Dr. Gourmet has a day job as a doctor and professor of medicine at Tulane University. And a side gig as a gourmet doctor at Tulane’s revolutionary Goldring Institute for Culinary Medicine.

Emmy Award winning Dr Gourmet, aka Timothy Harlan, started out working in restaurants at age 11. He opened his own French Bistro in his early 20’s, and when his wife’s ill-health drove him to find out more about medicine he went to med school. 

A number of twists and turns led Tim to Tulane University, and what used to be called a reassuring bedside manner (at a time when a doctor actually sat, and much less beside your bed) led Tim to media and online celebrity as Dr Gourmet, a handsome and reassuring voice of scientific reason and kitchen smarts in the cluttered media food world.

The Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine is literally a revolution in the medical approach to food. Not a fad-driven class at cooking school, this is a scientifically driven course at a leading medical school. The center is dedicated to teaching both doctors and the surrounding community how to think about food in tasty and healthy ways. And not just to think about it, but how to actually cook it, bake it, and make it tasty. The secret? The course is taught by chefs!

Tim’s +1, Chef Leah Sarris, is the star of the Culinary Medicine biz. Charismatic, undeniably cute, modest, unpretentious, and passionate about food as well as the rest of life’s joys, Chef Leah epitomizes the joy of cooking and the glowing benefit of good health. She doesn’t believe in resisting temptation, except when it comes to Nutella.

On this fun and fascinating episode of Midnight Menu +1 Ray manages to get through almost an entire show without embarrassing Margo, or mentioning his hair. Well, actually, things go off the rails early on, but Dr Gourmet hasn’t cooked his sense of humor out of his diet and Chef Leah almost learns to speak French.