so cool!
- Awesome!
- [dings]
- [sizzles]
I'm making a sausage!
- [bangs]
- [person 1] Got it!
[person 2] You ever had
Chinese food like this?
I am salivating right now. It's so good.
…to figure out what my version of Lum's
might become.
I am about to open up
a Chinese restaurant in New York City.
What am I doing?
[upbeat music playing]
Fired up by my Texas field trip,
I feel ready
to reveal my new cooking skills
to the harshest critic out there
and professional pain in my ass, my dad.
Okay, let's see what we do first.
He doesn't have
a huge amount of faith in me,
which, given my track record,
is entirely understandable.
The last time I cooked for my dad,
I got microwavable fish sticks,
and I cut up the fish sticks
into the pasta.
[exclaims]
I don't think that he was like,
"This is disgusting,
like, call the police."
But I think that he definitely was like,
"Mmm. Mm-hmm."
So now we're gonna make the sauce.
Rice wine.
Oh. Oh. Soy sauce.
I'm gonna recall some of the stuff
I was doing with Simone over in Texas.
This is like my own Awkwafina sauce.
Oh, my God. That was so much.
That was half the bottle of honey.
It's gonna be so good 'cause I'm gonna
complement it with more soy sauce.
Okay.
Okay, that's actually very good.
- [door opens]
- Nora.
[Awkwafina] Hey. Hi, Dad.
- [Wally] How are you?
- Oh, wow. You look so handsome.
[Wally] Aw, thank you.
- [Awkwafina] Hi.
- [chuckles]
- [kiss]
- Hi, Dad. Great to see you.
Smells… Smells pretty good in here.
- What's going on? Did you order out?
- Pretty good? Pretty good, you say?
Um, no. I'm cooking in, Dad.
- You cooked this?
- Yeah.
- Wow.
- Okay. Don't look yet. Don't look yet.
- Do you want a beer?
- Yeah.
- All right.
- Light?
Yep.
Smells like spare ribs in here.
Oh, yeah.
[Wally] And you're putting
your sauce on it?
[Awkwafina] Yeah.
How do you make your sauce?
If I was gonna improvise,
I would put a little beer in it.
I didn't put beer in it.
- All right.
- I just put a little bit of Red Bull.
- [Wally] Red Bull?
- [Awkwafina] Just kidding.
- You put the ribs in the oven?
- I did.
- Now, are you stir-frying those veggies?
- Yeah.
[Wally] If you stir-fry it quickly,
it'll be crispy and crunchy.
I know, dude.
Should I take the spare ribs out?
[Wally] Take the aluminum off.
Yeah, that's it.
Turn the fire a little higher
if you wanna get that crispiness.
I just don't wanna burn them.
Is it supposed to smell like that?
Oh, they're, like, on fire!
There's a rib on fire!
- It's called barbecue.
- [smoke alarm blaring]
[Awkwafina] Oh. Oh, God.
[stammers] How do we…
How do we get that… Oh, no.
- There's a button.
- Oh, no. Those are sprinklers.
That's a sprinkler. Open the…
Oh, God.
[blaring stops]
Oh, my God. So stressful.
[Wally] The ribs are fine.
It's just that sauce on the pan.
[Awkwafina] All right.
I hope you're hungry.
[chuckles] I feel
really good about this, dude.
[chuckles] All right.
Give me a knife and a fork
so I can start eating.
Mmm. It's good.
- [Awkwafina] You like it? Really?
- [Wally] Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Okay. Oh, my God. It's really good.
Yeah, it is.
- If I went into a restaurant…
- It's good.
…and they served me this,
I wouldn't complain.
- [Awkwafina chuckles]
- Look how many I ate.
Why did you eat so many?
'Cause it's pretty good.
[both chuckling]
If you love food, you should cook the food
that you liked when you were growing up.
You should find those recipes.
Right. No, that's what I did today.
[Wally] Yeah, you did a great job, Nora.
- Thanks, Dad.
- No, you're welcome.
- Got another beer?
- Yep.
- Cheers.
- Love you, Dad.
Thanks for coming over.
You're welcome. This is great.
Yeah, it was good.
Well, that's weird.
Asian parents never give
positive feedback.
I feel like a new person.
And it's reminding me how important
food has always been to my family.
I'd like to find a way
to honor that legacy.
Problem is,
I have no clue how or where to start,
which is at least on brand for me.
Oh, man. Thanks for hanging out with me
and helping me with all this stuff.
[chef] Thanks for coming on this hike.
I know you don't hike.
[Awkwafina] I don't know if it's
all New Yorkers,
but I feel like it's
definitely a foreign concept.
[chef chuckles]
[Awkwafina] I've turned
to the wisest food god I know.
My good friend, multi-award-winning chef
and OG of the gourmet food-truck movement,
Roy Choi.
So, I just got back from Texas.
- [Choi] You've been eating, huh?
- I've been eating.
Girl, I've been eating, yeah.
And everyone I met there,
- they were my generation, right?
- [Choi] Yeah.
[Awkwafina] And I feel like there is
a calling for me right now
to pay tribute
to my family's history in the restaurants.
- Uh-huh.
- I really want to evoke what it was like
and make the people
that were a part of it proud.
- Yeah.
- But the way that I remember,
it's not a clear picture.
But it's there
within you somewhere, right?
- It's… It's embedded within you.
- Oh, yeah.
Opening a restaurant itself
might be a little hard,
but it might be fun to do,
like, a pop-up or, like, an installation.
[stammering] I haven't been to, like,
a ton of, like, pop-ups.
You know what I mean?
What is that? What is that?
I mean, a pop-up is like a restaurant.
The only difference is it's not permanent.
And I think it's such a personal endeavor.
You know, you're almost,
like, opening your family album to others
- with no defense.
- Yeah.
And that's really what restaurants are.
I guess the question is,
are you ready to tell that story?
- We gon' find out. Yeah.
- We gon' find out.
- We gon' find that shit out real quick.
- [chuckles]
That's good though. The next thing is
figuring out what the menu is.
- Where we want to throw it.
- Yeah.
You should probably,
like, continue to go out and meet people
and absorb knowledge and taste food.
[stammers] I severely am gonna need
your help.
- [chuckles] Yeah.
- Like, it's not even…
not even lightly need your help.
No. You're gonna need
my help. Yeah. [chuckles]
I'm nervous about it. I'm hesitant.
But I think it could work.
Yeah.
[Choi] Stay focused
on the things you can control,
and if you don't commit yourself 1000%,
I can guarantee you it will fail.
- [Awkwafina] Oh, dear God.
- [Choi chuckles]
[Awkwafina] Oh, man.
I'm gonna need to take this step by step.
First on my agenda, the menu.
So I'm heading 400 miles north…
[upbeat music playing]
…to meet the man who
first taught America to cook Chinese food.
Oh, man. So I am
very nervous and very excited
because we are going
to meet the Martin Yan
who, first of all, I've grown up watching,
my dad is obsessed with.
He is really the godfather
of Chinese and American cuisine.
1980s TV chef Martin Yan was
the Martha Stewart of Chinese cooking.
Wow!
With knife skills so fast
I'm pretty sure his mandolin was jealous.
Grip your pepper.
I'd be terrified to cook with him
if his whole thing wasn't…
If Yan can cook,
so can you. [speaks Cantonese]
[applause]
[Awkwafina] I'm meeting Martin
in the heart of San Francisco's Chinatown,
the oldest and biggest in America.
But still not big enough
to contain this guy's energy.
Welcome to my Chinatown!
Aw, thank you for having me.
It's such a pleasure to meet you.
I'm such a big fan.
[chuckles] Thank you. Now, let's go.
All right, let's do it.
[Martin] Look how busy this place is.
It's so busy. Even New York's
Chinatown is not like this anymore.
We are here to grab the ingredients
for a dish found on every Chinese menu
and one I'd love to be able to cook,
chicken chow mein.
Now an American staple,
this noodle dish was brought to the States
by Chinese immigrants
during the Gold Rush.
- Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello!
- [vendor 1] Hi, how are you? Hello!
[Martin, vendor 1 speaking Mandarin]
- We're gonna pick up carrot…
- [Awkwafina] Okay.
…and noodle, noodle, noodle.
I want to have some noodle. Here.
And also we'll have
some fresh bean sprouts. Already packed.
So let's get all of these.
She pays
because she makes more money than me.
[chuckles] No, that's… That's not true.
[both laughing]
[vendor 2] Okay, okay.
This is my favorite barbecue shop.
Look at that.
[chuckles] I sent them
the picture about 30 years ago.
- That's fire.
- When I was younger, I had more hair.
You still have hair, come on.
[Martin] You know,
I left home when I was 13.
- Yeah.
- Hong Kong.
- Uh-huh.
- Then after high school,
I was sponsored by a church leader.
And she told me,
"When you're landed, you're on your own."
- Wow.
- I looked for a job the second day.
- In restaurants.
- I worked in a restaurant.
Were you scared?
No. You know what? I left home so long,
and, um…
and my father passed away when I was five.
My mom passed away when I was four.
Yeah, you know,
so we have a lot of similarity…
- Yeah. Yeah.
- …in terms of our upbringing.
[Awkwafina] Did you see your mom
after you came over?
I did not get a chance to see her
until 12 years later.
- Wow.
- And then when I go home,
- she didn't recognize my voice…
- Oh, my God.
…because when I left, I was 13 years old.
- Yeah, yeah.
- And she was so emotional.
- Yeah, I would be too.
- Yeah.
- Are you hungry?
- Yeah.
[Martin] How about going to my house?
We'll cook together.
[Awkwafina] Yeah, let's do it.
[Martin] You know, people always ask me,
"How do you come up with
- all these wonderful recipes?"
- Yeah.
Because I travel a lot all over the U.S.,
- and I bump into a lot of restauranteurs.
- Yeah.
- I probably have been in Lum's.
- Really?
- Show me the menu. Show me the menu.
- Yeah. I would love that.
So this is… this was a takeout menu.
Oh… [stutters] …the takeout menu.
Look at the price. Look at that.
"1.35, 3.50."
And then Lum's special chicken chow mein.
- Yeah. Cool.
- Okay. Let's do it.
Are you a good cook?
My confidence level is
a little higher now.
But in general, I'm not the best.
I think after today's practice,
your confidence level will be about here.
- Okay. All right. Yeah.
- [chuckles] Okay.
[Awkwafina] Martin swears
this is a dish that anyone can cook.
A bold statement for someone
who's just met me.
It does sound simple though.
Throw chicken, stir-fried vegetables,
noodles, and seasoning sauce into a wok.
Give it a quick stir-fry,
and there you go.
One of America's top comfort foods
made in minutes.
We cannot cook chicken chow mein
unless we break down the chicken.
- The whole chicken?
- Well, in the old days,
you cannot buy chicken already cut up.
Yeah.
You want me to do it fast or slow?
I wanna see you do it fast,
then you can break it down.
- You have iPhone?
- Yes. Yes, I do.
- Okay? You time it, okay?
- Yes. Okay.
Three, two, one!
One cut, one cut.
And then turn on the other side.
One cut along the back,
and you pull the…
whole thing comes out like that.
And then, comes out.
Turn on the other side.
Whole thing comes off like that.
[indistinct] …comes out like that.
How many seconds? It's done.
Uh, yeah. That was…
I think it was done at 19.
The fastest I've ever done
is about 14.75 seconds.
[Awkwafina] What?
Now, the next thing that you can do is…
I will show you how easy it is
to mince the garlic, okay?
Yeah.
- Oh!
- All minced.
Now you try it.
[gulps] Okay.
Oh, my God. Kind of? [chuckles]
No, it's good.
I have about 45 pieces.
You have three pieces.
That's… That's the difference.
Basically, what you do is,
you have to use some force.
- Some force?
- Just get your frustration out.
Okay.
[Martin] Yeah.
You have to be very angry.
I know, yeah.
You have never been an angry woman?
Sometimes.
- Well, then just show me.
- Okay, okay.
- You got it! Look at that!
- Wow!
- You got it. You are really angry.
- Nice.
- [chuckling] Yeah.
- I can't believe it.
[Awkwafina] If you thought
Martin's chicken chopping was fast…
You seesaw. You seesaw.
You seesaw-saw. Seesaw, seesaw…
…his vegetable breakdown skills
could give a blender a complex.
And before we fire up the wok,
one last nugget of wisdom.
Let me show you how easy it is
to peel the ginger, okay?
This is how you do it. This is a spoon.
You scrape it. Look at that.
- This is how you peel the ginger.
- [Awkwafina] Cool! That's awesome.
- Look at that. You don't waste anything.
- Yeah.
- [Martin] You try it. You try it.
- Yeah.
Now, this technique,
you don't have to be angry.
You can be very happy.
- You do it with a smile, okay?
- Yeah.
And then, the ginger,
you can do the same thing. Look at that.
Slam the ginger. Done.
- Are you ready?
- Yes.
Okay, come over here.
So, first of all, get the flavor
of the garlic and ginger in first.
- You got it?
- Yeah.
And then chopped onion.
And then you move them around, okay?
Look at that.
After the aromatics,
you wanna cook the protein.
Okay?
- [Awkwafina] Smells good.
- Smells good.
- Oh. It's already cooking too.
- Yeah.
And then, chives and green beans.
And then carrot.
And then you continue to cook.
- It is really, really simple.
- It's so simple.
And then, finally,
thing that doesn't take too long to cook.
- Uh-huh. Yeah.
- Bell pepper, green onion. Okay?
Basically, when this is almost ready,
all you have to do is use the noodle,
- which is already boiled, see?
- Yeah.
Now you toss.
- Very good. Hey! I'm impressed.
- Thank you.
Now, final touch.
- For any dish, seasoning, right?
- Yeah.
[Martin] So,
two teaspoons of oyster sauce here.
- Nice.
- And then you squeeze hoisin sauce here.
And then you use this to toss.
- [Awkwafina] Yeah.
- And then, final touch.
Sesame seed oil.
[Awkwafina] You put it in last
'cause it smokes with the high, right?
[Martin] Yeah.
The smoking point is very low.
It looks so good.
[Martin] It's done!
- Yeah.
- And then, we're gonna serve.
- We put this noodle right here.
- Yeah.
And then, I will put this right on top.
- Look at that.
- Yeah. Oh, that looks so beautiful.
And then, you want to make it look nice.
You sprinkle green onion. Right on top.
- Okay?
- Yeah.
C-Can I show my dad?
'Cause he's a huge fan.
- Oh, I would love to.
- Yeah? Okay.
Hey, what's happening? Guess who this is.
Oh, my God. You're my hero, man.
I watch you a long time.
Oh, well, you know what?
Um, I am admiring your daughter.
All her success and notoriety.
And also her passion.
Take a look. How beautiful.
I'm sure if the chef showed you
how to do it, it's authentic.
- Yeah, that's right. That's right.
- Beautiful, Beautiful.
So now, we'll do tasting,
and the next time she goes and visits you,
she'll make you
this special chicken chow mein.
- [laughs]
- [Awkwafina] Yeah, I'll do it.
- All right. Bye, Dad. Thank you.
- Bye, Dad.
- Bye-bye.
- Bye-bye.
He was just smiling the whole time.
- That's funny.
- Good.
Now, let us taste, okay?
It should be well seasoned,
but not too overly powered.
Right. Right, right.
Mmm. Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
- So delicious.
- Mmm.
The key is,
- the noodle is not overcooked.
- Mm-hmm.
And the vegetable is not overcooked.
It's colorful, tasty
and perfect texture and contrast.
- Aw. Thank you. Thank you, Martin.
- Congratulations.
- I really appreciate that.
- Continued success.
- Congratulations.
- I love you so much.
It is a little overwhelming,
I think, to cook with Martin Yan
because of, like, his show,
and, you know, you watch him on TV.
You don't ever expect to be taught by him.
But he believed in me so much
that I was like, "I can definitely do it."
Yeah.
I can't believe
I've actually mastered a classic
and witnessed
a chicken get obliterated in 19 seconds.
But "meet more chefs, eat more food"
is now my mantra.
So tomorrow, while I'm in San Francisco,
I'm checking out
another one of its food legends.
And I'm going gourmet.
[upbeat music playing]
[motorcycle horn honks]
Hi. How are ya?
So, we're gonna meet Brandon Jew.
He is the only
executive chef that is Chinese
with a MICHELIN Star in the United States.
It's 9:00 a.m. Feels like 5:30.
And I have no idea why he would want me,
uh, in the restaurant
at the ass crack of dawn.
I really hate the morning.
You can tell from my morning voice.
You even see aggressive coughing
that I do every morning.
Mister Jiu's is the most decorated
Chinese-American restaurant
in the country.
Chef Brandon Jew's elevated take
on the traditional Chinese-American menu
has seen him receive a MICHELIN Star
for nine years.
And for some reason,
he's willing to risk all that
by letting me loose in the kitchen.
- Hey.
- Hey.
- What's up, Nora?
- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you too.
- Yeah. Thanks for having me.
- Look at that. That's crazy.
- [laughs]
We've had one every year we've been open.
- How many is that?
- We got every one except 2020
- 'cause you know what happened then.
- I'm opening up my pop-up.
- Yeah.
- And I am having debilitating anxiety.
I don't know what… [stammers]
Welcome to that world.
That's where we live.
Do you have some ideas, maybe?
- [stammers] I can feed off of your ideas…
- Yeah.
- It's duck day today, so…
- Duck day?
We're basically in a rotation of
prepping out a hundred ducks a week.
- Wow. You're in a "ducktation"?
- So…
- I love that.
- [Brandon laughs] Yeah.
Let's get changed, and I'll show you
through the whole process.
Okay. Yeah.
Crispy skin, juicy meat,
pancakes, hoisin sauce and scallions.
Peking duck is the kind of dish
no Chinese-American restaurant
worth its salt should be without.
- Whoa.
- [Brandon] Yeah. It's a lot of ducks.
Oh-ho. That's bleeding a little bit. Wow.
- [chuckles] Uh-oh.
- We got a squirter, y'all.
First, to ensure the crispiest skin,
you have to separate it
from the underlying layer
so the fat can drip away during roasting.
And Brandon's way of doing this
is "ducking" crazy.
We use an air compressor.
Just get familiar with this little puppy.
- Turn it on.
- Yeah. Okay.
- [air hisses]
- Nice.
- Yeah.
- [Brandon chuckles]
- Cool. Yeah.
- We just stick it right in here.
- [Awkwafina] Oh, there you go.
- Yeah.
- Hell yeah. That's so cool.
- [chuckles]
Is it really morbid
that I, like, love this?
- No, 'cause I do too. So…
- [chuckles] Okay, cool.
Next, close up the cavity
which helps keep the meat tender.
- [bones crack]
- Sounds like my neck in the morning.
The duck is blanched in water and vinegar,
then dipped in a mix of five-spice,
salt, sugar and soy sauce.
Then it's Bye Bye Birdie.
This is a good Mafia present
to leave someone.
[Brandon chuckles]
Okay, so the next thing, we're just
taking all the little hairs off.
Okay, this is so fun.
- I love this so much.
- [Brandon chuckles]
Why would you say that duck is, like,
so prized in Chinese cooking?
All of the Peking-style preparation,
the technique is so unique.
- Yeah.
- You know, getting the skin this crispy,
you can't do it unless
you have gone through all this process.
Why do you think that
you are the only, uh, Chinese-American
executive chef in the United States
with MICHELIN Stars?
I think our food is
still pretty misunderstood.
In a way, like, it's still in a box of,
like, being takeout food.
- Right.
- As you know,
there's just so much more to Chinese food.
It's also so hard to explain
to someone that's ever been to a Chinatown
the ducks hanging in the windows.
It's so much more complex
and-and multilayered
than just the takeout window, you know?
This is, like, the most grand dish
you could get at a banquet, you know?
Yeah, I don't think anyone understands
what kind of process
the Chinese duck goes through.
No one's ever tweezed me like this,
you know what I mean?
[Brandon chuckles]
There are various regions on my body
in which this would be awesome.
Tweezing, dude.
That's where my happy place is.
And you feel that? It's so smooth, dude.
I love giving ducks Brazilians.
Just as I'm considering a career shift
into professional hair removal,
Brandon shows me
where the ducks go to chill…
Whoa!
Oh, shit.
Dude!
…and hang for up to ten days
to help age the meat…
[Brandon] This one's
probably ready to go down.
[Awkwafina] Okay.
…before being roasted
first at 350 degrees for 17 minutes
to cook the duck,
then at 450 degrees for six minutes
to crisp up the skin.
Oh, it looks so delicious.
I'm, like, salivating.
- [duck sizzling]
- Do you hear that?
Oh.
[Brandon] Right before we carve,
we are just giving it
one more blast of heat.
[chuckling] Yeah.
- [Awkwafina] Oh, my God.
- Okay.
[Awkwafina] How can you tell
a duck is cooked right?
What we're looking for is, like,
- it to be a little pink still in there.
- Yeah.
- You can cut into slices like that.
- Okay.
Seeing what you and your team did today,
and, like,
there's a science and there's a care
and there's a precision to everything,
I can tell exactly why you have,
like, 85 MICHELIN Stars right now.
[chuckles]
[Awkwafina] Waxed, blanched and blown up,
this duck has had a weird-ass spa day.
It's finally served on a pancake
with hoisin sauce, cucumber,
scallion and cilantro.
- This is the plum sauce that we make too.
- Whoa.
Oh, man. That looks so good.
- You just roll it up like moo shu pork?
- Roll it up.
Okay. All right.
Mm-hmm.
Oh, my God. Tastes like a really natural
Peking duck that isn't overwhelming
and not trying to mask other flavors
by being, like, really sweet.
Yeah. Hopefully, like, it'll inspire you
- to find what feels right for you.
- Yeah.
You need anything, call me.
I'd love to help any way I can.
- A reservation maybe?
- [chuckling]
Thank you, dude. Thank you.
This was so good.
[upbeat music playing]
I've got some serious inspiration
for my pop-up menu now.
But unless I want guests
eating out of their hands in the streets,
I'm gonna need to iron out
a few other details.
"What steps do I need
to take for a pop-up restaurant?"
"Obtain necessary licenses…"
Licenses and permits?
Well, I have my driver's permit
and a license to drive.
"Apply for a certificate of authority."
What the fuck is that?
"Find and secure a location."
Are those ropes? Is it, like, ship-themed?
There's anchors.
I don't know if this is very Lum's-y.
This is giving, like,
a French prostitute's, like, daydream.
Singers. Singers is great.
I do like Singers.
I have frequented that dance floor
many a time.
Totally sober, by the way.
This, I can imagine a Lum's-ish vibe.
I don't want it to feel like we've just
borrowed a restaurant for a night.
I want it to feel like Lum's,
like, came alive.
I need to get in there.
I would like to go in
and, like, kinda smell them and…
'Cause you could have a beautiful venue
and it smells like, you know…
[stammers] …like a toilet, you know.
I think it needs to happen in New York.
Somewhere near Manhattan's Chinatown
or Flushing, I think.
I have an initial vision
of how it should feel like,
and now it's just about everything else.
It's so much. I don't know.
It's a lot. I have a lot to… to do.
Oh, boy.
[upbeat music playing]
Well, it's fair to say
I've completed the Internet
and still can't find a pop-up venue.
So it's time to call
an expert in for help.
I'm heading back
to Potluck Club in New York,
where I first cooked for the public,
to meet its owner, Cory.
- Hey, what's up?
- [Cory] Hey, what's up, Nora?
What have you been up to?
Well, today I'm gonna look at some venues
for a pop-up for the… for Lum's.
A restaurant pop-up?
A restaurant pop-up, yeah.
And I know
that you have a lot of knowledge,
so I was wondering
if you could come help me
looking at locations today.
Location, location, location.
You know, there's a lot of things
you need to think about.
How big do you want it?
How many people do you want to serve?
- Take a look at the kitchen, decor…
- Yeah.
There's a lot of different things
you really need to consider.
I was just going to walk into a space
and, like, feel the energy.
[chuckles] Let's… We can do that too.
- Oh, let's go.
- Let's do it.
Thank you.
Starting in the West Village,
Cory and I are basically
in our Sex and the City era.
He would be Miranda and I would be Carrie,
except instead of men,
we're evaluating square footage.
First spot: a restaurant called St Tropez.
Sounds a little more rosé than roast duck,
but we'll give it a try.
- Hi.
- Welcome to St Tropez!
- Nice to meet you.
- [Cory] Beautiful.
[Awkwafina] This is awesome. It's giving
a little bit of a French vibe in here.
Yes.
- I'm French.
- Oh, that's cool.
I just saw this meme
that voted most attractive accents,
and French accent was
one of the most attractive in the world.
I'm married, so, no.
- Oh! Love that.
- [both laughing]
[Awkwafina] Can we see the kitchen?
[owner] So, yeah, the kitchen.
Like, everything is here.
- Small kitchen that is… This is my…
- [Cory] Small but mighty.
I like this space.
This is a good contender.
[Awkwafina]
I think St Tropez was beautiful.
Location ten out of ten.
I mean, it's a great size.
It's super intimate.
I would love to go
on a Tinder date there sometime.
But there's something about it that seems
very opposite of what Lum's was.
I think we should see more.
Next we're taking a short trip
over the bridge and heading to Brooklyn.
- [manager] Hello.
- [bartender] Hi.
- How's it going?
- How are ya?
- This is Singers.
- Yeah, yeah, I've been.
- He hasn't though.
- I've never been here in my life.
Let me show you around.
So this is the red room.
Nice.
Usually the lights are a little lower
and, like, there's dancing in here.
- Vibes.
- We've had DJs in here.
The vibes at night are really good.
Yeah, this place is great.
And then the kitchen
would be in the basement.
So there was a full kitchen down here,
but now we use it for storage.
We're gonna be looking for
things like venting.
[Awkwafina] Why is venting important?
Aw, man, it's gonna get very smoky
in here if you don't got a vent.
You know, Chinese cooking's gonna be
a lot of sauté and pan and wok cooking.
- Mm-hmm. Gotcha.
- Yeah.
And that's pretty much the whole space.
- All right. Bye, guys.
- [manager] See ya.
- What do you think?
- I mean, I don't know. I love that spot.
- Very cool.
- It's a wild spot.
Don't you kinda wanna party in there?
I wanna party,
but we should check out some spaces
that are more, like, restaurant-oriented.
I think we should keep on truckin'.
Finally, we're heading back
into Manhattan,
to the intersection
between Chinatown and Little Italy
and a pizzeria called Manero's.
- [Cory] Manero's.
- [Awkwafina] Nice.
I know what you're thinking.
An odd choice for a Chinese restaurant.
But I've never said no
to checking out a pizza spot.
Tony Manero,
I don't know if you know who that is.
- No.
- [owner] He's John Travolta's character
from Saturday Night Fever.
[chuckling] Oh, nice.
It's so New York.
There's something about it
that's very charming.
[owner] We host all sorts of parties,
events, pop-ups here.
[Cory] We need to see the kitchen.
- [Awkwafina] Yeah, let's see the kitchen.
- [owner] Sure.
This is where the magic happens.
You gotta watch your head.
Just do a quick little duck.
- [Cory] Okay.
- [Awkwafina] Oh, cool.
- [Cory] That's the Narnia closet.
- [owner chuckling]
Uh, we have
the three-tier monster pizza oven.
This thing can jack up
to about 600 degrees.
[Awkwafina] This is cool.
I love this. There's a lot of space,
there's a lot of canvas for you to kinda
take your own spin on it, design it.
I just really want some pizza right now.
Man, it smells so good.
Place was awesome.
What do you think?
I think we saw
three very different locations today.
- Yep.
- Um…
This one is very interesting to me.
When I first pulled up, I was like,
"I-I don't know."
- You didn't love it?
- But the second I stepped in,
there was something about it.
You know, whichever spot you pick,
we're gonna make it work.
Yeah, I hope so.
You're gonna have to think about interior.
How is it Nora's restaurant?
We have to think about front of house,
back of house…
- You look scared.
- [breathes deeply] Yeah.
- You have a lot of homework ahead of you.
- Uh-huh.
- There is a lot to be done.
- Asian people love saying that, huh?
[laughs]
Thanks, Cory.
You are the best.
I'm very, very happy
you can join me today.
You're gonna do it.
[Awkwafina] We saw
some really cool spots today.
But Manero's had… There was
something about it that really stood out.
Would my great-grandpa be happy
that I potentially wanna throw this
in a pizzeria? I don't know.
I wanna be a good steward of this,
and I want my family to feel proud.
But I do feel like
I'm in unknown territory.
It really is feeling real, and, um…
a kind of an urgency has set in, for sure.
It really is time for me to step it up.
Hey.
Hawaii. This is it, dude.
My most prominent memories
of my family's restaurant
were Hawaiian-influenced.
Shirts are optional. Don't feel compelled.
[person 1 exclaims]
[Awkwafina]
I'm really not a nature person.
Oh, my God. What is that, dude?
- [laughing]
- [person 2] You got this, chef.
I like when you call me chef.
[people exclaiming]
My pop-up is starting
to weigh on me in a way
that if I don't deliver,
it's gonna be shit.