In an installment of his fledgling CNN travel series, chef David Chang is barreling down the highway en route to Las Vegas when he alights at an unassuming truck stop just off Interstate 15.

The town in question is Hesperia, California, where the producers were keen for Chang to sample an Indian restaurant situated adjacent to a windshield repair establishment.

Chang, however, espies a Mexican cantina that strikes him as decidedly promising.

He instinctively elects to dine at both, to the considerable consternation of his camera crew.

“I merely wished to taste things.

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 serve as an apt alternative title for the six-part “The Detour with David Chang,” wherein the lauded founder of the Momofuku global restaurant chain, joined by a companion, takes to the open road, eating his way across America.

It begins airing Sunday.

Chang partakes with relish of Filipino fare in South Las Vegas, sinks her teeth into a traditional Czech puff pastry in Texas, and, for the first time, samples Haitian cuisine in Miami.

The show’s motto is: “All we’ve got is a destination. Everything else is a detour.”

He is paired by friends and strangers alike, from Cord Jefferson—director and writer of “American Fiction”—to Cristela Alonzo, the comedian, actor, and writer who acquaints him with her Texas.

In Tennessee, he rides alongside Christina Tosi, the creator of Milk Bar, who is all but a surrogate sister to him.

The programme concerns itself with the exploration of, and connection with, locals in pursuit of hidden gems — be it the establishment proffering superlative Cuban fritas within the unlikely confines of a laundromat; or the chefs who marry barbecue with Asian flavours, thereby fashioning oak-smoked pulled pork accompanied by Penang curry; or the family dispensing Honduran fare from a food truck at breakfast, a repast instrumental in alleviating Chang's formidable rum-induced hangover.

“I relish the prospect of dining out, yet with the passage of years, a quieter existence—one of diminished exertion—has grown increasingly appealing.

And I daresay that over the past few years, I have veritably ossified,” says Chang.

“Whenever one extricates oneself from one’s comfort zone or one’s insular little bubble, I think it serves as a salutary reminder that there is a vast expanse of other things out there.”

Chang thereby enters an already teeming coterie of celebrity travel hosts — a roster encompassing Daniel Dae Kim, Tony Shalhoub, Rainn Wilson, Eugene Levy, Stanley Tucci, Orlando Bloom, Zac Efron, José Andrés, Chris Hemsworth, Will Smith, Eva Longoria and Ewan McGregor — with Awkwafina poised in the wings.

All are beholden to Anthony Bourdain, who galvanised millions to partake in his relish for food and the bonds it forged.

Bourdain died in 2018.

Amy Entelis, executive vice president of talent, CNN Originals and creative development, observes that Chang is the first chef to host a CNN original series since Bourdain.

“Dave isn’t endeavouring to delineate American cuisine or to identify the pre-eminent restaurant in every city.

It’s virtually the antithesis,” she says.

“He gets into the car, converses with people and heeds recommendations that lead him somewhere he hadn’t anticipated going.

At a juncture when an algorithm can dictate where one ought to dine, where one ought to lodge and what one ought to see, there is something profoundly alluring about simply losing one’s bearings and discovering whatever one happens upon.”

The genesis of the series took root when Chang and executive producer Morgan Neville were conversing one day about the experience of unearthing new indie rock bands in the bygone era predating the internet and influencers, and the exhilaration that accompanied such a discovery.

“I felt as though that was, to no small extent, precisely how I felt about food as well,” says Chang.

“Listen, it is easier to eat than ever before.

But, in certain respects, it is harder to find something that is meaningful to you.”

One of the show's highlights is the delightful manner in which he winds up at an Ethiopian restaurant in Las Vegas, having heeded a taxi driver's recommendation.

The consumption of slow-cooked chicken alongside injera — that sour, spongy flatbread — served to remind Chang of just how exquisite that cuisine is.

I shall die on the hill that Ethiopian cuisine ranks among the world's greatest.

There is nothing comparable to it, and it constitutes a singular approach to texture, flavour, and precisely the sort of fare that everyone adores nowadays — communal dining, wherein all may partake of the same dish yet tailor it to their own liking.

He comes to learn that in Texas the Holy Trinity comprises brisket, ribs and sausage, yet certain local chefs are likewise imparting their own idiosyncratic interpretations upon classic dishes.

Such is the case with pitmaster Chuck Charnichart at the eatery Barbs in Lockhart, who applies a serrano glaze to her ribs and zests fresh limes over them.

“It feels like I have a front-row seat to Dylan going electric,” Chang says in admiration.

Permeating the series is Chang’s understated wit and omnivorous willingness to essay anything, alluding along the way to the painter Rothko, the musician John Coltrane and the director Terrence Malick.

And, invariably, forever proffering corn nuts.

"When one pauses to consider it, I am being remunerated to go dine and fraternise with friends," he says, laughing.

"I have no grounds for complaint whatsoever.

And it serves as a welcome reminder that this is, quite literally, a dream job."