928. - Pierce Abernathy

21:10I get the coffee brought to me like a bitch. Oh, wow. Okay. Wow.

21:14Jason Stewart:In my house, it's a third thing where I bring my wife a coffee in bed, and she goes, in the kitchen, please. Yeah, you get some feedback. You get some feedback. I've never. No Java in the bed on the fret sheets. The Chemex looks too scientific for me. It makes me feel funny looking at it. It goes against Chris's no tech shit. It's literally the most simple coffee machine. I know. It's not about the function of it. It's about the look of it. To me, it's the same thing that riding a fixed gear bike is the most simple form of it, but it can be off-putting to some where it's like, this is for those types of people.

21:48Jason Stewart:Chemex is for those types of people. Chris, I would assume you'd be into the aesthetic of a Chemex. I'm actually, I only drink at home chameleon cold brew uncut concentrate. That is psychotic. I know. Welcome home. In bulk from Amazon? Are you on flow with chameleon? No, you know, weirdly, I have been on flow at different times, but I need some new boards. So chameleon, if you're listening, No, I buy four at a time from Fresh Direct. Okay. Because I actually have a lot of fridge storage at this apartment because they're all low boys. You living in a professional kitchen where you live in the back of a restaurant?

22:28Yeah, don't bury the lead, Chris. No, no, no. I just think it's a – I've always wanted those, and those were here when we got here, and I'm very pleased with that because I think refrigerators are kind of ugly. and if you can hide them and it's also apparently it's pretty cheap if you go to bowery and just buy them yeah that's a that's a flex for sure it's cool i i really like it i really because

22:48Jason Stewart:the person who who lived in the place before chris did you know his genius mind had the foresight to put in a nice like old wolf range and some low boys but it still has like a minimal kind of you know swedish i don't worry pierce most of this stuff goes unused i mean don't Don't get me wrong, but I'm the kind of guy who wants the right stuff, even if it doesn't get – I want the kitchen to be outfitted exactly how someone like you or Jason would prescribe, but I don't need to know how to use it or do it. That's not the point. Yeah, you just want to be able to talk about it. I don't even need to talk about it.

23:21There's the right stuff to buy and the wrong stuff to buy. Okay. He just likes to have a fully appointed home in every way. Yeah, I'm just like, well, I know that there's a sub-zero and a wolf, and those are the things everybody says. I'm sure that's the best. Why would I not want the best? yeah the wolf is nice yeah don't get a porsche if you don't get a little something under the hood i just i just mean i i just think there's certain things with i feel like kitchens you can go crazy with the amount of burnt you can go absolutely nuts with it but i don't because have you outfitted have you changed yours at all or did it come no no i wish i mean i'm renting so i just feel like it feels like too much of an investment and honestly like my kitchen flynn would do it i'm actually going to cove tonight i'm excited it's a special meal it's great special meal it's great first time but yeah i mean honestly i love my kitchen it's beautiful besides my uh my stove it doesn't fit a half sheet tray which is insane well so i can't even prep for events here or if i mean actually i bought a second oven like a tabletop oven in chinatown which those things worked great and was like 300 bucks cool oh so if you need it it's there if you need to yeah up production you're able to do so exactly so do you do you just use little quarter sheets in your

24:34Jason Stewart:oven then or do you have like a two-third i have a three i have a three-quarter one three-quarter but okay because jason i was i was so when jason jason's house in la had the kitchen maybe not of his dreams but it's definitely advanced and it was there when they bought the house oh i saw i saw the POV video yesterday. I saw it drop. That's a nice range. Again, I don't know why it's nice. I saw the chest cam footage. There's a lot of square footage on top of that oven. That feels expensive to me. Do you have the pasta water thing? That's how you know you made it. I was just at George and Charlie's house over the weekend.

25:10Jason Stewart:They have the same exact range as me. Same year where it's before it turned gay. It's still nice and cool. You can still fix them easily. but he had more burners. Where everything was induction. But you're saying he's got the pasta water? He had the same one, but I had the casual male. He had the casual male XL. Charlie may have had the triple XL, actually. Yeah, that wasn't George's choice, but he's the only one that uses it in that house. The pasta water thing feels very nouveau riche unnecessary. Completely. It feels like something I would see in a house in Nashville that just got renovated.

25:47Yeah, that has two stoves. neither of them use but it does seem nice but i mean how much pasta are you fucking making you know what i mean not a lot at all that's what i'm saying that's what i mean it doesn't seem like do you make you make pasta at home jason and also i use filtered water anyway i'm not going to go straight out it's disgusting not la not la tap like uh what is it brad you don't you don't have oh i thought you had your whole kitchen replumbed i thought oh you don't have the reverse osmosis set up, Jason?

26:16Jason Stewart:We did. It got messy. When we moved in, we did have it, but it was just like the previous owner, it was a real jerry-rig situation, just like tubes going everywhere. Most of it was not even working or plugged in, so we just got a Berkey. Cut it all out. I just like the way a Berkey looks, and you influence me. We have a Berkey because Jason, I didn't know what that was eight years ago or whatever. Reminder to change those filters out, Chris. Don't worry. I have a subscription. So what? There's just a filter at the bottom of the... Because I know what it looks like. I've just never used... There's a filter at the bottom?

26:50Jason Stewart:It has two long charcoal filters inside of this cylindrical thing. You pour in the water. It goes through the charcoal. And then the clean water is in the bottom half. And then you just open the spigot. It's like separate. But is it like, you know, cutting out all the minerals though? Is it cutting out everything? Are you just getting... No, no, no. Berkey, it's like a hippie ass thing. So it only cuts out the bad shit. Still leaves all the dope bacteria. Well, the other thing that's interesting about it is the travel size is the perfect size for a New York apartment. The other ones they sell are fucking giant.

27:20To the point of, I don't know, I drink more water than 90 % of people. And I still find it.

27:25Jason Stewart:They got 10-gallon polycule-ass Berkies out there. Yeah, we got 10. This one's just for the livestock. Yeah, we got 10 people sucking on this water team. We got to be careful. I guess I got to work on my water setup. you know i got my coffee set up i do have the the arc though if you know this the seltzer what's the oh you gotta i know you like seltzer you gotta get on the arc situation this is like danish seltzing oh that one the one that the one that looks sexy the one that looks sexy yeah i i do i buy when i'm buying my chameleon in bulk i'm also buying my plain lacroix in bulk okay yeah okay a man of the people are you judging you're not going san pellegrino no i would i san pellegrino the big bottles just take up so much space and i only want a big bottle do you know what i mean like those other bottles also lighter bubbles it's a different it's a different what i really want is what i really want is the is the badua red that's the real shit that's the that's the four alarm chili uncut perico oh wait is that the front is that the french stuff it's the it's badua it's but there's a red one that is the most diabolical bubble wise but i you know i really i went to when i was in philadelphia over the weekend i was at my friend's vintage uh vintage spot and he had the ramblers jason in the fridge and the rambler the rambler for my is my favorite canned offering i would say if you haven't tried yeah the topo chico hard bubbles i like it i like it i don't like bottle i like can i like can yeah i like i'm i'm the same way i'm i like topo that i'm a i'm a food snob but i'm just i'm buying racks of blue pure lacroix you know they cost four cents each you know you maybe drink half of it goes bad who gives a fuck if i got a big you know seven dollar topo and i don't drink all of it yeah i'm a little mad at myself you know i do feel bad i like that i like the mexican one too that one hits too the the agua mineral oh yeah yeah yeah that's people that own haritas right yeah yeah very good i love your accent by the way what region of oaxaca are you near it's the kentucky your spanish accent sounds like Matthew McConaughey.

29:33Jason Stewart:Oh, God. Bring on the Jiritas and Cazadores, brother. But that is a great bubble. I like the Jarritas Agua Mineral. The slept on one, though, is ginger flavor from 365. Oh, really? Ginger. Very ginger flavor. Very good. Very subtle. That's going to make it to feed me, I feel like. Dropping a little gem like that. Definitely. Definitely. If I'm ever ordering groceries, which I usually don't, you got to throw in the 12-pack of... This fucking guy. I don't shade my ass, bro. I don't have a truck. I don't have a cute truck to go to the farmer's market. You don't have time. You probably live a block away from a grocery store.

30:08Honestly, I'm in what I consider a food desert. He's in Chibeca. Chi Rock. In Chibeca. In Chibeca. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There is. You're not going to Meadow Lane, you know? I have been to Meadow Lane.

30:20Jason Stewart:Well, how many flights do you have to climb at your home, Pierce? A half. Oh, that's good. That's nice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Pierce, your apartment, I know you live in the deep hell of Brooklyn. but your apartment looks nice as hell. Your apartment looks nice as hell. Every time I see it, I'm like, maybe this little motherfucker got it figured out. I do. I walk outside of my apartment. I don't run into anyone. I can wear my PJs. I can go on nice long walks. I'm by the park. Imagine catching Pierce with his hair in a bun with the teclas on. Oh, my God. So even on the weekend, you could tell your security to just lay back if you're just going to go walk the dog.

30:55Jason Stewart:Exactly. What neighborhood is it exactly? Because I'm not to dox you, but which which it feels doxy part of brooklyn yeah i mean whatever we're we're in crown heights shout out this is my third this is my third apartment crown heights i love this neighborhood this guy's running through crown heights i don't know literally with his on i don't know where crown heights is necessarily so if you could situate me that's hilarious if you could situate me i know it's in the brooklyn you've never been this far into brooklyn have you he's heard of it sure but i've been to bedside i think i think i've been to ridgewood once that's queens but i think i've been to bedside once i'm trying to think of a restaurant that would have made you come out have you been to hearts no i know i know that i know they had a moment i remember that that's like one of the that's one of the best restaurants in new york but pierce if you're coming if you're coming to me let's say let's say you and i are meeting up in in soho for a coffee how are you getting how long is it gonna take you to get there on the train don't not on the truck not in the truck no okay so yeah well it depends if it's like 50 degrees or above if so city bike okay It's about 25, 30 minutes.

31:58And then train is, if I catch it right, it's about the same. It's like 25, 30 minutes. Okay, that's not awful. But how often do you have to come into the city? Not that often, to be honest. Really? Yeah, I don't know. I would say it's more so by choice. It's going to the farmer's market. Okay, sure. But it's pretty easy. That's like a straight shot, one train. I've become a city bike adopter, and it is by far the most convenient way to get around. Oh, I mean, I have my own bike and I barely use it because the city bike is just... 30 minutes on a city bike weirdly feels long as hell when you're doing it to me.

32:31But that feeling of going over the bridge on a city bike, that was unparalleled. It pays for itself, hands down. I've never ridden over the bridge on a city bike.

32:39Jason Stewart:Okay, Pierce, when you're riding over that bridge on the city bike, which I have done many times, and it is amazing, especially if you're listening to a great episode of Joe Budden or something. Except that Zoran fixed the bump, took the personality out of it. But otherwise, yeah. Pierce, what are you listening to on that ride into town? Is it a pod? Is it a binaural beat? Or is it some, is it title fight or something? Ooh, ooh. Sometimes it's title fight. Well, shoegaze. Yeah, it's that. It's a pod. It's, I don't know, I've been kicking into outlaw country a lot. I've been listening to a lot of that.

33:13Oh, getting back to your roots. Because I think people, I think because of Pierce's European features, I think people don't realize that he is a Southern.

33:22Jason Stewart:You're the only person listening to Outlaw Country with the orange Air Max 2s on going over the bridge. People don't realize that Pierce is. Wearing J.W. Anderson. Oh, this is, no, this is a crop top. It's meant to be like this. I feel like you, I feel like your Southern roots get buried. And I just think that's something we need to get into. Because I want to give you proper representation on this platform. Yeah, I mean, shout out 502. Louisville, Kentucky. Louisville. Louisville. Louisville. As one of my best friends said, if you say it right, it sounds like spaghetti is falling out of your mouth.

33:55Yeah, yeah. That's like the way that people mispronounce. I mean, you know this. You're in a relationship with a Canadian. Toronto. It's a – you don't pronounce certain letters if you're correctly doing it. Exactly.

34:06Jason Stewart:Or every word in Los Angeles. That's also true. Any words. I didn't, but Louisville, I've been there before for Crazy Fest. That was probably before your time. Is that like a hardcore? Yeah, it was like a hardcore, yeah, it was, yeah, but it was big. It was like one of the OGs. Where was it? Was it at a skate park? I do not. Was it at Riot? I don't remember. Jason, look up Crazy Fest 4. Let's see where it was. We'll get the lineup. Elliot played, I'm sure. Because there's, now there's like Life and Death Brigade, which I think is a fest, or was a festival at the skate park I used to grow up going to?

34:42Jason Stewart:The festival originally took place at Stage Door Johnny's in Louisville, Kentucky, and then moved to the Brewery Thunderdome. Wow. Both of those places before my time. Damn. I thought we would sync up a little bit. But you're not that... What are you, like 32? Yeah, I'm 31. Yeah, but I guess that's... Yeah, it's a full generation. You know, it's a full 10 years. He was born after the initial records heyday. Yeah, if you want... Yeah, initial records that was the reason it was there. Which you may, you know, there may be some lingering history. Not a lot of Boy Sets Fire on the iPod Shuffle. Yeah, you ain't.

35:14Pierce, what you know about Boy Sets Fire? All right, cue that up. If that's on streaming, I need you to listen to that after we're done and give me a full book of work. Boy Sets Fire? All right, I'll write it down right. Boy Sets Fire with a period at the end. Boy Sets Fire. Okay, okay, okay.

35:25Jason Stewart:And of course, there are no spaces in between those three words at all. Yeah, there are no spaces between those words. But I don't know. Kentucky is the South, but it feels a little, you know. it's technically the midwest i didn't really i didn't know that part yeah yeah yeah oh yeah technically it's the midwest but do you want to identify as that it's much less cool i don't really care i mean i was born in virginia so like okay i think kentucky has its own like lore you it doesn't you know it's like not quite the south it's not quite the midwest it's just like kentucky but louisville i imagine is also like if we live there now it would be nice like you can get an amazing house for nothing it's like oh my god like yeah i like i feel like all of us could retire in a couple years there.

36:06It's crazy.

36:07Jason Stewart:You can live above a Barry's boot camp probably and just retire. Finally, I can afford to live above a Barry's boot camp. I mean, I love Louisville. It's an amazing city. I haven't been as an adult, but I'm always down to go. I'm not touring whiskey distilleries or anything very often, so I don't really have a reason to go. I mean, I would say go to the Kentucky Derby before it doesn't exist anymore. What's happening to the Derby? I just feel like horse racing is is just going out of out of style and uh you know out of uh moral moral agreement with society okay have you ever have you ever won any money on the ponies i haven't no but i was like growing up in high school i shot photos for this like private client who had a box and this guy probably bet like a hundred thousand dollars on a horse and won and proceeded to like have his mariachi band follow him to the payout thing and wanted me to like photograph it was insane it was like damn that sounds sick that's a fun watching at the kentucky derby is is unparalleled it's like incredible because the style is absurd yeah i would like to i mean i've seen the hats yeah the hats are the famous i mean i went to that maybe you you were there too when we went to the snow polo thing yeah and i was like that's obviously a much lesser version but i was this is this whole world that I don't know exist.

37:26And there's like a look and an attitude that is, I just, if you don't go, you don't know. Yeah. I mean, that's much higher brow than the Derby, but I thought the Derby, I thought, I thought the Derby is like the Superbowl now where it's like basically expensive to get in, you know what I mean? In many ways. Yeah. I mean, I'm sure you can probably get in the infield for like less than a hundred bucks. Oh, you still, I see what you mean. I see what you mean. And what is, and the, is the drink a mint julep or is there a new contender? Okay. There's a mint julep and then I think there's some vodka cranberry situation.

37:55I can't remember, but there's the oaks, which is the race the day before, which is for the fillies, like for the lady horses. And that's the one that all the locals go to. That's what I would go to because I like to uplift female voices. So that makes sense for me to kind of participate.

38:09Jason Stewart:Wait, they do. They separate lady horses and men horses? Oh, yeah. Yeah, Jason. You think they're going to let trans horses play in the fucking ticket? Are you out of your fucking mind? This is America. So are the male horses faster than the female horses, Pierce? You know, I don't have that data in my head. Pierce says, bro, I don't know nothing about that. I just go to the race. I have a couple mint juleps. I wear a stupid-ass hat, bro. My sports betting app hasn't popped up on the horse races recently. They get paid the same amount of money, though, right, Pierce? Yeah, they definitely get paid the same.

38:43Oh, yeah, for sure. Equal. Especially in Kentucky. They're known for equality. There's no one like you, and there never will be. From the producer of Bohemian Rhapsody, there are many legends, but there is only one. Michael, rated PG-13, in theaters April 24. Refreshing Wild Cherry Cola meets Smooth Cream.

39:11The treat you deserve. Pepsi Wild Cherry and Cream. Treat yourself. You tell yourself, no one wants your college-era band tees. But on Depop, people are searching for exactly what you've got. You once paid a small fortune for them at merch stands. Now, a teenager who calls them vintage will offer that same small fortune back. Sell them easily on Depop. Just snap a few photos, and we'll take care of the rest. Who knew your questionable music taste would be a money-making machine? your style can make you cash start selling on depop where taste recognizes taste what is it what are you betting are you betting on march madness pierce i might have final four our good friends at calci it was yeah the only reason i did it is because i had some people over for the super bowl and was convinced to download one of the apps where they give you free money and then i had like 20 bucks left over from that so i was like at a bar with some friends who had already bet.

40:10I was like, I'll throw some bets. Lost it all. I was like, alright, I'm never going to do this again. I lost it all. $20. I lost it all. Fucking destiny.

40:18Jason Stewart:I guess as Chris stated in the intro, you having Armenian blood, are you worried how the gambling is going to affect that? And how that is going to affect your gambling? You know what's so funny? I had no idea any of these LA Armenian stereotypes until probably three, four years ago. None of it ever crossed my path. And then now I follow some Armenian meme accounts on Instagram, and everything is coming to light. I was like, oh, oh, wow. Are you seeing some relatable stuff is what you're saying? You're seeing some things you're like, oh, I kind of understand. Absolutely. I was literally just talking to my dad before this, and I was telling him I was going on this podcast.

41:01He's like, oh, yeah, am I going to be able to listen? They're like, yeah, it's on Spotify. And he's like, oh, well, I just canceled my Spotify membership because I get Apple Music for free or something. And I was like, you don't need to be doing this. He's like, dude, it's all good. He's pinching pennies like any chance he gets.

41:19Jason Stewart:Okay. So no, but he does like to bet on horse racing. Well, that's in the book. So is your dad? So your dad is Armenian. Your mom is not. Yeah, but my dad's, so my last name is my dad's stepdad, basically. So it's not even my blood last name, which is all the confusion comes about. That's a nice surprise To me it's just like here's another white boy But then you're like actually wait I'm still a white boy Let's be real I'm like a quarter Armenian Walk us through the body hair situation Low Okay Minimal That's kind of the tell Minimal That is the tell But they are We've talked before about the cuisine I know you do have an appreciation for that, or at least an understanding.

42:10Oh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. My great aunt wrote a cookbook in the 70s called Please Pass the Peel Off. Great name. And as I was getting into cooking, I found this book, and it's now my Bible. Wow. And yeah, I started to cook more. Armenian food started to explore my heritage more. Did you know her, or was she dead before you were? Yeah, she died in like 93. She died a couple years ago. It's all that home cooking. None of those pesticides in the restaurant food. You know what I mean? Yeah, no, it was clean cooking. Okay, what is the number one, for your money, what is the number one recipe in this book?

42:47I mean, I love making dolma, yalanchi, sarma. Bro, what the fuck is that, bro? The grape leaves, the stuffed grape leaves. Oh, okay, okay. Just speak English, okay? Grape leaves, all right? But what I grew up eating almost four times a week is just pilaf, Armenian pilaf. and how does the armenian how does the armenian pilaf different from other pilafs well it has uh it has like spaghetti noodles in it are you are you but i didn't know armenians be smoking that much weed bro that's fucking crazy you put spaghetti in the pilaf and they're and they're broken into like uh like two inch pieces and they're browned in butter i mean it sounds pretty it's amazing it's so it's very good it's very very good i didn't i didn't what do you okay i would love to trace the lineage of why we got broken up spaghetti in the rice but that that's probably

43:32Jason Stewart:bigger than us have you um i know that there's other middle like there's in in bahrain they eat a lot of macaroni with their kind of pilafy kind of stuff whatever um what do you know about the kashk yeah the the kind of fermented way so my brother's uh fiance is iranian so i know i know a bit about it one of my favorite dishes actually probably the first dish that went viral for me on Instagram was an Iranian eggplant dish called Kashka Barmzan, which is so, so good. I didn't have Kashka, obviously. I just used yogurt. But then his fiance brought some back for me, and it's just like chalk. It's insane.

44:14Yeah, yeah. It's insane. It's so potent. But I think you can get liquid Kashka as well.

44:19Jason Stewart:Yeah, you can get it. You can get liquid. I'm sorry. I'm the uninitiated. Like hyper, hyper concentrated yogurt, basically. Oh, so it's like, okay, so you got to bust it down, basically. You got to add something to it. Think of it as like a more flavorful, like evaporated milk and condensed milk kind of product, but it's with whey, so it has like a lot more like tanginess to it. You've had that dish before when we go to Rafi's, Chris. Oh, I've had it. Okay, okay, okay. The eggplant dip and then there's like some - Oh, yeah, yeah, I've had that. Some like thin kind of tahini looking jizz all over it.

44:50That's the cash. That's exactly what Pierce's look like. That's not, no, that shit is good. I really like that. it is i mean yeah it's got fried onions it's like if you got fried onions on there like come on i mean i love eggplant sure why do you think why do you think that recipe why do you think that

45:06Jason Stewart:one hit for you because they're like they got a white boy doing this shit oh hell no yeah yeah honestly probably that like like low-key and i i mean fingers crossed hopefully i didn't fuck it up that bad and they're like okay like yeah yeah yeah he knows what he's doing but i don't know i I think there's a lot of crossover in a lot of dishes from like the Middle East and the Levant. And everyone likes to just talk about that crossover on the internet for better or for worse. This motherfucker going to put pomegranate seeds all over everything. Let me tell you something right now. One thing I don't like, pomegranate seeds.

45:41Those are for women. Keep that shit away from me. Pomegranate seeds, a little burst of flavor I don't want. I don't need them either. They pop off. It's like salmon roe. pops in my mouth and I hate it.

45:52Jason Stewart:Yeah, but Pierce, I already know you got a nice ethically sourced pomegranate molasses in your pantry, don't you? I do. I do. I don't use it that much. But there's apparently some crazy tea that came out about like Palm. Palm Wonderful? Yeah, apparently. The classic character. That's a character on How Long Gone. We don't support the Wonderful brand on this podcast. What happened with the Wonderful brand? I don't know too much, but Rose, the edible company I was working with, they did this whole like expose is you know they source really thoughtfully all the fruit that they put into their edibles and they were trying to find good pomegranates and literally all they could find was like palm wonderful and then they did this deep dive of how like palm wonderful it's either how they're growing or whatever it's just like ultimately like ruining the soil and some of like the the water in california and and they've monopolized the businesses of uh tangerine cuties yeah yeah But most recently in the news, they're pistachio farming.

46:47Jason Stewart:Apparently, they are major donors to the Israeli army. Oh, hell no. Wait, hold on, hold on. The very first week of the strikes, they were killing people and presidents and military bases. But they also blew up a pistachio processing plant over there tied to basically their biggest competition. So it was like a favor for their donations to the army. Well, unfortunately, that is interesting. But I find that to be... More interesting than soil degradation charts? Soil degradation is not super on the tip of my tongue, I would say, as far as causes. So I can't listen to Kanye West. I can't eat pistachios.

47:26I can't find some ethically sourced pomegranates. What the fuck is this world coming to? I know. But why, Jason, why did you guess that Pierce had this syrup? Is that something that all sort of chefs have in their arsenal? You're telling me.

47:38Jason Stewart:Well, yes, but it's also like the only other thing that people use pomegranates for. Like you either just top your otolenge-esque recipe with the seeds for Instagram or you drink the juice. If you're an Armenian person, a fresh squeezed pomegranate juice is amazing. They have them like literally on the sidewalk here in Glendale where I live. You pull up in the fucking 7 Series, throw him a 20. He squeezes out two cups of that palmy. You keep going. That sounds delicious. A little palm and a cigarette after a hike. Real nice. That sounds good. But there's nothing else to do with pomegranate except boil it down into a Nutella-like syrup that offers a sweet and tangy thing.

48:16Jason Stewart:That's funny you mentioned the seeds as an Odolenge-ass thing. Because I'm an Odolenge lover. I can't believe that he doesn't have a restaurant in New York. It seems crazy to me that that does not exist. That feels like a choice in some ways. But he sprinkled on the seeds a little too generously. Yeah, that was the first cookbook I got him in Simi Tamimi, Jerusalem. him Palestinian chef you know I I didn't know he was gay either but I heard he's in the gym so I yeah I've learned I learned a lot about him recently I didn't know that Sam Altman was gay either until today I didn't know Sam Altman was gay either I just thought he was ugly I did not know he was gay and now I'm like did he buy TPBN just because he wanted to fuck him that's very possible they're good looking they're they're very good looking yeah I don't him meeting his boyfriend in the hot tub at Peter Thiel's that's that's some hang in the rafters guys that's as good as it gets.

49:08So what do you do? We ain't topping that.

49:10Jason Stewart:Anyway, speaking of gay stuff, mulberry season approaches. What are your plans for them this year? Yeah, I had my first mulberry at Frog Hollow Farm. Oh my god. And you recovered? Blew my mind. Where do you go from there? I'm ordering bulk frozen to my house because holy shit, this stuff is crack. Are you getting the packs sent from Frog Hollow to the crib? Oh, yeah. Oh, damn. Okay, let me ask you. I don't mean to get into your personal finances. I know you're doing well. But what's a pack of frozen mulberries? What's your mulberry subscription, and do you want to use rocket money to remove those?

49:50Jason Stewart:Yeah, how much are the mulberries hitting for, and what are you going to use them for? I don't know what they do. What won't I use them for? It's like a nice sea urchin, Chris. Anything you add to it takes away from it, okay? Yeah. I mean, I want to make mulberry ice cream because that just sounds so, so good. That does sound good. You love making ice cream. I've noticed that. You got a real sweet tooth on you. I feel like I've made ice cream maybe three or four times in my life. I saw it. I thought I saw it recently. No. Oh, maybe I'm sorry. I must be confusing you with another content creator.

50:21I apologize.

50:21Jason Stewart:Pierce, you just maybe have ice cream aura about you. Could be. I mean, I do love ice cream. Okay. A little mulberry ice cream. That's a nice idea. What would you... Mulberry ice cream. Am I hitting that raw or is there something else in there? I should keep it simple. I don't know. You could go simple. A little pistachio in there? A little pistachio garnish, a little lemon. Jason, have you had date molasses? I have had date molasses, definitely. I'm a big date user. California has insane dates. All right. Wrap it up. I mean, Coachella is this weekend in the desert in that area. Very well known for their dates.

50:54Jason Stewart:And there's an ice cream company called Alexander A2. It's like the lactose tolerant ice cream or whatever. they have a banana and date shake flavor of ice cream that is quite nice. Oh, that does sound good. Mimicking the classic banana date smoothie that you drink to cool down in the desert. I'm not super happy with dates being rebranded as dessert. No. Because it's just not. That's not dessert. Like, they taste good, but it's more of a... Calorically, they are. No, that's true. I mean, the little DTC ones that are, like, sexy, and it's, like,$10 for two of them. They have peanut butter in them.

51:24No, I hate that. I hate... Like, yeah, I don't want to eat that. They hired fucking All Right Studios and paid them$150 ,000 for the fucking box.

51:32Jason Stewart:But they taste good. But you have to use child labor to get the peanut butter in those little dates. You need to think about that. But speaking of filling up that date, do you ever do like a little kind of keto liver king where you split the date open and then you put in some butter, a little cinnamon sprinkle, and a little Maldon on top? Oh, that sounds good. I haven't done butter, though, but I was going to do this ice cream flavor a couple years ago, and I wanted to do brown butter date banana. That does sound nice. Those are three flavors in the syrupy direction. Dark, I want to get a little something in there just to balance that dynamic range out, okay?

52:10Okay, okay. We can tinker. We can play. We're going to have to tinker. We're in the test game. Yeah, tell me about the—

52:15Jason Stewart:Give us a sour base, that's all. Just a real—a cash base. I've run into Pierce twice in the last six months in different places where I thought he was there to do the same thing I was, and he wasn't. First was San Francisco. I'm like, oh, hell yeah, bro. You're here for the Super Bowl? He's like, no, I'm making an edible. I'm like, all right. All right, fine. You're not beating the charges. You're going to this Tom Brown dinner, too? No, no, no. I'm giving birth to a llama. I was like, we don't have to fight over the skirt. We're different sizes. What time are you coming? And he's like, no, I'm actually here collecting compost.

52:49I'm literally picking up fennel fronds and parsley stems from Zuni Cafe and Chez Panisse. I'm designing a new cast iron system. I loved the concept of those and I love the packaging. I assume they're doing well, but I thought it was a great idea. I love the packaging. Jason, I got to send you some. Please, please. Yeah. I mean, Rose is such a cool company. Nathan, the founder, we've been friendly for a bit. and he reached out a couple months back and I have this cookbook coming out later this year. And I was like, I want to do something somewhat in line with the book. We got a title for the book?

53:26I mean, we don't need an exclusive, but... We do, we do. Every Leaf, Every Stem. Oh, hell yeah. Damn, okay, talking like a real smoke.

53:35Jason Stewart:That's a Cypress Hill song. Blunt after blunt after blunt after blunt. Pierce all of a sudden is like, this was actually really inspired by Cypress Hill. They were my favorite acts. Okay, so you're saying the cookbook theme is similar to the to the theme of the edible you made with rose yeah it's in line it's in line tip to tail cooking using the things that are considered food waste yeah and repurposing them yeah exactly trying to use this you know much you know we're so thoughtful about how we are sourcing everything these days we should be as thoughtful about using it and then discarding you know any of it right as well because so so the edible is made out of so it's made out of all of these like leftover juices that had no home from uh rose so rose has their own farm that's like north of san francisco so you're saying unhoused juices unhoused juices and fruit purees uh and then we went to three different restaurants we went to zuni cafe uh che panice and mr juice the best restaurants in san francisco yeah and collected all their compost and we we found all three of them had fennel tops had carrot tops and had parsley stems and i was like you know i want to make sure that this is like actually made from waste and stuff that we can actually pick up from these restaurants regularly not just like a pick it up once and it's not actually made from waste so uh juiced all that and had this like nice little green juice potion that was a little salty a little savory that that worked well with my with my uh juice concoction no i love it it reminds me of the uh the bar mat shot you ever see that over at elmira at the end of the night you take the little rubber bar mat the drunkest guy there you dump it into the pint glass and you get 20 bucks to whoever drinks it you just take all that because like with the edibles like it's cool that they taste good but you know yeah the main reason why we're putting those in our mouth is to get a little head change at the end of the day right yeah how how fucked up how turned up do they get you there are they mellow light they're light they're like i'm a lightweight i know yeah i know I can look at you and tell.

55:34Jason Stewart:What's the milligrams per cube? Do you have that? 2.5. I mean, obviously, I don't take edibles, but what is 2.5 is like a regular, and 2.5 is a little light. 2.5, you can go out in public. 2.5, you give that to your mom? Yeah. Okay. We got mom. That's what mom does. Ooh, I feel a little, you know, Cheesecake Factory hit different off of 2.5 type shit. It's very giggly. I was very impressed because I feel like I have an on and off relationship with edibles and weed and like this. Perfect. Really, really pleased. Did you party at one point in your life? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I guess some would say that I still party, but like party in what way, though?

56:17I just I mean, like I'm not staying out till like 2, 3 a.m. But did you at one point? Not regularly. Like college. College was a little crazy. I forgot you went to college.

56:27Jason Stewart:What were the frat years like for you? Frat years were Alston, Massachusetts. Shout out the suburb of Boston. House shows. You've been everywhere. Louisville, Virginia, Boston, and New York. Exactly. What college was it? Boston University. The seven of the least Armenian-ass places I've ever heard of in my life. Boston has a massive Armenian population. Oh, really? Yeah, right outside of Boston. they do a good job of hiding them like with a lot of other races yeah boston loves to hide that boston boston that ain't your fault bro that's boston's fault that ain't on you bro well what did you go to college for like media film production oh you did all right so you all right i thought i was gonna go out to la and be like a dp oh i oh really you oh yeah they saw your ass said no sir you're getting in front of this thing we ain't putting you behind it i don't know i got cold feet i was like put that camera down kid get over i don't want to join a union and do the same thing for the rest of my life like i don't know i'm too young yeah i'm too young to like make that choice i you know i'm still trying to figure it out right now it's 31 chris and i are too sexy for a union so imagine what you are yeah yeah yeah it's all three of us but you're number one i think that i think that's probably a good choice but that so you okay so you were ahead of most people because you knew how to actually cut something and like put it together from like a yeah well i i came to new york and like worked in digital media i knew you worked at buzzfeed right I worked at BuzzFeed.

57:52Vice had this digital marketing agency called Care Creative that turned into Virtue. I interned there. I did some video editing for New York Times Cooking. Yeah, I was just kind of dipping my hands in a few different places. I worked at BuzzFeed for a long time and worked on Tasty, which was their insane food vertical that was getting hundreds of millions of views on Facebook, which was a time. it was a time yeah yeah 100 that's okay so you were you were combining your loves by accident almost yeah no definitely like the the job i got at buzzfeed initially was like not work at tasty and then i got kind of brought into that and when you're a producer there you're cooking you're developing the recipes you're shooting and you're editing so it was like all of these skills and i like you know i didn't love the food that i was making but i loved the how dynamic the job was Hey, dude, those jalapeno mac and cheese bites were banging.

58:46Don't do that.

58:47Jason Stewart:And you also probably didn't like that they kept all the money. And then you're like, wait a minute. I have a phone and a computer. I could do this too. Hey, well, look at them now. Look at them now. And look at them now. Pierce won. Pierce versus BuzzFeed. Pierce won. Well, that being said, do you still produce and edit and do your own content yourself? Yeah. You don't outsource it. Yeah. It feels like I shouldn't. And I've worked with some editors in the past. I have like one person that I work with who helps me shoot, but I do all of the editing, which I need to find a good editor. For sure.

59:20It takes up too much of my time. But it's also, I don't know. I'm not a perfectionist in any way. I'm not one of these people who like needs to be in control of every single thing that I do or how to craft it. I think.

59:33Jason Stewart:Because you're too sexy to be editing. My videos would be better, I feel like, if other people edited them. Oh, really? You think so? I think it's... Like you don't, you feel like you don't have enough of an eye that, that I think that like sometimes you, you, you've, I've been doing something for so long that, you know, the more I do it, I get in my head about it as well, you know, and whether that's like, I'm consuming too much content, whatever it may be. New eyes. Yeah. Having new eyes on a new perspective on something I think is always better. And, you know, we have, we got Gen Z, we got these kids now that I feel I can turn and burn these videos in 15, 20 minutes.

1:00:10I'm waiting for AI to replace them. Give it six months. I can't support Gen Z in any way. The one time. These little fucking turds. You'd rather support AI than Gen Z? Yeah, I think there are a lot of people who would, though. I think there are a lot of people who would.

1:00:23Jason Stewart:Honestly, I like that. I'll side by that halfway. Yeah, that's. It's a real love my country, hate my government type bumper sticker. Yeah, it really is. I'm kind of behind. That's funny, though. I just feel like I've heard this. Obviously, Jason edits this show. You edit your stuff. And I was talking to Adam Friedland. he edits his show and i think it's like it feels like a control issue more than it does anything else yeah not not negative not negative it just feels like i think there's always that thought of like teaching someone else to do this the right way will be harder and take longer than just doing it myself which of course in the short term is true faster alone further together as my therapist also like you know these shows the shows that you know you're you're editing very formulaic i feel like i'm still tinkering like every other video like i'd rather just experiment with like a slightly different style or you know because you know virality is is you know a part of my job in some context do you think you know do you know when something's gonna hit like do you feel like you know when you got one i thought i did i mean sometimes sometimes i'm like really proud of something and then it just flops and i don't know i've come to now except where i'm like i'm so separated from that.

1:01:37I think there was a moment where it would really, really affect me and I would like put in a bunch of work and then something just wouldn't hit. And then there's some times where I'm like, this is just, you know, a quick video that took me, you know, 30 minutes, you know, an hour to shoot, an hour to edit. It's not going to go anywhere. And then it, then it does really well. I don't think we're in control of that stuff. I agree. You know, I think as, as much as you can, you know, come in with a strong idea and edit it for, you know the algorithm or whatever it's still out of your hands yeah and i think once you put

1:02:07Jason Stewart:a strategy towards it it takes all the fun and sucks all the life out of it i think once you concern yourself with those things where you're like why does this video of me eating a double double have 85 million views but this video where i invented a new style of cooking has you know 17.5 000 yeah well like like some of your cooking videos have like 15 000 views on tiktok and then and another one has 34 million. Yeah. That is a gulf. So what separates those two if both of them, you have your shirt on, and your feet are not showing in either of these videos? So what is the differential here? Oh, he made the biscuits with his feet.

1:02:47That's why it's 35 million.

1:02:48Jason Stewart:I should have walked all the way through. Yeah, that's my bad. I mean, I think it's, you know, food is a unifier. It's like everyone either, like, you know, everyone has to eat, everyone wants to eat, everyone either wants to cook or want like for entertainment wants to watch these videos and i think you know there's different buckets there's stuff that's like aspirational that like oh i could i could do that at home or like this looks healthy and i'm trying to eat healthier i want to do that or it's something that's like completely outrageous i know that i'm not going to eat this but this is like really cool or it's something you know high skill uh so i think that you know there's a different lens to approach this style of video you're the science guy you the 30 minute meals for your kid.

1:03:30Jason Stewart:Y 'all are losers. I only watch that one guy who eats all the crumble new releases in his car every week. That's my guy right there. He brings his own jug of milk in the car. That's not food content. That's fat content. No, that's food. Y 'all can do all your little chef shit all you want. That motherfucker's making money. He's eating and he looks good too. I have no idea who you're talking about. Calories in, calories out, brother. There's literally this guy who looks like a fucking, like just a basement dwelling mouth breather and he has million. You're saying he looks good. Basement dwelling mouth.

1:03:58Jason Stewart:I'm saying he looks good. He's not obese. Body is T, but he looked like he lived in a basement. Body is T. He gets in his car. He gets in his car and he's got all of the new crumble cookie releases. And then he eats. And he doesn't take one bite of each one. This motherfucker's eating almost the whole cookie of each one, especially if he's fucking with it. So it's like red velvet carrot cake crumble and he's just fucking giving a review and then he drinks milk. And sometimes he has a homie in the car with him. and they'll do it together. Pause. I just, that is my kind of food content. You guys are too highbrow for me.

1:04:32Watching that video would give me a stomach ache. It makes me, but it does. One of, there's a guy, one of those type of guys who also chronicles his workouts because he's like, I want to be honest with y 'all. I have to fucking really try to not be an absolute monster. Like I have to like, I really put in the work and I still, you know, he still looks aight. I'm sure,

1:04:50Jason Stewart:oh yeah, on crumbled day, you skip breakfast and lunch, right? You know, something like that. Yeah, I'm going to say you skip breakfast and lunch, but I find that the food content space is like too varied for me. I feel like I get the soda people, the soda addicts. You know, that falls into it. I just don't. I get the wrong stuff. You're on the lowbrow sector of food content is what it sounds like. Exactly. It's on you, player. I mean, I think that's what's great about it, though. The world is vast. It could be, you know, this episodic series. When the worst shit makes the most money, that's not good.

1:05:26Jason Stewart:But that's everything always, all the time. But that's everything always. All the time. The dumbest shit makes the most because the most are the dumbest. Speaking of dumb stuff, I thought of a question. Maybe I was on edibles last night, but what fruit or vegetable is Chris and what is me? And I already know the answer to me. And Chris, try to come up with a what fruit or vegetable is Pierce. Oh. Not in like an AI, the strawberries fucking my wife kind of way. I mean, just like, so for example, I thought last night, I'm kind of a Japanese sweet potato. Pierce to me is giving a very high-end farmer's market in season white asparagus.

1:06:07I was going to go Jason for green asparagus.

1:06:11Jason Stewart:But also the white asparagus, Chris, those can be a little bit shorter and a little bit thicker. Oh, I'm sorry. I apologize, Pierce. I was not sure. Pierce has more of a snatchy on a body. Maybe he's a spring onion. You know what I mean? In that case, like a long. A ramp. A ramp. A garlic chive. Tender on the top, you know, already on the bottom. I'm a tender top, actually.

1:06:38Jason Stewart:Tender top's not seeking power bottom for the last time. How many times do I have to tell you? Yeah, I don't know. I've never thought about this, Jason. Pierce, what do you think I am? What is Celeriac? What is Chris? I feel like I'm kind of leaning citrus. Oh, there we go. I'm leaning like a page mandarin or something. Oh, I'll take that. Those are delicious. What is the page mandarin orange? What makes the difference between a mandarin and a page mandarin? That's a great question. Well, the page mandarin is in my edible. I know that. I think they're sweeter. That makes sense. I was going to say page mandarin sounds like a style of jeans.

1:07:18you could get at Barney's on the wall in 2004, but I see that they're sweeter.

1:07:24Jason Stewart:So Chris is a sweet, but he also is acidic in a lot of ways. Yeah, you know, yeah. Acidic, thick skin. You got to feel the skin. And you open up an orange, and then you've just begun having to dig out the fruit from an orange, but a tangerine. You get through the tough exterior, but you find out, hey, these segments are actually pretty easy to pop out just by hand. I don't need any hardware. I don't need a special knife. You know when you open up a good tangerine and the inside has separated from the pith and it just pops out in one chunk? That's beautiful. Yeah, like the Sumo citrus right there.

1:08:00Jason Stewart:Yeah, as long as you don't buy it from the wonderful company. I didn't know. Why do people like Sumo so much? Because they look funny? Just marketing and branding? I've stopped buying them because they're like$6 each. It's just absurd. It's not worth it. okay so they're just up charging for the because it's a vibe yeah i think i think i'm pretty sure it's like a you know a gmo citrus that they bred to make very easily to just peel away from the skin i see i see and they're they're really large they're really like they're delicious they're very good don't get me wrong but i know every time i'm like uh it's like the you know the asian pears that are like wrapped in the yeah in the individual love a good beautiful beautiful fruit This is a cool thing about not being into food.

1:08:42I've never even thought about how much a piece of fruit costs, man. I'm either going to buy it or I'm not. I've never even looked at it. Not on some rich shit, on some like, I don't know, it's an orange. I'm going to buy it. I want to eat it. I've never even thought about this before.

1:08:55Jason Stewart:I don't think we have either in terms of buying simple produce and apple and orange. But when you get the$20 strawberries and the Harry's berries and the Oishi. Sure. It's like, why is this different? $47 watermelon you know yeah your expectations in are really high and if they're not met then you're like yeah what what am i doing it's it's very similar to tacos for me and i'm not saying it because it's an ethnic thing but like very very rarely is the expensive version of the taco or the burger or any of like the you know the simple handheld cuisine you know it's never going to top that one time where you had that one perfect taco that cost a dollar 80 or whatever Yeah, I've noticed, actually, Los Tacos is now, once the weather warms up, they've got a breakfast burrito guy standing outside in the mornings.

1:09:45And it's quite popping. And I'm feeling it might be good. Is whipping them up like a crepe? No, they have them in a heated little push cart. And in Tribeca, it's like people on their way to work just in line buying. I mean, yeah, I think breakfast burritos are incredible. I've been on a kick recently. You're buying or making? Buying, buying. There's this amazing spot in New Mexican Breakfast Burritos, Ursula, near me. So New Mexican chili.

1:10:10Jason Stewart:Okay. So some green chili up in there. What else is in that breakfast burrito? I get the one without meat. So I think there's some beans, some cheese, I think a little tomato. I think it's pretty simple. I like a simple breakfast burrito. I want black beans. I want eggs. I want a little cheese, a little avocado, hot sauce. marfa marfa burritos in in marfa which is like the i was like i'm really gonna go here and then you go there and you're like wow the breakfast burrito is fucking amazing and i never think to breakfast burrito feels really indulgent to me even though when you look at the ingredients it's not no it can be you know what i mean i think account you know i would say eat at 11 and you're taking care of breakfast and lunch together and you know boom yeah and also you know bacon scrambled eggs and a piece of toast is just a deconstructed breakfast burrito yeah yeah for sure that's what i'm saying that's what i mean it's yeah it's it's the form factor you know it's easy it's an on the go i think because i think of burritos is something i have a close and interesting relationship with burritos over the history of my life and i think of them as a evening food burrito means fat time for chris not yeah it's not like we're gonna go you know longboarding at dawn meet me in crown heights at 5 30 we're gonna get a breakfast we're gonna We're going to shred the Prospect Park slopes together.

1:11:26We'll grab some burritos at Ursula. All right. Before we let you go, Pierce, I do. How was your St. Moritz? Because I also, the second time I ran into Pierce, and I felt really bad. We were on this high-stabody trip. We're all there. And I see Pierce and his lovely girlfriend and his brother in the lobby. And I'm like, oh, hell yeah, bro. What's up? He's like, I'm not here for this. And I was like, oh, man. And I was like, I'm so sorry. That sucks, dude. That sucks. and you're like so you're paying for this oh okay well i booked it as a christmas gift for for my brother his fiance and my girlfriend and then like noah from high stop like makes this post like high stop in saint maritz and i was like oh huh i'm and i like messaged him like i'm gonna be there too and then of course like it's at the same hotel i'm staying at and then i go down to the gym and who do i see but but chris black and i'm like oh here we here we go here

1:12:18Jason Stewart:we go but no you hit you hit the noah with yo i'm in your city and he said all right have fun yeah i loved i loved i lovest maritz i really liked zurich i stayed uh two nights there i want to guy dude i i was i that's one of the same ritz is one of the place first time in a long time i've been somewhere where i'm like i love this and i've never been before pierce are you a snow bunny uh i like to snowboard he's a thought he's a thought out there with all his little gear on what kind of goggles you have pierce which celine goggles did you get no i think these were hand-me-downs for my girlfriend well because you said she's the real shredder yeah i mean she grew up snowboard i grew up skiing and then because i skateboarded converted at some point to snowboarding but i'm definitely a better skier but i don't you know i don't think i can be skiing as she's snowboarding i think i gotta you know would you would you say that would be you would be cucked if you were skiing and she was snowboarding or what you'd have like a you'd have a book you're reading underneath your arm while you're Going on your little skis.

1:13:14I thought skiing was like chic and now snowboarding is considered sort of like meathead shit. I don't know. I wouldn't say. I have no idea. Sure. And no shade in all my snowboarders. I'm just going by what I heard. But it was a beautiful place and you guys were really getting some powder from what I could tell. Yeah, it was nice. That last day we got a ton of good snow. And I mean, yeah, that was my first time skiing in Europe. So I want to go back. Okay, great. Also, first time being in Switzerland. And I was like, yeah, I get why people don't leave here. yeah yeah well besides the fact that you don't have to pay taxes and watches are everywhere i mean the the air is clean yeah i mean i didn't realize it's like not a part of the eu they got borders it's their own shit bro they just own their own shit not 100 yeah don't start none won't be none thank you we're pierce we're when the when the book comes out we're definitely gonna go do some armenian eating with our film crew over in over in glendale oh absolutely yeah i i know jason has a list for sure how long gone today needs that we need this segment of us we You got to go tap in with Armin from Mini Kebab.

1:14:15Okay. That's my guy. Yeah, I mean, that's just step number one.

1:14:18Jason Stewart:We're going to go a little bit deeper, brother. We're going to go into the auto body shops. Jason. Jason's taking us. That's what I'm talking about. We'll need your security guards is what Jason's saying, Pierce. Bring your security. Bring your security. No. Well, I'm sure we could find a couple of Armenian guys. We could. They don't know the kind of land. Pierce, thank you for joining us. It's a pleasure. Good to see you as always, bro. And we'll see you soon, man. Yeah, thanks so much, guys. Take care. All right, bro. Later. Peace. Bye.