CULINARY risk-taker Andrew Zimmern, host of Travel Channel's "Bizarre Foods," indulged me for a sneak peek into an upcoming episode while shooting on location in Center City yesterday.
We popped in at Abe Fisher (1623 Sansom St.), the restaurant inspired by the food of the Jewish diaspora and featuring modern Israeli cuisine by chef-partners Michael Solomonov and Steve Cook.
Zimmern, originally from New York, is known for trotting the globe in search of food discoveries. He's eaten everything from squirrel brains to fish eyes and iguana eggs. But I was curious - what foods will he absolutely not eat?
"There's nothing that I won't eat," he told me.
"There are a lot of other morons on TV that think it's somehow attractive to shove food into their faces. It's not that at times I haven't been seen doing that. If there's something I like, I'm sort of half seal, half walrus. Crush shell, use giant flippers to steer towards face."
We jest, but Zimmern said that an important aspect of his show is to tell a story about humanity.
"Is the world going to be a better place after they see and hear what I have to say? Those are important considerations for me," he said.
"The one thing I take really [expletive] seriously is if you're making television and you're lucky enough to have a platform in 70 different countries, and you get to have the attention of the world for one hour a week, you better do something right with it."
At Abe Fisher, Zimmern devoured Hungarian blintzes stuffed with duck liver and beluga lentils and finished with gribiche (mayonnaise-style cold egg sauce) and fava beans.
He spent Tuesday at Riekers Prime Meats (7979 Oxford Ave.), a mom-and-pop German meat shop in Northeast Philly, where they made and ate sausage.
Still, Zimmern said something profound:
"I'm not sure there's a hotter place on the East Coast than Abe Fisher or Zahav."
So, cheers to the fellows behind the griddle.
No dwarfing this arrival
The man who plays "The Mountain" on the HBO hit series, "Game of Thrones" will be at Devil's Den (1148 S. 11th St.) from 5 to 6 p.m. tonight.
At 6 feet 9 inches and more than 400 pounds, Hafthor Julius Bjornsson is an Icelandic professional strongman and will be playing the part of King Thor at the Philadelphia Renaissance Faire this weekend.
At Devil's Den, fans will have the chance to raise a glass in his company.
The Faire is Saturday and Sunday at Fairmount Park.
Surprise! from West Philly
Philly original DJ Jazzy Jeff will be spinning what he calls "roller boogie" beats on May 22, the opening day of the Blue Cross RiverRink Summerfest.
It's the warm-weather edition of Blue Cross' Winterfest happening right on the river. Coming Memorial Day weekend, the popular ice rink will be repurposed into a roller-skating rink for the summer.
Jeff told me he typically does about 140 to 160 shows a year - many international gigs.
"It's the best feeling in the world to play music all over the world, but, what's like home? I don't get a chance to play at home a lot, so when you get the opportunity - especially something like this - you take it," he said.
The famed Philly DJ still has a giant folder of "roller boogie" music he used back in the day. He'll be bringing that with him when he's featured from 9 to 11 p.m. May 22. The event is free and open to the public through the end of September.
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