Dan gives up the hosting chair and becomes a contestant in our most popular (and only) Sporkful game show, 2 Chefs And A Lie! The game is simple. Dan talks with three “chefs.” Two are real, and one is a faker with a made-up resume. Dan gets five questions per chef to determine who’s legit, and who doesn’t know their bass from their elbow. The best part: You can play along! Can you spot the fake chef?
The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Tracey Samuelson, and Jared O'Connell.
Interstitial music in this episode by Black Label Music:
- "Company" by Hayley Briasco
- "Stepwise Synth Arc" by Ken Brahmstedt
- "Intrepid Stratagem" by Stephen Sullivan
- "Comin' For A Change" by Stephen Sullivan
Photo courtesy of The Sporkful.
View Transcript
Dan Pashman: Hey, Andres.
Andres O’Hara: How you doing?
Dan Pashman: I'm doing well.
Andres O’Hara: Good.
Dan Pashman: Here we are in the studio.
Andres O’Hara: Yeah.
Dan Pashman: We're taping a show, and I have never prepared less.
Andres O’Hara: Oh, wait. Dan, you don't have your — you don't have your prep?
Dan Pashman: [LAUGHS] I mean, I have a few random notes that you sent me?
Andres O’Hara: Oh, sorry. Hold on. Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot the prep. Okay, here, I'll get you your prep. One second
Dan Pashman: [LAUGHS] Normally, my prep is like 15 pages. Andres just handed me a piece of paper on which he wrote in sharpie, "Two Chefs and a Lie". All right. [LAUGHS]
Andres O’Hara: Cue the music.
MUSIC
Dan Pashman: This is The Sporkful. It's not for foodies, it's for eaters. I'm Dan Pashman. Each week on our show, we obsess about food to learn more about people. And for the second time in our show's history, we're turning this into a game show. We're playing Two Chefs and a Lie. And I am not really the host of this game. I'm a contestant like you, dear listener. We're going to play together.
Dan Pashman: And here is our master of ceremonies is producer Andres O’Hara. So we played this game on the show once before, Andres. Tell folks how it works.
Andres O’Hara: For sure, Dan. So this game is sort of like two truths and a lie. Here we've got three chefs set up for you on Zoom, two are real chefs, one is the liar. Your job is to find the liar.
Dan Pashman: They're on Zoom, but we've turned off video, so I can't see them. Just like listeners can't see them.
Andres O’Hara: You're not biased by them.
Dan Pashman: Right.
Andres O’Hara: But they're all here. And your job is to figure out who are the two chefs and who is the liar.
Dan Pashman: Okay. And what other rules are there?
Andres O’Hara: So each of the chefs are going to give you a quick intro to tell you who they are and then you get to ask them questions. But the rules are: No Google, no Internet, no phones. And that goes for the folks at home, too. The last rule, you only have five questions.
Dan Pashman: Oh, I forgot about that rule. Yeah, I didn't ... I didn't pick the liar last time.
Andres O’Hara: And so, Dan, do you think you can redeem yourself this time?
Dan Pashman: I hope so.
Andres O’Hara: So this is your second time around. Do you have any thoughts on how you're going to approach these chefs?
Dan Pashman: A lot of it just comes down to kind of gut feeling at the end. The real challenge is that if you try to figure out whose story seems most outlandish or most extraordinary ...
Andres O’Hara: Mm-hmm.
Dan Pashman: That can be a pitfall because being the good producer that you are Andres, you didn't just find me — I'm sure the real chefs are not just any old chefs. You found some good chefs with some good stories. So, the fact that their story may be noteworthy ...
Andres O’Hara: Right. Mm-hmm.
Dan Pashman: Doesn't mean that it's not true.
Andres O’Hara: I mean, that could be true. I could have found you chefs with a good story. I could be a good producer, but you never know.
Dan Pashman: Maybe that's the lie?
Andres O’Hara: Maybe that's the lie.
[LAUGHING]
Andres O’Hara: I've been the liar the whole time, Dan.
[LAUGHING]
MUSIC
Andres O’Hara: So let's meet our first chef. Take it away, Angela.
Angela Fortunato: Hi. I'm Angela Fortunato. I'm originally from Youngstown, Ohio, and I'm still in Youngstown, Ohio with my entire family. I've been a head chef at Bubba Netta’s for 12 years. When I was in high school, I started as a busser and I worked my way up and I held almost every position. So I have no classic training, but I was trained there.
Andres O’Hara: Okay, Dan, so you've got five questions for Angela.
Dan Pashman: Tell me about the history of the name of the restaurant Bubba Netta’s.
Angela Fortunato: So Bubba Netta’s is their grandmother and they call her Bubba, which actually means old woman. [LAUGHS] So it's a really, really flattering name. And but her name was Annette. So it's Bubba Netta’s.
Dan Pashman: What's the address of the restaurant?
Angela Fortunato: 64 Cardinal Drive. That's Canfield, Ohio, 44406.
Andres O’Hara: I don't know. What would a real chef give the zip code? What do you think?
Dan Pashman: I don't know. I mean, that's ... yeah, I mean that's ...
Angela Fortunato: It's a real small town, guys. I'm proud of it.
Dan Pashman: Okay. What is your favorite thing to cook and why? I'm counting that as one question.
Andres O’Hara: All right. All right.
[LAUGHING]
Andres O’Hara: Your show, Dan
Angela Fortunato: Lot of loopholes.
Dan Pashman: Yeah, yeah.
Angela Fortunato: A lot of loopholes.
Dan Pashman: I come from a long line of lawyers.
[LAUGHING]
Angela Fortunato: Oh, my favorite thing to cook is braciole. I grew up going to the Italian Fest. It's called the Brier Hill Fest — that's in Youngstown — with my cousins and they have a stand there. And so we'd always cook braciole and it's like overnight. It just brings a lot of family memories back and my cousin is no longer with us, so it's very special to me to cook that. And I actually was able to put that on our menu at Bubba Netta’s.
Dan Pashman: Explain to me in detail how you cook the braciole.
Angela Fortunato: So you can use pounded beef filet. We use that good old fashioned skirt steak, baby. And we pound it really, really thin. And then we stuff it with cheese, parsley, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil. We rub that all on it, and then we now put Italian greens inside of it as well. But we put that in and then we roll it together and we tie it up and we put it in our homemade sauce. I can't give you the detail about that. We just simmer it for a very long time overnight and there is a lot of Black Velvet drank while we're cooking it. And then we put it in ...
Dan Pashman: Wait, this is a quick sidebar. This doesn’t count as a question. What's Black Velvet?
Angela Fortunato: It's a whiskey.
Dan Pashman: Okay.
Angela Fortunato: You've got to come to have a bonfire. We just pass around a bottle of it.
Dan Pashman: While making the braciole?
Andres O’Hara: Yeah. Ooh.
Angela Fortunato: No, I'm saying you have to come to my house for a bonfire and nice and Midwestern and inviting you to my home.
Dan Pashman: Oh okay. [LAUGHS] That's very nice. Got it. Got it. Okay. Thank you.
Angela Fortunato: But ...
[LAUGHING]
Andres O’Hara: The cynical New Yorker couldn't believe it.
Dan Pashman: Right. Right.
Angela Fortunato: Yeah. I'm so sorry. A lot of red flags, being kind, I guess.
Dan Pashman: [LAUGHING]
Angela Fortunato: No, but we just — and we — and so we simmer that overnight and then we actually — we don't put it in like a fork and knife dish. We put it in a hoagie.
Andres O’Hara: Mmm.
Dan Pashman: That was all very believable.
Andres O’Hara: Last question, Dan.
Dan Pashman: All right. Here we go. One more question. Why haven't you gone to another restaurant, Angela?
Angela Fortunato: My entire family lives in a 15-mile radius of my house, and I don't want to be the monster of the family that leaves, because one of my siblings left and they are very frowned upon. And I mean, they taught me everything I know. When I got hired, the woman, her name is Phyllis Olen, and she works the front of the house, she was like, I like people that have never worked anywhere else, cause I get to train them exactly as I can be. And so call it Stockholm Syndrome, but I really like where I work.
[LAUGHING]
Dan Pashman: And wait, your brother who left, where’d he move, like Cleveland?
Angela Fortunato: No, it was my sister.
Dan Pashman: Oh.
Angela Fortunato: And unfortunately, she moved to Cleveland, but now she's in Charleston, South Carolina.
Dan Pashman: Oh, okay. That is — that's a whole other place.
Andres O’Hara: Mm-hmm.
Dan Pashman: Okay.
Angela Fortunato: That's a whole other state. [LAUGHS]
Dan Pashman: Angela, thank you very much. If your restaurant actually exists, it sounds fantastic and I would love to eat there sometime.
Angela Fortunato: Well, thank you for having me.
MUSIC
Andres O’Hara: All right, Dan, those are your five questions for Angela. How do you feel about your strategy after talking to our first chef?
Dan Pashman: I think it was okay. I think I — I think the questions where you ask someone to sort of about like a story or how they feel, that's that's kind of easy to fudge.
Andres O’Hara: Uh-huh.
Dan Pashman: I think I should be asking a little bit more pointed detail type questions.
Andres O’Hara: Okay.
Dan Pashman: We got into a couple.
Andres O’Hara: Okay.
Dan Pashman: The recipe for the braciole.
Andres O’Hara: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Dan Pashman: I just think that the whole story just seemed believable to me.
Andres O’Hara: Mm-hm.
Dan Pashman: And the family details and being at this restaurant, it just like — you know, it just — I would I would rate that one as pretty credible.
MUSIC
Andres O’Hara: So let's go with chef number two.
Ji Hye Kim: My name is Ji Hye Kim. I am chef in Ann Arbor, Michigan. My restaurant is called Miss Kim. It's part of Zingerman's community of businesses.
Dan Pashman: Zingerman’s, the famous Ann Arbor Deli, and that’s also a restaurant group. Is that right?
Ji Hye Kim: Yes.
Dan Pashman: Got it. Go on.
Ji Hye Kim: I was born and raised in Seoul, Korea. My mother was an excellent cook and still is. Gosh, she's not passed away. [LAUGHS] And I emigrated to New Jersey and I ended up in Michigan because I went to University of Michigan. My food is inspired by Midwestern Michigan produce and ancient Korean cookbooks.
Dan Pashman: Hi. Ji Hye, first of all.
Ji Hye Kim: Hi.
Dan Pashman: Hi, nice to meet you.
Ji Hye Kim: Nice to meet you, too.
Dan Pashman: Describe to me a dish you make that you think brings together ancient Korean recipes and Midwestern Michigan produce especially well.
Ji Hye Kim: Mm-hmm. We have this dish called tteokbokki. It's sautéed rice cakes, and we do a several different versions. But the version that I think that brings the ancient traditions better is the royale style. This is a sautéed rice cakes dish that originated from the palace and has many luxurious ingredients like mushrooms and vegetables and eggs and different kind of meat. And then it slowly evolves into braised like spicy rice cakes that you see everywhere in Korea without those ingredients. So at the restaurant we use Michigan mushrooms, beets, sometimes asparagus, if asparagus is in season, and we sautéed that traditional way with soy sauce based sauce rather than gochujang based sauce, which is chili paste, and then we serve it as vegetarian. And I think that has become one of our most popular dishes on the menu.
Dan Pashman: I love tteokbokki, first of all. It's so good. What is the secret to keeping it crispy even after it has been added to a sauce or broth?
Andres O’Hara: That's question two.
Ji Hye Kim: So our version is sautéed really quickly with not that much sauce. The sauce is intensely flavored, but it's not sitting in sauce and it's sautéed pretty hard. So it's crispy on the outside and chewy and textural interest is still there. So it stays crispy without the sauce.
Dan Pashman: I mean, it's a Hall of Fame food, tteokbokki, the rice cakes crispy on the outside. But usually when I've had it, I've had it in a stew and it does still manage to maintain crisp even being in a broth, which to me is part of its magic and something that I love about it, because you don't usually get crispy components inside the liquid of a stew.
Ji Hye Kim: Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, rice cakes are made 100 percent with rice flour rather than wheat flour. It holds its texture a little better.
Dan Pashman: Right. Right. All right. I'm just chatting here.
Andres O’Hara: Oh, sure. Sure.
Dan Pashman: Just chatting.
Andres O’Hara: Sure. Yeah. I didn't hear I didn't hear a question mark, so I'll let it slide, you know?
[LAUGHING]
Dan Pashman: What's the address of your restaurant?
Ji Hye Kim: Are you going to ask this to every single chef? Just checking. It's 415 North Fifth Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Dan Pashman: No, zip code
Andres O’Hara: No, zip code. Suspicious.
[LAUGHING]
Ji Hye Kim: I'm going to mess with you a little bit.
Dan Pashman: All right. All right. Who was the starting quarterback for the Michigan Wolverines last year?
Ji Hye Kim: Oh, I have no idea. I don't follow sports, but I do follow the dates because it does impact the business of the restaurant. I think the last quarterback I know is Tom Brady from like 20 years ago.
Dan Pashman: Okay.
[LAUGHING]
Dan Pashman: Of course, it's okay to not be a sports fan, but I mean, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, home of the University of Michigan — it's a college town.
Andres O’Hara: Hmm.
Dan Pashman: I would think, even if you're not that into it, you would just through osmosis, [Andres O’Hara: Yeah.] pick up a few basic bits of information. I'm going to risk it. I'm getting another question on the same vein. Who are the Michigan Wolverines arch rivals?
Ji Hye Kim: Oh, Ohio and Wisconsin. I don't know the team names.
Dan Pashman: Ohio?
Ji Hye Kim: Yeah. Ohio.
Andres O’Hara: Oooh.
Ji Hye Kim: And Wisconsin.
Andres O’Hara: Dan's looking a little disappointed. He's writing.
Dan Pashman: Okay. All right, so that's four questions in.
Andres O’Hara: One question left.
Dan Pashman: This — I'm just confirming a fact here.
Andres O’Hara: All right.
Dan Pashman: You said that your restaurant is part — is connected to Zingerman's, the famous deli in Ann Arbor.
Ji Hye Kim: Yes.
Dan Pashman: Okay. What is your favorite menu item at Zingerman's, not counting your restaurant, And why?
Ji Hye Kim: Oh, are we talking sandwiches or are we talking the entire product line?
Dan Pashman: Entire product line.
Ji Hye Kim: Okay. The entire product line. Zingerman's Bakehouse have this bread called country miche. They use locally milled grains and it's super crusty and the crumbs — crumb is still soft. It's the best bread in the country.
Dan Pashman: You could have Google that, but okay.
[LAUGHING]
Ji Hye Kim: Or, did I?
Dan Pashman: All right, Ji Hye. Well, thank you so much for joining us. And it was lovely to speak with you. And if your restaurant exists, I would love to come there sometime.
Ji Hye Kim: Come on by. Thank you.
MUSIC
Andres O’Hara: All right, Dan. That was Ji Hye Kim. And you — you kind of tweaked your strategy a little bit. You even did two questions [Dan Pashman: Yeah.] about sports when you knew she wasn't a sports fan. Did that tell you anything? Was there anything …
Dan Pashman: Well, as I said, I feel that in a major college town like Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Andres O’Hara: Mm-hmm.
Dan Pashman: Even if you're not much of a fan, you should have some basic — like just from talking to people coming into your restaurant, [Andres O’Hara: Yeah, yeah.] you know, from chatting with your neighbors in town, [Andres O’Hara: Right.] you're going to pick up information, [Andres O’Hara: Mm-hmm.] even if you don't really care.
Andres O’Hara: Mm-hmm.
Dan Pashman: So that's why I didn't ask complicated, hard core questions.
Andres O’Hara: Oh.
Dan Pashman: Just very basics, like who is Michigan's rival?
Andres O’Hara: Mm-hmm.
Dan Pashman: And she said Ohio and Wisconsin. So that's not a great answer on two fronts. First of all, it's Ohio State.
Andres O’Hara: Hmm.
Dan Pashman: Which is not the same as Ohio.
Andres O’Hara: Mm-hmm.
Dan Pashman: And I mean, you've got to know that. And I mean, Wisconsin is, I guess kind of a rival — Michigan, Ohio State.
Andres O’Hara: Right.
Dan Pashman: Is one of the — it's like the Yankees and the Red Sox, the Dodgers and the Giants, Duke and North Carolina in college basketball.
Andres O’Hara: Mm-hmm.
Dan Pashman: It's one of the classic sports rivalries in America.
Andres O’Hara: Uh-huh.
Dan Pashman: So the fact that she didn't know that right off the top of her head, you know, like you don't need to be a sports fan to know that if you're living in the heart of it.
Andres O’Hara: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Dan Pashman: She also didn't give me a zip code.
Andres O’Hara: Ooh. Didn't give you a zip.
[LAUGHING]
MUSIC
Andres O’Hara: Okay, Dan. Time to take a quick break. When we come back, we've got our last chef and then the big reveal. Who are the chefs? Who's the liar? Stick around.
MUSIC
+++BREAK+++
MUSIC
Dan Pashman: Welcome back to The Sporkful. I’m Dan Pashman. And we are just one wee away from our first Sporkful live taping in New York since before COVID. I can't wait. I’ll be chatting with Vanessa Pham from Omsom, and Chitra Agrawal from Brooklyn Delhi. These are both up and coming food brands that are trying to sell Asian inspired products to a mass American audience. What are the challenges with that? What are the opportunities? I'm excited for this discussion. It's going to be thoughtful and and also a lot of fun. And you're gonna try some of their food, too, because there's going to be samples and food for sale and give aways. And Banza and Sfoglini cascatelli will be there!
Dan Pashman: Yes, Sfoglini co-founder Scott Ketchum, famous from his appearances here on The Sporkful, will be there manning the Sfoglini table. He’ll even autograph your box of cascatelli, if you want. That's next Wednesday, July 20th at the Bell House in Brooklyn, get your tickets now at sporkful.com/live. Okay, back to the show.
Dan Pashman: And Andres, I turn things back over to you.
Andres O’Hara: All right, Dan. Welcome back to Two Chefs and a Lie.
[SINGING TOGETHER]
MUSIC
Andres O’Hara: We're talking to three chefs here on Zoom. Two are real chefs and one is a liar. Your job is to figure out who's the liar. Dan, we've got only one chef left to go. Five questions. Are you ready?
Dan Pashman: I'm ready.
Chanthy Yen: Hey everybody, my name is Chanthy Yen. I am calling from Canada's capital city in Ottawa, and I've been cooking for about 20 years and I am currently the chef to the prime minister.
Dan Pashman: What? Oh, man. Major curveball here. See, this is what I, like — on one hand, that sounds ridiculous.
Andres O’Hara: Mm-hmm.
Dan Pashman: But it also, like, you know, could be the kind of thing that you, Andres, would have been like, I'm going to get the chef of the prime minister on the line. And you can't make those things up.
Andres O’Hara: Or can you?
Dan Pashman: Or can you? Oh, man. All right. Okay, this is intense.
Andres O’Hara: [LAUGHS]
Dan Pashman: All right, so just recap the facts. This isn't a question. So Chanthy, hi, Nice to meet you.
Chanthy Yen: Hey, nice to meet you.
Dan Pashman: You're from Ottawa?
Chanthy Yen: I am currently residing in Ottawa. I was born and raised in Windsor, Ontario. And yeah, I've been cooking for about 20 years.
Dan Pashman: And you are now the chef to the prime minister of Canada.
Chanthy Yen: Correct.
Dan Pashman: Who is Justin Trudeau.
Chanthy Yen: Yes.
Dan Pashman: So Chanthy, sorry I interrupted you, but go on with your intro, please.
Chanthy Yen: So I've been cooking in Michelin star restaurants. I've cooked across the country and I'm also writing a cookbook
Dan Pashman: Well, congratulations, if that's true.
Chanthy Yen: [LAUGHS] I guess we'll have to find out.
Dan Pashman: Right. Okay. So ... hmm.
Chanthy Yen: You don't even understand. I'm smiling so hard right now.
[LAUGHING]
Dan Pashman: I mean, there's a lot of questions [Chanthy Yen: Yeah.] rushing through my mind right now. Okay. Okay. Let me think. Tell me the story of getting this job that you have as the chef to the prime minister of Canada.
Chanthy Yen: All right. So I was in Montreal about to make a move to Vancouver, which is where my partner is from. And I was outside and I received a phone call from an unknown number offering me a job to be the personal chef to the prime minister. And I thought it was one of my friends making a joke. So I entertained it and I accepted it. And then a couple of months later, it came to fruition. And I am now the chef of the prime minister.
Dan Pashman: Okay. Okay. Question two. So you accepted the job not knowing whether the offer was actually real?
Chanthy Yen: That's right. It was a long process, but I ended up passing the criminal record checks for some reason.
[LAUGHING]
Chanthy Yen: And here I am. [LAUGHS]
Dan Pashman: What kind of socks was Justin Trudeau wearing yesterday?
Chanthy Yen: Oh, I have no clue. I would have to ask a housekeeper, I guess.
Andres O’Hara: Doesn't even know [Dan Pashman: Ooh.] the color of the socks.
Dan Pashman: That was a waste of a question. Or was it?
Andres O’Hara: Hmm.
Dan Pashman: Isn't he famous for wacky socks?
Andres O’Hara: That's definitely what he’s famous for.
[LAUGHING]
Dan Pashman: All right. All right. So that three questions down. Huh?
Andres O’Hara: Two to go.
Dan Pashman: Go. Okay. Okay. We got to get serious here. Um ...
Andres O’Hara: Ask him a sports question.
Dan Pashman: [LAUGHS]
Chanthy Yen: Oh, jeez.
Dan Pashman: All right, Chanthy. I'm going to say the name of another world leader and I want you to tell me what you cooked for this person when they came to Canada for a state dinner.
Chanthy Yen: [LAUGHS]
Dan Pashman: You ready?
Chanthy Yen: Isn't that, like, wrong? Isn't that, like, against confidentiality?
Dan Pashman: You're not supposed to say?
Chanthy Yen: I wouldn't be able to, I don't believe.
Dan Pashman: Really? You can't say what you serve?
Chanthy Yen: Nu-uh.
Dan Pashman: Oh.
Andres O’Hara: Oh.
Dan Pashman: I don't know if that's believable or suspicious.
Andres O’Hara: Too good to be true.
Dan Pashman: Yeah. That seems like an easy out Chanthy.
Andres O’Hara: Yeah.
Dan Pashman: Can you tell me about some meal that you cooked in your job without referencing who it was for?
Chanthy Yen: Absolutely. So I made … Hmm.
Dan Pashman: Details, please.
Chanthy Yen: I made a blueberry cheesecake for an actor. And that actor is vegan in Vancouver and …
Andres O’Hara: Vegan only in Vancouver.
[LAUGHING]
Chanthy Yen: And it was a very homestyle blueberry pie with rock sugar topping.
Dan Pashman: How many questions have I used so far, Andres?
Andres O’Hara: That's four questions.
Dan Pashman: That's — oof! I'm going to stick with the strategy that I had last time, which is to go deeper when I sense weakness.
Andres O’Hara: Uh-huh.
Chanthy Yen: All right.
Dan Pashman: I want to hear more about this blueberry cheesecake, because ...
Andres O’Hara: Vegan.
Dan Pashman: How is it vegan? And tell me more than just you put rock sugar on it.
Chanthy Yen: Absolutely. So it is a pate frisee but made with a vegan butter and ...
Dan Pashman: Those sounded like made-up words.
Chanthy Yen: [LAUGHS] It's French.
Dan Pashman: [LAUGHS] Okay. Go on.
Chanthy Yen: And it was wild blueberry season in Vancouver so that the blueberries were cooked down and tossed in cornstarch slurry, and then crusted with a bit of rock salt, topped with smoked whipped cream.
Dan Pashman: Smoked whipped cream!
Chanthy Yen: Mm-hmm.
Dan Pashman: I mean, that sounds delicious. It sounds like something that only a real chef or someone pretending to be a real chef would know.
Andres O’Hara: Those are the two categories.
[LAUGHING]
Andres O’Hara: All right, Dan. tThose are your five questions. Chanthy, thank you so much.
Dan Pashman: Thank you, Chanthy.
Chanthy Yen: Thank you.
MUSIC
Andres O’Hara: So just to recap, we've got two chefs and a liar. Angela Fortunato, whose restaurant Bubba Nettas in Ohio. We've got Ji Hye Kim, the owner of Miss Kim in Ann Arbor, Michigan. And we've got Chanthy Yen, personal chef to Justin Trudeau. And just for a little twist now, I want each of our chefs to tell me who they think the liar is. And we're going to tally it up.
Dan Pashman: Ohh.
Andres O’Hara: Angela, who do you think the liar is?
Angela Fortunato: Ji Hye.
Andres O’Hara: All right. Angela thinks Ji Hye is the liar. Ji Hye, who do you think the liar is?
Ji Hye Kim: I think Angela.
Andres O’Hara: Angela. Ooh. I don't know if that she really thinks that or if that was retribution.
[LAUGHING]
Andres O’Hara: But either way, they're canceling each other out.
Dan Pashman: All right.
Andres O’Hara: All right, last one. Chanthy. Who do you think the liar is?
Chanthy Yen: I think it's Angela.
Andres O’Hara: Angela. Okay. All right. We've got two for Angela, one for Ji Hye, none for Chanthy, who is the personal chef to Justin Trudeau but doesn't know what socks he wears.
[LAUGHING]
Andres O’Hara: So, Dan, after listening to these three stories, how are you approaching who you think the liar is?
Dan Pashman: A lot of it's just sort of a combination of gut and how they handle details.
Andres O’Hara: Mm-hmm.
Dan Pashman: Angela's story just sort of felt very kind of complete. It was very simple. It's strange to me. I've never heard of a chef being at the same restaurant for that long from the time they started. I'm sure it's happened.
Andres O’Hara: Yeah.
Dan Pashman: But, like, you know, it's not the most stable career. Like, usually you're bouncing around a little bit.
Andres O’Hara: Mm-hmm.
Dan Pashman: So that makes me a little bit suspicious. But still, like, you're just — she knew the address and the zip code right away.
Andres O’Hara: Yeah.
Dan Pashman: It just felt very like kind of self-contained.
Andres O’Hara: Yeah.
Dan Pashman: There was nothing that was a red flag.
Andres O’Hara: Mm-hmm.
Dan Pashman: Ji Hye. There's part of me that feels like I've heard of a place called Miss Kim [Andres O’Hara: Mm-hmm.] in Ann Arbor. But, you know, I can't be sure.
Andres O’Hara: Mm-hmm.
Dan Pashman: Her not knowing that Michigan's archrival is Ohio State … very suspicious. And then there's Chanthy, who felt like he didn't have specific answers to much of anything.
Andres O’Hara: Huh? And is that because he's the liar or he's bound by state secrets?
Dan Pashman: Right.
Andres O’Hara: Yeah.
Dan Pashman: Right. It just felt like everything I asked him, he wanted to give the shortest possible answer.
Andres O’Hara: Yeah. Yeah.
Dan Pashman: And only when he was pressed did he reveal a little bit more.
Andres O’Hara: Yeah.
Dan Pashman: In my experience, most chefs, if you ask them, how did you make that dish? They're going to tell you in a lot of detail how they made that dish.
Andres O’Hara: Yeah.
Dan Pashman: All right? And when I asked, started talking about the blueberry cheesecake, he was like, it had blueberries and rock sugar. That's not a very cheffy description [Andres O’Hara: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.] of a thing that you made.
Andres O’Hara: Okay, Dan. I want to give you and our listeners a moment to compose your thoughts, and to figure out who you think the liar is.
MUSIC
Andres O’Hara: Now it's time to tell us who you think are the chefs and who you think is the liar. Who do you think the liar is, Dan?
Dan Pashman: After much consideration and deliberation, I think the liar is Chanthy, the supposed chef to the prime minister of Canada.
Andres O’Hara: Now, if the real liar can come forward and tell us a little bit about themselves?
Angela Fortunado/Emily Pendergast: Hi, I'm Emily Pendergast.
Dan Pashman: Oh man.
Angela Fortunato: I'm sorry.
Dan Pashman: It's Angela from Youngstown, Ohio.
Angela Fortunado/Emily Pendergast: Yes.
Dan Pashman: Have you ever been to Youngstown?
Angela Fortunado/Emily Pendergast: I have that. That's where I'm from. And I and I'm the daughter that my family is now disowned because I moved to California.
Andres O’Hara: Ohhh.
Dan Pashman: Ohh, so there's a kernel of truth in it.
Angela Fortunado/Emily Pendergast: Oh, there is some truth in it. Yeah. Oh, my God. Ji Hye I'm so sorry. I felt awful saying that you were the liar.
[LAUGHING]
Angela Fortunado/Emily Pendergast: It's like, ay yi yi. I've been a sweaty mess over here. Yeah. My name's Emily Pendergast. I am an improv comedian at Groundlings.
Dan Pashman: One of the best.
Angela Fortunado/Emily Pendergast: And I started … it's the most fun. But I will tell you, I have 9,000 tabs open here.
Angela Fortunado/Emily Pendergast: And I have like screenshots of like safe food temperatures because I was like, what is he going to ask me?
[LAUGHING]
Dan Pashman: Wow, that is impressive. That's, um ...
Angela Fortunado/Emily Pendergast: Thanks.
Dan Pashman: Well, Emily, you got me. You definitely got me.
Angela Fortunado/Emily Pendergast: I'm so happy. I'm so — I'm never been so happy to fool someone.
Dan Pashman: Is there — like, do you have any connection to, like, Bubba Netta? Is that a real person?
Angela Fortunado/Emily Pendergast: Bubba was my grandmother. Her name was Vicky Fortunato. But we call her Bubba.
Andres O’Hara: Hmm.
Angela Fortunado/Emily Pendergast: And we are very Italian. And like the whole Brier Hill, like the braciole thing was real cause I was like, oh, I can pull from this. I know what this is.
Dan Pashman: Right, right. Smart. Smart.
Angela Fortunado/Emily Pendergast: Yeah. And — but yeah. And I — oh, man. When those Ann Arbor questions started happening, I was like, this is my in.
[LAUGHING]
Dan Pashman: Well, you did a great job, Emily.
Angela Fortunado/Emily Pendergast: Thank you.
Dan Pashman: I want to chat briefly with Ji Hye and Chanthy. Ji Hye?
Ji Hye Kim: Yes?
Dan Pashman: It's Ohio State. Okay, that's the rival ...
[LAUGHING]
Dan Pashman: That's Michigan's rival. All right? Just so you know. You don't have to care about sports if you don't want to. You can like what you like. But I'm just telling you, if you're chatting with customers and you want to make friends and have them come back, just be like, yeah, Ohio State, they suck.
Ji Hye Kim: Ohio. Ohio State. [LAUGHS]
Andres O’Hara: And how did you feel when Dan assumed that you were lying because he didn't know these are these sport facts?
Ji Hye Kim: Well, I didn't think it was going to come from sports trivia.
Dan Pashman: Yeah. I’m trying to keep you on your toes.
Andres O’Hara: Mm-hmm.
Dan Pashman: So Chanthy, I'm sorry that I accused you of being a liar. So you're actually the chef to the Prime Minister?
Chanthy Yen: Yes, I am. [LAUGHS]
Andres O’Hara: It's true that there is a lot that you can't say about the food, right?
Chanthy Yen: Absolutely. Yes.
Dan Pashman: Right. You can't be like, oh, Angela Merkel is allergic to pine nuts.
Chanthy Yen: Exactly.
Dan Pashman: Because then someone's going to slip her some pine nuts and, you know, half the Western world would go down.
Chanthy Yen: Yes, absolutely. I'm here to protect people.
Dan Pashman: Okay. Good. Good. All right.
Andres O’Hara: Yeah.
Dan Pashman: And do you actually not know what socks he wears? Or is that part of the nondisclosure agreement?
Chanthy Yen: Oh, I do know some some of the collection, but ...
Dan Pashman: I told you the socks. He knows about the socks.
Andres O’Hara: He knows about the socks. Yeah.
MUSIC
Dan Pashman: [SIGHS]
Andres O’Hara: Well ...
Dan Pashman: I'm 0 for 2 at this game.
Andres O’Hara: 0 for 2.
Dan Pashman: My thanks to our MC for Two Chefs and a Lie, Sporkful producer, Andres O’Hara, and to you, our listeners at home, for playing along. This was fun. Let's do this again next summer. I think we should do this every year.
Dan Pashman: Also, a big thanks to our two chefs. Ji Hye Kim is the chef and owner of Miss Kim in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She was a semifinalist in this year’s James Beard Award, and was named one of Food and Wine Magazine’s Best New Chefs. I thought I'd heard of her. I thought I'd heard of that restaurant. Next time I'm in Ann Arbor, I'm going to Miss Kim.
Dan Pashman: Chanthy Yen is, in fact, the chef to the prime minister of Canada, and he also has a restaurant in Vancouver called Nightshade. And he's writing a cookbook, called Recipes by Ye. No affiliation with Kanye. Ye was his grandmother's name. That’s coming out in 2024.
Dan Pashman: Finally, thanks to our improv comic, Emily Pendergast. You can see her on on the show Live and Local on the streaming platform Pureflix, and she’s in the film Out of Office, which comes out later this summer.
Dan Pashman: Please remember to get tickets for our live taping next week in Brooklyn. It's July 20th. Get your tickets at sporkful.com/live.
Dan Pashman: Next week’s show, I have lunch with Phil Rosenthal, creator of one of the most successful sitcoms of all time, Everybody Loves Raymond. And these days, he’s the host of the Naked Lunch podcast, and he stars in the Netflix show Somebody Feed Phil. And I kind of feel a sort of kinship to Phil because we're both sort of like guys who love to eat, who kind of stumbled into food media, and can't believe that we actually just like get to hang out and eat. And we had a great time. It was great conversation. That'll be up next week.
Dan Pashman: In the meantime if you’re looking for more Sporkful episodes, check out last week’s show, about the history of American barbecue. I talk to Michael Twitty about barbecue’s West African roots, and then I try a very unique barbecue that you can only find just south of Chicago. Find that episode wherever you got this one.
