Chef David Chang hits the road across the US in new food-centric CNN travel series

NEW YORK (AP) — In an episode of his new CNN travel series, chef David Chang is cruising down the highway on his way to Las Vegas when he stops at a humble truck stop off Interstate 15. The town is Hesperia, California, and the producers wanted Chang to try an Indian restaurant near a windshield repair store. But Chang spots a Mexican cantina that looks promising.

He naturally chooses to eat at both, freaking out his camera crew. When I see something, I’m like, ‘Oh, that looks interesting. I would like to taste that,’” he says in an interview.

“To the dismay of the producers and the team, they’re like, ‘No, no. We got to go here.’ I was like, ‘You don’t understand. I told you guys that if we’re going to do the show, everything’s on the table.’” “Everything’s On the Table” might be a good alternative title for the six-part “The Detour with David Chang,” where the famed founder of the Momofuku global restaurant chain pairs with a companion and hits the open road, eating his way through America.

Chang chows down on Filipino food in South Las Vegas, bites into a traditional Czech puff pastry in Texas and tries Haitian food for the first time in Miami. The show’s motto is: “All we’ve got is a destination. Everything else is a detour.” He’s paired by friends and strangers alike, from “American Fiction” director and writer Cord Jefferson to comedian, actor and writer Cristela Alonzo, who shows him her Texas.

In Tennessee, he rides with Christina Tosi, the Milk Bar creator, who is almost a surrogate sister. The show is about exploring and connecting with locals to find hidden gems, like the spot that serves killer Cuban fritas at a laundromat. Or the chefs who take barbecue and combine Asian flavors, creating oak-smoked pulled pork with Penang curry.

Or the family serving Honduran food truck breakfast that helps heal Chang’s terrible rum hangover. “I love going out to eat, but as I get older, staying inside, not doing as much, is also nice. And I think that over the past few years, I’ve certainly been calcified,” says Chang.