Tracy Schuhmacher

@RahChaChow

This week, I had an Anthony Bourdain moment.

No, I didn't meet the coolest of the television chefs, one of the few of his ilk admired by chefs who are in the trenches. But I had the next best thing — I drank with his frequent television sidekick, Zamir Gotta.

The 60-year-old Russian is something of a folk hero to fans of Bourdain's television shows, CNN's Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, Travel Channel's No Reservations and Food Network's A Cook's Tour. He has appeared in 10 episodes in total. The settings have included St. Petersberg, Moscow, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Buffalo. (Yes, Buffalo.) The episodes tend to the outrageous and generally include much drinking of vodka.

Whereas Bourdain has held court in the Auditorium Theatre (he gave a talk in 2009), Gotta fills the Farmacy, the intimate cocktail bar at the Honeoye Falls Distillery. Some came to pose for pictures with Gotta, while others were looking to get a taste of the fun Bourdain seems to be having in those episodes.

Gotta, it seems, makes his living touring the world and drinking vodka with people, while searching for business deals in the process.

He has been to Rochester before, but with the city becoming more and more into spirits and cocktails, it seemed an opportune time to interview him about vodka. At least that was the idea.

When we arrived, it was clear that this would not be your usual journalistic interview. The distillery's chef and bar manager Adam Peterson had laid out a spread of food: slices of rye bread, some spread with homemade pimiento cheese, some slathered with herb compound butter and some plain; golf ball-sized potatoes bathing in melted butter and speckled with herbs; jars filled homemade pickled cucumbers and carrots; dishes of herring, one with a cream sauce and another in a pickling liquid. And there were bottles of vodka — Frozen Falls Vodka from Honeoye Falls Distillery and Zamir branded vodka as well.

Gotta, Peterson and I sat down at the table and from then on, my reporter's notebook went untouched as Gotta led us through the Russian customs involved with drinking vodka. (For the record, I do not throw back shots ever, much less on the job. I took small sips, which Gotta pronounced acceptable because that's what women do. And Gotta sometimes drank from a flask, which I suspected contained something other than vodka. Maybe he was giving his liver a break and drinking water? I'd like to think so.)

The drinking of vodka in Russia involves a fair amount of ceremony and etiquette. The glass must be on the table, not held up in the air, when you pour the vodka. You must not leave empty bottles on the table. You must have something in your glass when you toast.

Here's how each of the ritual progressed, as guided by Gotta.

We took a deep whiff of the bread and exhaled. We then had a bite of the bread and the pickle.

Next, it was time for a toast. The men stood, while I as a female remained seated. Gotta made long, rambling toasts, touching on literature (A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway), politics (Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Obamacare) and pop culture (Deepak Chopra). When the toast was over, everyone clinked glasses and threw back the shot (or sipped). And the whole process started over again.

I found myself thinking that the Russian way of drinking together was a fun, communal way to spend time with friends — or to make friends. I suspect that Gotta has a huge number of people around the world who, after one of these evenings, consider him among their friends.

And while I was aware that I was likely being swept along in some kind of practiced shtick, I found Gotta to be intelligent, quick witted and utterly memorable.

As producer Ryan Miller drove Angie Nassar, content coach for mobile, and me back to Rochester, we all agreed that he was an intriguing character.

Nassar described him as, "a wanderlust, a rebel, someone who doesn’t just say they want to live life to the fullest — he’s the real deal, he walks the walk. And there’s something admirable about that." I couldn't agree more.

If you missed him, or want to see your new friend on television, watch Sunday's episode of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. The episode is described as, "Anthony's sidekick Zamir Gotta takes center stage as they trek through Tbilisi, Batumi and Khurvaleti; eating at the Café Gabriadze and the Black Lion."

Behind the scenes at a supper club

TRACYS@Gannett.com