The Joe Rogan Experience - Joe Rogan Experience #1487 - Janet Zuccarini & Evan Funke

00:00:02.000 And we're rolling.

00:00:03.000 Janet, Evan, what's up?

00:00:05.000 Joe.

00:00:05.000 How are you guys?

00:00:06.000 Good to see you.

00:00:07.000 Good to see you.

00:00:08.000 Strange times.

00:00:10.000 The weirdest times ever.

00:00:11.000 Yes, but Felix is still intact.

00:00:13.000 The restaurant's there.

00:00:14.000 We must survive.

00:00:15.000 We're talking about restaurants that have been...

00:00:18.000 Just destroyed over the rioting and the looting and the chaos and you guys, you got lucky.

00:00:23.000 You dodged a bullet.

00:00:24.000 We did.

00:00:25.000 Very happy to hear that.

00:00:26.000 Well, I think Abikini got a bit of warning and all of Abikini boarded up and so we boarded up and the National Guard is still there today. 0.99

00:00:34.000 What the fuck? 0.99

00:00:35.000 It's so strange. 1.00

00:00:38.000 It doesn't make any sense.

00:00:39.000 Like, if you told me that something happened in LA and people were rioting, I'd be like, well, if it happened in LA, it kind of makes sense that people are upset.

00:00:46.000 And then you said, but they're smashing businesses and destroying restaurants and destroying small stores and family-owned businesses.

00:00:53.000 I'd be like, well, wait, why?

00:00:54.000 Why are they doing that?

00:00:56.000 There's no rhyme or reason to this.

00:00:57.000 It doesn't make any sense.

00:00:59.000 I understand why people are pissed. 1.00

00:01:02.000 Put that fucker up there. 1.00

00:01:03.000 Evan, come on. 1.00

00:01:04.000 How's my level?

00:01:06.000 You're good?

00:01:07.000 Better?

00:01:08.000 Yeah, I mean, it is what it is.

00:01:10.000 There's nothing we can do about it now.

00:01:12.000 But I also think there's been thousands and thousands of peaceful protesters out there.

00:01:19.000 And the press is really not focusing on all the peaceful protests, which is our right to protest.

00:01:26.000 And there's going to be, you know, a bad apple everywhere.

00:01:29.000 And then you're going to get, you know, hundreds of people that and I think you were saying, you know, on your last podcast, it's a bunch of young people that don't know where, yeah, where's your iPhone made?

00:01:39.000 Where are you going to get your shoes made from?

00:01:41.000 And they're not thinking about that.

00:01:43.000 They're just thinking free running shoes.

00:01:45.000 And this is fun.

00:01:46.000 And we've been locked up.

00:01:48.000 And like, let's get out there.

00:01:50.000 For 10 weeks.

00:01:50.000 Yeah.

00:01:51.000 They've been in their house.

00:01:52.000 It's the perfect storm of craziness, right?

00:01:54.000 A disease we thought was going to kill everybody.

00:01:57.000 And then so everybody shuts down.

00:01:59.000 And it turns out it doesn't really kill nearly as many people as we thought.

00:02:02.000 But we still have to be shut down.

00:02:03.000 And then like, when do we get to go back to work?

00:02:05.000 And then all of a sudden, hey, you guys can open up.

00:02:08.000 Like, you guys got no warning.

00:02:09.000 No warning.

00:02:10.000 No warning.

00:02:10.000 I mean, I called Janet up when it happened, and I was like, what?

00:02:14.000 You just, you get to open?

00:02:15.000 Like, but it takes 10 days to get staff ready?

00:02:18.000 That's what you said, right?

00:02:19.000 Yeah, I just had a friend send me a text message.

00:02:21.000 Hey, so are you open?

00:02:22.000 I hear you can be open now.

00:02:24.000 And I mean, it was just dropped in the news before, you know, any, we could have any time to prepare.

00:02:29.000 And, you know, we don't have the staffing.

00:02:31.000 You need, you need, we need at least 10 days to be able to open our doors.

00:02:34.000 That's really our biggest challenge is, is getting our staff ready.

00:02:38.000 Back into the restaurant and feeling comfortable in the restaurant with all these new regulations.

00:02:44.000 And you have state regulations.

00:02:45.000 You have LA County regulations.

00:02:47.000 You have City of Los Angeles regulations.

00:02:49.000 And each one of the documents are like novel length.

00:02:52.000 So I'm sitting there at home reading all three, cross-referencing, and we basically have to abide by the most stringent rules.

00:03:01.000 So I'm like picking apart each one.

00:03:03.000 Okay, trying to decipher what we can actually do.

00:03:06.000 And then on top of that...

00:03:08.000 We're trying to get people out of their houses because they're scared shitless to come back.

00:03:13.000 Are they though?

00:03:14.000 Well, the wild card is the clientele coming in.

00:03:17.000 I think people are going to come back in droves. 0.97

00:03:19.000 I think if you were open full capacity, you'd be fucking sold out instantly. 0.78

00:03:23.000 I really don't think there's any issue at all. 0.89

00:03:25.000 I think there's so much fear mongering going on, but I think the actual attitude of people, way more people are interested in going out than are interested in being locked up for longer hours.

00:03:38.000 Well, I think it's like different, you know, groups of people.

00:03:41.000 So you have young people who want to go out and they don't care and they'll, you know, be seated at full capacity.

00:03:49.000 But if you have any kind of health risks or you're older, you're not going to feel safe.

00:03:54.000 To go out.

00:03:54.000 And, you know, the restaurant business, when you're even allowed to be seated at 100%, is a really, really difficult business.

00:04:01.000 And I think the pandemic really showed the inherent weakness of this industry that we run on razor-thin profit margins.

00:04:07.000 Now we're allowed to be seated at 60%.

00:04:10.000 So do we pay 60% rent then at that point?

00:04:14.000 Our costs don't go down, you know, 40%.

00:04:17.000 We're still paying 100% of our costs, 100% of our labor, 100% of our rent.

00:04:22.000 The cost of food doesn't go down.

00:04:25.000 So we're forced to become extremely creative.

00:04:29.000 And there's one thing that I know about the restaurant industry where we're highly adaptable.

00:04:32.000 We have to kind of play within this game where we have to be unwavering on all of our standards and then be completely adaptable minute to minute from everyone's demands and everybody else.

00:04:48.000 Literally expects perfection.

00:04:49.000 There's also this extreme lack of communication as to what the timeline they're looking at and what will be the standards for you to be open 100%.

00:04:57.000 The same thing with the Comedy Store.

00:04:59.000 The Comedy Store has no idea when they're going to be able to be open because restaurants are open and they're saying, well, aren't we kind of like a restaurant?

00:05:05.000 We serve food.

00:05:06.000 And they're like, yeah, but no one goes to you specifically for food.

00:05:08.000 Even though they're sitting down, you can't be open.

00:05:11.000 And they're like, but it's not a nightclub, meaning like a bar where everybody just mingles.

00:05:15.000 There's seats.

00:05:16.000 Like, isn't that okay?

00:05:17.000 And they're like, no, we don't think so.

00:05:18.000 We don't know.

00:05:19.000 But nobody knows anything.

00:05:22.000 That's why we have complete lack of trust.

00:05:26.000 Everything in politics and how the pandemic has been handled and also handling the businesses, mandating overnight that we close our doors and go to zero revenue, but there's no mandates on how we operate with zero revenue.

00:05:40.000 Moving forward, what do we say to our landlords who deserve to be paid?

00:05:44.000 But nobody knows anything.

00:05:46.000 And right now with opening the health department, it's a 17-page document on how you are supposed to open in a safe way.

00:05:54.000 What do they tell you you have to do?

00:05:56.000 Oh, my God.

00:05:57.000 Well, 17 pages.

00:05:59.000 Page one.

00:06:00.000 We'll start at page one.

00:06:02.000 At the very basis of it, you know, there's got to be an employee log.

00:06:06.000 We have to take the temperature of all of our employees when they actually enter the premises.

00:06:11.000 We have to have a log on that.

00:06:13.000 Anyone who has direct contact with customers have to wear a face mask and a face shield.

00:06:19.000 A shield?

00:06:21.000 100%.

00:06:21.000 And then on the client side, you have to wear a mask when you're not eating.

00:06:26.000 So that means if you get up to go to the bathroom in the restaurant, you have to put your mask on.

00:06:31.000 Oh, God.

00:06:32.000 And then take it off when you get back to the table. 1.00

00:06:34.000 That's so dumb. 0.99

00:06:35.000 It doesn't make any sense. 1.00

00:06:37.000 It doesn't make any sense.

00:06:38.000 And a lot of it is like completely ambiguous.

00:06:42.000 Well, why would you have to wear a face mask if you already have a shield over your face?

00:06:47.000 Right?

00:06:48.000 Well, I think there's been some reports that you can get it through your eyes.

00:06:53.000 But there's been reports that you get it from touching things, and now they say you can't.

00:06:57.000 I know, but they're saying everything.

00:06:59.000 They're saying anything.

00:07:01.000 And it's on the honor system.

00:07:04.000 You don't have to do anything in a restaurant.

00:07:07.000 Really?

00:07:07.000 Dude, the wording is like, consider training your employees to do this.

00:07:11.000 Consider this.

00:07:12.000 Consider that.

00:07:13.000 Let people take chances.

00:07:15.000 If they want to come, let them...

00:07:17.000 People want to be able to go to a restaurant, just sit down and actually eat.

00:07:21.000 I have friends who drove to Santa Barbara to go sit down in a restaurant.

00:07:25.000 I would do it.

00:07:26.000 You know?

00:07:26.000 Yeah, it'd be exciting.

00:07:28.000 Look, we flew to Texas last weekend to look at houses and stuff, but we went to eat.

00:07:32.000 We ate at this place called the Lonesome Dove.

00:07:34.000 Oh, it was fantastic.

00:07:36.000 We ate like regular people.

00:07:38.000 Sat down, ordered wine, the whole deal.

00:07:40.000 It was amazing.

00:07:41.000 But were the tables separated?

00:07:43.000 Yes.

00:07:43.000 They were less than full capacity.

00:07:45.000 The waiters all wore face shields.

00:07:47.000 The people that greeted you at the door wore masks.

00:07:51.000 The people that greeted you at the door wore masks as well.

00:07:54.000 But it wasn't that bad.

00:07:56.000 It was great.

00:07:57.000 It was just nice to be able to go to a restaurant.

00:07:59.000 Yeah, I think people are dying to get out, and we're going to see a lot of people that are going to just run to restaurants, sit down in restaurants.

00:08:05.000 But there was a poll taken.

00:08:07.000 I know you love polls.

00:08:08.000 Love them.

00:08:09.000 I know you're like...

00:08:11.000 Who answers polls? 1.00

00:08:12.000 You get the opinions of morons. 1.00

00:08:14.000 That's what polls are. 1.00

00:08:15.000 Most morons think. 1.00

00:08:17.000 Most morons think that six out of ten Americans will not feel comfortable, you know, sitting in a restaurant. 1.00

00:08:23.000 I don't know. 0.99

00:08:24.000 I'm not sure how comfortable I would even feel sitting indoors, where you come in with a mask, but then you're going to eat, you take your mask off, and then, you know, Joe blow two tables over coughs, and then you're sitting indoors.

00:08:37.000 Whenever you're inside, you feel like you're in a Petri dish.

00:08:40.000 It's been that way forever and ever.

00:08:42.000 I mean, just think about my dishwashers, okay?

00:08:45.000 In the guidelines, those guys basically have to be in hazmat suits.

00:08:49.000 They have to have full protection, face shields, and mask, and then have like, you know, the equivalent of like a painter's suit, essentially.

00:08:58.000 Because I get it.

00:08:59.000 Those guys are spraying down people's spit.

00:09:01.000 Right.

00:09:02.000 Like all day, eight hours a day.

00:09:04.000 So I get it for them. 0.90

00:09:07.000 But it's always been a disgusting job.

00:09:09.000 70% of being a chef is cleaning.

00:09:12.000 It's cleaning vegetables or cleaning up after people or whatever.

00:09:16.000 It's cleaning.

00:09:17.000 So this business has always been disgusting. 1.00

00:09:21.000 And if you don't love this business to the core, it's fucking terrible. 0.99

00:09:26.000 Well, let's talk nice things. 0.98

00:09:27.000 Let's talk about what you guys have put together is pretty remarkable.

00:09:31.000 Thank you.

00:09:33.000 The food there is so good. 0.77

00:09:34.000 It's kind of ridiculous. 0.94

00:09:36.000 Like, your pasta's got voodoo in it. 0.98

00:09:38.000 I don't know what you're doing.

00:09:39.000 It is voodoo. 0.96

00:09:40.000 And I guess it's because it's handmade, right?

00:09:42.000 Because the first time my wife and I ate there, we sat right next to that open area where you can watch.

00:09:48.000 Yeah.

00:09:49.000 You guys make the pasta.

00:09:50.000 And it's such a painstaking process.

00:09:54.000 And you realize, you really, truly appreciate that it's an art form.

00:09:58.000 You know, that like making stuff like that, like cutting no corners, making it as good as it could possibly taste.

00:10:04.000 Well, I mean, that's the ultimate goal is to create that connection between pasta maker and someone who's eating the pasta.

00:10:11.000 Like, if you look through the glass and you see a pastayo or pastaya in there...

00:10:17.000 What's the difference of pastayo?

00:10:18.000 Pastayo is male.

00:10:19.000 Gender neutral?

00:10:22.000 So, you know, they're banging out trofee, which is like a coil from Luguria. 1.00

00:10:25.000 And you look down at your plate and there's like 160 to 180 pieces in your plate. 1.00

00:10:30.000 You're like, fuck. 1.00

00:10:31.000 This guy's repping. 1.00

00:10:33.000 He's got pictures of it.

00:10:34.000 This guy's doing 180 reps just for me.

00:10:37.000 That's a connection.

00:10:39.000 And once you get it, sometimes a bowl of pasta is a bowl of pasta.

00:10:42.000 I get it.

00:10:43.000 But this is something different.

00:10:45.000 This is craft.

00:10:46.000 This is tradition.

00:10:47.000 This is continuing this conversation that's been passed down from generation to generation.

00:10:54.000 And all I'm doing, all we're doing at Felix is just a small spoke and a massive wheel of Italian culinary tradition.

00:11:03.000 Well, you know just exactly how long to cook it too, which is amazing. 0.98

00:11:08.000 Because I'm fucking maniacal, Joe. 0.99

00:11:10.000 I get it, man. 1.00

00:11:11.000 You must be.

00:11:12.000 Because just the way your teeth sink into it, it's like everything is amazing.

00:11:17.000 I like to call it toothsome.

00:11:19.000 Al dente.

00:11:20.000 That's what al dente means.

00:11:22.000 To the tooth.

00:11:22.000 Is that what it means?

00:11:23.000 Al dente.

00:11:24.000 Dental.

00:11:25.000 Oh, okay.

00:11:26.000 Toothsome.

00:11:27.000 Toothsome.

00:11:28.000 So that's part of the experience, right?

00:11:30.000 Is the right amount of chew.

00:11:31.000 Right amount of chew.

00:11:32.000 So satisfying.

00:11:34.000 Each pasta is cooked region-specific because they cook pasta very different in Naples versus Rome versus Bologna versus Sardinia.

00:11:43.000 What is the difference?

00:11:43.000 It's just preference.

00:11:44.000 It's based on tradition.

00:11:46.000 And the thing is this.

00:11:47.000 Authenticity is very personal, right?

00:11:50.000 Your mom makes macaroni and cheese with Velveeta.

00:11:53.000 My mom makes macaroni and cheese with Tillamook cheddar. 1.00

00:11:55.000 That shit's authentic to me. 0.99

00:11:57.000 It may not be authentic to you. 1.00

00:11:58.000 Italy's no different.

00:11:59.000 But the differences and the diversity are so specific, not only per region, but town and then house to house.

00:12:08.000 Right?

00:12:09.000 And it's been that way for thousands of years.

00:12:12.000 That's why I think Italian food, next to Chinese food, is the most diverse there is.

00:12:19.000 And you could literally study your whole life and not even scratch the surface.

00:12:23.000 Wow.

00:12:24.000 Now, you guys have been open for what, two years?

00:12:26.000 Three years.

00:12:27.000 Three years?

00:12:27.000 In April, yeah.

00:12:28.000 How much prep time is there before you open?

00:12:31.000 Like when you have a plan, and Janet, you've opened up how many restaurants?

00:12:35.000 A ton.

00:12:36.000 Nine restaurants and four under construction.

00:12:38.000 Great time to be under construction in the restaurant business.

00:12:41.000 So crazy. 0.99

00:12:43.000 My life sucks. 1.00

00:12:44.000 It could be a lot worse. 0.94

00:12:49.000 When you are about to open up a place like Felix, how do you get started?

00:12:54.000 Did you know Evan in advance?

00:12:56.000 Did you guys talk before?

00:12:58.000 How do you put together a restaurant like that?

00:13:00.000 Well, each restaurant that I've opened definitely has a different story.

00:13:03.000 So I have a few Italian restaurants, I have Thai restaurants, I have a Jamaican restaurant in Toronto.

00:13:08.000 So, you know, all very different stories.

00:13:11.000 But I wanted to basically expand outside of Toronto.

00:13:16.000 And I came to LA for lifestyle reasons to get out of the Toronto winters.

00:13:21.000 And decided, you know, this will be my first place that I open a restaurant outside of Toronto.

00:13:26.000 And I had a dream of being on Abikini.

00:13:29.000 I just love Abikini.

00:13:31.000 It feels like one of the only streets in Los Angeles where it's, you know, like a neighborhood and a street that you can walk down.

00:13:38.000 So luckily, I found this location on Abikini.

00:13:43.000 And it's a long story, but I was working with another chef for about nine months.

00:13:47.000 And then at the 11th hour, I had the location.

00:13:49.000 We were all set to begin construction.

00:13:52.000 And he just said, I've decided to go work with another restaurant group.

00:13:55.000 And I was like overnight, just like left without a chef.

00:13:58.000 And I only had one other name of another chef in LA, and it was Evan Funke.

00:14:03.000 And a food writer just sent me an email because I was just out meeting people saying, hey, I'm looking for a chef that has a following, a super talented chef.

00:14:11.000 And this one, Kevin West, shout out to Kevin West, sent me an email and said, Evan Funke is an amazingly talented chef and he's available.

00:14:21.000 And so when this other chef bailed on me, and I was on vacation at that time, I was in Morocco of all places, and I asked for a week off to go off the grid for a week, and then the president of my company contacted me.

00:14:37.000 She said, you've got to get on the phone.

00:14:38.000 We don't have a chef.

00:14:39.000 Oh.

00:14:40.000 And so I go, I have one name in my Rolodex.

00:14:43.000 It's Evan Funke.

00:14:45.000 And I sent Evan, I felt that I had to send him a compelling email so that I could get his attention because I had no other, you know, options.

00:14:54.000 And I said, you know, Evan here, you know, Kevin West says you're an amazingly talented chef.

00:14:58.000 I have a location on Abikini, which is great.

00:15:00.000 Like, you know, chefs love Abikini.

00:15:03.000 You know, it's a great street.

00:15:04.000 It's big leagues.

00:15:05.000 And I said, you know, time is of the essence.

00:15:08.000 If you're interested, you know, check me out.

00:15:10.000 I'm legitimate, a restaurateur.

00:15:12.000 Check me out.

00:15:13.000 And, you know, we were on a FaceTime call that dropped a thousand times because of the bad reception.

00:15:20.000 I'm like, bear with me.

00:15:21.000 Get back on a FaceTime call with Evan.

00:15:23.000 And I flew Evan to Toronto.

00:15:25.000 I think it was Skype, actually.

00:15:27.000 Oh, is it Skype?

00:15:28.000 Yeah.

00:15:28.000 But I flew Evan to Toronto to cook for myself and my team immediately after this vacation that I had.

00:15:35.000 And Evan did just very few items.

00:15:37.000 A lot of times chefs want to just like, wow you, I'm doing 22 dishes because I want to show you who I am.

00:15:42.000 Evan did just, you know, he just did his cacio e pepe pasta.

00:15:46.000 He did his focaccia bread.

00:15:47.000 He just did very few items because he's confident and he knows.

00:15:51.000 And I ate his food.

00:15:52.000 My team ate his food.

00:15:54.000 I said to Evan, food cannot taste better.

00:15:57.000 And I also described his food as casalinga.

00:15:59.000 So I lived in Italy for eight years.

00:16:01.000 My background, I'm half Italian.

00:16:02.000 I lived in Italy for eight years.

00:16:04.000 My father basically was at the level of a chef, his cooking.

00:16:07.000 And so I said to Evan, I said, your cooking is casalinga, which means like the housewife's cooking, like the mama's cooking. 0.99

00:16:16.000 And Evan always describes his cooking like that, casalinga, but not many people describe cooking in that way.

00:16:23.000 And so basically, I think Evan felt that I got him.

00:16:25.000 And then he just turned to me and he said, you've got a deal.

00:16:28.000 We're partners.

00:16:50.000 Wow.

00:16:51.000 So for you, is it a rare thing to get an offer to run a restaurant?

00:16:55.000 Or is there offers that you get that you turn down?

00:16:58.000 I mean, at the time, it was rare.

00:17:01.000 Now I get offers all the time.

00:17:03.000 Once Felix opened?

00:17:05.000 Yes.

00:17:06.000 Yeah.

00:17:06.000 Yeah, you guys nailed it.

00:17:08.000 You know, I learned from Bourdain, from watching his show, No Reservations, the first show, I was like, oh, okay, I have a wrong idea of what food is.

00:17:20.000 I had this idea that food just tastes good.

00:17:22.000 You go someplace, food tastes good.

00:17:24.000 But then watching his love of food and watching his deep respect for chefs and the preparation and all that's involved in making a dish, I was like, oh, it's art.

00:17:35.000 Of course it's art.

00:17:37.000 I didn't think of it as art.

00:17:38.000 I thought of it as just food.

00:17:40.000 And then watching his show completely changed my perception of what food is.

00:17:44.000 Yeah, not every chef operates from being an artist, and there's different levels of food.

00:17:50.000 I do have to say, you know, Evan is an absolute master.

00:17:53.000 You know, Evan's obviously not Italian, but has studied all over Italy, and it's really the dying art of handmade pasta.

00:18:02.000 And Evan is a custodian of keeping this art alive.

00:18:05.000 Like, he's a maestro.

00:18:07.000 He's unbelievable.

00:18:08.000 Is there a specific type of flour that you use?

00:18:11.000 We import six different types from four different regions.

00:18:15.000 And now, is the word about pasta and about bread and wheat in general is that American wheat is a different kind of wheat?

00:18:24.000 It's a different kind of wheat.

00:18:25.000 It's also processed completely different.

00:18:27.000 I don't use a lot of American wheat just because it's...

00:18:31.000 It's just been manipulated so much.

00:18:34.000 And a lot of the digestibility of, in my opinion, people are going to freak out.

00:18:41.000 But in my opinion, the amount of work that goes into denaturing pasta in order to get it flat via machine has a lot to do with its digestibility.

00:18:51.000 Just like sourdough bread is more digestible because it's broken down in a different way.

00:18:56.000 The handmade pasta is less manipulated than machine-made pasta, in my opinion.

00:19:02.000 So also the types of wheat, the amount of wheat germ that's in it, the nutritional value, it all has to do with those elements within the flour.

00:19:13.000 And to be honest, I've developed a gluten intolerance because I've been breathing raw flour for the past, you know, 12 years.

00:19:23.000 Oh, really?

00:19:24.000 As soon as I step foot in the lab and I start rolling aspholia, my stomach starts to start, it's acid, straight up.

00:19:32.000 That's crazy, just from the powder?

00:19:34.000 Yeah.

00:19:34.000 Wow.

00:19:35.000 Because it's like talcum, you know.

00:19:36.000 Double zero flour is extremely fine, so we have to throw it in order to, you know...

00:19:41.000 Put some on the table to roll it out so you breathe it in all day long.

00:19:44.000 We've got extractors, we've got humidity control and air conditioning and all that, but still.

00:19:50.000 So you've developed an intolerance because of that?

00:19:52.000 Yeah, it's called white lung or baker's lung.

00:19:55.000 Baker's lung! 0.65

00:19:56.000 So do you wear a mask?

00:19:57.000 I do not.

00:19:58.000 Why don't you wear a mask?

00:20:00.000 I don't know.

00:20:03.000 It seems like that would be a good thing to do.

00:20:07.000 Sure.

00:20:08.000 You don't want that baker's lung, right?

00:20:10.000 I don't like masks.

00:20:13.000 Oh, okay.

00:20:14.000 This whole experience has been very enlightening, wearing a mask.

00:20:20.000 Right. 0.88

00:20:20.000 Yeah, it's gross. 0.88

00:20:21.000 I have another friend who also has a Kozuku Kawamura who is instrumental in my kind of understanding of modern pasta.

00:20:30.000 I met him in Bologna.

00:20:31.000 He's a Japanese guy who has a lab in Tokyo called Base.

00:20:36.000 And he has the same thing.

00:20:37.000 He wears a mask all the time because he's just breathing in raw flour all day.

00:20:40.000 I never would have thought of that, but it makes total sense.

00:20:42.000 I never thought, oh, yeah. 1.00

00:20:44.000 Yeah, I mean, fucking flower. 1.00

00:20:46.000 It's like a guy works at a paint shop. 1.00

00:20:49.000 Like, you're gonna get sick.

00:20:50.000 Get one of the painter things.

00:20:52.000 The big tubes.

00:20:54.000 That'd be so weird. 1.00

00:20:55.000 People would be like, I'm not eating that fucking pasta. 1.00

00:20:57.000 I don't know. 0.99

00:20:57.000 For me, it's part of the experience. 0.99

00:20:59.000 It's crazy.

00:20:59.000 What's in there?

00:21:00.000 It's preservatives, man.

00:21:02.000 Well, whatever you're doing, keep doing it. 1.00

00:21:05.000 Whether it's the white lung, whatever you gotta clean that shit out. 1.00

00:21:09.000 Whatever it takes. 1.00

00:21:09.000 I don't know what you can do to get that flour out of you. 1.00

00:21:11.000 Baker's lung, just keep going.

00:21:13.000 Yeah, it's just, the pasta's insane.

00:21:15.000 It's so good.

00:21:16.000 And it's such a, when you have really good pasta, and then you have pasta that maybe you enjoyed before, you had the really good pasta, it's like having water in your ear. 0.60

00:21:25.000 It fucks people up. 0.88

00:21:26.000 Yeah, it fucks people up, I'm sure. 0.97

00:21:28.000 It does. 0.99

00:21:28.000 Like, I cannot tell you how many people DM me or come to me in the restaurant and they say, you've completely fucking ruined me. 0.99

00:21:35.000 Thank you so much. 0.81

00:21:36.000 Now I can't eat pasta anywhere else.

00:21:39.000 And I don't eat pasta in North America whatsoever.

00:21:42.000 I don't eat fresh pasta in North America.

00:21:44.000 I only eat pasta in Italy.

00:21:46.000 I eat dried pasta in America, but I don't eat fresh pasta.

00:21:49.000 Why not?

00:21:52.000 Most people don't know what they're doing.

00:21:54.000 But there's got to be some people other than you guys.

00:21:57.000 No, certainly.

00:21:57.000 Absolutely.

00:21:58.000 What are good spots?

00:21:59.000 I think Missy Robbins is exceptional.

00:22:02.000 Where's that?

00:22:03.000 New York City.

00:22:03.000 Oh, Brooklyn.

00:22:04.000 Oh, okay. 0.99

00:22:05.000 Damn, you've got to go all the way to Brooklyn? 0.99

00:22:08.000 You know, Rob Gentile in Toronto is great. 0.98

00:22:12.000 So there's a very small amount of people that are doing it right?

00:22:15.000 I mean, there's a handful of people who make pasta by hand, period.

00:22:20.000 And there are even fewer people who know how to make pasta with the mozzarella, which is the long rolling pin.

00:22:26.000 Even fewer.

00:22:27.000 And when I started, I started doing this 11 years ago, there was nobody.

00:22:31.000 There was nobody.

00:22:32.000 I checked.

00:22:34.000 You know, I moved to Bologna in 2007, tail end in 2007. And started this journey with my maestra, Alessandra Spisni, of Lavecchia Scuola Bolognese.

00:22:44.000 And she kind of opened up the door for me to start seeking out other pasta makers throughout Italy.

00:22:49.000 And when I came back in 08, I ran a restaurant called Rustic Canyon for about four years and, you know, Not a lot of people were serving the style of pasta that I wanted to serve.

00:23:02.000 So I started giving it away like a gateway drug. 0.99

00:23:04.000 I would just send it to tables for free and they were like, what the fuck? 0.99

00:23:08.000 And it just started gaining momentum and gaining momentum. 0.99

00:23:11.000 Wow.

00:23:12.000 So when you moved to Italy to learn how to do it, what is an apprenticeship like in learning how to make pasta?

00:23:22.000 I mean, it's an apprenticeship.

00:23:24.000 You have to put yourself in the student's chair and be a sponge.

00:23:28.000 I didn't speak any, not a lick of Italian, but the Italians are very expressive.

00:23:32.000 So you're able to communicate through just being Italian, I guess.

00:23:36.000 And I spent three months, you know, six days a week, 10 hours a day just making pasta.

00:23:43.000 Wow!

00:23:44.000 Period.

00:23:46.000 See, this is what's fascinating to me.

00:23:48.000 Things you just take for granted.

00:23:51.000 Oh, here is a plate of pasta.

00:23:53.000 But what is involved in learning how to make it that good?

00:23:56.000 It's not just ingredients.

00:23:58.000 When people sit down at a restaurant, people aren't just paying for the experience of sitting there and the cost of food.

00:24:06.000 They're paying for the experience of the people that are making the food.

00:24:10.000 That's a big part of it.

00:24:11.000 That's the way that I look at it.

00:24:13.000 And 11 years of There's no depth.

00:24:33.000 There's no depth.

00:24:38.000 You know, you have to also consider how labor-intensive it is to, you know, hand-roll out the pasta.

00:24:43.000 And, you know, what Evan was saying before, like, each one rolled by hand.

00:24:46.000 You know, when you eat a bowl of pasta, you're not thinking that each one was, like, pressed out by hand.

00:24:51.000 So it's, like, extremely labor-intensive.

00:24:53.000 And a lot of people, when we were opening, Evan did have his own restaurant, Bucato, before, which was also basically focused around pasta as well.

00:25:04.000 That's a whole other story.

00:25:06.000 But when we were going to open up this restaurant and we put in the middle of the restaurant the temperature-controlled pasta lab, which is taking up tables.

00:25:13.000 So if you're a business person, a restaurateur, you say, how many tables could fit in there?

00:25:18.000 How much is each table worth to your bottom line?

00:25:21.000 You're using up that space to put in a pasta lab? 0.95

00:25:26.000 Are you crazy?

00:25:28.000 Also, when you're thinking about training the people and how labor-intensive it is, People were saying, like, we're crazy doing this again. 0.63

00:25:37.000 Yeah, they didn't think we could make money.

00:25:38.000 Yeah.

00:25:39.000 Well, it is a lot of space.

00:25:40.000 That pasta lab is a big space, but it's so cool to be sitting right there.

00:25:45.000 It's a showstopper.

00:25:46.000 Yeah, really, it's something special.

00:25:48.000 And it's worked out.

00:25:49.000 We're making money.

00:25:50.000 I mean, we were making money.

00:25:53.000 There's always, like, pre-COVID and, you know.

00:25:56.000 And there's no guidelines in terms of, like, when you'll be able to operate at 100% capacity.

00:26:02.000 No.

00:26:03.000 I mean, in the documents, it says they're going to reassess in 21 days.

00:26:09.000 So I don't know when that's going to be in a couple weeks.

00:26:12.000 It might even be quicker than that, right?

00:26:14.000 I think the economic pressures are probably what forced them to open without letting anybody know.

00:26:19.000 They're out of money.

00:26:20.000 Everyone's out of money.

00:26:21.000 Yeah, they can't just say, you know, there is a balance between people's health and the economy, and they can't just shut everything down and say, well, we're just going to print a bunch of money.

00:26:29.000 We're all going to be paying for this in the end, right?

00:26:31.000 Right now, it's been $2 trillion, you know, because of COVID. They have to get us back up and running and working.

00:26:39.000 And I've said from the very beginning, get your young and your healthy back out and working.

00:26:43.000 And if you're over the age of 65, or if you have underlying health conditions, then you should definitely stay at home.

00:26:48.000 And you have to wait for either a treatment or the vaccine.

00:26:53.000 But, you know, they have to open up the economy.

00:26:56.000 And it's been ridiculous how it's been handled.

00:26:58.000 Yeah, that's what should have been done.

00:26:59.000 It should have been, they should have, I mean, instead of taking this blanket approach.

00:27:03.000 But I think there was a lot of misconceptions.

00:27:04.000 They thought it was going to be something different than it was.

00:27:07.000 Even at 60%, though, at least at 60%.

00:27:10.000 I'm like happy you're going to be able to be in.

00:27:12.000 When are you guys going to open up?

00:27:13.000 Monday?

00:27:14.000 Monday?

00:27:14.000 Have you figured it out?

00:27:15.000 Well, then the protests and we had to board up and, you know, I think we're probably another week or so away.

00:27:23.000 At least.

00:27:23.000 It's really about getting staff back in.

00:27:25.000 That's our kind of biggest hurdle.

00:27:26.000 So once the protests die down, then a week?

00:27:30.000 Maybe a little more.

00:27:31.000 Maybe a little more.

00:27:33.000 But even with the 60% capacity, we will see if we'll be able to maintain and actually not necessarily make a profit, just break even.

00:27:44.000 Yeah, I think the goal has always been when this first...

00:27:50.000 I think?

00:28:09.000 Or David Chang closing two restaurants, one in New York City, one in D.C., and then he's moving another restaurant, consolidating his company, essentially.

00:28:18.000 So when you see these iconic restaurateurs that are struggling to make it to the other side, it's, like, extremely sobering.

00:28:25.000 And, you know, some experts will say they think 50% of restaurants will not make it to the other side.

00:28:30.000 I don't agree, but I think 25% won't make it.

00:28:33.000 And even in L.A., one of my last dinners was at Bon Temps in downtown California.

00:28:39.000 L.A., Lincoln Carson, an amazing chef.

00:28:42.000 I was blown away by the restaurant, and he's closed permanently.

00:28:46.000 All that time to open, all that capital to open.

00:28:49.000 You train whatever you're training, 50, 75 people to open, and he's closed permanently.

00:28:55.000 Or Auburn, another restaurant that was getting great accolades, closed also permanently.

00:29:02.000 They just got a finalist in the global industry.

00:29:05.000 Design awards.

00:29:06.000 So they're getting these awards and they're closed permanently.

00:29:11.000 And, you know, so, you know, it's really survival of the fittest right now.

00:29:14.000 So new restaurants, because it's so hard, this business, you're very vulnerable when you're a new restaurant and you just have debt.

00:29:21.000 You're just looking at a bunch of debt and then you're closed permanently.

00:29:24.000 You know, you're going to you're not going to make it to the other side.

00:29:27.000 And if a business was not making that much money, so when you see a restaurant in New York City like Lucky Strike that's been there for 31 years close permanently because it just wasn't doing that well.

00:29:37.000 So all the businesses that were just kind of teetering on not doing very well, they're going to close.

00:29:41.000 It's survival of the fittest.

00:29:43.000 Even with the pandemic and hitting older people, it's kind of like all around in business, it's survival of the fittest. 0.98

00:29:51.000 It seems like it's so hard to believe that if you don't make money for three months, it goes under.

00:29:56.000 You would think like, oh, this is a successful business.

00:29:59.000 It's exposed people to the realities of running a business and how incredibly difficult it is just to stay open.

00:30:05.000 It's a juggling act.

00:30:06.000 Especially for restaurants, right?

00:30:08.000 No, this is what I was saying before is the pandemic really exposed the restaurant business.

00:30:13.000 And the restaurant business probably has been hit the hardest.

00:30:16.000 And then next, all small businesses and retail, and then we're going to see commercial real estate really be affected right now.

00:30:22.000 But the restaurant business, the national average of the profit margin is 4%.

00:30:28.000 That's a national average.

00:30:29.000 We don't operate that way.

00:30:31.000 We operate at 14%, essentially.

00:30:36.000 But 20 years ago in the US, most restaurants would make 20-25%, you know, the net profit margin, but it's gone down, it's gone down, and really, the business is broken.

00:30:49.000 The restaurant business is broken.

00:30:51.000 We should be charging a lot higher prices, but then you're not going to get the customers.

00:30:55.000 So what you do is you just accept a lower and a lower profit margin.

00:30:58.000 That's why this business is so difficult.

00:31:00.000 And even 10 years ago, you might have a runway in your bank account to survive a few months.

00:31:06.000 But most restaurants, you know, they have a month and then they're done.

00:31:11.000 They've got nothing in the bank account.

00:31:14.000 It's a horrible business. 0.94

00:31:15.000 Nobody should be in a restaurant, unless you're crazy and you're so passionate about it. 0.99

00:31:20.000 That's you. 0.99

00:31:21.000 That's me.

00:31:22.000 It's both of us.

00:31:23.000 It's all of us.

00:31:24.000 11 million of us.

00:31:25.000 Yeah.

00:31:26.000 Well, 11 million of us and then you think, you know, and when you look at the supply chain, so we, the restaurant, restaurants employ 11 million people in the United States, but then when you add in the supply chain of the farmers and the winemakers and the linen cleaners and,

00:31:42.000 you know, we employ 20 million people and we're the second largest employer in the United States next to the Pentagon.

00:31:50.000 So, you know, right now we have to think.

00:31:52.000 Wow, that's crazy.

00:31:54.000 Restaurants are the second largest employer and the Pentagon's the first?

00:31:58.000 Yeah.

00:31:58.000 How creepy is it that the Pentagon's the first?

00:32:00.000 Jamie, Jamie, look it up.

00:32:02.000 I would think like Amazon would be ahead of the Pentagon. 1.00

00:32:04.000 Fuck. 1.00

00:32:06.000 No, that's a nutty number. 1.00

00:32:08.000 Pentagon, number one employer.

00:32:09.000 Restaurants, number two.

00:32:12.000 That's so insane that Pentagon's number one.

00:32:14.000 I would have never guessed that in a million years. 1.00

00:32:15.000 If you gave me a multiple choice, I'd be like, fucking Pentagon. 1.00

00:32:19.000 No way. 1.00

00:32:21.000 Jamie's typing away.

00:32:22.000 Oh, I'm sure it's right.

00:32:23.000 I mean, you don't have to even look it up, Jamie.

00:32:25.000 I believe her.

00:32:25.000 Who knows?

00:32:26.000 I just read things, but, you know, that's what we're talking about in the Independent Restaurant Coalition.

00:32:31.000 You know, we're working together with the government to ask for a certain amount of help, right?

00:32:37.000 We need the right help.

00:32:39.000 Or, you know, when people think, you know, screw you, restaurants.

00:32:43.000 Like, we're all in trouble, right?

00:32:45.000 With 40 million plus.

00:32:47.000 Now it's like, I think, 42 million.

00:32:50.000 Filed for unemployment.

00:32:51.000 A lot of people are hurting right now.

00:32:53.000 So it's hard to say, you know, romanticize restaurants right now.

00:32:57.000 Come back and support your local restaurants when a lot of people are hurting.

00:32:59.000 But I think if we think about the economic domino effect right now of essentially 20 million people, we need help to stay in business and not close down permanently.

00:33:10.000 I think the economic effect right now will be staggering.

00:33:16.000 Yeah, no, it's something to consider when you think about what you said about the people that clean the linen, the people that make the wine, all the various people that rely on restaurants.

00:33:27.000 It's not just restaurants.

00:33:29.000 Most people like myself don't really consider that.

00:33:31.000 You go, wow, they probably employ 10 people or 20 people or 50 people, whatever it is.

00:33:35.000 But then you don't think of all the trickle down.

00:33:37.000 That's a massive web.

00:33:39.000 Do you see like the farmers obviously dumping, you know, tons of food and 36 million gallons of milk and nobody knew that restaurants are the number one purchasers from farmers, that and institutions, schools, institutions and restaurants.

00:33:55.000 And they process the food in a different way for restaurants than they do.

00:33:59.000 You can't just say like get the food.

00:34:02.000 You know, out there, they process food differently for individuals and grocery stores as they do institutions and restaurants.

00:34:10.000 So they have to dump all this food.

00:34:12.000 Now, when you guys get up and running, how do you calculate how much food you buy?

00:34:18.000 I've always been like, how do they know?

00:34:20.000 How do they know how many people are coming in?

00:34:23.000 Voodoo. 0.90

00:34:24.000 The one good thing about restaurant business is that the metrics, whether you have five tables or 100 tables, are the same.

00:34:34.000 It's all math. 0.97

00:34:34.000 And if I knew how much fucking math that I'd be doing right now, I'm 40 years old, if I knew when I was like a kid, I would have studied the fuck out of math. 0.97

00:34:44.000 Because I had to learn on the fly. 0.96

00:34:46.000 So you as a chef are not just responsible for putting together the meals, but you also...

00:34:51.000 That's not enough anymore.

00:34:52.000 Not enough?

00:34:53.000 No.

00:34:53.000 You've got to be a businessman.

00:34:54.000 You have to be a marketer.

00:34:55.000 You've got to be a diplomat.

00:34:56.000 You have to be a father.

00:34:57.000 You have to give advice. 0.99

00:35:00.000 I'm not having kids, but I have 60 kids because I exercise my fatherly duties on a daily fucking basis. 0.98

00:35:07.000 I've bailed guys out of jail. 0.98

00:35:09.000 I've given beer money to guys.

00:35:14.000 It is a true, true, true family.

00:35:18.000 And you spend, you know, the majority of your day with these people.

00:35:22.000 You feel that when you go into your restaurant, though.

00:35:25.000 There's something about that place.

00:35:27.000 Like, there's, you, when the waiters deliver your food, you know that they know it's special.

00:35:34.000 Like, there's a feeling, like, when they put that down, like, here you go, look at that.

00:35:37.000 And you're like, whoa.

00:35:38.000 And they're like, uh-huh.

00:35:39.000 Yeah.

00:35:40.000 It's by design.

00:35:41.000 You know what I mean?

00:35:41.000 It's by design.

00:35:42.000 You can tell.

00:35:43.000 By design.

00:35:43.000 The fish stinks from the head down.

00:35:46.000 Oh, yeah.

00:35:47.000 We love that.

00:35:47.000 It's a Jamaican saying, the fish rots from the head down.

00:35:50.000 So, Janet, we were talking on the phone about what it's like for you to have all these restaurants under construction, and you were this unstoppable machine.

00:35:57.000 You were a restaurant machine. 0.94

00:35:59.000 Everything was kicking ass. 0.99

00:36:00.000 Yeah. 0.99

00:36:00.000 And then all of a sudden... 0.99

00:36:02.000 Yeah.

00:36:03.000 Well, you know, the only thing I've ever done has been in the restaurant business and out of university.

00:36:07.000 I came from Italy and I opened my first restaurant in Toronto and slowly...

00:36:11.000 Right out of school.

00:36:13.000 Well, I was older.

00:36:14.000 I took my time in school, too.

00:36:15.000 I started university when I was 22. Wow.

00:36:19.000 So I took my time.

00:36:20.000 But when I opened my first restaurant, I definitely connected to a passion.

00:36:27.000 And I had this slow route of growing this company.

00:36:31.000 So that restaurant opened 24 years ago and is still running today.

00:36:37.000 That's incredible.

00:36:38.000 What are the odds of that?

00:36:39.000 Well, the average, you know, after you pass a year, you know, you have a lifespan, most restaurants of seven years.

00:36:46.000 So I've had a few lifetimes with that restaurant.

00:36:48.000 And then I slowly saved my money and wanted to buy the real estate where that restaurant is.

00:36:55.000 It's in Yorkville.

00:36:56.000 Do you know Toronto?

00:36:56.000 You know Toronto.

00:36:57.000 Do you know Yorkville?

00:36:58.000 No, I don't.

00:36:59.000 It's a nice little neighborhood in Toronto and I wanted to buy this real estate, so I saved my money to buy the real estate.

00:37:04.000 So I was very cautious of growing the company and building a foundation.

00:37:10.000 And then I bought one piece of real estate, then I bought another building, and then I put another restaurant twice as big as my first restaurant.

00:37:17.000 And then I bought another building, so I've been buying these buildings and putting restaurants inside the buildings.

00:37:21.000 Until I felt that my foundation was so strong that nothing could happen to me.

00:37:26.000 So I could only put through the lens back then, before the pandemic, to say, in an economic upturn, people will eat pizza.

00:37:35.000 On an economic downturn, people will eat pizza.

00:37:38.000 I'm untouchable.

00:37:39.000 That's how I felt.

00:37:40.000 I felt nothing could touch me.

00:37:42.000 And then we opened up Felix, and Felix has gotten, you know, incredible accolades, you know, in the press, and rightfully so, and Evans Cooking is off the charts.

00:37:50.000 And I thought, you know, we're ready to really grow.

00:37:55.000 So let's do this.

00:37:56.000 And I built a company where, you know, I have a head office, it's a proper company, and I have an incredible team of people, and I felt very ready and very stable and with an incredibly It's a strong foundation that I said, we're ready to do this.

00:38:12.000 And so 2020 was my big year to open five restaurants in one year.

00:38:18.000 Wow.

00:38:19.000 So I just before the pandemic flew to Toronto to open a 9,000 square foot restaurant to immediately close it.

00:38:29.000 And that cost $9 million to open this 9,000 square foot restaurant that opened one day, trained 100 people for two months And then immediately shut that down.

00:38:40.000 Shut down all restaurants.

00:38:42.000 So shut down eight operations.

00:38:44.000 And I also have a catering company.

00:38:45.000 So shut down eight operations in Toronto and a catering company.

00:38:49.000 Furloughed 700 people.

00:38:51.000 And then I have four other projects under construction and personally all of the money in the company out on construction sites.

00:39:00.000 Plus I personally loaned all of my money to build the restaurants.

00:39:05.000 Because that's what I do.

00:39:06.000 What I do is I buy buildings and then I get mortgages on the buildings.

00:39:10.000 Then I use all the cash that I have anywhere that I can find it to open restaurants.

00:39:15.000 So I might have a temporary, you know, lack of cash, but then, you know, backed by a very strong revenue.

00:39:22.000 So I'm funding all the construction sites by all these restaurants that have extremely strong streams of revenue.

00:39:30.000 So once again, I didn't feel like I was taking a big risk.

00:39:34.000 Opening five restaurants in 2020. So I swear to you that the day the pandemic happened, I had to shut down.

00:39:41.000 It was literally the day before I loaned out, I wrote a massive check for one construction site, like all of my money in my bank account, you know, out to one construction site, then we shut everything down.

00:39:53.000 And it was like I was kicked in the teeth, like I was brought to my knees.

00:39:57.000 And I had never felt stressed like that because of how conservative I am and how fiscally responsible that I've always been and feeling that I was untouchable.

00:40:06.000 I just thought, you know, nothing could ever happen to me in this, you know, I could never risk anything.

00:40:11.000 But I woke up one day when I had to close everything down.

00:40:13.000 And first of all, the feeling of laying off 700 people when you know the majority of your staff live paycheck to paycheck was absolutely heartbreaking.

00:40:21.000 And that I ran the real risk of losing everything, not only all the restaurants, but all the buildings, because the bank, you know, owns my buildings.

00:40:28.000 I don't own the buildings.

00:40:30.000 And, you know, this pandemic caught me with my financial pants down.

00:40:34.000 Like, I just was like, Oh, my God, this is really bad timing for me.

00:40:37.000 Do you think if there's a second wave, they're going to try to do this again?

00:40:41.000 Shut you down?

00:40:42.000 No, I think we're gonna look the protest.

00:40:45.000 Do you think we're gonna have a second wave now?

00:40:46.000 We very well could.

00:40:48.000 I mean, these people are not social distancing.

00:40:50.000 They're on top of each other.

00:40:51.000 If anybody's got it, everybody's got it.

00:40:53.000 I actually don't think so, and I think that we're going to be living with this virus.

00:40:59.000 And I've said this from day one.

00:41:00.000 When this happened, I said to my team, give me the two-year plan.

00:41:02.000 What's going on for two years?

00:41:03.000 We have to live with this for the next two years.

00:41:06.000 And I think that we just have to live in a safe way.

00:41:09.000 And yeah, wear the masks out, and we're going to go to restaurants, and people are going to be wearing gloves and masks, and maybe take your temperature, and we're going to sit You know, be seated six feet apart.

00:41:19.000 I think this is, we're going to just find a safe way to live.

00:41:22.000 But of course, there's going to be a second wave and a third wave.

00:41:25.000 It's going to keep going until, but also when a vaccine comes, you have to inoculate, you know, between 60 and 80% of the world.

00:41:33.000 How long is that going to take?

00:41:34.000 We're living with this.

00:41:36.000 Yeah, the vaccine's a weird vaccine, too.

00:41:39.000 Do you understand what it is?

00:41:40.000 An mRNA vaccine?

00:41:42.000 Well, that's one vaccine that Moderna's making, but there's different types of vaccines that they're making. 0.88

00:41:47.000 Yeah, there's multiple trials that are going on right now, right?

00:41:50.000 A hundred different vaccines.

00:41:52.000 Everybody's trying to get after it.

00:41:53.000 Health officials, no new COVID-19 cases from Missouri parties.

00:42:00.000 No additional new...

00:42:01.000 Well, you know, what's interesting is what we were talking about before the podcast, when you guys were getting tested for the COVID, we were talking about Italy.

00:42:09.000 How Italy has...

00:42:10.000 The detectable levels are so small.

00:42:13.000 They're so minuscule.

00:42:14.000 Infantissimal.

00:42:15.000 I just learned that word.

00:42:16.000 Ooh, you nailed it.

00:42:17.000 There was a struggle earlier.

00:42:19.000 I know.

00:42:20.000 The viral load is infinitesimal.

00:42:23.000 Well, sometimes when you read things and you don't say it out loud, and all of a sudden you say it out loud for the first time, you're like, I don't know how to say that word.

00:42:28.000 Yeah, there's a lot of words like that that I never use.

00:42:30.000 But yeah, in San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, you know, they're saying that the virus no longer exists in Italy.

00:42:40.000 That's so crazy.

00:42:41.000 So it just burned through the population.

00:42:43.000 Well, hopefully that's what's happening here.

00:42:45.000 Hopefully.

00:42:46.000 Hopefully.

00:42:47.000 We're going to see in two weeks, right?

00:42:50.000 Two weeks, we're going to see what happened from all this protesting and everybody being on top of each other.

00:42:55.000 Also, the stress of it all has got to be terrible for people's immune system as well.

00:42:58.000 Yeah, for sure.

00:43:01.000 We were talking about it earlier.

00:43:03.000 If you're a human being and you have any feelings at all, You're going to feel the stress of humanity right now, the stress of the world.

00:43:10.000 Because in our lifetimes, we've never seen one of these events.

00:43:14.000 But it's like we have the Spanish flu and the Great Depression and the 1968 riots happening all at the same time.

00:43:21.000 Yeah, I think bigger than the 68 riots.

00:43:23.000 I don't think any riots have ever been this widespread through the entire country.

00:43:28.000 And the looting.

00:43:29.000 Well, the Rodney King, I think they had a lot of deaths, right?

00:43:32.000 They had a lot of deaths in Los Angeles, but they didn't protest the Rodney King riots in Boston.

00:43:39.000 This is worldwide.

00:43:40.000 This is worldwide, yeah.

00:43:42.000 The looting, though, seems to be only here.

00:43:45.000 And the looting is just insane.

00:43:48.000 Well, in Toronto today, it's actually quite peaceful.

00:43:51.000 They have looting in Toronto?

00:43:53.000 Well, supposedly tomorrow there's some organized looting happening.

00:43:57.000 Organized looting?

00:43:58.000 June the 6th.

00:44:00.000 And these piles of bricks are showing up around the city as well.

00:44:03.000 Yeah, we were talking about that.

00:44:05.000 That's so weird.

00:44:06.000 Big pallets of bricks that are dropped off on areas.

00:44:11.000 And no one really has any understanding of why.

00:44:14.000 There's been a bunch of articles written on it, and they're trying to sort it out.

00:44:18.000 And some of them are just coincidence.

00:44:20.000 They were at construction sites, and the bricks happened to be there.

00:44:23.000 And some of them, there's no reason whatsoever for the bricks being there. 0.98

00:44:26.000 Wouldn't you think, as much as every single building has a camera on it, wouldn't you be able to see who's dropping this shit off? 0.96

00:44:35.000 It's like, here's some rioting supplies. 0.99

00:44:38.000 Have at it.

00:44:39.000 Yeah.

00:44:40.000 Well, the real fear is that it's the police.

00:44:42.000 People are worried that the police are doing it, encouraging people to throw rocks.

00:44:46.000 So if those people throw rocks, then the police can come in and break up what would have been a peaceful protest.

00:44:51.000 That's through the actions of agent provocateurs or just giving people rocks and encouraging them, you know, just by virtue of the fact the rocks are there.

00:45:01.000 There was another thing that we talked about the other day.

00:45:02.000 We should probably correct that now.

00:45:04.000 There was stacks of bricks in front of this synagogue, and we thought those stacks of bricks were also the same thing, sort of left there because people were protesting.

00:45:12.000 But it's actually even grosser.

00:45:14.000 The stacks of bricks were there to keep people from driving their car through the synagogue. 0.87

00:45:19.000 Oh, my God.

00:45:20.000 So the synagogue set it up that way just to keep people from smashing through their windows after some of these hate crimes.

00:45:29.000 This is a world in pain. 0.99

00:45:31.000 It's a fucking crazy time. 0.99

00:45:34.000 I am an eternal optimist. 0.95

00:45:38.000 And my feeling is that this is a terrible moment for us, but a good one because I think it's big enough that we're going to change.

00:45:47.000 I agree.

00:45:48.000 100%.

00:45:49.000 There's a real chance.

00:45:50.000 A real chance that people are going to change.

00:45:53.000 Yes, I really think that.

00:45:55.000 And you're seeing, like there was a video I was watching today of a girl having an argument with her racist father and she filmed it.

00:46:01.000 Did you see that?

00:46:02.000 Yeah.

00:46:02.000 That kind of stuff gives me hope.

00:46:05.000 Like a kid who's raised by someone who's got some racial prejudice and the kid doesn't.

00:46:10.000 You know, the attitude of kids today, the attitude of young people today.

00:46:15.000 It's so much more tolerant than any other generation before.

00:46:18.000 And it's so enforced.

00:46:19.000 It's a culturally enforced tolerance.

00:46:21.000 And I hope it's for everything.

00:46:23.000 I hope it's for all races, all genders, all sexual orientations, everything.

00:46:27.000 Everything.

00:46:27.000 Just we can be better.

00:46:29.000 We can be better. 0.83

00:46:29.000 And, like, it takes something like this to make everybody realize, like, there's some fucked up aspects of our society. 0.83

00:46:35.000 They need to be corrected.

00:46:37.000 There needs to be some serious refocusing of what it takes to be a police officer and what police officers can and can't do and what the punishment is and who's responsible.

00:46:49.000 And then if you're a cop and you see someone do something horrible that's also a cop, you gotta step up.

00:46:54.000 You gotta do something.

00:46:55.000 We can't do this anymore.

00:46:57.000 Did you see Chris Rock's post from three days ago?

00:46:59.000 There's some vocations.

00:47:01.000 You can't have a bad apple.

00:47:02.000 He's like police officers.

00:47:04.000 Police officers are one.

00:47:05.000 You can't have a bad apple.

00:47:06.000 Just like you can't have a bad apple as a pilot.

00:47:08.000 You can't.

00:47:09.000 Like some of our pilots like to land.

00:47:10.000 Others like to go into mountains.

00:47:12.000 We can't.

00:47:13.000 We can't have this.

00:47:16.000 I'm also extremely hopeful even if I feel like I've been brought to my knees and I'm seeing other small businesses and friends of mine getting looted right now and I'm like, It's also senseless, and I feel for Black Lives Matter right now is like the most important thing.

00:47:34.000 I didn't think anything could knock off the pandemic, but you know, it has.

00:47:37.000 We're all thinking about this, but I do feel that it's been an awakening.

00:47:40.000 And I think that it's in our face like it's never been before.

00:47:43.000 And I think what you were saying, to witness a man essentially be tortured, It's something we can't unsee.

00:47:50.000 And I think it changes you forever.

00:47:52.000 And what you were also saying is for this one man to reverberate all over the world, really, to see the protests all over the world is really something.

00:48:02.000 And I think we have to be super uncomfortable for change.

00:48:04.000 And I think this is a moment. 0.99

00:48:06.000 And I think that cop has been doing that shit since the beginning. 0.98

00:48:09.000 He's been charged with multiple times, multiple complaints since like 2006. And how crazy is it that one kid, a 17-year-old girl, films this, puts it out on the internet, and it changes the world. 0.99

00:48:22.000 This one time.

00:48:24.000 Imagine if he knew.

00:48:26.000 Imagine if he had any inkling that leaning on that man's neck with his knee for eight and a half minutes or more even, almost nine minutes, That that was literally going to change the world.

00:48:36.000 I know.

00:48:37.000 It's unbelievable.

00:48:38.000 It's a strange time. 0.98

00:48:40.000 It shows the absolute fundamental core of law enforcement across the board is absolutely fucking rotten. 1.00

00:48:46.000 We just need better training and we need people who are not fucking assholes, not racist pieces of shit going into law enforcement. 1.00

00:48:56.000 It's also the job, I think, is almost impossible. 1.00

00:49:00.000 Just from a...

00:49:03.000 Just for your mind.

00:49:04.000 I don't think people are supposed to be inundated with that kind of violence.

00:49:08.000 No, man.

00:49:09.000 They for sure have PTSD. I mean, just think about it.

00:49:13.000 Being on edge all day long, not knowing whether or not someone you're going to pull over is going to fucking kill you. 0.99

00:49:20.000 Yep. 0.99

00:49:20.000 And vice versa. 0.99

00:49:22.000 And just the amount of dead people they see, the amount of bullet wounds.

00:49:24.000 And, you know, I have friends that are cops and they tell you...

00:49:27.000 Horror stories every day.

00:49:29.000 It's a shotgun blast.

00:49:30.000 But so can the surgeon.

00:49:33.000 It's really the same thing.

00:49:36.000 Maybe the reform has to be that mental health has to be looked after.

00:49:41.000 But there needs to be a different way.

00:49:44.000 There needs to be reform.

00:49:45.000 There has to be a different way.

00:49:46.000 There needs to be different training.

00:49:47.000 Yeah, it's not a job like, you know, you could be a garbage man. 0.98

00:49:52.000 Okay, I'll show you how to do the garbage. 1.00

00:49:53.000 No, it's like, who are you?

00:49:55.000 Let's sit down.

00:49:56.000 Mike, why do you want to be a cop?

00:49:57.000 You know, like, it should be a really difficult thing to get a license to be a police officer.

00:50:03.000 It should be the most difficult thing to do.

00:50:04.000 You know, it should be the most difficult job to get.

00:50:07.000 And should be paid really well.

00:50:08.000 Yeah.

00:50:10.000 You just look at all the systems and it's all broken.

00:50:13.000 Like when we look at the restaurant business, it's actually a broken business.

00:50:16.000 Our society is broken in that we pay teachers hardly anything for doing such an important job and police officers and people who are working on the front lines.

00:50:26.000 And you're mentioning that the kid that's stalking the shelves and he's putting himself in harm's way making minimum wage.

00:50:32.000 It all just doesn't make sense.

00:50:33.000 Yeah.

00:50:34.000 Well, before it used to be just a job.

00:50:36.000 Now you're risking your life.

00:50:37.000 You know, if you work in a supermarket, it used to be, oh, you know, I got a good job stocking the shelves.

00:50:42.000 Now it's like, oh, I could die from this.

00:50:44.000 Like, that wasn't on the menu when I first signed up for this.

00:50:47.000 Yeah.

00:50:47.000 Restaurant business is the same now.

00:50:50.000 Yeah, right?

00:50:51.000 Now it really is.

00:50:52.000 Because if people are serving people and people are coughing on them...

00:50:57.000 Vitamin D, kids.

00:50:59.000 Get your vitamin D. Vitamin C. Make sure you take your zinc.

00:51:02.000 5,000 IUs, yeah.

00:51:04.000 Get your body healthy.

00:51:06.000 But they don't, again, I'll say they still don't know enough about this virus, and every day you wake up and you're like, oh, you're blood type, so I have blood type A, and that supposedly you'll have a rough time.

00:51:18.000 You have a higher chance of having a rough time needing oxygen.

00:51:21.000 If you have blood type A, we don't know enough.

00:51:25.000 Right.

00:51:26.000 That's been like the most frustrating and for me at least the most frustrating and the most depressing thing is the literal like hour to hour changes of everything.

00:51:37.000 And making long term decisions is literally impossible.

00:51:40.000 And in this business, you have to make long term decisions.

00:51:44.000 You have to project.

00:51:46.000 In order to be successful.

00:51:48.000 And that's what's been so difficult.

00:51:50.000 Is that, you know, just the other day, there was a curfew.

00:51:53.000 It was at 6. I was in the grocery store.

00:51:55.000 It was curfews at 6. And then all of a sudden, oh, we changed it to 5. And then all of a sudden, everybody in the grocery store was working there.

00:52:02.000 It was like, fuck, we have to close in 30 minutes. 0.98

00:52:04.000 And they're like, letting everybody who's in line outside in. 0.99

00:52:09.000 And all of a sudden, it's packed.

00:52:10.000 So all the social distancing for people waiting, they just gave it up. 1.00

00:52:14.000 What the fuck? 0.99

00:52:14.000 It's not really that important. 0.99

00:52:16.000 What's really important is get your food quick.

00:52:18.000 It's been bananas.

00:52:19.000 So you have to do all these calculations when you're figuring out how many meals you're going to serve, how much food you're going to order, and you have to kind of guess.

00:52:31.000 Do you guess how many people are going to order fish, how many people are going to order steak?

00:52:35.000 You have pars, obviously, but you get into this rhythm.

00:52:41.000 And Felix, I'm a student of consistency.

00:52:44.000 And I always have been.

00:52:46.000 I learned it at Spago.

00:52:48.000 Spago is probably one of the most consistent restaurants in the entire country.

00:52:53.000 And my mentor, Lee Hefter, kind of instilled in me those principles that define the way that I run restaurants now.

00:53:01.000 So you obviously have PARs, but you have to look at Pmex.

00:53:05.000 You've got to look at what you're selling.

00:53:06.000 You have to look at what people are enjoying, what people aren't buying.

00:53:11.000 And you really ultimately have to know your clientele.

00:53:14.000 You have to get to know them very much so.

00:53:16.000 And I think that that's...

00:53:18.000 A lot of what hospitality professionals are really missing is that connection to the people. 1.00

00:53:24.000 Because that's the reason why we do this shit, is to see you, Joe Rogan, eat the steak at table 33 and say, fuck, that was the fucking best steak I ever had in my fucking life. 0.99

00:53:35.000 It was the best steak I've ever had. 1.00

00:53:37.000 It really was.

00:53:37.000 Yeah, all this talk about pasta, but really when you came, you were on the carnivore diet.

00:53:41.000 Well, that was the second or third time.

00:53:41.000 I was surprised you ordered pasta, dude.

00:53:43.000 That you had come.

00:53:44.000 Okay.

00:53:44.000 We had dinner together with Brian Cowan and my buddy Alex Enchin.

00:53:50.000 The four of us had dinner, and you were on the carnivore diet.

00:53:53.000 Yeah, I was then.

00:53:54.000 But even then, the steak was fantastic.

00:53:58.000 All the food was fantastic.

00:53:59.000 But the time I went after that, right before you guys got shut down, my wife and I ate there.

00:54:04.000 That was the last service, no?

00:54:05.000 I think so.

00:54:08.000 I saw you there that night.

00:54:09.000 I had just flown in from Toronto, and that was my last time out.

00:54:12.000 I think that was your last time out.

00:54:14.000 You snuck out an out.

00:54:15.000 Did you hear it?

00:54:17.000 You outed a Canadian. 0.91

00:54:19.000 I outed myself.

00:54:21.000 You Canadian right there.

00:54:23.000 Yeah, I had pasta that time.

00:54:25.000 It's sensational.

00:54:26.000 But that's till this day is the best steak I've ever had.

00:54:28.000 What are you doing different?

00:54:29.000 What are you doing?

00:54:30.000 How are you cooking steak?

00:54:32.000 Salt.

00:54:33.000 Talk to me.

00:54:33.000 Don't lie.

00:54:33.000 Salt, black pepper, hot fire.

00:54:35.000 That's it?

00:54:36.000 Violent fire.

00:54:37.000 But it's where the meat comes from.

00:54:39.000 And then rest.

00:54:40.000 Really?

00:54:40.000 I mean, you have to, you know, in my opinion, 90% of cooking is ingredients.

00:54:46.000 10% technique.

00:54:48.000 That's it. 0.73

00:54:49.000 So just buy the best that you possibly can and try not to fuck it up. 0.94

00:54:52.000 You need some instruction. 0.94

00:54:55.000 You need some technique.

00:54:57.000 But a lot of people – I think the biggest ingredient that is missing in a lot of cooking today – Restraint.

00:55:07.000 Restraint. 0.97

00:55:08.000 Don't fucking manipulate it. 0.98

00:55:09.000 Just let it do what it does. 0.98

00:55:11.000 The farmers have taken great pains.

00:55:13.000 The ranchers have taken great pains to get this product to where it is.

00:55:17.000 To where it's ultimate.

00:55:18.000 It's peak of perfection.

00:55:19.000 It's peak of ripeness.

00:55:20.000 It's peak of marbling.

00:55:22.000 Whatever.

00:55:23.000 Just put some salt and some black pepper on it and apply heat.

00:55:27.000 And then watch it.

00:55:28.000 And you kind of have to have a little bit of an internal calibration to understand what's going on.

00:55:34.000 Do you use a timer?

00:55:35.000 No.

00:55:36.000 All by feel.

00:55:37.000 Why are you laughing?

00:55:38.000 All feel.

00:55:39.000 You can mock me.

00:55:40.000 Go ahead.

00:55:40.000 No!

00:55:41.000 It's just funny.

00:55:42.000 We use scales.

00:55:43.000 We use timers.

00:55:44.000 But to cook meat, you have to...

00:55:47.000 You have to do it a lot.

00:55:48.000 Repetition is the mother of all skill, whether that's pasta making or cooking on the grill.

00:55:53.000 Do you use any sort of a thermometer?

00:55:55.000 At the beginning I did, yeah, but now it's by feel.

00:55:58.000 So just how it gives when you touch it?

00:56:02.000 Yeah.

00:56:02.000 There's things you can learn by touching, you know, like that's medium rare here.

00:56:06.000 So if you use your pinky, your ring finger, your middle finger like this.

00:56:10.000 So this, this, this, this.

00:56:11.000 So this is rare.

00:56:13.000 This is mid-rare.

00:56:15.000 This is medium.

00:56:16.000 And that's well.

00:56:17.000 So this is what we're doing for people just listening, squeezing different parts of your hand where it's more firm.

00:56:23.000 Yeah.

00:56:23.000 Right between the thumb and the index finger.

00:56:26.000 What do you do if someone asks for a well-done steak? 1.00

00:56:27.000 Do you tell them to go fuck themselves? 1.00

00:56:30.000 Probably should, huh? 1.00

00:56:31.000 No, listen.

00:56:32.000 If that's what they want out of the experience...

00:56:34.000 Listen, sometimes people just want to yell at you, and that's what they want out of the experience at the restaurant, so you've got to give it to them.

00:56:39.000 That's part of hospitality.

00:56:40.000 They want to complain, do you think?

00:56:42.000 Some people are just incorrigible.

00:56:45.000 And you just have to say, I hear you.

00:56:49.000 Thank you so much for your feedback.

00:56:50.000 Ugh.

00:56:52.000 Do you really? 1.00

00:56:53.000 I mean, internally, I'm fucking screaming. 0.99

00:56:55.000 Right. 0.99

00:56:55.000 Like, I love cacio e pepe, but I hate black pepper. 0.99

00:57:00.000 Say what?

00:57:02.000 Like, black pepper, pasta, pecorino romano, those are the three ingredients in it.

00:57:08.000 The pasta's a vessel for the black pepper.

00:57:10.000 Yeah, how could you say that?

00:57:12.000 People do, all the time.

00:57:14.000 All the time.

00:57:15.000 And you have to talk to these people?

00:57:16.000 They say, I'd like to speak to the chef?

00:57:18.000 Oh, no.

00:57:18.000 I have people that buffer me from that.

00:57:20.000 Oh, God.

00:57:21.000 I can only imagine.

00:57:22.000 But still in hospitality, I mean, you know, we train our team to just, like, not make anything about you.

00:57:29.000 And, you know, you just look at someone and say, maybe their mother died today.

00:57:33.000 And if you just – it's so easy to diffuse, and it's really a lot of psychology being applied to To people where, you know, people need to be heard and understood.

00:57:43.000 And so you just let people vent and, you know, there's ways to kind of mimic people's, you know, bodily movements and stuff to show that you've heard them.

00:57:54.000 And it's just really powerful to diffuse that.

00:57:57.000 And so in hospitality, you can't take anything personally.

00:57:59.000 It's never about you.

00:58:00.000 Nothing's ever about you.

00:58:01.000 I could only imagine.

00:58:04.000 Honestly, when I first started cooking professionally as a chef, I used to read the Yelp reviews and whatnot.

00:58:12.000 Oh, no!

00:58:13.000 I haven't read a Yelp review since 2006. Joe's a big fan of reading all comments.

00:58:20.000 Yeah, super important.

00:58:21.000 Hear everybody...

00:58:23.000 When you, like, I don't have kids, but so these restaurants, and I feel like I do have a lot of kids that work for me, but my restaurants feel like my babies.

00:58:32.000 And then in the early days, I would read reviews, and it would be like somebody saying, your baby's ugly, so ugly!

00:58:38.000 And you'd be like...

00:58:38.000 It's crushing.

00:58:39.000 No, yeah, it's crushing.

00:58:40.000 So you can't read.

00:58:41.000 Especially for chefs.

00:58:42.000 Chefs put their heart and soul onto the plate.

00:58:45.000 Everything that I have inside of me goes onto that plate.

00:58:49.000 My history, my family, my heart, my soul, my emotion.

00:58:54.000 Cooking is emotion.

00:58:55.000 If you don't have emotion when you cook, then you're not doing it right.

00:58:59.000 Yeah. 0.95

00:59:00.000 And when you put it out there on the public stage and people say, this sucks. 1.00

00:59:05.000 Fuck you. 1.00

00:59:06.000 This sucks. 1.00

00:59:06.000 This isn't authentic. 1.00

00:59:08.000 Blah, blah, blah.

00:59:09.000 Cooking food is so personal to the person who's receiving it.

00:59:13.000 And like we said, authenticity is very personal.

00:59:15.000 So sometimes I just have to say, you know what?

00:59:18.000 Felix is just not the restaurant for you, my friend.

00:59:22.000 And we've fired customers before.

00:59:24.000 So you don't let them come back?

00:59:26.000 Yeah.

00:59:26.000 We have to.

00:59:27.000 Do you have a photo of them?

00:59:28.000 Like a banned list?

00:59:29.000 Or I think it's just, you know, I think if you're in the business of pleasing everybody, you please nobody.

00:59:34.000 Yes.

00:59:34.000 And sometimes you just, you know, this is how it is, and we're not going to change it.

00:59:38.000 If somebody asks for the cachoe pepe with less pepper, this is not the place where you should be having cachoe pepe.

00:59:45.000 Sometimes we just also do that to respect the art of Evan's cooking.

00:59:49.000 Yeah, well, I think it's...

00:59:51.000 What I was saying earlier is that it took me watching Bourdain's love for cuisine to understand what food really is.

00:59:58.000 What being a chef really is. 0.99

01:00:00.000 I miss that fucking guy, man. 1.00

01:00:01.000 I miss that fucking guy, too. 1.00

01:00:02.000 But I think many people don't ever have that experience where they do make that switch in their head. 0.99

01:00:08.000 Like, oh, this is art.

01:00:09.000 This isn't just food.

01:00:11.000 I think there's a lot of people that...

01:00:14.000 It's like everything else.

01:00:16.000 If you don't do it, you don't really have an appreciation for it.

01:00:19.000 If you don't study it or really deeply try to understand it, you don't have an appreciation for it.

01:00:25.000 That's like everything else, like how kids treat society in general, how a lot of people just take things for granted.

01:00:31.000 I think people take food for granted.

01:00:33.000 But I think there's been a lot of focus on food over the last, you know, maybe call it 10 years where you have the chef's table and people really appreciating the art of cooking. 0.99

01:00:43.000 When I started cooking, that shit was a blue-collar job, man. 0.97

01:00:46.000 There were very, very few celebrity chefs. 0.99

01:00:49.000 There was like Emeril and Mario when I started cooking. 0.99

01:00:54.000 Overnight, it became like the hot shit to do. 0.99

01:00:57.000 And all these culinary schools start opening and just meat grinder, just churning out these ill-prepared, entitled kids. 0.99

01:01:07.000 And they sell them a bill of goods when they go to culinary school.

01:01:11.000 You graduate from here, you're going to be a chef. 0.98

01:01:13.000 What I didn't know, as soon as I got to culinary school, I was making $7 a fucking hour. 1.00

01:01:18.000 $7 an hour peeling fucking carrots and potatoes and picking parsley and shit. 0.99

01:01:24.000 And like you've really got to love it to get to that point. 1.00

01:01:29.000 You've got to do it for 10 years to get good at it and then you've got to do it another 10 years to start making money from it.

01:01:35.000 And that's it.

01:01:36.000 And a lot of the younger kids, they're just not willing to pay the fucking cost and they want to skip rungs in the ladder and – That's the case with every art form. 0.96

01:01:47.000 We find that with comedy, with stand-up comedy. 0.99

01:01:49.000 There's a lot of kids that they want to do stand-up and they develop a YouTube channel and then they get a following for making funny YouTube videos and then they think they're a stand-up comic and you're like, hold the fuck on. 0.89

01:01:59.000 They're like, where's my Netflix special? 0.90

01:02:00.000 Yeah, exactly.

01:02:01.000 I demand it.

01:02:02.000 Yeah, it takes...

01:02:03.000 With comedy and food, the proof is in the end result.

01:02:05.000 It's either good or it's bad. 0.99

01:02:07.000 You might be able to make one dish perfectly one time, but can you do that shit 10,000 times with 98% accuracy? 1.00

01:02:15.000 Right. 1.00

01:02:16.000 That's the rub.

01:02:18.000 There's also a thing, I think, in being a chef, what you were talking about, making $7 an hour, peeling onions and stuff, that's real similar to comedy in that you've got to do the road.

01:02:27.000 You've got to work these shitholes.

01:02:29.000 You've got to make your bones, man.

01:02:29.000 And you might hate it while you're doing it, but one day you look back and go, oh, that was really important for my development.

01:02:35.000 It's pure and simple.

01:02:36.000 It's foundation.

01:02:37.000 You can't build anything without a strong foundation.

01:02:42.000 Now when you create your menu, how often do you change it?

01:02:46.000 At Felix, I think we cook specifically with seasonality.

01:02:52.000 So if the market changes, we change.

01:02:54.000 And that's really how the Italians have cooked for thousands and thousands of years.

01:02:58.000 You know, seasonality is a real buzzword in the U.S. But Italians have been cooking that way out of necessity for thousands of years. 0.96

01:03:06.000 And so have many other cultures.

01:03:08.000 But I really take my inspiration from tradition and try to pay homage to those culinary traditions in Italy.

01:03:16.000 And I try to put as a minimal amount of ego and a minimal amount of manipulation towards the traditional product.

01:03:25.000 And all I want to do is present whatever it is, whether it's cacio e pepe or tagliatella bolognese, the truest form that you can possibly get in the US, that's what I want to put forth.

01:03:37.000 And if you take my Bolognese, The inspiration from that...

01:03:41.000 Do you have the bolo at Felix?

01:03:43.000 I'm sure I've had it, yeah. 1.00

01:03:45.000 That shit should taste like the streets of Bologna. 1.00

01:03:48.000 The diesel-fueled cigarette smoke. 1.00

01:03:50.000 Really?

01:03:51.000 The melting pork fat.

01:03:52.000 Wait a minute.

01:03:52.000 Like that.

01:03:53.000 Italy...

01:03:54.000 Italian food is so...

01:03:56.000 Italian food is so environmentally driven.

01:04:00.000 Italian food is so environmentally driven. 0.99

01:04:02.000 And it's hard to accomplish that if you're in the ass end of fucking Culver City. 0.99

01:04:06.000 So you have to coax out... 0.99

01:04:14.000 I think?

01:04:33.000 It doesn't read the same way and that's really where the difference between good restaurants, bad restaurants and great restaurants really lives.

01:04:42.000 And what about the wine?

01:04:44.000 How do you know what wine to buy that's going to go with the meals that you're serving?

01:04:49.000 Again, it goes down to regionality and someone who has a great palate.

01:04:53.000 Our wine director, Matt Rogel, has done an exceptional job at choosing wines that are specific to the regions that we're inspired by.

01:05:02.000 And you've got to taste it.

01:05:03.000 I mean, that's the fun part, but you just have to taste everything.

01:05:09.000 Taste it. 0.99

01:05:09.000 And there's a lot of shit wine out there, but there's a lot of... 0.99

01:05:12.000 Exceptional wine that is made by very small family farms, sorry, vintners, that the allocation is so small that they barely have enough to send to the U.S. So does the wine director look at your menu and then say, 0.99

01:05:30.000 you know, this is going to require...

01:05:32.000 100%.

01:05:33.000 It has to be collaborative, you know.

01:05:37.000 So you'll show him the menu and then you have a dialogue about what kind of wine.

01:05:43.000 Exactly.

01:05:43.000 And then do you try it?

01:05:44.000 Do you make a dish and try the wine with that dish?

01:05:49.000 We'll taste multiple wines.

01:05:51.000 Multiple wines.

01:05:52.000 What could possibly go with...

01:05:54.000 Whatever you're making.

01:05:56.000 If it's a new dish or a new wine or it's the same menu in an old wine, a different vintage, a different area of the region where the wine is grown, there's so many different elements to choosing wine.

01:06:08.000 And then on top of it...

01:06:10.000 Training the staff to make suggestions to clientele, like, hey, what do you really like?

01:06:16.000 And that gets back to that conversation between us and the clientele.

01:06:22.000 And knowing more about our clientele and who likes to come to Felix gives us a better standpoint.

01:06:29.000 How many of you people do you think are return customers?

01:06:32.000 I would say at least 75 to 80 percent.

01:06:36.000 Wow.

01:06:36.000 Absolutely.

01:06:37.000 That's crazy.

01:06:38.000 So you recognize people?

01:06:39.000 Of course.

01:06:40.000 Wow.

01:06:41.000 I never thought of that.

01:06:41.000 I mean, you saw me.

01:06:42.000 I stand at the pass.

01:06:43.000 I'm in the dining room.

01:06:45.000 Yeah.

01:06:45.000 And I check every single plate coming out of the kitchen.

01:06:48.000 Wow.

01:06:48.000 Your bread and butter is really your returning customers in any restaurant.

01:06:53.000 You're going to have an element of people that come in because they're traveling from other parts of the world and they want to check out your restaurant.

01:07:00.000 But imagine right now where traveling is really hit.

01:07:03.000 So if you don't have your local customer base built up, then you're in trouble.

01:07:07.000 Now for someone like you that has so many restaurants and you have so many plates spinning, how do you not go crazy?

01:07:13.000 How do you manage all that?

01:07:16.000 I can't imagine the stress that's on your head, the weight you're carrying on your shoulders running that many restaurants.

01:07:24.000 Well, I have an amazing team, so I'm definitely not alone in this, and I have amazing people.

01:07:29.000 And we're in this together, and I think I had a moment where I was brought to my knees.

01:07:34.000 I felt stressed like I had never felt before.

01:07:36.000 I was thinking, like, could I have an aneurysm right now?

01:07:38.000 I was just feeling uncontrollable stress, you know, with the thought of just losing everything that I had built up.

01:07:44.000 And my personality being so conservative, I just couldn't believe it.

01:07:48.000 It was overwhelming.

01:07:49.000 And then I gave myself, I just gave myself a few days to be that way and have, you know, that reaction.

01:07:55.000 And, you know, I'm an entrepreneur and I'm gritty and I just gave myself essentially a few days and then I picked myself up and I said, well, what are we going to do?

01:08:04.000 And I'm not alone in this.

01:08:05.000 Everybody in my industry, the industry has been decimated.

01:08:08.000 And to know that we're in this together and to look at solutions where you have to adapt and innovate and renegotiate.

01:08:16.000 So, you know, how are we going to create these other new revenue streams?

01:08:20.000 And so I got back into working mode, working around the clock with my team.

01:08:23.000 And a lot of my restaurants in Toronto, you can buy all of your groceries and essentials and just looking for other revenue streams to survive.

01:08:30.000 Have any of them opened up in Toronto yet?

01:08:32.000 Not for a sit-down and we're behind the US. Really?

01:08:35.000 Yeah.

01:08:36.000 Why is that?

01:08:38.000 Well, because the virus lagged in the spread.

01:08:44.000 It started here.

01:08:45.000 It started spreading in New York City before Toronto.

01:08:48.000 So we were just, I think, about three weeks behind everything happening here.

01:08:53.000 And I think we're a little bit more conservative with reopening.

01:08:59.000 Everyone's telling me they can't get even the antibody test anywhere in Canada.

01:09:03.000 So we're behind on these kind of things.

01:09:06.000 So we don't know when we're going to be allowed to be open for seated, to be seated.

01:09:11.000 You know, and I think the one good news, we're going into summer.

01:09:14.000 A lot of my restaurants have a lot of patio space.

01:09:17.000 And we know that you're safe for outdoors, for obvious reasons.

01:09:21.000 And with Felix, we went to the landlord to ask if we could use the back area space.

01:09:27.000 There's like a little park hat, so we're going to use outdoor space behind the restaurants.

01:09:31.000 And it's all about making people feel safe.

01:09:33.000 People will come out if they feel safe.

01:09:35.000 There's going to be your young customer base that doesn't care.

01:09:38.000 But as more and more restaurants open, it's going to be spread amongst fewer restaurants.

01:09:44.000 So we're not out of the woods here.

01:09:47.000 And again, our goal is to survive this.

01:09:50.000 Now, do you look at these new restaurants you're about to open?

01:09:53.000 Do you put them on pause?

01:09:54.000 Do you just continue ahead once you get the green light and just say, let's make it happen?

01:09:59.000 Well, each project, again, is very different, and I have different amounts of money invested in each project.

01:10:04.000 So what we're doing is negotiating around the clock with, for example, if we have landlords in certain places, we're renegotiating the leases right now, and we're asking to put it on pause, put the entire project on pause until we come out of this, and I can start building the company again and have some revenue to put back into the projects.

01:10:23.000 Some landlords have been unwilling in the beginning, but now they're more willing as they realize who can take my place.

01:10:32.000 I've got a very strong record.

01:10:34.000 I've never closed a restaurant.

01:10:36.000 That's amazing.

01:10:38.000 That's really amazing.

01:10:39.000 Thank you.

01:10:40.000 Isn't it like...

01:10:41.000 It's pretty amazing.

01:10:42.000 Yeah, it's amazing.

01:10:43.000 What is the average restaurant?

01:10:45.000 Like, what percentage?

01:10:47.000 80%.

01:10:48.000 80% close.

01:10:48.000 Failure.

01:10:49.000 Yeah.

01:10:50.000 Yeah, high failure rate.

01:10:51.000 Very tough business.

01:10:52.000 Don't go in it.

01:10:53.000 Nobody.

01:10:54.000 Nobody.

01:10:55.000 Yeah, you thrive.

01:10:56.000 No, I love it.

01:10:57.000 I love it.

01:10:57.000 It's passion for us.

01:10:58.000 And so we do it.

01:10:59.000 But, you know, landlords maybe initially were saying, just you got to pay your rent.

01:11:05.000 Even on construction sites, my rent was kicking in.

01:11:07.000 I'm like, I'm not even open and I got to pay rent.

01:11:10.000 I said, I can't do that.

01:11:10.000 So take the keys.

01:11:12.000 And so some of them were like, why would you want to waste your investment?

01:11:15.000 And I'd be like, I'm like in triage and I got to save the restaurants that are open.

01:11:19.000 I can't be, like, building a worse time to be building a restaurant.

01:11:22.000 So I have to be willing to walk away.

01:11:24.000 And in negotiations, your strongest position is being willing to walk away.

01:11:28.000 So I'm like, just take the keys.

01:11:29.000 I can't even be concerned about this.

01:11:31.000 Even if I've got millions of dollars out on construction sites, I'm like, take the keys.

01:11:35.000 And then they come back and they say, well, I guess we don't have anyone else to come in our place.

01:11:41.000 Restaurants have been decimated.

01:11:43.000 Retail, are you going to get Neiman Marcus in there?

01:11:46.000 J.Crew?

01:11:47.000 Who's coming in my place?

01:11:49.000 So once they start to realize that, they're saying, okay, let's sit down at the negotiation table and work this out.

01:11:55.000 So I'm working through every project.

01:11:58.000 So, I don't have the answers right now, but I'm willing to walk away if I can't, you know, negotiate to be something that I can actually, you know, survive in the end, and not just pour more money into something that I'll just lose my shirt.

01:12:09.000 I want to pause on the construction sites.

01:12:12.000 It seems like there's going to be a long period of time before anybody considers opening up a new restaurant after this.

01:12:19.000 Oh my God.

01:12:19.000 You'd be surprised.

01:12:21.000 You think so?

01:12:21.000 People are going to just jump in?

01:12:23.000 Some gangsters? 1.00

01:12:24.000 Fuck it! 1.00

01:12:25.000 The thing is this. 1.00

01:12:27.000 There is no restaurant life without restaurant death.

01:12:30.000 And this is a revolving door. 0.99

01:12:32.000 Dude, you just got philosophical as fuck right there. 0.99

01:12:35.000 Evan's deep. 0.99

01:12:37.000 It's the way of this game.

01:12:40.000 And it's the unfortunate fact that from extraordinary These extraordinary circumstances, there's going to be a lot of leases that are available and there are a lot of people who want to open restaurants because it's the hot thing to do.

01:12:58.000 I 100% agree.

01:12:59.000 I just think that there's going to be a lot of young people coming now because commercial real estate is going to be very affordable and they can come in.

01:13:06.000 So I think a little bit there's going to be a changing of the guard.

01:13:09.000 Well, restaurants in LA have very unique personalities, too.

01:13:14.000 There's, like, celebrity spots, which I'm always, like, super wary of.

01:13:18.000 And they always seem really gross, you know?

01:13:21.000 But, like, I've eaten at Catch before, and there's, like, paparazzi waiting for you as you're walking in.

01:13:26.000 You're like, what is...

01:13:27.000 Those places are done, like, but by design.

01:13:30.000 Yeah.

01:13:30.000 They're flashy and whatever, but we've always...

01:13:36.000 I've tried to create a safe haven, like a sanctuary for the celebrity clientele.

01:13:42.000 You know, if you need to go out the back door and, you know, because there's paparazzi outside, absolutely.

01:13:47.000 Let's go through the kitchen.

01:13:48.000 Whatever you need.

01:13:50.000 And I think that's a lot of the reason why celebrities are attracted to Felix is that I'm just here to feed you and make sure you have a good time.

01:14:01.000 And then if you need anything further on top of that, we're willing to supply that, whatever it is.

01:14:07.000 And on top of that, the food's pretty good.

01:14:09.000 But yeah, the food's amazing.

01:14:10.000 But it's like scenes.

01:14:12.000 Those are weird.

01:14:13.000 Like those are engineered.

01:14:14.000 They're super weird.

01:14:14.000 They're engineered that way, absolutely.

01:14:16.000 So they probably tell the paparazzi, come hang out here.

01:14:19.000 They probably have some sort of a weird deal with celebrities, bring your celebrity friends.

01:14:23.000 And celebrities do go there to be photographed.

01:14:25.000 And it happens all over the place.

01:14:28.000 But L.A., this is L.A. Yeah.

01:14:30.000 I was listening to these dummies talk, and they were like, we went to catch there was no one famous there. 0.80

01:14:34.000 Like, they went there just to see famous people.

01:14:38.000 What's the thing?

01:14:39.000 It's bizarre. 0.98

01:14:39.000 It's fucking weird. 0.98

01:14:40.000 It's fucking weird, yeah. 0.99

01:14:43.000 When you look at all the restaurants, and LA is a really good place for restaurants. 0.98

01:14:49.000 Would you agree with that?

01:14:50.000 I think LA is the best place to cook right now.

01:14:54.000 Really?

01:14:54.000 In all of the United States.

01:14:55.000 Absolutely.

01:14:56.000 Why so?

01:14:57.000 Just because, you know, for a very long time, LA wasn't really respected as a bona fide place for people to cook.

01:15:07.000 Why was that?

01:15:08.000 Just no respect.

01:15:10.000 Just no respect.

01:15:11.000 And it was always San Francisco.

01:15:12.000 It was always New York.

01:15:13.000 And they pulled the Michelin Guide out of LA. The Michelin Guide existed here and then they pulled it out and they just brought it back last year.

01:15:20.000 Why?

01:15:20.000 Why'd they pull it out?

01:15:21.000 They didn't think it was good enough.

01:15:23.000 What?

01:15:23.000 Really?

01:15:24.000 For real.

01:15:24.000 Because we just have a different style and approach to dining.

01:15:28.000 Fine dining has its place in Los Angeles, but there's literally a handful of Of fine dining restaurants.

01:15:35.000 And that's what Michelin is really geared towards rating is fine dining restaurants.

01:15:40.000 You have to do certain things, a certain criteria that you have to hit to get a Michelin star.

01:15:46.000 That's all there is.

01:15:46.000 And they focus a lot on French and Japanese style restaurants, which is big in New York.

01:15:53.000 It's big in San Francisco.

01:15:55.000 It's big in Chicago.

01:15:55.000 So they focus on that.

01:15:57.000 So they pulled it.

01:15:58.000 I think it was 2009. They pulled the guide.

01:16:00.000 Yeah.

01:16:01.000 Wow.

01:16:01.000 They just didn't take a serious thing.

01:16:03.000 Not good enough, LA. But they came back last year.

01:16:05.000 Yeah, it was a lot of backlash when they came back.

01:16:07.000 Okay, we think you're good enough now.

01:16:09.000 And a lot of people in LA were like, this is not going to hold water.

01:16:11.000 How does one get a Michelin star?

01:16:14.000 Like, how does that work?

01:16:15.000 They come down and they just decide.

01:16:17.000 The tire company sends people out.

01:16:20.000 How weird is that, too?

01:16:21.000 Because people go out and leave.

01:16:23.000 A French tire company.

01:16:24.000 Is it?

01:16:25.000 Yeah.

01:16:26.000 Michelin's from France?

01:16:27.000 Yeah, man.

01:16:28.000 But it's a strange thing that a tire company's the most respected...

01:16:32.000 Yeah.

01:16:32.000 They send inspectors.

01:16:33.000 They're supposed to be anonymous.

01:16:37.000 There's certain criteria that they also dine.

01:16:40.000 It's always a two-top.

01:16:42.000 They always do special requests.

01:16:44.000 What's a two-top?

01:16:44.000 Two-tops.

01:16:45.000 Two people.

01:16:45.000 Okay.

01:16:46.000 Or a deuce.

01:16:48.000 You're talking restaurant talk here.

01:16:51.000 And, you know, they ask for birthday candles.

01:16:54.000 They ask for special adjustments to their meal.

01:16:57.000 They always order a bottle of wine or two glasses.

01:17:01.000 It's just there's a lot of hidden kind of things that they do that give you the heads up that they're there.

01:17:08.000 But in my opinion, I don't think Michelin actually came to Felix.

01:17:12.000 And that's why we were left off because they couldn't get a reservation.

01:17:16.000 Really?

01:17:17.000 Yeah, man.

01:17:18.000 We're booked out 28 days in advance at Felix, and for every day of that month, we have over 500 people on the wait list for that day.

01:17:27.000 So does it matter if you're on a Michelin star?

01:17:30.000 Does that mean anything to you?

01:17:31.000 To me, no.

01:17:32.000 Yeah.

01:17:32.000 I don't do it for them.

01:17:34.000 I don't do it for accolades.

01:17:35.000 I do it for the people who show up to cook there and work there for my team, and we do it for the people who come to eat. 0.99

01:17:43.000 Well, just as a client or a customer, if you're not on that list, that list is bullshit. 0.98

01:17:49.000 It really is. 0.99

01:17:51.000 You said it, Joe. 1.00

01:17:52.000 That list is bullshit. 1.00

01:17:53.000 Like, if you're telling me the best restaurants in LA is and your restaurant's not on it, nonsense. 1.00

01:17:59.000 You have a nonsense list.

01:18:00.000 Like, you better get a reservation, son.

01:18:03.000 I just think the criteria's a little bit archaic.

01:18:05.000 Yeah.

01:18:06.000 It's a little bit archaic.

01:18:07.000 And they had an exceptional chance to really create some support for the list in Los Angeles, and they really created animosity throughout the city.

01:18:21.000 Is there any other established methods of judging restaurants?

01:18:26.000 Everyone who sits down.

01:18:28.000 Right.

01:18:29.000 It's immediate.

01:18:30.000 Word of mouth.

01:18:31.000 Word of mouth.

01:18:31.000 The real.

01:18:32.000 Yeah.

01:18:33.000 And that's, I just say scoreboard, man.

01:18:35.000 Scoreboard.

01:18:35.000 I'm busy every night.

01:18:37.000 I crank every night.

01:18:39.000 Your best work is within your four walls and people walking out and word of mouth, right?

01:18:44.000 Right.

01:18:45.000 We're not going to take out advertisements and say, come to Felix, you're going to have a great plate of pasta.

01:18:49.000 It's going to be your friends telling you.

01:18:51.000 How did you come to Felix the first time?

01:18:53.000 Callan.

01:18:54.000 Brian Callan called me up.

01:18:55.000 Listen to me.

01:18:56.000 Listen to me.

01:18:57.000 The best.

01:18:58.000 The best restaurant on earth, Felix, in Venice.

01:19:02.000 It's on Abbot Kinney.

01:19:03.000 You're going with me.

01:19:04.000 The best restaurant.

01:19:05.000 Trust me.

01:19:07.000 I'm like, really?

01:19:07.000 The best.

01:19:08.000 The best.

01:19:10.000 This is Brian.

01:19:11.000 The best.

01:19:12.000 I'm like, okay, like, Brian is a real foodie.

01:19:14.000 When Callan tells me something's amazing.

01:19:16.000 I saw him the other day picking up to go.

01:19:18.000 Yeah, when he says the best, I'm like, really?

01:19:22.000 Okay.

01:19:22.000 Like, he literally calls me.

01:19:24.000 You must.

01:19:24.000 You must eat there.

01:19:26.000 You must.

01:19:27.000 It's the best.

01:19:29.000 He's right.

01:19:30.000 That's the best compliment.

01:19:35.000 People show up every day.

01:19:36.000 And that's all that I need.

01:19:39.000 Yeah, it's like Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams.

01:19:41.000 Build it and they will come. 1.00

01:19:42.000 They will come.

01:19:43.000 Yeah, I mean, it is a beautiful thing when things get out purely by word of mouth, you know?

01:19:49.000 It has more staying power that way.

01:19:51.000 Sure.

01:19:51.000 I mean, just after we opened, we had an incredible accolade in Esquire magazine, which named us the number one new restaurant in America.

01:20:00.000 That helps.

01:20:01.000 Western restaurant in America, Esquire.

01:20:03.000 Wow.

01:20:03.000 See?

01:20:04.000 Esquire knows what the fuck they're talking about. 1.00

01:20:05.000 Fuck you, Michelin. 1.00

01:20:06.000 Yeah, certain accolades like that. 1.00

01:20:09.000 You know, that's why we have a...

01:20:11.000 You know, people will say about Felix, the complaint is they can't get in because we've had certain accolades.

01:20:17.000 So anyone traveling to L.A., They're like, Esquire Magazine, number one new restaurant.

01:20:21.000 They want to check out Felix.

01:20:23.000 Have you guys thought about making a larger version of Felix?

01:20:26.000 Or do you like the fact that it's all manageable?

01:20:29.000 It's small.

01:20:30.000 It's exclusive.

01:20:31.000 I like to keep my eye on everything.

01:20:33.000 And that restaurant's just big enough that...

01:20:38.000 We can be busy, we can employ a good amount of staff members, and we can serve a significant amount of people per night.

01:20:46.000 And anything over that is just, you know, I think it loses some of the specialness of that restaurant.

01:20:53.000 You know, that restaurant is, it's a jewel.

01:20:55.000 It's a total jewel.

01:20:56.000 And there's an adage in business, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

01:21:00.000 You can open another restaurant.

01:21:02.000 Do something else.

01:21:03.000 But there's only one Felix on Ibukini, and that's how it's going to stay.

01:21:08.000 Now, when you create a dish, whether it's a pasta dish or anything, is it something that you've already cooked before?

01:21:17.000 Or do you experiment?

01:21:19.000 Do you create things based on what you already know about food and you have an idea?

01:21:26.000 Um...

01:21:27.000 That's a good question.

01:21:28.000 I mean, honestly, I try not to create.

01:21:32.000 Obviously, I'm putting my own, not a spin, but my own fingerprint on it.

01:21:37.000 But I'm really just drawing from thousands of years of tradition and just trying not to fuck it up and pay homage to the people who created it.

01:21:46.000 And anything on the Felix menu, I've learned from someone in Italy.

01:21:54.000 Like I don't make pasta shapes that I saw on YouTube because for me that's cheap.

01:22:00.000 It's cheap.

01:22:01.000 There's more value to me to learn it from a grandmother in Italy in their region, in their house and pass that knowledge on to me so that I can authentically present it in the best way possible.

01:22:16.000 So when you were learning and you were in Italy doing this, did you have this understanding that all this would eventually play out like that and that you would become a great chef and that this is the idea that you're putting in the work?

01:22:29.000 Or were you just enamored by the passion of making that food?

01:22:34.000 I absolutely fell in love with the Italian approach to cooking, the Italian approach to living, their reverence for land and tradition.

01:22:47.000 And when I got – I classically trained French, French food.

01:22:53.000 I went to Le Cordon Bleu, whatever.

01:22:55.000 I cooked for seven years French and – Asian techniques at Spago and Beverly Hills.

01:23:00.000 And as soon as I went to Italy, all of that went out the window.

01:23:04.000 And I adopted this approach because I just absolutely fell in love with the country.

01:23:09.000 And I've – that love, it burns hot.

01:23:14.000 What about that?

01:23:15.000 Why does that resonate more than, say, French cuisine?

01:23:18.000 Because French food manipulates.

01:23:20.000 They manipulate, manipulate, manipulate.

01:23:22.000 You know, sous vide and turning, you know, a tomato into something else to look like something else or taste like something else.

01:23:30.000 I just don't get that.

01:23:32.000 So much goes into growing something that's already naturally perfect.

01:23:36.000 Why wouldn't you just slice it open, put some sea salt on it, and drizzle it with fine olive oil and eat it? 0.99

01:23:42.000 That's fucking perfect. 0.99

01:23:44.000 Why would you want to fucking puree it and then jellify it and put it into it? 0.99

01:23:49.000 Why? 0.99

01:23:50.000 I just don't get it.

01:23:53.000 I just left it all behind, all those manipulative techniques that are very, very popular in a lot of the world, a lot of the restaurants in the world.

01:24:03.000 I just – it doesn't excite me.

01:24:07.000 That's just personal preference.

01:24:08.000 Personal.

01:24:09.000 Because some people love French cuisine.

01:24:11.000 Absolutely.

01:24:11.000 They love all the weird little details.

01:24:13.000 But for me, that's like how many times could you go to El Bui?

01:24:17.000 What's El Bui?

01:24:19.000 El Bui's Fran, Adria's now closed restaurant and essentially the godfather of molecular gastronomy. 0.95

01:24:27.000 And, you know, how many times can you go there and have the experience and say, fuck, I want to go back to that place because this was so good. 0.95

01:24:36.000 It hits you in a different way. 0.98

01:24:39.000 When you make food that people crave on a daily basis, it just hits different.

01:24:44.000 It gets inside of you.

01:24:45.000 You'll never forget that steak that you had at Felix.

01:24:48.000 Never. 0.99

01:24:49.000 And once it's in there, once it's in your mind, you'll be like, fuck, I'm going to have that again. 0.97

01:24:53.000 And that's really my goal as a pasta maker, as a chef, is to create dishes that hit different, you know? 0.97

01:25:02.000 And...

01:25:03.000 And to ultimately like evoke memory.

01:25:06.000 Do you have the cacio e pepe at Felix?

01:25:09.000 Yes.

01:25:09.000 Okay.

01:25:10.000 Yeah. 0.99

01:25:10.000 So my goal is like if you have the cacio e pepe at Felix and you've been to Rome and eaten cacio e pepe, I want you to be like, fuck, this is better than Rome. 0.99

01:25:22.000 Or remember that time we were in Rome, we had cacio e pepe. 0.96

01:25:25.000 This is better or this is worse or whatever.

01:25:27.000 You evoke memories and you make them.

01:25:30.000 And that's really the ultimate goal is to get inside people's heads so that they come back.

01:25:36.000 It's a weird thing, food.

01:25:38.000 It's the mouth pleasure.

01:25:39.000 It's a very strange thing.

01:25:40.000 Like the flavors.

01:25:41.000 Like you're playing games with the inside of people's mouths. 0.99

01:25:45.000 That's a fucked up way to say it. 0.99

01:25:47.000 But it's really what it is. 0.99

01:25:48.000 When those flavors come together, you like – you savor the bite.

01:25:52.000 You're like, ah!

01:25:54.000 For that brief moment, while it's in your mouth and you're chewing it, you get this really amazing pleasure.

01:26:00.000 It's also a drug in a lot of chemicals, changing your chemicals.

01:26:03.000 There's nothing like it in the world.

01:26:04.000 No, it's so important.

01:26:06.000 And God, I appreciate it so much.

01:26:07.000 I appreciate going out to a restaurant so much because of this pandemic.

01:26:11.000 And I always appreciated it.

01:26:13.000 It was always a wonderful treat to be able to go to a nice restaurant.

01:26:17.000 But God, I appreciate it so much now when you don't have it.

01:26:21.000 And I like cooking.

01:26:22.000 I cook all the time.

01:26:23.000 I enjoy it.

01:26:24.000 But there's something about not having it that makes you go, oh, I'm going to appreciate this so much when you get to do it again.

01:26:30.000 Yeah.

01:26:31.000 That's great.

01:26:31.000 Well, that gives us hope.

01:26:34.000 Yeah.

01:26:34.000 So from here, it's just waiting out the protests and then putting it all together again with the staff.

01:26:42.000 And do you bring this?

01:26:44.000 Is everybody available?

01:26:45.000 Are you going to be able to have the same crew?

01:26:47.000 Some are.

01:26:48.000 Some are not.

01:26:49.000 Some are not comfortable coming back, but they're not ready.

01:26:52.000 Because of the disease?

01:26:53.000 Yeah.

01:26:54.000 Are they getting unemployment?

01:26:56.000 I think a lot of them are.

01:26:59.000 Yeah, I mean, the CARES Act really upped the unemployment.

01:27:02.000 When you're making $600 net a week and your decision is, do I keep taking this money or do I put my life at risk?

01:27:10.000 There's going to be a certain percentage that they don't want to come back to work.

01:27:13.000 I don't blame them.

01:27:15.000 Yeah, I know what you're saying.

01:27:17.000 I wish there was more emphasis by the government put on having you take strategies to strengthen your immune system and explain to people how important it is.

01:27:30.000 Stop eating so much sugar.

01:27:31.000 Stop drinking so much.

01:27:33.000 Get some exercise.

01:27:34.000 All these things have a real measurable effect on your immune system.

01:27:39.000 But yet, it's all fear.

01:27:41.000 It's all cover your face.

01:27:42.000 Wear a shield.

01:27:43.000 Don't touch this.

01:27:44.000 Hand sanitizer.

01:27:45.000 That's weakening the immune system.

01:27:47.000 Exactly.

01:27:48.000 Well, I don't know if your immune system gets weakened because of non-contact or it gets strengthened because of contact.

01:27:55.000 If it really does get weakened because of non-contact, you're dealing with a bunch of people with severely compromised immune systems going out marching together, stacking on top of each other.

01:28:06.000 It's really kind of a crazy experiment to see where COVID is right now because of these marches.

01:28:12.000 That's for sure.

01:28:13.000 That's for sure.

01:28:16.000 So you guys optimistic?

01:28:17.000 Always?

01:28:19.000 Always, always.

01:28:20.000 100% optimistic.

01:28:21.000 Assault forward.

01:28:22.000 Assault!

01:28:23.000 Assault forward.

01:28:24.000 We have to move forward.

01:28:25.000 We have to go.

01:28:26.000 We don't have a choice.

01:28:28.000 We must move forward.

01:28:29.000 If we don't, we die. 0.79

01:28:30.000 Once you stop moving, you die. 0.79

01:28:32.000 And that's it.

01:28:33.000 It's like...

01:28:35.000 We just have to push.

01:28:36.000 And you have to be working at it.

01:28:38.000 There's a lot of restaurants that are closing and a lot of great restaurants that are closing to no fault of their own.

01:28:45.000 Because, again, for so many reasons, right?

01:28:47.000 If you're a little bit weak, if you're a new restaurant, you're going to have a hard time.

01:28:51.000 If you're an old restaurant and your sales are kind of weak...

01:28:53.000 You're going to close.

01:28:54.000 But right now, if you sit down and just kind of wait it out, you're going to die.

01:28:59.000 But if you, you know, Felix in 48 Hours became a takeout and delivery restaurant, there was no takeout and delivery.

01:29:05.000 We weren't set up at all.

01:29:06.000 We didn't even have containers, dude.

01:29:08.000 But in 48 Hours, you know, here are your pasta kits and you can have a perfect experience at home.

01:29:15.000 You know, just boil your water in three minutes, you have a Felix dinner. 0.98

01:29:19.000 But that was created by the team at Felix in 48 Hours.

01:29:23.000 A lot of restaurants, they just like, they're sitting around and they're not, you know, they're not being proactive.

01:29:29.000 And it's also about renegotiating with the banks and renegotiating with your landlords.

01:29:34.000 And looking for new revenue streams.

01:29:36.000 So you have to be doing all of that work right now or you will not survive.

01:29:40.000 I thought it was remarkably flexible that a lot of restaurants were putting together these kits, that that became a thing.

01:29:46.000 It's really very interesting.

01:29:48.000 They just adapted and said, okay, can we give these people instructions and then put together this food?

01:29:54.000 Basically what we did.

01:29:56.000 We created the kits specifically geared towards shelter at home.

01:30:03.000 So that you could get restaurant quality pasta and just literally boil water and you're there.

01:30:09.000 So you continue to make the pasta basically the same way and then do you send it to them with like very specific instructions?

01:30:17.000 Absolutely.

01:30:17.000 Put salt in the water, do this?

01:30:19.000 Absolutely, the whole bit.

01:30:19.000 The whole bit is basically heat up the sauce.

01:30:22.000 Boil the water, add this amount of salt, boil it for three minutes, add it to the sauce, boom, add the cheese, you're good to go. 0.82

01:30:29.000 It's been successful and I think a lot of restaurants took notes from us and started doing the same thing because it's really kept us alive and obviously people fucking love pizza. 0.73

01:30:43.000 Yeah. 0.96

01:30:44.000 And I think, you know, one upside to this is we weren't necessarily known for how good the pizza is at Felix, but now people fucking know how good the fucking pizza is at Felix. 0.90

01:30:54.000 So you guys make good everything, man. 0.92

01:30:56.000 But, like, so if someone orders a steak, are you cooking steak?

01:30:59.000 Are you sending them steak to cook?

01:31:01.000 No, we're sending them prepackaged cryovac steaks with instructions.

01:31:06.000 You know, everybody likes their steak cooked differently.

01:31:09.000 So we give general guidelines and pro tips of how to rest and, you know, Right.

01:31:14.000 We send them salsa verde and we send them steak salt and whatnot.

01:31:18.000 Are you telling them to cook on a frying pan?

01:31:20.000 How are you getting them to cook it?

01:31:23.000 High heat, either the grill or in the frying pan.

01:31:26.000 Just high heat is your thing?

01:31:28.000 High heat, man.

01:31:29.000 High heat and then just intervals.

01:31:32.000 High heat, take it off, let it rest.

01:31:34.000 High heat, take it off, let it rest.

01:31:36.000 Especially the T-bones.

01:31:38.000 So when you do that, so you're not doing it in one shot?

01:31:41.000 No.

01:31:42.000 You're kicking it a little bit and then letting it rest?

01:31:44.000 I'll take up to an hour to cook like a 35-ounce T-bone.

01:31:47.000 Really?

01:31:48.000 Absolutely.

01:31:49.000 Wow.

01:31:49.000 So you bring up the temperature very slow in gradual increments.

01:31:53.000 But you're doing it with high heat?

01:31:55.000 Yeah.

01:31:56.000 Why high heat?

01:31:59.000 Because that's all you got in restaurants, high heat.

01:32:01.000 Low and slow is typically for braising, but if you're dealing with dry heat, it should be violent, it should be quick, and then let it rest.

01:32:07.000 Especially the T-bone.

01:32:08.000 You got to start the T-bone on the actual bone.

01:32:11.000 Right?

01:32:11.000 So vertical.

01:32:12.000 Start it on your Traeger, right?

01:32:15.000 That's how you do it?

01:32:15.000 You start it on the bone so that the heat can radiate gently through the bone and out towards the meat.

01:32:23.000 So if you just throw the T-bone on a side and then sign it, you have a part that's connected to that actual T-bone, the separation bone.

01:32:31.000 It's going to be raw and everything else is going to be medium and medium.

01:32:34.000 But if you start it on the bone, the heat is gently radiated through the meat.

01:32:39.000 And then halfway through, we take the filet mignon off and cook the New York side a little longer and then throw it back on.

01:32:46.000 So how long do you make it sit on the bone?

01:32:49.000 How long do you have it stacked vertically like that?

01:32:51.000 Probably like 10 to 12 minutes.

01:32:53.000 Oh, wow.

01:32:54.000 I never even thought of that.

01:32:56.000 Yeah, man.

01:32:57.000 Bistecca Fiorentina.

01:32:59.000 The master is Dario.

01:33:02.000 Who's that?

01:33:02.000 Dari Cicchini.

01:33:04.000 He's like the most famous, you should look him up.

01:33:07.000 He's one of the most famous butchers in all of Italy. 1.00

01:33:10.000 He quotes Dante, he's a fucking maniac. 0.99

01:33:12.000 But I went to his restaurant I think two years ago. 0.99

01:33:15.000 Is that in Florence?

01:33:17.000 It's in – I want to say – I can't remember that.

01:33:22.000 Yeah.

01:33:23.000 Oh, there he is.

01:33:23.000 There he is.

01:33:24.000 What's good, Dario?

01:33:25.000 Look at him.

01:33:25.000 Yeah.

01:33:26.000 Amazing.

01:33:27.000 Look at that face.

01:33:27.000 Amazing.

01:33:28.000 So happy.

01:33:31.000 Well, yeah, he's a wild man.

01:33:32.000 He's a wild man.

01:33:33.000 But he starts the T-bone on the bone.

01:33:36.000 So he's, oh Jesus Christ.

01:33:38.000 He's my soul.

01:33:39.000 Absolute master.

01:33:40.000 That's preposterous.

01:33:42.000 Absolute master.

01:33:43.000 And so you learned from him?

01:33:45.000 I did not learn from him.

01:33:46.000 I've been cooking for 20 years.

01:33:49.000 So you pick things up.

01:33:52.000 Cooking is just like a practice.

01:33:56.000 You got a doctor, you got a lawyer.

01:33:57.000 You learn the fundamentals and then throughout your career, you upgrade those fundamentals with new and relevant techniques or laws or whatever.

01:34:05.000 Cooking is the same thing.

01:34:06.000 You get a foundation and then you upgrade.

01:34:09.000 New and relevant techniques.

01:34:11.000 And so are you using a grill that uses wood?

01:34:16.000 Are you cooking on wood?

01:34:17.000 Yeah, we're cooking on California almond and white oak.

01:34:22.000 Almond?

01:34:23.000 Almond.

01:34:23.000 Really?

01:34:24.000 Almond for the smoke because it'll go to fire like that because it's so saturated with almond oil and then oak for long and slow cooking.

01:34:31.000 So it burns super hot.

01:34:33.000 So the almond burns really quick and the oak burns very slow.

01:34:37.000 And so you put different woods in for different times?

01:34:41.000 Yeah.

01:34:41.000 So you started off with the almond?

01:34:43.000 We start with almond and then we add oak and then we add almond and then we add oak and it's just kind of fire maintenance is 90% of wood fire cooking.

01:34:52.000 So it's just about how hot it burns and the distance, how high the coals are.

01:34:56.000 And how deep the coal bed is and how evenly dispersed the heat is.

01:35:00.000 We'll have a cool side and a hot side and then a fire side all within like a, you know...

01:35:05.000 Two square feet.

01:35:06.000 Is there images of your grill set up online?

01:35:09.000 No, I don't think so.

01:35:10.000 Evan, your 10% technique right now is not sounding like 10% of your cooking.

01:35:14.000 That sounds a lot, right?

01:35:16.000 I'm like, hold on a second.

01:35:18.000 How could that be 10%?

01:35:20.000 Rotating the food?

01:35:21.000 It's a fatty 10%.

01:35:24.000 Did you set up this grill this way?

01:35:26.000 Because that's the only way you cook steak?

01:35:28.000 You prefer to cook it over wood?

01:35:31.000 The design of Felix, the actual shoebox of the kitchen that we have, the design was based on the restrictions of the size.

01:35:39.000 So we've crammed a hell of a lot into, I think it's just under 220 square feet, something like that. 0.97

01:35:46.000 There's a fucking pizza oven in there. 0.99

01:35:48.000 There's a wood-fired grill. 1.00

01:35:49.000 There's 10 burners.

01:35:50.000 There's a fryer.

01:35:51.000 And you're cooking 500 meals a night in that?

01:35:54.000 I think top end is like 350 people.

01:35:59.000 So if you times that by three or four different plates per person.

01:36:04.000 Wow.

01:36:04.000 So more than that.

01:36:05.000 It's built for speed.

01:36:06.000 I build restaurants for speed.

01:36:09.000 And I know some restaurants, they have those crazy, like, it's like a gas broiler.

01:36:16.000 Yeah.

01:36:16.000 You know, and then some of them have those...

01:36:18.000 Makes shit taste like gasoline. 1.00

01:36:19.000 Does it? 1.00

01:36:20.000 I can't stand them.

01:36:21.000 It's like a Boston broiler, top and bottom.

01:36:24.000 What's a Boston broiler?

01:36:25.000 It's like a drawer.

01:36:27.000 You pull it out, you put steak on it.

01:36:29.000 A lot of, like, Mastro's and old-school steakhouses have them because it cooks with crazy intense heat from top and bottom at the same time.

01:36:38.000 Yeah, but you don't...

01:36:40.000 No.

01:36:41.000 Don't like it.

01:36:41.000 Not the way to do it.

01:36:42.000 It's analog.

01:36:43.000 I like to do as many things analog as possible.

01:36:45.000 I still write with pencil.

01:36:47.000 Really?

01:36:48.000 Yeah.

01:36:48.000 It's interesting because all this attention to detail, it's kind of shocking.

01:36:53.000 I don't want to say shocking, but surprising.

01:36:55.000 Like, oh, okay.

01:36:57.000 Wow, almond and then oak.

01:36:59.000 But it makes sense if you eat there.

01:37:01.000 You go, okay, someone has to put an insane amount of attention to detail to make dishes that are that satisfying.

01:37:09.000 Well, the simplicity kind of belies the background of the dish. 0.61

01:37:14.000 It looks really fucking simple, but there's 20 years of experience behind it. 0.54

01:37:20.000 And that's like the ultimate goal. 0.95

01:37:22.000 It should look simple.

01:37:23.000 It should be delicious.

01:37:24.000 But, you know, do you necessarily need to know about the wizard behind the curtain?

01:37:29.000 No.

01:37:30.000 I do.

01:37:30.000 I want to know.

01:37:31.000 But it's also Evan procures absolutely the best product from everywhere and has the best relationships with the best farmers.

01:37:38.000 And he's like, when you go to the farmer's market with Evan, he's like the king of the farmer's market.

01:37:42.000 They call me the mayor.

01:37:43.000 Oh, the mayor of the farmer's market.

01:37:45.000 It's kind of funny.

01:37:46.000 And they're like, we've saved you these fiddleheads.

01:37:48.000 Everything is hand-picked.

01:37:50.000 I go Wednesdays and Saturdays.

01:37:52.000 Not recently, obviously, but everything is hand-picked.

01:37:54.000 We don't do pre-orders.

01:37:55.000 I go there.

01:37:56.000 And that's the very basis of cooking Italian.

01:38:00.000 You go to the market.

01:38:01.000 So you get all your ingredients from the farmer's market?

01:38:02.000 I would say 90 to 92 percent of all the vegetables that we use.

01:38:08.000 Wow.

01:38:09.000 Nothing outside of 500 miles.

01:38:11.000 So you have these long-standing relationships with these farms?

01:38:15.000 Absolutely.

01:38:15.000 And do you talk to them in advance and they say, okay, we've got great this?

01:38:18.000 We talk about weather, we talk about soil content, we talk about water content, we talk about if it's going to rain, what's coming up, what do you have in the ground, what are you planning for three months from now?

01:38:28.000 I've smuggled seeds back from Italy so that they can plant stuff.

01:38:32.000 Smuggle? 0.99

01:38:32.000 You had to smuggle them? 0.99

01:38:33.000 Yeah, man.

01:38:33.000 Don't tell anybody.

01:38:34.000 People are listening.

01:38:36.000 So is it illegal?

01:38:36.000 Some things are allowed but like I brought certain species of bitter greens and different types of peppers.

01:38:43.000 And you grow these yourself?

01:38:44.000 No, I give them the farmers equally distributed to different like microclimates because California is great, right?

01:38:51.000 They have a ton of microclimates.

01:38:53.000 Say, for instance, we buy broccoli, sprouting broccoli.

01:38:56.000 I'll buy broccoli from three different farms and three different microclimates with three different soil contents, right?

01:39:02.000 So I'll buy broccoli from Kong, Thao, and Fresno.

01:39:05.000 And then I'll buy broccoli from James Birch and Florabella, which is three rivers.

01:39:09.000 And then I'll buy broccoli from Romeo Coleman.

01:39:13.000 And all three of them have different soil contents.

01:39:15.000 So all of James' water in three rivers comes from melting snow caps.

01:39:19.000 So it has this huge amount of mineral content in the soil.

01:39:23.000 And then you buy Kong's broccoli in Fresno.

01:39:27.000 It's super hot with cold nights, complex sugar, so it's very sweet.

01:39:31.000 And then you buy Romeo's broccoli, which is less than, I think, a mile and a half from the ocean.

01:39:36.000 High salinity content in the broccoli. 0.99

01:39:38.000 You mix all the broccolis together and it's like broccoli on fucking steroids. 0.97

01:39:42.000 Could you tell if I gave you a piece of broccoli from each place where it came from? 0.98

01:39:45.000 No, man, I'm not that crazy.

01:39:46.000 Like a sommelier.

01:39:48.000 Sommeliers can tell you.

01:39:50.000 They can sip wine and a really good one can tell you where it's coming from.

01:39:55.000 It's a little easier to do with wine.

01:39:57.000 Is it really?

01:39:58.000 Yeah, I think so.

01:39:59.000 But you know there is a difference.

01:40:02.000 If you tasted them, you can tell.

01:40:03.000 It's terroir.

01:40:04.000 It's terroir, just like wine has terroir.

01:40:06.000 What does that mean?

01:40:06.000 It means the territory, the ground, what's in the ground.

01:40:09.000 The terroir is specific to where that thing is grown.

01:40:13.000 And terroir exists not only in wine, but in fruits and vegetables.

01:40:17.000 All of it.

01:40:19.000 And is this the same approach to meat?

01:40:21.000 Like what kind of...

01:40:22.000 100%.

01:40:23.000 If you're raising steers in Colorado versus Utah versus California, California has very, very little grass. 0.99

01:40:32.000 And all the grass that's down tastes like dry ass fucking grass because there's no water. 0.99

01:40:36.000 So the beef tastes of that place. 0.99

01:40:40.000 And if you're finishing cattle on corn or feeding it 100% corn, it's going to taste completely different.

01:40:46.000 The marbling is going to be completely different.

01:40:48.000 The steaks I brought you today are 80-20.

01:40:50.000 So 80% of the steers' life is grass and then they're finished on corn because America is literally in love with corn-fed flavor and that mouthfeel from the fat.

01:41:02.000 So it's 80-20.

01:41:04.000 But corn makes cattle sick.

01:41:08.000 That's why they pump them full of antibiotics. 0.52

01:41:11.000 The good ranchers who practice animal husbandry, they do it in a way that doesn't make the animal sick.

01:41:20.000 So they're just doing it in the last stages of their life?

01:41:23.000 Correct.

01:41:23.000 Is that what you prefer?

01:41:25.000 Have you tried different kinds, like all 100% grass-fed, grass-finished?

01:41:30.000 I've tried it all.

01:41:30.000 There are certain cuts of this deer that benefit from grass-fed beef or just 100% grass diet.

01:41:39.000 Like what cuts?

01:41:40.000 Typically shanks, working mussels, because working mussels have way more flavor than non-working mussels, like filet mignon. 0.98

01:41:47.000 Filet mignon doesn't taste like fucking anything to me. 0.98

01:41:49.000 Right? 0.99

01:41:50.000 Because it's a non-working muscle versus a shank is working all the time. 1.00

01:41:56.000 That's why it's tough.

01:41:57.000 Right?

01:41:58.000 So if I was to eat you, Joe Rogan, right?

01:42:01.000 If I was to break you down like an animal, I would choose the working muscles and then braise them because they're stronger versus your filet mignon. 0.99

01:42:10.000 I don't even know what the fuck that would be on a human. 0.99

01:42:12.000 But like it would taste different and it would have a different texture. 0.99

01:42:17.000 Cattle is the same way.

01:42:19.000 Non-working muscles versus working muscles.

01:42:22.000 Have you ever gotten a hold of any wild boar?

01:42:25.000 100%.

01:42:25.000 Wild boar is huge in Italy.

01:42:27.000 Do you cook any of that?

01:42:29.000 It's a hard sell on Avakini.

01:42:31.000 Is it really?

01:42:32.000 Yeah, man.

01:42:32.000 How so?

01:42:35.000 Some people don't enjoy the nuances.

01:42:38.000 People would call it gamey.

01:42:40.000 But I don't find it gamey.

01:42:42.000 If you treat it and apply certain...

01:42:47.000 If you apply certain herbs and certain, I wouldn't call them spices, but apply certain ingredients to it, it takes the gaminess all the way up.

01:42:54.000 So for me, if I cook wild boar, I think Tuscany.

01:42:57.000 I think of Abruzzo.

01:42:58.000 I think of wild country.

01:43:00.000 And for me, the hills of Tuscany smell like wild fennel and rosemary and dirt.

01:43:05.000 And you want to bring out those, again, back to the terroir and give those types of elements to the wild boar.

01:43:12.000 And it makes it sing, man.

01:43:13.000 It makes it sing.

01:43:14.000 I brought that up because of the whole idea of the working muscles.

01:43:17.000 Like, that's a working animal.

01:43:19.000 It's a tough animal.

01:43:20.000 It's a tough animal.

01:43:21.000 And most pork that's on the market, they don't really do anything.

01:43:25.000 Right.

01:43:26.000 Yeah, they just sit around and eat.

01:43:27.000 They just sit around and eat and get fat.

01:43:29.000 And that's what people are really looking for when it comes to pork.

01:43:32.000 But wild boar ragu has been pretty trendy for the last, I'd say, few years.

01:43:37.000 It's a weird thing to call it boar, too, because boar just means a male pig.

01:43:40.000 I'm sure there's a lot of female pigs in there, too. 1.00

01:43:43.000 For sure.

01:43:43.000 It's wild pigs, what they really should call it, but for whatever reason, people like the word boar.

01:43:48.000 It's a weird one, right?

01:43:49.000 It's a weird one.

01:43:50.000 What about game?

01:43:51.000 Do you serve venison or any elk or anything like that?

01:43:55.000 Again, hard sell.

01:43:56.000 Is it?

01:43:56.000 Hard sell on Avikini.

01:43:59.000 I love venison.

01:44:00.000 I love elk.

01:44:01.000 I've cooked it in the past.

01:44:04.000 But yeah, it's a hard sell.

01:44:06.000 And it goes back to knowing your clientele.

01:44:09.000 Just because I want to put some ego into the menu doesn't mean that...

01:44:15.000 Right, you don't want anything that's a hard sell.

01:44:18.000 You want anything that's something that's going to be just...

01:44:19.000 I want people to gravitate towards it.

01:44:23.000 Well, it's also, the menu at Felix, the entrees, the secondi, it's a very small section because our kitchen is very small, so there's only going to be usually about two proteins on the menu, so you don't want to, if you have a much larger menu, You can be a little bit more creative or put on those cuts that aren't as popular.

01:44:43.000 But when your menu's that short, you have to look at sales.

01:44:47.000 And also meat of any kind, whether that's fish or whatever, is extremely expensive.

01:44:52.000 And going back to the conversation of charging an accurate amount of money for a dish, it's hard.

01:45:03.000 Take a look at lamb. 0.99

01:45:04.000 Lamb wholesale is like Fucking $18 a pound for me. 0.99

01:45:09.000 That's wholesale cost. 0.99

01:45:10.000 That means I need to charge you 65 bucks for three bones of a rack of lamb. 0.97

01:45:16.000 65 bucks.

01:45:18.000 That's for me to cover the cost of running my kitchen out of that one dish.

01:45:22.000 That's so crazy.

01:45:23.000 And every single item on the menu is costed in that way.

01:45:27.000 We have a cost.

01:45:28.000 Then we have to figure out how much labor it costs to make that dish. 0.98

01:45:31.000 And then we have to figure out our lights and our utilities and our rent and all that other shit. 0.97

01:45:36.000 And then we've got to put a price on it. 0.96

01:45:38.000 So when you go out to eat, you're not just paying for the ingredients.

01:45:41.000 You can do that at home.

01:45:42.000 You're paying for the experience, the staff, The lights, the water, all of that.

01:45:47.000 I hope people take that into consideration when they eat at a fine restaurant.

01:45:51.000 I really do.

01:45:53.000 I think people don't know, but right now people are talking about the restaurant industry because we've been hit so hard.

01:46:00.000 And to understand that 90% of all of our revenue goes back out into the economy.

01:46:06.000 So you're taking your money and you're paying your staff and you're paying your rent and you're paying your food costs.

01:46:12.000 A lot of it goes right back out.

01:46:15.000 Most of it.

01:46:16.000 The majority.

01:46:17.000 90%.

01:46:17.000 God, it's such a crazy business.

01:46:19.000 Just hearing you guys talk about it sounds like such a balancing act.

01:46:23.000 And then to be hit over the head with something like this pandemic and everything getting locked down.

01:46:30.000 Restaurants are so valuable to me.

01:46:32.000 And it's one of the things that I worried most about this pandemic, other than the lives, was businesses that I enjoy and then restaurants specifically.

01:46:43.000 Because it's such a great way to spend time with someone.

01:46:46.000 I mean, it's one of the great pleasures of life to be able to go to a place and have a fantastic chef sit you down and cook amazing food and you enjoy it.

01:47:01.000 If that goes away...

01:47:03.000 Well, you know, I think over the last few years, restaurants in general have really, in North America, I will say, have really reached a pinnacle of cultural relevance right now.

01:47:14.000 But it has to be reimagined.

01:47:17.000 We're not going to go back to that for the next little while.

01:47:20.000 And, you know, there's going to be, you know, there's one restaurant in the Netherlands who has a robot.

01:47:25.000 Did you see that?

01:47:26.000 What?

01:47:27.000 A little robot.

01:47:28.000 Yeah.

01:47:29.000 The robot delivers your food?

01:47:31.000 Maastricht in the Netherlands.

01:47:32.000 A little robot that comes and is the bus person cleaning the tables and also bringing your food.

01:47:41.000 Look it up.

01:47:42.000 Robot, Netherlands restaurant.

01:47:46.000 It cleans the table?

01:47:47.000 Cleans the table, brings your food.

01:47:51.000 A reopened Dutch restaurant is using robots to implement social distancing by serving and seating customers. 0.99

01:47:57.000 That's fucking creepy. 0.99

01:47:58.000 Look at that face. 1.00

01:47:59.000 Look at that face.

01:48:00.000 Look at those weird, murderous eyes just staring at you from the abyss.

01:48:03.000 But they say they can be customized.

01:48:05.000 I don't know.

01:48:08.000 I do have faith.

01:48:09.000 I do have faith in our community.

01:48:11.000 I have faith in our industry that we are creative enough to get through this. 1.00

01:48:17.000 And we're just fucking stubborn as fuck. 1.00

01:48:21.000 We're all so stubborn. 1.00

01:48:22.000 We do this for the love of doing it, for the love of making people do it.

01:48:27.000 You work so hard and anybody who knows anybody that works in the restaurant business understands that it is a long grind.

01:48:35.000 I have faith in you guys.

01:48:36.000 I just don't have faith in the government.

01:48:37.000 I don't have faith in the way they've handled this.

01:48:41.000 Why should we?

01:48:44.000 There's a complete lack of leadership at the top. 1.00

01:48:48.000 Complete fucking lack of leadership. 1.00

01:48:53.000 It's fucking depressing, man. 1.00

01:48:55.000 It's fucking depressing. 1.00

01:48:57.000 And again, the fish stinks from the head down. 1.00

01:49:00.000 But listen, I'm in your corner.

01:49:03.000 I know you are, and we appreciate you, and I know that you've mentioned Felix a couple of times on the podcast.

01:49:09.000 It's really appreciated, and we all need help.

01:49:12.000 Restaurants, in general, all need help right now.

01:49:16.000 I just love when someone does anything with the kind of passion that you guys display at your restaurant.

01:49:21.000 Whatever it is, whether you're making music or you're writing books or you're making food, I just love when someone does something like that because it makes me excited about all the things that I do.

01:49:32.000 I think we, you know, as human beings, as we interact with each other and we explore each other's lives and what other people do for a living, what their passions are, you get energized by that.

01:49:44.000 You get energized by other people's work.

01:49:46.000 By their enthusiasm.

01:49:48.000 Their enthusiasm is really contagious.

01:49:51.000 You know, and that's one thing that I've really got out of your restaurant.

01:49:54.000 It's very contagious.

01:49:55.000 It's very obvious that you guys take extreme pride in what you do, and you do it so well.

01:50:01.000 Yeah, thank you.

01:50:02.000 No, it's what keeps me going.

01:50:05.000 Like you said, it's the enthusiasm of our staff and the people that come back to our restaurant again and again.

01:50:11.000 It's what keeps us going.

01:50:13.000 That's our reward.

01:50:14.000 And we're so used to that immediate reward of sending the food to the table and seeing people enjoy it.

01:50:21.000 That's like the drug to us, is making people happy.

01:50:24.000 It's immediate.

01:50:25.000 And the camaraderie of everybody working together to provide that.

01:50:29.000 Yeah, and the good news is we're not going anywhere, and we know now that we are going to make it to the other side.

01:50:35.000 Beautiful.

01:50:35.000 I'll be there.

01:50:36.000 We can't wait.

01:50:37.000 I hope so.

01:50:38.000 Thank you.

01:50:38.000 Thank you, guys.

01:50:39.000 Thanks for being here.

01:50:40.000 Thank you, Joe.

01:50:41.000 My pleasure.

01:50:42.000 I can't wait to eat there again.

01:50:44.000 Can't wait to have you.

01:50:44.000 We did it.

01:50:45.000 Thank you.

01:50:45.000 Bye-bye.

01:50:46.000 Bye.

01:50:49.000 Ow! 1.00

01:50:50.000 Oh, that's a relief to take those off.

The Joe Rogan Experience - June 08, 2020

Joe Rogan Experience #1487 - Janet Zuccarini & Evan Funke

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Transcript