'Everybody Loves Raymond's' Phil Rosenthal Shops Travel Cooking Show

This story first appeared in the Nov. 2 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.

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Two years after starring in Exporting Raymond, his acclaimed doc about attempting to replicate Everybody Loves Raymond in Russia, TV producer Phil Rosenthal is putting the finishing touches on a pilot for an Anthony Bourdain-esque globe-trotting food show.

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He'll be paired on-air with a chef companion as they explore a different city's dining scene in each episode. For the London-focused pilot, he tapped top toque Thomas Keller, who doesn't typically do this type of thing.

"I did it because it's Phil," says Keller, noting they became friends when he consulted on James L. Brooks' 2004 film Spanglish, in which Adam Sandler played a chef. (Rosenthal had a role as Sandler's sous chef; in real life, he's an investor in a slew of industry hotspots, including Providence, Red Medicine, Tavern, Mozza and Keller's Bouchon.)

If the series gets picked up -- "People have offered to put it on already, sight unseen," says Rosenthal, who also is financing the restaurant-world documentary Spinning Plates -- he expects to enlist such other L.A. chef-friend luminaries as Nancy Silverton and Nobu Matsuhisa for episodes.

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"We're still toying with the name of the show," he says. "My brother said, 'How about The Lucky Bastard?' I haven't thought of a better title yet than that."