(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Welcome to Atlanta, where the city's diversity is celebrated through its unique culinary landscape.

Today, SCAD students join Genevieve Gorder on a mission to explore the global cuisine of Chef Mei Lin and the intriguing interior by partner Doug Hines at The Consulate.

A scavenger hunt for exotic ingredients brings everyone back to the SCAD kitchen to mix up an adventurous recipe.

From the first bite to the last, we're discovering the soul of the city, one dish at a time.

This is Chef ATL.

(upbeat music) - Okay, I think we're definitely in the right place.

Zach?

Could you get the clue one more time?

- In Ivy Hall, design and history align.

Every line tells a story.

Every page holds a sign.

Look through the shelves where imaginations can find.

- Look through the shelves?

There are shelves everywhere.

The books!

Look through the books.

Here!

Nice.

- Bravo.

You've unlocked the next chapter.

Today, we'll dine where countries collide.

With every spin of the globe, a new world will unfold.

- Every spin of the globe.

- A new world.

- Globe.

Spin the globe.

There's a globe in here.

- Gosh.

(steady music) - Whoa.

- Well, are you gonna spin it or what?

- Well, I'm not exactly sure what the person who left the clue here wanted us to do.

I'm not really confident that we're gonna- - Just get out of the way.

- Hello, Bees.

I'm Genevieve Gorder, television personality.

- Oh my god, it's Genevieve Gorder.

- Interior designer, and I'm working with you today.

I'm gonna first say, congratulations.

You did it.

Your first mission is complete.

All of the clues were leading you to this one place, The Consulate.

So get ready to eat, explore, and uncover stories with every bite.

See you there.

- My gosh.

Did she say The Consulate?

I've always wanted to go there.

- Well, what are we waiting for?

Let's go.

- Let's go.

- [Doug] Every 90 days, we have what we call a spin party.

And we give out raffle tickets to everybody in our restaurant, that night.

Whoever has the lucky number gets to spin the globe that's in our lounge.

They literally spin the globe, close their eyes, and point.

Wherever their finger lands, that's the next venue.

- [Mei] Whatever the country landed, I make the dishes from the countries.

(relaxed jazz music) - Ah, there they are!

- Hi!

Nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you.

- Oh my goodness.

You look amazing in person.

- Thank you.

You finished your first mission.

You have made it to The Consulate.

Congratulations.

- Thank you.

- [Genevieve] Are we excited?

- I'm ecstatic.

I'm wondering like, what do we have here?

- I think we have a regal welcome.

Shall we go in?

- Nice to meet you!

- Can I ask you, Chef Lin, what is your process as you're going around the world?

We've spun the globe, the country has been chosen.

What happens to you after that?

- So I have three months to work for the countries and finding dishes, most popular dish in their country, in their region, based on the dish and the spices, what they use.

And I do more digging, you know, research on their background, the history, their music, everything, all, you know, combination to get me inspired to come out the dish, how we come out.

- Chef Lin, are you ever just like, "Please don't land on that country"?

- Not really.

You know, no, like I was very excited.

You know, any country that we landed, learning the cuisine, the country, the dishes, we are here to introduce the world to the guests.

- I'm quite curious, how many countries have you done so far?

- Oh wow.

I think I lost count.

I think it's like 36, 37?

- 38, something.

Yeah, something, around 40 countries.

(upbeat jazz music) - Can I be super honest?

Like, I don't like okra.

And usually it's because it's a textural thing, right?

- Right, yes.

Yes.

- It can get really slimy and it's great for thickening a soup or a stew.

This is really good.

It doesn't have any of that texture.

It's super fresh.

- [Chioma] Yes.

- It almost tastes like a Southeast Asian kind of vinegarette, or Vietnamese.

- You know, like how most Asian people cook vegetable is very like, very quick saute or steam it, you know.

So I took the okra, like very dry with the Chinese sauce and wine and Thai chili, you know, sauce and compare just the dish.

So the Thai okra dish was born at home.

- I mean, just looking at my plate, I could see that it's almost like the world is merging.

And one thing that keeps just coming to my head is like, I'm wondering, how intense is it to actually find the authentic items here?

Like, has it been really challenging or do you find it very easily?

What has that been like?

- I mean, Atlanta is very, very international in residence.

So the farmer's markets have been very, very good at having almost everything we need.

- Yeah, I mean, we go to Indian markets, Ethiopian markets, Chinese market, and Mediterranean and farmer's market, just like all over the Atlanta.

- [Chioma] Wow.

- Every Monday is our shopping day.

- When's your day off?

- [Mei] Yeah.

- That's not your day off.

- Yeah.

Monday is not our day off.

- So we have the hummus, fava bean hummus from Egypt.

So most of the hummus is make from chip pea.

But I love fava bean, and also, fava bean is big in Egypt.

So I do the fava bean hummus.

So it's a vegan, coconut milk, you know, and fresh fava beans.

So go, yeah, dig in.

- Beautiful.

- [Mei] Yes.

- [Genevieve] So silky.

(relaxed music) - [Mei] So we have here, truffle bulgogi.

I like Italian food, right?

Everybody love pasta and everybody love Korean bulgogi, you know?

Just, those two combination, nobody done it before.

How we do, we do everything different, but you know, all the ingredients are authentic.

- I was expecting it to be maybe charcoal or something, 'cause I saw the black.

The squid ink is really neat.

- Yeah, the squid ink pasta.

- It's the perfect balance of sweet and spice.

- It's unexpected, 'cause you see the black squid ink noodle and you can almost taste it in your mouth, right?

Because we are familiar with that taste.

And then you go in and it's a full bulgogi explosion.

So beautiful.

Really good.

- Well, obviously when I looked around, my favorite dish and the thing that caught my attention the most is like, the jollof rice.

'Cause being Nigerian myself, this is like our national dish and basically across whole of West Africa.

So I'm wondering, first of all, what jollof is this?

- So this is a jollof rice with vegetable.

And when we did Ivy Coast, which is, you know, like West Africa, the countries, they all have jollof rice.

So I was kind of like, if I wanna do it or not, you know, 'cause I don't wanna like, - It's like jollof wars.

- Jollof war out there.

And Doug try it.

They say, "Oh man, this is good."

- No, I must say, you've done us well.

We're happy.

(relaxed music) - Doug, so you're the taste tester and you're also the designer for this whole space.

- Yeah.

- How did you land in this palette and with this amazing maximalism?

- Well, that's exactly what I wanted was a maximalist kind of impression so that no matter how many times a guest came to the restaurant, they saw something new.

- [Genevieve] Yeah.

- [Doug] With every visit.

I kind of leaned towards the jewel tones, and I wanted glossy walls that were dark, but reflective to just give kind of an old world feel.

- [Chioma] What was your strategy in creating like, these dishes and even all the paintings and artwork all around?

It must have taken you ages.

- Well, it took a little while to accumulate everything, but such as the China wall, it was almost meant to be a literal interpretation of the restaurant of international dishes.

So that's literally what that is.

I have different cubbies to basically represent all those periods in time.

Like the Greek Roman era, the Ming Dynasty era, Egyptian, so each cubby kind of has a representation of history and how we've evolved to where we are now with international food.

- You know, we were talking about like the food in this restaurant and the maximalist theme.

I have to ask like, in the bathroom, like the wall of guns, like.

- [Doug] So I grew up watching James Bond.

- [Zach] Okay.

- So when we were designing The Consulate and putting it together, it made sense.

Mid-century modern, international, would lend itself to James Bond, in my book.

- James Bond-iness of all of this makes sense.

This feels like a mission.

You're exploring and there's a surprise and delight to every single dish.

And in this environment, it's like, I get it, Doug.

I get it, Chef Lin.

I get it.

- I wanna make something international.

I want to kind of push myself, kind of be like a mini chef.

But I'm wondering, what could we make?

What could we do?

- Well, actually, it's very easy.

I can go to the studio and show you.

- Okay.

Really?

- [Mei] International dish.

- Okay.

- Here's your mission for you.

- Oh.

- Oh, you have a secret mission?

- Yes, secret mission for you.

- And a private cooking lesson?

I'm so jealous.

- Go find this ingredient first.

- So a little bit of an exploration mission for you guys.

You have work to do, it seems.

- We do.

- Let's do it.

- In the meantime, thank you, chef.

Thank you, Doug.

This was absolutely beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

(bright music) - There is so much to get here, but I do have a mission.

So we need to go straight to the ingredient in this.

- Hey, you guys made it.

Okay, perfect.

We're here at Freedom Farmer's Market.

I'm here to get some ingredients for the shoot and everything.

(bright music) - Oh, hey.

Oyster sauce?

Let's go to the secret section.

- Scallions, scallions, scallions.

Do you guys know what scallions are?

I don't really know what I'm looking for.

(bright music) - Oh, we have that back home.

A coconut.

And I'm definitely getting this for the culture.

- Okay, I found the oysters.

How do you get sauce from them?

- Oh my gosh.

Dog treats?

- Where are the spices?

- Okay, so I actually did find the oyster sauce.

Apparently they already took the sauce off of the oyster.

But next up, we have rice noodles.

I actually found them over there.

Come on.

You should check it out with me.

- [Zach] I think I know what scallions are, now.

They're just these things.

They're the ones we, yeah, I think I've seen a couple going by.

I've seen them before.

- Okay, so I think I'm ready to check out now.

- Green onions?

Is green onions the same as a scallion?

I'm just gonna get it.

I'm just gonna get it.

- [Mei] You know, I go all different markets, farmer's markets, they have a lot of tons local farmers for the spices.

Like Patel brother, when I do Indian, yeah.

So all over the place in Atlanta.

- [Genevieve] You can find it.

- [Mei] Yeah, I can find it.

Well, when I took over the kitchen, so the first country I did is Guam.

Guam.

Yes.

- No one knows anything about Guam.

- Yeah.

I don't know anything about Guam, right?

So, okay, let's do research.

So I just start doing research, look at their food, you know, what kind of food they have, and find out that it's very similar to Chinese food.

They use, you know, soy sauce, chicken, you know, sesame oil, garlic, you know.

So I feel comfortable to doing that.

And yeah, always have a native, - Like a tasting.

- Tasting, yeah.

- I love that.

- Best common, yeah.

They always give very good feedback.

They always let us know, oh, these dishes remind me, my grandma make, my mom make, you know, it bring me to the childhood, bring me to back to my countries, you know?

So I feel, you know, my hard work is paid off.

- [Genevieve] It's your reward.

- Yeah.

Reward, right?

- So your young 20s, working the restaurant scene in New York, how did Georgia come to be a part of this story?

- So I got here, you know, at the end of 2010.

And then I always wanna be entrepreneur, always wanna own my own business, especially when I have two young kids and I cannot work with someone and controlling my schedule.

So I always doing my own thing.

So I opened the dry clean store.

Dry clean shop.

And then, so I took over and then I started on Beautiful Highway and do my things, maintain my income, and same time, take care of kids.

- How old were the kids?

- At that time, I think my son was seven and my daughter was 14, 13, 14.

- [Genevieve] Okay.

- Yeah.

She's high school and he's elementary school.

- You were a single mom in it, down here?

- Single mom.

- [Genevieve] In a new city?

- In a new city.

- You're so brave.

- Yeah, and then I make, you know, just enough to survive.

- Yeah.

You're running it though.

- Yeah.

- You could do it.

- Yeah.

And I try very hard.

Yeah.

- Long days.

- Right.

Tough time.

- Girl.

Single mom here, too.

I know.

- [Genevieve] Yeah.

That's the hardest job of them all.

- Yeah.

- And no one's there to make you a sandwich after work.

- Yeah.

I try to, you know, handle everything myself.

- Yeah.

It's also firstborn daughters.

- Yeah.

- And on top of that, being an immigrant, you have to do everything, - Yeah.

- Just to belong.

So at a certain point, we all kind of break, you know?

It's like, my cup is not running over and I have nothing left to give, right?

So let me ask you, then.

So Doug, your now husband, - Yeah.

- He was a contestant on "Design Star."

And I remember him well.

He was from New York and he moved down to Atlanta.

So, comes into your life around this time?

- Yes.

Also, it's so funny.

- You manifested this.

Your whole spirit was saying, "I need some backup."

- Yeah.

I need some support, right?

Yeah.

So it's so funny.

So one day, a guy came in and bring tons of clothes, need to alter.

And he told me what he need, and I do measuring.

- We tailor all his, because he was auditioning for the show.

- Yeah.

So at that time, so we have like, you know, a very light conversation about, and he told me, okay, he's going to do a design show in New York.

And I said, "Oh yeah, okay.

I'm from New York too, you know."

We started conversation with where we come from, you know, how you like here, da, da, da.

And I say, okay.

I didn't go anywhere.

He asked me, "Have you been around in Atlanta?

How long have you been here?"

I say, "No, I didn't go anywhere."

- You were just surviving.

- Yeah.

My routine is home, and a dry cleaning shop, every day.

- And then you have this person that enters your life and he's like, "Let's go have some fun," basically?

- Yeah.

- Let's talk about this husband wife now dynamic.

How did this place, 'cause it's phenomenal.

How did it come to be?

Take me through the story.

- We're going out for dinner and then we're on the dinner table.

We say, "Hey, why there's no restaurant that serve, you know, international food under one restaurant, instead of just keep going to different," you know, if you wanna eat Japanese food, you had to go to Japanese restaurant, right?

If I wanted Chinese food, I had to go to Beautiful Highway.

- Everyone had wanted the same thing.

- Thinking, we can build one of those, you know, international restaurants.

And then immediately, Doug called out the name, called The Consulate.

And then we start to have idea and at the dinner table.

"And how about, yeah, rotating, you know, the menu.

Change menus every quarters."

And then the idea come out, "How about we spin the globe?"

You know, something like that.

So that's how The Consulate came out.

- It's working.

Congratulations.

- Thank you.

Yeah.

- All right.

So have you ever played rapid fire before?

I know you have two kids, so I know you play games.

- Yes.

- I know you're competitive.

Are you ready?

- I'm ready.

- No thinking.

We're just gonna go.

- Okay, go.

- Okay, here we go.

You say this or that.

First or last bite?

- First.

- Noodles or rice?

- Noodle.

- Eyeball or measure?

- Eyeball.

- Learn by doing or studying?

- Doing and studying.

- You're cheating.

- Salty or sweet?

- Salty.

- Fresh herbs or dry spices?

- Fresh.

- You win.

There was no competition.

You won the game.

(Genevieve and Mei laughing) I wonder, what is your hope right now, sitting here that all of this will give to your kids, moving through their young adulthood?

- I often tell my kids that you have to be always learning, always learn something new, always accepting the new environment.

Be strong, be passionate about what you do, and do it good.

Hi guys!

How are you?

Nice to see you again.

- Hello.

- How was your mission?

- It was pretty good.

I learned a lot about noodles.

- Okay, great.

Great, great.

- I learned what scallions are.

- Okay.

Finally, you found.

- First time?

- Wow.

- It's your first time.

Yeah!

Very nice.

Very nice.

So today, we are going to learn how to make the peanut butter noodle.

Let's do it.

- [Genevieve] Let's do it.

- Let's do it.

(relaxed music) Yeah, for this dish, any noodle that you prefer and your own preference.

And today, we have rice noodle.

First, the rice noodle, well, we're gonna soak in the noodle here in the water.

So just, you know, when the water boil it, just put it in.

Yeah.

So rice noodle, because it's hotter, and then I prefer to soak it first.

- Ooh.

Okay, yeah.

And udon noodle, you don't have to soak it.

Just put it in, you know?

And yeah.

And so right now, the water is boiled and I guess we're gonna put the noodle inside.

- Sounds good.

(relaxed music) - In the meantime, I think the noodle cook pretty fast.

And then we're going to make the peanut butter base.

Yeijin.

- Yeah, of course.

- Do you wanna put the ingredient, base ingredient together?

- Yeah, not a problem.

How much do we put in for each one?

- I prefer like one for one person.

You do like, one spoon.

- Great.

- Okay, yeah, that's good.

- This is good?

Perfect.

- You know, peanut butter, the more peanut butter, it tastes good.

(bright music) - [Chioma] Can you use the more crunchy peanut butter, or does it have to be the smooth one?

- I prepare like a smooth, creamy peanut butter instead of, I mean, like this is preference, you know.

- You can always add.

- Yeah.

More, so like four.

Oh, that's good.

So we can add more later if you want.

- What would you suggest besides noodles?

Just having it in your fridge, what else does it pair with?

- I guess, you wanna do peanut butter chicken?

- Yes!

- Ooh.

- Right?

You add some garlic, spices.

- That sounds really good.

- Yeah.

Vinegar.

We're almost there.

- [Genevieve] Five spices, one teaspoon, right?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like, yeah.

Little more.

- Little more?

- Yeah.

- You got it.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay.

Good, good, good, good, good.

(bright music) - It seems like we only eat sweet, peanut butter combinations here.

So having savory is like, oh.

- All combined.

- Yeah, into its own little thing.

- Right, right, right.

- I love it.

- [Mei] Let's add a little bit of noodle water, still.

- Okay.

Looking good?

- Yeah, looking good.

- I did a good job?

- Yeah.

(bright music) So now we have peanut butter base, we have a main garlic here.

And this is all like, personal flavors here.

So now you guys, you can, you know, mix in with your personal flavor.

Yeah.

- Okay.

Let's do it.

Zach.

- I'm starting first?

- Come on.

- Okay.

(upbeat music) - [Mei] Let's all taste it.

- Oh wow.

Oh, that's incredible.

- Mm.

- That's very impressive.

Like, it's really nothing like what I would've expected it to be.

The flavor's really balanced well, like with the noodles and the peanut butter, and I can feel the spice from the chili oil.

It's like, it's great.

- The sauce is so bossy that everything you put in it is delicious.

And you've managed to take three people who've never had this great flavor profile in their lives to a place where they can all relate to their home.

- Yes.

- So your root story is strong, girl.

- Thank you.

Thank you.

Now you can make this dish too, for your family, for your friends.

- Yes.

- You know?

- Absolutely.

- Thank you.

I just feel like you need a round of applause.

- Yes.

- Bravo.

- I'm glad, you know, you guys enjoyed it.

- Yes, this was great.

- Thank you, chef.

- Very good.

- Thank you so much.

- Thank you.

Thank you.

- Yeah, this was amazing.

- Okay.

Now just eat like no one's watching.

- I can do that.

- I'm hungry too.

(laughs) (bright music) (relaxed jazz music) (relaxed jazz music continues) (relaxed jazz music continues) (relaxed jazz music continues) (bright music)