290: Laurent Dagenais

0:28This episode is brought to you by Resi and American Express. I guess what I do is I just show every single step of the recipe, from cutting the onion in half to peeling the onion. It's just very satisfying, like little clips. So it's always like half a second there, second there. This is Taste. I'm your host, Matt Rothbard.

0:59today on the show i talked to laurent dejeuner a very very popular tiktoker and all-around cool guy we talk about his rise on the platform his latest cookbook and what excites him about new york city montreal france paris lots of things i really enjoy catching up with laurent

1:25Laurent Dagenet, welcome to This Is Taste. What's up, buddy? I'm not just here in New York for a few days, you know? It's a book launch. Book launch. Congrats on the book. Thank you. I'm really excited to not just see you on my phone. There you go, right? In person, yeah. In person, in book. The next step is tasting my food, you know? One day. One day, yeah. Let's get to that. But, like, you're in New York for a few days. Yeah. We've been talking a little off mic about some of these adventures. And I have to say, you've had matzo ball soup for the first time today. Yeah. I'm 35 years old, and I think I feel kind of a mixed feeling about this.

1:57I think I should have probably tried before, but now it's done. Thoughts? I mean, for me, it's kind of like reminding me of this chicken noodle soup, you know? Yeah, totally. Flavor-wise. You have little carrots in there, too. So, you know, it's one of those things that gets good, but it's like, you know, was like Mind blown. I don't think so. It was good though. I respect I respected I mean you went to S &P was yeah Which is the former Eisenberg's which I love that place. What do you think about that restaurant? What was it was it working I so okay so two things first matcha ball soup, but also first proper Pastrami on the rye with mustard.

2:34Yeah, because as you know Montreal smoked meat here pastrami you got notes I got notes. Let's talk about it. Um for me honestly it's very very similar the only big thing was like the mustard I was like because it was like way spicier because we always use like the baseball mustard like the flashy yellow one yep yep yep so more spicy but honestly like the same kind of like fatty melting beef rye bread very similar yeah as a Montrealer I might have to just go with smoked meat because you know yeah I mean I love a smoked meat I think Schwartz's does it well yeah I think your big mistake was not going to Katz's that's the guy I still have 20 something hours got a few hours yeah yeah Katz is where you go for pastrami just saying yeah any other plans for New York I'd just like to tap in and see what you're what you're thinking about New York right now honestly I'm a very tight schedule we have like this event at Anais after this in Brooklyn this wine bar yeah so like book signing and probably gonna link up with the buddy Pierce as well yeah Pierce Abernathy good dude shout out to Pierce real legend And then tomorrow morning we're doing NBC Today show.

3:47I've heard of it. Yeah. It's a nice show. Yeah. There's some nice people there. From a little, you know, Quebec chef here. Yeah, it's a big deal for sure. It's cool. You deserve it. Let me ask you, what's it like walking around the streets with your face? Because your face, people know you. Like you are part, and I love your TikTok account. I've gotten to know your cookbook and I enjoy it. But, man, people like you. Yeah, I feel like I'm just always, like, kind of being myself. Like, you know, just what you see online is what you see in person, right? It's like I'm not, like, playing a character.

4:20It's just like I like to have fun. I'm, you know, I'm social. I like to talk to people. So, yeah, people have a good time. Yeah, good time. You get recognized a bit, though. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We did get recognized at S &P. Yeah. And, yeah, obviously, you know, it's a big city. So it's, like, not as much as, like, in Montreal for sure. No. But yeah, for me, like coming to New York City and like people like recognizing me or like in L.A. or I was in Austin like a couple of weeks back. It's just always like kind of like very humbling to kind of be in the U.S. and like be recognized. And same like in Paris, London.

4:52It's just, yeah, it's cool for sure. I love it. And you call yourself a little Quebec chef. And I want to get into like a little bit of your history because it's cool. Like you come from a culinary background. You worked in, you know, you worked on British Columbia. Yeah. You've worked in restaurants. Montreal. Montreal. Yeah. So tell me a little bit about your background, 35. What have you been doing in the industry? Yeah, I mean, it's not like this long story of my nonna was making gnocchi, and I was like, no. I was kind of like doing high school, never really got into school that much, went to college because I was like the next thing to do after high school, right?

5:27And then I was like, yeah, that's really my thing. So I just quit college, worked in a skate shop for a couple of months, and then my friend was like, well, you have to pay rent now if you're not going to go to school. I was like, yeah, I got to find something. So I had two friends already like working as chefs. I was like, you know what? That's kind of something I could be into. So enrolled to culinary school. And then the passion really kind of like came while I was in school, starting like working in some like French bistros and like moved up to like more like high-end fine dining restaurants and did that for like almost eight years.

5:58Damn, eight years. Yeah, eight years, yeah. Wow. So let me ask you about this. Like when you're doing fine dining for eight years, what kind of food are you drawn towards? What's your, like, what are your interests in cuisine right now or then? I feel like it's a very common thing for people who have been working in fine hunting for a while. Just, like, to kind of, like, being, like, you know what? It's, like, it's not what real people eat. You know, it's, like, not real food. So it's, like, it's crazy. Completely agree. Yeah, it's insane. Like, having, like, five dudes working, like, on one plate.

6:29It's just, like, little tweezers. I mean, it's every... Microgreens everywhere flying around. And, you know, I still, like, kind of enjoy that. But it's like, for me, it's like more about like, you know, flavors. And I guess like what makes a plate beautiful is very subjective for sure. But like for me, like I like perfect imperfections. You know what I mean? I like when it's like not like perfect little dice. I like when it's like kind of irregular shape. Kind of like let the vegetables like meat kind of like do the talking. I don't know. Just like for me, I really changed like what I used to think was like the shit is like not what it is anymore.

7:00You know, it's like for me, just like make it more approachable. Totally, Ron. Yeah. What I like about your cooking education, your videos, I'm going to call it education because it really is, is that obviously you're nice with the knives. Like, your mirepoix is, like, really great. Like, unless someone else is doing that. I assume you're doing it. You're the one with the knives. Yeah. But then you are messy because that's real. Like, you know, lasagna, for example, there's, like, shit hanging over. Like, burgers, shit's hanging. And, like, I love that. I think that's why people connect because, like, you know how to cook.

7:29Like, you're really skilled, but you don't – you're not, like, perfect. No. No. I mean, there's, what's the point? You know, it's like, I'm just trying to like kind of get people to be like, you know, in love with food again and like even to get them cooking. And for me, like the biggest thing is like, it's fun to like have all those likes and comments and followers. But like for me, like when people are like reaching out and like send me like their dinner, which doesn't always look good, but it's just like, you know, just like kind of like, thank you so much for getting me back in the kitchen.

7:57Like, yeah, that's like, that feels like definitely more like an achievement than just like, you know like all the numbers right but like yeah it's just like fun and like seeing like mom sending me like videos like their eight-year-old kid just like doing like my fork toss at you know it's just like it's just fun to get people like to to get back in the kitchen you're inspiring people to go to culinary school it's obvious like people are gonna get into it yeah a lot of people like we're like you're you're inspiring me to like uh yeah like that's that's the craziest part someone saying like thanks for your videos like i'm now like in turn your school it's like wow that's that's like a real for me like uh when we say like the word like influencer it's like nowadays like what is it influence influencing do like wear bikinis and like it's like i don't know it's like what is it like for me it's like someone like kind of watching my video and like taking the car to go to the market spend their art earn money on like buying all the food coming back home cooking this whole thing posting a picture and saying like you know like that's that's for me that's a real like influence it's like that's crazy like just for and so it could be someone like in australia and japan just like it's that's always like the best part for me you know so la You feel and it's clear you have the evidence that people are cooking what you're making on your quick fire, quick rapid videos.

9:07With no recipe and no ingredients. Exactly. Yeah, that's. Like you're seeing like lots of people send you like this is my lasagna. Yeah. Or people asking like where's the recipe and I have no answer for them because it's not there. No. It's coming. I mean it's in the book and I'll link to the show notes. Yeah. Pick up his book, order that. But honestly, we think about that a lot here. We work in cookbook publishing. That's where you're at. I mean, we think about how do you learn to cook? What does a book mean if you're actually learning from TikTok and not recipes? You seem to do both. So what do you think about that?

9:42I don't know. I feel like a lot of people also would buy cookbooks just to look at the images. You know, I feel like people just like, I bought like, you know what, Maddie Madison has been like a big inspiration for me since day one because I was always like, that's the coolest job in the world. You get to just like cook, travel, meet cool people. Yeah. Shoot guns. Shoot guns. And woods and do some cool shit. Go full Canadian. Yeah. Go full Canadian. Yeah. And that's like, yeah, just like I bought his cookbooks. Have I ever done anything from his cookbooks? No. I don't even think I've ever like done any recipes from any of the cookbooks.

10:15I haven't. And I have a ton load of cookbooks. And I have never like, it just kind of like to get the inspiration. Also like to support, support whoever like chef you're into. So, you know, it's like more of like a. I agree. Yeah. It's like buying a hat for a baseball team. But some people will like do the recipe and like follow them step by step because like not everyone has like this instinct of like going freestyle. Some people will like have a book and it's like they're like it says chives and they forgot to buy the chive. They're going to be like, oh, no, this is I can't do it. You know, it's like it's over.

10:45Like change the plan. But it's like, no, just have some instinct. When is a chive even needed? Like this is getting real. Like maybe with cream cheese, if you're doing crap. Yeah. Is there one example? Give me one example. It's just, I guess, a fancy green onion, right? But you know what? Low-key, I like chives. Oh. Yeah. Low-key like it. I high-key like it because, honestly, there's nothing better than chopping chives. It's very easy. There's a very—yeah, Maddie was making fun of me, actually, last Tuesday because I was requesting chives. People want to fucking chive. It's nice. I don't know.

11:14It looks good. It looks great. It tastes good. It looks good on camera. Let's talk about catering. You went—you called it the dark side. You're right about—you moved the dark side. What was the dark side of catering? Let me get into that. I love that. I don't know I was just like I feel like most chefs like and that was like this kind of like a thing for me like Cuz I talk about this in my book about like deal like imposter syndrome of like If you're like if you're a chef you should be in a kitchen, right? Cuz then like where are you if you're like not It's cuz I feel like when I was like in in restaurants and I was looking like those celebrity chefs Not Maddie more like the right the home cooks I guess home cooks like doing like Those TV shows it's like it's like I know it's just like I felt like they were not not like deserving or it was probably just out of jealousy of me like being like oh he's probably like making 15 times my salary just like uh doing cooking shows but like you know it's like no i'm i'm this person and i was very afraid of like what other chefs would think of me when i started this right yeah yeah yeah and when i got like the validation of i'm like from like uh the joe beef chef in montreal or like the piet cochon or like oh yeah like other like great chefs like i've always like looked up to i was like that's it i can now unleash the beast and like it's just I was like waiting for that like approval to kind of like yeah go like full send in this because Fully fully hear it.

12:28Yeah, let me ask you about the the origins of the tiktok account because your girlfriend was videoing you in the kitchen But that's like part of the narrative I've read that or you can fill me in but like the editing is clearly and the style of the editing is clearly Really how you made your mark. How do you figure out this tone? And how did those videos start? Yeah? I guess it's a mix of anything mostly else. I guess the filming is also like My girlfriend really has a good eye for filming But yeah it's just like And also that's something I'm really kind of like Trying to get rid of because it's taking too much of my time But like I feel like yeah it's It's just like I just like line up the shots And like take the best part that I need And like there's no like It's obviously editing It's just like pretty much just like trimming shots And like lining them up it's like nothing crazy right It's like there's no like special effects There's no like Final Cut Pro that you're like No I do everything on this You do everything in app You're holding your phone and you say that.

13:20So you do everything in app. You're using, like, the native tools in TikTok? No, I use, it's called Splice. Oh, Splice. Yeah. Okay. It's honestly, like, yeah, it's the most basic thing. But, like, it's, like, I guess what I do is, like, I just, like, show every single step of, like, the recipe. Like, from, like, the cutting the onion in half to, like, peeling the onion. It's just, like, just very satisfying, like, little clips. So it's, like, always, like, half a second there, second there. So that's why I don't write the recipes because it's, like, you can just, like, kind of watch it. You really can see it.

13:48I mean, it's ASMR as well. I mean, there's definitely some smoothing of the brain. Yeah, ASMR, but with some music too. So it's like, yeah, all the sounds from the cutting and whatnot. And I also like the music. And I don't know. Yeah, it's why like my girlfriend, like she was like at first, it was like during COVID. I was just starting like filming videos on my, with the front cam. But like just like posting like 50 stories, you know, those little dots of like stories back to back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was always like that. And people were super into it. I was like, that's crazy. Like it's just like me like cooking my dinner.

14:15and then she was like sitting at the island just like watching me just like doing she was like should I just film I'm like oh I don't know she started filming then she was like you should start a TikTok account I was like ah I don't know you know it's dancing videos or whatever and no I did and we posted a video it kind of blew up like overnight and we're like alright well maybe so the first one yeah blew up the first video I think it was like the second or third one maybe okay yeah okay let me ask you about production how long does it take to do one it depends it can take like You mean just like the filming?

14:46Yeah, yeah, just the filming. It could take an hour. It could take five hours. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, I think the longest one was probably the lasagna. Yeah, that was. It was like five, six hours in a row. That one, I was just on that one for a while because I was watching it. It's really impressive. It looked nice, too. Like, the dish. I feel like people are really into classic, like, home staple dinner, but showing the proper version of it. Like, you know, lasagna can be, like, very good or very, very shitty, right? Like, you can just buy the pre-made pasta, like, pre-made sauce. But, like, if you do everything from scratch, it's, like, such a beautiful thing.

15:24Yeah, it's, like, a great weekend project. You know, you get to learn how to do something, like, make pasta. Yeah. Rolling out your own cheats for lasagna. Do you ever, I mean, the algorithm, we all have frustrations. The algorithm, anyone who's on social media, do you ever get, like, super bummed that one of your videos bombs? uh honestly i've so so tiktok was the first thing that got me like kind of like on the map yeah and then you know a lot of people have like a big gap between tiktok and instagram yeah and um now it's like i think it's two mil on tiktok and like 1.9 on instagram and like tiktok is very inconsistent it's like always like 100 000 views sometimes it's like 50 000 views whereas instagram is like i've very like consistent like uh it's like everything i post almost always like reaches a million views or more.

16:08So I feel like I have a way better engagement on Instagram. So it's like, and it's like, after a while, it's just like, you know, it's like, I usually post and like, refresh, refresh, refresh. Make sure, like, check out the comments, check out the likes. Now it's like, you know, it's like, it becomes like kind of like more of a job. So it's like, you post it and, you know, post not, not do like the posting ghosting, you know, we post it. Posting ghost, go out and go for a run. Yeah, go for something else. Yeah, it's so dumb to just be on your couch, like, refreshing every single comment, it's like, watch it, like, in bed before, I don't know, watch later, it's like, yeah, post it and then ghost it, and what are you gonna do if it does well or is good, it's like, it's, you know, it's like it's out there, you already posted it, like, leave it there I agree, yeah, and you, like, obviously thought about it, you're like, this is good, and if you don't agree with me, fuck you, like, this is, you know what, go yeah, if it's online, it's like, cause I cause I, I think it's a good video, right?

16:52or like, yeah, I did take down one video, yeah, what's that? it was like a jerk chicken, it was so bad It just looked bad. My girlfriend called it the Shrek chicken. Oh, it just had like a, it didn't look delicious? No, it was like, well, first it was like, it was like inside, it was like oven baked, it was like a green mar... No, it was not a good look. Some reply guy once told me that one of my dishes looked like cat barf, and I was like, you know what, reply guy, fuck you. I was like, I'm keeping it up just because you said that. Because, do you like reply to comments a lot, or? I try not to.

17:23I think it's a little bit of a fool's errand to reply to any negative comments. I mean, positive, I'm like, yeah, thanks for being cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But negative, nah, I don't do that. How about you? No, honestly, it might not even be a good thing because I don't reply to them. I mean, sometimes I just do because it's like I feel like this peer pressure of other people doing it. But I never reply to most DMs or comments. I just like I spend enough time on my phone doing all the edits and stuff. It's like, I just feel like it's so like time consuming, like to do like comments and DMs on like TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram.

17:59It's just like never ending. So for me, it's like I'm looking at like hiring like a community manager who can because I feel like it's you have to like at least like insert some people like asking about the book, asking about like recipes. So I do feel like I'm leaving everyone like in the in the in the dark, like not answering. So having someone to do it. Yeah, 100 percent. I think it's important. And, like, also, like, it's just, like, I guess part of the game, you know? It's, like, the big accounts are always, like, kind of, like, commenting on your – and I never – it's, like, always, like – I just – yeah.

18:28You don't need to, like, drop into, like, Kim or Robin or Pink. I'm just, like, going – that's what I'm thinking, first name – like, first name people. Like, you're not going in and dropping into their comments. No, no. I mean, sometimes, like, it's, like, if I'm in the mood and, like, you know, it's, like, something that's very cool. I see it's like, you know, a little couple of fire emojis here and there sometimes. I like the creator fire emoji dropping in. That's nice to see. Like a stamp of approval, you know? Yeah. You get like a Bun B fire emoji like randomly dropping in here. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

18:59Like that's nice to see that. You got to show Laurent in some, okay. Yeah. All right. So do you go to Paris at all? Yeah. So tell me, like landing in Paris, like there's just energy about your videos. It's like you're obviously having a good time. You've got a crew. You've got, like, it's, like, definitely not Hype House level, but you've got, like, a crew with you. When you go to Paris, what's that like? It's always a good time, to be honest. Like, I feel like a lot of people in Paris think I'm English. I'm Anglophone. Oh, okay. Yeah, they call me Dagonet. Mr. Dagonet. Why? I don't know. Like, mock you?

19:36No, because, like, I always, like, do my intro in English, I guess. and they probably assumed I'm like an American with like a French name. I mean, you speak English really well, so maybe that's why. Thank you. Yeah, I don't know. But then you tell them something in French. Yeah. Paris is a crazy place. I like Paris. The service is so good in the restaurant. The food is great. It's just beautiful, right? Just like you're out there. It's like you're walking into history. What are your spots? Do you have some restaurants that come to mind? The list is very long for sure, yeah. I'm very excited to try.

20:08I'm going because so now I'm doing the English cook cookbook tour right now yeah so so my book was out in French as I said like in Quebec a year ago right mm-hmm it's also coming out in France same language like they use metric system years Imperial so different version they just converted it yeah converted and like some things I would maybe to to kebecois yeah to understand so so yeah doing the French, doing Paris, Bordeaux, and then Marseille. Nice. And yeah, I have a few pop-ups too, like one in Paris and one in Marseille. So it's just always fun to like kind of like, I was there like, I guess my publisher sent me like two months or two months ago to just kind of like do some videos there with some French creators to like boost my French audience before the book comes out.

20:54And we like did this video at this crazy like institution in Paris. It's called Le Meurice. It's like a palace restaurant. Yeah. probably two or three mission star, and, like, went in the kitchen, like, did a video with the chef there, like, the whole, like, brigade was in the back, and, like. That's cool to have the guys in the back watching while you're doing it. Yeah, I guess they were all, they were all on breakers of the videos, like, everyone was just, like, in the back, like, hanging out, and, like, it's really, like, old school, like, everyone was just, like, oh, chef, you need something else, chef, like, a very, like, you know, like.

21:21Petrified. Yeah. Terrified of the chef. Petrified, but the chef is, like it looks like he's like the nicest guy in the world like nice little like slicked back hair like those are the ones that you're yeah the ones it might might be a psychopath those guys like the quiet ones they were like yeah yeah you you're like those are the scary one he's like Alain Ducasse protege like he's just like kind of like the Cedric Groley of like you said enough yeah I love it how do you do you like to hang do it to the clubs do you like to go to wine bars you go to like like you go to like Canal Saint Martin like where do you hang and I honestly it's always kind of like it becomes this thing of like always like I go there and I just like kind of like I go wherever like yeah I guess I'm people are just like bringing me to the spaces and I just kind of like I always become like this big blur of like we did like so many like bars and restaurants and like in the same the same day but like I like to hang out in the Marais it's always a good time there yeah good restaurants there I'm gonna try to set sim oh yeah yeah like in two weeks so I'm gonna go back yeah le cave or the main the main guy the main guy yeah yeah I did Clamato right next door.

22:25Yeah, Clamato, yeah. Yeah, that was a good spot for lunch, but I'm looking forward to that. And what else is planned? I'm doing a pop-up at Lolo, qu 'elle va manger, with some friends there. So I went to this spot in Marseille last time. It's called Tuba Club. It's like the most beautiful spot, like just by the ocean, like in Marseille. It's such a great town. I love Marseille. Yeah, I love Marseille. So cool, so cool. Good vibes, right? Yeah, Provence and like down there, it's just like great people and yeah multicultural it's like it's definitely different culture in Paris that more like laid back yeah yeah yeah yeah let's get real here yeah let's get real what do the what do the Parisians think of a Quebecoise boy like yourself do they are they snobs to you I think I think some a lot of people from Quebec think like or maybe they just feel like kind of like they're being looked at you know just like kind of like like this inferior feeling towards French people because it's like, the thing is, Frenchies are very, very proud people, right?

23:24It's like, because in school, like, all they learn is, like, how great their country is and, like, all these things they did, like, all these things they invented, like, photos, cinema, gastronomy, like, service, like, they give you guys a Statue of Liberty. Yeah. It's just like, I know. That's cool. Thanks, guys. That's, yeah, that's like, so they learn to, like, to be very proud and, like, obviously, like, we speak a super fucked up French in Quebec. It's like, It's a very, like, a different language. So, like, in Paris, like, the thing people always, like, it's like they, like, they pretend to not understand what you're saying.

23:56So, like, they might even, like, so I could speak to someone in Paris in French and they might reply in English because, like, they, I don't know. They think you're, like, eighth grade level, like, French. Like, I definitely have some, like, some issues, like, I don't know. But the thing is, like, when you speak English to them, now tables are, you know, tables are turned. Yeah, they don't know what the hell. Seeing is, I don't know. So it's like it's always like yeah, I like your I like your your like impression of a Parisian gentleman Yes, it's nice to see my scent is it's something else So yeah, but no like Paris is I mean for me.

24:31It's like always like going there like a bunch of like Prejudice but you know what most of the time it's always good experiences like I Only you had one bad experience in Paris. It was very memorable Like I even posted about it at the restaurant like I've never posted anything in my whole life About a restaurant that was negative right, but that was that was like too much what happened. What's the paraphrase? I can't I don't even care name-dropping the place if no you don't have to that's fine A place I forgot the name anyway, so yeah, yeah, whatever yeah, but it was like it was like on the action Bronson show It was like like one of like wine bistro so We're very hyped to try this place so me and girlfriend just went there and then as we walked it was you know just like dressing like that.

25:12Yeah. Not a mission star, just a bistro, right? It's like, you can wear fucking whatever you want there. So I just, we walk in the spot and the sommelier, right, I guess we found out she was a sommelier after this whole thing, but like, she just kind of like, almost like, kind of like walked towards us, like pushing us out and she was like, is it for drink or for food? Oh, one of those. Yeah, like, well, drinks first. Are you just having drinks? Yeah. It was like, well, drinks first and, you know, some food later, whatever. She's like, nightclubs all the day. Oh, God. We're like, no, we're also going to eat some food.