Dinner’s on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson - Side Dish: More with Eva Longoria

Episode Date: May 28, 2026

More of my interview with 'Desperate Housewives’ star Eva Longoria. Eva tells me about overcoming anxiety when first-time directing, gives her restaurant tips for Mexico City, and we hear about how she juggles home bases in the U.S., Spain and Mexico. This episode was recorded at Coucou in West Hollywood, CA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You know those meals that just immediately take you somewhere? Like you take one bite and suddenly you're transported to a backyard. Someone's manning the friar and everyone's waiting for a taste. That's exactly what Boreshead has managed to do, but at your deli counter. New from Borshead, the friar's turkey breast has the taste of deep-fried turkey. And I mean, it's perfectly seasoned, that golden, savory flavor. It really does that thing where one bite kind of takes over and you're like, oh, okay, this is what we're doing now.

And the best part is you don't have to host anything. You don't have to fry anything. You don't have to politely ask someone else to handle the hot oil, which frankly, I'm always happy to avoid. It's just there at the deli, ready to go. So if you're putting together a sandwich or just standing at the counter deciding what kind of day you're going to have,

the friar's turkey breast is a pretty great choice. Discover the craftsmanship behind every bite at your local Boershead deli counter. Boershead, committed to crafts, 1905. You never know who's going to show up on For the Love with Jen Hatmaker, from Mel Robbins to Tignitaro, Kate Bowler to Stanley Tucci. I'm Jen Hatmaker, and every week, my dear friend Amy and I dive deep with incredible guests who make us laugh and cry and think a little bigger about life in the middle years. For the Love, where great stories meet Unique.

unforgettable people. Follow and listen wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Here's a little side dish from this week's episode of Dinner's on Me. This week's guest is Eva Longoria. You know her from Desperate Housewives and searching for France on CNN. We met up at Kuku in West Hollywood. Now, to get back into the conversation, you're pulling up a chair as Eva tells me about the upcoming Netflix comedy she's directing, The Fifth Wheel. Paula Bell, who wrote this movie. I just directed. Paula and Genea.

Are you done with this? I'm in post, yeah. Tonight's the friends and family. Oh, my God. How'd I know? They flew in last night because we have our friends and family. And so I was like, hey, guys, let's go to dinner. So we go to dinner.

And I said, where are you staying? They go, oh, my God, right here. So we finished dinner and I'm like, let me drive you to your hotel. They're like, it's right there. And I'm like, I know that. I feel like we should just try. And they refuse. They were like, we're not getting in here.

Because they're New Yorkers. Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah. would absolutely do the same. I was demanding that they get in the car. And did you win that argument? No. No.

No. But they were on a sidewalk. I was like, okay. Okay. But my husband's like that too. Like we were both runners. We don't do it as much anymore. And we moved to Beverly Hills in the hills.

And he's like, I'm going to go for a run. I'm like, this is the hills. Like there's no sidewalks. And so he tries to run down Bennett Canyon. He goes back. He's like, I almost got killed. I'm like, yeah, you got to drive down to where you're going to go run. Exactly.

Can't just go for a run. No, that's so true. That's such an L.A. things like strap your bike on your car and then like go to a place where you can ride your ride. Yes. Yeah. Put your dog in the car and then go walk him.

Yeah. Yeah. That's exactly right. But also, do you know Robert Bertie? Robert Bertie is an interior designer. He's a stylist. He's one of my best friends. He's a New Yorker.

And he goes, you know what? In New York, we wear clothes. In L.A., you guys wear cars. Yeah. Because that's like your identity. In L.A. is like, oh, he drives a Porsche. Oh, what a douche. Oh, oh, okay.

Electric, great, great, that's a good person, or whatever. That is, that's how you make your stamp. Yeah, that's your impression. Oh, my God, do you not want to know what I'm driving. What are you driving? Don't say cyber truck. No, just as bad, honestly, and I'm getting rid of it. Is it like an escalator?

It's a Tesla. Oh, yeah, yeah, same, same, yeah. I got rid of mine a long, I got rid of mine long before I got mad at Elon Musk. And by the way, that'll show him. He doesn't care. He's fine. He's fine. He's doing just.

without my Tesla con. Bye. Thank you so much. He, no, I got rid of it because I didn't like the new

version of it. It's like a race car handle. It's not the circle one. So I would be like, I can't find the horn. And I can't, like, I need to honk at people. I need to,

it was very dangerous. Honk horn. Hong! That's the other thing about Tesla is like when I, I live in the hills and some idiot from New York is walking. It's so quiet.

And then all of a sudden. And then I have to go, babe! And they're like, what the fuck? And I'm like, I know the horn is too loud. Right. Because the car is so quiet that they don't hear you. But also, now these cars, like, they alert you when you're anywhere near anything. With that, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.

And it gives me a panic attacks. Because I'm not a great driver. I'm the opposite. That sound. I ignore that. You ignore that. I'm like, it's like, beep, beep, beep. And I'm like, I don't even hear it.

Is somebody, it's my phone ringing? I could care less. My God, no, it sends me to a total panic. What have I done? I'm done. What have I done? Oh, my God. But yeah, that, that was like Brian, I've never pitched it to Brian and to Mark Cherry?

And Mark's like, babe, you got to go in there with like, of course, you're the only person who can do that? Like, even they thought, like, who else are they going to get? I'm like, everybody, everybody went out for that job, all these directors. And I was like, I've never did a movie. I don't know. Yes. Yeah.

And I remember my agent calling me because I had to go in like five times, like a callback, a callback, a callback. Wow. And the last one I come out, my agent called. She was, how do you feel? I go, God, I'm so scared. And she goes, that you're not going to get it. And I go, no, that I'm going to get it and have to do everything I just said I was going to do. No, I was, so I'm, I've been asked to direct a feature.

And it would be my first. And I have this, I'm so excited about it. I love the script. You know, we're in the casting process now. but I, it's all about, you know, all these ideas that I have that. I want to make sure that I can actually do. Execute. Execute, exactly. But surround yourself with the people who've been.

100%. I mean, Liz Banks is a very close friend of mine, and she's been a real source of, you know, great advice. Yeah. Because she was my source, my mentor when I started directing. And when I did the feature pitch, I was like, well, it's a man. But just also coming from, you know, being an actor and, like, gaining respect. Like she just, she's not a different person when she's in that role, but she is, there's something that's different about her. I don't know how to explain it.

Like I, yeah, she directed me in Cocaine Bear and it's like, oh, this is a different person than my friend that I have acted opposite of. Like she, yeah, yeah, she has the same sensibility, but like there's a different, I don't know, authority that she seems to have in this space. Yeah, she is such a good, I love her as a director. I love her a new show. I started watching miniature wife. She's so good. Yeah. She's so good. I love when she plays that asshole. Yeah.

Really, she's an asshole. Yeah. She's really good at it, isn't she? She's such a good assholes. I know, I know. Now for a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, Eva tells me about why Mexico City became one of her favorite places in the world, and we get into raising a family during uncertain political times.

Okay, be right back. Right now, our family is living that New York theater life. I'm performing in a play right now called True, where I get to play Truman Capote, and the kids are here with me, and I'm working in the city, which is amazing. I love it so much. It also means I'm juggling a lot. Between rehearsal schedules, school drop-offs, figuring out dinner in between shows, and then making sure everyone has what they need, it's hard enough just getting through the day, let alone planning ahead. And while we're here in New York fully immersed in this, you know, this season of life, it got me thinking about how our place back home is just sitting empty.

If you're going to be away for a while, like me, listing your space on Airbnb can be a great way to put your space to use and earn a little extra cash while you're gone. And the idea of doing it all by yourself, see, that just feels like too much. That's where Airbnb's co-host network comes in. You can partner with a local vetted co-host who can handle all the behind-the-the-scenes details. So hosting feels manageable. Even when your schedule is as packed as mine might be, co-hosts can create your listing, manage reservations, handle guests, communication, and even provide on-site support,

so you're free to focus on the busy season ahead. If you're ready to get started, find a co-host at Airbnb.com slash host. Fabio Semantilly. Big hearts, big voice, big laugh. A rock star hairstylist who drove a Porsche. He was like a wizard behind him. the chair. The killers came for Fabio in his own backyard.

You can't rationalize it. You can't figure it out. There was rampant speculation about everything. But every wild theory was wrong, because the truth was even more unbelievable. What? Is anyone hearing what I'm hearing? And even more heartbreaking. The uncertainty of not knowing is a form of agony.

From Sony Music Entertainment and novel, this is cut, color, kill. I'm Jonathan Hirsch. Cut Color Kill is available now on The Binge. Search for it wherever you get your podcast to start listening today. Subscribers to The Binge can listen to all episodes, all at once, ad free. And we're back with more dinners on me. But yeah, so we shot in L.A., which was crazy. I had to shot L.A. in like nine years.

No, nothing shoots here right now. Nothing shoots in L.A. And we also had all these amazing guest stars. Guestars. cameos I can't wait to see it it's big it seems big

it feels big for a female comedy you do have that budget those stars it's gonna be people are gonna it's gonna be an event especially women are gonna be like

we've gotta go see it now yeah yeah when you were shooting that is that like the most time you spent in life recently because I know you are You're mostly in Spain and Mexico, right? Mexico, yeah. Are you Mexico City?

Mexico City. The greatest city. Isn't it great? The greatest city. I have two new places you have to go to. Tell me. Restaurants? Yeah.

Tell me. The taco tasting room. Okay. It's almost like omikaze, but tacos. Okay. So there's no menu. Oh, I like that. And they do 10 horses and their tacos from all over.

And it's called the taco tasting. It's called the taco tasting room. Okay. It is so good, and it's a Centro Historical, which is a historic district. Only 14, seats. It's a bar. Mm-hmm. So it's so good. It's amazing.

And I'm sure you've been to Maximo. Oh, Maximo, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Some of the greatest food I've ever has in Mexico City. Do you know Ellen Bennett by chance? Why do I know her?

She is the founder of Headley Bennett Aprons. Yes, that's why I know her. Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure you've crossed past at some point. She got married in Mexico City, and I was in her... Did she marry a Mexican? No. She just shows her. She used to live there.

She's Mexican. And she used to, she used to live in Mexico City. No. In fact, she used to read the powerball numbers on the evening news. On the news? Yeah. No way. That's her, like, party trick is like doing, you know, because she looks, she looks white.

But she worked in kitchens and, like, all the guys were, like, so surprised that she spoke, you know, fluent Spanish. And her party trick was like she would do her, like, you know, the powerball routine for them. It's hilarious. She's great. So, yeah, I was in her wedding in Mexico City. So she was sort of my first exposure to that city, and she just has such a rich relationship with it. So she was able to bring me to all these places

that I never would have gone as a tourist. And, yeah, I just fell in love with that city. It's quite amazing. Incredible pastries. The art scene. The French had conquered, French occupied Mexico for a short amount of time. And in that short amount of time, they brought all the bakers, the French bakers to make French bread, French brioche, French croissant.

And so a lot of Mexican bread is based in French bakery. Oh, I didn't know that. That's why it's incredible. And that's why it's incredible. The concha is really a brioche bread that the Mexicans added sugar on. And the bolillo is really a baguette that they made kind of a different version of. But like it's all, they, the French bakers that came during the. Maximilian occupation. I assume you've been to Rosetta in Roma.

So good. Yeah. So good. I mean, that's some of the best pastries I've ever had. Yeah, the desserts are crazy there. Incredible. Great art there. Okay, so you...

Where do you live? New York? I live mostly here, but I go back and forth to New York. Yeah. Well, I had already moved to Spain long before, you know, this administration took over. Like, we were already majority there because I was already a majority there, because I was working there so much. Right.

And then, you know, the politics started changing and things started getting, you know, I guess further and further away from, I think, American values, you know, democracy being the center of that. And so I felt like, oh, my gosh, what is happening? And then at the same time, wanting to stay and fight. Yeah. You know, so I really split my time evenly because I really am so invested in making sure our democracy is alive. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, this is, you know, my home. Of course. Yeah, absolutely. But also, you know, I look, you know, I'm a father of two beautiful boys. I'm in a very public relationship with someone of the same sex and I'm a little nervous about certain things. And, you know, I just have to look, you know, the reality of the situation to make sure that I'm smart about my choices. Yeah. Yes.

So, yeah. I mean, I certainly love this country so much. And it's, you know, why I was so thrilled to be, you know, in that room of the DNC to hear, like, the people who love our country just as much as I do speaking so eloquently about it, like what its potential is. Yeah. You know, it's really inspiring. Yeah. And what it should be and what it needs to be. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now for a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, we get into how travel became a way for Eva to honor her family, why food is the fastest path into understanding a culture and the surprising story behind the Searching For series. Okay, be right back. And we're back with more dinners on me. I love traveling.

And every time I give presents, it's always a trip. I always give, like, for Christmas, my sisters, I give them trips. I think that's the best gift is to travel. It's so great. My mom, she passed away last year. I'm so sorry. Thank you. She just didn't travel a lot.

And she said, you know, when we were planning for her end of life stuff, and I was like, what do you want to, like, do you have anything that you want us to do? Yeah. And it was more about, like, after she left, what do we do? Like, where do you want to, like, rest? Yeah. Yeah. And she's like, just taking me traveling.

So, obviously, we cremated her. You're not like weekend at Bernie's. Yeah, I know. I was like, well, so that's... But do you take her everywhere? I take a little piece of her everywhere. And I like, I sprinkle, you know, it's probably illegal. But like I put her pieces up from different places.

Let's not admit that on tape. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's fine. They don't know where she is. What are they going to do? What do they do? Come after me? Yeah. That's amazing.

Well, that's why I love doing the searching for franchise is... when I started, I did searching for Mexico. Stanley called me and he was like, they wanted to do. Right, Stanley's Hoosci, too. He created it. Yeah. You know, Stanley created searching for Italy, and they did that house and seasons just in Italy. Yeah.

Because he didn't want to go anywhere else. He's smart, too. He reversed engineered his job. And so they came, he called, and he, you know, he was like, hey, they're looking to do a spin-off. And I was like, I really would love to do Mexico. It's a jewel of a cuisine. But also, I want to bridge the gap. where the tension is between the U.S. and Mexico,

where the same people who are going, Taco Tuesday are going, build that wall, build that wall. And you go, no, no, no, no, there's a correlation. There's a relationship between the culture that is here in the United States that is additive and it's beautiful. And so that's really why I wanted to do searching for Mexico because I think the easiest way into any culture is food. You can go to China and not speak China.

but you have a dim sum and you're like, this is amazing and you can go to Japan and not speak Japanese, but the food experience, you feel close to the culture. That's right. You go, I get it, I get it. I get who these people are. Transcence language.

Yeah. And then, so I did Spain because I'm Mexican-American, so I did Mexico and then my DNA, I'm from Spain, so I was like, oh my God, let's do my history in Spain, went to Astudias and did a whole family thing. And then France, I was, I was married to a Frenchman for a very long time. And it's like my home country.

I was definitely French in another life. I speak French. It wasn't French or second language before Spanish? Before Spanish, yeah. I didn't know Spanish. I knew French. I spoke English and French. Right.

Yeah. And so I convinced CNN. I was like, let me do that. I know I have no roots here, but I do have roots here. Yeah. Yeah.

And they were like, okay. And France is just, obviously, the, we owe so much to the French in fine dining. If not everything. Everything. Everything. Forks. Corsing out.

Poursing out. Look at this. Speaking of, right on cue. Oh, my God. What sauce is this? It's about it sauce and coconut. Ooh. That's incredible.

Yeah, it does. Yeah, it has coconut. Okay, let me show you what they do in, well, you probably know, but you've got to take a good one. Hold on. This is a good one. And I'm going to take this guy out.

I'm going to eat him. but I'll eat them in a minute, but what you do is then this is your... Oh, I don't know that. No, and you're supposed to... Well, this is what they do in the north of France. You use that as like pliers. And you eat your...

Oh, I've never seen that before. So you have to use the thing. If you do this in France, I'll be like, oh, how do you know this? Look at this. How do you do these things? How do you do this thing? Who told you?

Those are great. Okay. Yeah, I like that trick. I love that. It's so fun. Mmm. How long does it take you to do a season? Three months.

Oh my, so you're a long time. Yeah, three months. Yeah, and I love it because it's like vacation. When I do that, show it's vacation for me because they're like, okay, can you eat? Tomorrow you're gonna have to eat caviar at the Eiffel Tower with some champagne with Alain Ducas. And I'm like, okay. My God. I always forget, I'm like, are we still rolling?

I'm like really genuinely eating and like, ma-b-b-chowing down. I probably feel about this sometimes, you know? Yes. You like forget you're doing it. get, you're doing a job. Right. And that's the goal now in life is like to make your job, something you look forward to.

And I think like just even hearing you talk about asking questions that way is refreshing. I think it's honestly, I think a thing for many people when they're trying something new is like that fear of sounding like you don't know what you're doing. But of course you don't know what you're doing if you're trying something new. And I love, I always like start with that. Look, I don't know what I'm doing. what I do know is the vision of this film has to be this, right? We had a lot of, we have a magic show at the end of the Fifth Wheel. And so we were trying to come up with the tricks that worked for camera.

Is it special effects? Is it visual effects? Are we erasing wires? Is there the cat really disappear? And so we had to get these magician experts to come in and like, okay. Right. So there's a cat and he has to make it disappear. I go, and so we always kept punting.

the magic stuff. And I go, yeah, blah, blah, blah. And then we get to the magic section, which we're going to figure out. And I would just punt it because I was like, somebody smarter than me is going to figure that out. And so finally we had the magic meeting with the magicians, with the magicians.

And I said, pitch me some, show me some magic. And they go, well, we could do this. We can make this table levitate. I go, how? And the magicians go, magic. I go, right. Is it fish line? Is it camera?

I just need to know what to put. apartments need to start, are we building, are we raising it on a motor, with a little machine? How is this going to levitate? What is the trick? And then it was special effects. This guy who's like, well, he was on Bert Wonderstone, the movie. And he's like, you know, when we did with Skeep Carell, it was actually an insert. And it was somebody else's hands to do this card trick.

So it was Steve Carell going, uh-huh, huh, but it was a magician's hands doing the thing. With magic. And I go, oh, that could be funny. and then my my DP showed me a couple shots from a different movie and he goes, I think we do it with camera and this I think we got to do it like

blah blah blah blah and I go no that's not going to work because we need him to do it and oh okay so like that collaborator I had no idea how we were going to execute the magic somebody will know and then we're going to have a conversation about it and you can't know everything about everything that's what Liz Banks always funny she's like there are people

who are the heads of their department is because that's their job That's their only guy. They geek out on it. You don't need to know how to do that. You don't need to know lenses. You don't need to know 50 to 100 to a this. And that is refreshing to hearing.

No. So it's a very famous. But that's an ode to the book because the book was so good and successful that mainstream Hollywood made it. Right. And so I don't look at that as a bad thing that it was gentrified.

It was an ode to Isabella Allende telling a really good story. Right. Because she's not the best selling Latin author of all time. She's like the best selling author of all time for that book. Right. And so the property was really valuable. but it fell in my lap, you know, honestly.

Film Nation, not Live Nation, film nation brought it to me, and they said, you know, we have these two writer filmmakers, Francesca and Fernanda, writer director, and we think they're the ones to make it. They had never made TV before.

They'd never been written a TV script, but they were beautiful filmmakers, and they pitched out the book, their vision board to me, and they're like, this is what we wanted to look like, and it looked like a painting. Yes.

Their pitch. So to see it on screen, they had a vision and they executed it. Stunning. And it couldn't have been anybody else except those two Chilean women

who made it a Chilean story because the book is based in the Chilean Revolution. Like, it's very Chilean specific. The fact that they didn't do that originally was so crazy because I was like, oh yeah, I guess, I guess.

They're like, who's the biggest star? Right, right. So this time it's so authentic. It's so beautiful. It's a series. so we can dive into the book. And it's in Spanish. And it's in Spanish.

And you love it. Yeah. And you love it. You're like, I understand it all. Yeah. And the women are fantastic. The actors. It's a very international cast, too.

They're not all Chilean. They're Spaniards and Mexicans and Colombians and Venezuelans. And everybody tried to have this neutral Spanish accent. But it's really, I hope more and more people see it, watch it, rate it. I want to read the book. I mean, it's such an epic, sweeping, cinematic. you know, series. Like, I can only imagine.

Well, Isabella I think it's banned. It's one in the book band. You know, everybody's on the book band. Yes, but you can get it, obviously. But she's like, it's such an honor to have a banned book. Sure. When your book is banned, that means stir up some shit. Yeah.

Totally. Yeah. But, you know, not everywhere, but like probably, you know, in Texas and Albuquerque, maybe. Right, maybe, maybe, maybe. Although Albuquerque is pretty blue right now. Yeah. Oh, that's so interesting. I didn't know that.

No, you guys have a good governor, no? We do. We do, yeah. You guys just passed universal health care or something. Yes, yeah. I did a video for it. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, no, I'm proud of my state right now. No. Listen, everything ebbs and flows. Everything ebbs and flows. Yeah. Yeah, I was born in Montana, so, like, I've done some stuff for them. I've only lived there for a year, and that's been a tougher. No, I'm a Texan through and through.

I'm actually a really proud Texan because. the history is gone in and out. And I always feel like, remember when Bush was president and people didn't give him a fair shake and now we wish we had a Bush in office? Right. But he was lovely. George W. was lovely.

He was the president that got closest to immigration reform than any other president in the history of our nation. He really understood immigrant labor in markets that we needed, in industries that we needed. And he was like, we've got to have a guest worker program because being from Texas, he saw it. He saw all firsthand. Like, we need to figure out how to legalize this population. So I always, you know, I remember my whole family was Bush supporters, my mom, my dad. Do you saw family in Texas? Yeah, everybody's in

Texas. Yeah, yeah. So you go back a lot? Yeah, yeah. I was just back, yeah, Mother's Day. Yeah. Yeah. Do you like that ranch life? Are they still in, I do. We're in San Antonio now, but no, I've never met a cow I don't like. Really? Chickens. And in searching for France, it's so funny because they're always like, so today you might have to milk a cow. Not a milk, you might have to be with cows.

He might ask you to milk it. Don't worry, you don't have to. I'm like, honey, I'll milk a cow. I'll collect the eggs from the chickens. Like, that's how I grew up. I love ranch life. That was more from my conversation with Eva Longoria. If you haven't heard our full conversation yet,

make sure to check it out on Dinner's On Me. This episode of Dinners On Me was recorded at Kuku in West Hollywood, California. Next week on Dinners on Me, you know him as fashion icon, designer, accessories king, and from his day's judging project runway, it's Michael Coors. We'll get into becoming fashion obsessed at a young age. I mean, he had notes as a five-year-old for his mom's wedding dress, and what it's like to see his name on handbags everywhere on a daily basis. Dinner's On Me is a production of Sony Music Entertainment,

a kid named Beckett Productions. It's hosted by me, Jesse Tyler Ferguson. It's executive produced by me and Jonathan Hirsch. Our showrunner is Joanna Clay. Our associate producer is Alyssa Midcalf. Sam Baer engineered this episode. Hans Dale She composed our theme music. Our head of production is Sammy Allison.

Special thanks to Tamika Balance Kalasni and Justin Makita. I'm Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Join me next week.