Bird is the word

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This article was published 12/09/2020 (1882 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Magic Bird Fried Chicken is about to make its television debut and chef Michael O’Connell’s mom is excited.

“She’s probably more stoked than I am,” he says with a laugh. “She’s messaging me constantly, asking for updates as to when the episode’s airing.”

O’Connell and the local fried-chicken joint will be featured on Food Network Canada’s Big Food Bucket List on Sept. 19.

Having a film crew in his kitchen was a dream come true for the Winnipeg chef, who grew up watching the Food Network with his mom.

“I’ve always wanted to be on TV,” O’Connell says. “There’s a ton of great restaurants in our city that deserve a lot of exposure, nationally, so I’m just happy and I feel extremely lucky to be picked.”

Magic Bird shut down for two days of filming in May. Getting to see how the sausage is made was an enlightening experience.

“It was neat… seeing how things actually get filmed, because obviously you have to repeat processes for the camera and stuff like that,” O’Connell says, adding that host John Catucci was fun to work with. “He’s definitely just as funny off-air as he is on-air.”

The feeling appears mutual for Catucci, who says he was impressed by the food coming out of the hole-in-the-wall kitchen and the ambience of the Handsome Daughter — the Sherbrook Street bar that houses Magic Bird.

“(It) reminded me of some great places I used to perform in back in Toronto,” says Catucci, a former standup comedian and Second City alumnus. “There’s this really cool, interesting hip, artistic vibe that’s happening in the space. And then on top of that, you’ve got this incredible fried chicken.”

His favourite menu items included the classic fried chicken sandwich and the Cone Ranger, a pimento mac and cheese-filled waffle cone topped with fried chicken skin that was crowned the winner of Fried Chicken Fest in 2019.

Big Food Bucket List follows Catucci on a cross-continent tour of small, buzz-worthy restaurants and features cooking demos and interviews with chefs and diners. The show mirrors the premise and format of the host’s breakout Food Network Canada series You Gotta Eat Here!, which ran for five seasons beginning in 2012.

Besides getting paid to eat delicious food, Catucci’s favourite part of the job is chatting with regulars.

“The connection that they have between the restaurant and the food, and how it affects their life,” he says. “They’re not just customers anymore, right? They’re friends, they’re family, and I really love seeing that.”

Big Food Bucket List is a travel-heavy production and being on the road away from his wife and two kids is the hardest part of filming for the self-described homebody.

Shooting for the second season, however, was put on hold as the coronavirus pandemic led to lockdowns across North America. Recently, the crew has been able to get on the road again to wrap filming of the second half of the season, but they’re limited to visiting restaurants in certain parts of Canada.

“We were supposed to do stuff on the East Coast but the East Coast is still not open,” Catucci says.

The pause in production gave Catucci more time to tend his vegetable garden and experiment in the kitchen while isolating at home in Toronto with his family.

“My dad’s love language was food and so is mine,” he says. “I was trying to be that person who makes sure everybody was eating properly and had food.”

Baking bread and cinnamon buns have become new hobbies.

“Cinnamon buns are just too good, so I try to not do them too many times,” he says, laughing.

Season 2 of Big Food Bucket List airs today at 7 p.m. locally on Food Network Canada. Catucci hopes the show gives people an escape from the heaviness of daily life during the pandemic and inspires viewers to support their local food scene.

“To see the resiliency of restaurateurs and restaurants and to see how much those places mean to neighbourhoods… it’s been pretty amazing,” he says. “These little places need our support and our love.”

eva.wasney@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @evawasney