Anthony Bourdain and David Chang with Budd Mishkin

[Applause] since 2003 I've been privileged to be the host and reporter for New York one's weekly profile series one-on-one I've found that many of the more than 200 influential and intriguing New Yorkers we've profiled are shy quiet unwilling to offer an opinion and above all love all people then you have these guys I say these guys with the utmost love and respect because at their core Anthony Bourdain and David Chang are guys guys with whom you'd want to have a cup of coffee a drink a meal in Chang's case what else in his fame pork buns in Bourdain's case perhaps a nice helping of sheep testicles tonight standing room only crowd is testament to the passionate reaction they've elicited in the food world Anthony Bourdain worked in kitchens and restaurants for almost 30 years he is the author of several books as you know including the best-selling book that started this remarkable journey Kitchen Confidential adventures in the culinary underbelly and this year's medium raw a Bloody Valentine to the world of food and the people who cook his show on the Travel Channel no reservations just celebrated the 100th episode and it won an Emmy Award in 2009 for cinematography when I told people in the newsroom earlier this year that I was interviewing David Chang a certain look came over them it was a happy look a look that evoked something that was sacred in my house growing up memories of a great meal since the first moment restaurant opened he's won three James Beard Foundation Awards been named a time 100 GQ Man of the Year cranes New York 25 people to watch and called one of the most influential people in the 21st century by Esquire as Momofuku Noodle Bar sambar CO and milk bar I don't believe that the success of his new restaurant ma Peche is related to the fact that my mother's name in Yiddish is Trulli Peche but as they say in the restaurant biz it couldn't hurt please welcome the Mick and Keith of the food world two great storytellers and to New York guys Anthony Bourdain and David Chang Mick and Keith are you okay with Nick and Keith that go don't want to be Mick I think David was actually gonna finish welcome thanks for being here at the 92nd Street Y when was the first time you two met it's a blur and it's a blur I don't remember it I remember cooking for Anthony but I don't I never went to say hello when did you cook for three three and a half years yeah it was my birthday yeah my wife brought me to my birthday and I sat at the bar and had her demo you know one of those one of those holy meals and it really was it was that it was the frisée salad with the chicharrón and amazing tripe stew underneath it would that really it was like really a good slap in the face it was Wow something really special is going on here I got to meet this guy yeah and and you know he's in the in the building when you're cooking for him there's two entrances so I remember running down through the back because I I wanted to see what he was like how he was eating him but I didn't want to go and disturb him so I was peeking through the corner yeah and and how did he eat I mean everything was coming back clean so that's all that mattered so you should know by the way that you know we have the same agent and she called me today and said don't let David get into trouble it was like you're asking me how is that possible Oh trouble I'm the good one so I'm a joke about the Mick and Keith thing but this notion of the rock star chef is a phrase now that we kind of were not shocked by anymore when did this when did you start to notice something's going on here and that be it through the restaurants or be it through the books and the television show that people are really paying a lot more attention to this for me it was somebody came into my kitchen a long time ago with a copy of white heat Marco Pierre White and and not was that that was an electrified moment you know we were we were slogging away in a profession that was that we were all in because it it would have us there was no chance or hope of any kind of prestige nobody really cared what the chef thought chef's the prototype of the chef the star chef was a fat French guy there was no no one to look to as being like us at all and here here suddenly there's this book these pictures of gorgeous beautiful very French food this drawn scraggly haired guy smoking in the kitchen and we all of us it was it was electrifying event because we looked at this picture of this guy who just gotten three Michelin stars and we all said this guy looks like us you know there's hope for us you know someone might someday give a what we think now so for me that's you know that was it and no one's made up cookbook quite like white heat sense no although your cookbook is pretty great and it's it's it's a lot more than just a what we might think of as a traditional cookbook as you're getting started is there any inclination that if we survive if we survive the bankruptcies if we survive as you once told me the stairs at the original noodle bar you know putting your foot through it we got something here people will come we just wanted to stay in business now now we were able to be very I would say reckless in terms of our decision not giving not really worrying what the customer thought doing what we wanted to do and because like before we're gonna go out of business then might as well have fun we're gonna do it that approach doesn't work quite so well now like we have well over 400 employees now so what was really a one two person show has now grown to this you know massive organism homo so so going into my patch do you know that that world when we first opened up the first one and maybe even the second one that's gone there's there's no way we can replicate that it's more difficult to think in that mode now because I don't have a child Tony does but I imagine that it would be somewhat like a kid you know I have a rebellious teenager I have a toddler I have a newborn which is which Jeff Kate said about children you know when you have a child you'd give fate hostage and I'm just thinking now it's like that with the with the restaurant business I want to come out to your question about about this whole you know there's celebrity chef thing though because Marco was important for another reason because not only did we see his picture which was a big deal for all of us but we heard about this guy who was throwing everybody out of his restaurant I mean the legend was he threw 75 people out of his restaurant in one night you know he was a shepherd could walk out in the dining room of course this is every chest dream right who ordered the well-done mistake okay you out what are you looking at and then it was like you don't like it you can go oh you don't like it either you can go to and in fact I don't know that he ever in fact cake 75 people out but he was rather famous for if you like you asked for something stupid the waiter would come over and start sniffing the table good and you were left with a naked table I gave you the tablecloth to be removed this was a tectonic shift all in and of itself because up until that point the customer was always right so for all the that comes along with this celebrity chef phenomena it is we and no one knows this more than chefs you know we always knew who we were with the same people we were before ok people like us now but what it did mean is that suddenly for whatever reason regardless of whether it was right or wrong people cared what the chef's thought and what that means at the end of the day is that chefs are able to create menus representing what they love themselves and what they would like to eat and and that was just not the case before what it's also meant for you is being able to travel the world and be in all these yeah but I wasn't because of my cooking I wrote a book and write because people care about it you've been able to travel far and wide from Leonia New Jersey yeah and so my question is you just celebrated 100th show you're in Paris and do you think you're a different guy when you're dealing with for example the chef's there and and your friend and other guys you really look up to did you think the show takes on a different tone in that setting as compared to I'm going to some really exotic place I'm gonna try something that no one's ever tried I respect anybody who works hard to cook and work works hard in a restaurant ok I'm already there on the side of the angels as far as I'm concerned but you can be sure if I find myself sitting across the table from Joel Robuchon bladder-control is an issue and I'll tell you one of the really amazing things to me about this recent trip to Paris and how things have changed how far we've come how the world is has tilted is the name that kept coming up all these young French chefs the name that kept coming up kept coming up influencing you know who's how come you're cooking the way you're cooking these days you know there's very cool you know the fact that you've turned your back on the star system you're running these sort of casual prix fixe I don't give a menus and you know who whizzes come from name that kept coming up David Chang a Frenchman's mouth in Paris pretty awesome we like this man David change I'm just curious one last thing on that I'm just curious how the bladder control thing didn't make it into the show that would that's something I respect yeah usually you know we leap at any kind anything resembling a dick joke all right now we're getting somewhere David you told me when I interviewed you early this year there were a couple times you guys came close to bankruptcy early on and so paint a picture for us he said your office was running underneath the the bathroom in the first place a nice fresh bran which is now Co it was a little less than 600 square feet the whole concept of having an open kitchen I I prefer a closed we love the minimalist decor we love the fact that you wouldn't get your news like that we had no budget we had minimalist so we made we made do with what we had but I think one of the struggles having a restaurant in the East Village or in New York and you know being in old buildings and it's always a fight against space against leaks against electricity or outage every having a restaurant in New York is very difficult you're you're really fighting the building to to support a restaurant and at that time the first eight months four six seven months we did we'd had no idea how to run a restaurant we were just trying to figure out how to cook I mean really trying to operate a cash register running a business versus just cooking on the lineart you know completely different things obviously but something that I didn't think of at the time I remember you telling me that your friends would come down not to support you necessarily but because it was funny yeah I mean one of the things about cooks and I was just recently with a lot of top top top chefs in Finland and everyone agreed on this everyone loves to cook that's why they got into the profession but the biggest recent and arguably the number one reason what kept them cooking was your ability to make fun of each other talk that's what you do all day long I don't think people realize this in kitchens yes there's a lot of serious stuff going on music applause but there's some funny stuff so no you think they're laughing are not petrale Trotter right now well that's not a fun restaurant when you wrote Kitchen Confidential did you think all right this notion of showing it as I'm going to show it it there's something something here it'll it's gonna catch people's fancy or I'm just right in this book yes or not I really buy highest hope was that that I was terrified that other cooks would think it was okay so I was if I envisioned a reader it was if I was sensitive to if I had all considered that anyone at all would read it it was that my fry cook would read it and say ah dude that's so I wrote a book for him in a lot of ways and for other fry cooks in the New York tri-state area but the notion that anyone outside of that small dysfunctional circle would would read the book it was it's it I mean it's a very New York centric book you know the whole damn fish on Monday thing you know it's gonna be my headstone I'm you know I'm getting calls from Japan a few months later you know what's the matter with the fishing on Monday and I'm I don't know I I really never considered that anyone outside of New York would read it my highest hope in moments of alcohol-fueled hubris was was that maybe maybe I'll sell you know if I sell 10,000 copies maybe you know but and I was I thought it was really hosing myself saying that but then maybe when my knees go and it's it's all over and I can't even work brunch anymore I might land some kind of writing gig again at some point you know I I don't want it to be a total horrible disreputable failure that was really my highest hope I just I wanted it to be true and amusing to people in the business in New York and at least put up just enough enough numbers to maybe have a chance to write again when it all turned to but ever every cook read it you know at that time when it came out everyone was like have you read that book have you read that book or it was like you know when he came out were you were you still at Trinity or were you in Japan or were you busy I remember I had I had not read the book but somebody was somebody was cooking and they were like I think you're in Kitchen Confidential there's a part where you talk about the heat and how terrible it is in the kitchen and somebody was saying like I love this this is exactly what I want to do you know and I can't remember exactly when but you know that cookbook particularly the end that it really does capture a moment in time in New York City cooking and those rules that you have there and there those are universal you know show up on time don't buy these are these are very important things for every cook to this day so talk about what you always wanted to do your father was in the restaurant business and so can you tell us about the phone call to him or maybe conversation when you finally say to him this is what I want to do and his reaction well I wanted to do it in high school and he was in the restaurant industry by default because it was his first job when he when he came to New York as an immigrant and you know he worked it in almost 30 years so I would and his kids would never have to work in the restaurant business because I don't know how actually now because of TV and everything but to this restaurant is the work behind it is back-breaking labor it's gruesome it's hard and it's not glamorous at all and he basically tried his best to persuade me never to enter a kitchen so I remember tell him as a 16 17 year old and I remember I was Sam and Harry Steakhouse in Washington DC I went in for an interview and they sat me next to the broiler never have a interview next to the boiler this is incredibly maybe my dad's right I cannot do this you know they wanted me to be a busboy a waiter stay away from the kitchen so eventually I I think he just you know saw that I was passionate about it and I wanted to take it as far as I could and the story is pretty well-known for people that know your story about when they came in for the first time and you didn't compliment they paid what that's what first of all you you talked about when I think that's I think that's admirable the legend is that it took a year for them to get into college it's true that is also true they miss friends and family I I I felt that as someone that was becoming not a role model but someone that was like leading people that you couldn't undermine them you couldn't take from them and you couldn't provide special privileges for yourself so I felt that and also if your business or restaurant is filled with just friends and family I'm going to go out of business you monster I don't know I just felt that you know what no special treatment you're just like everyone else as much as I love you mom and dad thanks for the support Anthony can you tell us about when you're growing up and and you would go to France with like family vacations there were there was like a three year period really early on where yeah I go to France generally would see relatives distant relatives in Normandy for a week Paris for a few days and then spend the rest the bulk of the vacation with my father's aunt in the southwest of France a little oyster village so you know it was not a you know a year in Provence he needs it was oh you know my was it was an oyster village all my you know moister fishing village and all the neighbors were oysters fishermen and I'd go out with him now and again at the time I didn't come out of that experience saying I want to be a chef right but I think that problem exposure to good butter good cheese boisterous good sausage those things seeing my father's face when he would you know eat a little you know sauce he saw a lie and that clearly resonated later it had nothing to do with why not in the restaurant business later as you start traveling the world with the show and because of the books you wrote a couple of them down that we've talked about in the past sheep testicles mm-hmm ant eggs raw seal eyeball I will say that in the 18 years of New York one there's only one time that the phrase deer penis has been on the air really you know it's funny I'm you can guess well that was I was watching my own network and and I and I saw two other shows oh they both went to the same restaurant and had the same deer penis it's like so it's so last week so at that point is at this point is it a case of yeah I'm still game to do whatever although you have a couple of restrictions or do you find that because of the reputation now people are trying to outdo one another I don't know particularly in Asia the show is really popular in like Singapore or Malaysia Hong Kong and and what this leads to is if I find myself there I walk into a restaurant you know chances are the owners are fans and they're like oh you know we just saw you eating deer penis last week have you tried uterus you know you know so there's a can you top this tendency among restaurants that I go to but that is a long long time ago you know there were a couple of first of all I decided you know what I'm no longer gonna be in the business of freaking out you know middle Americans by you know eating weird stuff around the world at some point I'm away from home traveling over 200 days a year a long time ago the word weird or bizarre lost all meaning to me you know I started to look at it from the other point of view you know you stay in Asia long enough you come back and you meet somebody you see somebody tucking into a Cinnabon or a bowl of cottage cheese and you start thinking like a Thai would that is disgusting so so on those grounds i pretty much I'm out of that game and then also we there was an armadillo incident a while back where we you know think we often armored armadillo for it for a scene and I just felt you know this is totally unnecessary okay people eat this here they don't eat it every day there's not a beloved everyday staple of Argentinian cuisine and I said you know what no more you know unless this is a this is a central thing or a holiday thing or something that's a an everyday you know commonplace representative dish you know I'm just I'm not gonna do it I'm just not that's not what I do anymore do you get any pressure to do it in other words one of the other things I love about the book and especially the show is the whole notion of food and culture mixed together and how you incorporate those two and tell us about the culture of a particular place more exotic the more interesting and how the food relates to it is that for you is that a conscious decision early on this is something I'm interested in I'm gonna put it in or was it a suggestion from someone no it's it in it's an inescapable truth that that food is the fastest way in a culture it's the story of the culture people are telling you something when they feed you we learned long ago that you know there's just about no place in the world that you if you're if you're only if you're only agenda is to sit down have some drinks of people and eat you could pretty much get along with anybody you can be welcome anywhere and you gives you access to a culture that you probably never would have had as far as pressure I don't get pressure from anybody honestly if the show if a particular show sucks it's my fault you know nobody at the network saying you know we need more barbecue shows it I know they like more barbecue shows but who but they're not getting them and they don't dare ask we I will say just as a matter of fact that we have as I have as much freedom to go anywhere I want make television any way I want shoot it the way I want score at the way I want you know as anyone in the history of television has ever had I mean we have literally no restraints on you know we okay they don't want me to use the word felching again on TV but other than that it's pretty much open road your response he does I I was at they were like I don't know the TV terminology but they were getting ready there's Christmas special and I was just like what is going on here there was like Tony wants to do it this way and it's extremely disturbing generic holiday special that we have coming up that the David's on any you're shopping right the this is the scene of him shopping in the morning for this scene you were not at your best that morning probably not when I talked to you earlier this year you had you would dealt with one of the things that comes through in your writing and in talking to both you is that after all the joking after all the talk about the this place in the society right now this is hard work and this is restaurant biz no harder business in the restaurant business you've had migraines you've had shingles over the last couple of years and when I talked to you earlier this year you're talking about I'm still passionate about it but kind of have to find a way to you know make sure my health is okay how was your health and is there is it difficult to find that medium ground when you're passionate about what you do you love what you do it's going well but you can't develop your whole life it's things are continuing to change you know I remember I Tony he's like first episode and there were like documenting you and you had just finished your us book tour and you were sort of shell-shocked like what the hell is going on this is still happening and that's sort of how I feel and you know to this day even though I'm still further removed from the kitchen I'm still in the kitchen but I'm not cooking and that's why I got into this whole business to begin with never to think that I'd be sitting in front of all you guys next to you and you it's just crazy that's how I judge myself still that's what I love most about being a cook is you could write you a museum floss list and everything you just scratch off and then you cook service you have a good service then you go out and have some drinks and then you go to bed repeat that was your day you just get programmed and once you start to not have that ritual things get really hazy this is the curse of the cook actually because it's been 10 years since since I cooked but I still in much the same way as David I anyone who's cooked for any any period of time you especially when you start young you judge yourself always by how you felt at the end of the shift cooking you know when you cook with your hands but you know so one of you right so one in your left everybody look at it at you you know your chef yelling at you you know it was a true meritocracy it was you know you were really putting up you know victory or failure these are these were quantifiable notions you know you knew how well you did on a minute-by-minute basis on a day-by-day basis so even now you know ten years later I shouldn't be judging myself by my cooks standards but you know after 28 years you know I guess you know the any shame self-loathing or discomfort or guilt or whatever or anger I feel I think a lot of that is based on the fact that I'm you know what I do now doesn't feel like work you know just does not feel like you know I don't go home at the end of the day after a really good writing day I don't go feeling like a Titan like a needy neurotic writer you know so that likes them so is that a kind of a difficult thing to explain to even to the people who are close to you this notion that there has been success great success and yet you you won't as you write won't ever again in your case feel that feeling of working the shift day after day and that that drink with everybody once the day is done that that will still stand on its own I mean I'm cinnamon all about it but I mean I don't delude myself that you know gee I could always no I'm still good I could go back in I can't you know there's there's no way I'm gonna go back on the line I wouldn't like it it wouldn't feel good I wouldn't be good at it but you know you're you're I guess your value system is the value system you live by is sort of pounded in early and that stays with you scars stay with you - oh no there was a soft and lovely you still have Beth you told me once that you have Beth Israel on speed dial I knew that I mean I know how to navigate those doors always very very well I'd always take my cooks to st. Vincent it's much much better cleaner faster service you were head injuries I remember one time somebody stabbed himself with the oyster knife and we're walking towards Beth Israel cuz it's only like eight blocks away and I'm yelling at him while he's bleeding like why are you doing this way why did you do it this way good time so I can reminisce sounds like a good time this is terrible it's like retrospect I'm shorter cook [Music] I miss it now I come to the probably the most important question of the evening because I have a seven-year-old at home Antoni its to you and that is can you indeed confirm that Ronald McDonald has cooties allegedly mm-hmm he has allegedly been implicated in the disappearance of a number of small children and how is that working you have a young child how is that working at home he doesn't know Ronald exists yet yeah but you know once once you know it will happen that day will come up and she's in pump well you don't Vanessa you know Vanessa brought me to you know she had these wonderful french fries and I'm gonna you know I need I need to be prepared the cooties defense just how hard is it to scare the living out of a three-year-old I just don't I just don't think the Michael Pollan argument works that's all I'm saying I don't think a kid you know you know what about the environment it's not sustainable you know they don't care you know kids do crystal meth they're sure it's not gonna do Ronald McDonald you know the parent so I have a new strategy I didn't I didn't use this in the book you know actually the original draft of the book I was talking about I think dipping dipping steel wool and chocolate and leaving it in a McDonald's wrapper for your daughter to find you know for an early tramatic Ronald McDonald experienced them you know my publisher called up said you know this is bordering on child abuse so I have a new one is what you do your child's favorite Barbie you cut the head off dip it in chocolate put it in the McDonald's wrapper leave it there and say you know daddy's going out for a few minutes whatever you do don't eat the delicious McDonald's John little Sarah ha Mon it's a children's health we're talking about here the future of our country I thought we had an agreement that I would handle the feel-good portion of the program it's important to me you know I just you know is Eric Schlosser convincing you know hunter and Vanessa to stay away from McDonald's I don't think so I'm always intrigued by of course what goes into the success and the passion that you guys have for what you do is interesting but the journey to get there in any job and any story to me is just as if not more compelling David when you came out of school and you were working in a financial job for a year or two not even that long you want to paint that picture for us what that was like for you I made sure I burned bridges so I could never go back that's a short-term so day one are you sitting there like what am i doing this is this is awful and I can't I was like what am i doing sitting at a desk staring at a computer you know that movie office space when the guy was like well I do about 15 minutes work all week I think I did like 10 yeah so you saw that and you thought that's a lot of work 15 minutes yeah so I I just thought that this is there was a big difference if I think that you know when I started to cook and it wasn't that long ago but we saw the last generation of very serious cooks and it was also the last time where kitchens in New York City where if you wanted to work in New York if you wanted to learn how to cook New York was the only place you could learn and was also the only place where if you did want to learn you were working 90 100 hour weeks and getting $300 paychecks that doesn't happen anymore and I don't know some ways a weird way that I romanticize about that era because it was I think maybe that was the glory days the house yarn there's better restaurants back then but and I wanted to be part of that atmosphere when you went off to Japan you were teaching English in the school I did and and then you started going the noodle shops and then you started working there no that was my first introduction to you Romney I mean I had been introduced to it before obviously in America but it was the first time where there like there was a gyoza store a ramen shop and a little supermarket and that was it so plus every night I would eat at the ramen house and I never had the courage to basically ask him how are you making this amazingly delicious soup and I was there for a short period came back and had I I didn't know what to do so I was like let me just go to cooking school when if I knew at the time I think cooking school is important and all that but I think if you're passionate about it and you knock on the door of a some restaurant that you want and just tell them I will work for free I will do whatever you ask you're gonna learn so much and I don't know my career could have been completely different had I just gone to say like you know any of any great chef in New York or Paris or wherever and just been like that's what people want in the industry people want people that are crazy passionate about food like and I feel that that that's what gets me excited and that's what I wanted to be a part of the notion of traveling around the world and going to different places you've also been to some places where it's not just hey we're having a great time and eating new food or food I've never eaten before and and gonna bring it back we've got great footage you're in Beirut a couple of years ago and you were in Cambodia more than a couple of years ago in situations I would imagine that you know we're not in Kansas anymore how many times you've been in situations where you thought this is this is getting into a dangerous area I guess when you've got an American passport there's a sense of arrogance that comes along with that I don't think I was ever during this 2016 in Beirut I don't think I was ever frightened I was frightened of losing contact with loved ones who were worried about me but but I always had this arrogant Americans you know little secret voice saying well I'm American you know they're not gonna drop bombs on me it'll be an international incident I get killed and not cuz I'm on TV just you know you know it's like you know a little white girl gets kidnapped it's it's you know blowing everything off it's it's a disproportionate a big news story and in much the same way so you know I I benefit from from that weird you know distorted value system to the point that yeah there have been times you know I mean there have been times where I've been frightened in Cambodia robots you know things like that but if anything you know we've done we just finished a hundred episodes and we're looking at next season and we're thinking you know what do we do now you know the Travel Show format is so rigid you know no matter how much we try to mess with it and we've done everything we can to subvert it mess with it stick the thumb in the eye of our our you know greatest fans you know we hate I hate commercial breaks I hate the fact that you know you just everything about the Travel Show requires you to lie you know every time you say we'll be right back every time you end an act every time you say next we're off to a meal that you probably shot yesterday because we tried to you know every time you sum up those are also artificial so we've really really tried hard to find ways to stay interested meaning me and the small crew who I work with and what we're looking at now is we think because it's you know we think we're pretty good at what we do we've been in a lot of places maybe we're getting a little comfy we've had a lot of great meals a lot of great adventures we're gonna do some really difficult things next year so we're gonna be shooting in the the Congo Cuba Haiti we'll look at a Kurdistan and a lot of this emanates from the fact that we in some of the harder countries we shot and likely Liberia [Music] Hezbollah controlled parts of Lebanon Kerala we were there at a bad time we've been working with these really interesting security guys you know they're not armed there's there of consultants there of all ex SAS guys deep thinkers not knuckle-draggers you know they read poetry they're really interesting they're know they're all about sort of weeding the situation on the ground restaurant tips in Kabul you know they're there they've gotten us thinking about hey a lot of the places that we thought we could never shoot in we think we can you know we think we can do it so we're gonna be looking to tin some kind of dangerous places next year or uncomfortable places moral gray areas you know where you're you're forced to re-examine things that you thought to be true and one of the things I thought is interesting in the in the latest book medium raw is that the juxtaposition of subjects for example you have a chapter late in the book called my name is true about a guy who works at the Bernardin and cuts fish have you met this guy by the way no you gotta go look at him that's a great it's a great description of a really good fish butcher and you would totally love watching this guy work this would be what's-his-name be so happy his name is juice Co Thomas and he's forget his age he's working for about seven years at libertà and a tiny little space in the cellar it's his world set up just the way he likes it and he butchers between 700 and a thousand pounds of fish on the bone it arrives you know the entire fish unscaled in many cases guts in seven hundred to a thousand pounds he sets his own hours he's basically like a prince at laverna Don he's so good what's great about the restaurant business is it's the last meritocracy and there's a guy who has to kind of quote Emerson made his own world he shows up cuts the fish goes home when he's done and he's done four hours after he starts when he takes his vacation it takes three experienced sous chefs working together all day long and sometimes as late as til ten o'clock at night to do the same job and it is an amazing thing to see this man come in very happy in his work very well paid very well looked after who's created his own little Empire in a small tile tiled room in the cellar of laverna daya the best you know seafood restaurant in the country what's good I remember you telling me you know it was his escape knife that he wanted to be done you're like hey this is this nice little dough and he was like that's for his special knives of different he doesn't want knives that are too sharp for some tasks he's got he never touches me ever he hates me cuz he thinks it'll contaminate the fish he lines the walls of plastic wrap like a serial killer no move not one move is wasted everything everything has been figured out in advance he's so organized and so serious and so happy to be working there and it is this weird idyllic restaurant situation unlike any thing I've ever worked in you know everybody calls him chef and he calls everyone else chef it's it's it's it's it's he's an incredible man doing an incredible job at an incredible restaurant and it's a wonderful chapter in the book and it's written really eloquently and a couple of chapters before that we have the chapter Alan Richman is a sorry I don't know the word is douchebag that's do you see h-e-b AG you see I douche bat and thank you for providing me the opportunity to revisit that well thank you thank you for the explanation because I'm not in the restaurant business so I might not get that my question is there seems like there might be a push and pull here about topics that you write about is is there something as it's a decision that you have to make I'm gonna write this kind of stuff it's really compelling and and the kind of like my name is true or about culture and history and then I'm gonna write some snarky stuff too no I don't even write an outline I mean I I was able to write Kitchen Confidential because I had no time to write it because I had no time to think about what I was gonna write or what people might think I work I don't I wake up with them when I'm when it's time to write I wake up like I did when I was a dishwasher I show up on time every day in this case five o'clock in the morning I wake up I write something that's interesting to me for as long as I can then I stop then I think about it for the rest of the day I wake up the next day and I do it there's no I'd love to tell you that I'm you know I'm really honing my craft or I've been you know I over sentences I mean clearly I don't I mean I just I write like I talk and whatever is pissing me off that day or that I'm excited about or you know stuff I've been storing up it's not there's no you know there's very little there's nothing calculated about it mhm David you once told me that when it comes to kitchens praise is the absence of criticism yeah that's a basic motto and you likened it to the home that you grew up in so can you can you make that line for us how what the connection is there between the home you grew up in that environment a loving one and the environment that you've experienced working in restaurants well at home I was I guess I don't want to stereotype all Asian Americans but particularly Koreans I can say that you know it was never good enough you know a pat on the back or you know failure wasn't not never deemed as good if you got a B that was never deemed as a good thing later in life it was like Oh Dave you got a beef I think God you didn't get a C but past but you know my household it's just the culture it doesn't reward it doesn't pat you on the back for just being satisfactory and in the kitchen you know I had that I was young about all the time and sometimes that's a good thing because the the chef is sort of taking this person under their wing and really wants them to learn or you keep on screwing up for me I think it was 50/50 on that but the really really the ninjas in the kitchen or guys that like the fish butcher at liberty' and you never see them they're silent they never do anything wrong and you don't even know that they're there because they're there just a shadow they're effortless and the chef never has to yell at them never has to worry about their integrity or the museum plaza they're creating and [Laughter] Tony talked a little bit about the trips to France and perhaps in connection to food maybe then you had a grandfather who was of Japanese descent who you told me kind of preferred everything Japanese as far as food and so right so forth I don't know if I didn't create it but somebody said hey Koreans are the Jews of Asia because we think colonized and and and enslaved or it's just been a terrible history for Korean you know there's nothing really proud to be like a cream that's terrible to say but like you know the one highlight in Korean history is like we created it like a turtle ship that was pretty much it what did you experience when you went to Japan well my grandfather at the time was it was we were colonized by Japan and they took all the promising young males or women and they basically indoctrinated them to basically be Japanese my grandfather was more Japanese than he was Korean and till the day he died he preferred to eat Japanese food so I had you know a very interesting upbringing because I spent a lot of time with my grandfather I didn't realize it till out of the fact that it was a lot of Japanese viewpoints so one less thing on this when your folks did come in for that first meal or maybe after that is there a moment of we got it we got what you're trying to do you've done well yeah recently now they tell me to not work I've stopped working so hard that's the comment I get from my dad we've got questions we have questions from the audience here so let's let's get going all right what's your stance on genetically altered foods and their place in American culture I'm forum I mean I'm not automatically neat in a knee-jerk way I mean I don't want to trust gigantic you know you know huge corporations with determining whether or not they're good for us but it's like they're you know the genies out of the bottle if you could if you tell me that the technology exists to safely grow a super tomato that will feed India okay and hurt no one and that can be proven to my satisfaction I'm not gonna sit here and say well it's not natural I'm against it we've been genetically modifying food since the settlers first arrived here and transformed this entire country you know it wasn't like this we're not living in you know first growth forests old-growth forests anymore so I'm not instinctively against it you know show me in a satisfactory way that that you can do it safely and responsibly which means not hunt down neighboring farmers and prosecute them if you know seeds drift over that sort of thing I mean it comes with a lot of problems but in and of itself the idea of genetically modifying food so that more people can avoid starvation I'm not against that okay I'm just but color me wary and cautious anybody whose opinion on food along those lines you've ever disagreed with who has spoken to you and said here's my point and here's why I have this point of view and you've thought about it afterwards and thought that's a good point I mean who would that be I don't know I think that's the question I don't know a little off top dude he's I'm sorry to do this to you but the DC Vanity Fair at the picture of Alice Waters kitchen oh it's so awesome I highly recommend looking at this that's like you know you're telling me I should be like working on a farm right now and that's your kitchen no it's awesome I'll take that as a no okay last meal to eat versus to make last meal David what's your last meal these days it was my last meal man that's a ridiculous question there you go one of your last meal what do you want tonight if you had six more I'll change the question I'll change question the next time it could be a while but the next time the Washington Redskins win the Super Bowl what will your meal be after that game Wow that's a good one thank you thank you I don't think you'll have a chance to experience that this year but you know I'd probably just Gorge myself in San Sebastian somewhere and there's so many great places to eat Luger eats would it be more fun to in that moment of celebration whatever the occasion is it more fun to make the meal or to eat the meal the Washington Redskins just won yeah you're gonna say I'm sorry liar I'm getting a buck in a box of Popeyes right but you get the mac and cheese yeah you're yes yes it's true okay this is but I'll tell you this if I had a go eat I think we're both agreed if we had to go one place to just pig out before we you know you get the bad chest x-ray you got one you got one place to go San Sebastian will be a really good choice right there's some magical things happening that I'm sure that advertise wouldn't be on their website immediately if you if you're about to buy it come here mr. Bourdain mr. Bourdain there you go are you a good dancer and if so or if not would you please demonstrate it's got cowboy boots on no I have been I've been asked two years in a row to be on Dancing with the Stars now there is a reason for that actually something I learned from a friend of mine is you know please do it no no karaoke either I got a five here and I'm sure we can get some more how about a five for the Vietnamese pole dance right here somebody told me a very universe is over when your daughter as a father I took this to heart that if you you know when your daughter reaches the eye-rolling stage you know that really the nuclear option to control your wayward daughter is threatened to dance in front of them and if they're really being bad you know you say you know young lady you're gonna take that dress off or daddy will dance in front of your friends today nobody wants in front I think there should be first of all there should be an age cutoff for dancing anyway I don't know what it would be but at but after a certain point no one should be permitted to rock so I was I was I was watching that episode today from Vietnam where after a couple of cocktails you were asked to join in and do the Vietnamese pole dance yeah I look like a gutshot gazelle works for bringing that up by the way it was good [Music] since children usually grow up to do the opposite of their parents what are you going to do when your daughter becomes a vegetarian I will cook bacon around her everyday until she comes around okay that would never happen she's Italian it just it's unthinkable for both of you what's your favorite hidden gem restaurant in New York City and what a tellin are you I will sell because I want people to support it I think and oddly enough it is vegetarian but it's shocking no it's a cod Jitsu it's an East Village and I think that the summer bounty has really let the chef's shine there and it's a show Jean cuisine so it's it's very high technique it's it's so it's thousand years of Japanese history behind it and I think he's doing a very interesting take on Japanese food through you know obviously has to be vegetables but you know through the guise of homestyle Japanese cooking I mean it seems come it's just really good the lamb noodle place in golden mall out of flushing a Z on noodles I think they have one here that's pretty awesome does Italy fill you with dread and loathing - up or or or or sweetness and light okay I don't want to get hyperbolic here and not that I I never do that I went in there first of all it's interesting to note that even the snarky is most evil batali hating bloggers in the world go in there and just completely freak I went in there my wife's Italian and you know any Italian market we go to in New York she's looking around again that's good but this this is crap we wouldn't eat delay and she's standing there stuttering looking around saying oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god it's pretty much the way I film I understand they closed a few days ago because they ran out of stuff I mean it to me it is you know I don't think I think it's like I think it's like the greatest thing that ever happened in the history of the universe pretty much I mean it is it is it was a horror show to walk in there were a hundred people lined up on one side one hundred on the other everywhere but but for me the biggest problem is I walk in is like oh man that you like - looks really good raw meat bar oh vegetables and wine incredible bread Oh which one of these hundred amazing olive oils am I getting it it's there was Grand Jose bizarro you get another seemingly doomed completely crazed hubristic Batali project that ends up being the greatest thing ever I I think it's fair to say I love it and they're delivering in a month anywhere in New York oh I just say what the quality of my life is improved in numerous so you like it I have I haven't then I saw during construction but I've only heard good things I have a few friends working there and but Joe and Mario do always seems to work out so what I went into Dave Pasternak's opening oysters and I some old ladies saying you know where's the burrata and and I hear a voice behind her saying the second shelf to the left name is Mario he's walking around like a stock boy there's a little little laminate here are there any culinary magazines around today that you actually respect which ones I don't read it but I respect it now actually I mean I don't really read many of I don't read any of them I just don't I'm not a rest I never you know why would I look at pictures of food I make pictures of you and I don't read recipes I don't even I bought a lot of cookbooks but but I don't really it's not about the recipes for me it's about the story when you guys are away from this understanding that your schedules now are beyond oh you answer though what do you read I I don't read I read an obscure Spanish food bank called a focus that chefs from Europe and maybe 20 chefs about any food related websites David do you read I'm gonna Mario said something really funny a couple months ago he's like whenever I'm feeling too good about myself I just go onto the Internet [Laughter] so when you guys are away from this can you get first of all can you get away from this your schedules are nuts is there something that you do that's totally away from food I know you're big Redskins fan anything things that we don't know about you or you were a Civil War buff or something like that that really gets you a waste aside from family that gets you away from this so that you can you can get away from it for a little while Civil War Reenactment I'm just trying he's really into this really I hit robert e lee right like roberto well I'm from Virginia and you grow you don't know yes Korean in Virginia but it's like you think that you grew up and you read that like robert e lee's like the greatest person ever created that's just [Laughter] what do you do for what do you do for like you have a hobby i I do like to fly fish and it's the only thing that I can call a hobby that I to get better at and that I enjoy but other than that you know it's drinking your hobby it's a profession my friend for me it's you know a perfect vacation I'll have a big stack of to be read books I like nonfiction but I read a fair amount of fiction what's on the night table right now I've got two friends at Booker's next yeah but and I go on film Jack's like if I'll see you if I see one movie by a director I mean that's very much part of you know it's we like ripping off directors for their looks you know for me good cinematography is you know pure pure porn so if I see a film that's got a really amazing look to it chances are rip it off of the show but I go on jag so like I'll see I'm on a one-car why jag now because you know I saw one film it was like oh my god this is awesome I have to see every single one and and then I move on it his cinematographer every film that he worked on so yama film Locke David I stole my questions David what is the story with the vintage John McEnroe poster at sambar and there are more than a few faces of McEnroe memorabilia in your places for whatever reason I had a good friend in college and he had this massive poster of John macaron his room all of a sudden and I was like wow that's the most beautiful thing I've ever loved John McEnroe besides him being a great player it was like his ability to yell was just nobody nobody can even match that I mean I think I read the recent New York Magazine or Glee still yells amazing long story cut short friends older brother was getting married got married moving to Europe this was his prized possession he literally stole it off the side of the building in 1984 in New York City and the wife of Psych this is staying in America got past my friend and I asked him when we opened up sambar and literally that was the only thing that we had planned out well he opened up sambar I was like this little space or I was like this is perfect for the John McEnroe so I immediately called I think care about the food what anything else I was like wow this is we could showcase this amazing that's two stars right there I'm gonna friend you you went to meet mr. McEnroe right well I I did I got a call from him I thought I was gonna get in trouble cuz we had the photo and again long story cut short he's still a practicing lawyer and went to his office and I basically cleaned his office for about four hours he gave me a whole box load of of John's of John McEnroe memorabilia but he was just like he's he's a great father he was like as much as I loved Johnny he you could tell that he loves just as much so that's how I got all this great stuff anybody any of them showing up at the restaurants yeah not that I know of I would know I would know if John McEnroe showed up but he could probably be mad that there's a photo of John McEnroe don't know all right chef change people used to say about Lehman and Bear Sterns that they were quote too big to fail how do you feel about these chefs restaurants and that expand restaurant tours that expand all over the place like Vegas PS don't do it well number this is addresses of I think got topic that Tony can talk about as well I think it's it's very important right now and in America the chef Gerren restaurant has proven economically it doesn't work anymore and you know if a restaurant my crew and Shake allanté and Robert boar you know arguably one of the most talented chefs and America's greatest sommelier can't it doesn't work the food was fantastic it produced fantastic cooks you have a generation of chefs say 35 to say 40 to 43 years old that don't have restaurants anymore partly because it just doesn't make money and as you get larger you you sort of have to feed this beast you know I don't want to get bigger I have enough headaches but it's like all of a sudden a lot of the guys that I've worked with you know because it's not a single effort they're twenty nine thirty thirty they're after having families they need to make more money you know we've become something that we have to face of we have to support them and we're where their means of support so I'm not going to say no to an opportunity that's going to make somebody more money not just myself but for other people in the company as well and I think that's why you see a lot of restaurant groups getting larger and larger but I do feel that there is a there's a breaking point and I think that it has affected negatively the New York restaurant scene I think that people eat better as a whole but I think that creativity is dying so I think some people are good at expanding some people are great at expanding some people the more they expand that you know it's good for the world others I mean it is unusual thing it's an onion most pons chefs get into the business particularly of a certain generation because they sense something in themselves an inability to communicate with normal people a discomfort with a straight job the fact that they a lot of chefs have problems weeding I mean that's that's not it's not a function of Education that dyslexia among chess is very very hot simply put a lot of very talented cooks and even very talented leader or managers of people who can who can create a space and run a single kitchen brilliantly are not good business people you know it's sort of antithetical to what got them into business in the first place so it shouldn't be a surprise that some people are really good at it I think Mario is really obviously really good at it he is a guy who picks his partners he understands the nature of it's not just about me it's I'm gonna build a place around a person with it with a vision either similar to mine or slightly different than mine there are people who can replicate they're people like Danny Meyer you know I don't think Danny Meyer is too big to fail he's just gonna get more and more successful I think there are some people who they ran she chose then and they they run a lot of shows now it's always misunderstood though too because I as a cook I work for John George I work for Tom I work for Danielle and as a cook I was like what are these guys doing man like you know and they're not running the past there they're all over the place and if I wasn't cook working for myself I'd be saying the same thing what the is this guy and now I get what they were trying to do you're trying to keep the whole thing afloat and it's a it's a difficult challenge and I know a lot of chefs a very good chef friend of mine you know he is probably one of the most talented chefs in America and he's having a very difficult time dealing with the success and the expectations and in fact he just is out of the game altogether and just a sad fact but Tony said it exactly he has a learning disability he doesn't speak in public and all these things were being asked of them asked of him now and he just doesn't have the not the skill set he just it's not he's not capable it's no longer enough to be a great to be a great culinary artist or craftsman that's just not enough if you can't describe what you do in a compelling way on the six o'clock sand through in two minutes thank you puts you at a real disadvantage so at the risk of overanalyzing things and you know they always say that the death of comedy is trying to explain why a joke is funny but understanding and appreciating your cynicism about the whole superstar chef thing is it is it part of something else is it the fact that the meal has now become the thing in terms of going out this is the thing as opposed to say maybe and a meal and then a night at the theater or a Night at the Opera or reading in fact the meal has become a thing to do is that is that say something about who we are or are we looking at too much good the world we're catching up with the European Asian tradition I mean this isn't this is a birthright in most of Asia and always has been one in Europe what do you do you get together with friends and family regularly and you eat and you talk about what you just ate last week and what you're about to eat next week while you're eating I mean that's normal and you have some understanding what's on your plate and you're highly critical if it doesn't live up to your expectations you know seasonal regional Wylie said that wonderful thing enough you know farm-to-table I on a farm and I serve it on the table I don't need a t-shirt don't brag about it this is a this is a you know the whole rest of the world a bunch of the rest of the world thinks this way so I think we're just catching up you know where it there are excesses we look silly at times doing it we say silly things while we do it but I think in general the more we eat and the more important the more we appreciate food that where we think about it the more we talk about it for all of the silliness that comes with that it's it's balanced a good thing question from the audience talk about the present state of hamburger do you think you like hamburgers I do but I I call it the staff immunization of of America these restaurants that are opening up in is great I love Shake Shack everyone loves Shake Shack everyone was in and out but you know we don't need every restaurant to be a Shake Shack or you know we don't need a hamburger on every man we don't need more hamburgers no more hamburgers no more steak houses and I mean getting back to the comment we got gotten sure the fig comment I hate that stupid comment take it out of context but it's all about we have you know why don't we celebrate the diversity like a hamburger is synonymous it's great it's delicious everyone loves it but if everyone starts to open up hamburger restaurants what happens to everything else the chef-driven restaurants get marginalized and we lose the ability to again be creative to to have you know variety of ways of eating and then it's I always like to bring up you know there's a sustainability issue you know very important I mean you know it's what's killing us is you know are voracious you know hunger for cheap ground meat is I'm told not a good thing I do think I would like to see some I mean honestly I would like to see some people go to jail over over how we make ground meat in our countries I I I think there's a basic retool you know when I read that Times article that you know they are soaking me in ammonia that just seems wrong to me you know and I mean I'm not being hyperbolic when I say that's just unpatriotic you know you you should be if I should all be able to eat my burger medium rare anywhere I go anyway you know if you're serving a hamburger I should be able to order it rare or medium rare I don't want to be told that I I'm sorry that's not safe you have to cook the living out of it to make it safe for you to eat well you know is it food or is it medical waste you know and I we spoken about this though it's it's a moral dilemma you know these factory farms are atrocious and awful and should be you know eradicated but at the same time they've you know it's inefficient way of feeding people but I have a hard time trying to explain to a cook let alone someone that has a tight budget buy this chicken it supports a really great farmer instead of here by six chickens for the same price I'm not saying what I what I'm definitely right it is a moral dilemma because I'm very much against you know people say well we should all pay more for food that's a tough argument to make and it's not one I'm comfortable making I'm just you know I think perhaps the proportion you know i sneer at vegetarians but you said something very smart a while back you know maybe eating less meat expecting less meat on the plate would not be an altogether bad thing you know I think that we have a distorted expectation of how much animal protein we should have in our daily diet I can see you know anything that moves towards the Asian model as you suggested would probably be good for for our health but more importantly it might really be good for cooks as well right but I think the only way we're going to get to that model is some bad thing bad times America right and how do you mean we most food cultures have most countries have a food culture we have always been a country of abundance except for you know the Great Depression but you know we don't have a food culture maybe the south but that's about it and people don't learn how to deal with sprouts I mean I really have to tell cooks like don't throw away that end piece make something with that scrap yeah but but what's happening now is that you get you know in order to eat scraps you you know you got to go you got to pay 32 bucks a plate for it these days cuz only people to know how to cook scraps or and the only people who are willing to eat scraps are you know rich people in fine dining restaurants and how do we teach that to and how do we inject that into the rest of the rest of the culture like you know the poor run away from that as fast as they can for understandable reasons you know we've lost touch with that that whole era you know you look at turn-of-the-century menus in America there's a whole world you know a wonderland of ox hearts and you know pigtails and that's eating and all of that good stuff but but you know it's gonna be tough I think I think personally it's a it'll take hard times and a concerted campaign to just scare the out of there's just no way McDonald's is going to be able to keep up dollar a hamburger on the menu you know they've had $1 a hamburger on the menu for like 20 years how is that possible and I think that you know Americans we're like that you know we're complacent in the last-minute student you terrorized people away from McDonald's on one hand wheezing every nasty propaganda you know that's like FBI used to rank a coin-op Pro a programmed you know bust up the the left and and destroy the Panthers back in the day and it was a very you know morally questionable to say the least a but effective program I mean they they using propaganda dirty tricks they terrorized people set them against each other divided and destroyed I would suggest that on one hand and then and seduced on the other meaning people providing cheap cheap or you know and delicious alternatives when possible and I this is what I look to the Asian style or South American style Hawker or food stall the food truck is you know maybe you know offering a possibility Singapore in New York City I wish a couple more we have time for a couple more New York City has changed in the past thirty years that is gentrified are there any neighborhoods you feel still represent the older grittier New York any areas outside New York or is New York lost forever no thank you and good night so I have to be the dark gloomy one no you don't see the dark I just yeah thank you pretty much again going back to chef Gerren restaurants these are the restaurants that make New York I don't know what the statistic is but I'm not a native New Yorker I came here because I was tired of the suburbs I was tired of strip malls and the homogenization of everything that's why I came to New York because it was different and I think that you know people you to tell people that go give the slam soup in Flushing it's going to be delicious people are like how the hell do I even get there in a way I'm happy because it's for the time being it's going to stay that way right but all of Manhattan for the most part now is it's it's the same you're from Virginia you grew up in in New Jersey Tony do you have after the first book and then the television show and with the success of Momofuku do you get people from junior high who wouldn't give you the time of day all of a sudden calling up and say hey how you doing yeah can you get me a reservation you get people from the old you've not bothered by those never but I never left high school that was it for me I mean I never went back never looked back no just never came up and you're not hearing from these people not I don't go back to the high school reunion you know I don't do that so what was a likely to earning guy I mean I same with college I just I'm uh I just keep moving I mean and I have this weird dysfunctional life I suspect a lot like David you know we you know if we want to meet for a drink it's like you know my assistant will call your assistant and we'll find someplace you know two months down the way so yeah I just I don't I mean if the kid who bullied me Joey rancor from third grade if he pops up on the Taconic State Parkway two o'clock in the morning when I'm driving and he suddenly pops up in front of my headlights I'm fried and the over but I'm but I'm not stopping by to you know go over old times now I was looking for a headline from tonight's event now we got it when was the last time you cooked quote-unquote family meal and what was it and as an addendum favorite candy bar family meal like for my family I cooked calves liver of Annette's iana for my wife a couple of days ago and Reese's Peanut Butter Cup preferably frozen eye candy bar stuff first I was introduced to the UK version of the whopper and it's called a malteaser and it just destroys the lovebird I don't know why there's no hard to believe is the malteaser it sounds crazy but it's true and the last family meal I made for literally my family were staff meal any family well I think I made I made some type of some type of fried rice we always have a lot of rice at the restaurants so let's finish F is going back to something you said earlier talking about the journey to get where you guys got at though at the times were there times where you just thought before the books and before the show and before the restaurants were there times where you just thought I'm not sure this is gonna work I'm not I don't know how I see my way to the end of this or did you have this feeling of I know this is what I'm gonna love to do it's gonna work out I still feel that way today where I don't know what the future is how this is all gonna work out I have no idea I mean I that's the reality I just you know it hasn't really changed the scenery's changed but the road has remained the same I feel I don't feel complacent I don't feel a sense of real accomplishment I honestly had no plan to live past 30 when I was 30 I mean I just didn't I I really bought into the 60s early 70s ethic of the fest I I mean I really believed it you know and I live my life that way and it it came as a shock to me it when I turned 30 and I really had a sort of kind of figure something out then and I didn't really work out and I found myself sort of grateful you know I washed up on the shores of layout very grateful for the fact that I I had a regular job in a you know in a restaurant that was popular and actually making money that was serving food that I was actually good at and enjoyed cooking that probably the type of food that I should have been cooking my whole career so for me you know I found myself at 44 I didn't know how I was ever gonna pay my rent I didn't know how I was ever gonna pay the 10 years of that taxes I owed I didn't know how I was gonna you know ever ever climb out of debt or ever ever afford health insurance or any of those things I mean I went to sleep in mortal terror every night that changed overnight when when Kitchen Confidential came out but since that time I think you know I just oh I keep moving I try to stay interested I try not to up you know all the good things that have happened you know in a fairly frantic way that I'm sure David understands and I try to present a moving target hmm well it's no height I've done about 200 of these profiles since 2003 and tons and tons and tons of interviews and and the time spent with the two of you are second to none among the most compelling when it comes to interesting New Yorkers and again going through the newsroom and saying we're going to talk to David Chang people just stopped and and and looked at me and said no you have to understand you have to understand and it was a look it was a beautiful look because it's the great look of when people can marry food to a great event and a family event or an event with friends and the proofs in the pudding that the book to me is may that the books have made us look at food restaurants in a different way and with the television show I mean in our lives who's getting up and going to Thailand or to Burma or to Vietnam tomorrow but we sit down and we watch and you take us there in an interesting way again that connects the food to the culture and there's a tremendous it's that's that's that's a beautiful thing and there's great fun to have a good time a great meal is a beautiful thing too and for tonight we all thank you you

Channel: The 92nd Street Y, New York

Views: 235,203

Keywords: 92Y, 92nd Street Y, Anthony Bourdain, David Chang, Budd Mishkin, chefs, cooking, food, chef, kitchen confidential, no reservations

Id: LiZFH6_f0tg

Length: 87min 48sec (5268 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 18 2019