Richard Rosenthal
Phil Rosenthalnever has a bad day.
Phil is a different kind of celebrity.
Hes equal parts anonymous and famous.
Credit:Richard Rosenthal
He offends no one.
This is a week behind the scenes with Phil and his crew in Santiago.
The food he ate.
Richard Rosenthal
The places he went.
The happy accidents along the way.
And the secret that is right in front of us, every single day.
Richard Rosenthal
Day 1
The first thing to know about Phil is that he is a walker.
One mile, three miles, it doesnt seem to matter.
Phil wants to walk, see the city, meet some people, and immerse himself in a place.
Richard Rosenthal
The best way to see a city is to walk around.
Its good exercise, number one.
And then I walk and walk and walk and walk until dinner, Phil jokingly explains.
Richard Rosenthal
The brothers have a shared language, having traveled the world together.
The conversations ultimately come down to food, food portions, and food jokes.
Theres a buzz in Santiago.
Graffiti litters nearly every wall, echoing a revolution that was stalled by COVID in early 2020.
But a referendum on gay marriage is only days away and a massively consequential presidential election is next week.
The city has changing energy and you feel it everywhere.
Phil stops for a photo.
Theres no bigger thrill in the world than for that to happen.
And its because of Netflix.
Netflix has endless reach, Phil says with his perma-smile.
Five minutes later, a man stops his car in the middle of traffic and yells out Phils name.
The sounds of horns mean nothing.
The restaurant patio is a greenery-filled garden with hanging lights and long wooden tables.
Theyre a band of brothers and sisters, a tight-knit crew who are lovers of food and travel.
It epitomizes the underlying magic of their show its all about family.
I would be nothing without this crew.
They cover my buns, they buoy me, and they are fun.
We laugh a lot.
You know, any time you do a show, you become a family if you do it right.
I know about their personal lives.
I know what they like and what they don’t like, and I love feeding them.
More on the feeding them later.
Its good to be on this crew, and this is only night one.
But the shows lean and fungible crew make it easy to change things on the fly.
I hate doing second takes on anything.
It ruins the spontaneity.
The first day of shooting finds Phil and team shooting B-roll throughout the city.
One of the main obstacles the crew is encountering is finding shots without peoples masks on.
Everyone signs the release.
But most people like to be on TV, Phil said.
From the plaza, we head to the Municipal Theatre of Santiago.
The national theater, opened in 1857, is home to the countrys most indelible operas and stage performances.
Here, Phil is in his element.
Hes an artists artist who appreciates every aspect of the creative process.
He says hi to everyone, takes photos with everyone.
Theater people love him for a reason.
Theres nothing cool about Phil.
He walks around the city in dad jeans and a tattered hoodie.
Hes the antithesis ofAnthony Bourdain, yet his relatability and authenticity are what draws a loyal following.
In that way, he and Bourdain are more kindred spirits than one would think.
It’s unplanned, but instinctively spot on.
After B-roll in the morning though, Phil begins to eat.
Theres theEl Lomito, a pork loin sandy with more mayo.
One of the stops was atAntigua Fuente, a shop servingCompletossince 1968.
Its a groundbreaking moment for Chile and all of South America.
The next stop was in Santiagos Meat Packing District at an outdoor sandwich shop named Pica de Jaime.
The streets are jam-packed with shoulder-to-shoulder eaters looking for meat sandwiches.
Heat pours off the open grills against the steaming concrete from the berating sun.
Like I said, theyre a family, and this is how a family shares its food.
Here, hipster bartenders pour Pisco sours and clever craft cocktails while a blind piano player serenades the proceedings.
Phils eyes light up with every bite.
Phil doesnt eat alone; gregariousness is his form of godliness.
Without missing a beat, Phil exclaims, Thats what I have already!
and downs his drink with aplomb.
A chalkboard is littered with ingredients reminiscent of “A Beautiful Mind,” where insanity meets genius.
Guzman is not screwing around.
Phil is hand-fed freshly cut lamb ribs that have been roasting over an open fire pit.
Regardless of the prestige, Phil still feeds his crew slices by hand.
Phils expression was somewhere between nausea and confusion.
Valparaiso is known as Chiles street art capital, and its easy to see why.
Cobblestoned roads are buttressed by ornate murals covering every apartment and boutique shop.
Wandering the alleyways with Phil, were stopped, per usual, by a random fan.
Only this fan tells Phil that he changed her life.
But this was more than a brief encounter.
He invites her to eat with him, now a part of the show itself.
Its small accidents like these that make this show special and different.
A crew carrying thousands of dollars of camera equipment and ferrying around an international celebrity tends to attract attention.
Likely unbeknownst to Phil, the crew had to fight off a thief who tried to snag their drone.
One of the crew members nearly broke his finger and lost a camera lens and an SD card.
Day 4
The crew has seen some things.
There was the stolen phone in Vietnam.
There was the car crash in Nashville.
There was the canceled episode in Puglia when the shows director got COVID and was stuck in Madrid.
And there were the riots in Rio.
Every episode ofSomebody Feed Philhas an element of community outreach.
Running a production during COVID comes with a number of quirks.
It almost boggles the mind that Phil has never contracted COVID.
Maybe optimism is the true vaccine?
A fan of the show, the baker from Popular personally stopped by to kvetch with Phil.
In the middle of their meal, the bakers wife went into labor, and the man rushed off.
Dont be surprised if that baby somehow makes it onto the show as well.
The day ends with a stroll through the chaotic city center.
Phil takes photos with more fans as the crew avoids the police, who are incredibly strict on permitting.
I tell people, I have the perfect level of fame right now.
I wish this for everyone," he says.
I don’t have that in my house.
So, I wish everybody could have that feeling.
You know, it’s not like I’m Justin Timberlake and can’t go outside.
I love when people come and say hello.
I wouldn’t be doing what I do if I didn’t like people.
Here, Phil devours fresh local seafood in a mix of Chilean and French cooking styles.
Pork bao buns contrast with lettuce-wrapped taquitos and beef cheeks atop pomegranate beans.
This meal had extra meaning, as the couple epitomized the new Santiago.
A Santiago where gay marriage is now possible.
We all felt it with every bite.
For a show that packs in an intense number of scenes, day five was lean.
The vistas are stunning as drone footage captures Phils authentic reactions to how sprawling Santiago truly is.
The city sits in the Maipo Valley and is surrounded by the epic snow-capped Andes Mountains.
Its a colossal place and has earned its reputation as an excellent food haven.
I didn’t know what to expect.
I had never been here before," Phil said.
“I was surprised at how beautiful a lot of the city was, even after their recent revolution.
I was surprised at how liberal it was becoming, they passed gay marriage while we were there.
So that’s incredible.
It’s a spectacular place.
I wish it wasn’t an 11-hour trip.
Phil is joined by chefs Alvaro Romero of La Mesa and Benjamin Nast of Demencia.
This is Phils road family.
The crew breaks and heads into the Andes Mountains.
The final meal here takes place in the beauty of Chiles mountains.
Theres an open fire, theres a potluck.
This is what this show is about.
Connecting with a place, a people, and a culture, over a meal.
Its taking the idea of extended family around the world.
The secret is family.
Its always authentically about family.
Which includes making shows by the way, which I love doing,” he says.
“But everything else I love in life is family, friends, food, travel, and laughs.
And so this is, for me, the vehicle for that.”
