and 14 you’re thinking about taking your
life yeah and then the chef after lunch
he called me over and says you know you
should go back home to your mother
you’re too young to do that you’re too
little
mother should pass video for another
year and maybe you grow up like he was
crazy and then he said okay go out
you’re gone you know if I are you and it
was one of my worst days I went on the
bridge we have a train goes over suppose
a high prejudice that I gonna kill
myself our gonna jump into the water and
I’m not going home for sure it’s very
rare when you find somebody in the
restaurant world as a chef you know
there’s a lot of chefs out there were
very creative but it’s tough for them to
make that transition from being a chef
who do very well in the kitchen to go
and open up a restaurant that lasts for
36 years for as long as his hats and
then become an entrepreneur and become
on the top by wealthiest chefs around
the world one and only Wolfgang Puck sir
thank you for your time thank you for
having me yeah that’s good indeed that
pleasure
well yes I don’t know you know what cuz
I saw one time you said when you were a
chef back in France and yes that you
would watch these people in America used
the word Chevrolet in Cadillac yeah and
he said I want to be rich one day then
you know you come to America and you
have your stories and now I thought that
Cadillac see and that’s kool-aid
so what I want to do is before we go
into what you’ve done obviously Spago or
if you’re in LA I think in LA there’s
three two-star Michelin two stars yeah
yours is one of them Spago 2012 when you
were awarded a four day you did your
renovation yeah if you’re in LA
everybody wants to go to Spago this is
what the main sponsors and institutions
marco has become abroad by the
institution people know it if you go to
england australia or you know about
Spago
so before we get into spot will cut
wolfgang puck the espera some of the
things they’ve been doing at HSN let’s
go back in kind of a curious story of
how you got started you know like if I
wasn’t say I was in high school with you
were 16 years old you and I are good
friends were classmates who was working
for what Wolfgang Puck he never went to
high school I never would wives never
went to high school I started out my
mother was a professional chef to in the
summertime so when I was 12 13 years old
I always spent the summer the vacation
with my mother at this resort hotel I
remember she had a small room they what
I’ll provide their lodging and then she
had them filled a bunk bed so I slept up
on top and she had a bed underneath and
my stepfather was working in the mines
and everything so I spend and spend time
cooking and helping the pastry chef
happen my mom a little bit and then when
I was 14 I left school holy 14 yeah but
it’s fully totally mom was oh here we go
she had no choice because I just said
this is what it’s gonna be
I started to cook professionally to an
apprenticeship in philocan Austria I
worked there for 3 years then I moved to
France stayed seven years in France and
then I moved to the United States at
first to Indianapolis a year and then I
came here to Los Angeles and I’m here
since 1975 what was your personality
like
14 like accompany the four friends what
would was wolfgang puck like at 14 I was
certainly rebellious I hated my
stepfather so I said I can’t wait so
when I was 14
not only I skipped school I skipped my
parents home I left at home and moved 50
miles away at 14 at 14 and I said I have
young kids too so I’m sinking off there
said my son gonna be 14 next year said I
don’t think I would let him move out but
I just moved out and my mother basically
said you know what in life you have to
make more money than you spent and you
would be alright so you you listen to
your mom’s my mom was an angel and my
stepfather was a devil basically if you
would say he was totally crazy I think
at that time in a country said I grew up
in a countryside
you know they didn’t diagnose people he
was totally bipolar hmm so he could be
really nice but then he would call off
and he used to have a drinking problem
and I mean he was violent and got him to
fights every day I mean he was crazy
and you avoided you try to women as much
as possible so when I was 14 I left my
home when I was 17 I left the country I
moved to France you know a lot of times
you sit down with somebody I don’t know
if you know Steve Aoki the DJ I know him
very well so you know his similar story
to yours yes mom was very supportive
loving you can do everything but his dad
was you know founded Benihana never
around
yeah a to him and said in life
businesses first then comes mother you
know family yeah do you think as a boy
coming up you you notice a trend where
someone in the family had to be a little
bit challenging you pushing you like
difficult than your life way to have
that kind of an ambition to one about
and prove a point you think there’s a
solution now I don’t know if it is part
of it to where if you have a really
comfortable life when you’re young and
everything is prepared for you you’re
sent to the right school you have to
write you have your own room at home and
you have everything maybe there’s less
challenges maybe there’s less motivation
and maybe you don’t achieve so sometimes
I ask myself now I said maybe not to say
it was a good thing the way my step
but maybe he motivated me more because I
remember when I went to France and one
day I told him I won’t come home until I
get the messages and I gonna come and
drive it into your living room through
the more I told my stepdad and then you
know what happened in years and years
later he came here with my mother so I
had to be nice to him because of my
mother
they stated she should have shot him
would have been a good deed I told you
many times but then you know I said what
I’m gonna do I cannot ignore my mother
you we only have one mother so I send
among cruisers and every year they came
here I went on a cruise to South America
to the Caribbean everywhere really they
were and so for me it was really special
to really treat my mother really right
but he came along for the ride is he
still around or no no so did you did
your last moments with him was it good
or was it useful to Mary and you were
not too fond of him you know I wasn’t
too fond of him I’m nice the way I speak
I am obviously not too fond of him now
because I really think when you live
your life you cannot really go on and
just forgive you know I forgave to a
point where I said okay I tolerate them
interesting but I don’t gonna say I
wanna be friends or love him so almost
like I’ll forgive but I won’t forget
what happened exactly I mean yeah
interesting I also heard somewhere you
said you were working at a restaurant
and the head ship or somebody said
you’ll never amount to anything or
something yeah exactly
you had your stepdad we also had another
person that said in the world acceptance
so when I was 14 I left my home I
remember was I come and the 404 day was
raining and cloudy and you know foggy
all over and I took the train to that
town and my a father my stepfather when
I left he said he always told me I was
good for nothing so when I when I left
he said you’re good for nothing in three
weeks you’re gonna be back home and ask
me for money and even
and I just win and I remember my
grandmother took me to a train station
which was about an hour walk we didn’t
have a cow anything so I went there and
then started to work obviously in this
hotel in Fela and then maybe a month
into it or so and the chef was crazier
than Padilla to drunk
did you know in the old time the chef’s
used to drink a lot and he was like this
bully guy on a Sunday we ran out of
potatoes
so no more mashed potatoes no more
potatoes with parsley which was a big
thing in Austria and then the plane did
know me I was his 14 year old kid not
even 5 foot tall and then a chef after
lunch he called me over and said you
know you should go back home to your
mother you’re too young to do that
you’re too little
your mother should press video for
another year maybe you grow up like he
was crazy and then he said okay you’re
out you’re gone you know if I are you
and it was probably one of my worst day
so I didn’t know what to do was like
Sunday evening we had a big river that
or outgoing so there that town I went on
a bridge where they train goes over so
it was a high bridge and that’s that I
gonna kill myself our gonna jump into
the water and I’m not going home for
sure so I stood there and stood there
like for maybe an hour what I’m gonna do
I’m gonna jump and what will happen
after do I gonna but sinking they’re
gonna go to hell or to heaven and you
know what is all these sorts going so my
man are you 14 for 10 14 you’re thinking
about taking your life yeah and then
finally and now I was so into it I said
okay you know what I just gonna go back
tomorrow and see what happened I saw I
went off the bridge went home couldn’t
sleep all night obviously went early in
the morning to the world like at 7:00 to
the hotel restaurant and then the
apprentice who was ahead of me saw me
coming back and he was so happy said oh
you’re back here thank God so I don’t
have to peel potatoes and water thing
for another six months and then he took
me and took me down into the vegetable
seller I mean I was sitting on a on a
crate down there
peeling potatoes and carrots and onions
and all that stuff bought me little
sandwiches down so after about three
weeks Internet the chef came down
and sees me down what are you doing here
screaming at me you you’re fired by
you’re still here and this and that I
get out of here and I said I’m not
leaving you told him you know yeah he
grabbed me and just get out of here I
put my heels and I said I’m leaving I
was this little guy and he was this big
bully find out he didn’t know what to do
so he called the manager and owner and
they came down and he told him you know
I don’t know what to him here’s to
little he stupid he doesn’t know how to
do that he’s too young
every word possible to make me feel bad
and negative and then the owner was a
little nice and he said okay you know
what we’ll send you to another hotel
they had another small hotel in town and
maybe over there it would be better for
you so I said okay so they sent me to
the other hotel over there they had a
lady who was a chef and she said all
just be nice do what we tell you to do
and don’t make any waves just do your
job and I was saying what we find and so
it was scared and then I started
everything was good every year we went
for three months to school we as all the
kids or the apprentices not all together
so they had this apprenticeship program
where you went for three years and part
of it you had to go to the school to
learn you know moderate theoretical
stuff and also cooking the principle of
cooking a little bit so every week we
had like three or four afternoons
cooking in the morning we got a little
English lessons mattress and put keeping
lessons and so forth so when I came back
then for the first three months we
always had to go to the owner and show
him everybody had to order Kate said to
do that and show him their report card
and I had straight ace so the owner said
oh my god it’s the first time somebody
has strayed ate and he was a very smart
that was actually a lawyer by trade then
each time when he walked into the
kitchen he asked for the chef or said
hello to the chef and said varies
Wolfgang
so all of a sudden I became like an
important kid in the kitchen and there
are other kids were almost jealous of me
that said why is he only asking with
poison we got so Marie
with the same oh yeah my mom was very
supportive and somebody doesn’t tell me
I’m good for nothing you know so all of
us and my esteem when that’s Greta
you’re what up you’re 15 16 at that time
15 EIG so why didn’t you jump you know
looking back I you know I just all of a
sudden it came to my mind I said maybe
he’s gonna change his mind maybe he was
drunk maybe you know maybe he’s gonna
say oh he wants to come back okay I try
one more time maybe let’s give him one
more try so all these things all these
different scenarios went to my head when
I look down in the dark you know it was
like she’s looking down a big dark hole
with a river but they ice blocks going
down and everything so there’s a video
that went viral they interviewed the 100
people that jumped off of a bridge who
Dave committed suicide so there’s two
thousands you could have jumped off
everybody died except for one hundred
one hundred mate is some number like
that and they interviewed them okay what
happened after you jumped and every one
of them said from the moment we let go
there was a regret so it’s amazing how
you were saying it because there’s a lot
of conversation right now about suicide
yeah going around around the world well
you know I think millions of people
around the world log glad you did it
because our appetite is very happy the
fact that you keep from there you win so
you kind of going through class you’re
getting straight A’s
the man who’s an attorney he’s taking a
liking into you he’s liking you so what
happens next from here so then in the
third year when I was 16 or 17 like that
we had this restaurant from France come
to cook for one week their food from
Burgundy from Dijon it’s a restaurant
called traffic zone and they came and I
looked they waited cooked like they made
chicken in red wine sauce Coco Randa
corridor boeuf bourguignon or they made
bath days they used wine like bottles of
wine and reduced it and similar chicken
and the pod snails like we didn’t have
snails in Austria and so I said I want
to go to France so I wrote them a note
you know I would like to come and
practice there for a year or so ss –
yeah and they accepted me so I went
there with
it took like a day and how how are you
were 17 17 yeah about a year into it the
owner and chef of the restaurant in
digital that’s the party for his
thoughts I spoke French already at that
time so a little bit at least and then
the party was because we got the
astounding admission and I had no idea
at that time about the admission so I
took one book and we got one style so
and everybody said oh now we are like
one of the top restaurants in France or
D top restaurant the way we are talking
and then I take the book and I said oh
my god yep two style restaurants and
three-star restaurants so then I said
before going back to Australia I’m gonna
work in a three-star restaurant and then
I wrote two butchers and Toro and lasse
and all the famous restaurants and the
first one who responded positive was
Raymond – yay at bomani in south of
France near Marseilles three so three
stop ya know at that time they were at
World War II stores around the world yet
they didn’t have it international was
only France scatter and then they went
to Germany Italy France and so on to
Spain and America everywhere now yeah I
started there and over there the owner
and chef was 72 years old but he was so
passionate about food about the products
and I still remember as a kid there and
he used to bring Picasso used to come to
the restaurant I used to walk with
Picasso into the kitchen because it was
a little guy he was big walked him
around with the console yeah yeah we had
the Queen of England came we have like
at that time Elizabeth Taylor came and
Richard Burton I remember I was there
years into it one day Peter O’Toole a
famous actor from England he used to
film there somewhere and that my friend
was a waiter and he was sitting by
himself drinking and then I had the
little motorbike I had to drive him to
the part of the hotel on my motorbike
which was a smaller there’s more house
like a dependents house and he was
hanging on to me and I was driving him
his room there is so it was an
interesting thing and that’s when I
really said I wanna do that for a little
bit I said I wanna be like him until you
until that moment you hadn’t you hadn’t
decided I have less cuticles your mom
does yeah I drank cause my mom pick and
I wanted to get away from my stepfather
and then at that time I had a friend who
was a truck driver and he used to drive
from Trieste in Italy to Vienna and he
made a lot of money I mean for me at
that time you know I made maybe I don’t
know 500 shilling at that time a month
and he made 5,000 it’s a lot of I know
for a kid five with 5000 chillin I could
buy a car or a nice motorbike and go
skiing I didn’t have to walk up the
mountain I could take the lift and
everything go out with a girl and
everything so I wasn’t sure panic but
then truly it became my mentor and I
think when I was 19 really it exchanged
my life and I was cooking next to him so
he was making all the sauces and
everything and somehow he took a liking
on me because I wasn’t scared of him and
like when he made something or I made
something he tasted in and said okay put
a little salt put a little pepper put a
little lemon juice whatever this in the
sauce and then I said okay I put the
things in and then when he made
something he said taste it I taste it
say maybe a little salt and pepper
maybe a little dis and he looked at me
okay you didn’t say it so he took
counsel from you yeah and I was like 19
years old as a matter of fact then kind
of give you confidence or total I can
listen to you yeah totally and everybody
else when he made something that tastes
in and said oh it’s delicious you know
oh it’s very good you know nobody would
tell him a little more this or little
more that except me and I thought no big
deal you know
was he crazy was he the typical shifted
figures multiple personality yeah no he
had a passion at 72 for 72 years old he
was so passionate so he had this huge
gardens with six gardeners providing all
the ingredients we used in the kitchen
like we get the tiniest string beans the
best strawberries or the best melon
and things like that made in the gardens
that here with the six governors in his
car said yeah Wow he had only for church
so we used to go in November and it
wasn’t busy we picked the olive tree
shook the olive trees with a big
tablecloths underneath and picked up all
the olives I made olive oil and
everything said to me it was really the
beginning where I said wow this guy is
amazing he’s 72 years old and he
actually was so nice to me and like
Monday when he went on vacation
I still remember he told the chef who
was at that time maybe 14 years old or
so he said I’m living for a week but
Wolfgang has to stay here and do the
sauces and make sure he doesn’t take a
day off yeah so did the sauce close to
the way he was making it yes and he gave
me all this confidence then and so I
think he changed really my life powerful
way and you know the funniest thing is
talking about Iran so when I was there
Maxim’s in Paris and pramanya did the
2000 anniversary of the Imperial in 72
or 74 somewhere somewhere around yeah
yeah and I was supposed to go and I
forgot I didn’t have a passport because
I’m supposed to go to the 2500 year
celebration in Iran yeah totally and
they went boom mania and Maxine’s rant
and you know they I mean that was like
the party to go to I know it was an
amazing saying without in in Persepolis
there’s police yeah yeah and you
remember that yeah totally totally and I
go and they said do you like two days
before I said okay you have need your
passport they want to know your passport
and I said I don’t have my passport
I losted I don’t know whatever so how
many years did you work under him how
many years two and a half years almost
three years and really then like I was
20 years old he had another restaurant
at this race now my son and a one-star
restaurant he fired the chef and one
style restaurant and put me there for a
year as the chef in one style restaurant
I was 20 years old age five French guys
with me they were my cooks and they were
all older than me so it was tough for me
to order them around because they said
who is this Austrian you know
we are the French you know we know about
food we are much better but he really
trusted me and that really changed my
life you know and gave me confidence and
I don’t know so somehow he took me to
the next level
so so what do you do next after that
getting confidence confident yeah so
then I went to work at in Monaco at
l’hotel de Poli
and I didn’t like it there because it
was so structured but it was boring in
comparison to Bowman yeah it also
mission story yeah maybe one star tooth
but very formal not individual you know
was everything like the books you know
like like Escoffier style and then I
went to see mr. Julie and I said you
know I don’t know what to do I want to
go somewhere else if he can hurt me so
he said okay I’m going to Paris and I’m
gonna see mr. boo Donald the owner of
much seams which was a three-star
restaurant and maybe they find your job
there and he did so I started to work at
Maxim’s in Paris and you have expensive
to three-star restaurant yeah how
different was the one in Paris than when
you work at a nose what
Boman yeah was mainly the owner and chef
I said I wanna be like him
I wanna own my own restaurant I wanna
own my own destiny I don’t want to go to
somebody to ask for a raise oh you
modeled your career after him after him
and then I was the one in four in Paris
in Paris was not very good I loved it
because it was a very upscale French
restaurant again everybody the whole
world used to go to Maxim’s in Paris I
remember like Onassis was a regular
Salvador Dali and all these people used
to come all the actors I saw Charlie
Chaplin they are waiting outside for his
limousine and service an amazing
experience with the Kennedys used to
come the whole clan here’s the camera my
change was the place to go I mean they I
remember
she’s got a standing or was the finance
minister at that time he used to have
lunch there every day because really
which is the Minister of Finance they
are they were not far away so it was a
great experience too but the cooking or
what inspired me was mr. twilly at
bomani a few still I said I want to be
like him not like the chef at Maxime so
was very good but he worked for somebody
so to me at that time I said I wanna
create my own destiny so I want to
secretly boy me a bomb Anya bomani a
bomb Anya’s be a um a and I are so
Bowman here you work with him and you
worked at the place and friends at this
point are you making money or you not me
no what are you not making money yes
woman yeah I didn’t make much money no
tell the padilla didn’t make much money
at Messines the last six months the
night chef because machine was open late
after tiara and everything so we had a
lot of people coming after the Opera and
like at that time like Maria Callas used
to sing and so forth so there was to
come and the night chef who was
responsible for the kitchen left to open
his own restaurant and then the chef
told me oh you’re gonna be the chef now
at night with five chefs in a three-star
restaurant and I said okay yeah it’s the
first time I made money so I bought a
car remember I bought an Alfa Romeo from
one of them waiting yeah and that was
like when I went to a club or you know
disco at that time and the girls saw me
driving and outside said ok I was racing
for in Europe it’s a yeah I sports guy
yeah I have yeah in America not really
and you know in Europe it was big at
that run yeah yeah so what happens next
way to say I want to come what you seem
like your person who model you seem like
you’re somebody that’s extremely driven
because what happened with your stepdad
and you wanted to prove a point yet
somebody who loved you which is your mom
and then you model somebody who believed
in you woman here but then after that
what was the inspiration to say I’m
coming oh man so when I worked at
Maxim’s in Paris they owed Maxim’s
opened a restaurant in Chicago and
Maxine’s in Chicago and the pastry chef
who I became good friends with opened
the restaurant in Chicago with Maxim’s
and then he came back to France after
year or two years worked again at a
restaurant in Paris and Maxim’s in Paris
and he and me became very friendly and
hung out and everything and then he said
you are young and obviously I watched
all these cowboy movies I’ve watched
movies video drive this big Chevrolet
and catalogs and everything I said
everybody is rich in America I want to
go to America and then I left much seems
the chef said ok if you don’t come back
in the next two months I give your job
to somebody else for that way I would
wait because I really like you and I
went and then I didn’t like New York I
didn’t like the restaurant was called La
Gullu where I was supposed to work you
didn’t like New York as a city as I say
the experience with the restroom and
they both I don’t know you just didn’t
connect with it I didn’t know we have to
go like I remember I wiped at the
airport and the taxi asked me where I
want to go and I said I want to go to
New York City and he said but where I
said well to a hotel
I want the Empire State Building because
I knew the Empire State Building and
then he dropped me off in a cheap hotel
and he fully sorted young kid like that
and I remember a cockroaches all over
and everything was terrible and then the
restaurant I was supposed to work was
like a bistro and I said I worked in all
these three-star restaurants this is not
the cooking I love you know that way
there’s nothing wrong with the peace to
always say Patti I was young I said I
wanna play at this level not at this
level and so then so a friend there they
found me a job in Indianapolis and I got
so excited because of the cities yeah
but I am still but I was always a fan of
auto racing so like for me Formula One
was like the top sport yes and the Indy
500 is the top of course in race in the
world maybe at that time for sure what
year was that let’s turn the surface or
we live in the seventies in the SEM in
the mid SEM in 74 74 so here’s before
Spago get started yeah so then I worked
in Indianapolis for a year then came to
Los Angeles mm-hmm I started to work in
a restaurant called Mama’s ohm which I
had no idea at that time how bad it was
or whatever I quit my job and then
started to work there and my first
paycheck bounced back I never had that
happen in my life so I went to the owner
but like there I who’s his uncle owns
like tourism in Paris and I said what
gonna do they said there’s no money in
the bank and you know the only direction
lunches and maybe that many dinners he
said well and then we worked out a deal
where I became a part owner and he says
so that way you got there some upside if
the restaurant as well sure enough the
restaurant started to get better and
better we got more and more customers
coming and I remember at one point your
main magazine called up and says oh we
went to the restaurant the critic he
wanted some information and so we talked
and said oh my god I had this caramel
ice cream it was amazing I had this fish
in puff pastry it’s good I said poor
book is in Lyon and so on they went on
and on and they wrote this amazing
review and then I thought Patrick I said
I don’t know what we’re gonna do is just
we started to get busy in the restaurant
with a lot of locals people like or some
Welsh used to come every day for line
just to sit with him talk with him I
said now I’m not gonna be able to surf
them anymore because everybody from all
over the country are gonna know we have
this restaurant so we decided to take
out the listing in the phone book you
know there was no cell phones at that
time and everything because so we don’t
you only get the people who know us can
come and data was not was like heaping
early to keep it a little when you did
that did you raise prices or no nothing
we kept everything the same I was just
so concerned I said we have to serve our
customers we have so that way they can
get a table that where we can serve them
I still had a very small kitchen and so
I said we cannot go instead of serving
80 dinners all of a sudden self a
hundred fifty would be impossible so
that’s what happens so we took that out
then the next thing is People magazine
wrote this huge article about how snoby
how chic who everything Amazon is they
even have an unlisted telephone number
so then for and they say and I said wait
by by the way that is the non likes
everybody want to go I’m totally so that
and they published a number People
magazine publishing so then we had to
put a private number for our regular
guests they got the private number
because the phone rang off there okay
and
I built a bigger kitchen but then I
still said you know what I’m a part
owner instead of having confidence in me
like for example he went on vacation he
told them made a deal to sign the checks
not me and I said he’s crazy
the minute he comes to work I produce
for 65 for 70 percent of the income of
the restaurant because I’m the chef I
decide if we make money or not basically
and then he has this kind with a nice
guy
but Santa checks instead of me so I got
really pissed off and then I said you
know I don’t think that’s gonna work out
in the long term but I still felt anyway
guilty a little bit to leave so I stayed
on and then one day I found this new
location on Sunset and I went to Patrick
and I said you know I found this
location but we have to change the way
we operate we have to create a
restaurant company an operating company
we’re gonna run the restaurants but we
have to be 50/50 partner not that I own
10% and you own 50% you know he says no
I always gonna own 51% well then I said
well let me – so then we left
I lied to leave what you’re saying
that’s then in 81 okay youyou left in 81
81 yeah so I stayed there for six years
I build up my Mazzone from $18,000
business amounts to $300,000 a month and
that was in yeah in the 70s so so it we
always become a one star two star
Michelin no there was no mission but we
were out of the top three restaurants in
the city and you know everybody is to
come to the restaurant I used to cook
for the big movie people and right –
yeah totally
probably a dinner wine drinks yeah
whatever
so then you come out here then so that
so that was here in LA and then I found
this occasion and because Patrick didn’t
want to be 50/50 partner I had to leave
this location then first location –
Sansa yeah so then in 82 in January I
opened Spargo sub Spargo was the first
restaurant with an open kitchen
I built the open kitchen I said I wanna
manage the whole restaurant I wanna see
the customers I wanna see how everything
works you would have
yeah over any upscale restaurant yeah
and now it’s it’s very customary and
everybody has it now yeah yes we were
the first one like here in a lane to
have a good running open a wood-burning
grill and everything so we cooked
everything over live fire and I think
that the open kitchen really was decent
all of a sudden then I thought I gonna
have this neighborhood restaurant you
know up on Sunset for well you had two
houses up in the hills and everything
and it became this instant success I
remember three weeks into it Billy
Wilder who was a famous movie director
and also Austrian like me 14 Sidney
Poitier and Chuck lemon and Joan Collins
so they were all sitting on one thing
table and somebody from the newspaper or
whatever was there too and they said oh
sparkle is the place to go now everybody
somehow had to go to Spago
we became this really amazingly busy
restaurant then I talked swifty Lazar
who was like an agent into doing the
Oscar party there so we were packed
every night and the funny thing was
because you had the front of the
restaurant there all the VIP that’s a
thing and then the back which was
Siberia and people used to get pissed
off and said you son of a bitch you sent
me over in Siberia I said no the food is
the same everything is the same so let
me ask you this there’s a party Alice
you’re very charming you’re very
charismatic you’re very attractive your
personality’s very very attractive you
think that kind of help you when it
comes it looks like you have the
creative side you have that part about
you creating but also the other element
of convincing Oscars to want to you know
do the governor’s but how many years has
it been d’you got I mean
well Richard nikuman Osbourne off the
twenty fifty already yeah
that’s craziness to be able to say 20 25
as you call them and you say I want and
they came to me and asked me why you
don’t do our governor’s for the board of
cabinets so they that the Board of
Governors the people who put on the
Oscars
recently they have a board of governors
so like I remember at that time Otto
hella who was a famous director you know
who did love story and many Adam
beautiful yeah and Alan and Marilyn
Bergman who did all the songs for Barbra
Streisand born the board and they used
to come to Spago one day and says you
know we really would like to you to
cater the dinner and I said okay I’m
gonna try it and see
so when I did the first dinner after
they up watch it was at the Shrine
Auditorium I still remember like
yesterday and normally they had nobody
going to the dinner the old came to the
party at Spago so their breasts on the
whole room was full everybody stayed for
dinner and everybody ate and I remember
Mike always came with Paul Newman and
Robert Redford and all the people and I
walked around and made the big the big
time yeah big time yes that was you know
in 1995 for 94 something like that you
know so I think then after that now
everybody goes to the governor’s for a
best before it was always nothing you
know nobody went I remember when we were
at Spago watching the Academy Awards
with swifty and his party and then some
typical was over there at the Beverly
Hilton where they had the governor’s
Moore and it was empty
and some of them went there with the
Oscars said hello and walked out and
came to answer you yeah that’s the part
about you that there has to be people
wanting to help contribute to your
success like there’s got to be an
element of likability like yeah people
so how much of your business world on
what you think about how much of your
business is it the food is it the
recipes is that what you do in the
kitchen and how much of it is the
service you provided me as a person
that’s coming to you because there’s
some some level of loyalty for service
as well how we interact with the
customer how we make them feel so sure
we have to make great food we have to
give good service but we are in the
hospitality business we want to make
people feel good we want to make people
feel happy when they come to a
restaurant we want to make people feel
that when they leave they’re gonna make
a reservation or they’re gonna think oh
I’m gonna come back as soon as I can you
know the nightclub business a nightclub
runs for like five to ten
years in the 90s dublin’s you know yet
all these things in and they died out
and a next one comes out Garden of Eden
and in that the central Club it dies out
and so nightclub is almost like a
cyclical cycle of five to ten first of
all it’s a restaurant still right 36
years is a long time and now you were in
Vegas or this coming expire I’m not even
back and cut yeah
you have it all these other places how
did you manage it to keep staying
attractive for the customers to want to
keep coming back because traditions
changes generations change yeah
generationally you’ve done boomer janux
millennial and now how are you doing
that you know it’s an interesting
experience because when I tell people
that all these guests for example if it
was Tony Curtis Jack Lemmon Orson Welles
Elizabeth Taylor whoever they’re all
dead now that’s a totally different
generation if we stay the same it’s very
difficult because then the younger
people don’t want to come but if you
change too much you lose all your base
clientele so then you’re in trouble till
then you have to get a complete new one
so we have people who come here that’s a
powerful point you just made with it
because sometimes so many entrepreneurs
are so concerned about only getting the
new customers they forget to keep their
Oregon oil customers they are very
important yet that’s how a lot of
restaurants stay in business two years
or even less or a little more because I
think you have to get a really good base
clientele you have to have people who
come and become repeat customers you
know it’s very expensive always to get
new customers in any business it’s much
cheaper to keep the old ones first of
all this has been a pleasure just
listening to you and your story
obviously I know who you are I know what
you’ve done I know that but I didn’t
know the deeper side of the story if
we’d open up and kind of share with the
rest of us and yabbies why you are who
you are right it’s an inspiration to a
lot of people out there well I hope so
and I hope you know that people who
really think that it doesn’t it wasn’t
always like that you know there’s always
difficulty there is always somebody who
is trying to put something in your
you know put something against you make
you feel bad but patience and tenacity
are an important part now if you’re
lucky life to me and you find your
passion then life is easy then you don’t
have to go in the morning and say oh I
have to go to work again you get up in
the morning like Evan yesterday to the
fish market do I have to go to the fish
market no but I’d love to that I did
that for years and years and years like
wherever to the fish market to the
flower market I still love to be
involved in it because food and the
customers are really my passion and
that’s why customers like me keep coming
back and we keep coming back because
it’s important that man at the time it’s
still in the game and you still love the
games yeah for those watching what I
want you to do is I want you to tweet
him at the handle that’s here and he’s
on Twitter right is the act on Twitter
sound of a tweet at the handle here in
mind here let us know what you took away
from today’s episode and if you haven’t
subscribed click on the subscribe button
Wolfgang Puck so good to have you thank
you my pleasure
life yeah and then the chef after lunch
he called me over and says you know you
should go back home to your mother
you’re too young to do that you’re too
little
mother should pass video for another
year and maybe you grow up like he was
crazy and then he said okay go out
you’re gone you know if I are you and it
was one of my worst days I went on the
bridge we have a train goes over suppose
a high prejudice that I gonna kill
myself our gonna jump into the water and
I’m not going home for sure it’s very
rare when you find somebody in the
restaurant world as a chef you know
there’s a lot of chefs out there were
very creative but it’s tough for them to
make that transition from being a chef
who do very well in the kitchen to go
and open up a restaurant that lasts for
36 years for as long as his hats and
then become an entrepreneur and become
on the top by wealthiest chefs around
the world one and only Wolfgang Puck sir
thank you for your time thank you for
having me yeah that’s good indeed that
pleasure
well yes I don’t know you know what cuz
I saw one time you said when you were a
chef back in France and yes that you
would watch these people in America used
the word Chevrolet in Cadillac yeah and
he said I want to be rich one day then
you know you come to America and you
have your stories and now I thought that
Cadillac see and that’s kool-aid
so what I want to do is before we go
into what you’ve done obviously Spago or
if you’re in LA I think in LA there’s
three two-star Michelin two stars yeah
yours is one of them Spago 2012 when you
were awarded a four day you did your
renovation yeah if you’re in LA
everybody wants to go to Spago this is
what the main sponsors and institutions
marco has become abroad by the
institution people know it if you go to
england australia or you know about
Spago
so before we get into spot will cut
wolfgang puck the espera some of the
things they’ve been doing at HSN let’s
go back in kind of a curious story of
how you got started you know like if I
wasn’t say I was in high school with you
were 16 years old you and I are good
friends were classmates who was working
for what Wolfgang Puck he never went to
high school I never would wives never
went to high school I started out my
mother was a professional chef to in the
summertime so when I was 12 13 years old
I always spent the summer the vacation
with my mother at this resort hotel I
remember she had a small room they what
I’ll provide their lodging and then she
had them filled a bunk bed so I slept up
on top and she had a bed underneath and
my stepfather was working in the mines
and everything so I spend and spend time
cooking and helping the pastry chef
happen my mom a little bit and then when
I was 14 I left school holy 14 yeah but
it’s fully totally mom was oh here we go
she had no choice because I just said
this is what it’s gonna be
I started to cook professionally to an
apprenticeship in philocan Austria I
worked there for 3 years then I moved to
France stayed seven years in France and
then I moved to the United States at
first to Indianapolis a year and then I
came here to Los Angeles and I’m here
since 1975 what was your personality
like
14 like accompany the four friends what
would was wolfgang puck like at 14 I was
certainly rebellious I hated my
stepfather so I said I can’t wait so
when I was 14
not only I skipped school I skipped my
parents home I left at home and moved 50
miles away at 14 at 14 and I said I have
young kids too so I’m sinking off there
said my son gonna be 14 next year said I
don’t think I would let him move out but
I just moved out and my mother basically
said you know what in life you have to
make more money than you spent and you
would be alright so you you listen to
your mom’s my mom was an angel and my
stepfather was a devil basically if you
would say he was totally crazy I think
at that time in a country said I grew up
in a countryside
you know they didn’t diagnose people he
was totally bipolar hmm so he could be
really nice but then he would call off
and he used to have a drinking problem
and I mean he was violent and got him to
fights every day I mean he was crazy
and you avoided you try to women as much
as possible so when I was 14 I left my
home when I was 17 I left the country I
moved to France you know a lot of times
you sit down with somebody I don’t know
if you know Steve Aoki the DJ I know him
very well so you know his similar story
to yours yes mom was very supportive
loving you can do everything but his dad
was you know founded Benihana never
around
yeah a to him and said in life
businesses first then comes mother you
know family yeah do you think as a boy
coming up you you notice a trend where
someone in the family had to be a little
bit challenging you pushing you like
difficult than your life way to have
that kind of an ambition to one about
and prove a point you think there’s a
solution now I don’t know if it is part
of it to where if you have a really
comfortable life when you’re young and
everything is prepared for you you’re
sent to the right school you have to
write you have your own room at home and
you have everything maybe there’s less
challenges maybe there’s less motivation
and maybe you don’t achieve so sometimes
I ask myself now I said maybe not to say
it was a good thing the way my step
but maybe he motivated me more because I
remember when I went to France and one
day I told him I won’t come home until I
get the messages and I gonna come and
drive it into your living room through
the more I told my stepdad and then you
know what happened in years and years
later he came here with my mother so I
had to be nice to him because of my
mother
they stated she should have shot him
would have been a good deed I told you
many times but then you know I said what
I’m gonna do I cannot ignore my mother
you we only have one mother so I send
among cruisers and every year they came
here I went on a cruise to South America
to the Caribbean everywhere really they
were and so for me it was really special
to really treat my mother really right
but he came along for the ride is he
still around or no no so did you did
your last moments with him was it good
or was it useful to Mary and you were
not too fond of him you know I wasn’t
too fond of him I’m nice the way I speak
I am obviously not too fond of him now
because I really think when you live
your life you cannot really go on and
just forgive you know I forgave to a
point where I said okay I tolerate them
interesting but I don’t gonna say I
wanna be friends or love him so almost
like I’ll forgive but I won’t forget
what happened exactly I mean yeah
interesting I also heard somewhere you
said you were working at a restaurant
and the head ship or somebody said
you’ll never amount to anything or
something yeah exactly
you had your stepdad we also had another
person that said in the world acceptance
so when I was 14 I left my home I
remember was I come and the 404 day was
raining and cloudy and you know foggy
all over and I took the train to that
town and my a father my stepfather when
I left he said he always told me I was
good for nothing so when I when I left
he said you’re good for nothing in three
weeks you’re gonna be back home and ask
me for money and even
and I just win and I remember my
grandmother took me to a train station
which was about an hour walk we didn’t
have a cow anything so I went there and
then started to work obviously in this
hotel in Fela and then maybe a month
into it or so and the chef was crazier
than Padilla to drunk
did you know in the old time the chef’s
used to drink a lot and he was like this
bully guy on a Sunday we ran out of
potatoes
so no more mashed potatoes no more
potatoes with parsley which was a big
thing in Austria and then the plane did
know me I was his 14 year old kid not
even 5 foot tall and then a chef after
lunch he called me over and said you
know you should go back home to your
mother you’re too young to do that
you’re too little
your mother should press video for
another year maybe you grow up like he
was crazy and then he said okay you’re
out you’re gone you know if I are you
and it was probably one of my worst day
so I didn’t know what to do was like
Sunday evening we had a big river that
or outgoing so there that town I went on
a bridge where they train goes over so
it was a high bridge and that’s that I
gonna kill myself our gonna jump into
the water and I’m not going home for
sure so I stood there and stood there
like for maybe an hour what I’m gonna do
I’m gonna jump and what will happen
after do I gonna but sinking they’re
gonna go to hell or to heaven and you
know what is all these sorts going so my
man are you 14 for 10 14 you’re thinking
about taking your life yeah and then
finally and now I was so into it I said
okay you know what I just gonna go back
tomorrow and see what happened I saw I
went off the bridge went home couldn’t
sleep all night obviously went early in
the morning to the world like at 7:00 to
the hotel restaurant and then the
apprentice who was ahead of me saw me
coming back and he was so happy said oh
you’re back here thank God so I don’t
have to peel potatoes and water thing
for another six months and then he took
me and took me down into the vegetable
seller I mean I was sitting on a on a
crate down there
peeling potatoes and carrots and onions
and all that stuff bought me little
sandwiches down so after about three
weeks Internet the chef came down
and sees me down what are you doing here
screaming at me you you’re fired by
you’re still here and this and that I
get out of here and I said I’m not
leaving you told him you know yeah he
grabbed me and just get out of here I
put my heels and I said I’m leaving I
was this little guy and he was this big
bully find out he didn’t know what to do
so he called the manager and owner and
they came down and he told him you know
I don’t know what to him here’s to
little he stupid he doesn’t know how to
do that he’s too young
every word possible to make me feel bad
and negative and then the owner was a
little nice and he said okay you know
what we’ll send you to another hotel
they had another small hotel in town and
maybe over there it would be better for
you so I said okay so they sent me to
the other hotel over there they had a
lady who was a chef and she said all
just be nice do what we tell you to do
and don’t make any waves just do your
job and I was saying what we find and so
it was scared and then I started
everything was good every year we went
for three months to school we as all the
kids or the apprentices not all together
so they had this apprenticeship program
where you went for three years and part
of it you had to go to the school to
learn you know moderate theoretical
stuff and also cooking the principle of
cooking a little bit so every week we
had like three or four afternoons
cooking in the morning we got a little
English lessons mattress and put keeping
lessons and so forth so when I came back
then for the first three months we
always had to go to the owner and show
him everybody had to order Kate said to
do that and show him their report card
and I had straight ace so the owner said
oh my god it’s the first time somebody
has strayed ate and he was a very smart
that was actually a lawyer by trade then
each time when he walked into the
kitchen he asked for the chef or said
hello to the chef and said varies
Wolfgang
so all of a sudden I became like an
important kid in the kitchen and there
are other kids were almost jealous of me
that said why is he only asking with
poison we got so Marie
with the same oh yeah my mom was very
supportive and somebody doesn’t tell me
I’m good for nothing you know so all of
us and my esteem when that’s Greta
you’re what up you’re 15 16 at that time
15 EIG so why didn’t you jump you know
looking back I you know I just all of a
sudden it came to my mind I said maybe
he’s gonna change his mind maybe he was
drunk maybe you know maybe he’s gonna
say oh he wants to come back okay I try
one more time maybe let’s give him one
more try so all these things all these
different scenarios went to my head when
I look down in the dark you know it was
like she’s looking down a big dark hole
with a river but they ice blocks going
down and everything so there’s a video
that went viral they interviewed the 100
people that jumped off of a bridge who
Dave committed suicide so there’s two
thousands you could have jumped off
everybody died except for one hundred
one hundred mate is some number like
that and they interviewed them okay what
happened after you jumped and every one
of them said from the moment we let go
there was a regret so it’s amazing how
you were saying it because there’s a lot
of conversation right now about suicide
yeah going around around the world well
you know I think millions of people
around the world log glad you did it
because our appetite is very happy the
fact that you keep from there you win so
you kind of going through class you’re
getting straight A’s
the man who’s an attorney he’s taking a
liking into you he’s liking you so what
happens next from here so then in the
third year when I was 16 or 17 like that
we had this restaurant from France come
to cook for one week their food from
Burgundy from Dijon it’s a restaurant
called traffic zone and they came and I
looked they waited cooked like they made
chicken in red wine sauce Coco Randa
corridor boeuf bourguignon or they made
bath days they used wine like bottles of
wine and reduced it and similar chicken
and the pod snails like we didn’t have
snails in Austria and so I said I want
to go to France so I wrote them a note
you know I would like to come and
practice there for a year or so ss –
yeah and they accepted me so I went
there with
it took like a day and how how are you
were 17 17 yeah about a year into it the
owner and chef of the restaurant in
digital that’s the party for his
thoughts I spoke French already at that
time so a little bit at least and then
the party was because we got the
astounding admission and I had no idea
at that time about the admission so I
took one book and we got one style so
and everybody said oh now we are like
one of the top restaurants in France or
D top restaurant the way we are talking
and then I take the book and I said oh
my god yep two style restaurants and
three-star restaurants so then I said
before going back to Australia I’m gonna
work in a three-star restaurant and then
I wrote two butchers and Toro and lasse
and all the famous restaurants and the
first one who responded positive was
Raymond – yay at bomani in south of
France near Marseilles three so three
stop ya know at that time they were at
World War II stores around the world yet
they didn’t have it international was
only France scatter and then they went
to Germany Italy France and so on to
Spain and America everywhere now yeah I
started there and over there the owner
and chef was 72 years old but he was so
passionate about food about the products
and I still remember as a kid there and
he used to bring Picasso used to come to
the restaurant I used to walk with
Picasso into the kitchen because it was
a little guy he was big walked him
around with the console yeah yeah we had
the Queen of England came we have like
at that time Elizabeth Taylor came and
Richard Burton I remember I was there
years into it one day Peter O’Toole a
famous actor from England he used to
film there somewhere and that my friend
was a waiter and he was sitting by
himself drinking and then I had the
little motorbike I had to drive him to
the part of the hotel on my motorbike
which was a smaller there’s more house
like a dependents house and he was
hanging on to me and I was driving him
his room there is so it was an
interesting thing and that’s when I
really said I wanna do that for a little
bit I said I wanna be like him until you
until that moment you hadn’t you hadn’t
decided I have less cuticles your mom
does yeah I drank cause my mom pick and
I wanted to get away from my stepfather
and then at that time I had a friend who
was a truck driver and he used to drive
from Trieste in Italy to Vienna and he
made a lot of money I mean for me at
that time you know I made maybe I don’t
know 500 shilling at that time a month
and he made 5,000 it’s a lot of I know
for a kid five with 5000 chillin I could
buy a car or a nice motorbike and go
skiing I didn’t have to walk up the
mountain I could take the lift and
everything go out with a girl and
everything so I wasn’t sure panic but
then truly it became my mentor and I
think when I was 19 really it exchanged
my life and I was cooking next to him so
he was making all the sauces and
everything and somehow he took a liking
on me because I wasn’t scared of him and
like when he made something or I made
something he tasted in and said okay put
a little salt put a little pepper put a
little lemon juice whatever this in the
sauce and then I said okay I put the
things in and then when he made
something he said taste it I taste it
say maybe a little salt and pepper
maybe a little dis and he looked at me
okay you didn’t say it so he took
counsel from you yeah and I was like 19
years old as a matter of fact then kind
of give you confidence or total I can
listen to you yeah totally and everybody
else when he made something that tastes
in and said oh it’s delicious you know
oh it’s very good you know nobody would
tell him a little more this or little
more that except me and I thought no big
deal you know
was he crazy was he the typical shifted
figures multiple personality yeah no he
had a passion at 72 for 72 years old he
was so passionate so he had this huge
gardens with six gardeners providing all
the ingredients we used in the kitchen
like we get the tiniest string beans the
best strawberries or the best melon
and things like that made in the gardens
that here with the six governors in his
car said yeah Wow he had only for church
so we used to go in November and it
wasn’t busy we picked the olive tree
shook the olive trees with a big
tablecloths underneath and picked up all
the olives I made olive oil and
everything said to me it was really the
beginning where I said wow this guy is
amazing he’s 72 years old and he
actually was so nice to me and like
Monday when he went on vacation
I still remember he told the chef who
was at that time maybe 14 years old or
so he said I’m living for a week but
Wolfgang has to stay here and do the
sauces and make sure he doesn’t take a
day off yeah so did the sauce close to
the way he was making it yes and he gave
me all this confidence then and so I
think he changed really my life powerful
way and you know the funniest thing is
talking about Iran so when I was there
Maxim’s in Paris and pramanya did the
2000 anniversary of the Imperial in 72
or 74 somewhere somewhere around yeah
yeah and I was supposed to go and I
forgot I didn’t have a passport because
I’m supposed to go to the 2500 year
celebration in Iran yeah totally and
they went boom mania and Maxine’s rant
and you know they I mean that was like
the party to go to I know it was an
amazing saying without in in Persepolis
there’s police yeah yeah and you
remember that yeah totally totally and I
go and they said do you like two days
before I said okay you have need your
passport they want to know your passport
and I said I don’t have my passport
I losted I don’t know whatever so how
many years did you work under him how
many years two and a half years almost
three years and really then like I was
20 years old he had another restaurant
at this race now my son and a one-star
restaurant he fired the chef and one
style restaurant and put me there for a
year as the chef in one style restaurant
I was 20 years old age five French guys
with me they were my cooks and they were
all older than me so it was tough for me
to order them around because they said
who is this Austrian you know
we are the French you know we know about
food we are much better but he really
trusted me and that really changed my
life you know and gave me confidence and
I don’t know so somehow he took me to
the next level
so so what do you do next after that
getting confidence confident yeah so
then I went to work at in Monaco at
l’hotel de Poli
and I didn’t like it there because it
was so structured but it was boring in
comparison to Bowman yeah it also
mission story yeah maybe one star tooth
but very formal not individual you know
was everything like the books you know
like like Escoffier style and then I
went to see mr. Julie and I said you
know I don’t know what to do I want to
go somewhere else if he can hurt me so
he said okay I’m going to Paris and I’m
gonna see mr. boo Donald the owner of
much seams which was a three-star
restaurant and maybe they find your job
there and he did so I started to work at
Maxim’s in Paris and you have expensive
to three-star restaurant yeah how
different was the one in Paris than when
you work at a nose what
Boman yeah was mainly the owner and chef
I said I wanna be like him
I wanna own my own restaurant I wanna
own my own destiny I don’t want to go to
somebody to ask for a raise oh you
modeled your career after him after him
and then I was the one in four in Paris
in Paris was not very good I loved it
because it was a very upscale French
restaurant again everybody the whole
world used to go to Maxim’s in Paris I
remember like Onassis was a regular
Salvador Dali and all these people used
to come all the actors I saw Charlie
Chaplin they are waiting outside for his
limousine and service an amazing
experience with the Kennedys used to
come the whole clan here’s the camera my
change was the place to go I mean they I
remember
she’s got a standing or was the finance
minister at that time he used to have
lunch there every day because really
which is the Minister of Finance they
are they were not far away so it was a
great experience too but the cooking or
what inspired me was mr. twilly at
bomani a few still I said I want to be
like him not like the chef at Maxime so
was very good but he worked for somebody
so to me at that time I said I wanna
create my own destiny so I want to
secretly boy me a bomb Anya bomani a
bomb Anya’s be a um a and I are so
Bowman here you work with him and you
worked at the place and friends at this
point are you making money or you not me
no what are you not making money yes
woman yeah I didn’t make much money no
tell the padilla didn’t make much money
at Messines the last six months the
night chef because machine was open late
after tiara and everything so we had a
lot of people coming after the Opera and
like at that time like Maria Callas used
to sing and so forth so there was to
come and the night chef who was
responsible for the kitchen left to open
his own restaurant and then the chef
told me oh you’re gonna be the chef now
at night with five chefs in a three-star
restaurant and I said okay yeah it’s the
first time I made money so I bought a
car remember I bought an Alfa Romeo from
one of them waiting yeah and that was
like when I went to a club or you know
disco at that time and the girls saw me
driving and outside said ok I was racing
for in Europe it’s a yeah I sports guy
yeah I have yeah in America not really
and you know in Europe it was big at
that run yeah yeah so what happens next
way to say I want to come what you seem
like your person who model you seem like
you’re somebody that’s extremely driven
because what happened with your stepdad
and you wanted to prove a point yet
somebody who loved you which is your mom
and then you model somebody who believed
in you woman here but then after that
what was the inspiration to say I’m
coming oh man so when I worked at
Maxim’s in Paris they owed Maxim’s
opened a restaurant in Chicago and
Maxine’s in Chicago and the pastry chef
who I became good friends with opened
the restaurant in Chicago with Maxim’s
and then he came back to France after
year or two years worked again at a
restaurant in Paris and Maxim’s in Paris
and he and me became very friendly and
hung out and everything and then he said
you are young and obviously I watched
all these cowboy movies I’ve watched
movies video drive this big Chevrolet
and catalogs and everything I said
everybody is rich in America I want to
go to America and then I left much seems
the chef said ok if you don’t come back
in the next two months I give your job
to somebody else for that way I would
wait because I really like you and I
went and then I didn’t like New York I
didn’t like the restaurant was called La
Gullu where I was supposed to work you
didn’t like New York as a city as I say
the experience with the restroom and
they both I don’t know you just didn’t
connect with it I didn’t know we have to
go like I remember I wiped at the
airport and the taxi asked me where I
want to go and I said I want to go to
New York City and he said but where I
said well to a hotel
I want the Empire State Building because
I knew the Empire State Building and
then he dropped me off in a cheap hotel
and he fully sorted young kid like that
and I remember a cockroaches all over
and everything was terrible and then the
restaurant I was supposed to work was
like a bistro and I said I worked in all
these three-star restaurants this is not
the cooking I love you know that way
there’s nothing wrong with the peace to
always say Patti I was young I said I
wanna play at this level not at this
level and so then so a friend there they
found me a job in Indianapolis and I got
so excited because of the cities yeah
but I am still but I was always a fan of
auto racing so like for me Formula One
was like the top sport yes and the Indy
500 is the top of course in race in the
world maybe at that time for sure what
year was that let’s turn the surface or
we live in the seventies in the SEM in
the mid SEM in 74 74 so here’s before
Spago get started yeah so then I worked
in Indianapolis for a year then came to
Los Angeles mm-hmm I started to work in
a restaurant called Mama’s ohm which I
had no idea at that time how bad it was
or whatever I quit my job and then
started to work there and my first
paycheck bounced back I never had that
happen in my life so I went to the owner
but like there I who’s his uncle owns
like tourism in Paris and I said what
gonna do they said there’s no money in
the bank and you know the only direction
lunches and maybe that many dinners he
said well and then we worked out a deal
where I became a part owner and he says
so that way you got there some upside if
the restaurant as well sure enough the
restaurant started to get better and
better we got more and more customers
coming and I remember at one point your
main magazine called up and says oh we
went to the restaurant the critic he
wanted some information and so we talked
and said oh my god I had this caramel
ice cream it was amazing I had this fish
in puff pastry it’s good I said poor
book is in Lyon and so on they went on
and on and they wrote this amazing
review and then I thought Patrick I said
I don’t know what we’re gonna do is just
we started to get busy in the restaurant
with a lot of locals people like or some
Welsh used to come every day for line
just to sit with him talk with him I
said now I’m not gonna be able to surf
them anymore because everybody from all
over the country are gonna know we have
this restaurant so we decided to take
out the listing in the phone book you
know there was no cell phones at that
time and everything because so we don’t
you only get the people who know us can
come and data was not was like heaping
early to keep it a little when you did
that did you raise prices or no nothing
we kept everything the same I was just
so concerned I said we have to serve our
customers we have so that way they can
get a table that where we can serve them
I still had a very small kitchen and so
I said we cannot go instead of serving
80 dinners all of a sudden self a
hundred fifty would be impossible so
that’s what happens so we took that out
then the next thing is People magazine
wrote this huge article about how snoby
how chic who everything Amazon is they
even have an unlisted telephone number
so then for and they say and I said wait
by by the way that is the non likes
everybody want to go I’m totally so that
and they published a number People
magazine publishing so then we had to
put a private number for our regular
guests they got the private number
because the phone rang off there okay
and
I built a bigger kitchen but then I
still said you know what I’m a part
owner instead of having confidence in me
like for example he went on vacation he
told them made a deal to sign the checks
not me and I said he’s crazy
the minute he comes to work I produce
for 65 for 70 percent of the income of
the restaurant because I’m the chef I
decide if we make money or not basically
and then he has this kind with a nice
guy
but Santa checks instead of me so I got
really pissed off and then I said you
know I don’t think that’s gonna work out
in the long term but I still felt anyway
guilty a little bit to leave so I stayed
on and then one day I found this new
location on Sunset and I went to Patrick
and I said you know I found this
location but we have to change the way
we operate we have to create a
restaurant company an operating company
we’re gonna run the restaurants but we
have to be 50/50 partner not that I own
10% and you own 50% you know he says no
I always gonna own 51% well then I said
well let me – so then we left
I lied to leave what you’re saying
that’s then in 81 okay youyou left in 81
81 yeah so I stayed there for six years
I build up my Mazzone from $18,000
business amounts to $300,000 a month and
that was in yeah in the 70s so so it we
always become a one star two star
Michelin no there was no mission but we
were out of the top three restaurants in
the city and you know everybody is to
come to the restaurant I used to cook
for the big movie people and right –
yeah totally
probably a dinner wine drinks yeah
whatever
so then you come out here then so that
so that was here in LA and then I found
this occasion and because Patrick didn’t
want to be 50/50 partner I had to leave
this location then first location –
Sansa yeah so then in 82 in January I
opened Spargo sub Spargo was the first
restaurant with an open kitchen
I built the open kitchen I said I wanna
manage the whole restaurant I wanna see
the customers I wanna see how everything
works you would have
yeah over any upscale restaurant yeah
and now it’s it’s very customary and
everybody has it now yeah yes we were
the first one like here in a lane to
have a good running open a wood-burning
grill and everything so we cooked
everything over live fire and I think
that the open kitchen really was decent
all of a sudden then I thought I gonna
have this neighborhood restaurant you
know up on Sunset for well you had two
houses up in the hills and everything
and it became this instant success I
remember three weeks into it Billy
Wilder who was a famous movie director
and also Austrian like me 14 Sidney
Poitier and Chuck lemon and Joan Collins
so they were all sitting on one thing
table and somebody from the newspaper or
whatever was there too and they said oh
sparkle is the place to go now everybody
somehow had to go to Spago
we became this really amazingly busy
restaurant then I talked swifty Lazar
who was like an agent into doing the
Oscar party there so we were packed
every night and the funny thing was
because you had the front of the
restaurant there all the VIP that’s a
thing and then the back which was
Siberia and people used to get pissed
off and said you son of a bitch you sent
me over in Siberia I said no the food is
the same everything is the same so let
me ask you this there’s a party Alice
you’re very charming you’re very
charismatic you’re very attractive your
personality’s very very attractive you
think that kind of help you when it
comes it looks like you have the
creative side you have that part about
you creating but also the other element
of convincing Oscars to want to you know
do the governor’s but how many years has
it been d’you got I mean
well Richard nikuman Osbourne off the
twenty fifty already yeah
that’s craziness to be able to say 20 25
as you call them and you say I want and
they came to me and asked me why you
don’t do our governor’s for the board of
cabinets so they that the Board of
Governors the people who put on the
Oscars
recently they have a board of governors
so like I remember at that time Otto
hella who was a famous director you know
who did love story and many Adam
beautiful yeah and Alan and Marilyn
Bergman who did all the songs for Barbra
Streisand born the board and they used
to come to Spago one day and says you
know we really would like to you to
cater the dinner and I said okay I’m
gonna try it and see
so when I did the first dinner after
they up watch it was at the Shrine
Auditorium I still remember like
yesterday and normally they had nobody
going to the dinner the old came to the
party at Spago so their breasts on the
whole room was full everybody stayed for
dinner and everybody ate and I remember
Mike always came with Paul Newman and
Robert Redford and all the people and I
walked around and made the big the big
time yeah big time yes that was you know
in 1995 for 94 something like that you
know so I think then after that now
everybody goes to the governor’s for a
best before it was always nothing you
know nobody went I remember when we were
at Spago watching the Academy Awards
with swifty and his party and then some
typical was over there at the Beverly
Hilton where they had the governor’s
Moore and it was empty
and some of them went there with the
Oscars said hello and walked out and
came to answer you yeah that’s the part
about you that there has to be people
wanting to help contribute to your
success like there’s got to be an
element of likability like yeah people
so how much of your business world on
what you think about how much of your
business is it the food is it the
recipes is that what you do in the
kitchen and how much of it is the
service you provided me as a person
that’s coming to you because there’s
some some level of loyalty for service
as well how we interact with the
customer how we make them feel so sure
we have to make great food we have to
give good service but we are in the
hospitality business we want to make
people feel good we want to make people
feel happy when they come to a
restaurant we want to make people feel
that when they leave they’re gonna make
a reservation or they’re gonna think oh
I’m gonna come back as soon as I can you
know the nightclub business a nightclub
runs for like five to ten
years in the 90s dublin’s you know yet
all these things in and they died out
and a next one comes out Garden of Eden
and in that the central Club it dies out
and so nightclub is almost like a
cyclical cycle of five to ten first of
all it’s a restaurant still right 36
years is a long time and now you were in
Vegas or this coming expire I’m not even
back and cut yeah
you have it all these other places how
did you manage it to keep staying
attractive for the customers to want to
keep coming back because traditions
changes generations change yeah
generationally you’ve done boomer janux
millennial and now how are you doing
that you know it’s an interesting
experience because when I tell people
that all these guests for example if it
was Tony Curtis Jack Lemmon Orson Welles
Elizabeth Taylor whoever they’re all
dead now that’s a totally different
generation if we stay the same it’s very
difficult because then the younger
people don’t want to come but if you
change too much you lose all your base
clientele so then you’re in trouble till
then you have to get a complete new one
so we have people who come here that’s a
powerful point you just made with it
because sometimes so many entrepreneurs
are so concerned about only getting the
new customers they forget to keep their
Oregon oil customers they are very
important yet that’s how a lot of
restaurants stay in business two years
or even less or a little more because I
think you have to get a really good base
clientele you have to have people who
come and become repeat customers you
know it’s very expensive always to get
new customers in any business it’s much
cheaper to keep the old ones first of
all this has been a pleasure just
listening to you and your story
obviously I know who you are I know what
you’ve done I know that but I didn’t
know the deeper side of the story if
we’d open up and kind of share with the
rest of us and yabbies why you are who
you are right it’s an inspiration to a
lot of people out there well I hope so
and I hope you know that people who
really think that it doesn’t it wasn’t
always like that you know there’s always
difficulty there is always somebody who
is trying to put something in your
you know put something against you make
you feel bad but patience and tenacity
are an important part now if you’re
lucky life to me and you find your
passion then life is easy then you don’t
have to go in the morning and say oh I
have to go to work again you get up in
the morning like Evan yesterday to the
fish market do I have to go to the fish
market no but I’d love to that I did
that for years and years and years like
wherever to the fish market to the
flower market I still love to be
involved in it because food and the
customers are really my passion and
that’s why customers like me keep coming
back and we keep coming back because
it’s important that man at the time it’s
still in the game and you still love the
games yeah for those watching what I
want you to do is I want you to tweet
him at the handle that’s here and he’s
on Twitter right is the act on Twitter
sound of a tweet at the handle here in
mind here let us know what you took away
from today’s episode and if you haven’t
subscribed click on the subscribe button
Wolfgang Puck so good to have you thank
you my pleasure
Please follow and like us: