the-restaurant-guys_2_12-07-2025_133724 0:56

hello everybody, and welcome. You are listening to the Restaurant Guys. I'm Mark PAs bu Oh, was I not supposed to do that? I'm Mark Pascal and he's Francis' Shot. But together we own stage left in Catherine Lombardi restaurants in New Brunswick, New Jersey. We're to bring you the inside track on food. We're wine and the finer things in life. La la la la Mark. It's the Christmas show. No commercials on the Christmas show. Yay. It's just us for you. I hate commercials except No, you don't. When we talk about Witham accounting and Mag Yard Bank, it's like you do not hate commercials. I promise you. That's why the restaurant guys are here. No one. Listen to Mark. Okay. Um, so it's Christmas show, no commercials. Uh, last Christmas we just sat around and told stories and, uh, and I don't wanna do that now. I want to, sorry. We might tell some stories. You never know. Gimme some. You don't, you don't know how the show's gonna go. Alright, so I wanna talk about, though it's kind of a wintry feel. I, read about, the furthest north fine dining restaurant in the world. Oh, that was a cool article. Yeah, it's haha. Oh, it's, it's a cold, it was a cold article. So I'm gonna tell some things about it to our listeners. And Mark, you can, uh mm-hmm. This is kind of. My, my little thing and you can, you can tell me what you think as we go. So Hu said, this is, um, an article by Jeffrey ue, I think is how you pronounce his name. He writes for today, he has his own substack. It's a great article and he talks about his visit to Hue, the world's northernmost fine dining restaurant. It is at the southern limit of the area and this is what defines the Arctic Circle. I did not know that the, it's the area in which the summer solstice for one day, the sun does not set. And the winter salts. This, it does not rise. And so the, the Arctic Circle is where for at least 24 hours, you get full sunshine and that defines the Arctic and the Antarctic circle. By the way, this writer's great. I'm one paragraph in. I learned something. I was gonna say what I, what? You know what I love about this show? The restaurant guys get to learn things. I know when we do this show, we are smarter for having done this show. So you fly up to Svalbard. Uh, and then you go take a three hour plane ride to the town, which I love the name of Long Yen. Why, why do you think that is? Right? Now you may, you may ask what, what sort of, uh, constraints or things define their cuisine. Um, well. Nothing fucking grows up there. That's one thing, uh, that's a problem. Well, no, they're growing seasons like six weeks, right? Yeah. Some, some incredibly short period of time to grow things, which is a shame 'cause they get all that sunlight for, for half a year. Well, so they used to eat polar bears. They no longer allow that. However, the polar bears still will eat you. So, so they have warning signs about that. Um, I, I've told you this before, I, I do enjoy eating things that would otherwise eat me. Yeah, yeah. Well, you can't have the polar bear. So there thought to be poisonous. I don't know if that's true or not, that's just in this article. He doesn't elaborate, but he said, um, when they used to eat polar bears, you would have to sign a release saying, if I get sick from this polar bear, I do not hold you liable. And, uh, a sign from 1939 still hangs on the wall that he set restaurants. Right? Well, kind of like, you know, if you've left the fish out too long, maybe, maybe, uh, I, I know some restaurants that maybe should. Should put that on the menu. That's very funny. That's very funny. Alright, so what do they do for food up there? So there's six to 12 weeks of growing season, no fresh produce. Most of the year they work with local hunters and fishermen. Uh, so they harvest such delicacies as, um. Mosses a few berries. Uh, and as you might imagine, it's a restaurant that's really based on preservation techniques, like mm-hmm. Fermenting, curing, smoking, pickling, and drying. They work with local hunters and fishermen, which is great. Well, 'cause you got 40 weeks a year that nothing grows. Yeah, right. So that's a long time. Just so you know, that's a big part of a year. 40 weeks. Yeah. It's a big part. And the thing about it is, while that's the northern most fine dining restaurant, people eat up there. Mm-hmm. People live up there and, but they don't, you know, grow corn. let's talk about some of the ingredients. 'cause I thought this was fascinating. So first ingredient, the crown jewel of Arctic cuisine, FBAR reindeer. That seems very un Christmasy at the Christmas show, does it not? But I wanna tell you about the Fbar reindeer. Uh, they are plump, short-legged, and utterly unhurried. So these couldn't be the flying reindeer that Santa uses. These are, those are the Santa uses only the fastest reindeer. Yeah. Yeah. So he's gotta get all the way around the world. But when you talk about hunting up there, it sounds like nobody has a lot of energy 'cause it's fricking cold. So, um, the creature is unlike any other reindeer. It lives without fear because there are no wolves to chase it and no predators to test its speed. And I want to put a parenthetical in there. Almost little reindeer almost. You know what the problem with articles like this are? What's that? Well, now everybody in the world is gonna be like. I gotta have some reindeer. No, we're not even done yet. Right? I gotta have some reindeer and what's gonna happen. First of all, I love this author. We have to get him on the show. Jennifer, can we reach out to Jeffrey ue his, he, it's a beautifully written article. It's, it's very, very written. It's very funny, very informative. Okay, so he talks about the life of the reindeer up there without predators. And he writes in this piece, it grows round, rich and fatty. It's flesh marbled with a quiet luxury of an untroubled life. Until, okay, here's what I'm gonna say. Until we come, if. If polar bears could read, that's what they'd be reading about me. But they can't get down here to get you 'cause you're never going up to the north pole. You ready? The see goes on. This is, this is gonna, but you know that right? That somewhere in a different dimension there's a, there's polar bears are farming meat where the apex predator. Yeah. So let him think everything's okay. That seems to be the theme up there with hunting. We'll go on a little more about that, but you ready for this? Here's how he describes it though. The Wagyu of the north, A miracle of fat and flavor. Born from moss, lichen, and polar air. Each bite tells the story of endurance made tender. Arctic austerity turned into opulence. Right? Hold on to taste. Hold on. To taste is to taste the arctic's most intimate secret. That even the world's harshest place perfection can come from stillness. Who the fuck is this guy? Okay, ready? Yep. Me, me, me, me. I don't know. I don't know perfection from stillness. I, I don't know perfection from Doritos and bowling maybe. I dunno. Um, so the best of Svalbard reindeer, I didn't know there were, uh, grades. but the, uh, the Huett reindeer is done with a cherry glaze and Jerusalem artichoke. It's perfect in every way. Um, the reindeer loin was as tender. I love this guy who, Jennifer, get this man on the show. The reindeer loin was as tender as you might hope, a lazy reindeer to be. Okay enough with the lazy onto the next. An ode to this fowled, Targin Targins a bird, by the way, um, the Fbar rock Parmesan is one of the arctic's toughest survivors. It is the only bird that stays on the island year round with the harsh conditions. Um, it doesn't migrate. And so it's like a small feathered tank compared to its mainland relatives. It's larger and heavier and has thicker plumage. That is a little like you thicker plumage. I like that. Plump and juicy. That's, that's those, those words describe me to a T, but here we have again, uh uh, along a theme with few natural predators in the north. These birds don't really need to stay on high alert. Until we come around, they are a bit, and I love this guy. They're a bit lazier, slower and heavier, and not nearly as quick to take off as regular targin uh, during hunting season. It can almost feel unfair as the bird doesn't seem to really care when you turn up. We'll teach those birds. You see, we've forgotten the, the, it seems that the planet has forgotten that human beings can hunt anything into extinction at any moment. Well, that's the other thing about this though, they're very, uh, environmentally responsible. Mm-hmm. And they're not hunting anything to extinction. It's part of the regular food chain. And let's be honest, mark. They're not doing 200 on a Saturday night. You know what I mean? And there's no line outside how many covers we got tonight? Yeah, seven. Exactly. And there's no line around the block. 'cause you would freeze to death waiting in a line around the block. Okay. Uh, so the pure taste of swallow bard comes in, this bird served in a sea buckthorn sauce and fermented chanterelles. I don't know what buckthorn is. My guess is you've never been cold enough to see buckthorn. Yeah, I think you're probably right. It could be a plant, it could be a bird, it could be a tree. I have no idea what it could be. Leather. I don't know what it is. Um, perfectly prepared and this is the cool thing, not possible anywhere else in the world. 'cause you can't export any of this stuff anywhere else in the world. All right. Next item up on the menu, Arctic ring seal. Now the arctic ring seal is not in danger. It is the main prey of polar bears. Mm-hmm. Polar bears are in danger 'cause the ice is melting. But the ring seal is having a great time. So we're gonna chip in and help the polar bears. I need some of those ring seals. Um, can I tell you why I'm weird? Uh, let me count the ways I'm gonna tell you. Just, just a weird thing about me reindeer. No problem. I'm going to eat a reindeer seal. I'm like, ah, we gotta eat a seal. Really? Yeah. I don't know. I just, dude, quail, quail are cute. I don't, what, what can I tell you? Funny rabbits, I, I, there's, they operate in different spaces in my brain, seals and reindeers. I want to eat the reindeer, the plump, juicy, delicious Wagyu, reindeer and the seal. I'm kind of like, I don't know. Uh, yeah. Well, I'm like, I'm gonna disagree with you on this one. They also serve things like, there's a strange invasive sea urchin. That they eat that. So that's a really good thing. We get that damn thing outta, I feel like we should be eating that, right? We use the word invasive. I feel like we should make the crap out. Anything invasive. Yeah. It's the crap outta it. Right? And these ingredients pop up everywhere in the serving style. They're served on rocks, shells, fossils, and antlers, which is pretty cool. Um, you ready for this? How many times can you use antlers? You know, you think like, like. Eight uses, and then you gotta get a new set of antlers. Or you think you can use antlers for decades. As long as you keep using the reindeer, the antlers come with it. It's all, it's a whole purpose thing. But here's the, this really surprised me. Um, uh, do you put 'em in a dishwasher? Do you, how do you clean an antler? I, I do not know the answer. Rub it against a tree. I don't, I don't know. Um, here, but here's the thing. Ready? Uh, wine list. How many bottles do you think they have in the wine cellar? 14, 20,000 bottles. In a thousand bottle list. Yeah. And the Arctic Circle, that's 14 is what they should have though. I also think like people who get paid to go work up in that area, like on oil rigs and stuff mm-hmm. They get paid a lot of money. Yeah. You know what I mean? May as well have a good bottle of wine and they should. Yeah, I'm gonna say because they should. Yes, they should. Alright, so, um, we are looking for restaurant guys, listeners. We're gonna start a GoFundMe, um, to send Mark and Francis to Salard and we'll tell you all about ette. The difference between a reindeer and a. And a seal. Yeah. And we're gonna go hunt, lazy, plump, uh, those little, those animals that think they're, they got no problems in the world until we arrive. No, I, I'd love to go to this restaurant. It's never gonna happen. But, um, we, let's start the Kickstarter. Okay. Great idea. Hey Mark, you know what? You can get me for Christmas. What a trip to Hussite. Okay. Huett. Huett could it, but I'm only buying you a ticket up. You promise? If you promise never to come back, uh, wouldn't that be wild? Well, um, I am, uh, looking forward to Christmas with my family. I, I hope you guys are looking forward to your Christmas as well. We're gonna take a couple of days off. We're gonna enjoy the people in our lives. We're gonna enjoy the, the fruits of our labors and get ready for the new year and get ready for New Year's Eve and the fireworks off the top of the ridge, which is one of my absolute favorite events that we do each year. 100%. Merry Christmas, everybody. And uh, we'll see you before the new year. Happy New Year. Merry Christmas. I'm Francis Shot. I'm Mark Pascal. We are the restaurant guys. Whole, whole, whole