María Gordillo is the oldest sweet shop in Guatemala,
maybe the best one.
It's been open since 1872.
- Excuse me. Hi. - Hi.
Can I bother you to tell me what your favorite things are?
Absolutely, yes.
This family's been coming here for a long time.
They seem to know things.
Thing is, they combine sweets that are milk-based with fruit.
Look at that. It's a whole candied orange?
Yeah, filled with coconut with condensed milk.
I love it.
Tell me your name. My name is Phil.
- What's your name? - Alexandra.
Alexandra.
Alexandra, very nice. And your name?
Daniela.
Daniela? And you?
- Monica. - That's my wife's name.
- No, really? - Mine too.
- And you? - I'm Esteban.
Somebody told me I should try the fig with coconut inside.
- Is that right? - Yeah.
All right, I will.
Did you ever have a fig with coconut inside, Daniela?
There you go.
Mm!
You want to try one of these?
- Oh, my God. - Yeah.
I liked everything.
Everything was original and delicious.
Beautiful!
- That's squash. - Really?
- Yeah. - Candied squash.
It's a sugar mountain.
Yeah.
I'm going to remember you, candied squash.
I'm coming back for you.
A happy hungry man's
Travelling all across The sea and the land
He's trying to understand
The art of pasta Pork, chicken, and lamb
He will drive to you
He will fly to you
He will sing for you
And he'll dance for you
He will laugh with you
And he'll cry for you
There's just one thing He asks in return
Somebody please, somebody please
Can somebody
Somebody feed Phil?
Somebody feed him now
First impressions of Guatemala?
A gorgeous country
with a civilization that goes back 4,000 years to the Mayans...
...ringed by 37 volcanoes.
Everything that comes out of this volcanic soil is amazing.
Coffee, corn, and did you know this is the birthplace of chocolate?
Yes. How have I not been here before?
The cuisine may remind you of Mexican food, which makes sense.
The two countries share a border as well as Mayan traditions.
But it's a unique and gorgeous cuisine all on its own.
We're visiting the very charming and colorful city of Antigua,
as well as the country's capital, Guatemala City,
which is the largest capital in Central America.
First, Guatemala City.
I never knew much about Guatemala.
What I do know, I learned from our babysitter
and now close friend of over 25 years, Claudia,
who helped us raise Ben and Lily.
And I'd heard stories,
and I'd had little tastes of food if Claudia made them for us.
But I never imagined I'd be lucky enough to be in Guatemala with her.
Today, Claudia is taking me to a place from her childhood.
This is the Central Market of Guatemala City.
Wow. This is daily life, right?
It's one of the biggest markets in all of Central America.
Claudia, show me some things.
This is the main food section.
- Candy. - Yes.
Beans, rice.
Wait, these are the things you used to buy for Lily.
Different types of candies.
- Is it tamarind? - It's tamarind.
Ah-ha!
I know things.
You know?
Mm!
- Look at this, mountains of beautiful... - Look at all the beautiful vegetables.
- I've never seen it piled so high. - Everything. Yeah.
- What do you call this? - Atole blanco.
It's made of corn, and you put beans inside, you mix it up.
And we used to drink this every Sunday morning.
It's like a comfort.
Right?
It's very, very good.
We're stopping here at Doña Mela,
a place that's been around for over 70 years.
Claudia used to come here with her grandmother and mother.
- Phil. - Mucho gusto.
And this is Carmen, who runs the place because her mother used to run it.
Her mother was Doña Mela.
- That's her daughter. - Ah!
Beautiful, I could see.
- Do you have a favorite that I should try? - I do.
- Which one? - Chile relleno is one of my favorite ones.
Oh, that looks good. So this is the chile relleno?
The chile relleno. You'll love--
- It comes in a tortilla like that. - Yeah.
Hee-hee.
Uh oh, I might be messy.
Yeah. 'Cause you got a lot of juice in there.
Okay, here we go. Claudia.
We should do the happy dance.
I'm doing it!
We got a happy dance.
So delicious.
Has it changed at all since you were little?
It's exactly the same.
- Isn't that great? - It's beautiful.
This has to be one of the best places in Guatemala.
We're in this tiny stand. Where's the kitchen?
- At home. - Oh.
Every single day, they get up at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning
and make all the dishes you're seeing
and bring them in to the market.
- That's... - Plantains in mole.
In mole. Mm-hmm.
Wow! I like it.
Oh!
- Look at the egg. - You're gonna love this.
Of course I will. Look at the color.
Grab the whole tostada and eat it like this.
No, you can't.
- Yes. - Really?
You might make a mess, but that's how you eat it.
Open your mouth wide open.
- Ah! - It's impossible.
It's the best one ever.
Okay, now, you from the other side.
Do it, Claudia.
Yes, I'm proud of you. Yes, Claudia!
- That's how you do it. - That's how you do it.
About an hour outside of Guatemala City,
you'll find the country's old capital, Antigua.
It's had a tumultuous history,
having been destroyed and rebuilt five times after earthquakes.
The last time was in the 1700s,
which you can see from its exquisite architecture.
There's just so much to do and see here.
And eat.
Today, I'm having lunch at a place with a constantly changing menu.
Specials will appear even just for a day, sometimes never to return.
- Nice to meet you, man. - Hi, I'm Phil.
That's because of this guy, Chef Mario Godínez.
I'm excited because I read a little bit about barriga llena, corazón contento...
"Contento." Yes.
- "A full belly is a happy heart." - Yes.
- You'll be happy. - Let's see how full my belly gets.
Okay, let's do it.
Barriga Llena looks like a bar,
and it is a bar, which means you can see
this gorgeous comfort food created right in front of you.
I've lucked into showing up when they're serving a twist on chucos,
a kind of street food normally made with hot dogs.
So we basically use smoked sausage, and then we make our own sauerkraut.
So this is white corn, black corn, and yellow corn.
- Mario. Oh, man. - I can't wait for this.
- Here's what's great. - Mm-hm.
Right away, it reminds you a little of a hot dog with everything on it.
Yeah, yeah.
But then it has the smoky, delicious sausage.
- Yes. - I'm going to take a bite of each.
- It's nice, right? - Mario!
Come on!
I love sauerkraut, I love that sausage.
This is some of the best sausage I ever had in my life. Come on.
Oh...
- Dumplings? - Dumplings.
We have this mix of pork,
and then we have this Chinese chimichurri.
You like spicy, right?
I like everything.
Try with this.
That's a macha chili crunch made with Guatemalan dried chilies.
We like comfort food, and that's what we do here.
I'm very comfortable.
Wow, this is a happy place.
I don't know how it could get any happi...
So this is our fried chicken, marinated in buttermilk 24 hours.
This is my favorite kind of thing.
Local place that has the flavors of where it's from, but a mash-up.
- Yes. - There's no rules.
But the rules were born to break them.
The rules were born to break them.
- Should I dip it? - Yep.
We make our own black garlic mayo.
Is he gonna hug me?
- Yeah. - That's cool.
Is it good?
That's one of the best fried chickens I ever had in my life!
Crispy, beautiful, juicy.
Mario, I would hug you more, but I want to eat more chicken.
This is Casa Santo Domingo.
It was a big convent over 300 years ago,
and it was destroyed in the last great earthquake.
Ooh.
Lovely.
What do you see, Philip?
I see bones.
I've never seen a place like this. It's part hotel, part archaeological site.
Oh, pretty.
Buenas tardes.
It's such a magical and welcoming place.
Think I can touch it? Uh-oh.
Well, I hope you feel better.
Every place we go, we need fixers to help us with the production.
They are our liaisons between us and whatever city we're in.
We've had amazing support here.
This is Greg, the leader of the team,
Harold, and Rebecca.
To you, my friends. So lovely and welcoming.
- You're welcome. - I love working with you.
You're the best.
- Thank you so much. - The best.
I wanted to take them to something great here in their town.
This is Hugo's Ceviches.
And this is Hugo.
His father, Hugo Sr., started his business on the back of a truck.
And this is the truck.
It's now in the courtyard
where he has two restaurants,
and he's built out the menu from just ceviches.
And the beer is good too.
- This is a big sandwich. What's inside? - It's a chuco.
It's kind of like a hot dog.
I had the fancy version of chucos earlier today,
but now it's time for the real deal.
- Classic street food for Guatemalans. - Classic street food.
You know how much I love it? I had them at my wedding.
- This is my favorite. - That's-- I love that.
- Yeah. - They're so good.
Okay.
Hugo!
Your new name is Chuco!
- Mm! - Mm-hm?
No wonder you had it at your wedding. Who wouldn't like this?
I know!
What the...?
Oh!
- Wow! This is fried fish. - Yeah.
This looks incredible.
And you got pizza. This is the best truck in the world.
Yeah.
Could you drive to my house?
- Yeah. - What's on the pizza?
- Chapina. - Called pizza chapina.
It has a lot of ingredients we love, like beans, marinara--
Chorizo and queso.
Guatemalan pizza. All right, I'm gonna love this.
We got that because Rebecca doesn't eat fish.
- Yeah. - What?
I eat like a child.
That's why at my wedding, we had pizza and chucos. Yeah.
Excellent.
Have you worked together before?
- We have, many times. - Many times, sir.
She's a boss, right?
Positively, yeah.
I mean, I see you in traffic.
- You're tough. She's tough. - Yeah.
- Be careful. - I think... Oh!
And let's not forget the specialty of the house.
Wow.
The ceviche day here in Guatemala is Saturday.
- That's a special Saturday. - For you.
- Just for me? - Yeah.
All? Todo?
- Yeah. - Wow.
Welcome to Guatemala.
- Eat it with the cracker. - I am lucky. Okay, here we go.
So good!
Love it?
The lime, the Worcestershire, the fresh seafood.
This is happy food.
Even if you don't like seafood, you'd like this. There's so many flavors.
I'm gonna try it.
Good. Just try it.
I think it's fantastic.
Let's see what Rebecca says.
Don't spit it out.
- You have changed my mind about seafood. - Yay!
Yay! This is a win.
We win again, right?
Way better than I expected.
Way better.
You gonna try fried fish too, Rebecca?
- Oh, God. - What?
- You're in! You're a fish person now. - That's really good. For sure.
- You made Rebecca a fish person. - My family won't believe it.
They're going to see this and be proud of you.
They're going to be angry because you made me eat fish in one day.
They've been trying their whole life, so... yeah.
You tell them you went to the doctor, and now you're better.
It's breakfast time.
We're going to "The Big Comal," El Comalote.
The comal is the big flat skillet
that all these gorgeous tortillas are made on.
I'm going here with a great food journalist in Guatemala,
- Lucía Barrios. - Yeah.
- I have a food magazine. - What's it called? Tell the people.
It's called Nixtamal.
I was documenting all the new restaurants
that began changing the food scene in Guatemala.
Everything that happened, happened, like, all of us together as a generation.
Yes.
Ten years ago,
nobody had commercially available heirloom corns.
What we see normally in supermarkets
is just all the corns that look the same that are imported.
But what we see behind the wall, you see the heirloom corns, all different.
This native corn is so seldom used, most Guatemalans have never seen it.
But chef-owner Gabriela Perdomo
believes that you can't make real Guatemalan food without it.
The taste, the smell, the texture is completely different.
The other tortillas, that smell, it's...
- It's gone. - It's gone.
Mm-hmm.
The smell, the flavor, the character is gone.
- The nutrients are gone. - Nutrients.
So I'm going to have a healthy breakfast today.
- Yes. - Exactly.
What should I have first?
Um, I think that you can begin with the classical tostada.
That's one of the most traditional snacks.
There's so much flavor in the corn, like she said.
- So much flavor in the corn. - Wow.
This is-- It looks like corn with corn inside.
Maybe it's potatoes inside?
- Mm. - Philip, that's like a knish.
There's like a smoky...
Richard said it's like a knish. You know what a knish is?
No, what's a knish?
That's a Jewish thing from New York.
Mm! Okay.
Richard, you insult this by calling it a knish.
It's so good.
Now, this looks a little like an empanada.
- Doblada. - Doblada.
Mm-hmm.
Mm!
Wow.
And the smoked chorizo.
I love what you said,
that you grew up with the... gastronomic shift.
Mm-hmm. Because when I was a young girl,
all the restaurants where we would go out and eat
were either steakhouses, Italian restaurants, or McDonald's.
It's really about changing the shift on how we see ourselves.
Usually, the women who make tortilla with their hands are the worst paid.
This is the first place that changed the way that they saw each other.
Right.
Because it wasn't seen as something that was worthy.
We have to hang on to this stuff.
Wow.
How did I do?
You ate all the corn.
The best.
When you eat heirloom corn, you will feel very full.
Slow down, you're saying?
Is it bad when the owner of the restaurant tells you to slow down?
This is so much better than an Egg McMuffin.
There's a volcano right over there called Volcán de Fuego.
It's a very active volcano.
It goes off about every half an hour.
But since we've been here, the eruptions have been pretty small.
Well, it's just, like, you know...
That's what it looks like.
But at night, you can see the lava.
We're going to a beautiful,
modern Guatemalan restaurant here in Antigua.
This is Nanik.
I'm bringing Monica,
Lily, her fiancé Mason,
our cousin Jeremy,
and the beloved Claudia.
To Miss Claudia.
Claudia is not only the special guest of our dinner,
she's the special guest of our family.
- I love you all. - Love you, Claudia.
And thank you for bringing me here, back home.
Thank you for coming.
- Hi. Look at this. - Hi!
Bringing our first dish is the chef Fernando Solís
and his business partner, Nalu Díaz.
Everything that we make here, it's about the local product.
On the plate, you have esquites.
It comes from the corn.
- Yes. - Some chancol cheese.
It's a local cheese, but we smoke it in house.
- A little bit of root beet and cilantro. - Yes.
Come on.
Wow.
- Wow. - Are you tearing up?
- Yes. - You're making me cry.
- Claudia! - Yeah.
Aw.
- One bite. - Wow.
Wow, right away.
- Something magic happens, right? - Yeah. This reminds me of my childhood.
Your mother used to make this?
I have chills. It's-- It's incredible.
Hey, you should have a sip of this.
Yeah, Claudia, cheers.
This drink, it reminds me of Christmas,
and now they make it like a cocktail.
Would you say that alcohol makes it better?
Oh, it makes it better, way better!
Next, we go from the land to the ocean
with sea bass tartare with cilantro and beets.
Wow.
- How many years ago? - Lily was six years old.
When you actually then came to really work with us?
- Yes. - I fell in love with Claudia.
She would dance with me in the kitchen
and I would call her mi reina, my queen.
And you are?
Princesa.
That sounds right.
But she's also the president of the Phil Rosenthal fan club.
If I complain about Philip, she'll go, "Oh, but he's so nice."
What do you complain about?
- "He's so handsome." - Yes, yes!
Thank God for you, Claudia.
Also, we just have so much fun, and--
Except tonight, when she's crying all over the place.
On to the next course.
Oh! I love the presentation.
We're going to have my favorite plate here.
Mashan is a leaf that we use to make tamales.
And layered on top, beef tongue, pepper rocato, and onions.
Claud, what do we do?
You put the rice inside.
Wow.
Oh, my God, the flavor in that rice.
- Wow, this is great. - Wow.
Mason, are you thinking of things to make when you get home?
Yeah, this is totally inspiring.
- It is inspiring. - Awesome. Phenomenal.
- What do you think, Jeremy? - Excellent.
I'm just in awe that the first bite of the meal
was able to transport Claudia to her childhood
and also tell a story for us of what Guatemalan food is.
Yes, it's very powerful.
I've never seen food bring someone to tears before.
Monica's food can bring me to tears.
Claudia?
- Now what do you say about him? - Funny, right?
No!
This is the Finca El Tempixque,
a coffee plantation where we're going to be trying another beautiful crop,
sugarcane,
in various forms.
Specifically, the fermented and distilled kind, rum.
The most popular is Zacapa, made here in Guatemala.
A day tasting rum.
Naturally, my lovely wife just happened to be here
because she loves sugarcane!
- Hi, welcome! - This is Monica.
- Welcome to Guatemala, welcome. - Wow!
I brought you some fresh sugarcane.
We're lucky to be here with Vanessa and the master blender, Lorena.
I love this lady. You can see why.
How long have you been the master blender?
Wow. Forty.
Come on.
You look 40.
In January, I have 70.
Do you want to try the sugarcane juice?
- I want to do everything. - Okay.
This is the first step in rum-making. Extract the juice.
- Okay, move. Okay! - Oh, wow!
Dancing, dancing.
Go, go, go, go!
- Wow, look at me go. - Go, Phil!
- Are we doing the whole stick? - Yeah, we are.
- Are we getting any juice? - Yes, good job. Good job.
Fresh sugarcane juice.
Thank you, Lorena.
Phil? How is that?
Wow, that's so interesting.
- Isn't that delicious? - So delicious.
We'll explain to you the aging process.
- Okay. - Okay? Come.
Lorena uses the solera method,
where she blends the rums at different ages in different barrels.
The first cask is an American oak, ex-American whiskey.
- So there was whiskey kept in there. - Exactly.
And that imparts a slight flavor to the rum.
- Exactly. - Got it.
In the aging process, we char inside the cask
because we need more aromas and more flavor.
This is complex, this process.
I like that we're having-- We're meeting the person who made it.
Now, we'll have the finished product.
Exactly!
Let's go.
It's rum and snacks on the roof with a very impressive view.
I have Zacapa XO.
- Nice. - Yes.
Zacapa XO is a blend from 10 to 25 years.
- Yes. - Ready for the taste?
- Ready for the taste. - Okay.
Move, a slow move.
The same as the song.
Despacito
Okay?
Despacito
Okay, perfect.
That's the Latin passion. You need the Latin passion.
- All right. - Okay, a little sip.
- A little? - Yes.
Wow.
- There you go. - Smidge.
- See, Lorena? He's getting it. - Wow.
Okay, remember.
Despacito
- Cheers. - Aw.
- Thank you. Salud. - Salud.
- Volcano is happy. - Again.
- Cheers, volcano. - Cheers.
- Carolina. - Hi, Phil.
Hello.
Carolina Escobar Sarti runs Alianza.
This is a home that helps young women who've been abused.
It trains them in all kinds of disciplines.
It gives them a safe haven in a rough world.
This is like a sanctuary for many girls.
We give here protection.
We work on prevention.
They have access to justice.
It's a big facility.
You have dorms, you have, uh, a bakery, you have a kitchen.
- The workshops upstairs. - Medical care.
- Yeah. - Everything.
Yeah.
Maybe we can go upstairs and go to the bakery.
- Oh, beautiful. Okay. - So...
By the way, any of the girls' faces that you see on camera now
are not at risk, and that's why we're showing them.
- Hola. - Hi!
Buenas tardes.
Hello, I'm Phil.
- Hi, I'm Jennifer. - Jennifer.
- Angelica - Angelica.
- Daniela. - Daniela.
- Julita. - Julita.
- Rutilia. - Rutilia. I never heard that name.
Very beautiful.
- Hello. - Carla.
Carla.
Phil.
- Here we have empanadas. - Yeah?
With manjar. Manjar is something very sweet.
How old is she?
Diecisiete.
"I am 17 years old." Yes.
She has been with us for three and a half years.
- And this is the... - Manjar.
- Yeah.
That's very good.
You all like to cook?
- Sí. - Yeah.
I like to eat.
Do you want to practice?
No, I watch you. I like-- Yeah. I don't want to mess it up.
Very good! Let's carry this to the oven.
I can carry. That, I can do.
After a short time in the oven, lunch is served.
Ooh, look inside.
Thank you.
Mm!
It's hard to overstate how effective this program is.
Very good.
But I'll let these young women explain it for themselves.
I think that La Alianza supports us immensely.
They especially give us great emotional support.
I don't know how to...
And I'm very grateful for everything.
I didn't think I would ever come this far.
I also never imagined myself talking in front of so many people.
You should speak in front of more people.
'Cause you're very good. Yes.
This is like home.
We are a family, and we are all together.
Doesn't everyone deserve a home?
One filled with a sense of safety, love, and joy?
The world can be heartless.
There's a lot of bad stuff out there. Let's not pretend there isn't.
We can't control some things.
But what we can control is what we do.
And so sometimes it falls to citizens to make things right.
That's what Carolina has done here.
I'm proud to have visited this place.
I'm proud to have met these girls and the people who run Alianza.
They're going to be in my life now,
and I hope you'll join me
in helping these very deserving people.
It's time to head back to Guatemala City to meet Chef Pablo Díaz.
He specializes in modern Guatemalan cuisine
and is considered very good at it.
His restaurant was named one of the best in all of Latin America.
This is Mercado 24.
Joining me today is the lovely Lily Rosenthal,
you may have heard of her, and her equally lovely fiancé.
So Chef Pablo, meet Chef Mason.
Usually, I do a scene with Lily in the show.
This is the first time she brought a fiancé with her.
Well, I would hope so.
So Chef Pablo, you are famous for seafood.
Yeah.
We only work with catch of the day, so today we have a red snapper.
- It's a beautiful fish. - Wow.
- Beautiful.
I'm going to do the famous tostada.
You're very generous with the red snapper.
Aceite cortado, or oil infused with coriander seed, garlic,
and a little bit of soy sauce.
Nice.
Yeah, it is super nice. And...
- Oh, Lily. - Thank you.
You're welcome.
- Thank you. - You're welcome.
Wow.
- How is it? - Oh, my God.
- I love it. - Super nice.
- Yeah. - The mayo is perfect. This is awesome.
Thank you so much, Chef.
I think the world needs to know how you two met.
- It's a good story. - It's food-related.
- Right? - One of my favorite stories.
I was running a food pop-up.
I offered her oysters,
which she rejected.
All right, listen. I've had complications with oysters a few times.
Oh, yes.
And--
Yes, uncle.
It's like a murder scene.
Oh, my God.
- We're using it. - Please don't use it.
- Oh, we're using it. - Uncle?
Ruined my life.
So he offered me something else.
When she turned down the oysters, I had to offer her caviar.
Which, I'm sure you know, is one of her favorite foods.
Yeah, she liked it when she was, I think, two.
And then, when he proposed?
Out of a caviar tin.
Come on.
That's so nice.
And that's why the ring still smells.
This reminds me... So one day, Mason came over to the house.
He asked if he could speak to us.
And he came in and he made a beautiful little speech about you.
- Yes. - About the family.
And asked for our blessing.
And I said he didn't have to do that, but it was awfully sweet of him to do.
You said something to me that day that was very meaningful.
You hoped for me one day that I got to experience it from your seat.
And I very much look forward to that one day.
Don't make me cry, Mason.
Stupid Mason.
Yes! Oh!
And look at this. A whole red snapper.
- Wow. - Super nice.
That's your hero character, "Super Nice."
Super nice.
Nice is not enough.
- It needs to be super nice. - That's right.
Woo-hoo! Come on.
- Fish taco. - In Guatemala, we don't call it taco.
- What do you call it? - We call it "tortilla with fish."
- Yes. - Or "tortilla with beans."
- Not taco. - But it is like a taco.
It is taco. It is the same.
Yeah.
Chef Pablo, I like you.
Thank you.
Wow!
Nice.
Super nice.
Look, one more piece. I wonder who that's for.
Can you give it to my wife? She's at the bar with another man.
With another man?
I don't even know who that guy is.
I am such a fan.
Tell her her husband still is here.
Hey, Phil.
- There he is. - Yes. There we go.
It's Jimmy O. Yang.
Buddy, how are you?
I'm good. I'm in Boston right now.
You're in the middle of four shows, right?
I know, I know. It's great. It's super fun.
Well, you know where I'm calling from.
- Where are you? - Guatemala.
- Really? - Really.
They went to the best bakery in Guatemala City,
and they got me some things.
What is that? It's a blueberry croissant?
I guess you would call it a Danish.
I'm a sucker for a Danish.
Anything that's like glazed and layered, I'm very into.
You mean like this?
Oh, my God.
Mail it over. Mail it over to Boston.
Hee-hee!
You played Carnegie Hall!
- I did. - We didn't talk about it.
I know. We did two shows. Sold out two shows at Carnegie Hall.
Amazing. You're on fire.
It's one of the only buildings that my parents know and care about.
- Yeah. - You know, that and Sydney Opera House.
A lot of Chinese folks came out.
A lot of Hong Kong Cantonese people came out.
My first line at Carnegie Hall, I don't know if I can say it on your show.
Say it.
Cantonese, I said, " Diu nei lou mou" which means, "F your mother" in Cantonese.
And the crowd went nuts.
That's how I'll open all my shows from now on.
Yeah, you should. I give you permission.
That's... It's right on-brand for me.
You love to travel, and you're a big eater too.
I love it.
I only travel to cities with good food. That's what I told my agent.
But you know what's one of my favorites? Vancouver.
Yes. The Chinese food in Vancouver is great.
Oh, my God. It's amazing. I'm starting a second family in Vancouver.
I don't have a first family, but I'm ready for a second family in Vancouver.
All right, Jimmy, now it's come to the time
where you do a joke for my dad.
Okay. And this is going to be very, uh, relevant to us.
An Asian guy and a Jewish guy are eating at a restaurant.
And the Asian guy orders a miso soup.
And the Jewish guy is like, "Oh, that's great."
"Is this what you ate growing up?"
The Asian guy's like, "No, I'm Chinese. Miso soup's actually Japanese."
And the Jewish guy's like, "Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese."
"You're all the same."
And then the Chinese guy didn't say anything.
And the Jewish guy ordered a wedge salad.
The Chinese guy's like, "Oh, is that what you ate growing up?"
He was like, "No, this is just iceberg lettuce."
He was like, "Yeah, iceberg, Goldberg, Eisenberg."
"You guys are all the same."
Excellent.
- Hey, that worked? No way! - It worked.
My dad would have loved that joke.
Awesome.
- Jimmy O. Yang, everybody. - Appreciate it. Thank you.
Thank you. Thanks, guys. Thanks, everyone.
It's time for our reunion, and we're going to a special restaurant.
It's called Diacá.
Diacá means "from here."
And all the food is coming from farms here in Guatemala.
- Pablo! - Hi, Pablo.
Hola.
Wow, superstars.
Just like many cities we've been to, all the chefs know each other.
They're all friends. It's really sweet to see.
To all of you, thank you.
- Salud. - Salud.
Salud.
- Salud. - Cheers.
This is Chef Débora Fadul.
She's a champion of Mesoamerican cooking techniques
and creates some truly inventive dishes,
like this one, which has chilacayote, a kind of pumpkin,
layered on top of something I can't quite place.
Wait a minute.
It tastes like whitefish.
No.
So, they're smoked grapes.
- Smoked grapes? - Yeah.
When you smoke the grapes, they have those profile flavors.
- That's spectacular. - We can save on whitefish.
Look at this. This is misotto.
Not risotto. Misotto.
Because the "M" is for maíz.
This is made with hen that we cook 28 hours.
It has a chorizo that we make with shrimp,
Parmesan cheese, and chipilín.
Grab that plate, Phil, like this is your house.
- Like it's my house? - Yes.
- Mix it all up. - Oh, mix it up?
Wow.
Thank you.
I got a long spoon, so I can do this.
- And a long arm. - Yeah.
Every one of these dishes was completely new to me.
Oh, my goodness.
Flavors, textures, creative use of ingredients.
This is an exciting time to be in Guatemala.
Just like the land itself,
this ancient culture is in a state of renewal.
And you can feel the creative energy everywhere.
You can do it without looking. You just know by hand.
This trip's been a long time coming.
And it took me this long to get here.
I'm a little ashamed of myself because it's well worth knowing.
I'm so proud of the new generation.
I'm so happy with the hard work you guys are doing.
Yeah.
I'm so happy to be back in Guatemala.
Amen.
Welcome, Claudia, again.
Bravo!
Okay, this is where we usually end the show,
but we have one more thing to show you.
We happen to be here for the start of the Christmas season,
which coincides with the Burning of the Devil Festival.
Communities all over the country light up
these fearsome-looking effigies in bonfires
to drive out evil and welcome the new year.
Bad energy out, good mojo in.
Farewell for now, Guatemala.
We shall return.