-Eric Adjepong and I
have something in common.
We were both on cooking
competition shows.
He didn't win.
Neither did I.
So, what happens
after the show is over?
The demands and opportunities
of fame are still there,
but none of the resources
that famous people have.
When you're on a reality
cooking show,
everybody thinks you're rich,
and it's like, "Opposite.
Nobody is making any money
while you're on the show."
-Yeah, we're still trying
to make it work.
-Adjepong and his business
partner and wife, Janell,
continue to run
their private-chef business,
just like they did
before he was on "Top Chef."
He cooks,
she does everything else.
-He has his lane.
I have my lane.
We have, like, a little,
quick meeting in the house,
probably feeding Lennox.
"Hey, we're doing this,
this, and this."
And that's really
how it happens.
-For sure, yeah.
-So your baby's just sitting
there, like,
screaming and crying,
and you're trying to --
-"Yeah,
so, what's course number two?"
-And they're doing this all
with a new baby.
It's very satisfying.
-Isn't it?
-Yeah.
Life after a cooking competition
show is hard and weird
but, like many hard and weird
times, rich with opportunity.
So now they're also planning
for their first restaurant,
showcasing the West
African cuisine
of his Ghanaian-born parents,
opening in 2020.
And I'll tell you how to get
a seat at a secret table
that will give you
the first taste
of their
much-anticipated restaurant
and have you eating
like a "Top Chef" judge.
I mean, it's like
"Game of Thrones."
-Right?
Eric Adjepong and I visited
a market
right outside
of Washington, D.
C.
, that specializes in items
from Africa, Latin America,
and the Caribbean.
Eric, how are you?
!
It's so nice to see you!
-Good to see you, as well.
-You look fantastic.
-Thank you.
You, as well.
-Yeah.
Because Adjepong works with food
not found in a typical
American grocery store,
he always starts his cooking
with a trip
to a specialty market.
-I'll probably buy this
whole shelf right here.
-I know.
You took a small one
and then you're like --
-Yeah, yeah.
Exactly.
Everyday cuts for the folks
from West Africa --
oxtails, tripe, cow feet.
Puna yam.
This is the one
that I kind of go to, as well.
-This is so exciting me,
'cause it really is, like,
opening up
an entirely new world.
-Right.
-There's a lot of talk today
about using food
to make the world smaller,
but learning requires asking
questions and exposing yourself
as someone who doesn't
already know something,
taking a risk to look ignorant,
engaging in
uncomfortable listening,
and checking your own mind-set
to make sure you're curious
without treating a continent's
cuisine as a curiosity.
-So, we call them waakye leaves
in Ghana,
but, truly, they're sorghum
leaves here in the South, right?
-Yeah.
-Exactly.
Right.
We all eat the same things.
There's not really nothing new
under the sun.
We just call it
different things.
We're all here to really learn
from each other.
-That's right.
Through food.
-Through food.
Exactly.
-And, sometimes, even he learns
from the people who shop there.
-So, what's the difference
between the two?
Because I thought this, the
ugu leaf was the bitter leaf.
-No.
Ugu leaf is different.
It's a little bit slimy.
The leaf is more common
within the West Africans.
-Right.
-Ugu is for Igbos,
a tribe in Nigeria.
-Where are you from?
-I'm from Ijaw,
within the Igbo area.
They're a way smaller tribe.
-So that's why you stick
to the bitter leaf.
-Yeah.
Right.
These West African ingredients
are delicious.
They can also tell a story that
Adjepong sometimes incorporates
into his cooking
and into the last meal
he made on "Top Chef."
It's a story of people who are
forced to leave their homelands
and become slaves.
Adjepong is committed to using
his extensive formal culinary
education to educate diners,
to show this food
as a modern living cuisine
of both struggle and triumph.
-It's a place of refuge for me,
because I can kind of go back
and I can just zone out,
you know, through the aisles.
The flavors -- the smells,
rather,
that kind of bring me back,
so I know what, like,
milo smells like in the morning
when my mom's kind of brewing.
You know what I mean I know
what the bread smells like
when it's in the toaster oven.
Malta
-- man, have you ever had it?
I hated it growing up.
-Bye-bye.
We're on our way to test dishes
for the new restaurant.
Remember, I'm going to reveal
how you can do
this tasting, too.
-Exit right to Maryland 201 --
-A little sweet on the back end.
-Yeah.
It almost has
a molasses profile.
-It's exactly --
Yeah, you're exactly right.
-It's like drinking molasses.
-Yeah.
-Adjepong is already planning
the menu
for his restaurant opening.
-I have in mind to do a tasting
menu specifically
where you start off
in a West African port,
and then you're migrating,
and through that migration,
you're tasting flavors
from West Africa,
but then it's going
to the Caribbean,
but it's going to South America,
but it's going to the South.
This is a part of our fabric,
as far as American history.
It's something that we all can't
escape,
so why not learn from it,
be better from it,
and then enjoy, you know, then
really celebrate the culture.
2020 is where I'm looking at,
and I can't wait, to be honest.
Like, I have it in my mind.
I know exactly what I want it
to feel like
and look like and smell like
and, like, all those senses.
I know exactly what I want
occupied in my mind, you know?
So, it's just a matter
of time and patience.
-And money.
-And money, yes.
-In the meantime, the Adjepongs
have a monthly dinner series
called "Run Our Course."
They do everything they would do
for a high-end private client
paying thousands of dollars,
but they open every seat
to fans on their e-mail list.
Ticket purchases are first come,
first served.
You can be the very first
to eat new dishes
before the restaurant
even opens.
-It's a whole new menu that,
more than likely,
nobody has typically
ever had before.
And then, based on
the crowd's response,
that's how we decide like,
"Hey, maybe we should
do this again"
or "maybe we shouldn't
do this again."
All of his support
is so grassroots.
It's easy.
Honestly, people -- It's easy.
It doesn't take any, like,
shamming.
This is really us.
When you hire Pinch &amp;
Plate, you're really hiring us.
You're really hiring Eric.
We show up, people are like,
"Oh, my God!
It's really them."
And I'm like, "Yes.
Who else would you think
was gonna come?
Of course, you want the food
to be amazing.
You want the energy in the room
to be amazing,
which is what I'll help with.
But you still want it
to be relatable.
You want people to come
and have a good time
and feel comfortable.
-It's a mom-and-pop.
-Yep.
-You're the mom.
-You're the mom-and-pop.
-You're the mom and the pop
right now.
-Mom-and-pop.
-You want to peel
quail eggs with me?
-I mean, I want to peel
quail eggs with you.
I don't generally want
to peel quail eggs.
Oh, my God.
I broke one.
-No, it's good.
Don't worry about it.
I got backup, so we're good.
-All right.
-I broke one, too.
-There are so many people who --
Oh, that's okay.
-That's pretty good, actually.
I'll take that one.
-The other side is a mess.
-I will take it.
-For the "Top Chef" final,
he was cooking a meal
based on the African diaspora
and was eliminated
before he could finish.
After the show aired,
head judge Tom Colicchio invited
Adjepong to cook his food
at Colicchio's flagship
restaurant, Craft.
-To get a random message
from Tom Colicchio,
it's kind of like, "Whoa!"
-Okay, no, no, no.
You have to tell more than that.
-When he sent me the screenshot,
I was like,
"Are you sure this isn't,
like, spam or catfish?"
-Right, right, right, right.
Yeah, get that blue check.
-So, like, Eric knows 'cause
he follows Tom on Instagram.
So when he sent me
the screenshot, I'm like,
"Are you sure it's him?
Like, before you respond --"
-Yeah.
Oh, it's through Instagram.
-Yeah.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-Twitter, Instagram,
one of the two.
It's a staple in New York,
so to have the opportunity
to cook there and really,
you know, do everything
that I've been doing out here
and continue to tell that story,
it was amazing, truly.
-When you own your own kitchen
and you have a kitchen,
have you thought about
how you're gonna run it?
-It's kind of over for that time
where your chef is,
like, a tyrant and, you know,
you're getting plates
and, you know, spoons and stuff,
like, thrown at you.
Like, everyone's here to work.
Everyone's here to learn
and get even better.
You always want to be a student,
know that there's always
something new to learn,
but then also incorporate
what you do know
into the stuff that you don't.
And that's what you make --
You know, that's how
you get really creative.
-So, you said that
it's a tomatillo --
-Green tomato.
-Tomatillo, green tomato.
So, you have something like
this, which is very individual.
-Right.
-And then you get
something like this.
So how would you serve this
and eat it at a restaurant?
-So, there would definitely be,
like, accompaniments, so rice,
a bowl of rice, stuff like that
around the table, plates,
and then literally
just have everybody
kind of feed themselves,
feed other people.
Really, like, cross the table,
you know, and exchange.
Eating with each other
is something
that was pounded
when I was young like,
"You have to eat
with your family.
You
don't want to eat dinner alone."
So that's something that we just
try to keep as much as possible,
especially
in that restaurant setting.
-Oh, my God.
This is unbelievable.
-There was something about
the way he charred this cabbage.
My nose just kept --
I kept walking by like --
I felt like -- I don't know.
I felt like I was stalking
the kitchen.
"What is that?"
Great.
-This was delicious.
-Thank you so much.
-Adjepong says the food
of the African diaspora
is ultimately a cuisine
of rising above.
-I know the story really well.
I'm fascinated with this story.
I am a part of this story.
So why not use the talents
that I have
to make the most out of it?
-Putting your name on the list
for this secret table is easy.
