Internet sensation Dan Pelosi shares the story behind GrossyPelosi and his journey to being a full-time food influencer and blogger. Dan shares how he brings his unique perspective and family traditions to the table with his annual holiday cookie party and why his 2019 gathering was so pivotal. He describes why the pandemic and renewed focus on home cooking put him on a fast track to social media fame and becoming a voice in the domestic digital space. Dan reveals his most popular recipe he has deemed “The Sawce” and the spirit that makes the recipe sing. He talks about his personal philosophy in the kitchen and why not taking himself too seriously allows his followers to relate to him in an authentic way. Dan shares some special memories with his greatest inspiration, his hundred-year-old grandfather, Bimpi, and the story of cooking for his entire study abroad cohort. He talks about entertaining friends and some impressive recipes that are actually super simple, as well as his top tips for cooking in a vacation rental. Dan and Jaymee share their favorite Brooklyn eateries and Dan explains why second breakfast is a crucial part of his day. He makes a case for divisive ingredients like cottage cheese and sardines and why he is passionate about not yucking other people’s yum.
Internet sensation Dan Pelosi shares the story behind his digital identity, GrossyPelosi, and his journey from the fashion industry to full-time food influencer and blogger. Dan shares how he brings his unique perspective and family traditions to the table with his annual holiday cookie party and why his 2019 gathering was so pivotal. He describes why the pandemic and renewed focus on home cooking put him on a fast track to social media fame and becoming a voice in the domestic digital space. Dan reveals his most popular recipe he has deemed “The Sawce” and the spirit that makes the recipe sing. He talks about his personal philosophy in the kitchen and why not taking himself too seriously allows his followers to relate to him in an authentic way. Dan shares some special memories with his greatest inspiration, his hundred-year-old grandfather, Bimpi, and the story of cooking for his entire study abroad cohort. He talks about entertaining friends and some impressive recipes that are actually super simple, as well as his top tips for cooking in a vacation rental. Dan and Jaymee share their favorite Brooklyn eateries and Dan explains why second breakfast is a crucial part of his day. He makes a case for divisive ingredients like cottage cheese and sardines and why he is passionate about not yucking other people’s yum.
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Jaymee Sire (00:03):
Hello. Hello and welcome to food network. Obsessed. This is the podcast where we dish on all things, food with your favorite chefs, food influencers and food network stars. I'm your host, Jamie ser. And today we have a colorful and creative home cook on the podcast to talk about pivoting to a career as a food blogger, an influencer, and why he is the king of divisive ingredients. But before we get to our guests, just wanted to remind you that food network obsessed is a finalist in the 2022 podcast awards, but we need your help to be nominated. So please click into the episode description and you will see a link where you can sign up to nominate us a food network. Obsessed can be nominated in the leisure category and for the people's choice award, there are only a couple of days left to nominate us. So I promise it'll only take a minute, but we do appreciate it. All right, let's get to our guest. He is a food and lifestyle creator, and according to his Instagram bio, a meatball making meatballs, it's Dan Pelosi, Dan AKA Grossy Pelosi. Welcome to the podcast. First things first, can you share the origin story behind your nickname?
Dan Pelosi (01:21):
Of course. And hi, thanks for having me.
Jaymee Sire (01:23):
Hi
Dan Pelosi (01:24):
Jaymee Sire (02:23):
Dan Pelosi (02:25):
In my brand name. It, I, I actually quite like it, cuz it kind of like immediately shakes down the sort of seriousness of the whole situation. So it's been kind of overwhelmingly a good thing. The more, the more problematic is that my last name is actually politicized, but that's a whole other thing
Jaymee Sire (02:42):
Yeah, it's, it's harder to Google you without the grocery Pelosi, by the way, you have to put that in there. That's very tough.
Dan Pelosi (02:49):
Well, there's Nancy Pelosi and then there's also like a serial killer named Dan Pelosi.
Jaymee Sire (02:53):
Well, that's nice.
Dan Pelosi (02:54):
That happened too. So it's just not, it's not a win-win for,
Jaymee Sire (03:00):
So it's Grossy Pelosi that all or nothing. Yeah. all or nothing.
Dan Pelosi (03:21):
I was, yes.
Jaymee Sire (03:22):
What was fulfilling about your career at the time?
Dan Pelosi (03:24):
Oh my gosh. I had been in this career for 15 or so years. I had been a creative director in in-house at brands at agencies. I had done consulting. I had like a really great team of designers who I loved working with. I loved being around people. I loved ideating. I loved whiteboard sessions. I loved creating really great experiences. And I loved walking into a meeting with a brand and kind of understanding what they stood for, who their customer was and what we were going to do. So I was sort of creating experiences and marketing for all these amazing brands. A lot of them are really, most of 'em are pretty big name brands. So I just love that. And then I also just have a personal level, loved being a creative director and directing teams and going into the meetings that were kind of boring, coming out, getting my teams excited and just like engaging people to do really fun work.
Dan Pelosi (04:19):
So I loved it. And I didn't ever think that I would pivot away from it. But like you said, 2019 was people said 2020 was a bad year. 2019 was kind of my bad year. I had the privilege of losing out on my dream house. Mm-Hmm
Jaymee Sire (05:04):
Well, I mean, let's talk about the cookie party because I think this plays really a pivotal role in your whole store. So your whole story so this is your annual grocery Pelosi holiday cookie party. And for those who are not familiar, can you give us kind of the essence of this annual get together?
Dan Pelosi (05:24):
Yes. So it all starts with me growing up in Italian American household and Italian cookies are a huge part of the experience. Culturally, they are for many other cultures too, but for me specifically, it was like tins of cookies starting like December 1st being sort of like made stacked in the basement. It was cookie swaps. It was the ever evolving Italian cookie tray on the table.
Dan Pelosi (06:13):
I cover it in butcher paper. You either bring homemade cookies or you bring something else, but you don't bring S cookies. Mm-Hmm
Dan Pelosi (06:56):
And in 2019, it was really the moment where I was like, oh my gosh, this is it. Like I can create spaces, experiences that are surrounded or are sort of centered around food and they make people really happy. And in turn that makes me really happy. So I said to myself, okay, Dan, 2020, take your Instagram, which is like a canvas that you can control mm-hmm
Jaymee Sire (08:02):
So yeah, no, I think that's so cool. I think it's fun. I, I think you were right the first time when you said people baked their stories and bring them to this party because that's exactly what it sounds like you were doing. And you mentioned this kind of three or four month transitional period. Can you pinpoint the exact moment you decided to fully pursue food or, or was it more of an evolution?
Dan Pelosi (08:24):
Dan Pelosi (09:09):
So me not being a professional cook, but being someone who I, I sort of joke in a sort of loving ways that I grew up in kind of a lockdown, right? Like we were Italian American, Portuguese American. We were eating breakfast, talking about what's for lunch. And then at lunch talking about what's for dinner
Jaymee Sire (10:11):
As you were describing, you know, some of your responsibilities in your previous job, it really, you know, kind of describes what you're doing now in, in a different way. What are some of the skills and experiences from the fashion industry that you were kind of able to bring to this robust career in food?
Dan Pelosi (10:27):
Yeah, I think it's really two things. I think one it's listening. So we would always listen to our client. We would always had feet on the ground. We would always do like question. I wanna call them question groups. What do you call them? Like focus groups, where we like focus groups. Thank you. Focus groups. So very quickly I was listening. I mean, I didn't have much else to do besides cook and like sort of participate in my day job, which was slowly sort of falling apart. I was listening. I was listening to what people who were following me needed what I, what they wanted, what I, how I could help them. And I immediately was able to sort of distill like my personality plus like something tangible.
Dan Pelosi (11:17):
And then I think one thing that the other thing is really the design and the branding piece of it. So really like two or three weeks into it, someone was like, we want grocery Pelosi merch, like when is gross Pelosi merch dropping. And I was like grocery Pelosi merch. But of course I was like, okay, like I hear I, you get asked me that two or three times and I'm making a logo, I'm designing merch. Like I'm figuring out how to launch it. And then I'm figuring out where that money's gonna go because I was fortunate enough that I didn't need it. So I started my, this two shall pasta merch line and it launched on April 13th, 2020. So within a month and I sold enough money to donate like $15,000 on June 1st to Sage, which is an organization that supports LGBTQ elders who are extremely isolated during that time and have very little family support.
Dan Pelosi (12:06):
Don't have partners, don't have children, many of them much less than heterosexual relationships mm-hmm
Jaymee Sire (12:40):
Yeah. I love that. Does that make sense? Well, yeah, totally. I'm I mean, next question. When's the next merch drop
Dan Pelosi (12:46):
So, so we've done. I know. So I have to do them in small collections. Yeah, because I'm your customer service representatives like
Jaymee Sire (12:54):
That is you're all of the, all of the jobs rolled into what I have
Dan Pelosi (12:57):
All of, I have all the jobs. I slowly am bringing on support at different areas, but it's also like, you know, driving demand, like if I had merged 306 drives days a year, I'm telling you no one would buy it
Jaymee Sire (13:42):
All right.
Dan Pelosi (13:47):
Of course. Yeah.
Jaymee Sire (13:48):
But you know, speaking of this business that you have have built, you have grown to over a hundred thousand followers on Instagram where you kind of embody this signature Italian grandma energy as you call it what recipe would you say you are most known for?
Dan Pelosi (14:04):
Oh, it's my vodka sauce. And I say that sauce sauce. I say, it's sort of like a really like intense like vodka sauce.
Jaymee Sire (14:11):
Dan Pelosi (14:12):
I spell it with a w instead of the, you, it is a recipe that, you know, just is so it's delicious. And it's just sort of like decadent. It's super easy to make it really caught on. And I think it's really where so many of my followers have found me is people really have shared it and it's gone kind of viral. And it's also a great recipe cuz you could make it vegan. You could make a gluten free. And so it's just something that universally, everyone can sort of enjoy in the decadence of. And I think vodka sauce is like a silent menu item on a lot of Italian menus at restaurants. People are like, what is that? And I still get questions. Like people think it's a cocktail. People are like, can I put, do I have to put vodka in it? And I'm like, yeah, it's vodka sauce. Like, but, but of course you don't have to, if, if you're not someone who consumes alcohol, we have, we talk about that in my recipe. But anyways, yeah. So that's been that vodka sauce has been the one I'm actually wearing my vodka. I made a vodka sauce, merch tea a while back, says lost in the sauce. Love it. So yeah.
Jaymee Sire (15:12):
What, what do you think? I, because I feel like vodka sauce is it is such a popular, you know, dish or menu item. Yeah. Or, you know, why is that? Yeah. And what is the vodka actually like do to the sauce that makes it so cravable, I guess
Dan Pelosi (15:25):
I think one it's like it's mostly cream
Jaymee Sire (15:29):
Give me all the fat carbs
Dan Pelosi (15:31):
I think, yeah. I mean, I think it's like creamy, it's glossy, it's thick. I also think people don't realize like the vodka creates the flavor, but only after the vodka is cooked, like the alcohol is cooked out of the vodka, it leaves this like really rich flavor into the sauce. So there's no alcohol actually left in the sauce. It's just sort of like what's left of the vodka. Once the alcohol is cooked out, I think it's like really unique. It's not like a tomato sauce. It's not like, you know, it's not like a garlicy white sauce. Like it really is sort of its own thing. And it's just pleasurable. I mean, I so much of it over the past and half years
Jaymee Sire (16:08):
Dan Pelosi (16:10):
So much of it.
Jaymee Sire (16:12):
You need to, you need to bottle that and, and that, that can be even the next product
Dan Pelosi (16:15):
Drop. I know I can, I get asked all the time to do that. I don't think we're there yet. I dunno if that'll ever be. I really, I get, I get so much joy out of people telling me like, this is the first thing I've ever baked. This is the first thing I've ever cooked. I made this for my boyfriend. It was my, we got engaged over your, your vodka sauce. Like it's really become this like special thing. And my audience that I was getting primarily was people who didn't really know how to cook because I was sharing the most basic things. And now I have people from all different levels and I've had friends in the food world in New York for years and all these things, but yeah, it's just, it's become sort of like this, you know, people talk about the engagement chicken or like these special meals. Mm-Hmm
Jaymee Sire (17:06):
Yeah. I mean, and you, you kind of talked about just the, the types of people that were gravitating towards your recipes and, and there are so many personalities and perspectives in the food space, particularly on Instagram and TikTok and all that. Where do you land when it comes to your personal approach and just attitude in the kitchen?
Dan Pelosi (17:25):
I think like, I really am clear with people that I'm like not a professional. I have no pedigree in the food world. I am someone who I was that kid who was in the kitchen with my mom, my grandma, my, my dads, my aunts, my uncles. I was that kid who wasn't outside playing, but was sitting at the table with his aunties, having coffee and cookies, hearing like all the tips, right? Like learning. I was, when you, you invite me over to your, your house when we were, when we were in grammar school, I wanted to hang out with your mom. I didn't wanna hang out with you.
Dan Pelosi (18:10):
I don't know all the fancy techniques. I love learning. I love spending time with my friends who do, but I love taking it step by step, but I love helping you with sort of the simplest easiest things and helping you gain confidence to succeed and also kind of like mess up in the kitchen. Right? Like that's how some of the best things happen. So again, it goes back to like grocery Pelosi. It's like immediately, like what? Like, that's ridiculous. Like why is that about food? But it is, but it's not self serious at all. So yeah. That's where I hope to kind of be, you know, it's like taking all the, like the like domestic mom, aunt, grandma, uncle, grandfather, like I come from a family that just really stayed home and cooked
Jaymee Sire (18:58):
Yeah. And, and, and, and appreciate, you know, where that food comes from and just like the process of it. I think totally. You mentioned all these family members, was there one in particular that really shaped and influenced your, your food perspective? Yeah.
Dan Pelosi (19:11):
Yeah. I mean, I think my, my grandfather BPI, who is a, a big part of the grocery policy, parent, people are obsessed with him.
Jaymee Sire (19:24):
And my grand dad up to be a hundred as well.
Dan Pelosi (19:26):
It's just a bad, it's so special. And his wife, Catherine, who died many, many years ago, and then my other grandparents, like every, but you know, I get to now more and more and more call pimpy almost daily and talk to him. And he has told me how to make his scum beans recipe over like a million times
Jaymee Sire (20:33):
He doesn't,
Dan Pelosi (20:34):
He's not like obsessed with like, there's all these things, like the perfect way to cut an onion, like how, you know, all these like hacks. And he's like, just cut the onion.
Dan Pelosi (20:50):
It doesn’t just cut the onion. Like it doesn't matter. Like it's fine, you know? Yeah. So I love that about him.
Jaymee Sire (20:55):
So yeah. And it seems like you've definitely kind of, you know, taken on that role you know, with your friends and your family and cooking for others just seems to be a natural and comfortable place for you. Yeah. It's you kind of, you kind of alluded it to it at the top with your, your nickname, but can you share the time when you were studying abroad and cooking for your classmates and how all that came about?
Dan Pelosi (21:18):
This was actually a huge turning point for me because I really, I, I went to college and then like shortly, I think it was like my sophomore and my junior year, I spent in Rome in Italy for an independent study year. And so this was when I was able to take all the listening and learning and watching and also participating of my family, cooking and experience a whole new city. And I lived in this Villa and there was like 30 of us. So about 10 of us share a kitchen. Wow. And very quickly I became like head of the kitchen.
Dan Pelosi (22:02):
And she was like, honey, you ran that kitchen. Like I was, I was like never more proud. I was like making up recipes. I was like, you know, watching learn, like it was just incredible. And that gave me so much confidence out of necessity. And I don't think that that's so different from the way people have been learning about food and living through the pandemic. Right. It's like, I didn't have any other choice.
Jaymee Sire (22:33):
Yeah. I mean, how did that work? Were people, were your, were your classmates like giving you money to like purchase all the supplies and you're just kind of like the head?
Dan Pelosi (22:40):
Yeah. Yeah. Oh for sure. It was like, it was pretty casual, but they like trusted me. Like they were just like, okay, like, you know, great. And then some people would do dishes. Some people would chop, like it was, it was awesome. And I just became sort of like the like farmer's market, like, you know, I just was living my full fantasy.
Jaymee Sire (22:59):
It was amazing.
Dan Pelosi (23:11):
So I, oh my gosh.
Jaymee Sire (24:20):
No, I totally, I totally agree with that. I love, I mean, I've always moved around a lot, you know, and, and kind of have like, hosted, like all I call it, like yeah. You know, the holiday orphans, like people that can't be with their family. Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah. And I, I, I feel the same way, like lasagna or like a meaty Ragu, like anything you can make ahead and then just like rewarm the next day, I think make it easy on yourself. Right?
Dan Pelosi (24:41):
The best and marina is better on like day five than it is of day. What I totally it's like food, you know, certain food.
Jaymee Sire (24:46):
So do you have a go-to recipe? That's like super impressive, but actually really easy to make.
Dan Pelosi (24:51):
I would say like my lasagna or my eggplant par are like so great because you could make them meat free. If you want to, like, everyone wants to sit there and watch you like slice into a, like thickly, layered lasagna or eggplant Parin pull out that like cheesy slice. And there's like the SMAs. And it's just like the kind of food that like, I mean, I've got friends of all different, you know, backgrounds and you know, the ways that they eat and they grow up and there's certain people who I know just like, don't eat as much as I do, but like, if I can get them to just like chow down at my table, it is just like such a dream. And so those things are just like, those are my like highlights for sure.
Jaymee Sire (25:31):
Yeah. If you could throw like a dream themed dinner party, what, what would it entail?
Dan Pelosi (25:37):
Oh my gosh. A themed dinner party. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. I'm so bad at this.
Jaymee Sire (26:20):
I think that's, I think that sounds like a blast.
Dan Pelosi (26:23):
It's definitely not like, you know, small plates and like foam
Jaymee Sire (26:26):
Dainty foam and
Dan Pelosi (26:28):
Yeah. It's, it's like
Jaymee Sire (26:30):
A free for all everything.
Dan Pelosi (26:30):
Yeah. It's a free for all. Absolutely. I was telling someone the other day, like my aunt used to go to all, you could eat the buffet and she would line her purse with a Ziploc bag and she would literally like take her plate and like shove food into the zip block.
Jaymee Sire (26:44):
Oh my gosh. I love that. I was
Dan Pelosi (26:46):
Like,
Jaymee Sire (26:50):
Yeah. That's, that's the energy of your dream dinner party. I love it. Yeah,
Dan Pelosi (26:53):
Exactly.
Jaymee Sire (26:54):
Well, I don't, obviously it's summertime everyone's, you know, kind of taking vacations rentals, Airbnbs. Do you have, you know, obviously I feel like you're, you're an expert on this, you know, based on your, your history here, but like tips for cooking in a vacation rental or like must pack list without bringing everything.
Dan Pelosi (27:12):
I mean, I have, I have my guide on my website. That's called groceries guide to being a vacation house mom, because this, this is like where I like absolutely shy, I think, and I'm not a professional, I just have some experience, but like, you know, whether it's me and my gays on fire island or me and my mom and my sister on Cape Cod, or if I'm going upstate or if I'm like going camping, I have sort of like, I think it's like, I don't know what I call it on my guide. But's like small, medium and large. It's like, are you taking a, like the essentials? Are you taking sort of like the middle or are you taking your whole kitchen? And then there's like also like, am I bringing linens? And my whole side of enamelware, cause I like to serve in like really delicious vessels. Cause you can get to a house and you're, there's literally nothing or there's more than you could ever dream of. I always just pretend like nothing's gonna be that
Dan Pelosi (28:04):
Because while I do love the challenge of like figuring it out, there's just some things I just, I need to feed people and I don't wanna be stressing out about what I have. So I absolutely have a fully written guide that so many people have told me they've used and it's helped them. And then also people will take it and bring their own stuff and adapt to it. And I love hearing where people be like, oh, like I also put this on the list or you know, I do that. And there's also the people out there who are like already doing this obviously. And I love hearing from them. Mm-Hmm
Jaymee Sire (28:38):
I love the onion
Dan Pelosi (28:40):
It's. Like it's like mom spends her vacation doing dishes, like closer to the water
Jaymee Sire (28:46):
So,
Dan Pelosi (28:46):
And it's like, that's literally me. I'm like that mom doing her dishes staring at the ocean, but like totally happy about it.
Jaymee Sire (28:54):
That's so funny. I'm so glad you brought up the onion. I, yeah, when I was at ESPN, I randomly got like mentioned in a fake onion article and it was definitely one of my like crowning moments for sure. That's
Dan Pelosi (29:04):
Wait, were you in, were, did you ever go to Bristol? Cause I'm from Waterford.
Jaymee Sire (29:07):
Oh yeah. I, well, I lived in west Hartford for four years.
Dan Pelosi (29:10):
Oh, West farm, small represents California pizza kitchen. Yes. Thank you.
Jaymee Sire (29:15):
I mean, downtown, you know like the, the center west Hartford center is where it's at now. There's all the, all the restaurants.
Dan Pelosi (29:21):
Is that where like the crayon bar?
Jaymee Sire (29:23):
No oh yes, yes, yes it is. That's like part of it, but yeah, part of it, yeah, that was, that was the, that was the main drag for you know, cool walking to, to dinner and that kind of thing. Love that.
Dan Pelosi (29:34):
What a dream
Jaymee Sire (29:35):
Dan Pelosi (29:42):
Oh cool.
Jaymee Sire (29:43):
Yeah. So I, I love asking our guests, you know, some of their favorite spots in their, their neighborhood or their community, cuz I think we get a lot of people listening that definitely take notes, you know, if they're coming to New York and that kind of thing. So what are your favorite like go to Brooklyn spots.
Dan Pelosi (29:59):
Okay. So I'm gonna go. Okay. So you had Caroline Schiff on your program.
Jaymee Sire (30:03):
Yes, Love Caroline program,
Dan Pelosi (30:05):
I sound like my grandfather
Dan Pelosi (30:07):
Jaymee Sire (30:17):
Oh, the Parker house rules are so good. Gorgeous.
Dan Pelosi (30:19):
You know, one of my Manhattan favorites just opened in Williamsburg, which is JPO Fri, which is just like the best easiest go-to for me. I've been going there for years and years and years. And now I go to the one in Williamsburg over in my neighborhood in bedside there's hearts and the fly, which are owned by the same people who owns is like was, yeah. So it's like that family hearts is one of like the best meals I just will ever have ever. Like it's just like always so good. They have this clam toast that is like the absolute dream. I'll get it for dinner and then I'll get it for dessert. It's like so good. And then the fly is genius. It's like a great bar with plenty of seeding and they have like a six item menu. It's like rotisserie chicken. It's like a great Caesar salad, a couple seasonal sides.
Dan Pelosi (31:04):
They have a chicken sandwich. It's just like easy. It's the kind of place you could eat like three times a week. It'd be super happy and there's always great people there. What else do I love? Oh my gosh. There's so many great places I live like in bedside near Tomkins. So I'm near like Sarana what are the hits I'm trying to think of, oh child, Gloria. Have you been to child? Gloria child, Gloria. My friend rando owns it, but I'm I would go there either way. Best breakfast sandwich, best breakfast sandwich ever. It's like an Italian bakery and day daytime cafe. I tell people to go there constantly and I'd get more like thank you so much for introducing me to this place. It's amazing messages. It's also kind of close to prospect park so you can get picnic food and go there. Mm. What else? Aldi, LA and parks. Slope is a great Italian place that I love. Yeah. Those are my favorite.
Jaymee Sire (31:53):
I love this. Yeah. By the way, this is, this is also a guide on your, on your site. If anybody wants to, you know, thank you. Look that up and, and have the list right there for you. I think you had Bernie's on there as well, which is
Dan Pelosi (32:05):
Oh Bernie's yes. I was just at Bernie's other night. Of course. Thank you.
Jaymee Sire (32:08):
Love Bernie's that's
Dan Pelosi (32:09):
Bernie's is great. Yeah. I have groceries guide to eating in Brooklyn and I have a guide to Manhattan. Oh, perfect. I tell people whenever they come to take a look at it, I also have honorable Munsons, which are just like the quick hits of like best coffee shop, best taco, like best donut best. So thank you for you're like so good at sending people to my website.
Jaymee Sire (32:28):
I got you. I got you.
Dan Pelosi (32:31):
I'm slowly learning how to be like a blogger
Jaymee Sire (32:34):
So bad. I know. I need to get back to it. That was like my, my roots was, was in my blog and then I haven't, you know, touched it for over a year. Yeah. So maybe you'll inspire me to, to get back to it coming up next. Dan tells us why he eats two breakfasts a day and reveals the food network personality. He'd love to cook with. You also have a really fun episode of Cracken egg with on food network.com where you create your favorite second breakfast. So I guess, first of all, what's in your first breakfast.
Dan Pelosi (33:08):
So I wake up absolutely starving.
Jaymee Sire (33:21):
I would never
Dan Pelosi (33:23):
It's like one minute microwave oats with a scoop of peanut butter and a cup of coffee. Like I can be ready in three minutes.
Jaymee Sire (33:47):
Yeah. And, and then you, you actually demonstrate your second breakfast or a version of your second breakfast on here. And by the way, eggs are a popular subject on this podcast and you scramble yours with cottage cheese and I'm actually, I actually am a huge cottage cheese fan as well. I know not everyone feels that way which is kind of surprising to me. I don't think it's super offensive. But can you make a case for cottage cheese for these naysayers?
Dan Pelosi (34:12):
Oh Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think cottage cheese adds like a level of creaminess to the eggs, by the way, by the time the, the eggs are scrambled and cooked with the cottage cheese, and then you don't know there's cottage cheese, no people don't like cottage cheese because it has sort of like a Rocky sort of like intense texture, but we are, that is disappearing. It's like when I put cottage cheese in like a baked pasta or a cheesecake, like you don't know there's cottage cheese in it. Right. So just think about wanting dreamy creamy Taner eggs. Like you could put mozzarella, you can put all kinds of cheese in it, but this just like the cheese really becomes just part of the egg. It's not like cheese and egg, like are separate. Like they just become part of making it wetter and more delicious. So and of course throw some herbs in there. Throw whatever you like in your scramble. So I hope that I did a good job of it. I actually did. Did that video, like your props to the food network team. Like I've never felt more comfortable on camera and it's so much fun.
Jaymee Sire (35:23):
So yeah, no, it was very, very fun and approachable. And just, you, you felt like you were, you know, sitting in your kitchen with you you know, making this, this little breakfast stack, which is that's by the way, what you made in this episode, what are the, the components of a perfect breakfast stack?
Dan Pelosi (35:40):
So I would do like fried bread so you can toast bread, but you can also fry it in olive oil, which is just makes it so good.
Jaymee Sire (35:48):
Of course.
Dan Pelosi (35:49):
And then yes, absolutely. And then I like some green, so I take, I took some arugula, did a little like oil in vinegar, toss that in, put that on top of the fried bread. Then I plopped my, my scrambled eggs. And then I took some proto, which I love with eggs. And then I graded some Parmesan cheese. It's a little bit inspired by Bette. Have you been to Bette?
Jaymee Sire (36:11):
Yes. Love Bette.
Dan Pelosi (36:12):
Yeah. Bette does their, like the, the coffee machine. They like take the steamer from the, like when you would make like a latte and they steam their eggs and that, and they'd stack it, but different story
Jaymee Sire (36:32):
No, it sounds like perfectly balanced and, and delicious you also in that episode, call yourself the king of divisive ingredients. So other than, oh my gosh. Other than cottage cheese, what are some foods that you love that may make others cringe?
Dan Pelosi (36:46):
pass along, follow, like pass along. Like I don't need like sending me a vomit emoji is just the end of us.
Dan Pelosi (37:26):
That's the end. That is the end of us. Goodbye.
Jaymee Sire (37:29):
Yeah.
Dan Pelosi (37:29):
But I also have to say, I'm so happy for you to not like any of these things. Sure. If you get to decide whatever you eat, just don't complain to me about it.
Jaymee Sire (37:38):
Don't yuck. My yum. Yeah, no, don't yuck. My yum
Dan Pelosi (37:42):
I don't yuck my yum
Jaymee Sire (37:43):
Yum. Unless it's bell peppers and then I will yuck it like all, all day long.
Dan Pelosi (37:49):
Wait, green, green only, or red.
Jaymee Sire (37:51):
I mean, green is the worst offender by far, but, but no, all of them I hate, but okay.
Dan Pelosi (37:56):
So sausage, so wait, so sausage and
Jaymee Sire (37:58):
Peppers, unless like, it was like a AO or something. I, I like all of the spicy peppers.
Dan Pelosi (38:04):
What about like a Cuban now?
Jaymee Sire (38:06):
That one that maybe, maybe sometimes, maybe, yeah. Okay.
Dan Pelosi (38:10):
But we can talk offline about peppers.
Jaymee Sire (38:11):
I, I wanna, we will, we'll die. We'll dive be speaking of which is there some, I mean, do you have one, one thing like that, that like, cuz that's pretty much my only thing and it's a very weird thing. I, I understand that.
Dan Pelosi (38:23):
Yeah. I eat a lot. I eat a lot, a lot, lot. If something has truffle or truffle oil on it, like I just, it does. It's not pleasurable
Jaymee Sire (38:31):
For me. Yeah. I'm not a huge fan of truffle oil.
Dan Pelosi (38:33):
Yeah. It just doesn't do it for me, but that's okay. Okay. I mean, I love that. It's like a delicacy for some people. And I love that for me. I'm just like, that's great. Yeah. More for you like more truffle oil for you.
Jaymee Sire (38:44):
Yeah.
Dan Pelosi (38:59):
What does my hat say?
Jaymee Sire (39:00):
Dan Pelosi (39:05):
It says barefoot and Tesa.
Jaymee Sire (39:06):
Oh, barefoot. Yes.
Dan Pelosi (39:08):
Barefoot and Tesa, which is like, hello, number one, like everything I do, I sort of had like two courses of how to cook in my life. One was like growing up in Italian, Portuguese family. And then the other one was like in garden
Jaymee Sire (39:22):
Dan Pelosi (39:22):
So, so it's like Italian, Portuguese comfort food, American comfort food. And like, that is how I sort of came to be who I am love. And you know, ins just, I mean, this is not, you know, this is for everyone I think, but I just love her so much. So
Jaymee Sire (39:40):
Yeah, no, I mean she's, we have not had her on the podcast yet. So I, I just keep putting it out into the universe because I would, that is definitely a dream dream guest. Yeah. For, for us here too.
Dan Pelosi (39:53):
I know, I know someday it's gonna happen for both of us. Like I I'm like, she's going, something's gonna happen. She's commented on a couple of my post before.
Jaymee Sire (39:59):
Oh,
Dan Pelosi (40:00):
Okay. I mean, getting a follow for mine is just like impossible. But but yeah. I just think she's like great. I also, I love that she, unlike me, keeps her life sort of like pretty simple and pretty private, like we know a few things right.
Jaymee Sire (40:13):
Where it's like, we know what she chooses to share. Right?
Dan Pelosi (40:16):
Yeah. I'm like you are so smart.
Jaymee Sire (40:22):
Ah, no, I think, I think the, I think the oversharing is definitely what has drawn people to you. So I think, I think it works for you and you know, and her, her format works for her as well. So, well.
Dan Pelosi (40:35):
I always tell people, they're like, oh my God, I feel like such a creep because I like know, and I'm like, no, no. First of like not creepy because the only way you know, that is because I told you so
Jaymee Sire (40:44):
like right, you put it out there. Like
Dan Pelosi (40:46):
I put it out there and I am absolutely fine with it. Yeah.
Jaymee Sire (40:48):
So I'm, I mean, I definitely social media stock every one of our guests. So yeah. That's, that's how you, that's how you do it these days. Right.
Dan Pelosi (40:57):
You and I, you and I actually enjoy opening a breakfast sandwich and watching the cheese
Jaymee Sire (41:01):
Bowls happen. Yes. 100%. That's like a very satisfying thing.
Dan Pelosi (41:05):
That's huge for us. Have you, have you done Frankels
Jaymee Sire (41:08):
You must have done. So I, I have a whole video of just on videos of me eating different Frankels breakfast sandwiches, because
Dan Pelosi (41:14):
Send that to my idea.
Jaymee Sire (41:16):
I will.I need to, I will because no, that is definitely, I mean, I try not to eat there like super often because it's not, you know, I, the things I order there are not super
Dan Pelosi (41:28):
Oh,
Jaymee Sire (41:28):
Totally healthy. I guess I would say I just
Dan Pelosi (41:30):
Did, like, I just New York magazine just asked me to go around and eat 27 hot dogs across Manhattan and the, and Frankels was one of the places
Jaymee Sire (41:39):
I’ve never had the hot dog there.
Dan Pelosi (41:41):
Yeah. They have a a two hotdog special. You have to get two of them.
Jaymee Sire (41:44):
Okay. Well,
Dan Pelosi (41:45):
Yeah, it's good.
Jaymee Sire (41:46):
Plus my arm, I guess
Dan Pelosi (41:48):
Exactly.
Jaymee Sire (41:49):
I'll have to check that out. Well this has been an absolute blast. I can talk to you for hours. We'll have to hours go IRL at some point. But we will finish things off with a little rapid fire around and then we have one final question for you.
Dan Pelosi (42:03):
Oh my gosh. I'm not good at rapid fire
Jaymee Sire (42:05):
It's makes me longer. It's I mean, actually to be clear and honest, most of our guests do not do rapid, so it's fine.
Dan Pelosi (42:13):
I'm down. I'm down to try. Okay. But it might take me three hours.
Jaymee Sire (42:16):
No, it's fine. Okay. Let's okay. Who's on your Mount Rushmore of food idols. I feel like Ina’s probably on there, but
Dan Pelosi (42:23):
Ina Marella Hasan pimpy
Jaymee Sire (42:29):
Who would be the fourth?
Dan Pelosi (42:31):
Who would be the fourth? I gonna ask. There's so many amazing people out there.
Jaymee Sire (42:35):
Or maybe you just have three maybe.
Dan Pelosi (42:37):
No, I think I, you know, I, I have to put my mom there cause she just has like, she has been such like a, a inspiration for me as well, so.
Jaymee Sire (42:44):
Okay. Yeah. Last rabbit hole that you went down.
Dan Pelosi (42:47):
Oh, I was really lost in Sally fields Wikipedia.
Jaymee Sire (42:51):
Okay.
Dan Pelosi (42:52):
I have this thing. It's actually my, my best friend, Andy Barragan. Who's also like a food person. You may have heard of him. He and I have this thing where we're like female actresses. We like go down the Wikipedias then we start watching their like acceptance speeches on YouTube. And I just like know way too much about Sally field right now.
Jaymee Sire (43:09):
So I love that.
Dan Pelosi (43:10):
Yeah,
Jaymee Sire (43:14):
So that's great. Okay. So advice for a career pivot,
Dan Pelosi (43:18):
I would say like, because I didn't plan mine, all I did was decide to focus on something that I knew would make me happy and I had no expectations and that's really all it was the world just sort of took the universe, took the reigns, but I just simply shifted something that I already had control over to focus on something that I knew brought me a good amount of joy and had no expectations.
Jaymee Sire (43:45):
Yeah. I think that's, I think that's great advice for sure. How do you take your coffee or tea?
Dan Pelosi (43:52):
If it’s, if it’s tea, coffee, coffee. I take it with almond milk in my Yeti in the morning. Yes. And my made in my mocha master, which I love my mocha master.
Jaymee Sire (44:02):
Oh, okay. What's a, what? What's a mocha master.
Dan Pelosi (44:05):
A mocha master is this gorgeous, like very simple coffee maker that comes in like 30 something colors. It's super pretty. It makes a very smooth cup of coffee, no bells and whistles. It's not gonna like have coffee ready for you when you wake up in the morning.
Jaymee Sire (44:31):
Okay. Good to know. So yeah. What would be the title of your memoir
Dan Pelosi (44:37):
Jaymee Sire (44:45):
Dan Pelosi (44:50):
Is like just, don't just calm down. Like it's gonna be okay. Don't get, don't get your pantry in a box.
Jaymee Sire (44:56):
Speaking of pantries. Yeah. Pantry staple that you cannot live without.
Dan Pelosi (45:00):
It is. Oh my gosh. Tomato paste. It's collaborating chili paste. Like just goes on everything. I mean it's like fennel. I mean, I don't know. Oh my gosh. I should have this down. I would say tomato paste.
Jaymee Sire (45:16):
Like that's a salsa.
Dan Pelosi (45:17):
Never know if I have it.
Jaymee Sire (45:23):
Just make sure you have it.
Dan Pelosi (45:25):
No, no matter what, I also have so much mayonnaise in my pantry
Jaymee Sire (45:27):
I mean that's
Dan Pelosi (45:29):
Well, so many brands of made because it's summer. So it's like mayonnaise and everything.
Jaymee Sire (45:32):
Yeah. A hundred percent. All the, all the mayonnaise salads for sure.
Dan Pelosi (45:35):
Absolutely. And the tomato Mayo toast.
Jaymee Sire (45:38):
Dan Pelosi (45:41):
Wait, what? Come on
Jaymee Sire (45:45):
Okay. Let's talk about,
Dan Pelosi (45:46):
Okay. So I have a guide on my site to tomato Mayo toast, because it's like the snack of the summer now. Of course, if you don't like Mayo, anything that's like white and spreadable. So we've got like cream cheese, cream cheese
Jaymee Sire (45:56):
I've seen you have like the cream cheese on with the tomatoes. Yeah. Yeah.
Dan Pelosi (46:00):
But like the Mayo. Cause you can mix so many things into it and like a really good salted tomato. Yes. Fry the bread toast, the bread. You could use a bake like, oh my gosh, go to the, the guy tomato, Mayo toast that break it down by like all the things.
Jaymee Sire (46:14):
Okay.
Dan Pelosi (46:14):
You could put tin fish on top.
Jaymee Sire (46:16):
Oh my gosh. Okay. So clearly I didn't do my stocking well enough
Dan Pelosi (46:19):
Oh my gosh. No, no, no, no, no, no, no,
Jaymee Sire (46:22):
No, no. I love it. I will, I will continue on. Yes. And obviously color, huge part of your life, your cookbooks, you know, if anybody sees, you know, photos or videos from your kitchen or organized in a beautiful rainbow. So what would Dan Pelosi's or grocery Pelosi's personal Pantone shade be?
Dan Pelosi (46:41):
Oh my gosh. My personal Pantone shade. So there's international climb blue, which is like very popular. It's been sort of like the color of great Jones has it. And the sort of their Molly BAS cookbook cover was that I started using it as my logo. But I don't know what the Panton the, I don't know if it's that though. I'm sort of like gravitating more towards like red right now. I just feel like red it's tomatoes. It's marinara. It's also just like supposed to make you happy and hungry. Mm-Hmm
Jaymee Sire (47:12):
So I love red. I have a lot of red in my kitchen for sure.
Dan Pelosi (47:15):
Red think let's go with red. Let's move on. Okay. Let's move forward. Let's think about the future
Jaymee Sire (47:19):
Okay. Red is the, the, the grocery Pelosi future. I love it. Yeah, exactly.
Dan Pelosi (47:24):
It's probably, it's also the color of a stop sign. Yeah.
Jaymee Sire (47:27):
There great. So many things,
Dan Pelosi (47:29):
So many things.
Jaymee Sire (47:31):
All right. So last question we ask everybody this on food network, obsessed. Everybody has a different answer. Yes. But what would be on the menu for your perfect food day? So we wanna hear breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, if you're having dessert and yes. And there. So basically this question, there's no rules. Like sky's the limit. It can be as like elaborate or as simple as you want. You can time travel. You can regular travel spend as much money. There's no rules, no calories count. All the things.
Dan Pelosi (47:58):
Oh, I can. So I can go to all my favorite places that have closed.
Jaymee Sire (48:01):
Yes, exactly.
Dan Pelosi (48:02):
Oh my gosh.
Dan Pelosi (48:05):
Okay. So breakfast, when I tell you, it's still going to C Gloria to get their breakfast sandwich,
Jaymee Sire (48:12):
Know that
Dan Pelosi (48:12):
That's your spot, bacon, egg, and cheese at C Gloria. It's also really close to me. So we're starting out slow, but then for lunch, I'm getting on an airplane and I'm flying to San Francisco and I'm eating at a place called bar jus which closed a while back, but they had the best hamburger. Like I just don't remember.
Jaymee Sire (48:29):
I lived in San Francisco for a while, but it was on, it was in Hayes valley.
Dan Pelosi (48:30):
Okay. It was next to so Cocha
Jaymee Sire (48:35):
Oh
Dan Pelosi (48:36):
Yeah. I love it. Like what, now it's a Dominique crown restaurant, but it was so good. My friend Jessica owned it, but because that may or may not be open in this dream, I don't know. I could also go to, I could also go to Zuni cafe down the street and have a gorgeous hamburger with their fries and, and a Caesar salad and be so happy. Mm. And then lunches ever, I'm gonna stop by tar and just pick up whatever pastry they have sort of like in the midafternoon they tend to run out, but I'll take anything. Ideally it's like a morning bun or an almond croissant, then I'm gonna fly back to New York and I'm gonna have dinner at via Kuda. Cause it's the best restaurant in the city.
Jaymee Sire (49:14):
Dan Pelosi (49:17):
So I get the sausage stuffed fried olives. I get the salad. I get the, oh my God. Right now they have the string like the zucchini fries that are like the thinness zucchini fries in the whole world. They're so good. Definitely getting one of the three artichoke items on the menu. I'm probably gonna get the freedom miso. I don't, I usually skip the pasta. I'll probably get the octopus and I'll get this pH, which again is kind of like it's a cross between like a steak tar tar, but it's a little bit cooked, kind of like a hamburger, but there's no bun. It's so good. And then honestly, like I'm gonna walk up the street to Billy's bakery in Chelsea and I'm gonna get just like a really good slice of like, like chocolate or vanilla cake with like their delicious buttercream frosting. It's just like, so like it's across, it's just perfect. That just like a delicious way to end it or maybe a cupcake, but I like a slice of cake
Dan Pelosi (50:09):
I mean, they also have got icebox kit. Ooh. While you really, like,
Jaymee Sire (50:12):
I know it makes you think, I mean, there's a lot of, lot of opportunities for,
Dan Pelosi (50:18):
I'm probably gonna be like trying to fall asleep tonight being like, oh my God, I forgot to say this. I feel horrible.
Jaymee Sire (50:22):
Dan Pelosi (50:28):
Jaymee Sire (50:37):
Yeah, no, I think that's per it sounds perfect. I mean, from the little that we've gotten to, to know you over the last hour, I think that that really sums up Grossy Pelosi as a person, a food consumer and all of the, all, all the rest as well. So yeah. Thank you so much for taking the time. This has been such a blast. I so enjoyed it.
Dan Pelosi (50:59):
Thank you so much. I'm so honored to be on your program, podcast.
Jaymee Sire (51:04):
Program podcast.
Dan Pelosi (51:06):
Your program, which is called obsessed food
Jaymee Sire (51:09):
Network, obsessed,
Dan Pelosi (51:10):
Whatever. Yeah. Food network obsessed. Exactly. I mean, what's better than that. Yeah. I mean, tell, tell, tell 13 year old Dan Pelosi that he was gonna be on the food network, video or podcast or anything and he would've just collapsed. Yeah. And started sobbing. So this is just a total dream. Thank you so much.
Jaymee Sire (51:25):
Of Course. I think Dan and I definitely need to have a dinner party together ASAP. You can catch Dan on crack and egg with on food network.com. Thanks so much for listening and make sure to follow us wherever you listen to podcasts. So you don't miss a thing. And if you enjoy today's episode, please rate and review. We love it. When you do that, that's all for now. We'll catch you foodies next Friday.