(gentle music) Welcome to my world. (upbeat music) Two escargot, pate, frites. Two green salads. Okay, lamb and sauce here. Lamb chops, save frites. Shouldn't you be
doing something? Two sole filet and
a pepper steak. Come on. Make the dessert. Chocolate tart please. As a cook, taste and
smells are my memories. Now I'm in search of new ones. So I'm leaving New
York City and hope to have a few epiphany's
around the world and I'm willing to go to
some lengths to do that. I'm looking for
extremes of emotion and experience. I'll try anything. I'll risk everything.
I have nothing to lose. (soft music) I was born in 1956. And I realize standing right
here that fear of this country or anticipation of
what this country may or may not do at
any given moment, basically molded my whole life. Russia, this is the birthplace
of communism. I mean that's what you think
of when you think of Russia, right? You think of the Soviet
Union, you think of spies and James Bond. Guys getting sent
off to the gulag. It's so weird being here, this was denied territory
for most of my lifetime. It was unthinkable, you
know, when I was a kid that I would ever be here. And now here I am. So I don't know
what do you think of when you think of
Russian cuisine? Well you think of
borscht, right? And you think of potatoes. And smoked fish and
smoked sturgeon. Cabbage. And of course there's
the fish egg thing right? I mean even the bad guys
in movies, you know, let's have a little
vodka and caviar. Yeah bad guys, I've
always been spy crazy, I mean, all my fantasies
as a kid were, you know, wandering around in St.
Petersburg or Moscow undercover evading, you got it, sinister
bad guys with Russian accents. (dramatic music) But today I'm not evading
my Russian adversary, I'm rendezvousing with them. Alright, I'm gonna meet my guy. Recognition signal, rolled up Russian
newspaper right hand, partly torn. (inquisitive music) The fish is red. Only on Wednesdays. Zamir? Tony, you made it,
welcome to wonderland. Welcome to St. Petersburg. Happy to be here,
you got the car? Sure let's walk. Zamir takes me to our
car where he introduces me to Alexei our driver. Zamir and his driver,
Alexei, are going to show me around
St. Petersburg. Just a town with a long
and glorious tradition and some mighty
good food I hear. This guy makes me nervous, he doesn't say a single word. We're supposedly on our
way to a traditional country style restaurant
with live Russian folk music. That is if they don't
take me out to the woods and drop me in a
frozen lake somewhere. Okay, so no frozen lake
but this place looks like a hunting lodge in
the middle of Syberia. We're about, from what
I gather, about 30 miles outside of St. Petersburg. Yeah. Where are we? Exactly, this place
is called Povordye, nice Russian cuisine restaurant. Country style. Country style, going
to like the place. Kosak dancing? [Zamir] Kosak dancing
is part of the treat. (traditional Russian music) Back in the states you
can't just pick up the phone and dial Russian take out. So most American's know very
little about Russian cuisine. Many parts of Russia
have a hearty tradition of stick to your ribs
meat and potatoes fare, not unlike the American Midwest. Povordye specializes
in traditional country style Russian cuisine. Here in the kitchen, they're
busy making everything from potato pancakes, to traditional
Russian dumplings, to meat and fish dishes, (sizzles) with of course,
a little cabbage. All of these recipes evolved
through the centuries based on what the Russian people
could grow or find locally. Of course, in the olden days,
your average Russian peasant would consider themselves
lucky to have even one of these things
during a typical meal. Our meal begins with a
bombardment of zakusky. A tradition Russian appetizer. Beautiful. Okay, I'm really getting
into pickles in this country. I have to tell you I'm really
loving this pickled plums. [Zamir] Yup. [Tony] Pickled grapes. Pickled garlic. [Zamir] Yup. [Tony] Pickled wild mushrooms. [Zamir] Yup. [Tony] Smoked sturgeon. [Zamir] Yeah. Pickled lamprey eel. Let's eat. A huge bottle of chilled
vodka has come to our table. This being lunch I'm a
little hesitant to imbibe but Zamir manages to convince me it's part of the
whole experience. Better? Tony you made amends but
this time try to enjoy it, it's not like you are in
a, going through the test like in a drug institution,
you enjoy the whole thing. What do you know about me? What does he mean by that
drug institution crap? (laughter) Just to, you know,
show that you are happy? I'm getting there, don't
worry, by shot three, I'll be happy. I think this is
gonna be the start of a beautiful friendship. Now I'm famously not
very fond of salads. I make a lot of fun of
vegetarians and salad, I'm not, I've always been
not very interested in them but here, it's different,
I really love this. Possibly because
salad, is all pickled, and seems to go very,
very well with alcohol. You are right. [Tony] Our main course
is finally arrived. [Zamir] The reindeer. This is definitely
my first reindeer. I've been cruel to
so many other animals on this trip that I figure
let's kill off Donder and Blitzen and Rudolph too, eh? How does it smell? Smells fantastic. Good. And if you're making
reindeer at home, (chuckles) I would, what they've done
here is clearly marinate and slow braise,
it's very tender. Little juniper, dill, boiled potato in there, I think I saw a carrot
floating around, it's quite good. Do I think I'm gonna put
this on my menu in New York, I don't know that
we're ready for it yet. Maybe for Christmas. Ah ha. (laughs) Just to horrify children. Get maybe like a kid's
menu for Christmas. Add a little braised reindeer, just hear their little
squeals, but, but Dad, he didn't kill
Donder or Blitzen, he didn't kill Rudolph did he? Yes Timmy, he did. So that's, one less reindeer Santa's got to contend with next Christmas. Right. My work here is done. Alright. Zamir and I decide to
head back to St. Petersburg to sleep off our vodka lunch. Oh, okay. Tomorrow he tells me,
is gonna be a big day. St. Petersburg,
here two centuries of autocratic czarist rule
ended after the revolution of 1917. This place, the church of
the resurrection of Christ, is built on the very spot
where Alexander the Second, one of the last Czars, was
blown up by a terrorist group. I can't believe it all
kind of happened here. But since the
downfall of communism, this place is the site
of a very different kind of explosion. Buy something? For two dollars. Case or botle? [Tony] Free enterprise, Welcome to the St. Petersburg. I love you. I've decided a little support of the new economy was in order. A big fluffy hat. I'm in for a little
souvenir shopping. I think it's too small. Oh yeah. Something like this in black? Oh up top? Like this? So do I look fat in this hat? Ah too warm. Okay, mirror please. Oh yeah, this is
much more my style. Yes I like this
one, I'll take it. How much is this first? This is just 300 rubles. It's ten dollars. It's ten dollars, I'll take it. Here you go. You know, when I signed
on to do this series I demanded three things
on my contract okay? No nudity was not one
of them by the way. Let's see, it was no karaoke, no dancing and no funny hats. Well, one down, two to go. (russian string music) Okay, breakfast
in St. Petersburg. Should be an exciting
experience for us. Okay, now you've got to
tell me the name of this place and what it all means. The thing it's called,
(speaks foreign language) word for word translation,
the blintzy party at the mother in law's
home, and according to Russian old tradition,
during this week of (mumbles) like holidays dedicated
to the farewell to winter, the mother in law should
invite her son in law for home made blintz party. Right. So since not everyone
has mother in law, some people would
prefer to come over here as a public catering
facility with a great name. Mmhmm, mother in law would
not be a good advertisement in the States, I have to tell
you, you'd have a hard time getting people
into a restaurant. (laughter) Okay. Quick recipe, make a tender
pancake of primarily eggs, flour, and sugar, roll it up with almost any filling
you could think of, saute until golden brown and
you have a Russian blintzy. Okay places known for
blintzy's so this is clearly what I'm eating here. That's the specialty,
so we start at the top, blintzy with meat, with fish,
with liver, with vegetables, with different fruits, with
curd, even with caviar. Now I'm thinking, it's morning,
I'm thinking of something a little sweet, what
would you recommend? A little sweet probably
should be with curd and dry apricots. No that sounds good. Pretty interesting combination. So like a yogurt and uh, yogurt and dried apricot. Yeah. Sounds good to me. [Zamir] Wonderful. Alright where are we know? Oh that's your probably
favorite department with the homemade jam. [Tony] Mmhmm. Sour cream, or the condensed skim milk. Okay. Which is very sweet
but I love it this way. Well that sounds
thoroughly frightening to me but I want to try it. You know, a little
of this on this here. This is kind of like
a short order joint in the States, the griddle
certainly familiar. The steam table here,
we've seen that before. Certainly we've seen this. Right, (laughs). We've seen this a few
times in the States. I have a sneaky suspicion,
I hope we didn't invent this this is. No. Good, good. Oh really? I hope Russians invented this. Good you can take
credit for that. Please be my guest. Yes. There's something very
IHOP-y about this experience. I hope you enjoy the
typical Russian breakfast in a public place. Yeah I think yesterday I'd
already had two shots of vodka by this time of day. Right. [Tony] Oh that's great. So curd, dried apricot, [Zamir] Yup. [Tony] And condensed
milk reduced. Really good, sweet
but not too sweet. Not only is this a
great hot breakfast but it turns out
blintzy's are wonderful for a vodka hangover
but Zamir advises me to keep it light
on this occasion because he has an even
bigger surprise in store. After breakfast my
guide Zamir takes me on a sightseeing tour. I'm beginning to understand
why there was a revolution. Catherine the Great lived here? And the horse thing's
not true by the way. (horse snorts) We're talking five, ten,
people lived in this house? Well, maximum. Five or ten people. (laughs) I get it, Catherine lives there, probably all holed
up in one corner watching the wide screen
TV, bored out of her mind because she's got
everything that she wants and over here I guess we've got where the loyal retainers
lived, meaning probably the chef and if I were alive
in that time Catherine would be calling me up
four o'clock in the morning for her favorite peanut
butter and bacon sandwiches or egg white omelets. No oil. That's the problem
with rich people, special requests, okay? I want the vegetables
on a separate plate, sauce on the side, could I
have the sauce on the fish on the steak please? And you can't say no, right? You know, Catherine
the Great calls you up four o'clock in the
morning and says, you know, I want the Kung Pao chicken, I guess you're making it. I'm pissed at her already. If my neighbor lived like
this I'd kill him too. (laughs) (traditional Russian music) After being suspiciously
secretive Zamir informs me that it's time for
his big surprise. And her name is Ludmilla. A friend of Zamir's,
she's planning a trip to the local market, followed
by a home cooked Russian meal. We're gonna do a little shopping and we have a
specialist with us. Strategic shopping coming up. (chatter) Kuznechny Market is
St. Patersburg's largest and best stocked market. It is not typical for this
economically challenged country. This is all wrong, isn't it
supposed to be all bread lines and no food. This looks better than Zabar. It's teeming with fresh
fruits, vegetables, meats, and of course,
pickled everything. (playful music) Like so many Russians, Ludmilla
lives within a tight budget. So a little advice to consumers, she moves through this crowd like a heat seeking missile man. She is not the kind of
woman you want to mess with at a red tag sale. Very finicky shopper here,
she's got very definite ideas about what she wants. I'm really curious to see, I think we're going
for borscht here. I'm expecting cabbage and beets. Touchdown. There's definitely
negotiations over price here. She doesn't get the price
she wants she moves on. Usually with a rude word. I wish I knew what
she was saying. I think it's something
along the lines of, your beets suck, these
are, how much do you think you're gonna charge me for that? Oh yeah go jump in a lake. Beets in hand, Ludmilla
moves on to the butcher. I'm amazed by countries
where the meat at the market is not refrigerated, I mean
it is really cold in here. Looks better, it's better
fresher stuff then the stuff you see in the meat
counter in the supermarket all shrink wrapped and sitting at the health department
approved temperatures. We get spoiled by
refrigeration you know, let's just leave it kicking
around for a few days these guys don't have that
luxury, sell it today, period. If Ludmilla's market
prowess is any indication of her cooking skills, this is gonna be a treat. In her kitchen,
Ludmilla gets to work, immediately, this is
a woman possessed. She never stops. Apparently she never
stops talking either. If I could understand her,
I'm sure she'd be telling me she's making classic
Russian borscht. Borscht is a soup made
primarily of beets. While borscht wouldn't be
borscht without the beets, there's a tremendous
amount of flexibility and various recipes. Ludmilla's also contains meat, cabbage, potatoes, and onions, and of course her
own special blend of fresh garlic and spices. While that simmers for a while, Ludmilla starts the main course, small traditional
meat dumplings. This dish again how
do you pronounce it? She starts by grinding the
meat, the old fashioned way. So all of this was hand ground? [Ludmilla] Yes. This is no joke, this
takes some serious muscle. If Ludmilla ever
got sent to Siberia, I think she could hold her own. Next she makes the
dough from flour, eggs, milk, salt, and oil. It's a long complicated process. Dough is tough, I'm
hopeless with making dough. I just I, it senses fear. Maybe communism
isn't dead after all? When it's time to
stuff the pal-men-i, Ludmilla puts me to work. (spirited music) Finally the pal-men-i
is going in the pot. Now it's simply
a matter of time. (upbeat music) In Russia the presence of a
guest is considered an honor. It is the host who
should thank the guest and my new friend Ludmilla
is about to thank me with a hearty bowl of
her home cooked borscht. A tradition the
way a legend says, it should be as thick,
so that the spoon, is you stick it in, Right. We saw it all being bought,
saw it all being made, now it's, Mmhmm. You're watching me eat it. Mmm, mmm. Perfect happiness. Yeah? I'm feeling good
actually, I'm right in the, right in the groove here. It's the simple food
that chef's crave, it's home cooking and for me, I'm continually fascinated
by bread and soup. It's like alchemy, you're
turning simple ingredients into something magical
through sorcery. Now it was time for us
workers to enjoy the fruits of our labor. Ludmilla dishes
up the pal-men-i. Mmm. Fresh pal-men-i, pork, beef, ground
with onion, garlic, homemade dough,
boiled and served, everybody seems to have a
slightly different style of enjoying this. I'm going for the mustard,
horseradish and sour cream. And of course topped with
fresh parsley and chopped dill. As always someone busts out the
bottle of Vodka with dinner. I will be donating
my liver to science upon my return to New York. This is the way to eat, forget about restaurants,
homemade food, there's no substitute for it. And it would have been
a terrible injustice to have come and gone
without experiencing something this wonderful. Alexei, the driver, pours
vodka and cranberry juice for a toast. What a bunch of
wonderful characters? Alexei, who never says a word, Ludmilla, who never stops, and Zamir, who not only
turned out to be a good guy after all but has quite
the gastronomic sense. To good food, good company, a gracious host, a good
cook, and good vodka. [Ludmilla] Thank you. Thank you. (glasses clink) I think I'm really
gonna miss this place. What the hell were we thinking
with the Cold War anyway? Hey I wonder if that
reindeer place is still open? (exciting music)
