SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the food show on WGSO 998M, WGSO.com.

SPEAKER_01: The surprise is today is that Marianne is actually on vacation.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's great.

SPEAKER_01: And we have Scott Craig from Katie's in sitting in for her today.

SPEAKER_01: Hi, Scott.

SPEAKER_02: Hi, Patty.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, this is, the music just gets me.

SPEAKER_02: emotional. So it is quite the honor. When Marianne calls me, I'm always ready to fill in. And,

SPEAKER_02: you know, like my lunch today is apples and grapes and cheese. And I am desperately trying to lose

SPEAKER_02: 30 pounds. Nobody trusts a skinny chef, right? That's right. That's right. It ain't easy.

SPEAKER_02: But is Smitty Online?

SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: You want to take Smitty, and then we'll get that. Yeah, we'll take Smitty.

SPEAKER_01: Hey, Smitty. You got a new restaurant for us?

SPEAKER_01: Hey, Smitty.

SPEAKER_00: Oh, I do. Hi. Yes, I do. It's Giuseppe's Illusion. Are you familiar at all?

SPEAKER_02: Look, you know, I'm not Tom Fitzmorest or Marianne. I'm in my restaurant. And I realize I like to go out to eat. I do.

SPEAKER_02: But we just, we have a few places that we go to that we really like. And we're pretty simple.

SPEAKER_02: But I'm sorry, no, I don't get out very much.

SPEAKER_02: I've never heard of it. Where is it?

SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's right here in Slidell, Louisiana.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: And it's real new.

SPEAKER_00: And they've got some real, supercharged flavors over there.

SPEAKER_00: It's kind of a cross between old world Italian and technology.

SPEAKER_00: And it's all digital.

SPEAKER_00: Everything's on big screen so you can see what everyone else is eating and drinking.

SPEAKER_00: And even in the bathroom, there's a big window where you can watch all the cooks.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: It's neat.

SPEAKER_00: And they have this mint macaroni that's infused and boiled in this paste.

SPEAKER_00: You get it by the scoop, but these scoops are souped up.

SPEAKER_00: I mean, one scoop, you're looking at serving two, three, four people.

SPEAKER_00: Yes, Minnie.

SPEAKER_02: We're looking at it now.

SPEAKER_02: It looks great.

SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: I think what happened is a bunch of folks from the renterner,

SPEAKER_00: Commissants Fair decided to get together and just blow people's minds, blow the doors off with this place.

SPEAKER_00: You know what we're going to give it to try.

SPEAKER_00: They've got a guy who's a hypnotist, Linus, is his name.

SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's just far out.

SPEAKER_00: Linus.

SPEAKER_00: And they serve what they call catfish clumps.

SPEAKER_00: Have you tried these things?

SPEAKER_00: Catfish clumps.

SPEAKER_00: Is it fried?

SPEAKER_00: You know, well, I got them to go.

SPEAKER_00: They're like parbaked and you heat them up.

SPEAKER_00: Just phenomenal.

SPEAKER_00: Wait, how are they presented when you say clumps?

SPEAKER_00: They're in a box.

SPEAKER_00: They're not scoops.

SPEAKER_00: They sell those par bag to go in a box, and you get four of them for, I think, $30.

SPEAKER_00: But this place is all ages and everything, but they split you up when you go in.

SPEAKER_00: So you end up joining all these other families, and they send Sherpas to go with you.

SPEAKER_00: It's real different.

SPEAKER_00: Wait, Smitty.

SPEAKER_02: You've got me intrigued.

SPEAKER_02: Let's go back to the catfish.

SPEAKER_02: clumps. What do they look like?

SPEAKER_00: They look sort of like a fritter

SPEAKER_00: that isn't baked.

SPEAKER_00: It's fried?

SPEAKER_00: And they are parbaked.

SPEAKER_00: So I would have to talk to Giuseppe about that.

SPEAKER_00: I did talk to Giuseppe, the owner, and we had some shots to drink of this froth.

SPEAKER_00: This froth. They serve. It's a little unusual.

SPEAKER_00: I'll be honest with you, but I'll tell you, this stuff is robust in here, real robust.

SPEAKER_00: So I've got to talk about it.

SPEAKER_00: I mean, they're raised in hell over here.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that sounds great.

SPEAKER_02: Is it, is it, is there cheese in it?

SPEAKER_02: Is it creamy?

SPEAKER_02: Is it, is it olive oil?

SPEAKER_02: Is it buttery?

SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like, you're talking about the catfish clump?

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, that's intriguing.

SPEAKER_00: I couldn't stop talking about it.

SPEAKER_00: It could not stop talking about it.

SPEAKER_00: It has like a melon-infused feel to it.

SPEAKER_00: It has like a tinge of melon in there.

SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02: I'm going to drive this slide-up.

SPEAKER_02: I'm going to have my general manager picks him up.

SPEAKER_02: Oh, he lives in Slide-out.

SPEAKER_02: Pardon me.

SPEAKER_02: I will, man.

SPEAKER_02: I love other people's food.

SPEAKER_02: But the problem is, Smitty, I was told back when I first bought my own bar, and this was back in

SPEAKER_02: 1989, I owned Parkway Tavern on Canal Boulevard.

SPEAKER_02: And there was this old guy in French Market Restaurant, a friend of

SPEAKER_02: mine worked there, so I was there visiting him.

SPEAKER_02: And this old guy, just like this old Italian guy, man, his name was Tickey.

SPEAKER_02: And Tickey said, let me give you some advice.

SPEAKER_02: Stay in your own joint.

SPEAKER_02: And when you think about that, it's important to be in your own business.

SPEAKER_02: You need to be at your restaurant so that you can understand your customer base.

SPEAKER_02: But it's very, very important to the success of a restaurant.

SPEAKER_02: And I bet you.

SPEAKER_02: Giuseppe and the owners of the restaurant.

SPEAKER_02: I bet you they're there all the time.

SPEAKER_02: So that's why they'll be successful.

SPEAKER_00: And they have this gigantic aquarium with a mechanical bowl inside.

SPEAKER_00: There's an $8 cover charge.

SPEAKER_00: What?

SPEAKER_00: And they rent motorcycles.

SPEAKER_00: You can go riding around jumping off these ramps off.

SPEAKER_00: It's nothing else.

SPEAKER_02: That sounds like some great Italian country cooking.

SPEAKER_01: Thanks for the call, sweetie.

SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Smitty.

SPEAKER_02: Anyway.

SPEAKER_01: That's interesting.

SPEAKER_01: We've got to take a break.

SPEAKER_01: All right, let's take a break.

SPEAKER_01: So we're going to take our 15 after break and we'll be back after this.

SPEAKER_02: If you're cooking seafood, the best ingredients are at Manderville Seafood.

SPEAKER_02: All local fish, Louisiana, shrimp, oysters, crab, crawfish, wild salmon, and dungenous crabs.