Opinion

S.A. getting own 'Bizarre Foods’ episode

'Bizarre Foods' star Andrew Zimmern with El Machito chef-owner Johnny Hernandez during a Travel Channel shoot for an episode about the flavors of San Antonio. 'Bizarre Foods' star Andrew Zimmern with El Machito chef-owner Johnny Hernandez during a Travel Channel shoot for an episode about the flavors of San Antonio. Photo: Ross Ruediger /Courtesy Photo Photo: Ross Ruediger /Courtesy Photo Image 1 of / 42 Caption Close S.A. getting own 'Bizarre Foods’ episode 1 / 42 Back to Gallery

Sharing a table Sunday with the colorful king of TV’s “Bizarre Foods” was not just, well, bizarre, but also fun and educational, an experience to be savored.

I especially was excited to learn this: Andrew Zimmern, the 53-year-old creator and star of the Travel Channel hit has fallen in love with San Antonio cuisine — so much so that he’s building an entire episode around it. His previous visit to the Alamo City resulted in a relatively small part of a 2009 “Bizarre Foods” on Texas.

He said the upcoming episode, presumably titled “Bizarre Foods: San Antonio,” likely will air in early summer.

“I’ve been dying to come back here,” Zimmern, who’s known best for relishing crazy delicacies such as entrails and eyeballs in exotic destinations, said over a Sunday meal at El Machito, chef Johnny Hernandez’s restaurant near the Quarry. “I like places that have a really strong story to tell, and San Antonio has such a story.”

Zimmern said he’s absolutely fascinated by how the city has grown way past the “airport food, Tex-Mex reputation.”

“What’s going on here is sophisticated cooking,” he said. “Young kids doing modernist Mexican cuisine at Mixtli. Chef Johnny educating the world, especially in San Antonio, about the flavors of Mexico.

“Then you have committed iconoclasts like Michael Sohocki at Restaurant Gwendolyn who have taken the point of view and determined grit of a frontiersman … eschewing electricity and only working with foods within a 100-mile radius. He’s setting rules for himself that most chefs couldn’t handle.

“That’s a pretty diverse and important thing to document, so I’m glad we got here when we did.”

Although Zimmern may be known for consuming edibles that many consider strange or icky, he said he doesn’t come to a place and ask, “What weird thing do you make here?”

“What we’re trying to document is how people eat in San Antonio,” he said. “The food isn’t bizarre to the people in whose community we’re dining.”

For instance, he mentioned how Machito — a signature dish at El Machito that’s made with goat organs and intestines — may be strange to someone in upstate New York, but not to S.A. locals.

When he and his film crew visited one of the nearby ranches used by Hernandez and other chefs, it was clear that very little goes to waste.

“It was nut-cutting time,” he said. “They cook ’em up, and if you’re lucky enough to be there when they catch a rattlesnake, they cook that up too.”

Although Zimmern is aware that, to many, he’s the culinary equivalent of a rock star, he cares more about sending a message, making a difference, opening viewers up to new cultures. “We eat a country’s culture first. After that, we accept their music, their art scene, then, hopefully, their people.”

As for the many cooking competition shows on television, he likes a few, he said, including “Top Chef.” “I watch it all the time. The content is there, and many of the challenges speak to issues and detail cultures.”

And the British chef known for his screaming? “Gordon Ramsay’s skillset is immense,” he said. “On 'Masterchef’ two seasons ago, he showed how to fillet a salmon. In six moves, he took it apart like an Irish fishmonger who’d been doing it for a half a century. … Sadly, we don’t often get to see what makes him one of the greats.”

As I watched Zimmern enthusiastically down each dish put before him — no matter how bizarre — I wondered: Is there anything he won’t eat?

“There’s nothing I won’t try, but there are a few things I hate,” he said. “Walnuts — just don’t like them — and Spam.”

From S.A. to Miami

Local personality Rita Verreos first caught folks’ attention here in 2007, when she competed on “Survivor: Fiji.”

Since then, she has tried her mightiest to stay in San Antonio, taking temporary TV jobs — such as fill-in traffic reporter on KENS, a guest host post on the Home Shopping Network and lots of freelance modeling and commercial work — hoping they eventually would turn into something permanent.

Her most recent opportunity — a promising correspondent gig on Spanish-language KVDA-TV — also ended up lasting only a few months.

So when Miami called, Verreos opted to do something she hoped she could avoid — leave her beloved San Antonio, the place she and her two kids have called home for 10 years.

The job? An entertainment news reporting post on “Agárrese Quién Pueda” (“Hold on if You Can”) on America TeVe, a Spanish-language network based in Miami. Verreos, who already has worked the red carpet once for the show, said it’s similar to “E! News” but with some pranking involved.

Jeanne Jakle’s column appears Wednesdays and Sundays in mySA, and she blogs at Jakle’s Jacuzzi on mySA.com. Email her at jjakle@express-news.net.