TRAVEL

Phil Rosenthal gets paid to travel and eat for Netflix

LOS ANGELES — Phil Rosenthal knows he has the greatest job in the world.

Streaming service Netflix pays him to travel the globe, hamming and eating his way into people's hearts. The host and producer of Somebody Feed Phil named his production company "Lucky Bastards," because that was his brother's comment when he told him about the Netflix deal. 

Rosenthal, who is best known as the executive producer and creator of the Everybody Loves Raymond, series, had switched gears in 2015 to appear in front of the camera for PBS's I'll Have What Phil's Having. It was the same concept as the new series -- Rosenthal sweeps into town, meets folks and tastes the local specialties. After the initial six episodes aired, Netflix pounced and ordered new ones for the streaming service, plus made a deal to run the originals as well. 

Phil Rosenthal is the producer and host of Netflix's "Somebody Feed Phil" travel/food series

There are thousands of travelers out there who make videos of their vacations and post them on YouTube, usually working alone in a genre called "travel vloggers." Rosenthal gets a real budget and a staff of 15 people who accompany him when he visits new places, usually for 10 days or so.

His advice for all the travel vloggers out there who want to go big-time, with their own full-scale web show like him? "If you really want it, go all in, use the passion of yours, and keep pushing for it until you get it," he says. "And don't take no for an answer."

Thanks to technology, there are no gate-keepers anymore. "We can film on our phones," he says. "If you have something and put it on YouTube and it stands out, who knows what will happen?"

Rosenthal says it took him 10 years to get his dream of a show off the ground, which started as he brought a documentary crew with him to Russia to make Exporting Raymond, in which he starred as the American producer teaching Russians how to adapt his TV show.

American Express saw it, liked it, and asked him to do a commercial for the credit card company, spending a week in London with a local chef.

From there, he had footage to show of his love for traveling and discovering local food. PBS accepted.  

For the PBS version, Rosenthal traveled to Barcelona, Hong Kong, Paris, Tokyo, Italy and did an episode in his home town of Los Angeles. For the Netflix rebranded revival, we see Rosenthal in Bangkok, Thailand, Lisbon, Portugal, Mexico City, Tel Aviv, Israel and our own New Orleans. 

Chef Nancy Silverton, left, and host Phil Rosenthal sample Italian cuisine in 'I'll Have What Phil's Having.'

His top three destination highlights: 

Lisbon "struck a chord with me," for the "people, food and the culture." The capital of Portugal is often thought of as "the New Jersey of Spain, but it's not, it's a top tier destination. It's as great as any great European city, but for some reason it doesn't get the press." 

Italy. The country where he could live, he says. "Everywhere you look is gorgeous and everybody's hugging and kissing you. What's not to like?"

Hong Kong: The China city is "the gateway to Asia - and it isn’t just the world’s biggest and best "Chinatown,” but a worldly city - with so many cultures and foods represented. It’s also beautifully situated on the water with spectacular mountains all around."

More episodes are expected on Netflix - the streaming company refers to the current run as Part 1. Rosenthal won't reveal where he's going next, but notes that the original idea was just to show "earth's greatest hits," and to get people to travel there.

"I want to get you to travel, using humor and food as the way in," he says.  

His three favorite dishes (so far?):

The Pork Bao at Tim Ho Wan in Hong Kong. "These light fluffy buns, delicately crispy on top, sweet, and then filled with delicious hot roast pork. I had three on camera, then three more, then we all came back when we weren’t filming."

The Khao Soi at Khao Soi Kad Gorm in Chiang Mai, Thailand. It is a "coconut curry based soup with fresh, handmade noodles in it, big whole pieces of organic chicken or beef, pickled mustard greens, onions, cilantro, chiles, all topped with crispy noodles. I came back after hours for this one again too."

The gelato at Vivoli in Florence, Italy. "The gelato made before my eyes by Silvana Vivoli made me cry, yes. I’m not ashamed. I don’t go to Florence without going to Vivoli every day, and I’ve been known to go twice a day."

Click the two links below to listen to Rosenthal's podcast interviews, On the show, he talks about what tools he uses to find great restaurants in a new city (Yelp and Google,) and answers Judy Graham's questions (this reporter's mom) on how he can stand eating weird things like ants and eels in his travels. He also mentions more mainstream items like Italian pasta. 

 

 

 

Follow USA TODAY's Jefferson Graham on Twitter, @jeffersongraham and listen to the daily Talking Tech podcast on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.