I am here whispering because there's people calling. That's right. The show is called On the Menu.

On the Menu.

You're used to being in a kitchen, but this is a different thing.

Yeah. I'm also used to being like on an operating table, but because I've been in a kitchen. You know. But yeah, I mean, I'm used to being around sharp eye objects.

I have a lot of respect for Ty. He's a great guy. I couldn't have picked a better co-host. He used one of those paint rollers. I never thought about this. He actually used a paint roller to spread the butter on like garlic bread. That's genius. And I mean, I don't know why it's taken me all these years to not get a paint roller. I like to think that he's learning a little bit more about food. Just like I'm learning a little bit more about like painting and

What has he taught you? Are you crafting now? Are you doing it yourself?

I'm getting I'm getting pretty crafty. This is like making dreams come true. I mean these are home cooks who have a chance at not only winning thousands of dollars, but they also have a chance of like putting their dish on the menu. Literally on the menu of some like really big restaurants. And so but it's their art. It's their artist. It's their craft. It's their passion that gets them there.

So do you want to you're going to take us on a tour of the set?

Yes. Yeah, this is it. Mainly it's it's from here to to right in this area here. Yeah.

Okay. I think I

I will show you. Yeah, let me show you the cooking area but we have to be quiet, okay?

Okay. Now, are people do people get intimidated when they're cooking around you? I mean, if it's if it's a chef, it's one thing, but if it's somebody you know who's never

No. I've had some people make heat that have been here that know and then I have some people that it didn't phase them at all.

So then the other side is where you sort of introduce uh we first meet our home cooks. All right, we're bringing down and they so they're sort of standing at their stand and they have their first challenge. So as an example, when we had Chili's, they're also rebranding their brand. Obviously, they have over 1500 locations. So that in itself is incredible to be able to have your dish go on the menu for that. This particular challenge was the contestants recognizing, understanding what Chili's was about. And then they brought out their guacamole with their chefs. And the contestants had to break that down and guess what ingredients was in their guacamole. And once they get to the big challenge, that's when these doors open up from in there and then they they get to work on these stations, which is like basically being like, "Hey, Emerald, you know, Let me with you outside." Exactly. So you've got your own refrigerator. You've got their own flat top. You've got their own ovens, all your utensils, uh tons of ingredients. So then they have to really come up and create a special dish that is unique enough to stand out. Right. That they want to put on the menu of whatever restaurant we're working with. By the way, they enter that room not knowing that what's behind the doors. So the doors open, they get introduced to this kitchen and now they're like they have peed on themselves again. Once again. Oh, look, it's opened up. We can go to the other side.

Oh, excellent. So this is sort of the

Yes, as you can see the big word Eat, which is really what we think about constantly here is just eating. It's a good place to be. It really is. You know, famous people just wandering around. Meanwhile, I'm going around as the menu master trying to give

You say that again? The menu master.

Did you like that?

I love that. That's a nice title, isn't it?

That's a great title. Yes.

Who gave you that title?

My name is Emerald and I'm the menu master.

You are. I'm the menu. The menu master. That's about the best title I you could ever put on a business card.

Yeah. Exactly. It's like, you know, who needs CEO after that? I think what's tough for me is like to have to critique. But when you're like working with people like Emeril Lagasse who's like saying, you know, that didn't work. You know why that didn't work? Didn't work because of this. And you didn't do that, did you? Because, you know, the water wasn't hot enough or this wasn't that and you're like, wow. So, I mean there

It's a whole different It's a whole different world for you.

Totally. Well, they're getting lessons too. But I'm kind of like, yeah, how to feel that was going to happen. But you really get you understand like, um, the precision, the mathematics, the timing uh of of what a culinary genius really is all about.

I'm trying to give them proper advice. I'm trying to steer them without telling them what to do to make a winning dish. My philosophy is no longer to meet expectations. My philosophy is trying to succeed and really succeed at expectations.

It's one of those cooking shows that hasn't existed before because the viewers get to finally taste it.

Exactly. I mean, I think that's what's really kind of unique because people are like, by the way, tomorrow you can go taste this dish. It's amazing. And it really is. So, uh that's what's really kind of neat.

Good food really makes me happy. Bad food makes me sad.

This is Yeah. It makes me really sad that there's still bad food around.

Yeah. Unfortunately, there is some still this some bad food. And it's probably because there's not a lot of passion. There's probably not a lot of love. Like when you put a lot of love into it, you have really great food. Uh let's let's move back. Oh, look, we found light. Um

See this is how you know you're talking to a host. Turn me around. You found the light. I've I've been doing TV for like for a while. That's always like, go get to find the light, find the light.

So each um each home cook gets their own station. They also get their on the menu cooking staff, so they get two helpers. So for the

I know. Do you get staff? Do I? I have a guy who brings me water. Okay. Which is kind of like a helper.

Yeah. They'll have to do 42 portions of food for the dining room. Okay. And then there are 42, 45 guests that are as tomorrow will be crazy Denny fans, okay? Real fans or Emerald fans or Sammy Hagar fans or whatever. And the customer, the diner votes and that vote gets tallied and whoever has the lowest vote, that person gets eliminated. So now we're down to two tomorrow. And then when they when they get to when the two finalists get to the point where they have to refine their dish for the the executives, then they're so loud. They got to do all of it themselves. And uh and they're really literally on their own. And that's the cool part because then they're really

And they get really emotional too. I didn't realize how much emotion would go into this when you're like come down and you've heard a bunch of people critique your food and you're like, you know, it was it reminded me of dirt, you know, or something, you know, or the vice versa, which is like, oh my God, I had three orgasms, you know, it's like

Do you have two ingredients that you like to throw together that's an odd combination, but you happen to like it?

Well, potato works with a lot of things. Uh, and you can get very creative with a potato. Um, if I had two things, I would say uh if you had pasta and olive oil, that would be a pretty good start.

I think I I sense a cooking lesson coming on.

I do too. This is where uh I and I get in the bar. We get to taste the food first. So after they've been preparing before

Yeah. I'd go to the bar first and then everything would taste great.

You ask me, after you taste a few of these dishes, you have to stay at the bar. Uh, but so we taste the dishes first before they go out to the restaurant. Yes. And then like his original, like his immediate response is pretty hilarious. Um, and then like the other day, I tasted something really sweet because it was a dessert thing. And the glucose hit me so fast. My head actually hit bar, hit the, you know, it had a small contusion. So, you know, you can get injured eating food.

You did. Thank you. Thank you. There are a lot of food shows out there, but there's only one menu master.

And there's only one menu master. This is true. This was a lot of fun.

Yeah, I enjoyed it. Thank you very much.

Yeah, come back and have a meal sometime.

I would love to. And people at home, what you can't, the one thing you can't experience, you can go out in the restaurants and try the food, the smell in here right now. I'm starving. It's me. You just

It's delicious. It's like it's like sweat, it's like a salt stick.

With a slight hint of garlic.

And ham.